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murphyka

My first Cut Away!

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Yesterday, on my 3rd jump of the day and my 50th jump overall, I had my first cut away. I was on a four-way jump that was absolutely wonderful. We broke off at normal altitude (around 5K) and tracked off. I dumped at just under 4K and was under a fully inflated canopy a bit under 3.5K.

As I looked up to check my canopy, I saw that my canopy was veering to the left and seemed to be heading into a line twist. I grabbed my rear risers to prepare to kick out the line twist when my canopy began to spiral. I probably spun around 5 times with each spin getting faster and faster.

I certainly didn't think that I had any time to fix the problem due to quick loss of altitude from the spin, so I reached for the cut-away handle. After I felt the release I reached for the reserve handle. I am sure that my RSL had already done the job because I was under a fully inflated reserve near or just under 1.5K.

I did a control check of my reserve and turned toward the dropzone. As I did a practice flare at 1K I realized that there was not alot of flare in canopy because the toggles were much longer than my main. (My main is a Spectre 170 and reserve is a Raven DM 181) As I turned into the wind for my final approach I wrapped my brake lines a couple of times around my hands to shorten them slightly so that I might be able to get a better flare. It worked like a charm and I had a soft, almost stand up landing. (I was on my feet but my legs were a little shaky so I just sat down to catch my breath after all the excitement)

It was definitely nice to hear the cheers from the crowd after landing.

I definitely owe Chris Miller (my rigger) more than just a case of beer for saving my life and I don't think there are any words to express how thankful I am.

After examining my main canopy, we discovered that one of my brake lines had become unstowed which caused the spiral. This probably could have occured when I grabbed the risers after seeing a line twist in progress. I am not for sure.

For the most part, I want to thank all my instructors at Spaceland for their excellent training. I feel like I was well enough informed to know exactly what to do in the situation. You never know how you are going to respond to these situations until you actually get into them.

Hopefully my handles will come in before this weekend so that I can get back in the air!! (Yes, I dropped both handles!!!)

Blue Skies,
Kim;)
Blue Skies!!!
Kimmy

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Kim,

Nice heads up in an emergency situation! Don't let anyone give you s_ _ _ about dropping the handles!
Chances are most lower number jumpers will drop handles in a similar situation (myself included, yet to find out though).
Did you recover your free bag?

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Well that is out of the way now! no wondering what it going to be like any longer..
My first was on a tandem, so it was my 1st cut away and my passengers 1st airplane ride, 1st skydive and 1st function.. man that dude should have owed so beer or something!

Good job on your reactions to your cutaway!
www.greenboxphotography.com

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After examining my main canopy, we discovered that one of my brake lines had become unstowed which caused the spiral. This probably could have occured when I grabbed the risers after seeing a line twist in progress. I am not for sure.

***Chances are it occured on opening.

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For the most part, I want to thank all my instructors at Spaceland for their excellent training. I feel like I was well enough informed to know exactly what to do in the situation. You never know how you are going to respond to these situations until you actually get into them.
*** I'm not gonna bash instructors here because I don't know what kind of training you recieved but I'll tell you straight up that procedures for dealing with brake lines that come unstowed on opening is first jump course stuff. Unstowed brake lines are generally just a problem that is easily remedied by unstowing the other one, unless you are under a highly loaded main. Aside from not spiraling into the ground, you did very little right here. Perhaps you should solicit some emergency procedures training before your next jump instead of patting yourself on the back here and fishing for compliments.

Good luck

John Wright

John Wright

World's most beloved skydiver

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After examining my main canopy, we discovered that one of my brake lines had become unstowed which caused the spiral. This probably could have occured when I grabbed the risers after seeing a line twist in progress. I am not for sure.

***Chances are it occured on opening.

Quote

For the most part, I want to thank all my instructors at Spaceland for their excellent training. I feel like I was well enough informed to know exactly what to do in the situation. You never know how you are going to respond to these situations until you actually get into them.
*** I'm not gonna bash instructors here because I don't know what kind of training you recieved but I'll tell you straight up that procedures for dealing with brake lines that come unstowed on opening is first jump course stuff. Unstowed brake lines are generally just a problem that is easily remedied by unstowing the other one, unless you are under a highly loaded main. Aside from not spiraling into the ground, you did very little right here. Perhaps you should solicit some emergency procedures training before your next jump instead of patting yourself on the back here and fishing for compliments.

----------------
Granted, the first thing for an experienced jumper is what you said but for a newbie is to save her/his fucking life and not have a Cypres fire! With experience comes timing and faith. I almost chopped twice this weekend because of major line twist on a highly loaded 27 cell but fortunately was able to get out of them! First cutaway and survive and learn is a good thing! She was in the saddle at 1500 feet! For a young jumper she did the right thing!!!!! Don't scold her for using her reserve on this one! She lived to jump another day. I will talk to her about things to do in that sit. again but she walked away! That's VERY important and don't negate that!













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Kim:

Didn't see the cutaway, but knew it was you when the canopy sailed past and behind me. Sure glad the wind was out of the West, because it would have been in the swamp otherwise.

I was sure happy to see that you were alright. Great landing for a Dash M.

The important thing now is to get back in the air!

The 4-way (Meeker, Open Accordian, Cataccord and Bow if you need it for your log.) was a lot of fun.

