Landing awareness
Brent P. Callaghan
unexpected times.
A couple of years ago I was visiting the DZ at Spaceland, TX
where they have all the Twin Otters. A nice place to jump
and a nice bunch of people. On the climbout you get a good view
of the Johnson Spacecraft Center and the Saturn V rocket lying
on it's side.
I participated in a fun 6 way dive, then docked third on
a triplane during the canopy ride. I was feeling quite
happy and relaxed; what could go wrong now ?
On approach to the landing area I noticed that we were
going to land short, so I asked to be dropped. I flew
out to one side to clear the other two, and continued
toward the packing area.
I flared for landing and tippy-toed into the grass.
I was suprised when my canopy crashed to the ground
in front of me with a loud THUMP!
The canopy struggled a bit, then a dazed skydiver emerged.
It seems that after clearing the biplane I had flown back
underneath it and the stack pilot had dropped his buddy
into the middle of my canopy as I flared.
We were all very grateful that it hadn't happened just a
little bit higher!
Whose fault ? We agreed that we all were at fault.
Being underneath, my canopy had blocked my view of them,
and I had assumed that they were looking out for me.
In concentrating on their own landings, they had not
noticed me sliding back underneath.
Needless to say: I'm very careful now to be aware of where
everyone is when I'm coming in to land.
It's nice when fate gives us such gentle lessons in safety.
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Made in New Zealand --> Brent Callaghan
AT&T Information Systems, Lincroft, NJ
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