My FIRST Reserve ride, BEER!!!!!!!!

[Ducky 0]

So there I was 12 seconds from death ...

Uggggh no,

Discalimer: Sorry guys this is long, but I didn't wanna skip a detail as it is still fresh in mind. I learned amazing amounts today and hope other's will from this.



So here I sit owing a a case o beer.... My first reserve ride. Jump number 63 for me, a jump I casually proclaimed would be my "Last Rental Gear Jump" on the walk to the plane. I have finally found a new to me beer rig to be delivered Wednesday!!!!
On to the jump...A coaching/video sitfly. I went low or should I say the video guy went high. Nearly at 6k before he finally got down to me as he moved in and my backslide started taking over we hit 4.5k time for b/o. It was planned I would turn 180 track n pull video to pull in place after filming track.

I tracked about 5 seconds waved, reached, pulled ummmm WTF? The p/c hung up. A quick regrip and second HARD yank nothin. The second yank was enough to nearly roll me on my side. A glance at the alti as a 3rd attempt was intiated and i watched 2k tick by, time for silver!

I recall half glancing in the direction of my handle, but my left hand beat my eyes and now reaching right hand to it. It's my guess that my instincts/training took over during hard pull number two and that I was going for silver while my right hand and brain were still f-in round with maybe attempting a 3rd time. Hence no recollection of adefinate "look, peel, yank" on the silver.

The Reserve a FireLite 175, beautifully colored yellow was fully inflated by 1500ft. I was able to make it back to the grassy side of the runway for a slight downwinder. The winds were minimal, but others confirmed it was indeed downwind. I took a tumble/slide after a few steps. A slight hint of an almost skinned knee the only injurys to report. Note that the high level of adrenalin is only now beginning to subside. I feel a bit sore from a FAST opening. I must admit that Reserve flew much differently than any 9cell zp main. It was a dog to turn and flare.

So what caused this?????

Afetr landing I gave a tug and look at my still stuck P/c. It was half way out of the BOC and holding on for dear life. Several other jumpers took a look at it as I was walking in. All gave a healthy tug to feel the resistance, but so as not to dislodge so we could inspect. Unfortunately the packer (also the video guy who jumped with me) gave it a healthy yank as I was about to take it off and it came free. It was w/o question "stuck" before and obeserved/confirmed by other experienced jumpers. The BOC pouch is spandex and shows no sign of wear or snag points. The elastic "may" be a lil tight, but no one could agree on that. It was reported by one AFF-I that a student had a hardpull on the same container yesterday, but that he was flying mainside JM on her jump and assisted her in deployment.

The only conclusion we came to was packing error. Th packer in question has a stellar record and is a very accomplished skydiver and DZ employee. I feel wrong that all blame is laid upon him, but I KNOW I did all possible to deploy and that the p/c was NOT coming out. I would like to know what really happened of course, and perhaps when the DZ rigger returns tomorrow he may find something upon inspection of the rig.

I will say that I learned amazing amounts today about myself this sport our gear and many other areas. I have confidence that my training and awareness are up to par. I now know what a reserve opening feels like, though I have no friggin clue wear the handle or Freebag/reserve p/c are. I know the value of having and packing your own gear. I now know waht kind of beer my rigger drinks (I asked around). I am grateful to be here to buy it for him.

I also have a reaffirmed respect for the importance for alti awareness. I have always been good about being aware even to the point of corking out of sitfly cuz I was lookin at my damn alti "too" often (in the wrong manner of course) The part that was hammered home is that alti importance is important all times. The quote I heard at least 10 times today "many people spent the rest of their life trying to get that p/c out" has a whole new meaning to me now.

Anyways sorry for the novel, but thanks for readin.


kwak

Sometimes your the bug, sometimes your the windshield. Sometimes your the hammer sometimes your the nail. Question is Hun, Do you wanna get hammered or do you wanna get nailed?????

[n2skdvn 0]

ducky ya did great !!!! kudos to a flawless reserve ride
and beer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hope to see ya soon !

if my calculations are correct SLINKY + ESCULATOR = EVERLASTING FUN
my site

[Ducky 0]

Thanks bro it was quite a rush I may never come back down. It's a whole different high than a first jump.

Quote

hope to see ya soon !

Yes Sir indeed you will I wil be in New Orleans Thrusday the 24th ETA of 7pm. I will depart on Monady the 28th @ 10am.
I am still working us maybe doing some jumps together if your up for it? As long as this gear deal goes through this week. I will have discuss deatils w/ the others joining us there, but let me know waht days/times are best for you to hang in the Big Easy or head to the DZ.

kwak

Thank

Sometimes your the bug, sometimes your the windshield. Sometimes your the hammer sometimes your the nail. Question is Hun, Do you wanna get hammered or do you wanna get nailed?????

