First reserve ride

[dunesurfer 0]

I had my first reserve ride on friday, on jump #40.After mulling it all over through the weekend, I realised 2 things:
1)I am fortunate to survive my own stupidity
2)Following my training played a large part in living to jump again
I mis routed the bridle causing it to foul the pilot chute, giving me a pilot chute in tow. I tossed out the pilot at 4500 and about 6 seconds went by without feeling the usual drag. six turned to 10 and I am still on my belly. about 11 sec into this I invert feet down, look up to see nothing over my head and feel my speed increase. I was taught "touch the handle or pull the handle, cut away" even if you dont see anything out. I pulled red, pulled silver and was under the reserve at approx 2700 ft. I saw the main float away from me, out of the bag. If not for following what I was trained to do by my instructors I could easily have turned this into a fatal error. Reading the other posts here on similar situations reinforces for me that I reacted properly under the circumstances, and gave me a chance to learn from my ignorance instead of paying for it in a big way

[coho21 0]

Glad you made it!

J

J
YSD#0009

[Michele 1]

Well done, Dunesurfer!

Ciels and Pinks-
Michele

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

[fudd 0]

Good job saving your life !!!
Have you jumped again after the reserve? I can recomend getting up there again as soon as possible. I had my first reserve ride some weeks ago because of a simular mistake.
I was pretty shaken afterwards. To jump again, pull, and get a working canopy really feels great. I was nervous like hell though, but so much calmer when I had jumped again.
What did you do wrong with the bridle? I'd like to know? Seems like bridle misrouting is a common cause for reserve rides. Specially for jumpers with low number of jumps.
I'm sure everyone is telling you: "At least now you know how you will react, and that the emergency procedure works. Your lucky!"
It might be true, but I do not feel lucky......how about you?
How was the reserve ride. I were scared shitless about the speed I came down in. How about you? How big and whats your wingloading on your reserve?
-fudd

[dunesurfer 0]

Hi Fudd
I haven't been up since it happened. I am going back up this sunday as this is the earliest I can get back out to the dz again.
This rig had a very long bridle and i tucked some of the excess into the pouch with the pilot
I feel very lucky to have responded to the problem properly and feel a total jack*ss for the stupid mistake, but I am going to look at this in a positive light.... I get to keep jumpingThe reserve ride on the raven reserve was smooth and it flew about as fast or slightly slower than the 190 main. This is a rental rig, not my own gear. I am 6 ft, about 190 exit weight. This was the first day I had flown this rig, and the 4th jump that day on same. I had just finished my freefall skills jump and hop-n-pop to wrap up all my objectives for my A license. looks like I owe a case or two of beer

[scottbre 0]

Quote

This rig had a very long bridle and i tucked some of the excess into the pouch with the pilot

There's nothing wrong with doing this. I know many people who pack there pilot chutes this way. I have for the past 150+ jumps, and haven't had a problem with it. You probably had the bridal get caught under one of your closing flaps (of course I wasn't there so I don't have any idea what happened).

"Your mother's full of stupidjuice!"
My Art Project

[fudd 0]

But the pin came out at last somehow, since you saw his main float away. I guess the bridle can mess up the pc if there is like 1-2m just stuffed in there after inserting the pc into the BOC. Then again, it sounds a bit like it maybe wasn't cocked properly, and didn't catch air.
Anyway, since the main came out after the reserve was pulled there would have been a real danger for the main to get entangled into the reserve if you hadn't cut away.
More info on what was done with the bridle would be appreaciated. I allways stuff excess bridle into the pouch so the wind can't catch it, but usualy this is not more than an inch or two. What type of container was it?
-fudd

There are only 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.

[Dumpster 0]

Good on your reserve ride, Hope the beer tasted great!

I know how it feels to pack your own malfunction- I did my own on jump number 60 - Crossed line groups resulting in a spin. Moral of the story - Don't pack with a good beer buzz going-!

Easy Does It

[dunesurfer 0]

Quote

More info on what was done with the bridle would be appreaciated. I allways stuff excess bridle into the pouch so the wind can't catch it, but usualy this is not more than an inch or two. What type of container was it?
-fudd

Scottbre said same about bridle above....I just assumed this caused the prob as it was only different thing I recall doing on this rig. i am not sure what container make it is, as I am still a noob, many look the same to me
I am going back to the DZ on sunday, and plan to discuss it with one of my aff coaches and the rigger to try to figure out just what I did so as to not REPEAT it

[dunesurfer 0]

Quote

Good on your reserve ride, Hope the beer tasted great!

The beer will be going there with me on sunday, coronas no less

[kurt 0]

I hope you learnt something about it.
CHECK YOUR GEAR BEFORE YOU JUMP!!!!!!!!!!!

[christoofar 0]

It's really important to know how that bridle should be routed on your rig. It's especially important on the Racers and similar rigs with the tabs that can "lock" your bridle in place and might cause a PCIT mal.

____________________________________________________________
I'm RICK JAMES! Fo shizzle.