USPA Skydiver Advisory

[tbrown 26]

Caught this in my emailed USPA Newsletter yesterday. A recent trend in fatalities that seems to be occurring at about one fatality a year is reserves that aren't opening fast enough after activation has begun, whether by a manual ripcord pull, RSL, or AAD activation. These activations are from lower than desired altitudes, in most cases I'd guess from below a grand. But they "should be" high enough for deployment of the reserve.

USPA is urging ALL members to perform a reserve drill at repack time, in the presence of their rigger. They are urging everyone to put on their rig, fully packed, and with the rigger watching, to pull both our emergency handles. The rigger is to observe p/c launch and then to manually extract the freebag from the container. Any obstructions, abnormalities, or problems at all with extraction are to be documented and reported to USPA, PIA, and the rig's manufacturer.

Personally, my rigger has always insisted that I do this anyway and I've always thought it was a good idea.

One has to wonder if rigs these days are getting a little too small, a little too tight, and a little too sexy looking. In the old days, round reserves weren't bag packed and they came out and opened like greased lightning. I'm not calling for a return to round reserves (no way - thank you very much...), but from what I've seen, square reserves do NOT open as fast as the rounds used to. I know at least one person who pulled both his handles at 500 ft and walked away from a 5 second ride under a round reserve. Not sure if he'd have survived with today's gear.

There's something very basic at stake here and we may be taking way too much for granted.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[riggerrob 563]

Agreed!

Rob Warner
FAA Master Rigger
CSPA Rigger Examiner

[riggerpaul 1]

There's a thread over in the General Skydiving Discussions forum you might want to read.

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3833943;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

(I hope I made the clicky work right.)

There's been substantial discussion of this already.

[Jbag 0]

so what you are saying is if i get a round reserve i can fight my main longer? =D

IHYD

[tbrown 26]

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so what you are saying is if i get a round reserve i can fight my main longer? =D

I never said anything of the kind, so please don't go putting words in my mouth :-(

What I DID say is that there's a fundamental difference in the way square and round reserves deploy. Round reserves were not bagged, they were pulled out like a snake, with the p/c attached to the apex. Whereas square reserves are bagged and the whole bag has to come out at once. I also said the old diapered round reserves opened faster, which is based on my observations over the years.

As to my friend who almost went in, his case was one of those unfortunate "cascade of events" that too often can lead to a fatality. He had a pull out p/c that collapsed in his burlbe. when he knocked the bag loose with his elbow, the p/c hitched around the lines causing a baglock. He found himself simultaneously pulling both his handles as he plummeted through 500 ft. His Pioneer Super 22 round reserve opened in time to give him about a 5 second ride to the ground and he walked away.

With today's gear, he'd likely have had an AAD fire at 750 - 850 ft, which may or may not have cleared the baglock. Or without an AAD, and pulling both handles at 500 ft with today's rigs and a square reserve......I'm really not sure if he'd have made it.

He never should have let himself get that low in the first place. But believe me, it can happen to anyone and it can happen in no time at all. Which is why reserves need to open just as low and as quickly as possible.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[tbrown 26]

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There's a thread over in the General Skydiving Discussions forum you might want to read.

There's been substantial discussion of this already.

Um, actually I did a search for it and missed it somehow. Sorry to ruin your day, but the other thread seems to have degenerated into a pissing match over secret lists, and conspiracies between the "evil" PIA and "spineless" USPA.

I wish people at dramazone would grow the fuck up.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[mjosparky 3]

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There's a thread over in the General Skydiving Discussions forum you might want to read.

There's been substantial discussion of this already.

Um, actually I did a search for it and missed it somehow. Sorry to ruin your day, but the other thread seems to have degenerated into a pissing match over secret lists, and conspiracies between the "evil" PIA and "spineless" USPA.

I wish people at dramazone would grow the fuck up.

Tom, I don't think you will see that in our lifetime.

Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[popsjumper 2]

I, for one, wholeheartedly agree with the idea of pulling both handles at re-pack time. I have youngsters put on my rig and practice this at every re-pack.

My rigs both have a good, strong PC launch and the bag is easily extracted....all well and good.

I have witnessed reserve PCs that fell to the floor hitting the jumpers calves. I have personally pulled the reserve bag out of containers that took, what I feel to be, too much pull force for extraction....not good.

The Advisory is a good thing IMHO. Everyone, spread the word around to as many as possible. The life you save may be your own.

Thanks, Tom

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[tkhayes 154]

my first tandem cutaway, the main blew up, but was still open, just not flyable. I chopped and the reserve deployment took a full 6-7 seconds

Count that out, it was one fucking long time and we were accelerating like mad.

I was pissed.

If you are not allowing for at LEAST 1000' to do a chop on a sport rig and 2500' on a tandem rig, then these days you are playing with fire.

We are all going faster than ever before, in freefall, and under canopy. Pull higher, practice your emergencies, try once try twice then get the fuck out of Dodge and chop that sonofabitch.....

[timmyfitz 0]

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so what you are saying is if i get a round reserve i can fight my main longer? =D

I never said anything of the kind, so please don't go putting words in my mouth :-(

I guess you missed the smiley at the end of his comment which would indicate he was joking.

I wish people at dramazone would grow the fuck up. =D

[slotperfect 7]

Let's keep this thread going:

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3833943;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;

Arrive Safely

John