[Ruffles 0]

Hey just trivial curiousity, but thinking back on it, would you say you were more stressed during the episode or afterward when you were under the reserve canopy? Sounds like a dumb-ass question, but a lot of people have told me they were fairly cool-headed DURING their malfunctions, but on the ground afterwards they really got shakey reflecting on what had happened. I haven't had one yet; I'm trying to live vicariously through those who have.

[Ducky 0]

Quote

would you say you were more stressed during the episode or afterward when you were under the reserve canopy?

Great question actually. I was very impressed at how cool headed I was and at my lack of hesitation. Even under the open reserve I only had one momentary "oh shit" thought. I briefly considered the dangers of my p/c half out of the pouch, but figured if I couldn't yank it out it wasn't gona fall out and cause problems. I was too busy "working" I suppose from the moment I realized there was a problem until I touched down. Proof positive to me that the training works!

Once I was open and under reserve I still had to get back to the DZ or find alternatives then deal with traffic. I set down near the pond so I was watching above for the swoopers settin up etc. After I landed I took a second to actually breathe and strees a atd before gathering up the chute n lines. Then the next 30 minutes were spent answering the "what happened?" questions so no time to really reflect on it.

I think only on the ride home, while recounting the events to my whuffo friend who had come to the DZ with me, did I really fully begin to absorb it all. In all it was a confidence building experience I suppose, to say it was a real Eye Opener would be a bit understated!

kwak

Sometimes your the bug, sometimes your the windshield. Sometimes your the hammer sometimes your the nail. Question is Hun, Do you wanna get hammered or do you wanna get nailed?????

[AggieDave 6]

You know, even the best packers make mistakes sometimes.

Glad to hear you came out of it well, though AND that you stuck to your own emergancy proceedures, too.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[bobsoutar 0]

Had my third one last week (spinner under an Extreme FX this time). Was cool, calm and methodical on all three but felt shaky afterwards when I got time to reflect and relive the experience.
First one was good for confidence, next two were a pain in the ass!

[Dumpster 0]

Good on You!

Sounds like all your emergency training and review kicked just as it should!
The best thing is you didn't get fixed on pulling your PC!

Blue Ones!!

Easy Does It

[Chief 0]

Glad to hear you were well trained. Plus it all paid off big time. Good for you and thanks for sharing your ride. Stay Safe

[councilman24 36]

As to a cause... There are several ways of folding a PC. Some of them result in the part of the PC farthest in the pouch being pull past the rest of the PC. This can lead to it bunching up at the mouth. There are other ways of folding that don't do this. One folded the first way may work for 100's or 1000's of jumps and then wad up one time for a hard pull.

Ask the guy who packed it to show you how he folds the PC. If the last thing he does is fold it in half from skirt to apex and stuffs the fold in the pouch, then this is the one that might bunch up. If he folds the PC in half first or second and then rolls or folds it up, it should be one of the methods that doesn't bunch up. The method shown here http://www.sunpath.com/ in the manual under rigging is one of the methods that don't bunch up. Can't find an example of the method that you shouldn't use. It's an older method.

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

[Beachbum 0]

I went to the Sunpath site and checked that out (it doesn't show how the remainder of the bridle is handled) ... other than that, is very similar to the way I was taught (also supposed to help avoid bunching) ... difference (way I was taught) is that the flaps are folded in from the sides first ... then the whole thing is folded in half ... then the bridle is folded back and forth on itself on top of the folded pilot, leaving enough out for the tuck into the boc, and instead of rolling the entire thing, each side is folded/rolled in toward the bridle, such that the excess bridle ends up inside the cylindrical bundle you create in the process ... so far, at least ... have had no problems with it ... good method, or no??? It seems to me that bunching may be more likely to happen on older pilot chutes?? Mine is so slick, hard to imagine it catching on itself enough to do so unless you really did a bad job of stowing it ...

As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

[councilman24 36]

Beachbum,

What you describe is essentially how I pack mine. The key is to pack it, stuff it, and pull it. If it's trying to pull one part of the PC past another it can bunch up at the mouth of the pocket. It's not necessarily older PC's that are more susceptible, it's larger and 0-3 cfm fabric PC's. ZP PC's are usually smaller and slicker, and sometimes the problem is keeping them in the pocket.

