44th Jump Story (kind of long)
This is a story about a recent jump. DISCLAIMER: It is long and not very exciting, just thought I would share.
Here is a recap. (~230' freestanding antenna with a large crow's-nest at the top, for the record)
Adam (another local jumper) had called me earlier in the evening telling me they were thinking of heading out later. I was going to my folks for dinner and while I wasn’t feeling up for a jump at the time I thought that I would leave my options open and throw my rig and gear in the car. Background: I had surgery 3 weeks prior to remove a leaking saliva gland from my neck. Nothing major, but I was in the hospital recovering for 4 days. I have been feeling good lately, and went skating that night, and it felt good, as it had been a while since I had done anything physical.
As the night progressed, I was thinking more and more about making a jump. My thought was, as this is a pretty low profile site, I could take my time on the climb, and that seemed ok.
I am jumping a BJ 260 in a Perigee Pro, this was my 44th Jump. I also have a well tuned DBS. I did this by getting a rigger to sew 6 settings in, about an inch apart, and jumped them all (well 5 of them) off the Potato Bridge. Getting the same people to watch me and help me decide which was best. Not the most precise method maybe, (as you cannot get them exact) but this is my first rig, and it is close enough for me.
Me, Adam and Mike (another local jumper) and 2 guys on ground crew, drove to the site. The three of us took our time climbing. Winds at the top were a little on the strong side, but steady. I would say 15-20k.
Upon my wind analysis, I was 3/4 for my criteria (borrowed from a local jumper, and I added the direction one). Criteria is: Are the winds predictable, are they consistent, what is the strength, and is the direction appropriate? If you have ¼ you should probably go home. (at least my thoughts) Depends on the object of course. There are times that even one of these not being on would make the jump not happen (obviously)
So, in this case they were consistent, predictable, in the right direction, just a little on the strong side. Stronger winds on an antenna are not bad, as it blows you away (everyone knows this, I'm sure, just being thorough). We talked about possible implications of strong winds. First, there is a good chance that the canopy will open in a stall, or something resembling/close to a stall. This could/likely will result in less canopy time, as it will take more time to get it flying. If you had a 180, this would not be a problem, but you would be facing the object (obviously). With the magnitude of the winds, I was confident that you would be blown far enough away from the object. We also talked about the fact that the ground winds were low, so if you had a 180 and didn’t do anything, you might end up getting a surge (potentially right away), or a lot of drive as the wind dropped and could potentially fly back into the object. Just something we talked about and kept in mind.
Winds were in the same direction on the ground, but lighter, ~5k. Something else we talked about is the fact that there was a significant change in strength of the wind from the ground to the top of the A. Because of that there is a potential for some turbulence (not sure that is the right word) or at least a wind shear or something, as you hit the point where the wind changes speed. There was a fairly laminar change though. It got progressively stronger the higher we climbed, so this was not really a concern.
Had some issues with pilot chute and s/l control, as they were blowing around pretty good. Glad I had an elastic (or as some know it as a rubber or a band or whatever) on the bridle. I was going to jump first and had Mike holding my pilot chute; the winds were mostly out of the west, but at a slight angle, so slightly NW->SE.
Me and Mike decided to go from the NE corner, (despite the wind direction, that would have lead you to believe that you should jump from the SE direction). There were a couple reasons, and I will go into them. For one, the landing area is not as ideal on the SE corner. There are power lines that could come into play, and I (not wearing my glasses-as I didn't want to lose them jump. By the way, my eyesight is not that bad, and I did all my jumps at Twin Falls without them, so I am comfortable jumping without) couldn't really see where the power lines were for sure. Secondly, the angle of the wind was not that large.
Adam decided to go from the SE corner, and he had a couple reasons as well: First, directly underneath the NE corner there is a bit of a structure, some kind of pole or something sticking out a bit. It was not sticking horizontally past the exit point, but a concern for Adam none-the-less. I looked at it and felt confident that I would clear it (I decided that I would give a hard launch, to ensure 110% that I would clear it and give my self a larger margin of error, being fully aware that this would further lessen my canopy time, because of the time that it would take for me to pendulum back under my canopy), but Adam was more comfortable on the other side (SE corner), saying that worst case, he could land on the road. (100% fine with me, by the way). His other reason was that from the direction of the winds, that was the best corner.
