I'm not an expert....but it looked like a stable biplane....then he turns aggresively (or tries to separate the two canopies (downplane risk ?) )... before cutting the main away at a ridiculously low altitude... I may be wrong....and please correct me if I am.... but this video serves as a great example of how NOT to manage a two out situation...
If the jumper concerned would like to post his train of thought on this event I would love to read it...
(This post was edited by Zoter on Aug 9, 2006, 3:42 AM)
That jumper is very very lucky his main went away cleanly. He handled this very stupidly, he could easily have entagled the 2 and gotten hurt or died. Don't know how he got into the situation in the first place, but his solution sure leaves a lot to be desired!
Ugh, that's bad. I saw a similar situation live a few moths ago. The cutaway altitude was a little higher, the jumper stated the canopies looked like they were starting to downplane, but I'm sure his heart skipped a beat when the main riser caught on the side of the reserve for a moment before separating completely, just spinning him 180 degrees so he landed downwind and walked away with only some nasty scrapes.
One thing that also kinda bothers me with this video is the crowd cheering what is obviously a bad situation and an even worse last-second decision. I'd expect at least one or two people yelling "Don't cut!" and "You bloody idiot!" when he did...
It is not an ideal situation. My guess as to why he cut away is that it looks like the two canopies were starting to seperate and he may have been worried about a down plane occuring. As he turns right at the start it is not clear if he is using the risers or toggles but they definitely start to shift.
I am not condoning his actions, just pointing out there is often more to it than appears. If this had gone into a downplane at 100 feet he wouldn't have walked away. He did walk away. As long as people realise that cutting away a stable biplane is wrong then he has survived an incident, hopefully learnt from it and we should move on and not slam him too much.
My original post was not intended to 'slam' anyone....the last statement in it sums it up ie it is a good example of how not to 'manage' a two out situation ( ie turn a stable situation into one that requires dangerous manouvres so close to the ground) He did what he he thought he had to do and I respct that decison......would he have done anything differently if the situation could magically repeat itself....I'd bet he would say yes !