Both of these manuals, Rigging Innovations and Jump Shack show the method I DON'T like but RI does only fold it to the length of the pouch.
http://www.rigginginnovations.com/pdf/OwnersManual/tln2manl.pdf[/url]
http://www.jumpshack.com/download/RacerOwnersManualMarch2001.PDF
[url]

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

[PhreeZone 15]

Try http://www.bigairsportz.com/Pilotchute.html Brian Germains methods some time.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[ChileRelleno 0]

Hats off to Ducky!!! yippeeee your still with us.Ya did great kid!!!Congratulations on your "1st" reserve ride and new gear.
Have fun and play safely!!!

ChileRelleno-Rodriguez Bro#414
Hellfish#511,MuffBro#3532,AnvilBro#9, D24868

[riddler 0]

Question on procedure? Whenever I ask about specific mals, I get the same answer from the S&TA's. Even for a monkey-fist, I've been told to follow the same emergency procedures - that is, cutaway first, then pull reserve. This doesn't sound logical to me, since it seems cutting away on a monkey fist could potentially cause your risers to stream out behind you, possibly making something for the reserve to tangle with. Low probability yes - it would require the risers to pop out from the riser covers (which is somewhat likely depending on how old your gear is, I think), whereby I think they would just stream - the bag should stay in the container with the pin still in. And it assumes the reserve gets entangled (low probability, in my uneducated opinion) with the main streamers.
So the question is for a total mal, do you still cutaway first (assuming you have enough altitude to safely do so)?
BTW - congrats, Ducky - my first reserve ride was two weeks ago - jump 85.

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[councilman24 36]

There are two schools of thought and they have been extensively discussed. One is have one emergency procedure for everything. Pull the red handle and pull the silver handle.

Reasons for always cutting away.

Only one procedure to remember.
No decisions to make other than to initiate emergency procedures.
If you have an RSL, and a partial, pulling the red handle is like pulling the reserve. (Don't count on it, see below)
If you have a PC in tow it may be released by the opening of the reserve container (depending on why, I had one of these. Also see below). In that case the main will be leaving as the reserve deploys rather than two out.
Probably some more, but this isn't what I recommend.

Reasons not to.

In the event of a PC in Tow or hard pull with nothing out, you still in freefall. Your at 2000' at terminal and have very little time. You may not have time to cutaway and still successfully deploy your reserve. Two case studies. First me: Demo hop and pop in the winter. PC in tow due to tight winter pack job and older wire pin. I fired the reserve and had a tree snag both canopies before they were completely open. Second case: A transient jumper from England with about 80 jumps stopped by our DZ rented a rig, did a solo and didn't open. No indication of suicide. He had been having stability problems trying freestyle manuvers on the last 5 jumps. Two searches of the are couldn't find his cutaway handle. I believe he got unstable, realized he was low and initiated his emergency procedure. Unfortunately he pulled the only handle that wouldn't save him, the cutaway.

Two ramairs rarely entangle when deployed together. The army and other have tried to get them to interfer and had a very difficult time. You should be ready to deal with two canopies out (see dual square report at PD's web site).

Risers have entangled with deploying reserve and cause at least one fatality (tandem if my memory is working). This especially of concern on older rigs with less efficient riser covers, weak velcro or bent or broken tuck tabs, or minimal riser covers to begin with.

You'll get a lot of response or be directed to many threads on this issue. Both opinions have merit. Since I know I'd be dead cutting away first, I'll stay with my procedure.

Whatever YOU decide, and this is a personal decision - there is no one right answer for every jumper and their gear - make the decision on the ground and rehearse it until the response to particular malfunction is automatic. I didn't have to decide NOT to cutaway. I had made my decision years before ... for a PC in tow or no PC deployment fire the reserve, then be ready to cutaway if necessary.

Side note; Make sure you understand your equipment. I had a customer (I'm a rigger) on time who had a throwout PC caught on his gear. He pull the cutaway handle and for a moment thought to himself the RSL would open the reserve. Obviously it won't. He remembered a split second later, pulled his reserve and landed fine. I've had to educate (reeducate) several newbies on just how things work.

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

[billvon 2,435]

>This doesn't sound logical to me, since it seems cutting away on a
> monkey fist could potentially cause your risers to stream out behind
> you, possibly making something for the reserve to tangle with.

This depends nearly entirely upon what condition your riser covers are in. Good riser covers will not allow the risers to flop about very much.

>So the question is for a total mal, do you still cutaway first
> (assuming you have enough altitude to safely do so)?

For a total? I would not. When I teach the FJC I teach people to always cut away first, but them FJ students can not always tell totals from hard pulls, and they're opening at 5000 feet.