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skydiveoc

please tandems in bad weather (pic)

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Talk about dangerous! If you can't see it it's a tandem being towed parasail style by an SUV along a gravel road, only about 5 ft high. Parasailing ram airs is very dangerous. Don't try this at home. It takes skill by the driver to maintain constant tension. Imagine the SUV turning 90 degrees. The rope goes slack the, canopy continues, the rope goes tight at 90 degrees to the line of flight of the canopy. What happens when you drag a ram air side ways throught the air. B|

That being said, it's kind of fun.;)

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

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"talk about dangerous" indeed...
I flew 3 different times, under a ram air towed behind a boat..:S. twice with an old strato-star ( 5 cell) :o
and once under an old strato cloud..;)..we launched off dry land...and as long as you could run FAST,,,,, getting up, was ok..... We had rigged a 3 ring release ( it was a newfangled invention at the time) at the point where the tow line connected to the flier's harness. Twice the breakaway from the line went well,, and I descended ok to the beach ,,, the 3rd time the boat went into a sweeping turn,,,before
the release, and despite the easy and gentle toggle inputs,, I slid down and out,, still on the line,,, and smacked the water,,, pretty solidly,,, ( I had a football size and shape, black and blue "souvenir"on my right butt cheek,,,, for that effort)
Only when I was down and in the water,, did my "buddy" back off the throttle...(People watching from shore, said all they could hear was a sharp and noticeable SSSLLAAPP!!!B|.and they heard that,,, about 3 seconds, AFTER they saw me hit.... No wonder that was the last time I tried THAT silliness.......[:/];) try doin' THAT over dry ground....ouch !!:S
Another day many many years later,,, it was windy- windy at the DZ... like 25 to 30.... so some of the "young bucks"
decided to tie a climbing rope to the bumper of
a 4 x 4,,, leave the truck parked, as a fixed contact point for the rope,,,, and then hooked the other end to the harness of a sport rig,,, which was worn by the various "test pilots" who were willing......[:/] .... anyway as I watched,, 2 guys held up the left and right chords of the canopy and inflated it with the help of the wind..... the "pilot" popped the toggles,,,, and bang!!!!!:o, the canopy launched itself up.........only problem was that even with real easy toggle input,,,that canopy started dancing,,, and sliding side to side, in an arc,,, which started looking scary......It resembled a little kids kite,, with out a tail,,,,,which was swinging wildly,,,in what appeared to be, a
strong desire to bite the ground...... man I was at the end of the rope near the truck,,, and the gusts were pounding this canopy... and the poor bastard
hangin' under it,,, was goin',,," Whoaaaa.,,,, and,,,, Whooooaaaa."....:([:/],,, no matter what he did with the toggles,,, it stayed a wild ride,,, after less than a minute of this,,, he yells,,, "get Me down from here !!! ".... so I and 2 others start tugging the rope from the truck,,, and working our way towards the canopy end.... With the 3 of us, we managed to drag the line downwards,,, and got him back on the ground......but it WAS hairy,,all told,, 3 guys tried that stunt that day,,, but it only got bad for the last guy.....and then I NEVER saw that bit of "entertainment" repeated again....It was one of the few times I was ever on a DZ and I got that,,,,
"UUUUHHHHH OOOHHHH" feeling in the pit of my stomach...:|.... "lets be careful out there";)
those dudes were from the school of,,,,"Nothing is to far out,, when it comes to "the entertainment and amusement " of my drop zone buddies..", Indeed.........:)

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>and despite the easy and gentle toggle inputs,, I slid down and out,,
> still on the line,,, and smacked the water,,

You experienced something called 'lockout' where beyond a certain point you cannot get the canopy back over your head. Paragliders launch this way all the time, it just takes some training to get used to the different feel of the canopy under tow.

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"you experienced something called "lockout".."

Ok then... thanks bro'....:)... you are correct,,, the canopy got outside on me,,,, and there was no immediate way that I could bring it back........ so I filed it under the "learn from this!!!!" category....:o;),,,
thanks for the input....jmy

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Back in the old days (how we survived I'll never know), OK, it was the mid eighties, we regularly did Para-towing with a Manta. Only a couple of incidents. One was an alcohol induced night paratow. The jumper, who shall remain nameless (AC), wore several chem lights. As I recall, the takeoff went fine....for the first few seconds. The all we saw was light dark laight dark light dark as he tumbled down the runway (dirt). Luckily, he was not hurt.

Another guy did a paratow for almost two miles down Otay Lakes Road. The drove the site first to make sure there were no powerlines and where the outs were. They video taped it too.

Even though it worked out, not the brightest idea.


Buzz Fink

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you see buzz, that was back using mantas. we are much safer today thanks to crossed braced canopies. They started out with a large PD canopy but plan on the Velocity 84 to improve the safety aspect. Also, they plan on Vodka instead of beer. The cops gave them a hard time when they we're flying and holding beer bottles.

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