Two parter - Lineover that cleared itself, and a WHAM of an opening... Thoughts?

[ntrprnr 0]

Actually, I suppose it should be a WHAM of an opening, THEN a lineover that cleared itself.

So there I was... Practicing free-flying with a friend of mine. I'm starting to get my sit. Slowly.

Anyhow, we break off at 5,500, and I track away. I guess I tracked for about 3 seconds or so, he wasn't really near me when we broke, so I didn't have that far to go.

Mistake #1: I rushed. I didn't look at my altimeter during the track, (My ditter had just sounded the 4,500 mark in my ear.) I didn't take a deep breath before pulling, something I've found that if I do, I tend to have cleaner, softer openings. This, of course, also translates into probably not properly stopping the track, and or slowing down enough.

Pitch - WHAM! Full canopy, with 3 or so line twists. Kick out of them relatively easy, while cursing the pain from the opening (and yes, incredibly sore now, day after.) I look up and notice my canopy has a line over on the right side. Oh, shit.

First one. "OK,"I think. We can handle this. We've been trained to try and clear it. If not, chop it.

I flare hard, doesn't clear. Adds a tiny spin to it, just for kicks.

I take a deep breath, and say, "OK, this is what I trained for." Put my hands on my cutaway handle, and take one more look at my canopy before putting my eyes on my reserve handle.

As I'm watching above my head, the line "slides" off the canopy, and "poof!" perfectly open canopy, flying straight and true.

I peel my hand away from the cutaway handle, and am like, "huh. How about that."

I get to the ground, land a perfect stand-up landing without a problem. The second I touch the ground and stand straight up, my left hand starts hurting. I look at it, and notice that my 4th finger is covered with blood. Ripped a nice chunk of skin out of it, must have happened upon opening. I'm guessing I grabbed the risers (stupid) and they opened in twists, catching my finger. Don't even remember it.

Anyhow... Finally, I come to the questions...

1) a 200 pound guy falling, according to my Neptune, at around 160 miles per hour in a quasi-sit. When I went to my belly and started my track, I felt myself "slow up" - you know that feeling that I'm going to have a hard time describing - the "oof" of going from a sit to belly - feeling yourself slow down.

So I slowed down - apparently not enough. Was my slammer caused by (and I know none of you were there, so I'm asking for educated guesses here,)

a) Not slowing down enough?
b) not stopping my track?
c) both
d) bad body position? (Either on my own, or as a result of still being in track/high speed?)

Either way - I landed without a problem... I guess I'm just worried that in the future, when I'm working on sitting, that I'm going to be worried about slammers - did I slow down enough, am I ok to open...

Looking back on it now, I totally know that I rushed the opening... Causing everything to happen from there. Stupid on my part.

If there was one pleasing aspect of the whole thing, though, it was that I reacted correctly when I saw that I had a lineover, and even more, when my initial attempt at clearing it didn't work. I replayed it in my mind, and how-about-that, I did exactly what I was trained to do in an emergency. Cool!

Any thoughts or comments would, as always, be appreciated.

Tech aspect:
Saffire 2: 229
Wingload: Just at 1.1, I'm 234 out the door.
Conditions: clear and gorgeous, 13mph at 3k
Location: The Ranch, New York State.
My name is Friday. I carry a badge.

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"Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?"
"Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

[kelel01 1]

Lineovers are known to cause hard openings, so you might have slowed down adequately, etc., but the hard opening was the result of the lineover itself.

But who really knows?

[Yossarian 0]

ive always been taught that a lineover = malfunction = cutaway, its not a nuisance factor, you dont know what its done to the canopy, and im not waiting to find out if it clears. if theres a line over, its gone, the sooner you get a reserve out the better as if you leave it too late and you cant clear it, then you could be over something nasty under something nasty, and id prefer to have neither.

thats not advice by the way, just my opinion

[justinb138 0]

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Any thoughts or comments would, as always, be appreciated.

Thoughts?

Don't pack yourself a lineover.

[ntrprnr 0]

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Lineovers are known to cause hard openings, so you might have slowed down adequately, etc., but the hard opening was the result of the lineover itself.

But who really knows?

so would you say that the lineover caused the hard opening, and not the other way around? I.e., the hard opening and resulting "wham" and spins didn't cause the lineover? Trying to imagine if that's even possible in my mind... Not sure.

Of course, it's always possible that the hard opening was from the lineover and not my lack of stop-track/slow-down... Who knows.

Thanks!

_______________
"Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?"
"Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

[dragon2 0]

When I had a lineover it also opened hard. I heard they usually do.

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[mattjw916 2]

werd...

Don't pack a lineover
Don't pull in a track (or at least slow down a bit first)

/thread

NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

[JeepDiver 0]

I saw your text message last night. Glad your ok... as it is. I'd had a slammer without a lineover a couple weeks ago. The bruises were nice. That was due to a bad pack job though.

