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howardwhite

Belly Reserve Deployment

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Hi Steve,

***Openning a low mounted reserve would have been particularly brutal. ***

Yup, my first terminal gut pack reserve opening was with a B-4 harness; you were sure your boots touched the back of your helmet. Or as ZigZag says maybe you just hit the deck that hard. [:/]

My second one was with a B-5 harness, a vest-type of harness, and it was very comfortable. The vest allowed the load to be spread over your entire back. B|

There are some interesting experiences that one can have happen but life is really better if you do not have to experience them. :P A jump plane crash is also one of them, and I know.

JerryBaumchen

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O.K., here's the deal on the picture.
It was taken by M. Anderson Jenkins (the Godflicker) to accompany his article in the May, 1971, Parachutist. The story basically is about his effort to provide an opportunity for intentional cutaway training.
What you can't see in the picture is that the jumper is actually wearing a piggyback with D-rings on the front. The chest-mount reserve risers are attached with Rocket Jet fittings (see picture), so that after deployment, the jumper can cut away and deploy the main normally, while still having a reserve if necessary
The jumper in the picture is Chuck Baldauf, and it's over Elsinore.
Jenkins notes: "Never being much of a masochist, I elected to make all my test jumps subterminal. The test jumps would go something like this: Exit the aircraft at 5500 on my back and deploy the chest-mount for a total malfunction at about 3-5 seconds out.
"If you have never watched a reserve deploy in front of you in a non-stress situation, you have a good trip in front of you. The symmetry of deployment is absolutely beautiful."

HW

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D-47 wrote:
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I have had 66 reserve rides,36 cutaways and 30 hand deployed all with pilot chutes.I would never jump any parachute without a pilot chute.



How did one work that, not cutting away, but using a PC?

The old standard, as I understood it, was to not use a PC if not cutting away, and use a PC if cutting away.

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Interesting.
I had Rocket Jet releases on the first Para Plane rig I bought from Tom Manship in 1875(6)? Made about 10 jumps on it before I realized I couldn't get them loose so I put it in another harness/container with Capewells.

The first time I saw a belly mount 24' flat circular (uncut) with no pilot chute deployed was as a student. two of us on our first 30 second delay and the guy before me on the load didn't look at his ripcord. He pulled his reserve face down at terminal.

We were pretty far out and as I was walking back to the hanger I came across him still laying on his back in the grass. He said he thought his back was broken and wouldn't let me help him stand up. It was getting dark so I just left him out there and went on back to the hangers.
I guess someone went out there and picked him up.

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on the first Para Plane rig I bought from Tom Manship in 1875(6)?

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DAMN..you ARE old! ;)



Rocket Jet releases~
I remember a set on the RESERVE RISERS of a Hog rig I was looking to buy back in about '78-79...until someone said sumpthin' ain't right here! :S











~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

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Just pull the ripcord and hope you get lucky! Those were the days of chest mounts and flat canopys,that is why I perferred cutaways but PCA frowned on the practice.BTW, the ARMY AIRBORNE had pilot chutes on reserves (grappel Hook or umbrella type)and were tought to just PULL IT! At least that was when I was a Rigger there and did'nt see many entanglements after seeing 100's of mals on the T-7A mains..........Pop
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OFR point level 5 for me, too.

I also had a terminal opening on my Navy Conical that was crammed into a Super Pro reserve container (chest mount but the Super Pro harness had high D rings). I had bent the top pin about 90 degrees on exit on the top of the C-182 doorway. Opening shock was fine as I recall...much less than the shock I could have expected if I had NOT deployed the reserve.

Several other chest-mounted reserve deployments but they were cutaways except for the one when I had the reefing line on my Strato-Star wrap around the top flap on my main container. The Navy Conical was in a chest-mounted Pop-Top reserve container....the pilot chute easily cleared the reefing line and MA-1 in tow.
"A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

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Being young and dumb, and really tough was a prerequisite for skydiving back in the day.

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24 flat at terminal here...after a bent top pin on exit. :o

MA-1 on it, though I was trained both ways since the 'club' gear carried the placard.

I swear my heels hit the back of my Bell helmet...OUCHIE! :S



Yep, my first reserve ride, at about 50+ jumps, was a terminal opening on a 24 ft. flat after a hard-pull total on a 4-pin. Low rings, too. With my legs out and my arms in trying to pull, I was roughly head-down (before it was vogue) when I dumped, and the canopy deployed between my legs, snapping me around 180+ degrees at line stretch. Thank god my spine was just 19 flexible years young. My entire groin was purple for about 2 weeks. Had to land that 24 with the weight of the 7-TU still in the container, too. Good thing I was just 120 lbs at the time.

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Quote

Quote

Being young and dumb, and really tough was a prerequisite for skydiving back in the day.

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24 flat at terminal here...after a bent top pin on exit. :o

MA-1 on it, though I was trained both ways since the 'club' gear carried the placard.

