Cutaway

[Luna 0]

I just did my 3rd AFF jump today and had a cutaway. I know that I did the right thing by cutting it. It was spinning out of control, and when I felt my legs start going out horizontally, I knew it was time to go. The big question is, what caused the spin. The thing is, when I deployed my main, the chest strap came up and was cutting right across my throat. When I tried tilting my head back to look at the canopy, it choked me. Therefore, I was never able to get a really good look at the canopy. Did I have line twists? I don't know. I went ahead and grabbed my toggles and pulled them down. If I had line twists, would performing that task, releasing the brakes, cause an uncontrollable spin to initiate? When I first noticed the spin I thought I had a brake unstowed, so I pulled down on the toggles, twice, and the spin just kept getting worse. Looking at my video was very inconclusive. There was some obvious underinflation on both ends, one more than the other, but I don't know if that cleared up right after the camera cutaway or not. I know that you guys didn't see it, and I did already talk to my instructors about it. I am just trying to figure out if I did something that caused the spin. Oh, no lines were broken, which someone had though might have caused it. They recovered the canopy and checked it over. So, I know grain of salt and all, but any input is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Luna

I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!

[RichM 0]

Well done, you certainly took the right action, that was one canopy the definitely didn't pass the "is it controlable" and "is it landable" questions. You deserve a big drink, in fact I'll get you one now

It's going to ber impossible to work out what actually from the internet. The people best placed to figure it out are your instructors from the video footage and the retrieved canopy.

You say the chest strap was cutting into your throat and choking you - were your legs straps done up properly - if not it would allow the chest strap to rise up. You say that you couldn't look up because you were being choked, but I am confused by this. Surely looking up would take your throat further away from the chest strap and relieve some of the pressure? If you couldn't look up it is more likely that this was because you had line twists down to the risers and these were preventing your head from tilting back.

Under inflation on the ends of the canopy is called "end cell closure" and is a fairly common occurrence on big student canopies that are lightly loaded, and this on its own is not a cutaway situation, but then you were rotating like a spinning top

There are a bundle of reasons why the spin might have happened and I'm sure your instructors and the dz rigger are all having a very close look at the canopy, dz's don't like students to have malfunctions. They don't like anyone to have mals, but students are their responsibility Best to slot it into the "shit happens" category and get back up there.

You've certainly shown that you can deal with a violent mal. You stayed very aware considering it was only your 3rd aff, and that is excellent. Well done.

Rich M

[Michele 1]

Hey, Luna?

RAWK ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YA DID GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'M PROUD OF YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(o.k., I'll stop yelling now, but I just wanted to make sure you got the message that you did it right, Heather!)

Been there, done that.

Again, you will be second guessing yourself, questioning it all. But the truth of the matter is that you took the right action, protected yourself, assessed the situation, and made it through it in one piece, and didn't get anything broken.

And if you never figure it out totally, then no matter; like RichM said, "shit happens", and sometimes we never know why. When you cut away, if there were unrecoverable line twists, or a line over, or whatever, most of the time it will clear itself by the time it lands. Ultimately, it doesn't matter - what matters is you had a violent malfunction, and you took the proper action. At AFF3, you don't exactly know what you're looking at, and so it is very hard to describe it to your JMs. I mean, you've only had 2 good canopies prior, so unless it's really obvious, like a hole or something like that, you don't know for sure.
Oh, and Luna? YOU RAWK!

Ciels and Pinks-
Michele

~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek
While our hearts lie bleeding?~

[ernokaikkonen 0]

>If I had line twists, would performing that task, releasing the brakes,
>cause an uncontrollable spin to initiate?

That's indeed possible; I've seen it happen. Although the student in question didn't cut-away, but proceeded to kick out of the twists. As a result, she lost A LOT of altitude, couldn't make it back to the airfield, and landed in a tree.

So yes, it's a bad idea to unstow your brakes if you still have twists in your lines.

Erno

[drenaline 0]

glad you make it back OK! you did fine.

just a thought, never release your toggles if you haven't cleared from a line twist, it can make you go to a spinning line twist.

