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Glitch

When you didn't cutaway and should have...

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That other cutaway thread got me thinking... Let's hear of some instances where you 'should have' chopped, but didn't or of when you 'should have' gone to your reserve, but didn't.

I've got a few, but I'll digress for now... B|
Randomly f'n thingies up since before I was born...

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My first 5 sec delay. Good exit, stable deployment. Spring loaded pilot chute.
Pilot chute went over the front and wrapped around the outer A lines. Canopy wasnt spinning, but with both toggles up, it was turning to the left.
Made the landing and flare a little tricky. :$
With my skill level and number of jumps at the time (14 jumps) maybe I should have chopped.

Dave

Ready...Set...Go..!

SkydiveSwakop

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that happened to me a few times, only once did it affect the control of the canopy, slight turn to the right on full drive, i remembered to keep it corrected all the way to landing then did an even flare... d'oh! big old manta 288 with me all of 10stone underneath it though so it wasnt that bad a landing

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Since I haven't broken myself, I can't say that there's been a time that I should have chopped and didn't. I have ridden in a few things that I probably wouldn't now (broken lines, a step-through that trapped a brake line)
I am not the man. But the man knows my name...and he's worried

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i just got my A license and my buddy let me jump his rig that he wasent using at the time. i go up and jump then pulled and looked up to see a step through. and i was wondering why a sharpchuter 245 was taking over 1,000 feet to open. lol

Blue Skies

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Once opened with a pretty good sized hole in my PD190. It looked landable and it passed control checks so I landed with it. I landed hard, and when I checked, it was a much bigger hole than I thought it was (near the bridle attachment.) Probably should have chopped that in retrospect.

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I had about 100 jumps and we were jumping at a national park on a grass strip w HUGE trees all around. Lost a toggle on my Cobra10(crappy main), and decided to rear riser it. The huge trees and my round reserve were a factor. Didn't have the time or just didn't think to flare it high and see how it responded. Well, with one toggle still at the keeper, it turned when I flared. Into a levee. OUCH! Sprained my ankle and broke blood vessels in my foot. Live and learn (hopefully).. BSBD

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Pilot chute went over the front and wrapped around the outer A lines. Canopy wasnt spinning, but with both toggles up, it was turning to the left.



That's about the same thing that happened to me. It was early (less than 10 jumps, maybe?) and I had a (spring) pilot chute over. My inspection of the canopy after opening was maybe not all it should have been and I didn't notice what had happened. I did notice when doing the controllability checks that it wanted to turn and I had to hold down one of the toggles about a foot to get it to fly straight. I could turn further that way by pulling down on that toggle some more, and I could turn the other way by letting that toggle all the way up and then pulling down the other one, so I deemed it "steerable" and landed it.

The freefall had gone pretty well and I was feeling satisfied. I landed a little further away from the hangar than usual and someone came to get me on the golf cart and asked if I had noticed the pilot chute over, which I hadn't. The DZO was waiting for me at the hangar, which is never a good sign. :) I was asked "Why didn't you chop?" and replied that it was square, stable, and steerable, so I went with it. Once I explained how I was steering it, I think they understood why I didn't chop it, but we did have a good discussion on how much turning a canopy should do by itself before you suspect a problem (answer: less than I thought).

Eule
PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

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Ok...here's one.

Mid 80's, got invited to do a demo/party jump into a jumpers lake side house for a big party. My rig was down for a repack, and after sniveling to the DZO about going, he finally relented and said I could jump a his Stratostar into it. Cool...the actual first square I jumped, got lost in the nostelgia, and so I readily agreed. The DZO didn't want to risk his student gear getting wet and beggers can't be choosers, so...

Joe disappeared into the loft and came back with an arm full (so to speak) of fabric, tossed it on the packing mat, dropped a Wonderhog on the mat and said "have fun, but don't dump the reserve (with an evilish grin no less...)! I had to put the main on risers, pack it, and still get lunch before the appointed departure time... I had like 3 hours, so I thought 'No sweat...' Bear in mind I was a rigger at the time, so no big deal, right?

