No, I used (and purchased) a much larger canopy - 280 sq ft vs. the "bed
sheet" used by the jumper in the video. It yields a much slower descent and
swooping isn't much of an option. I like thrills, but not hitting the
ground!

On a side note, after telling my instructor that I was finished after 7
jumps, my wife and I went out to the student landing area to watch. There
was a young woman making her first jump so we decided to stay for that. At
5,000' AGL, her chute was barely visible, but we were able to watch her
respond to radio commands; "Turn right", "Turn left", "FLARE". She executed
all commands as expected, flew a perfect pattern to final approach, and then
froze...

We could see the panic in her eyes as she stopped following the instructor's
commands. She smacked into the ground about 20 feet from us with a horrible
"thud" and lay still for quite some time. Finally, with the instructor
tending to her, she slowly got up. I doubt she made a second jump.


"son_of_flubber" wrote in message
...
On Sunday, March 3, 2013 7:21:08 PM UTC-5, son_of_flubber wrote:

PTSD ALERT: The linked video is from a helmet cam of someone who flairs
improperly, hits the ground hard, and becomes a paraplegic.

Here's an Q&A done by the same guy on Reddit. He had 200 jumps prior to
the accident.

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comment...on_a_jump_ask/