When a parachute opens in the airplane...

[JerryBaumchen 1,048]

Hi Tim,

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I'm not Terry, but borrow someone's rig that has a pull-out on it, and try to hold on to the PC after it inflates.With a regular Throw out PC you have it by the top center so you have the drag of the material in a "streamer" and it isn't that much. I have a P/O on my rig and have just about ripped my sholder out of socket a few times not meaning to hold on to it so long. But you would be surprised how much pull force that little thing has!!!

All my personal rigs have been pull-outs; back in '78 over Elsinore I decided to hang onto the PC (handle at the base of the PC) and found I could hang on easily; but it did put me vertical. My recollection is that I held it for 4-5 seconds.

Just my experience, yours seems to be different,

Jerry

[kelpdiver 2]

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Forget it!

It has a head start and it's going to keep going. Only bad things, like entanglement with your arm, can happen trying to hold on to it. If it's out the door in the wind it's going.

and that's the lesson I was looking for. It's lousy being a well intended hero that just makes the situation worse.

[StreetScooby 5]

Couldn't you knock the pilot chute under the stablizer, if you had a decent position?

We are all engines of karma

[tbrown 26]

This whole issue is why you should have another pin check inside the plane as it nears jump altitude - especially if you're going to climb out as a floater.

I know pin checks in the plane have gone out of fashion, but they can avert some nasty surprises. You don't have to let a stranger do it either, you and your friends/partners/teammates can do it. On the ground, just show them how your flap works: "I have a Vector/Javelin/Infinity, etc., this is how you open & close my flap. That way no guesswork with somebody you can hopefully trust.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[AFFI 0]

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I know pin checks in the plane have gone out of fashion.

I have even seen an instructor encourage not getting a pin check to a newcommer to the sport.

Sad but true...

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

[dreamsville 0]

Pin checks are still very much in vogue at our dropzone. Sometimes I find a pin that has moved 1/4 to 1/2 inch, so I push it back in and check the bridle window as well. On the latter, if the bridle has been readjusted and no new color has been painted on the kill line, or there is no window on the bridle, it may be hard to verify that the pilot chute is cocked. You may have to ask the jumper.
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I don't drink during the day, so I don't know what it is about this airline. I keep falling out the door of the plane.

Harry, FB #4143

[billvon 2,396]

>This whole issue is why you should have another pin check inside
>the plane as it nears jump altitude . . .

Pin checks are indeed good. But I would add:

1. If you are going to get one, get one while there is still time to fix any minor problem seen.

2. NEVER get a pin check with the door open! If your pin is hanging on by a micron, and you open the flap, you may just cause that which you are trying to prevent. Make sure all pin checks (and messing about with gear, and fixing minor problems) is complete before the door is open.

[Lastchance 0]

Last summer I was on a load in a C-206. There was a tandem and 3 jumpers ahead of me. The tandem went and 2 jumpers followed to swoop them. The jumper ahead of me was going to do a poised exit with me to dive after and swoop for a 2 way. Just as he is starting to crawl out I catch his bridle out of the corner of my eye and turn to see his pilot chute blowing behind me in the rear of the plane. I insantly grabbed his shoulder and pilot chute at the same time and pulled him back in as I had his pilot chute wadded up in my hand. I handed it to him and he shuffled to the back as I exited and he rode the plane back down. I'm thinking I did the right thing as if I had shoved him out he could hve wrapped around the tail. Any way it was sure an eye opener And I'm always looking for that kind of thing now. He was quite thankfull when he got to the ground. Probably would have bought me a beer but both of us are non drinkers. Just knowing that I kept him from being hurt or worse was a great feeling tho.

I may be getting old but I got to see all the cool bands.

[Ugali 0]

over a few beers i heard from my pop that an obsever died from an escaping reserve pc in the 80's. he was sitting with his back to the pilot and apparently the seat pocket of the pilots seat caught the reserve flap. when he leaned out to watch the group fall away the pin popped and he was sucked out the door mincing himself on the door frame as he went.
im always weary of my container when im sitting in that position.

Tom, Tom Tom, Tommy, Tom Love