#490 was cutaway #1

[RichM 0]

"No shit, there I was..." except it's not really a scary story. I post it to allow me and others to extract any learnings from it.

I jump a Crossfire which takes nearly 1000ft to open. I pull at 3200 to allow for this. I had done the previous 10 jumps with a Sabre 120, opens in about 500ft.

I chuck the pilot chute out at 3200 and 4-5 seconds later I'm still facing mother earth. That enough for me and before I'm really concious of what I'm doing I have both handles at arms length and the reserve blooms out above me. Alti tells me I'm at 2000ft
Mental note to (a) at least check behind me next time, it might be a pc in tow (b) more practise checking my alti before panicking and pulling handles.

I'm fundamentally happy that I dealt quickly with a high speed "mal" albeit there is no evidence that it was a mal. I kept hold of the small bits and picked up the big bits, so only my rigger left to placate as he hates packing this stupid racer with its far too small pop top. The bottle of Jack D should help there.

And everyone got beers off me of course. I cancelled the planned loan of the cutaway rig for #500, no further need

Still, if you have any suggestions on improving my actions please respond.

Rich

Rich M

[Snowflake 0]

Jinx........ congrats you did what you had to....although(now take this with a grain of salt cause I only have 160 jumps) did you think of jabing your rig once to see if you could get the bag out if it was a PC in tow? My main reason for asking is what if it had been a PC in tow and during the reserve deployment your bag came lose into your deploying reserve.


Good job I wish I had made it that far before my first reserve ride

[Skyflier 0]

YYEEEHHAAA!!!

Job well done buddy.
I had a similar one last year...can't wait for ever can you. My C.I said to me after I landed "you'll probably go over this in your head for the next week and second guess your actions, think you should have waited longer - f@#k that, get the reserve out."

It's a good feeling knowing you dealt with the situation calmly and quickly.

[freeflir29 0]

Whew...I ended the weekend with 237 jumps. Reserve rides so far...0...knock on wood. I'm starting to feel like I have a monkey on my back. I've had several close calls. Even had my hands on the handle once. It opened before I could pull the cutaway. Although we do have a guy here that had over 4000 before his first cut away. So....maybe I'll try to break that record. A P/C in tow is nothing to screw around with. Don't waste time....WHIP IT OUT!!!!