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AndyMan

Have you had a cypres fire?

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Having a cypres fire means you failed to open a parachute yourself. You missed the most important issue of the sport Altitude awareness.
***Having a CYPRES fire means nothing of the sort. Certainly if you fail to open a parachute yourself your CYPRES will fire, but it doesn't only occur for this reason. Most CYPRES activations actually occur AFTER the main canopy has been deployed. And in many of these cases the jumper has already gotten a fully deployed canopy before they realize their reserve has opened. Re-read my first post in this thread for my explanation of how mine occured. And, by the way, the old saying about the horses was to make a point, not to compare the two activities.

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I wanted to give a good amount of time before starting editorials because I didn't want to discourage people from posting for fear of being jumped on. It's been a few days since the last post, so I think the poll is dead, so now I offer my editorial. Feel free to disagree.

Here's what I thought of the numbers.

The ratio's remained relatively constant throughout the active life of the poll. Those who admitted having Cypres fires was relatively constant at about %10. This tells me that even though we have a very small sample size, it's likely that the numbers wouldn't change if we did a bigger (and better) survey. While it's smart to not draw conclusions from this poll, I do think it gives a pretty good idea of whats going on.

Of 210 posts, 22 people reported having a Cypres fire. That's in excess of 10%. This number is much higher than I would have guessed.

USPA 2002 member survey shows roughly 30,000 members. Given that some members may not be active jumpers, the figure is till a good ballpark of current members. If %10 of these can be expected to have a Cypres fire, than we could expect many thousands of Cypres fires each year. I'm amazed. In 5 years I've only seen a single FXC fire once.

I'm also amazed, that of 22 Cypres fires, only 2 people landed without their main pin having been pulled. The idea that a significant number of Cypres fires occur because of a innatentive jumper in freefall is clearly false - most have simply begun their main deployment at a lower than usual altitude. Likewise, the idea that bodies are plummeting at the earch while the jumpers do nothing to save themselves is also false. Most jumpers report their Cypres firing significantly higher than the commonly believed 750 feet. Had these jumpers not had Cypres's, many would have landed uneventfully under their main canopies. A few would have died.

I would love to see a similar survey done on a larger scale.

_Am
__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

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I had my Cypress fire last summer at Lost Prairie on one of Mad John's loads. On the jump previous to this, there was a close opening, so Mad John warned everyone about clearing their air space before pulling. Wouldn't you know it, this was the same load that went a little too low. It didn't help when I went in to pin John for one last hook up after everyone left. Then I tracked a little too long, spent too much time looking before pulling, and then had a snively opening. Did I mention I was also over a hill? Anyhow the trees were getting really big before my canopy finally opened. Or should I say canopies. One was in front of the other so I released the brakes on my main canopy (In front). I was between a couple of trees, a fence, and brush pile on landing, so I ended up down winding it with both canopies out. Did a real nice rough and tumble PLF. I had to put on a fresh pair of underwear before my next jump. This was one of three Cypress fires I saw at Lost Prairie.....Steve1

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This happened to a friend of mine recently:

Fresh off student status he was going up on a load when he realized he hadn't turned his cypres on. Thinking he was being the safety conscious student he was taught to be, he turned it on while climbing to altitude. I'm not sure if he did it himself or had someone help him since it is on the back of the rig. He was doing a three way with several others when he felt a hard shock. He thought it was a freefall collision with another skydiver. He looked up to see his reserve above his head at 9000 feet. Pretty simple lesson here: Dont turn your cypres on in the plane.

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sdctlc im confused as to why your cutaway main was in a 2 out bi plane. did the risers not release?
thanks



Good question, I had cut the main away before the reserve was all the way out. Figured it would be like a canopy transfer but the reserve risers had risenup a bit and I had integrety (reversed) risers. As a result as the 3 ring began to release the middle ring could not unfold through the big ring as it was cought by the raised reserve riser. Basically the reversed riser rings were pinched off by the reserve riser giving me a "cut away main BiPlane"

I was flying straight with a BiPlane above me and a cut away handle in my hand at 600-700 feet going towards the woods. Did not want to turn thinking that shifting my weight might cause one side to release and really putting me into a world of hurt with a main reserve entanglement. If I did not turn I was going into the tall trees...

End result I got rid of the main and had enough time to make a turn back to an open area and a 90 degree turn to flare... Short reserve ride and a, in complete respect to what could have happened, very easy but well learned lesson. Dont pull low and if your jumping Reversed risers you had better beaware of an added consiquence in procedures....

Hope that helps
ScottC.
"He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

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I'm also amazed, that of 22 Cypres fires, only 2 people landed without their main pin having been pulled. The idea that a significant number of Cypres fires occur because of a innatentive jumper in freefall is clearly false - most have simply begun their main deployment at a lower than usual altitude.



It is not false. A jumper that is innatentive who "wakes up" at 1,000 feet and throws his main...Still screwed up big. The fact that they were so low that the CYPRES fired still shows that they screwed up.

I almost bounced around jump #300ish....I was WAY low and got a main out. I was open at around 500 feet. I screwed up...BADLY. I was inatentive and quite stupid to have screwed up so bad to be that low. Quess what? If I had a CYPRES it would have fired, but I threw my main. So I would have two out. This makes your theory incorrect.

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Likewise, the idea that bodies are plummeting at the earch while the jumpers do nothing to save themselves is also false.



Nope the two that said they did nothing did EXACTLY that.

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Most jumpers report their Cypres firing significantly higher than the commonly believed 750



People can be wrong, or lie. Very few people who are in car accidents admit to looking for a CD in the back seat when they hit something.

