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SirShroomsAlott
Howdy



Registered: 05/15/14
Posts: 6,945
Loc: United States
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Technically my first solo skydive yesterday, also my first parachute malfunction. 3
#23658866 - 09/19/16 01:50 PM (7 years, 4 months ago) |
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I say technically because I'm currently taking my AFP so I can get my license and yesterday was the first time I jumped without someone actually attached to me by harness, an instructor jumps out holding on to your leg and arm and falls with you to give you handsignals in order to correct body position or in case you're forgetting to do one of the steps (like 3 practice pulls or not checking your altimeter, picking a heading and sticking with it, etc.) For the first couple jumps he's mainly there just in case you panic and he has to pull the chute for you before pulling his own.
But anyway, get to 5500 feet, grab the pilot chute and yank it out, count to four and look up to see if my suspension lines are straight, slider is all the way down, and rectangular shape of the canopy like they taught us to look for but instead I see this

A line twist is by far the most common malfunction and for the most part the least dangerous, most of the time it happens because you're slightly spinning upon opening and occasionally because of a packing error, most of the time you just grab onto the risers (where the guys hands are in the picture) and do a kind of bicycle kick to spin it back out, but occasionally it'll keep twisting and start to bow your canopy and send you into a very quick spin making it so you have to cutaway and use your reserve. Almost instant panic attack because the last thing I expected was any type of malfunction and once the canopy opened I was completely by myself to deal with it but luckily it ended up being no big deal. Thank god the ground school teaches you exactly what can happen and what to do because once it does happen you almost immediately know what to do without thinking about it.
Went from straight panic to instant relief the second I spun it back out, then back to panic because I've never actually operated the canopy before and the guy hadn't contacted me on the radio yet to guide me and I was afraid I'd fuck up somehow and cause the canopy to fail lol
I just had to tell someone/vent about it because it initially made me panic hard and I can't talk to friends or family about it because they already hate the fact I'm doing this and would probably try to find a way to prevent me from continuing if I told them
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OhMrJohnson
Ashes Against The Grain

Registered: 01/12/14
Posts: 17,544
Loc: Terra Incognita
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Re: Technically my first solo skydive yesterday, also my first parachute malfunction. [Re: SirShroomsAlott]
#23658876 - 09/19/16 01:53 PM (7 years, 4 months ago) |
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Damn dood that must be intense though
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SirShroomsAlott
Howdy



Registered: 05/15/14
Posts: 6,945
Loc: United States
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Re: Technically my first solo skydive yesterday, also my first parachute malfunction. [Re: OhMrJohnson]
#23658924 - 09/19/16 02:06 PM (7 years, 4 months ago) |
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It must be pretty common or something because i told the instructor when i got on the ground and he was just like "oh damn, well atleast you remembered what to do" and just walked away lol and i was just sitting there thinking "dude i almost just had a heart attack, dont act so nonchalant about it"
Im just happy it wasnt a highspeed malfunction, in that scenario seconds make a big difference and panicking is the last thing you want to do because youre basically falling 1000 feet every 5-6 seconds
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spirit_shadow
Feature not a bug



Registered: 08/15/11
Posts: 25,674
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Re: Technically my first solo skydive yesterday, also my first parachute malfunction. [Re: SirShroomsAlott]
#23658933 - 09/19/16 02:10 PM (7 years, 4 months ago) |
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Terminal velocity to the ground is how I want to go for sure. Glad your alive though, I would have freaked as well lol
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SirShroomsAlott
Howdy



Registered: 05/15/14
Posts: 6,945
Loc: United States
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Re: Technically my first solo skydive yesterday, also my first parachute malfunction. [Re: spirit_shadow]
#23658943 - 09/19/16 02:15 PM (7 years, 4 months ago) |
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Thats how i look at it, its unbelievably fun and almost meditative, the chance of dieing is pretty rare (like 19-24 deaths out of 3.2 million jumps, most of which were human error, not equipment error)
But if it actually does go wrong then fuck it, just close your eyes and atleast you wont feel anything, doesnt seem like a bad way to go to me lol granted that when i saw the line twist i yelled out "fuuuccckkkk, noooooo" until i got it corrected
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