sgt_ludy 0 #1 April 19, 2007 watch at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaneBnDae_o After an uneventful tandemvideo i pulled at 1000m (3000ft) an immediatly noticed a very "soft" opening shock. i looked up and noticed 2 linetwists, slider was still up. it didn´t take long for the canopy to start spinning. after what i thought were 3 complete turns i decided to cutaway and hung under a good reserve at 400m (1200ft). i kept all my handles (and was really surprised about it!), found my main and freebag on the way to the packing hangar. canopy is a crossfire2 119 loaded @ 1.8 what really happened: 1) i had prepared myself for such a malfunction for a long time and my plan was to give the canopy maximum 3 spins to recover and then to cut away. for me it was very important to have this plan, because without i probably would have wasted precious time trying to recover from the spins. 2) i had learned to do my EP´s with one hand on each handle and that´s how i tried to do it, but i could´nt pull my cutaway handle with just one hand. i´m 1,91m and i weigh 92kg, i do a lot of workout and i would not consider myself weak. i had to waste time and use my 2 hands to pull. i have already ordered hard housings for my riser and i´ve changed my EP drills -> 2 hands for cutaway. 3) after cutting away i had a really hard time to regain a stable belly to earth position. in fact i didn´t and had to pull the reserve in a slight head-down position. it took me 6 to 7 seconds between cutaway and reserve pull. in those 6 seconds i remembered all the incident reports i´ve read, where other skydivers waited too long to pull the reserve and bounced. time and altitude awareness is critical. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fcajump 153 #2 April 19, 2007 Quote watch at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaneBnDae_o After an uneventful tandemvideo i pulled at 1000m (3000ft) an immediatly noticed a very "soft" opening shock. i looked up and noticed 2 linetwists, slider was still up. it didn´t take long for the canopy to start spinning. after what i thought were 3 complete turns i decided to cutaway and hung under a good reserve at 400m (1200ft). i kept all my handles (and was really surprised about it!), found my main and freebag on the way to the packing hangar. canopy is a crossfire2 119 loaded @ 1.8 what really happened: 1) i had prepared myself for such a malfunction for a long time and my plan was to give the canopy maximum 3 spins to recover and then to cut away. for me it was very important to have this plan, because without i probably would have wasted precious time trying to recover from the spins. 2) i had learned to do my EP´s with one hand on each handle and that´s how i tried to do it, but i could´nt pull my cutaway handle with just one hand. i´m 1,91m and i weigh 92kg, i do a lot of workout and i would not consider myself weak. i had to waste time and use my 2 hands to pull. i have already ordered hard housings for my riser and i´ve changed my EP drills -> 2 hands for cutaway. 3) after cutting away i had a really hard time to regain a stable belly to earth position. in fact i didn´t and had to pull the reserve in a slight head-down position. it took me 6 to 7 seconds between cutaway and reserve pull. in those 6 seconds i remembered all the incident reports i´ve read, where other skydivers waited too long to pull the reserve and bounced. time and altitude awareness is critical. CONGRATS!!! on surviving. As to stable, well... better pull a bit unstable/head down than spend the rest of your life trying to get stable. (A local DZ lost one that way years ago ) JWAlways remember that some clouds are harder than others... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
darkwing 4 #3 April 19, 2007 Quote... 3) after cutting away i had a really hard time to regain a stable belly to earth position. in fact i didn´t and had to pull the reserve in a slight head-down position. it took me 6 to 7 seconds between cutaway and reserve pull. in those 6 seconds i remembered all the incident reports i´ve read, where other skydivers waited too long to pull the reserve and bounced. time and altitude awareness is critical. Glad you didn't die. Lots of dead people did just what you did. This is either a good advertisement for the Skyhook, or "note to self" pull immediately. -- Jeff My Skydiving History Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkymonkeyONE 3 #4 April 19, 2007 After nearly going in under a hard spinning main that I could not cutaway, even with two hands, I would never, ever consider jumping a small main without hard housings in the risers. I can't believe people are still jumping gear without them. Chuck Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mbondvegas 0 #5 April 20, 2007 QuoteAfter nearly going in under a hard spinning main that I could not cutaway, even with two hands, I would never, ever consider jumping a small main without hard housings in the risers. I can't believe people are still jumping gear without them. Chuck I second that without the caveat related to small mains. I had a hardcutaway on a Spectre 210 with a lineover that spun it into line twist...It makes no sense to not have hard housings in your risers....no matter the size of you main.- - - I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sundevil777 93 #6 April 20, 2007 Do you think the hard cutaway pull was due to the risers being twisted? Did you 'peel' the cutaway pad off the velcro before pulling? I don't mean to insult you, just wanting more info to help make your report more useful.People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sgt_ludy 0 #7 April 20, 2007 sure, no offense taken... no, i didn´t peel the cutaway handle off the velcro, but i don´t think the hard pull was induced by the velcro. i ripped the handle off the velcro, and THEN came the hard pull on the cutaway handle. on the video it seems to me that both risers don´t come off simultaneously (spelling?). you can see the riser come off and then it seems that after one second i´m in freefall again. thanks for all the "good job staying alive"... it wasn´t that hard...but it was not as easy as i had always imagined it would be. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Royd 0 #8 April 23, 2007 Oh, the sweetness of that solid colored reserve! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SwampThing 0 #9 April 23, 2007 Quote found my main and freebag on the way to the packing hangar. *** Good job on not dying! Did you find the main, or follow it down? The Pessimist says: "It can't possibly get any worse!" The Optimist says: "Sure it can!" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sgt_ludy 0 #10 April 23, 2007 i found it, no way i could have followed it down, but i saw where it went down... brand new crossfire2 with just 7 jumps! man, i was happy! and the freebag just lay there, on the way to the hangar... nice Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