Blues,

Blue skies,

Jim

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Did you read this post in it"s entirety???? What gives with your adomosity. He made a decision.Your a real seaoned skydiver therefore I am surprised by your ..
""" you did very little right here""" statement.,,
Maybe you should reread your statement, or maybe I am missing your point. please elaborate.

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Hmmm...very interesting.

I know that there were a couple of things that I could have done to fix the problem. I did think to unstow my brakes and try to get out of the spin, BUT I didn't feel at that split second that I had enough time. Maybe that will come with experience.

Keep in mind that you have over 3,000 jumps and I only have 50. I would think that you would realize that if you are put in that situation with very low jump numbers that you would be a little less likely to work on the problem than to just focus on saving your life. I was already approaching my hard deck altitude and did not know for sure how much altitude fixing the problem would have taken.

You also have to keep in mind that I was over a field that is nothing but trees and brush as well power lines. I wanted to be under a functional canopy at a safe altitude to be able to make it back to the dropzone. Last time anyone landed there, the outcome ended in a fatality.

I'm sorry that you think that it might be shallow for me to post about having survived a very scary situation for me. I was not fishing for pats on the back. My post was merely to inform newbies of an experience that could happen to them and maybe fish for some advice from more experienced jumpers of what I could have done to prevent or fix the malfunction. You did just that. Too bad you had to be an ass about it. Thanks any way.

Blue Skies,
Kim
Blue Skies!!!
Kimmy

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WORD!!! For what its worth, I think you did the right thing. You didn't know what was going on, you felt you were low, "Check Please". Add to which you did a functionality check on your reserve and made adjustments to ensure a safe landing.... Hindsight is always 20/20, and I've never met a fan who coached a losing game from his arm chair. I'll bet next time you'll keep your handles though...;)

Coming soon to a bowl of Wheaties near you!!

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Thanks Jim,

I have really enjoyed all of the jumps that I have made with you guys. I feel like I learn so much every time. Thank you so much for taking the time to be such a great teacher. It's people like you that keep me coming back every weekend!

See you this weekend!

Kim-
Blue Skies!!!
Kimmy

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Keep in mind that you have over 3,000 jumps and I only have 50. I would think that you would realize that if you are put in that situation with very low jump numbers that you would be a little less likely to work on the problem than to just focus on saving your life. I was already approaching my hard deck altitude and did not know for sure how much altitude fixing the problem would have taken.

***I am aware of how many jumps I have but I also know that cutting away is not the answer to all lifes problems, no matter how many jumps you have. I am a person that believes in his reserve, and if the situation warrants, I'd use it without a second thought, but I also know that reserves sometimes fail and why tempt fate by using it when you don't have to. If you were in the saddle at 3500', then you had tons of time to deal with this "problem", thats why inexperienced jumpers are supposed to pull higher. I wasn't trying to be an ass nor was I talking down to you, I was merely trying to wake you up and make you reflect on what you did wrong. The people that are telling you what a great job you did aren't doing you any favors and I'm also sure that your instructors would tell you the same thing. I've had students on thier first skydive deal with this very situation properly, probably because they were taught how to in thier FJC. If you were'nt briefed on this scenario then there's an instructor out there somwhere that also needs a little remedial training.
Most people don't want to rock the boat or be critical of jumpers when nescessary, but I didn't jump into this thread to make friends. I replied in the hopes that you would learn from your mistakes and hopefully, live a little longer. If you aren't clear on this or any other safety issue, feel free to e me.

John Wright

John Wright

World's most beloved skydiver

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Had I thought that I had "tons" of time, I probably would have tried to unstow my other toggle to try to fix the spiral. I am just getting to the point where I can comfortably complete 2 - 180 spiral turns and feel like I have total control over what I am doing. I know that recovery from a spiral does not happen instantaneously. The spiral that I was experiencing was much faster than anything that I had attempted or necessarily want to attempt.

Again, I am stressing to you that I am inexperienced and still learning about EVERYTHING from flying my body to flying my canopy.

I wouldn't say that the way that I handled this was perfect, or the way that others like yourself would have, but I wouldn't say that deciding to cut when I did was a mistake either. The mistake that I will definitely admit to is dropping the handles that are costing me to replace!:S
Blue Skies!!!
Kimmy

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Again, I am stressing to you that I am inexperienced and still learning about EVERYTHING from flying my body to flying my canopy.
***
Upon reflection, I think the tone of my first reply was probably driven by the bubbly responses you recieved more than your actual post. When I read your post, it was apharent to me that you did'nt understand what had happened and thought that you did the right thing. When people who should know better started blindly congatulating you for doing the right thing, that just tripped a switch with me. There is a huge difference between being supportive and re-enforcing improper procedures or actions. A buddy will tell you if your doing something wrong even if it hurts your feelings or pisses you off. It's kind of like taking a friends car keys when he's had too much to drink, yeah he's gonna be upset and you'll never know if it actually helped him but you do it because you care. Yes cutting away and deploying your reserve is more right than spiraling into the ground but, it wasn't the right thing and you should recognize that. By the way, when you neutralize your control surfaces, (brakes) your canopy will return to straight and level on it's own fairly rapidly. Again, sorry about the tone of my first response and I hope that you learn from this.

John Wright

John Wright

World's most beloved skydiver

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