With just over 200 jumps under his belt, this skydiver had a rough landing due to a 180 degree turn and target fixation. You can hear him say, "this is gonna be tight!" once he realized he would have to make a more aggressive turn — perhaps more than he was comfortable with — in order to land into the wind. Rather than following a standard landing pattern with 90 degree turns, he did a 180 degree toggle turn that pointed him towards a group of trees. Then, despite having some clear space to his left, he turned into the trees at the last second, which resulted in an impact that broke his ankle along with some cuts and bruises.
There were a variety of notable issues with this jumper's canopy piloting:
First, he appears to have started his downwind leg a little late, which put him into a position where he felt he needed to do a turn to put himself into the landing area facing into the wind.
Second, he explained that he was scared to turn low, so he turned early and aggressively (he held down the right toggle for something like 8 seconds) which resulted in him having fewer options.
Third, he was the first to admit that he got target fixation. Even though he was lined up for a break in the trees on the left, at the last second you see him actually turn right... and by that we mean that he both turned to the right, and right into the trees!
Had this jumper remembered his landing priorities, he'd likely have been in a far better position. Arguably, he prioritized landing priority four (land into the wind) and to do so he turned towards a treeline that he wasn't sure he could avoid. That led to a domino effect. He ended up failing landing priority one (landing with a level wing) because his target fixation resulted in him turning his canopy to the right at the last second. The target fixation which led to him failing landing priority one also made him turn away from the breaks in the treeline, and right into the trees, so he failed landing priority two (land clear of obstacles).
This seems like an obvious answer but there are some old-school jumpers out there who tell younger jumpers that canopy coaching is a waste of money. First off, just... no. Every jumper, no matter the skill level, can always benefit from more training. In this situation, had this jumper taken a good canopy course, he would have likely been taught how to use flat turns and harness turns which, when properly practiced and utilized, can be safer at lower altitudes and could have let him take his downwind leg a bit longer. Canopy coaching also talks a lot about planning and anticipation. Learning more about that would have taught him to realize way earlier that he needed to make some minor adjustments to steer away from the tree line and aim for the breaks on the left or right side of the trees.
In his explanation of what he thinks happened, the jumper noted that the wind socks on the opposite side of the lower field were going in the opposite direction of the one he landed by. He thinks that he actually may have been flying downwind on final. However, given the direction of the sock right by him, we don't really think that was the case.
With just over 200 jumps under his belt, this skydiver had a rough landing due to a 180 degree turn and target fixation. You can hear him say, "this is gonna be tight!" once he realized he would have to make a more aggressive turn — perhaps more than he was comfortable with — in order to land into the wind. Rather than following a standard landing pattern with 90 degree turns, he did a 180 degree toggle turn that pointed him towards a group of trees. Then, despite having some clear space to his left, he turned into the trees at the last second, which resulted in an impact that broke his ankle along with some cuts and bruises.
There were a variety of notable issues with this jumper's canopy piloting:
First, he appears to have started his downwind leg a little late, which put him into a position where he felt he needed to do a turn to put himself into the landing area facing into the wind.
Second, he explained that he was scared to turn low, so he turned early and aggressively (he held down the right toggle for something like 8 seconds) which resulted in him having fewer options.
Third, he was the first to admit that he got target fixation. Even though he was lined up for a break in the trees on the left, at the last second you see him actually turn right... and by that we mean that he both turned to the right, and right into the trees!
Had this jumper remembered his landing priorities, he'd likely have been in a far better position. Arguably, he prioritized landing priority four (land into the wind) and to do so he turned towards a treeline that he wasn't sure he could avoid. That led to a domino effect. He ended up failing landing priority one (landing with a level wing) because his target fixation resulted in him turning his canopy to the right at the last second. The target fixation which led to him failing landing priority one also made him turn away from the breaks in the treeline, and right into the trees, so he failed landing priority two (land clear of obstacles).
This seems like an obvious answer but there are some old-school jumpers out there who tell younger jumpers that canopy coaching is a waste of money. First off, just... no. Every jumper, no matter the skill level, can always benefit from more training. In this situation, had this jumper taken a good canopy course, he would have likely been taught how to use flat turns and harness turns which, when properly practiced and utilized, can be safer at lower altitudes and could have let him take his downwind leg a bit longer. Canopy coaching also talks a lot about planning and anticipation. Learning more about that would have taught him to realize way earlier that he needed to make some minor adjustments to steer away from the tree line and aim for the breaks on the left or right side of the trees.
In his explanation of what he thinks happened, the jumper noted that the wind socks on the opposite side of the lower field were going in the opposite direction of the one he landed by. He thinks that he actually may have been flying downwind on final. However, given the direction of the sock right by him, we don't really think that was the case.
