First Cutaway

[Reginald 0]

“No shit, there I was…thought I was going to die!” Is how the story is supposed to start, right? Well, in the grand scheme of things it wasn’t that bad at all. It was an otherwise uneventful 190th jump. I broke off from my 4 way teams' practice jump for the Texas Skydiving League meet the next day and tracked off. At pull time the lines started twisting as the bag was coming out and the main was inflating. The twisting force was strong enough that I was being spun around making the twists worse. I already had my hands on the risers trying to spread them and stop the twists to no avail. As I was fighting the line twists the partially inflated canopy started a strong downward spiral; I was parallel to the ground being swung out from my canopy. The line twists were getting worse and the centripetal force was beginning to become noticeable. ;-) I looked at my Alti and was at 2,000 feet. I knew this was not going to get any better anytime soon. So I reached for my handles. Once I had a firm grasp on both I pulled the cutaway handle. Damn it, it was stuck. It’s a new rig and the Velcro was stiff. I took my left hand off my reserve handle and used both hands to pull the cutaway. No this is not what I was taught but it was what needed to be done. I heard the 3 rings go “clink, clink” and then in the fraction of second when my mind was running a thousand miles an hour though, “Hmm, my skyhook should have deployed the reserve…maybe its not working (of course it was though). ” I reached for and puled the reserve handle. Before I knew it I was upright with a beautiful blue reserve above me. The thought that went through my mind was, “Hmm, I thought I ordered a yellow reserve.” I flew down and landed in the main landing area. My main floated down and landed 10 feet away from me! I walked back to the hanger and someone had already brought my freebag in. I tossed the handles with out thinking about it. It was a damn shame, I needed them as there were no spares available that night. Some of the staff went out and found both of my handles within about half an hour! A rigger stayed up late that night and repacked my reserve so I was ready to go the next morning for the meet. An instructor that I respect came up to me and said, “Ron you really need to get up and do another jump. I’ll loan you a student rig”. I protested that I was fine and that it was no big deal. Once all my parts were found and I knew I was going to be ready for the next day I did borrow a rig from a friend and go do another jump. It was totally uneventful. ;-)

The things that I found strange were that I did not hesitate to use both hands to pull the cutaway when it was stuck. Also, my mind was running so fast that I actually had time to debate if my skyhook was working or not. I have no doubt it was but man was my mind running fast. And finally, once I was under a good canopy I was thinking that it was not the color I ordered! You’d think I’d have better thoughts on my mind. I was also surprised that when the time came I was so calm through the actual cutway process and afterward. I was really not phased at all (I think).

It’s also great that every single piece of the rig was recovered including the handles. Wow, what luck!

I want to thank the staff and my friends for their support and for driving around looking for all the pieces and parts and staying up late to get my rig repacked so I was ready for the meet the next morning. What a great bunch of people at my DZ. Thank you all!

Yes, I brought beer the next day and yes, I’m buying a bottle for my rigger. My personal celebration was enjoying a giant Hershey’s chocolate bar I bought at the local gas station on the way home that night. That was the sweetest chocolate bar I ever had.

Blue Skies,
Ron

"We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

[bigway 4]

good stuff mate, you will never forget that 'clink' sound you heard. i felt kind of relaxed as you did and also remember thinking my reserve was not opening up. the secon cutaway seemed longer.
just one comment for next time....when i cut on my first mal i too could not pull my handle cause of the velcove. a few jumps later i asked my dzso and he said to peel the handle from the bottom up as you pull. sure enough 20 mins later i am under a mal. i tried what he said and it worked perfectly. i could feel the strngth of the velcrove but it came off easy by peeling it. just something to keep in mind.
blue skies.

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
.

[Jeth 0]

Great to hear how you handled it so well! I hope I do the same when the time comes.

As for the stuck handle -- I was taught to grab it with both hands, peel it upwards off the velcro, then yank it down with both hands.
AKA "Look red, grab red, peel red, yank red, throw red. Look silver, grab silver, peel silver, yank silver, throw silver."

It sounds from the other post that this method works pretty well.

"At 13,000 feet nothing else matters."
PFRX!!!!!
Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109
My Jump Site

[BETO74 0]

Is good to hear you're fine, I could not find my Jedei after I cut it away and lost the hardware that came with it but I'm still here so are you keep skydiving

http://web.mac.com/ac057a/iWeb/AC057A/H0M3.html

[Reginald 0]

Quote

I asked my dzso and he said to peel the handle from the bottom up as you pull. sure enough 20 mins later i am under a mal. i tried what he said and it worked perfectly. i could feel the strngth of the velcrove but it came off easy by peeling it. just something to keep in mind.
blue skies.

Yep, I tried pealing before I pulled but to no avail. The 2 handed grip of death sure worked though.

"We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

[DShiznit 0]

Glad it was fairly "uneventful".

[Chrisky 0]

Quote

from the bottom up as you pull

sorry to jump in, but i was instructed to peel going from top to bottom, which is in the direction you pull anyway. Kind of like turning the handle so the velcro gets pulled off at an angle, not sliding over the opposed part generating even more friction...
Fired my cutaway/reserve like that for the last repack (was really curious about the feel) and it was a firm, yet easy pull. (Of course the cutaway was easy as the risers were not loaded, but there was only little resistance from the [new] handle itself.)