So the plan was for me and Mike to both get ready, and tie off. I would go first, then Adam and then Mike last.
I got set up, with my s/l set up to the right of me, and the wind going slightly left to right. Mike was holding my pilot chute, I started to count, and Mike said hold on, as the wind was causing my s/l to slide to the right, away from me. He slid it back, and held it better, with a little bit of a struggle. I counted again, and gave a real hard launch. Felt good, and I got a pretty good kick/swing into the harness. Got on the toggles pretty fast, and got it turned around, but not all the way into the wind (almost directly cross wind). I was coming in a little hot, and decided to roll/PLF on landing. Got my new gear dirty, but I was feeling good about the landing. Glad I was wearing full pads, by the way. (knee/shin pads, helmet of course, upper body armor – minus the back protector, as it doesn’t quite fit the contour of my back, and increases pin tension significantly enough that it gets in my head. I just need to buy some that fits me).
Apparently, due to the wind, I side-slid across the entire platform before I released my brakes. I wasn’t really aware that I was moving that fast horizontally. I believe that we mis-judged the actual direction of the wind. I/we should have spent more time assessing the direction (my opinion). A 170-150 to the left from that corner could have been nasty, I think, as you would have to decide to either turn to the right, into the wind (relatively) or left, with the wind, but rotating towards the object. I kind of chose to ignore this fact, something we had talked about on a previous jump from this object.
Leaving from the SE corner would have been the best option, in hindsight.
Adam was next, he left from the SE corner, and flew straight, landing downwind. He landed with no problem. I asked him what the reason for just flying straight, and it was just that he didn’t feel comfortable turning that much that low.
Mike was last, and the plan was for us to all be tied off and ready to go, then go in subsequent order, to minimize exposure time/lessen potential bust time. But Mike was having trouble with the static line sliding to the right, down the rail, like mine did. He could not control it, so he decided to cut the break cord and move to the corner that Adam jumped. It was a good thing that he did, as Adam’s carry-with you static line thingy was still on the object [see below for reason]. Mike was able to retrieve it, so as to not leave anything on the A. Mike tied off and jumper, he was able to turn 180 after opening and get right back into the wind and had a good landing. We were around the site for longer that I would have liked, but it turned out ok.
I played in an intramural basketball game two days later, and I was feeling quite weak after. I am not quite in the shape I thought I was in. Again, in retrospect, getting injured and having to potentially fight for my life would really suck in my condition. I am reminded that being in good shape is extremely important in the event of an injury, by a close friend who was almost fatally injured after a jump off of an ‘easy’ object. I truly believe he would have died had it not been for his excellent physical condition. That said, I don’t think I will jump again until I am convinced that I am fully recovered from my surgery and back to the physical condition I was before (not that it was that great). But you see my point.
Summary/Lessons.
I think I was a little too set in my ways when I decided to jump from the NE corner, due to fewer obstacles. I should have been more open to jumping from the best place.
Check to make sure you have you carry with you static-line thingy as you bag your canopy, especially if there is still some one on the object that could get it.
Wear pads, even on ‘easy’ objects, you might need them.
Physical condition can be more important than you think, and the draw to get back into it as soon as possible can be dangerous.
Note: I am not trying to preach, I am just sharing my thoughts. Thanks for taking the time.
I would love to hear feedback on my thoughts, my choices and my analysis (especially the wind thing). Reply privately or publicly, as you prefer.
The following is from Adam, his comments from the jump.
In reply to:
You may also like to make reference to the fantastic GC we had that night. Communication was essential in assessing the ground winds, which were quite negligible. As for my carry-with, the white [section, see attached picture] was correctly tied to the bridle, however, we missed that the Red portion did not include the bridle, but only onto the structure. So what you get is a “parallel” pull on the red line and break cord. Whereas, it’s a “series” connection of the white line, break cord, and bridle. Really for the sake of all that effort, I might as well have tied the bridle directly to the object and saved a bit of face in an incorrectly connected carry-with :P . Functionally the same haha, but leaving gear on an object is a no-no.
Note: I attached a picture of the static line setup, as it is supposed to be (and so people know what I am talking about, in terms of colors.)
Maybe Adam can post a picture of what he did, so as to clarify what happened.
