Account of first cutaway; spinning mal.

[chrismgtis 0]

This weekend on jump 60 I had a small low speed spinning malfunction.

Initially, one or two cells weren't inflated entirely which I saw as soon as I looked up. I pulled on the left riser to get the canopy straight and try to inflate the cells. That worked. I let go of the left riser and was back in a spin.

At the same time the slider didn't come all the way down. It stopped a foot or two from where it should have been and came all the way down a few seconds later.

At this point it's been maybe 4 seconds from opening. I did one more quick check on my canopy while pulling the left riser again to get the canopy straight while I'm trying to determine what is going on. I look up and think I see what may be a line over (I thought I could see a line through the fabric of the canopy), but afterwards I realized that couldn't have been the case cause the canopy was perfectly square.

After straightening the canopy about 3 times and not knowing what was causing the malfunction I stopped and thought to myself "Ok, if I try to land this with one brake down and the other up, when I flare I might slam myself into the ground.... no thanks..... oh well it was going to happen sooner or later.....damnit.." and pulled the cutaway handle.

Now, here is where I made a mistake. I pulled the cutaway handle and not the reserve handle. As soon as I pulled the cutaway handle I felt myself drop what felt like a few feet, looked up and saw the left riser hanging there. I knew the RSL was attached and something in my mind wanted to see it disconnect. About 2 seconds later it did and the reserve was out so fast I don't even remember dropping again.


1. Do not trash pack and jump your canopy unless you want a reserve ride.
2. Pull your reserve handle. The RSL might not work.
3. If you have a spinning malfunction, look at the brakes and see if they are stowed and release them both. I was preoccupied with straightening out the spin and forgot to unstow the brakes.

Hell, we all know better. I have always known better, but I still did it.

I'm glad it happened though. I learned a lot from that incident. It went from "damnit" to "oh that was fun", so I'm comfortable with cutaways now and I know plenty of what to do and what not to do when you have a malfunction.

Rodriguez Brother #1614, Muff Brother #4033
Jumped: Twin Otter, Cessna 182, CASA, Helicopter, Caravan

[VTmotoMike08 0]

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As soon as I pulled the cutaway handle I felt myself drop what felt like a few feet, looked up and saw the left riser hanging there. I knew the RSL was attached and something in my mind wanted to see it disconnect. About 2 seconds later it did and the reserve was out so fast I don't even remember dropping again.

I'm confused by that part. Did you pull the cutaway cable all the way? Ideally both sides would release at exactly the same instant (or non RSL side a milisecond sooner) but I could see how that might not happen if your cutaway cable were for some reason not the correct length.

I have heard of some people who were shorter having to clear the cutaway cable with their opposite arm if their arms were not long enough to pull it all the way out, could that have been the case here?

If one side took a whole 2 seconds longer to release, something is not right.

Edit: Sounds like a tension knot malfunction, any thoughts?

[billvon 2,400]

>looked up and saw the left riser hanging there.

Was the left riser hanging there because it had not released, or because the RSL was keeping it attached to the rig? If the riser did not release, then it may be a case of pulling until you felt a drop instead of pulling until the cables are all the way out. If the RSL got hung up, that's a fairly serious problem; get a master rigger to look at your rig to see if there are RSL snag points near the reserve pin. (On the plus side pulling the reserve handle will generally clear a problem like that.)

[Booster_MPS 0]

First, glad that you are safe. Clarify about having one brake up and one down when you have a moment. At what point did you unstow your brakes? Was it indeed a brake fire on opening?

[jojo69 0]

Hello Chris,
I am sorry to hear that you had a reserve ride but I am glad that you are OK. You said that you forgot to unstow the breaks, were both of them stowed? When you pulled the cut away, did you have all the cord in your hand or was some of it still in the track by the velcro?
Stay safe, I am still in Florida so I haven't had a chance to jump with you and your new A license yet.

[chrismgtis 0]

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I'm confused by that part. Did you pull the cutaway cable all the way?

Edit: Sounds like a tension knot malfunction, any thoughts?

As far as I know I did pull the cutaway handle all the way. It's possible that I didn't. Even more possibly so since the handle was still there when I got on the ground.

Another lesson learned there.

A few people mentioned the tension knot malfunction possibility. I haven't had a chance to look at the rig thoroughly myself and will have it inspected when I get my new AAD installed (mine expires next month).

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>If the riser did not release, then it may be a case of pulling until you felt a drop instead of pulling until the cables are all the way out.

Now that you say that I'm 99% sure that is what happened.

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At what point did you unstow your brakes? Was it indeed a brake fire on opening?

To be honest I never did. I was too preoccupied with straightening the canopy out with the rear risers and looking up at the canopy to figure out what was going on.

Again, a lesson learned. I should have done that just to see if it fixed the mal.

Rodriguez Brother #1614, Muff Brother #4033
Jumped: Twin Otter, Cessna 182, CASA, Helicopter, Caravan

[daremrc 0]

I had something similar to this happen to me around #20-25. The canopy immediately went into a spin on open, I wouldn't call it a fast spin but similar to what you described minus the slider hang up. I straightened it out with a riser while popping thew brakes and held the toggles down for 2-3 seconds. When the end cells opened on the left side, the canopy flew straight and I landed it.