The mind is like a parachute - it only works once it's open.
From the edge you just see more.
... Not every Swooper hooks & not every Hooker swoops ...

[packerboy 3]

Quote

"Look red, grab red, peel red, yank red, throw red. Look silver, grab silver, peel silver, yank silver, throw silver."

wow.. 5 steps for each handle.. hope you're not reciting all that in your head should you have a high speed.


pull red, pull silver

If you are under a student canopy and are wearing a properly fitted and maintained rig. You will get the handles out no problem with one hand (you may have to peel the velcro before punching)

Why is this taught as complicated as possible?

I would want to have to think through the least amount of steps possible while in an emergency situation as a student.

--------------------------------------------------
In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

[darrenspooner 0]

Fantastic.

When I was on about my 30th jump I thought I had a mal. With more exprience I know that I just had a huge sniveller, caused by a packer rolling my nose (never let anyone touch my rig since). Anyway, I pulled and looked up and there's just a candle-looking thing...5000, 6000, 7000...shit, better do something. And you know, it just all slowed down and I had total clarity of thought. Grabbed my handles, peeled up the cutaway, and then poof, main open, cutaway now loose on the cable. So, I just stowed it back again and got on with the rest of the jump.

But the moral of my story is, when it came to it I felt instantly calm and knew what to do. But I always thought I'd freak out.

***Die with yer boots on

[Reginald 0]

Quote

But the moral of my story is, when it came to it I felt instantly calm and knew what to do. But I always thought I'd freak out.

That's the one. The strange sense of calm and clarity in middle of a mal is what I find the most interesting about the expierence.

"We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

[mr2mk1g 10]

Quote

sorry to jump in, but i was instructed to peel going from top to bottom

Surely if you peel from top to bottom you are also trying to pull the cables at the same time. If the cables are pinched by spun-up risers this isn’t going to happen… so now you’re fighting both the Velcro and the pinched cables….

If you peel bottom up the cables stay in the same place until the Velcro is completely peeled… then you can pull the cables and deal with any pinching as a separate issue.

RON: do you have hard housings? How far down the risers/lines did the twists come?

[Jeth 0]

Quote

Quote

"Look red, grab red, peel red, yank red, throw red. Look silver, grab silver, peel silver, yank silver, throw silver."

wow.. 5 steps for each handle.. hope you're not reciting all that in your head should you have a high speed.


pull red, pull silver


Why is this taught as complicated as possible?

I would want to have to think through the least amount of steps possible while in an emergency situation as a student.

Ya, when I wrote that I was thinking it looked like a lot of steps. But the way they taught us it was all a fluid motion. They said to use both hands so you get it off quickly and then can pull the handle with one hand and the cable with the other.
I would rather follow this method and have it work than grab it with 1 hand and have it not come off right away. And hopefully I won't be reciting it, I'll just do it!!

At a minimum we were taught to LOOK first, then pull cause a lot of people end up grabbing their harness strap when they don't look.

Just what I was taught...

"At 13,000 feet nothing else matters."
PFRX!!!!!
Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109
My Jump Site

[bluewaterstream 0]

Good job on your first cutaway.

I'm wondering if anyone here would think twice about using that reserve handle and pin after being dropped from over 1,000 ft? I do a lot of rock climbing and a basic rule is that if you drop a carabiner and it takes a big fall, retire it. It's not worth the risk of the carabiner having an internal crack, essentially weakening it's overall strength. Some rock climbers would still use it, I wouldn't. Carabiners are inexpensive and it's better to be safe than sorry.

So, lets say that a reserve ripcord, pin, and handle took a 1000+ ft fall and landed on a hard surface, would you still use it? Would you still consider that pin safe? Just curious to hear what some of you think.

[mr2mk1g 10]

Yes to the pin, yes to a soft handle…

But I see your point about the metal handle….

The only difference is that a carabiner is put under a lot of stress while the ripcord handle only takes a few pounds over one small surface. Pull forces have to be kept low and are monitored when the reserve is re-packed… given the low force the handle is required to exert I’d be surprised if it could be an issue… but you raise an interesting point.

Riggers?

[Fuzzy 0]

***
wow.. 5 steps for each handle.. hope you're not reciting all that in your head should you have a high speed.


pull red, pull silver

_______________________________________________

Hey Trevor

What concerns me about the "pull red, pull silver" comment is that it doesn't mention "look at " &/or "identify" the handles.

Gear shifts (handles move) when you're hanging under it vs sitting in the plane. There is also the possibility of a handle being knocked out of the pocket at some point on the skydive (as mentioned happened to you in one of your other posts)

Bad & scary things have happened to people who groped too long because they didn't / couldn't find the handles.

Whatever proceedure you use, or are telling someone about, (one hand on each handle - two hands on one handle etc.), I feel it should always include the words "look".


***
Why is this taught as complicated as possible?


It may look complicated in print, but in practice and reality, it's a simple & fluid motion (if your pulling on the right thing).

Fuzzy
Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.