HISPA 21
www.panamafreefall.com

[winddrift1 0]

the chest strap came up and was cutting right across my throat
What king of rig where you jumping, did it have side web buckles to lift the harness up or down. And even if the leg straps where done up right on some rigs if you don't get geared up properly things like that will happen. How far away where your toggles?.
You did the right thing by cutting it away couple of things to do on every jump is to say to yourself when you are at check or your deployment to know when to cut away.
1. Is it there
2. Is it square (or rectangle)
3. Is it controllable
{ you can land any parachute it's walking away from it that counts}

[Luna 0]

Thanks for all the input. I am afraid it probably was "just" line twists to start, but I just couldn't see well enough, and went ahead and pulled the toggles down.

I know, upon reflection it didn't make much sense to me either, but I just remember that when I tilted my head back, not only was I feeling resistence, but I felt MORE pressure on my throat (and my throat feels tender this morning, so I wasn't just imagining the choking sensation, which is good for me to know).

I was jumping a Navigator 260 harness, which was loaded at around .87. I have jumped the same harness (if not the exactly same rig) twice before and not had problems. I thought the leg straps were tight, but maybe not quite as tight as before.

The toggles were farther away than normal, I remember having to reach for them and being afraid I wouldn't get them...same with the reserve too.

Luna

I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!

[rendezvous 0]

Excellent job. I don't know what could have caused it but you definitely did what was required of you. Thats the important thing.

[billvon 2,391]

>I was jumping a Navigator 260 harness . .

FYI, the Navigator is a canopy, not a harness. Your issue with the chest strap may be that your harness was too large for you, and thus allowed the chest strap to ride up too far. We have adjustable-harness student rigs (Telesis) and we occasionally have that problem when the harness is set too large for the student.

>The toggles were farther away than normal . . .

This is another indication that either the harness was too large or the leg straps weren't tight enough.

>when I tilted my head back, not only was I feeling resistence

If the sizing was that far off you may have been feeling the edge of the backpad with the back of your head. Such a sizing problem makes it very hard to see your canopy.

[Luna 0]

Dang, had a blonde moment there I guess! I know that a Navigator is a canopy! I guess I said that because I don't know what kind of harness we use. Here is the pertinent part though: I noticed when I was putting on the rig that the shoulder straps (is that the right term?) were much looser than I've had them before. It was a lack of knowledge about the gear on my part that I didn't realize there must be another adjustment to shorten the torso part. It tightened up some after tightening the leg straps, but it was still looser than the last two times. I'm now guessing that this played a significant part in the chest strap ending up so high. Is that right? You can bet I'm now going to take a much greater interest in finding out about all of the different adjustments on that harness and making sure I am snug everywhere that I need to be!

Thanks again to everyone for the input.

Luna

I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!

[waster 0]

Glad you're ok dude. The same sort of thing happened to me a couple of days ago. After opening, the canopy started throwing me around quite a bit, and then started to sink backward and down, just like it was stalling. There was nothing obviously wrong with my canopy, no line over, damage or anything. In the end, i pumped twice with my toggles, and the canopy calmed down. No-one had any explanation for it, it was just one of those things, sometimes the canopy opens funny from time to time. Glad i didn't have to cut-away, although the thought did actually cross my mind that i might have to, scary shit!
blue skys and soft openings

[billvon 2,391]

>but it was still looser than the last two times. I'm now guessing that
> this played a significant part in the chest strap ending up so high. Is
> that right?

Probably. On most student rigs the adjustment is on the main lift web, between the chest strap and lateral strap. Make sure you ask your instructor before adjusting it (of course.) Ideally the legstrap junction should end up near the "blade" of your hip bone.

[Macaulay 0]

If the end cell closure was significantly greater on one side than the other, while weight (the jumper) is suspended below, that would most likely induce line twists and/or spinning.

Push a set of windchimes evenly with both hands. The whole thing will rick back and forth. Then push it with more force in one hand than the other. It will spin.

- Mac