Skydiving

no, but

by Tracey_E - 2016-10-09 21:58:46

Can't say I've ever had the urge to jump out of a perfectly good plane, but would the force be that much more than a roller coaster? Many of us have done those without issue. SCUBA is ok also, within limits. I called SJM and asked, they said my device was good to 5 atm,which is deeper than I'd ever want to go with recreational diving. Have you called your device manufacturer?

No - but came close, thrice...

by donr - 2016-10-10 09:21:06

Here are some random thoughts by an old Army guy on parachutes...  I wrote this some three yrs ago in response to someone else who was asking about it.  A woman named Bostonstrong was the originator of the exchange.  She went to CA at least once a yr to paraglide from some cliffs overlookig the Pacific Ocean & hankered to actually throw herself out of a plane - cannot recall if she actually did it or not.

In Uncle Sam's Army, Jump training includes several phases, since it is very specialized. You are goung to take everything w/ you except the kitchen sink - & some folks will have that along, just in case!  One of these phases is getting you out the door!  (How's that for having agood grip on the obvious?)  Getting trhe jumper out the door correctly is important because the jumper's only purpose is getting all the junk attached to the harness out in the proper orientation so he she doesn't take any of the shocks as the chute opens. 

How an Army chute works - The jumper goes out FEET FIRST, attached to the plane by a static line.  The static line makes sure that the jumper stays in that orientation, with his/her head toward the plane.  They come to the end of the satatic line & the chute, which is in its own bag, packed inside the outer bag, is pulled out to stretch out the risers.  So here yu have the following - static line stretched out, chute still enclosed in a light bag, fully stretched out risers, human cargo at the far end with all the gear attached to the harness.  Now the chute slips out of its light bag & is pulled to full extension, but not fully inflated, by a piece of string.  The string gets fully stretched out & suddenly is all that is holding well over 250 lbs that is dropping rapidly.  needless to say, the string pops & the chute fully inflates, w/ minimal shock to the human that is going along as cargo. 

If the jumper did it all correctly when exiting the door, he/she is properly aligned in the harness so all the force is taken up by the crotch/leg straps of the harness w/ absolutely minimal stress on the shoulder area.

Closest I ever got to that point was jumping out of a 35' tower at Ft Benning in GA  in the Summer of 1957.  I've watched a bunch of folks jump at the same location, & it is amazing how all that body orientation works at getting the jumpers out the door & dangling correctly in the harness.  Watched a #1 daughter & #2 Grand daughter do it - some 25 odd yrs apart.  Both had same reaction - no shock to the shoulder area. I specifically asked GD about it, since I had my PM then (back in summer of 2014).

Below is a cy of my 2013 comment to someone about it - But I think that NOW I would modify it a bit.  Skydivers don't seem to worry much about body position on going through the door.  They are sitting, standing, crouching, lying on their backs, stomachs, whatever the door allows on the plane they happen to have available. It appears that all they worry about is getting prone, belly down, limbs-akimber, head essentially down.  They pull the D-Ring in that position, so the chute pops out & stretches the risers while you are head down. Appears that you would feel torque on the shoulders as the chute pulls you into the proper position - feet down.You are also going a bit faster than after a static line jump that opens the chute after about a 50' max fall.
Anyway - here's some old rasndom thoughts on the subject.

Parachutes

by donr - 2013-09-14 10:09:56 Edit

Ya know, I'm not all that excited about the stress of a harness on a shoulder when a chute opens. For several reasons:

1) If stress on the incision is critical, NO ONE who has ever undergone surgery should be allowed to jump. A scar is just as strong as normal tissue after it has completely healed. I know at least ONE man who jumped in the Army w/ a full load of gear with a wooden leg. His amputation never gave him any trouble. Name was John Giveden. Lost a leg below the knee in Korea in about 1953.

2) The stress is all on the crotch area - hence the heavy web straps supporting the body around the thighs & meeting in a connection point somewhere near the center of mass of the torso. Army chute harnesses have a single fastener that brings all the straps together & fastens them at a single point w/ a quick release.

3) IIRC, chute harnesses connect the riser straps to the harness BELOW the site of the PM - so how could the PM receive any greatly increased stress from the opening?

The closest I've ever come to parachuting is a training session at the Army's Airborne school. We jumped out of a 35 ft tower attached to a cable that would stop a D-8 Caterpillar Dozer. I cannot recall any force at all on my shoulder area - but MAN-O-MAN, the feeling in the crotch was memorable - even today, nearly 60 yrs later.

I think this issue requires that anyone interested in skydiving buy their Cardio a gift of a big blanket they can use to cover their nether regions & go do some examination of the forces on the body from the engineer's perspective. Granted, this is NOT jumping w/ an Army T-10 or later chute where the risers are fully stretched out before the chute starts to fill w/ air to cushion the shock. But you are not shuffling along lugging nearly 100 lbs of gear, either.

Don (Curmudgeon)

Skydying

by Cabg Patch - 2016-10-10 12:36:39

I've been a member here for about 9 years and do recall a number of members who announced they were planning to do some skydying and you know, funny thing we never heard back from them...sorry I can't help

sky drived few times but pacemaker starts racing my heart until i get closer to ground

by Wo bist du - 2016-10-11 00:57:13

but no real issue

Skydiving

by Daedalus - 2022-02-23 16:04:28

Skydiving after pacemaker implant?  I retired from skydiving a few years ago after 30 wonderful years of jumping and 1,200+ jumps.  Got a pacemaker recently and wouldn't skydive now even if I wanted to.  The risk of the chest strap popping the pacemaker out of my chest or the leads getting pulled out of place is just not worth it.  
Perhaps with proper padding over the device, one could para glide and thus avoid the opening shock of the chute.