Should 'Low Reserve Pulls' have it's own category in the fatality reports?

[bigtexan 0]

In looking at the fatality reports .. low reserve pulls seems to have it's own pattern .. should we consider pulling those out of other categories and putting them in a category of their own.

[Tonto 1]

Surely this is already covered in low pull/no pull?

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[DougH 270]

Are you talking about low cutaways, below a survivable altitude?

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[Tonto 1]

Quote

Are you talking about low cutaways, below a survivable altitude?

No, I'm talking about low reserve pulls, below a survivable altitude. (Hence reference to the fatality report in the thread title.)

The main may or may not have been deployed, or may have been cut away at sufficient altitude, but the reserve had been pulled/deployed by the AAD too low to allow full deployment. (Rising ground, incorrect offset of the AAD etc.)

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[bigtexan 0]

I'm thinking ..

Low Pull height .. malfunction .. too low to successfully cutaway with time for reserve to deploy.

Good Pull Height .. malfunction .. took too long to cutaway and thus too low for reserve to deploy.

To me, it is not a malfunction incident if the reserve would have deployed with out issue .. instead .. it is a low reserve pull issue.

Malfunctions are when the both canopys fail to work correctly ..

In the secton 'malfunctions', and some in 'no pull' seem to indicate the reserve was not deployed in time but would have worked most likely with a bit more altitude at the tme the reserve was pulled .. which means they spent too much time correcting a malfunction or simply pulled too low in the first place.

For example, a low reserve pull after a collision when the collision happened too low would be a collision incident. However, a low reserve pull because the individual spent too much time working on a malfunction would be a low reserve pull incident .. but a individual who pulled too low to mange a malfunction in a timely maner would be a 'low pull' incident.

Just thinking that the incident reports are a bit out of character with the root cause at times and that a better incident reporting classification breakdown may provide us with more insights as to how to prioritize our safty concerns.

[riggerrob 558]

...
However, a low reserve pull because the individual spent too much time working on a malfunction would be a low reserve pull incident ..

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.

This used to be a large chunk of USPA's annual fatality report, but has faded since electronic AADs have become fashionable.
Now "two-out" is the more likely conclusion.

Slow response to main malfunctions is a recurring problem with skydivers getting rusty on reserve procedures and hesitating when their main malfunctions.
It scares me how often skydivers respond incorrectly - or ridiculously slowly - to simulated malfunctions when they drop off their reserves for repack. It scares me how often customers pull handles out of sequence, omit handles, etc.

Note: as part of my normal rigger service I ask customers to pull their own reserve ripcords when they drop off their rigs for scheduled repacks.
POPS respond much better when I ask "would you like me to spin you around and yell about scary malfunctions."

As a further service, I sometimes allow students to pull - school - reserves if they are due for repack. Pulling a reserve ripcord is a big confidence-builder for students.

[DougH 270]

Quote

Quote

Are you talking about low cutaways, below a survivable altitude?

No, I'm talking about low reserve pulls, below a survivable altitude. (Hence reference to the fatality report in the thread title.)

The main may or may not have been deployed, or may have been cut away at sufficient altitude, but the reserve had been pulled/deployed by the AAD too low to allow full deployment. (Rising ground, incorrect offset of the AAD etc.)

t

Sorry Tonto, I am posting challenged, I was trying to reply to the OP.

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[Tonto 1]

No Problem.
t

It's the year of the Pig.