Plus a CYPRES WILL fire at 1200 or so feet if you are rotationg from face down to standing up when at 1200 feet. It confuses the CYPRES and it fires....Its even in the owners manual I think.

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feet. Had these jumpers not had Cypres's, many would have landed uneventfully under their main canopies. A few would have died.



They still screwed up big. They still lost altitude awareness. The fact that thye finally did "Wake Up" does nothing to prevent the fact that they DID lose altitude awareness.

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If %10 of these can be expected to have a Cypres fire, than we could expect many thousands of Cypres fires each year. I'm amazed. In 5 years I've only seen a single FXC fire once.



Just because you have only seen one FXC fire does not mean they don't happen...I have easily seen 10 in my 11 years...Thats just the ones I can remember. Hell we had one at Zhills a few mths ago. And we had one of the first VIGIL fires, there was the girl that was found knocked out (from her landing) with her freebag right next to her...I saw her dissapear behind trees from accross the runway. I saw a guy zip past me while I was at about a grand, and saw his main and reserve fire about the same time. I saw a guy get pulled out of a two way at Quincy years ago....I could go on.

I will agree that this poll is not a good sample.

Most people who have not had a CYPRES fire most likley didn't bother to vote.
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

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You missed the most important issue of the sport Altitude awareness.
***

Well, maybe not...I usually consider being able to walk off the DZ uninjured the most important "issue" for most jumps. That's just my way of setting priorities though... Still, I understand your point and don't really disagree with the philosophy.

pms

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Most people who have not had a CYPRES fire most likley didn't bother to vote.


I can vouch for that. Polls that allow the particpants to select themselves are worthless.



The recent IQ test poll comes to mind. I never knew how fucking brilliant we all are.

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i voted no-never cuz I don't have one.
No flames please, just being honest

That's really irresponsible of you. You'll die !!!

Just kidding.

I took mine out after it expired. I have a couple of fast canopies and eventually I'm going to carry it in a fanny pack.. huh huh.. fanny.... and try and fire it.

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One someone sent me....If youhave one and want it out, but not be outed...Ill post it for ya.

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I was not a current jumper, due to poor skydiver syndrome. I went for a sit
fly jump, wearing shorts, and no audible. I hit my first stand, of course
not realizing how much altitude I had lost. I went back into my sit and my
shoe laces had come untied. For some reason I was fixated on my shoe laces
hitting my shins, and how it hurt. I heard something in the back of my head
say, "check altitude." I glanced and saw needle in red, and pulled. When I
looked up, I saw my beautiful canopy and a white one. Funny thing is, a few
days earlier I had a bad skydiving dream. It came true.


"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

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OK, here's mine.. around jump 230 or so, I got in over my head.. I was on an organized 7 way sitfly jump in Perris. The kicker was we were supposed to track away on our backs.. I had no experience backtracking. Also my Pro-Track batteries were low.. I knew this but it didn't matter at the time. And finally, I was way too reliant on my audible at that time.

So.. breakoff came, heard my audible, and started tracking.. well, started trying to figure out how to track on my back.. didn't feel like I was going anywhere but kept trying, my batteries died after the 4,500' beeps so no 3,000 beeps. Finally I got friustrated and flipped over. The earth was huge. I could see rocks. I pitched before I understood what I was looking at. Somewhere in the snivel my cypress fired and I ended up landing a biplane. It hurt like a bitch. :$:|
chopchop
gotta go... Plaything needs a spanking..

Lotsa Pictures

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OK, here's mine.. around jump 230 or so, I got in over my head.. I was on an organized 7 way sitfly jump in Perris. The kicker was we were supposed to track away on our backs.. I had no experience backtracking. Also my Pro-Track batteries were low.. I knew this but it didn't matter at the time. And finally, I was way too reliant on my audible at that time.

So.. breakoff came, heard my audible, and started tracking.. well, started trying to figure out how to track on my back.. didn't feel like I was going anywhere but kept trying, my batteries died after the 4,500' beeps so no 3,000 beeps. Finally I got friustrated and flipped over. The earth was huge. I could see rocks. I pitched before I understood what I was looking at. Somewhere in the snivel my cypress fired and I ended up landing a biplane. It hurt like a bitch



Have you done anything to fix the dependance?
If so what?
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

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It's been a couple of years. I really don't remember doing anything special to fix it. It scared the crap out of me so as a result, I became more altitude aware and a little more careful about what I got myself into. I still have it and use it but in one of my helmets, I can barely hear it. It's a great tool, but it can cause serious problems when people rely on it too much. Earlier this year, it fried completely and jumping without it for a while while waiting for the replacement helped also. It has become much more of a background noise now than a signal to me.
chopchop
gotta go... Plaything needs a spanking..

Lotsa Pictures

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About my 20th jump I entered the aircraft with my Astra AAD turned off. In the plane I looked down and saw that it was off and without thinking I turned it on at about 3500ft. Jumped at 13,000 went to deploy at 4500 and boom I had two canopies out. Main was above me, reserve was below and coming up fast but I first had to get my foot out of the reserve lines then off my head. When the two seperated I cut the main away and still had 2200 to get back to the DZ for my lecture on GEAR CHECK now theres a sign at the gate made especially for me. NO GEAR CHECK NO PLANE RIDE!!

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I had problem to get a grip of my reserve handle because of baggy clothes. When I finally pulled it, I was low and cypres fired during reserve deployment.

I've learned that it was easier than I thought to have my clothes cover my handles.
And also easier than I thought to grip both the handle and some fabric of my jumpsuit, especially in full speed when the mlw is tight to the jumpsuit.

And the biggest lesson, it was easier than I thought to make a bad risk assessment. :P

-- "If you can dream it, you can DO IT!" --

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