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AFFI

Misrouted Cheststrap – How to survive?

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I was watching Crosswind last night and I saw something that made me think of this thread. At the end of the movie there is a freeflyer (Olav I think), who ties his cheststrap in a knot after the buckle.

It seems to me that is would take away any chance of it causing an incident. Even if it was misrouted I think the knot would stop it at the buckle.

Dose anyone else do this?



Yes, it may stop the strap from slipping out, but it would still widen your shoulder straps so much that you could potentially fall out - especially if you went head down. The correct answer is to make sure to always route it correctly through the buckle.

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"The correct answer is to make sure to always route it correctly through the buckle."


I think your on to something here;)
“Sometimes when I reflect back on all the beer I drink I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and their hopes and dreams. If I didn’t drink this beer, th

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arent the ends of straps designed so that they wont go through the buckle very readily? Gear checks are a most definite thing for old and new jumpers, I had a friend go in alota yrs ago, pre cypress era, had a throw out on his leg band and a twist in his leg band, spent the rest of his life trying to clear his pilot chute. the next week i was jumping and spotted a twisted leg band while climbing to alt. told the guy and got a snotty responce but he took it off and straightened it. later on the ground he came over and apologized. stay vigilant, look at others gear and stay safe
Experience is a difficult teacher, she gives you the test first and the lesson afterward

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I've given a great deal of thought to this topic for a couple of days now because i wanted my response to be well thought out, and well recieved.

I think instead of trying to figure out a way to fix this situation, maybe we should disscuss how to follow the safety rules and let our training kick in so it never presents itself. I can't count the times i check my chest strap, legstraps and hackey before exit. The "Big Three" three buckles - three straps - three rings. PHT at least once during each dive to insure proper and insurable location of your hacky or PUD.


Drill....Drill...Drill....and please watch your co-skydiver's gear as you would yours, because their gear being right may affect the outcome of your skydive.

Hope this helps. Be safe,
-Richard-
"You're Holding The Rope And I'm Taking The Fall"

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arent the ends of straps designed so that they wont go through the buckle very readily?



Depends on the webbing used. Mine would slip right through.
HF #682, Team Dirty Sanchez #227
“I simply hate, detest, loathe, despise, and abhor redundancy.”
- Not quite Oscar Wilde...

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During my student days a good 20 or so years ago I borrowed a chestmounted altimeter and in my haste failed to fasten the chestrap properly.

I think I was doing a 15 second delay with alti check to confirm the height once I had counted to 15.

As soon as I left the plane & arched the strap unwound & I could hear & feel it flapping behind me.

I did not realise the danger back then & was more concerned about losing the altimeter than anything else but luckily for me when I looked back I could see it was still attached right on the end so I pulled it back in & quickly dumped.

I think I may have crossed my arms once the canopy was opening, not sure as it was a long time ago & I may have also opened high so may not have had reached terminal velocity yet.
Anyway I was very lucky.....:o

Since then I always give my chestrap a tug to make sure...:$

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Amazing. Don't mean to bring up an old story too often, but these posts bring back the memory of my brief romance with the only DZ near my home in the mid '80's after completing my student training at a distant DZ. As a 60-jump wonder I was told not to ask for pin checks, then was kicked off the DZ when they learned I had asked for advice about this situation.

Several years later I met some of these guys at a boogie. No apology, no invitation to come back. They wouldn't talk to me.

Cheers,
Jon S.

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TBH I don't have the confidence to do this, since in my experience UK DZs are very cliquey and they love to belittle rookies such as myself.

As a consequence of back to back lifts and a fast aircraft some AFFIs would jump come down and put on another rig and be on the plane about 15 seconds after landing.

I saw a misrouted chest strap on a 9000 jump AFFI..... so what I did was I pointed this out to the Jump master instead.

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My Wife and I started jumping this year. We are both sub-100 so we don't even qualify for the "100 jump wonder" moniker yet.
The other day she put on her rig, after doing a rig check, and the first thing she did was start pulling the leg straps to tighten them. A very well known canopy coach and swooper (not to mention a good guy) was walking by, stopped and told her to "stop right there", "Always do your chest strap first and double check it, then do your leg staps". My wife passed this on to me and we both have incorporated this into our routine. After thinking about it, it makes sense. You (and others) are more likely to notice your leg loops slopping around as you walk than you would a half done or misrouted chest strap.
Just throwing that out there as food for thot.
BTW I will always ask for a gear check from someone else at least once after rigging up; a holdover from my climbing days. I always ask for a pin check before going out the door.

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why did they care if you asked for a pincheck?


_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

This was a small private club DZ with an atmosphere I'd not seen anywhere else. During my student days I'd jumped at three commercial DZ's & was accustomed to renting gear. After graduating I showed up with a "new" used rig & a boatload of enthusiasm, expecting to rent the stuff I needed. They had no gear rental but the guys did help me out.

