Thermalling, Anyone!

I did it last August - prime soaring in New Mexico. For the first jump, I
wore boots. After that I wore sneakers. The landings were much softer than
I'd experienced under a round canopy in the Air Force. It's the ability to
flare almost to a stand still that makes it so nice.


"son_of_flubber" wrote in message
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On Sunday, March 3, 2013 12:06:06 PM UTC-5, Dan Marotta wrote:
I had plenty of simulation training during my Air Force pilot training.

Forty years later, I bought a ram air emergency chute and got training at

the local jump club.

This is very enticing but I've held off because I was concerned that I might
injure my legs/back. I'm not overweight, but my bones are older and a cast
would kill a season of soaring. I'd do this at the end of the season if
ever, but then I'd worry about missing ski season and putting on 30 pounds
over a winter of inactivity.

On Sunday, March 3, 2013 6:40:40 PM UTC-5, Dan Marotta wrote:
I did it last August - prime soaring in New Mexico. For the first jump, I
wore boots. After that I wore sneakers. The landings were much softer than
I'd experienced under a round canopy in the Air Force. It's the ability to
flare almost to a stand still that makes it so nice.

Do you fly the same sort of parachute as this guy? Click on 'more' to expand the description of the video.

PTSD ALERT: The linked video is from a helmet cam of someone who flairs improperly, hits the ground hard, and becomes a paraplegic. You might not want to watch this. There is no gore, but the visuals might disturb you if you jump.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tF578oSkrKk

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/

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/