I swear my heels hit the back of my Bell helmet...OUCHIE! :S



Yep, my first reserve ride, at about 50+ jumps, was a terminal opening on a 24 ft. flat after a hard-pull total on a 4-pin. Low rings, too. With my legs out and my arms in trying to pull, I was roughly head-down (before it was vogue) when I dumped, and the canopy deployed between my legs, snapping me around 180+ degrees at line stretch. Thank god my spine was just 19 flexible years young. My entire groin was purple for about 2 weeks. Had to land that 24 with the weight of the 7-TU still in the container, too. Good thing I was just 120 lbs at the time.


Well I was 240 lbs at the time with a still packed Pap on my back!

Fortunately I landed in a fairly soft cornfield...stuck in like a lawn dart! :ph34r:










~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

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...I am level 5 as well. We used the T-10 system at Z-Hills with no pilot chute reserves. Probably a good thing since most of the static line rigs there had 2 shot capewells.


Put me down for Level 2...Z-hills likewise.

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I packed them as well...


Damn...probably packed mine. NOW I'm scared! I was dumb and stupid then (no comments about now, please).
:D:D;)
My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

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...I am level 5 as well. We used the T-10 system at Z-Hills with no pilot chute reserves. Probably a good thing since most of the static line rigs there had 2 shot capewells.


Put me down for Level 2...Z-hills likewise.

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I packed them as well...


Damn...probably packed mine. NOW I'm scared! I was dumb and stupid then (no comments about now, please).
:D:D;)


Probably depends on the year. I started coming out to Z-Hills with my brother in late 72, but could not jump due to the legal age being 21 and me being 20 (and my parents saying "not a chance"). So, while I was watching my brother jump every weekend, I started learning to rig. On July 1st, 1973, Florida lowered the legal age to 18 and I made my first jump that day. Started packing T-10s not long after and was the primary rigger there through most of 74.

I had a conversation with Hooper a while back about that T10 system. With the direct bag and break tape, it was VERY reliable. We never had a static line malfunction with the T10 and of course no matter how hard a student "hooked it in," they couldn't really hurt themselves. I guess you couldn't use them today though since no one remembers how to spot :S

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Roger "Ramjet" Clark
FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

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The club where I made my first 30 jumps had an interesting way of packing reserves. After the canopy was neatly pleated and folded and the lines stowed in the pack tray, we started at the apex and tightly rolled up the canopy right to the skirt. The rolled canopy was placed in the pack which was closed normally. Naturally enough the technique was called a "roll pack".

I never saw one thrown, and never had to myself, so can't comment on the effectiveness of this packing method.

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BTW, I had a close up view of a 24' belly unmodified opening at terminal while at Z-Hills (it had a pilot chute though). I was on a two way with a young lady jumping a B4 and one of the belly warts like in your opening photo. After a high break off, I stuck around to watch her deploy. She had a floating main ripcord and could not have followed her training any better. Two attempts and straight to silver. The canopy didn't look any better than your photo coming out, but she vanished instantly when it opened :ph34r:

I opened right away (28ft C9). Soon, she came oscillating past me and I had to turn continuously to stay near her desent speed. I kept shouting to her "feet and knees together!" She landed hard enough that I could clearly hear the thud, but PLF'ed nicely anyway and was not injured in the landing. During the walk back, I asked her about the hard landing and she said "the landing was nothing compared to the opening!"

She was sore for a couple of days after that one...


-----------------------
Roger "Ramjet" Clark
FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

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Howard,I had forgotten about thoughs pic's.Must be 62/63 when people were getting pulled through sides of our airplanes.The blast handle was more secure and easier to grab with gloves (most wore them then).The center pull was invented about the same time but was hard to get to some time.The modern rigs,bigger airplanes,larger doors,piggy backs,have eliminated the snagging the reserve handle syndrome.I'm sure you know about those days..............Pop

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Howard,

I am definitely a level 5. Started on T7A's in 1962 with the placard on the reserve flap. Landed under one twice after a Mae West and a streamer. Packed many dozens without a pilot chute after I got my rating and also dropped students wearing the no-pc reserves. Ahhh, the good ol' days!

Larry
D-2238

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I am easily a level 5 as well. The belly wart that I jumped had an MA-1, but the bridle had 3 snaps on it so you could open the container, un-snap the pilot chute, throw it away and hand deploy the reserve in a low speed malfunction situation. The theory is good but I never knew anyone who actually did it.

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I jumped those reserves as a student and even deployed one!

Later I jumped similar reserves in the Canadian Army and West German Army. I suffered inversion type malfunctions with both armies, but did not deploy their reserves because I did not trust non-diapered reserves.

Oh! And when I became a civilian jump-master in 1982, we still trained our students to use chest-mounted reserves (without pilot chutes).

What sort of OFR does that get me?

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