If you have to cutaway your main?

[tomleone 0]

I'm no expert, but you mention "could get expensive", my experience is that most of the time jumpers and pilots can locate the canopy after a chop. But cutaways are not all that common. It is much more common on higher performance canopies so many of us with big slow canopies haven't cut.

But, like many have said... I wouldn't hesitate for even a second, the last thing on your mind would be the $$.

Take risks not to escape life, but to prevent life from escaping ~ Author Unknown (but I wish I knew)

YouveGottaTryThis.com

[skypimp.gzo 0]

I've never chopped till now. I wanna do 1000 jumps with out chopping. I would hold on to the handles, or at least try to if I have enough altitude.
I had to hold on to my student handle, too when I was a student.
I didn't have a hand deploy at that time on my student gear. And your reserve wont be much safer or less with either throwing them away or holding on to them.
I agree that live is more important than $$.

[RkyMtnHigh 0]

Ummm...well..I am jumping a Vengeance this weekend so I'll letcha know how far I have to walk after my cutaway...and if we find it

BTW...thanks for the poppies artwork

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[pinkfairy 0]

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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!

Well, that's just stupid IMHO.

One of the students at myDZ this summer who chopped a lineover, actually got asked when she came in with her handles "What are you holding those for?", because she was specifically taught to throw her handles.

But it's really up to you.

And I flew the DZ's canopy in a tree on my first jump, but what they were worried about was me. (canopy was unscratched).

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?

[JohnMitchell 14]

We specifically teach to hang onto the handle. I've got 10 or so cutaways and no thrown handles. It's not a big deal to hang on to them if you're of average strength and don't need 2 hands on each handle. I just use one hand per handle, and it works really well.

Reference chasing down the mains and freebags, I jump in the Pacific NW, land of the big trees. It can make life a lot easier if you can watch where the stuff goes and land close by. Sometimes you want to land out with the guy on the reserve just in case he gets injured landing. Make sure your own accuracy skills are up to the level needed to do this, though.

[pinkfairy 0]

Well this has to do with different teaching practices and different ways of doing the EPs.

We learn two hand EPs, and our DZ is surrounded by dense forest, so hanging on to handles or chasing cutaway mains doesn't make much sense.

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?

[JohnMitchell 14]

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We learn two hand EPs, and our DZ is surrounded by dense forest, so hanging on to handles or chasing cutaway mains doesn't make much sense.

I jump around dense forest too. It makes even more sense to hang onto your handles and watch where the mains go. If you have a safe place to land, of course.

What a first jump student learns and what a B-license jumper does can be two different things. Ask your former instructors if they use 2 hands and throw handles. I'd love to hear their responses.

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[Mozencrath 0]

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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.

What body position were you in when you pulled? Just curious that sounds like something quite serious....

[Andy9o8 0]

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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.

Historical note: Back in the Stone Age, one of the reasons they'd make students jump simple military round canopies until they'd proven the ability to be consistently stable at pull time was that the cheap rounds were designed to open very reliably even in very "abusive" body positions; while square canopies (and even more advanced rounds, like ParaCommanders) were a lot more likely to malfunction with an unstable opening. Several times as a new freefall student I dumped my main while in a spin, on my back, canopy deploying through my legs, etc. Opened like a champ every time, maybe just some line twists. Can't get away with that as often with a square. I think it's good that students these days are trained on squares, but there is a certain trade-off.