My thoughts are, don't do that again. Did you rush to pack your main?

[grue 1]

Not answering your actual questions, but don't forget to check the topskin of your canopy for any damage from the line, e.g. line burns, etc

cavete terrae.

[MakeItHappen 15]

Sounds pretty good.
You lived and walked away. Can't beat that.

Just kinda out of curiosity, how many times did you look at your altimeter during all this?

When I get line twists, I always check altitude at the top end when I start unwinding and then at the bottom end when done. If it takes 'long' I'll check in-between. The altitude check is not necessarily 'I'm at 2454.43 ft' but a check of 'I'm above 1800 ft' vs 'I'm below 1800 ft.' 1800 ft is my decision altitude for being under the canopy I want to land. YMMV.

Also, do you check to make sure the canopy is completely open and flying in a more or less stable configuration when you have line twists?

I always look beyond the line twists to make sure the canopy is open and not ripped to shreads or tangled in some other way, before I go to the effort of unwinding the twists. I check that the horizon is not in the background of the canopy. This is also a check to make sure I'm not spinning on my back with mega line twists. I guess what I mean by that is if I can see the horizon behind the canopy, that means I'm spinning, most likely on my back. If the horizon is not behind the canopy, then I have a straight flying canopy that I can probably work line twists out of. Sort of an indirect altitude loss measurement.

What altitude were you at when this all was resolved into a good canopy?
What is your execute EPS by altitude?

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Make It Happen
Parachute History
DiveMaker

[lisamariewillbe 1]

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ive always been taught that a lineover = malfunction = cutaway

Ive always been taught to deal with the mal. Not all have to be chopped. Knowing Peter he was not below his hard deck when he decided he had a square and steerable canopy. Right Peter? Or do I have to come give you more bruises if you went below your hard deck? Glad your okay my friend. Dont do that again.

Sudsy Fist: i don't think i'd ever say this
Sudsy Fist: but you're looking damn sudsydoable in this

[Orange1 0]

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ive always been taught that a lineover = malfunction = cutaway,

I had a chat to a TM (also one of my coaches) who had tried to clear a lineover then chopped, about this - he said to me "at your level, just chop"... but I know others have been taught to try clear it by flaring first.

Isn't the important thing to stick with what you've been taught and know what your own procedures are - rather than wasting time in the air trying to decide what to do?

Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

[mdrejhon 8]

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I'm guessing I grabbed the risers (stupid)

I am no instructor but I heard from many authoritative sources that it's not a stupid thing to do: It gives you ability to steer your openings a little, important if you're flying in crowded airspace.

I guess it is all about tradeoffs -- a cut finger or a midair collision.

[rasmack 0]

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I'm guessing I grabbed the risers (stupid)

I am no instructor but I heard from many authoritative sources that it's not a stupid thing to do...

I think the point is that you shouldn't put your hands up before linestretch as the risers move very quickly when they come up.

HF #682, Team Dirty Sanchez #227
“I simply hate, detest, loathe, despise, and abhor redundancy.”
- Not quite Oscar Wilde...

[Freeflysmiley 2]

I'm no expect, but there is a small possibilty that, it could of happened the other way, i.e if your lines became prematurely unstowed during deployment, you would of recieved a hard opening and the possibility of a line over.
Any riggers care to elaborate, if I'm right or wrong?

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Practise the 6 P's!
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[Cloudi 0]

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I'm guessing I grabbed the risers (stupid) and they opened in twists, catching my finger. Don't even remember it.

There's another possibility, too. I broke my left ring finger and ripped a chunk out of the end of it and my pinky during an instant opening a few months ago.

Everyone assumed I had grabbed my risers too, but I knew I didn't have time to grab the risers it opened so fast. Instant canopy is no exaggeration. No sooner had I thrown my pilot chute, I was under a fully open canopy. I can't believe it didn't knock me out. My back cracked so loud, I was afraid to move for a few seconds. Ouch (and some very colorful explatives)!!!

Anyway, since I was certain I hadn't reached for my risers, I assumed that they had slapped my fingers as I was in the process of bringing my arms back to "box" position after throwing out. The more I thought about it and talked to other jumpers, we concluded that the sudden force of the opening threw my arms down & that I must have hit my harness with my fingers on the way down.

It makes sense because the skin missing were from the left side of the tips of those two fingers and my finger was broken (shattered, actually) from the left side. I would have needed to have my left hand in a pretty strange position to have those injuries from a riser slap.

Just a thought...

I'm glad to hear that your malfunction cleared and that you weren't hurt worse. You'll probably not skip that whole slowing down step again for a very long time. Just as I won't rush a pack job again for a very long time (hopefully never!).

Kim
Watch as I attempt, with no slight of hand, to apply logic and reason.