Skydive #236 - November 20, 1999

Perris Valley, California
www.skydiveperris.com

A close one.

Dirt Dive Previous exiting soloist
I was shooting a 2-way coach dive with Floyd, in white, as the coach and Amy, with about 75 dives, as the subject. Actually, this was supposed to be a 3-way that also included Dan, but Dan missed the plane. Amy also was checking out some stuff with her canopy, so she was going to be opening slightly high -- about 3,500. Sky broken with upper winds out of the north at 30. Because Amy was a "high opener" Floyd decided we should let two solo divers out ahead of us and that since the rest of the Otter was full of tandems, we'd go in front of them.
Before we got to our jump altitude of 12,500 AGL, I'd already checked my gear, put my helmet on and taken a place by the door so that I could watch the exits of the soloists.

Previous exiting soloist tumbling Our exit
Tammy, visiting from Skydive Oregon, was immediately before us and I watched her take her place at the door and then push off -- tumbling into the void. Floyd waited a few seconds while checking the spot and then gave the signal for climb out.
12 seconds elapsed between the time Tammy and we exited.

Undershot Surprize!
My exit was mediocre at best and I fell below the two-way. Made for a nice shot, but not really where I needed to be.
At the end of the skydive, about 4,000 AGL, we turned to track as planned.
As I got turned 180 from group center, I looked down while tracking and below me was a dot moving towards me -- FAST. I estimated the dot to be about 700 feet below and since my canopy usually snivels about 700 to 800 feet, I decided to track as hard as I could to miss it.
You can see this black and red canopy at the very bottom of the frame above -- that's Tammy.

Yes, my decision to attempt to track away from it was VERY concious. I reasoned that if I immediately pulled the moment I saw it that I would have opened either on top of it or possibly collided with it while still sniveling.

I went screaming past the canopy a little over a hundred feet away and after I cleared it, pulled my main.

According to my ProTrack, I was in the saddle at 2200, meaning that the canopy was at or just below 3,000 when I passed it.

According to the video tape, 4 seconds elapsed between the time I got turned around and passed it.

4 seconds -- about 700 feet at 120 mph.

Observations:

It was extremely difficult for me to tell if I was directly over or slightly to which side I was of the open canopy below me. I estimate I made my decision in about one second and really only got to track effectively for about three.

There was a point during the skydive where I -could- have pulled and not had to worry about a collision with the skydiver below me -- breakoff. However, I knew Amy was planning on pulling at 3,500 and also knew from previous jumps she wasn't great at tracking. That's why I had decided to turn and track away from her in the first place.

How had I let myself get into this position?

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I was shooting a 2-way coach dive with Floyd, in white, as the coach and Amy, with about 75 dives, as the subject. Actually, this was supposed to be a 3-way that also included Dan, but Dan missed the plane. Amy also was checking out some stuff with her canopy, so she was going to be opening slightly high -- about 3,500. Sky broken with upper winds out of the north at 30.	Because Amy was a "high opener" Floyd decided we should let two solo divers out ahead of us and that since the rest of the Otter was full of tandems, we'd go in front of them. Before we got to our jump altitude of 12,500 AGL, I'd already checked my gear, put my helmet on and taken a place by the door so that I could watch the exits of the soloists.


Tammy, visiting from Skydive Oregon, was immediately before us and I watched her take her place at the door and then push off -- tumbling into the void.	Floyd waited a few seconds while checking the spot and then gave the signal for climb out. 12 seconds elapsed between the time Tammy and we exited.


My exit was mediocre at best and I fell below the two-way. Made for a nice shot, but not really where I needed to be. At the end of the skydive, about 4,000 AGL, we turned to track as planned.	As I got turned 180 from group center, I looked down while tracking and below me was a dot moving towards me -- FAST. I estimated the dot to be about 700 feet below and since my canopy usually snivels about 700 to 800 feet, I decided to track as hard as I could to miss it. You can see this black and red canopy at the very bottom of the frame above -- that's Tammy.