Basejumper.com - archive

Have you ever fucked up your face, mouth, teeth or chin while Parachuting??

Please answer based on YOUR experiences from both SKY and BASE jumping.

The worst I've done is a long cut down one cheek, just under the eye, from a sharp branch in a bad landing area. An inch higher and that could have been really bad, though. It was just after I took the visor off that (full face) helmet, too.

I have also crushed the chin piece of a factory diver (downwinder in a city). Pretty sure that would have been a lot worse if I hadn't been wearing a full face. As it was, I came away with bruises and a sore jaw, but no serious injury.

Just some bruising and minor cuts on my face when I landed downwind at the bottom of a hill (sky jump). Upon landing I tried to break my fall with my arms and dislocated my left shoulder and soon after my face (no helmet) obsorbed the rest of the impact as I slid up-hill on my face. Worst thing about that was having a couple skydivers set my arm back in place. It hurt like hell.

You need to add another option, 'not yet'.

I have seen a canopy (skydiving) do some strange dive to the ground causing the jumper to face plant. The jumper suffered a concussion/contusion and seemed extremely disorientated. Friends had to drive the jumper home, but no facial injuries.

My base mentor did this while tutoring me. Downwind leading to a face plant. Bit of concussion, some cuts etc. Problem was having to carry his gear out, searching for someone to stitch him up, and then listening to the same question about 20 times due to forgetfulness from the head injury. I went to a full face helmet after that as his open face didn't protect his lips...His name was JJ not that anyone would remember him :-)

Basically I was curious if anyone ever smacked
something really hard with their head and was
super happy to be wearing a full face helmet.

I was wearing a full face helmet in 2002 during
a motorcycle crash and it definitely saved me!!

Skydiving I go topless unless shooting video.
Only full faces I see are on flat RW flyers.

For BASE I wear a Protec helmet. Not only do
I rarely see full faces on other jumpers, I often
do NOT see helmets, knee pads, or even boots...

Here is a similiar discussion at BLiNC

Wwarped typed: I have seen a canopy (skydiving) do
some strange dive to the ground causing the jumper to...

Yeah, I too have seen this with varying results from
embarrasment to femurs, life flights, and even death.

I have never seen a swooper wear a meaty full face
helmet, you would think the extra weight might help
them with their wing loading, ha ha.

sorry, but the bad landing I witnessed was by a jumper too conservative to swoop. fear of the bad things that can happen during landing may have caused them to tighten up and respond poorly.


during a BASE jump, I severely knocked the side of my head against concrete. it would have been incredibly ugly had it not been for my helmet. (the story does not really apply since the hit never endangered my face.)

I just lost a front crown on a skydiving jump this past Saturday. Purely a pilot error in judgment, should have nutted up and landed at the alternate LZ rather than trying to eek it in to the usual LZ, compounded by a retarded flare and no PLF, ended up in me eating asphalt. Am considering a full face helmet but I think that might just be my shrivelled confidence, I think one or 2 solid landings and I'll regain my confidence in my knockoff protec.

on a side note for those folks who have seen hard head impacts, do the skydiving helmets like Factory Diver and Oxygn offer a comparable or better impact protection as to the Protec?

I have been kicked in the face a few times over the years while skydiving and wished i had a full face helmet on. at tullahoma tn years ago. i saw a fellow skydiver take a bad downwind landing onto a taxiway that destroyed his jumpsuit. put a hole in his container that you could see the reserve freebag thru. and scuffed his z1 up so bad that I'm positive that if he had not had it on. he would have took an ambulance ride at the very least. it was a very ugly landing

Other than concussion, my most serious concern regarding a base landing is losing one or both of my eyes. I always jump safety glasses since: 1) I wear contacts and 2) some landing areas are like combat landing areas with landing areas full of terribly hazardous brush.