Reserve deployed on tandem jump yesterday

[flyinchic 0]

I am very new to this sport, but have fallen in love with it. I did my 4th tandem jump yesterday, and we had a little more to deal with than I was used to. Since I'm so new to this, some of the terminology and the parts of the chute/pack, etc. are confusing to me. I don't have ground school until after my next jump, so I'm guessing I'll learn all about the terminology/packing, etc. then. Anyways, We jumped at 14,000 ft, great exit, no problems. I was doing what I was supposed to do. I had checked heading, altitude, and began the delta-dive-delta maneuvers with no problems. It was all going great. I checked altitude between each maneuver and again after the last delta. I began to do my first practice ripcord pull at around 9,000 ft. It was at that moment, while still reaching out, that I felt the chute open. I knew it was early, but I just figured maybe I had accidentally pulled the cord instead of just doing a practice pull. It wasn't until I heard some choice words from my instructor that I realized that something was terribly wrong. He hands me the the cord and tells me to hold that while he is working on getting something fixed with the chute. Meanwhile, I'm clueless, but praying hard. Not really scared (surprisingly)...but I guess that is where my faith came in! Thank you, Jesus! So, it took us a long time to get down....but once our reserve got straightened out everything was OK. In talking w/my instructor, I tried to find out what exactly happened, so I could learn from this. (I'm actually OK with it, it was a good learning experience...rather my first reserve ride be with someone who has done this before than by myself). He said something about the container came off...it was the pack that the main chute was in...I guess it just left us?? That is possible? I couldn't figure out if he deployed the reserve, or if it just opened. Not sure if "cut away" means you actually cut the main chute off, or if it means you deploy the reserve. At any rate, the drogue (not sure if that is spelled right) evidently never came out on exit....and it seems that maybe that had something to do with the fact that the entire main chute came off...or whatever happened. I'm still very confused, just because I don't understand how it all works yet. Any advice, has this happened to anyone else, or any help on understanding what could have happened would be nice.

I'm still ready to go back up and jump again. We ended up actually making it back and landing right on target....with a stand-up landing (my first non-butt slide)!

Christie

[bodypilot1 0]

From your explanation on starting your freefall manuevers, and then having the instructor deploy the reserve at 9K, he should have had it already out even before you reached teminal and even before you started your manuevers.
Sounds as though the drouge bridle may have broken while you were in freefall and he had to deploy the reserve.

Just a though....


Be safe
Ed

www.WestCoastWingsuits.com
www.PrecisionSkydiving.com

[sdctlc 0]

a little more info might be helpfull......

Scott C.

oh yeah, glad it has not disuaded you from jumping! I would try and get a clear picture of what happened though, it will probably give you a better understanding of the system, how a parachute works and such.. Take it as a learning experience!!

"He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

[fcajump 153]

From you description, several things come to mind (each unlikely, but obviously something happened...)

Anyone from CSS around here that can shed some informed light on the situation?

Glad to hear your with us and continuing on!!
JW

Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

[billvon 2,379]

Several things may have happened.

A bad throw or a drouge problem may have resulted in no drouge. This means that the main parachute cannot be deployed. This can be nasty since the drouge is still there somewhere and can entangle with the reserve.

A premature container opening may have resulted in an out-of-sequence deployment, where the main parachute "left you" and started bopping around at the end of its bridle. The odds of this happening depends on the design of the specific tandem rig. (Was common on older Strong rigs, not common on Vector Sigma rigs due to their design.) This usually results in a main parachute malfunction and resulting reserve ride.

An accidental pull of the cutaway handle would have resulted in a release of the main parachute before it was even deployed. Common procedure there is to deploy the main (to clear the drouge) and then deploy the reserve.