Skydive Carolina kicked off the Christmas Party at Dilworth Billiards in Charlotte, North Carolina this past Saturday. These photographs were taken by Andy Ciordia. He did an excellent job with the lighting. I’m a bit jealous of his new Nikon D series.
Link: Andy Ciordia’s Flickr Photos
On November 4th I had a parachute malfunction at about 4000 feet after opening. This is an account of what happened and the decisions I made which got me down safely.
On opening I had line twists. The line twists twisted around the slider about a foot and a half above my head. Keeping in mind that this could result in rapid loss of altitude I started to kick out the line twists (while remaining aware of whether or not the canopy was flying straight and if I was losing altitude faster than normal). It did not appear that I was losing altitude or turning, so I kept dealing with the line twists while keeping a conscious judgment of time so that I could initiate emergency procedures at sufficient altitude.
I imagine that it took about 8 seconds to undo the line twists. At that time I started looking around (in both directions) to find the airport and immediately turned 180 degrees towards the airport (while not turning too sharp to avoid losing more altitude in the turn than required). During this time while dealing with the malfunction, I was moving away from the airport, which is why this resulted in a near off-landing.
I knew that I could deal with the malfunction quickly as I have done it plenty of times in the past, so I made a decision to undo the line twists and determine if the slider did not tangle in the lines. I knew if the lines could not be undone that I would go straight to emergency procedures.
In the image, the pointed line represents my final approach. The circle represents where I landed. I determined that my only choices were to stay on final into the wind and risk landing on the runway (hoping to land on the corner of the field) or turn cross-wind and land between manifest and the trees. At the point that I was at the decision making point where I would need to turn cross-wind to make my alternate landing, I made the decision that I didn’t have enough altitude to overshoot the runway and turned.
According to where I landed, I in fact did not have enough altitude to reach the field and avoid a runway landing so I was happy with my decision. I landed with no problems.
While in the air I was definitely getting nervous. I wasn’t sure for a while if I was going to make it to a good landing spot. I didn’t know for sure what decision I would have to make until probably only 500 feet. Though even at several thousand feet I had narrowed my choices down to two that I could accept.
My choices were very limited, because I knew “about” where I would be landing. I wasn’t sure if I had enough altitude to land between the runway and the trees and wrote this off as a terrible idea from the start. If I could have made it, my landing would probably have been a disaster. In the end, I know I couldn’t have made it there anyway.
Another choice could have been to make a 180 degree turn to the opposite direction, fly away from the runway and land off in the field beyond the runway. That wasn’t an option for me since it would result in a downwind landing and the result of overshooting the field would have been having no choice but to land in a tree.
It makes you glad that you’re able to consider so many scenarios quickly.
I’ve started buying books on photography off of Amazon and reading up online more. I’m getting better.
Books:
Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi/400D Digital Field Guide
The Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers
I ordered a Canon Deluxe Photo Backpack 200EG from Amazon to carry my gear.
I started skydiving on September 9th, 2006. It has been an adventure. One which could not be surpassed even by all the great theme parks in the world when we are a child. I have not only found excitement in this sport, but I’ve also learned plenty about myself; what is important to me in my life and who I want to be.
I’m near my 100th skydive. It feels like gaining skydiver rank. First, you’re no longer considered a kind of “one-hit wonder”. You sort of “earn your wings”, much like a rock group with their second hit.
If anyone notices, odds are I will get a surprise pie in the face after my 100th skydive. It’s a sort of tradition and a lot of us try to avoid it. I probably will to, but it is all in fun. I just hope they wait till the end of the day so I don’t have to jump wearing a pie. Then again, us skydivers do like to make a statement.
Update: They didn’t get me with a pie. Sweet.
What makes your 100th skydive very interesting is you now have the option of hot air balloon and helicopter jumps or jumping with a wing suit. I don’t think I have any business jumping with a wing suit anytime soon, but I’m all for jumping out of a hot air balloon! Who isn’t?
Do I plan to stick with the sport? I was determined after the first jump and knew I would be sticking with the sport for a really long time. I don’t ever plan to quit, but regretfully one day I will have to. Hopefully I can retire around about the same time my bones get fragile at an old age.
You get to know the usuals at the drop zone and meet a lot of visitors. You see that the sport isn’t just about what happens on the skydive. From the occasional, but rare, boring day in the heart of winter, to the flourishing boogies in the middle of summer; it’s a great, changing, spontaneous atmosphere with many influential and good hearted people. You see a lot of interesting things.
For example, I was at the DZ to see the Fantastic Four 2 team practice for the demonstration jump into Lowes’ Motor Speedway in Charlotte. I’ve flown around large white puffy clouds and touched them, which might not seem like much, but to me it’s something special. Only in the last hundred years have we been able to reach the sky and I actually get to float in a cloud, with no cockpit blocking the view around me, long enough to experience the moment. Can you actually imagine looking up, down, to your left and right and seeing a cloud touch you? How many people get to do that?
It has been a great ride and I’m nowhere near ready to get off. I have a kid on the way and am moving into a house with my girlfriend this weekend, but hopefully that doesn’t change anything. I hope I never miss a Saturday at the drop zone. I’ve learned a lot, not just about skydiving, but about myself.
Whuffos (you non-skydivers) wonder why we do it and plenty of us probably ask ourselves the same question all the time. There isn’t a single answer that you will hear. I could tell you that skydiving makes me feel like I am actually in control of my life. It’s something about putting yourself in charge of falling through the sky where no one can save you, but yourself and your decisions. Though we all have our own reasons.
I hope I see plenty more blue skies.
Link: Skydive Carolina!