0
cbain

Have you ever cut away for an unstowed toggle?

Recommended Posts

my friends e-mailed me this link to be funny...\

I once chopped due to an unstowed brake. I opened... started a spin that progressively got worse... looked up... nope, not a brake... what is this??? Tension not? Screw it... Chop Chop. Upon reviewing my video it was so obvious... one brake unstowed.

I even considered the possibility. At the time it really didn't look like that was the problem.

Oh-well. What a blast whipping that reserve out is!!

I'm not sure I'll ever hear the end of it from my friends though!

Thanx Carrie!


Chaps
Carpe diem

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I know several that have, but I have not.

It really does not matter. I would rather a person cut it away than ride it in anyday.

There is a hard deck for a reason. If at your hard deck altitude you do not feel that the canopy is safe to land GET RID OF IT no matter what the problem is.

Once the canopy is found and it was discovered that the brake had fired I would ask if they tried to fix it....I would remind them that while they did the correct thing IMO since they are alive that it would not hurt to check that next time before they chop if they are above the hard deck...At the hard deck it is time to chop if they are not comfertable....

IMO anyone that rags on someone for cutting away is an asshole. ADVISING them of other options is a good idea, but ragging on them? Grow up.
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I cut away when my slider came down and it pulled one of my toggles with it. It did suprise me with how quick it started to spin. All my eyes focused on was how the toggle was caught. "Cla-clink" . It did not even dawn on me at the time to grab the other toggle until a few days latter. Yes, when I think of all I neede to do was maybe grab the other toggle, I do feel silly. I also planned before my jump that if I did have a problem not to spend to much time with it. I had no AAD or a RSL and I was not got to get caught to low.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Unfortunately I had a lot of experience with this last year. I had maybe 8 openings with one unstowed toggle in 40 jumps. Never really figured out why, but I was making multiple changes to my toggle and riser system untill I got it stopped. I never chopped. The one time my slider came screaming down, took the toggle keeper off and came down entangled with the other stowed toggle was a bad one. Took me about 1200 feet to sort it out. I knew what it was and I knew I'd opened high or it would of been a chop. The other blessing was I was jumping 4way so at least I wasn't opening in the middle of lots of canopies.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

A friend of mine had a cutaway with 30-ish jumps from an unstowed toggle. Yes, it's something that she potentially could've fixed. But she felt she needed to get rid of it. That's what we were taught.

Our school teaches to pump the toggles twice on any low speed partial malfunction. That will take care of unstowed brake issues and sometimes fix other things too. Does your school not teach to do that?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On jump #35 one of my toggles got yanked thru the keeper ring and got stuck in the slider as it was coming down. I dont think that counts tho.

About 150 jumps later, I reached for my hackey and instead ended up with a brake line in my hand, with the toggle flapping in the breeze. After deploying I just released the other toggle and it was no big deal. I think I actually took the time to collapse my slider and loosen my altimeter before releasing the left one...

Did I mention that I jump gear from 1982?:D

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

0