This was on a 230 at maybe .85

not to say yours would've done the same thing, but the spin spooked me out and I thought I would have to cutaway for about 5-7 seconds. the spin was pronounced enough to catch one of the DZO's attention & prompt him to ask me what was going on up there.

Good judgement comes from experience, and most of that comes from bad judgement.

[councilman24 36]

If the handle was "still there" meaning hanging from the housings you probably DIDN'T pull it far enough. Your "supposed" to throw it away! (Yeah, yeah nobody wants to buy a new one.)

I did an INTENTIONAL cutaway this weekend with a rig intended for it. I grabed one three ring in my fist to hold it together after I pulled the cutaway in order to streamer the canopy. I pulled the cutaway but I didn't pull it far enough. I stopped when the right side let go but the cable was still holding the left side inside my fist. When I decided it was time to get rid of the spinning mess I let go with my fist and then without meaning to pulled the cable some more so that it went. Every thing went as planned including streamering the canopy except I didn't pull the cutaway handle far enough. But I certainly have on the real deal.

Oh the other thing that went wrong was were the first main landed.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[hukturn 0]

Glad you are okay. But, equally, congratulations! I found it increadible relief to have my first cutaway. In many ways it solidified my taining and my ability to react appropriately. So, congratulations!

a few more and I am going to submit to USPA for my A(r)...an A license under resevres!

[AFFI 0]

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At what point did you un-stow your brakes? Was it indeed a brake fire on opening?

To be honest I never did. I was too preoccupied with straightening the canopy out with the rear risers and looking up at the canopy to figure out what was going on.

Again, a lesson learned. I should have done that just to see if it fixed the mal.

After deploying your main and you are in as you described a slow spin, one correct procedure it so flare and check your altitude. If you had a premature brake release, then you have just corrected the problem, if he problem remains, then you are altitude aware and if you have time above your hard deck you can then evaluate your limits of controllability.

If I was a betting man, I would put my money on a premature rake release, I sounds like that is what you may have had. It may have been a tension knot, but we will never know this because you never flared (released both brakes) which is what you should have done immediately after realizing you had this type of problem.

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I did one more quick check on my canopy

You never made a canopy control check to begin with.

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Now, here is where I made a mistake. I pulled the cutaway handle and not the reserve handle.

What exactly do you mean by “I pulled the cutaway handle and not the reserve handle”?

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1. Do not trash pack and jump your canopy unless you want a reserve ride.

I “trash” pack all the time and have not had a cutaway in around 2700 jumps.


Red Flags:
Never checked your altitude.
Do not seem to be familiar with the fundamental aspects if dealing with issues that may arise under your canopy.


Remember, the tone of the written word may sound condescending when it was not intended that way, I am not attacking just pointing out some potential issues you may be overlooking.

Still, you did what you had to do to survive and built trust in your reserve. My first cutaway could have probably been avoided had I been more familiar with fundamental procedures. It was a good wake up call for me and got me more serious about training.

At 60 jumps, most skydivers still need a lot of training, hopefully you will realize this as I did and get more serious about training (I am not saying you are not “serious” about it but that it needs to e focused on).
-

Mykel AFF-I10
Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

[chrismgtis 0]

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At 60 jumps, most skydivers still need a lot of training, hopefully you will realize this as I did and get more serious about training (I am not saying you are not “serious” about it but that it needs to e focused on).

Exactly. I know. 9/10 of what everyone is saying I realized after landing the reserve and thinking about what had happened.

It probably could have been avoided, but at the same time, I'm glad it happened. I learned a lot from that experience. I'm not one of those people that make a mistake and don't learn from it.

I'm one of those skydivers that makes everything a learning experience and gets more serious due to what I experience.

Like someone said I didn't think to look at the brakes, because again I was so occupied with trying to figure out what was going on with the canopy itself instead of below that. Or, I may have looked and don't remember that.

I don't care about losing a handle. I was more worried about where my canopy was after I landed, but not when I cut away. That's the last thing I cared about at the time. I just new I had spent too much time under a canopy that wasn't working correctly and went for the reserve.

Rodriguez Brother #1614, Muff Brother #4033
Jumped: Twin Otter, Cessna 182, CASA, Helicopter, Caravan

[bch7773 0]

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1. Do not trash pack and jump your canopy unless you want a reserve ride.
2. Pull your reserve handle. The RSL might not work.
3. If you have a spinning malfunction, look at the brakes and see if they are stowed and release them both. I was preoccupied with straightening out the spin and forgot to unstow the brakes.

at least you learned some good things from this. although trash packing is not instantly a reserve ride, but it does increase the odds of malfunction.

checking the brakes is important. I've opened in a spin before, and did exactly as you did, pulled the riser down to stop the spin. but then I popped the brakes and it stopped the spin. and I did this all with one hand since i was holding a hula hoop in the other.

MB 3528, RB 1182

[chrismgtis 0]

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and I did this all with one hand since i was holding a hula hoop in the other.

Haha, that's funny.

Rodriguez Brother #1614, Muff Brother #4033
Jumped: Twin Otter, Cessna 182, CASA, Helicopter, Caravan