Scary Students! Instructor Beware!

[Kris 0]

Okay, this one had me and the pilot almost ready for a trip to the cardiologist this Sunday.
I took up a load of four IAD students in the C-182, three guys and a girl. All had done quite well during ground school.
The three guys were no problem, there was one I had to push on to get him to go but no problem.
Now it's time to fling the girl. She wasn't big, maybe 5'9" but only 135 pounds. As I'm moving her into the student position near the door she remarks, "You mean I really have to hang from the strut?!" I'm like, "WTF!?" I asked her if she was kidding, she was serious.
So, I talk to her, calm her down and explain that I will be on the step, tight in next to her, that she did this just fine in the mockup and she was going to do it fine in just a few seconds. Before this she was fired up and ready to go. We're coming up to the spot and I ask the classic, "Are you ready to skydive?" She answered with a "yes." It was meek but I'll take it.
I open the door and take a look. We're about a 1/4 mile short but I figure she'll be a long climbout (man, did I ever call that one) so I start her moving. I get her feet in the door, check her radio, get her pilot chute, and then told her to climb out and hang.
She gets half way out and takes a death grip on the strut. I manage to push her out further but she has both hands wrapped around the strut, one foot slips off and her body is swung out so that she is almost perfectly facing the plane.
Guess what? I have her PC in my hand so I'm out there with her. She may have only been 135 pounds but no amount of pushing down on her, tweaking her nose or the pilot wiggling the plane is making her come off the strut.
We are now 1/2 mile out from the spot, the pilot is trying to bank and get us back but we also have so much drag (I am Buddha incarnate) on the wing that we are descending. I look at my altimeter and we are about to pass through 2300, 1200 feet lower than where we were just a short while ago. I took a quick look at Kevin the pilot and the look of concentration on his face let me know that we weren't going to be gaining altitude any time soon.
I make the decision. With my hand that has the PC I push down as hard as I can on the yoke of her rig while I literally kick her off of the strut with my right leg. If you want to know how hard it was, the area where I contacted her with the side of my calf is pretty tender today.
She goes tumbling off so I take a death grip on her PC. I short-lined her, and I didn't let the PC go until I saw the bag lift from her back, then I jumped.
She was able to make it back to the landing area and actually nailed the landing. As for the exit, she was so detuned that she didn't really remember any of it. During the debrief (we give all first jumpers a full debrief and put a lot more in their logbooks besides "Congrats!") I believe her words were, "I don't know, it all went so fast."
Fast, hell! That was an eternity!
The lesson learned that I am trying to pass on? Always be prepared to do whatever it takes to get the student off the airplane as safely as possible. Once they're out on an IAD, they're not coming back into the plane with an extracted pilot chute. If you think you know how your student is going to respond before you get into the plane and think you can relax you have just made a mistake and things may be about to get really exciting!
Any other instructors have anything to add or any suggestions on how I might have been able to handle that better?
Kris
I think my heart rate is below 100, finally...

[Spy38W 0]

Argh, reminds me of a few weeks ago, I was flying and had this BIG guy (understatement) off student status, but Pre-A decided to hang on the strut for awhile. He was on the outside part of the strut on a 182 and making it difficult to fly. As I was getting ready to shake him off he finally released I greeted him on the ground with a request that he let me know if he's going to do that again....
--
~Captain Cutaway
I can disassemble a rig in less than 5 seconds...

[SkyMissy 0]

New nickname for Kris!!! If you guys didn't know, he has, until this little incident, been known as Master D, or the Master o' Distaster. I do believe that we can now bestow the monaker "Muay Thai Master D." Congratulations Van Damme!!
I'm not the man they think I am at home, no;
I'm a rocket man.
Sky World

[markbaur 0]

Sounds like you did okay, given the circumstances. Since you asked for free advice, here's some, worth every penny:
Wiggling the wings is not as effective as banking the aircraft. 45-degree bank = 1.4G, 60-degree bank = 2G. Your 182 is legal at 75-degree bank = 3.8G, but most pilots are unable to maintain a 75-degree bank without exceeding it, and once you exceed 3.8G, you and your companions are experimental test pilots. Banking the aircraft has the additional advantage of orbiting over the spot. Train your pilot to bank steeply (45 to 60 degrees) when you give the secret signal. Oh, yeah, and the G-forces will apply to you, too, so brace yourself.
Most 182's can climb in the configuration you describe (just 2 jumpers, both on the step).
I wouldn't recommend slipping the aircraft and attempting a pull-off. Generally, the more power the engine develops, the more right rudder is needed to fly straight, which means less rudder available to swing the tail out of the way. If you must do a pull-off, best to do it from a glide, altitude permitting.
Mark

