Basejumper.com - archive

I have been reading and lurking for a while now, but had a thought tonight and wanted to throw it out there.

I wanted to know if there were any bad habits (that were formed from skydiving) that have a negative influence on a base student during any part of their training. It seems to me that someone like myself who might one day base jump could use this information to prevent habits that could potentially be a safety issue in base.

I'm not sure if this is something that even needs to be discussed so feel free to remove this topic if it is irrelevant.

I think this is an interesting question that´s not been discussed. Ussually the things that you should learn in skydiving environment are clearly noted.

First thing that came to my mind is to NOT look over your shoulder after tossing your PC. A habit that may form in skydiving. In base it may lead to offheading deployment.

More?

V

Another one....skydive type, lazy 'flick' of the wrist BOC pulls.
Do that on a short delay and there is a very good chance the bridal can wrap around your arm.....even better chance with a healthy tailwind or right to left crosswind.

My BASE BOC pulls , I'm aiming to pull out the PC and throw it out to the side but also 'up' behind me with a solid grab on the PC ,pull out and pitch....not a flick of the wrist pull

The one with the coolest gear, and the biggest mouth, is not always the one you should follow and trust your life!

EPs

attitude.

to extract money, dz's, coaches, etc., will pander to clients. they make things as easy as possible.

for a variety of reasons, that does NOT happen in BASE. heck, BASE has no "business model."

thus, regularly people appear expecting to be given everything, with little effort on their part.

cutting away a malfunction... just kidding..

jumper pulling the pc out of the boc, going back to box position still holding the pc and then letting it go. (i saw a lot of accuracy jumpers doing that)

and, doing that canopy check (im not sure if thats the right words for it), remember to look up straight, in skydiving i used to look up to the upper left first then moving my head to the right, if youre looking up too soon and the canopy is still pressurizing, this can lead to an offheading too.... (happened to me on my first few jumps)

no more plfs. jumping 9 cell canopies. running the canopy out when in base the landing area can be pretty rough. not enough crw jumping. trying to take too short of a delay because of the height, when in fact a longer delay can be safer due to object clearance issues. biggest bad habit, thinking one knows everything about parachuting simply because they are a skygod at the dropzone.

gear complacency. i've seen many skydivers who seem to think the packer or rigger will catch a problem if there is one and never learn about thier rig. learn everthing about your gear and stay proactive about it's condition, your life depends on it no matter what altitude you're jumping from.

Hand in front for balance when pitching. Pretty useless on a sub terminal jump and might throw you off axis if done too hard.

Cutting away malfunctions is a no no I waved off on a terminal A once. I laughed a lot when I saw the video.

Skydivers are more likely to go head low like they are doing a dive exit and also the bending at the knees (heels to back of thighs) right after exit. This bend only increases forward rotation.
Like someone else already said; a horrible lack of gear knowledge.

A lack of concern for knowledge of rigging. Some skyjumpers only touch their rigs when they get them jump them and hand them to a rigger for the EXTRA IMPORTANT 120 day repack, now 180 thank god. In BASE you should be your own rigger. Maybe not making a rig or relining but you should certainly be able to hook up a totally deconstructed rig with confidence, precision and correctly.

Paying for packers

Dont look over your shoulder?

I check my pc to after pitch to see it inflate. I just turn my head and use periferal vision.

That's a good habit, I'm poor

In theory, eh.. Sure you could do this and it may work for you...

I don't know though... I think that there is a big tendency that if you turn your head that the shoulders and body are closely to follow.. especially if there was an emergency...

trying to show a good skydiving arch right after leaving the object on a first jumps -- always cause a head-down freefall.

shoot...my first couple jumps all i did was think look out and arch and never went head down

I'd agree, I think a hard arch is a good thing on BASE jumps !
......I'd even suggest that the reason experienced jumpers might suffer some exit issues is because they ain't quite arching like they used too when they first started.

I have never really understood the
practice of teaching people to look
for PC inflation in skydiving.

I teach right before pull time to
really punch out a good arch and
then reach, throw, and return to
a good solid arch.

IF after 2 seconds you do not feel
yourself being pulled up by the
deployment THEN look, which of
course alters one's body in case
the PC is on their back and also
lets then see what is going on.

I think it had developed from the US military free fall method. They still use a spring loaded pilot chute and is proned to getting stuck in their burble.

leroy is right, it is an old school method for spring loaded pc's, we are instructed to shun this from students now days.

Talk to your students about keeping legs out during pull time as well. A Good solid arch can be interpreted as arching really hard. That in turn causes many students to bend their legs putting their feet near the BOC. Bridles around the foot is an obvious danger. Lay down on the ground and demonstrate it.

this has great comedy potential!

You're picking up on the subtleties. Excellent!

Well, I skydive and I do base. (does that make me an expert )

About PC throwing. Most of the times on base jumps I look at the PC right next to me. That case for sure I see it leaving upwards next to me and not behind me in my burble.

And then, skydiving taught me to look at my PC just turning the neck, not the body/shoulders. Better to learn this whilst skydiving then at base jumping. Never got any off-heading on base jumps due to looking (yes, I know, I wrote this so now I will get one)

Ronald

PS: I look at my PC most of my base jumps, not all of them.