Well, somewhere along the line, about the time I was tightening down the french links, I got sucked into going for lunch. So I carefully laid everything aside and off I went. When I got back, I did a quick continuity check and got it packed up. I noticed the reserve seemed "a bit" loose (you could actually depress the pilot chute an inch or so and there was lots of room left in the reserve container), and asked the DZO about it. He just laughed and said something to the effect of 'Let me reiterate...DON'T dump the reserve!". Hey, it's only 1 jump...what could go wrong? :S

Anyway, we pulled a 4-way off and geeked at each other till pull time. I dumped and had a nice opening. Woo hoo! ...although it did look like a damn small piece of fabric above my head, it was square and flyable so... I checked my alti (2500' or so, a bit high for those days) and started horsing the canopy a bit with a few spirals and turns to 'woo the crowd' on the beach.

Well... about the time I reached up to grab my front riser for some hard-core altitude loss, I noticed the french link (remember when I got sucked into going for lunch) had separated and was literally bent into a 'J' shape...the only thing holding the front riser on was the nut! I missed a few heart beats, grabbed the riser/link in a death grip, and checked my alti 1200'. Remembering his warning, I decided to land it. :|

From that point on, I ever-so-gently made light L turns, hung out over the water (vs the big assed oak trees surrounding the lake) and landed CAREFULLY on the beach getting 1 foot wet (I was barefooted and helmetless, wearing only shorts and a tshirt).

I learned a valuable lesson that day: regardless of where your at in the process, if you get interupted while rigging... START OVER.

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Never..

I have landed a few times with issues (step through, stuff like that), but they passed multiple control checks and landed safely.

My last cutaway and reserve ride was 6 years, and around 2600 jumps ago, so I am due..

I love the quote from Bob in the Breakaway video -
"when in doubt, trust your reserve".
-
Mykel AFF-I10
Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

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had lots of line twist and a late pull cleared the twist out before landing but was really low, had several new assholes by the time i left that night, should have cut that one away, was also my first mal ever
light travels faster than sound, that's why some people appear to be bright until you hear them speak

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I once disconnected my risers from the container to clean some mud off my leg straps. Apparently the risers got moved around somehow and a brakeline got routed around the left rear riser group. Wierd, I know, Im not quite sure how it got flipped thru. But its an old sabre with two brakelines on each side so that makes it a bit more complicated. Anyway, I opened up and the canopy looked fine. A control check revealed very heavy toggle pressure on that side. A closer visual check showed the right brake line trailing slightly behind the canopy as normal but the left brakeline was wraped once around the rear riser group. Several control checks later I determined that it would still flare but took a little extra strength to pull down the left side. If it had been wraped around more than once, it likely would have been unflarable and required a chop.
What I learned: someone showed my how they rubber banded their risers together with right over left before they evey disconnected them. Also, quadruple line check your canopy before you pack it.

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Also, quadruple line check your canopy before you pack it.



totally.

As many times as I have hooked up canopies and preformed linechecks, I still have someone double check my work before I pack it. The first time I skip the double check will probably be the time i need it the most...
-
Mykel AFF-I10
Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

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I once stowed the left toggle "funny" - a very rushed pack job! [:/] After opening I realised I couldn't pull the left brake further than quarter brakes. Fortunately the canopy was flying straight and I could turn just fine. Couldn't flare tho [:/]

There was a 10 knot wind so decided to chance it and land on rears. (And yes, I did land on my rear :S:D as I stalled the canopy :$:$

When I asked my friends if they would have kept it or chopped it, the answers were kinda mixed. i'm glad I did despite having a bruised backside! :P


-Chanti-

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closest i've come is several times i've had a knot form on one of my brakes so that all i can do is either fly half brakes or turn left (it always seems to be the left brake that gets the knot). every time it seemed to fly stable in half brakes so i landed it that way.

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On my last jump. My left brake line was locked at about half brakes (nice little knot around the elastic keeper). I ended up wrapping the right brake line around my hand a couple of times, then using the rear risers to steer/flare. Since I was already in half brakes, there wasn't much flare left and I ended up stalling it out right at landing (fortunately it wasn't worse, since I did do a couple of practice flares). On opening I was directly upwind of the DZ with lots of outs. If I had cutaway, it probably would have landed right in the landing area. If it had been a worse spot, I would have been smarter to chop it.