The guy who told me not to bother others for pin checks was just trying to help acclimate me to non-student life. I was still new & scared & trying to figure out how to fit in. From their perspective I was an annoyance, with no altimeter, helmet, etc. I was far too overwhelmed by FINALLY not being a student anymore & not having to drive 4+ hours to a DZ. Being socially inept did not help.

(In addition, this DZ had a very strong cliquey atmosphere. One had to work hard to earn acceptance, much the same as a new fireman must prove himself in order to be accepted by the rest of the department. I've never seen this kind of thing at any other DZ.)

Anyway, I sent USPA a brief note describing the situation & asking advice. I did not identify anybody - just wanted to know what to do w/out becoming more of a burden to these guys. Rather than answer me privately, they published my letter in PARACHUTIST. This pissed off some people & I was told not to come back. Damn shame.

Cheers,
Jon

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Today was a eye opening day, i was sitting in the plane just before the door was opened and a buddy of mine pointed out my misrouted cheststrap. I feld like i was hit by a truck..and in deep shame i just kept thanking him for saving my life....It was my 74th jump... from now on i'm gonna be a gearchecking nazi... . But now i'm of to buy a shitload of beer for the guy who saved my life...
Do or do not, there is no try

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Lukske

Today was a eye opening day, i was sitting in the plane just before the door was opened and a buddy of mine pointed out my misrouted cheststrap. I feld like i was hit by a truck..and in deep shame i just kept thanking him for saving my life....It was my 74th jump... from now on i'm gonna be a gearchecking nazi... . But now i'm of to buy a shitload of beer for the guy who saved my life...



......................................................................................

Good observation!
Try to be methodical with your gear checks .. like a "3 of 3s" check.

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Tatetatetate

TBH I don't have the confidence to do this, since in my experience UK DZs are very cliquey and they love to belittle rookies such as myself.

As a consequence of back to back lifts and a fast aircraft some AFFIs would jump come down and put on another rig and be on the plane about 15 seconds after landing.

I saw a misrouted chest strap on a 9000 jump AFFI..... so what I did was I pointed this out to the Jump master instead.



Im sorry that you've had a bad start to your jumping carrier in the UK, i certainly hope that its not put you off UK DZ's? Where was it, if you don't mind me asking?

Sometimes when its busy we have to do back to back loads to try and cater for all the students, my routine is to check the student out fully and ensure they are ready to go in all respects. Then i'll put my kit on from start to finish with no interruptions, and then get someone to check it. Before going to the flight line, and then again a quick 3 point check of my kit prior to setting foot in the plane. I don't mind anyone pointing out something on my kit that looks out of place, id rather someone point it out to me so I'm aware of it rather than say nothing and something go wrong. If you pick me up and my kit is wrong, i'll be embarrassed and take it on the chin. If i'm good, then maybe i can show you something that you've never seen before and expand your knowledge of equipment??
Watch the following link of a video i posted last year (i hope the individual involved doesn't mind me bringing this up again?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgQxNbasxJw

The video was taken by my wife, I'm next to her in the white helmet. We both had AFF students, we had been jumping all day and were getting tired. And embarrassingly, we both missed it for quite a long time!

Everyday's a school day, never be too proud to admit your mistakes!

Andy
At long last the light at the end of the tunell isnt an on coming train!!!

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I have a habit of looking at everybody's cheststrap on the climb to altitude. Well, anyone that's in my sight. With strangers I usually just look and make sure I see silver, with friends sometimes I actually pull the cheststrap to make sure. I know some people don't like being touched hence why I avoid doing that with strangers, with friends though we pull eachother's cheststraps to check.

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with friends though we pull eachother's cheststraps to check.



Why pull on it when a better check is to do it visually?
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

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sundevil777

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with friends though we pull eachother's cheststraps to check.



Why pull on it when a better check is to do it visually?



Just like Trafficdiver said, I know a few people who route their strap in a funny way, it kind of covers the silver from an angle and it's not too easy to see at that point. With friends it's fine being annoying and just tug it and see if it works. With strangers, I just try to watch carefully.

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My chest strap usually freaks people out. I have a chest strap extension, the excess from the extension goes back over the stock buckle yo get stowed on the right side and the stock strap gets stowed on the left side.

Unless we have a chest strap gripped exit or hybrid, If you pull on my chest strap im pulling your cutaway handle. Then its your move!

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I have a friend that survived a jump with his chest strap undone. Reach across with your left hand to the rightside of the harness, grab riser covers with as much grip as you can get, hold on for dear life and pitch.

Become gear check nazi if you survive.

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mattjw916

The only person that I _personally_ know that discovered it in freefall fought with it until his Cypres fired and saved his life. It took him the whole way down from the time it was discovered to get it routed.

The only other case I know of is someone cinching it down while on the camera-step of an otter.



Might have been picked up on a British dz on the ground due to mandatory flight line checks. Looks like the jumper was fortunate that you noticed
Werewolves not swearwolves

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