Yes Ronald, it does

My preference is different. I don't watch the pc, I know if it's thrown. Grab it and toss it. Sometimes I toss it up and back depending on the crosswind. On a skydive, put it in the air and let go. It's basically a throw but the hurricane force winds do just fine unless you put it in your burble.

Once I was cleared to self jump master myself,I quit watching the pilot chute to the side. Mess up just a bit and get a slammer with your head turned. Ouch comes to mind.

I used to watch the canopy open too but the hypflexion you get from that is worse than most car crashes.

If jump a pull-out skydiving, practice a real throw out. You'd think it's the same but early on I tossed the pilot chute under my arm with a medium tail wind. I toss to the side and even back a little would have prevented it.

dumpin in the basement (all puns intended)

I used to have the bad habbit of putting my canopy in that little black bag

any post that starts with.... I dont do activity X... but let me tell you what i think

But once in a blue moon, the unknowing may in fact bring up a good question... Which it is. Anyway, my 2 cents on the question is: don't forget you don't have a cypress.

a lot of interesting replies above...

IMHO:

The most unhelpful habit for BASE you might develop while skydiving is overconfidence and complacency.

Do some research on the injury/fatality rates vs. skydive numbers and you will see it starts high (as can be expected due to being new and learning), then drops down as more experience and knowledge is gained.

You might expect it will stay on the decline, but then comes the spike where it rises and peaks sharply. I think that rise starts around 200-300 skydives and can keep going for the next few hundred skydives before it starts declining again and staying fairly flat from there onward.

The reasons for that spike are the skydivers that just reached the level where they feel they really know what they are doing and are ready for almost anything.

This is where you are at greatest risk of injury/death as a skydiver and the attitude that causes that is IMHO the worst habit you could possibly get from skydiving if you are taking up BASE.

The way to avoid that is pretty simple, keep skydiving until you are down the other side of that high risk hump, you will know you hit that point when you look back at some of your earlier skydives and realize that when you thought you really knew what was going on, you really didn't know much at all.


There are a few others too, like some skydivers who fly and land their parachutes on 'muscle memory' and finite movements. I.E. expecting to pull both toggles down at the same rate to the same place every time for a good landing. This is a simplisitic approach used initially to get you in the ballpark, but what you really want to learn is to fly by feedback. That way you can compensate for factors that affect your parachute by being sensitive to it. A somewhat simple test for this is the ability to land accurately and softly in different wind conditions, land accurately and softly into the wind, crosswind and downwind and also when there are no wind indicators and landing with the wind direction unknown.


Unthinking acceptance of knowledge is another possible bad habit you could pick up skydiving. Don't just nod your head and say 'yes' to everything your instructor/coach/more experienced skydiver tells you. If you do not understand why they are saying that, ask them politely to elaborate on the reasoning behind the procedures, that way you will lean a lot more and when you are learning to BASEjump, you will have a basis to evaluate things you hear in an environment where learning and knowledge is not regulated, standardized and structured like in skydiving.


Dependence on others for your gear maintenence and rigging is a big one also. Ask your rigger to let you watch/help when you get any rigging work done. Most of them will be glad you are taking an interest in your gear and those that aren't can do without your business. Learn everything you need to know to inspect, assemble, pack and maintain your entire rig before taking up BASEjumping. In BASEjumping you are ultimately responsible for your gear and you will end up doing your own rigging, so you might as well qualify yourself in the more forgiving environment of skydiving.


Reliance on the green light to tell you where to exit. Skydivers these days don't all learn to spot. Learn to spot and how to look out the plane before jumping to be sure you will land where intended.


Reliance on others to keep you safe.
Wind limits, gear choices, learning progression, etc. All these things will be decided for you initially by your instructors and some will be regulated for you later. Learn why they are making the decisions and recommendations they do for you and try develop the ability to make them for yourself, but always check them with more trained and experienced jumpers.


Device dependence.
Can you exit, skydive, open and land safely with no instruments to tell you the altitude? Many devices are very helpful in skydiving, but never become dependent on them.


Obsession with video.
Even things that aren't on video happened and many times the presence of a video or still camera influences people's decisions.


Hot-dogging it for the crowd.
Sooner or later you will regret this in skydiving. In BASE it is sooner.


Skydiving stickers on your car.


Wearing skydiving t-shirts all the time.


Skate shoes as protective footwear.


Having major snagpoints on your camera helmet.


Thinking a Rawa/Bonehead/Cookie/FactoryDiver/Z1/other skydiving helmet is protective headwear.


Relying on others for help/extraction/rescue in case of injury.


Thinking you already know everything you need to go stowed since you have been skydiving like that.


Depending on others to set the flight pattern for you.


That's about all I can think of right now.
It might seem like a lot, but really they are only habits that bad skydivers develop.
Becoming a good skydiver (not a bad one, not an average one..) will be of massive benefit for when you take up BASE one day.

One thing I did not see yet and think is important, is the difference of handling is case of twists. A skydive habit is to undo the twists as quick as possible, but on a basejump with a 180 there is a big chance you will not make it. I have seen it happen few times already.
So get in a twist(still on brakes) and try different ways to steer your canopy and get a bit used to the picture of flying backwards on a twisted canopy. So, when it happens on a basejump it might be a little less confusing and you can work on the getting your canopy on heading first and then undo the twists if there is altitude left.