reserve cuttaway

[spiccoli 0]

I saw a rather unsettling video where a jumpers reserve deployes prematurely after he gets out on the step. The reserve gets caught on the tail and eventually comes off, but since it was filmed from another jumper who exited after the deployment, you do not see it when comes loos from the tail. The next time you see the reserve, its spiraling until impact. Im assuming the jumper was conected to the reserve the whole way down. Which bring me to my question..

Is there anyway to get rid of a reserve and use your main, say if you had a hook knife, or are the res. and main risers only aranged in a way to deploy in sequence of main and then reserve?

we need to talk about your flare..

[scottjaco 0]

If it were me, and I had enough altitude, I'd hook knife the reserve lines and deploy the main.

[towerrat 0]

there is no way to cut away your reserve. you could attempt to use your hook knife, but I doubt seriously you would actually get it done once tension released from one side. check your gear and that won't happen to you.

On a side note, you should really sit dowwn with your rigger and learn your gear. It may save your life some day.....

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes!

[billvon 2,395]

You can cut the reserve away if you have a rig with 3-rings on the reserve (like some intentional-cutaway rigs have) or if you have a hookknife. The odds of success with the hookknife are low. If you have plenty of time (like, say, you're being towed) you might have time to try it.

We had a very similar incident at Brown a while back. The jumper involved was a student and was unconscious during the descent, so he never had a chance to do much of anything. He was very lucky he stayed in the harness during the spin; it was torn to pieces by the reserve fighting the airplane. The airplane was a mess too, but was landable (barely.)

[pchapman 261]

There was a case where a woman had her reserve deploy over the tail and get shredded before sliding off. She did manage to hook knife the whole thing away before deploying her main. Pretty good work considering she only had about 40 jumps.

(This was reported in the USPA mag 5-10 years back and did get mentioned in another dz.com thread once.)

[riggerrob 558]

That is a pretty complex and (thankfully) rare scenario.

Wiser heads stick to "Plan A."
Plan A focuses on taking good care of equipment (i.e. replacing closing loops at the first sign of fraying).

[Spdu4ia 0]

i think in that *RARE* scenario of getting a reserve tangled on a tail or similar case that if it was shredded and you could not cut it off with a hook knife. I would prefer to attempt a two out before burning in under a shredded reserve.

[Scubadivemaster 3]

The question is: What do I do if I am in this situation? A safe skydiver tries to prevent these situations, but asks important questions like this. You need to have though through situations like this and have a plan in mind, so this is a valid question, and one that we should all have a plan in place to deal with.

I, for one, plan to cut it away with my hook knife. I know that the spin will get crazy once I cut away the lines on one side, BUT, if I have to deploy with a screwed up reserve out, I feel like my main will have a better chance of deploying cleanly with at least one side of the reserve lines cut. With enough altitude, I believe I can cut both sides away, but by 1500 feet, my main is coming out.

As it has been said, Go not calmly into that dark night. Fight until your goggles fill with blood.

[riggerrob 558]

Closing loops = cheap

Airplane tails = expensive

[schuey87 0]

I know its gonna be real hard work with a flimsy little hook knife but how much easier do you reckon it would make it if you carried a more substantial knife like the CRW guys do?

[firstime 0]

enough said, it's not not easy

[DougH 270]

those things are garbage, I had the blade fall out of one while trimming a stray string on my sneakers!

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[firstime 0]

yup, I learned the hard way and survived

[phoenixlpr 0]

I had a poll some day.

I proper hook knife does not seem to be so important.

[DougH 270]

[sarcasm]Wow... that is great!!! Using inductive reasoning your poll would totally justify carrying a crappy hook knife or none at all [/sarcasm]

I bet we could use that logic to cut back quality and save a few bucks in other areas as well!!

93 percent of police officers in the US have never used their bullet proof vests, chaching... give me that sucker back I am putting it on ebay.

93 percent of drivers have never used their vehicles airbags...

... and so on.

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[shropshire 0]

O.K - so we have knife and the time to use it....

Question : where should we attack?
(1) Lines
(2) Webing
(3) SLINKS - (sounds like the better option too me)

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[DougH 270]

Are you low or are you spinning at 12k? I can think of a ton of variables and a ton of different plans of attack?!?!

At what point do you give up and dump the main hoping for the best?

I think I would give up pretty high. At least I would have time to fight some more if the main partially tangled with the reserve.

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[shropshire 0]

Good questions - and I dont have any answers.




I guess that I'd give up when I dropped my knife, tho which with my butter fingers and gloves on, is highly likely.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[firstime 0]

see lucky & stupid in the incident reports, try to put the knife in the slink in an emergency situation...not a good option

[Milo 0]

Quote

I, for one, plan to cut it away with my hook knife. I know that the spin will get crazy once I cut away the lines on one side,

I think things will actually calm down when you get a whole side cut. I had one side disconnect on my main due to a dislodged cutaway handle and I was pulled upright with just a streamer above me. I believe there will be much less aerodynamic force on the canopy with one side disconnected or cut, the wing collapses into a ball of crap without both sides connected.

I wonder if it makes a difference if you cut the front or rear riser first? My situation was the loss of a whole side.

[SkyDivinRyan 0]

http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=5762&string=skydive%20toronto

It could be a streamer or ???? check the vid out

[AFFI 0]

http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=5762&string=skydive%20toronto

There ya go, made it a clicky -

Man, that looks like FUN...

[SkyDivinRyan 0]

from talking to the jumpers that used this rig it can really stressfull or really fun. one jumper would rather never do it again now that he knows what it feels like and believes he can do it when shit hits the fan