Friday Freakout: Swoop Fail, Skydiver Bounces On Hard Landing & Breaks Elbow

Zej Moczydlowski
ago

What happened

This swooper followed the landing pattern set by the first jumper. Unfortunately, the first person down didn't realize that the wind shifted 180 degrees while the load was in the air. This swooper then realized that he was too low for his normal 450 degree turn, so he took it a little lower and decided to try for a 270 instead. He just went for it, stayed in the dive a little longer than he normally would, and when he realized he was low, he stayed on his rears instead of stabbing out on toggles. The first bounce didn't injure him, but on the second impact with the ground he landed on an outstretched hand and the shock traveled up his arm and shattered his elbow.

Why did it happen?

Just sending it

This jumper knew that his original plan had fallen apart and he decided to just try and send something anyway. Not only did he know that the winds were different from what he had originally expected, he also knew that he was lower than he wanted to be for that particular turn. Instead of just saying, "I'll get it on the next jump," he went for it without proper planning.

How could it be prevented

Take a Lap

This first part is simple, if your plan falls apart as you come in to do a swoop, just land. Don't push it and don't play it by ear, prioritize your safety and get your swoop in our your next jump. The cost of a jump ticket is cheaper than a ten thousand dollar hospital bill.

Stab Out!

Canopy coaches often have new students do a turn at altitude and then stab out just so they get familiar with how much pressure you need to apply to your toggles to pull out of a dive... it's a lot more than most folks think because once that canopy is picking up speed it takes a lot of muscle to get out of that dive. This jumper decided to stay on his rears because they were "afraid that those milliseconds during the switch (from rears to toggles) could make my canopy dive even more." That's a pretty big mistake which suggests that they needed some more coaching.

 

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What happened

This swooper followed the landing pattern set by the first jumper. Unfortunately, the first person down didn't realize that the wind shifted 180 degrees while the load was in the air. This swooper then realized that he was too low for his normal 450 degree turn, so he took it a little lower and decided to try for a 270 instead. He just went for it, stayed in the dive a little longer than he normally would, and when he realized he was low, he stayed on his rears instead of stabbing out on toggles. The first bounce didn't injure him, but on the second impact with the ground he landed on an outstretched hand and the shock traveled up his arm and shattered his elbow.

Why did it happen?

Just sending it

This jumper knew that his original plan had fallen apart and he decided to just try and send something anyway. Not only did he know that the winds were different from what he had originally expected, he also knew that he was lower than he wanted to be for that particular turn. Instead of just saying, "I'll get it on the next jump," he went for it without proper planning.

How could it be prevented

Take a Lap

This first part is simple, if your plan falls apart as you come in to do a swoop, just land. Don't push it and don't play it by ear, prioritize your safety and get your swoop in our your next jump. The cost of a jump ticket is cheaper than a ten thousand dollar hospital bill.

Stab Out!

Canopy coaches often have new students do a turn at altitude and then stab out just so they get familiar with how much pressure you need to apply to your toggles to pull out of a dive... it's a lot more than most folks think because once that canopy is picking up speed it takes a lot of muscle to get out of that dive. This jumper decided to stay on his rears because they were "afraid that those milliseconds during the switch (from rears to toggles) could make my canopy dive even more." That's a pretty big mistake which suggests that they needed some more coaching.

 

Coming Soon

Hang tight, our new comments system and community features will be live soon.

to join the conversation.

One comment on “Friday Freakout: Swoop Fail, Skydiver Bounces On Hard Landing & Breaks Elbow”

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