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If it had been a worse spot, I would have been smarter to chop it.



What does the "spot" have to do with being able to safely land a canopy?
Mykel AFF-I10
Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

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If it had been a worse spot, I would have been smarter to chop it.



What does the "spot" have to do with being able to safely land a canopy?



Yeah, that sounded fishy.

But there could be a simple explanation. He knew that he could make a large wide-open landing area safely even with limited maneuverability, so he rode down what he had. I've done that a lot.

But with a bad spot, and faced with landing in a tight spot or with obstacles, more maneuverability would have been required, thereby necessitating a cutaway, and reserve flight with full mobility.

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hmm I think I would have cut that away, but what do I know. I have never had a situation where I should have cut away and also have never cut away a canopy. I just past 1000 jumps with no cut aways and no injuries requiring anything more then iodine and bandages. It was more luck then anything else. I have had situtations where I shouldn't have even got in the plane. Maybe I am smarter now, at least I can look back remember how stupid and lucky I was. Not let's see how close to 2000 I can get with no problems.:)

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At around 17 jumps I landed a Falcon 235 with the right brake line broken at the cascade. even with the left brake released it required right input on the rear to fly straight. I figured NP, I'll flair on rears. By the time I landed my arm was so tired I could barely flare.

I had the pilot chute and d-bag somehow go through the left brake cascade and around one of the C lines and back out the cascade on a sub-terminal deployment. checks revealed that braking was ok, but it did tug a bit on the C line. I chopped it. Reviews are mixed, but loaded at 1.8, I decided it best to chop. Im still living.

broke the center 2 A lines on opening. A large fold covering 3 or so cells looked nasty. Approching my hard deck, I chopped. Im still living.

A brake line came off the right toggle ( a friend helped me hook it up). It was jump 3 of my 30 in a day. I didnt like landing on rears even in a swoop with that canopy as it tended to fold up quickly. I chopped. Im still living.

A couple of those are questionable. I know this. I now like to pull a little high 3500 -3000, giving me more time to deal with questionable issues. Two of those chops were from under 4500' and sub-terminal (more snivel, more altitude lost). I dont mess around when I get close to my hard deck, its decision time then.
Goddam dirty hippies piss me off! ~GFD
"What do I get for closing your rig?" ~ me
"Anything you want." ~ female skydiver
Mohoso Rodriguez #865

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'should have' chopped, but didn't ...............:S

Guilty as charged.
I had 120 jumps doing a 5 way at a new DZ . pretty ordinary skydive, most experienced person on load backlooped the 4way that had built at breakoff.
I didn't get stable real quick and lost height awareness .
I pulled main ripcord...nothing happened. Still in loss of height awareness,and mildly panicking, I thought it a waste of time to cutaway and not wanting to lose main in tiger country pulled reserve ripcord.

Round reserve opening shock dislodged square main which opened below me!
Main flew around at weird angles and then attacked the reserve as i ntried to pull it in, circling the reserve and eventually flying into it partially collapsing it.

this whole mess then went into a rearward spiral with me giving up trying to control the main which I had tried to pull in . This had only made things worse and by the time I considered cutting it away it was firmly stuck in the reserve .

A friend front risered near me shaking me out of a mild panic with the shouted words 'good landing roll' reaching my ears. I came in backwards and was OK except for the log i struck with my hip at the end of my landing smear.

Limped back to the DZ feeling VERY stupid about not cutting away first. I hadn't wanted to lose my canopy but could very easily have lost my life.

DZSO made sure i didn't forget the lesson by grounding me for the rest of the day.

:)

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Landed a smaller HP canopy with broken steering line. Not much upper body strength and none left for riser flare on landing. Plus it started sorta buckling funny at about 1000 feet when I used the risers. Had no wind, hit hard enough (feet, lower back, bounced off so hard and filpped shocked I was not paralyzed or worse off than I was) I still have back pain 10 years later. Really wish I had chopped it, will be paying for it forever I guess. Although many are fine to land on risers only, obviously wasn't a good decision for me that day.

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