If you have to cutaway your main?

[shortyj 0]

I was thinking about this if you have to cut away your main do you have to buy a new one? That would get expensive.

Playtime is essential.

[Mostly_Harmless 0]

As long as you find it and it is in good shape then no you don't have to buy a new one. Are you familiar with the 3-ring system on your rig?

_________________________________________
www.myspace.com/termvelocity

[cjsgrlsx3 0]

I've heard lots of stories of people looking for them! But I'm not sure.

[beowulf 1]

Most of the time they are easily found. Sometimes though they do get lost.

[pinkfairy 0]

Well if you came to where I jump in the middle of the pine forest and had a green or black canopy, then you'd lose your main _every_ time you cutaway.

Otherwise it's just finding main, finding freebag, and get everything reassembled and repacked.

And buy new handles, of course. Those are often hard to find.

Relax, you can die if you mess up, but it will probably not be by bullet.

I'm a BIG, TOUGH BIGWAY FORMATION SKYDIVER! What are you?

[shortyj 0]

thanks I was just wondering b/c I know a whole rig can be anywhere from $3000-$5000.

Playtime is essential.

[beowulf 1]

I just ordered a new main canopy and it costs about $1600.

[phoenixlpr 0]

Been there, done that. Mine got lost for 2-3 weeks and was exposed to the sun. It could have been dropped into a lake too.

Do you happen to have more spare life? The rest is just money.

Would I hesitate? Not for a single moment.

[frynsky 0]

Hopefully not. Never lost mine. The thing is, your buddies, or at least fellow skydivers, should help you out. One should follow your main and one should follow your freebag. Most malfunctions, the two won't be separated by that much distance. You, in turn, should do the same thing for your fellow jumper when you witness a malfunction. Having said that, the only other thing is that you don't want to get TOO close to the main or freebag and you NEVER want to try and catch it in the air, no matter how easy it may appear to be. People have gone in from this. BS BD

[marks2065 0]

13 chops and only lost a couple tandem free bags in the peas - and 1 handle - the handle cost $40 and the tandem free bags cost the dzo (he should have gotten better packers)

[DrewEckhardt 0]

Quote

I was thinking about this if you have to cut away your main do you have to buy a new one? That would get expensive.

No, although they get lost temporarily and permanantly sometimes.

Some one picked one of mine up and turned it into the police. Although the local farmer McNasty had contacted them about us and we were the only parachuting operation within 100 miles they didn't bother bringing it back to the drop zone. I took out an ad in the local paper's classified section, and a few people called me about it indicating that the police had reports of a found parachute elsewhere in the same paper.

I watched another jumper cutaway and went looking for him and his canopy. Found the canopy floating in a lake before it had sunk all the way, stripped to my boxers, and swam in to get it. I gave it back and told the guy he needed to buy his case of beer for the dropzone.

[Lindercles 0]

Quote

And buy new handles, of course. Those are often hard to find.

Not if you hold on to them.

[beowulf 1]

He should have got you a bottle of 30yr old scotch for swimming in to get it. Or whatever you favorite beverage might be.

[pinkfairy 0]

Quote

Quote

And buy new handles, of course. Those are often hard to find.

Not if you hold on to them.

I'll throw mine out of principle.

The "I'm worth more than a lousy cutaway handle!" principle.

(dammit, I'm worth at least 50 000 cutaway handles!)

But this is an entirely different discussion.



there's also discussion about the safety of following cutaway mains and freebags.

Relax, you can die if you mess up, but it will probably not be by bullet.

I'm a BIG, TOUGH BIGWAY FORMATION SKYDIVER! What are you?

[smooth 0]

Quote

13 chops and only lost a couple tandem free bags in the peas - and 1 handle - the handle cost $40 and the tandem free bags cost the dzo (he should have gotten better packers)

So you average 1 cutaway per year ! ? !

[labrys 0]

Quote

I was thinking about this if you have to cut away your main do you have to buy a new one? That would get expensive.

If you can't find it after you cut away, sure.

If you think the expense is more important than the possibility that you might lose your main.....don't bother to take the chance.

Owned by Remi #?

[marks2065 0]

1 chop every 90 jumps when someone else is packing - 0 chops when i pack - i didn't have a chop my first 2 years or last year

[thedarkside 0]

Quote

Quote

And buy new handles, of course. Those are often hard to find.

Not if you hold on to them.

You shouldn't get in the habbit of holding onto your handles for many reasons. So I thought I would look it up in the ISP and it doesn't state to throw away the handles...does anyone know if It's in the SIM somwhere?

Here is what I found.

Quote

1. Check altitude.

2. Return to the arch position.

3. Ripcord systems only: Discard the main ripcord.

4. Locate and grasp the cutaway handle.

5. Locate the reserve ripcord handle.

6. Pull the cutaway handle until no lower than 1,000 feet.

7. Pull the reserve ripcord handle immediately after cutting away or by 1,000 feet, regardless of stability, to initiate reserve deployment.

8. Arch and check over the right shoulder for reserve pilot chute deployment.

Keep going faster until the joy of speed overcomes the fear of death.

[pinkfairy 0]

I learned from my instructor to throw my handles.

Just one less thing to think about.

Different instructors and DZ have different ways to teach EPs.

I think it's easier to learn if one know about only one way to do it. Less confusing.

Relax, you can die if you mess up, but it will probably not be by bullet.

I'm a BIG, TOUGH BIGWAY FORMATION SKYDIVER! What are you?

[NoWorriesNIkky 0]

Ok...I have to jump in this one....because I had a cutaway on my very FIRST SOLO JUMP ever due to the main parachute catching around both of my legs when it came out.

The DZO asked me (after I was picked up in a ditch by staff and brought back a little banged up), if I HAD ANY OF HIS HANDLES!

I wanted to say....I'm a student, this was my first solo.......What do you fucking think! Instead I politely said no.

So here's my take. I don't care what the parachute cost....I don't care what the bag cost and I don't care what the handles cost. Whether I paid for or have to pay for them or not.

My life.........priceless!

Just my two cents.

(edited for spelling)

No Worries, You're Good!

[MagicGuy 0]

Quote

Found the canopy floating in a lake before it had sunk all the way, stripped to my boxers, and swam in to get it. I gave it back and told the guy he needed to buy his case of beer for the dropzone.

Wow, talk about a nice guy! Geez..

[L.O. 0]

It's always about your safety not the equipment. Find a place to land and try to watch where your stuff goes so you can find it easily after you get down.

It always surprises me, to see a main floating down, no longer attached and everyone headed home. Those who have the proverbial skills to pay the bills, should be following the stuff down. Help out the new jumper so they don't loose the big first investment

My last cut-away, I pursued the free-bag and my piece partner went after the main(team work).

I have followed many mains down into back yards, or into farm fields. Those damn things cost a brick and most people don't go after them. What's up with that.

HPDBs, I hate those guys.
AFB, charter member.

[fonz 0]

DISCLAIMER: I've only chopped once so I don't know shit...

The freebag landed in the peas and was easily picked up by an assistant instructor (who was also the manifest chick). I managed to hold on to the reserve handle and a fellow jumper walked me to where the main landed. I lost the cutaway handle but it was found the same day by a skygod after a tandem landing.

But more to the point, I believe that following freebags and especially mains is just common courtesy. As long as you don't bring yourself into a difficult position by heading somewhere you really shouldn't be landing.

Alphons

And five hundred entirely naked women dropped out of the sky on parachutes.
-- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

[n_s_simpson 0]

One chap mentioned the three ring release system. A short video can be found here:

http://www.forum.love2skydive.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=2

New forum with unlimited uploads for all:
www.Love2SkyDive.co.uk

[pilatus_p 0]

There are now electronic locators you can get installed on main canopies to help you find them after you chop.

The website is http://www.paratelemetry.com/. As far as I can tell they need to be fitted by the manufacturer and may soon become a standard option on all new canopies.

Ross