[Merrick 0]

All hail "Muay Thai Master D."
Damn Kris, kinda wish I could have stuck around to watch you crawl back into the hanger after all that. lol Seriously tho, glad it all turned out OK.
Blues!
"Pammi's Hemp/Skydiving Jewelry"

[billvon 2,400]

That's one advantage SL has over IAD - if things get really hairy you can drop the SL so you can use both hands to deal with the problem. There have been times I've been tempted to just give up, drop the static line, grab their chest strap and jump - not many people can hang on with twice the weight to deal with. Never done it though. A combination of hammering on their hands and yelling has always gotten them to release.
The ones that get a deathgrip in the right position don't bother me too much - it's the ones that do it right out the door, so if they do let go there they are going to hit the step. I've had one or two do that, and when that happens I put a foot on their rig so as they go I can kick them outwards.
Obligatory scary SL story - we had a student who got into position and had his container open on the step. The pilot and JM both saw it. The JM tossed the SL (we had PC assist, so it was going to open anyway) and the pilot kicked the rudder hard. The deploying main cleared the tail, fortunately. We had a wing-mounted camera back then, and the camera showed the student hanging on for dear life with the canopy beginning to deploy. In the next frame he was just a blur as the main opened.
He landed with no problem. Later he told us "Sorry, I just couldn't hang on any longer . . ."
-bill von

[steve1 5]

I was told a story once where a static line student refused to jump. (This could be an exaggerated tale, but it came from a reliable source.) Somehow the student ended up hanging by his hands from the step. The jumpmaster actually was stepping on his fingers trying to get him to let go. Another time a soldier in my stick hesitated in the door of a c-130. The jumpmaster gave him a swift boot in the rear. I saw the boot polish on his pants after he landed.

[riggerrob 558]

First of all, plant your left foot on the step, so the awkward student will slide down your leg instead of clunking on the step.
Secondly, it is relatively easy to pry hands off the strut, one finger at at time.
Thirdly, never believe that you can predict any student's behaviour.
Fourthly, students will show you ways of messing up that never crossed your mind in your worst drunken nightmare.

[Pammi 0]

Holy Shit Kris! You are THE MASTER! My heart sped up just reading your post! Yowsers! Good job hun...you rock! So, is she coming back for her next jump soon? :) hehe
New pin jewelry!

[axe96bam 0]

Well, as far as students hanging from the strut, I had a female student last summer who amazed me. It was not bad, just amazing and funny. She must have been no more than 95 lb and it was her first SL jump. well, I figured she would take a long time getting out so I had the door open early, put her feet out on the step and than had her start climbing out early as well. To my amazement she took a lot less than some experienced jumpers take to get all the way out. So I was happy that there was no wind and she would be able to get to the landing area easily. So she is hanging there and looks back at me for the signal to let go. I smiled and gave her 2 thumbs up. She smiled back at me, let go with her left hand and proceeded to wave at me and kept smiling. This whole thing lasted for a few seconds as I am saying loudly "go". I started walking out to get her other hand off the strut and the pilot banked the plane. He say her waving too. She had to let go because of the force of the turn. On the ground we laughed about it for a long time and she remembered waving at me but she thought she just waved for a split second before she fell off.
I also saw a student climb out, hang and climb back into the plane. I was doing radio and we have the whole thing on video too. She was out of the plane on the strut for 2min and 38 sec.
Alex

[Kris 0]

Thanks for all of the input everyone! I definitely jotted a few things down in my mental notebook.
Mark: The pilot was also banking the plane somewhere between 45-60 degrees getting us back to the spot along with giving the plane a shimmy every now and then.
Rob: After I kicked her out I immediately planted my right foot back at the edge of the step in case she came back my way and had to slide down. Keeping that leg there is one of the habits I had drilled into me by the I/E who helped prep me for my rating. As for prying her fingers off, I did indeed try but she had some amazing strength and they would barely budge. I was seriously going to ask her if she did any rock climbing but I forgot to ask about it.
Alex: Students like that can be pretty cool. I had a girl last month who was so aware that when she was hanging from the strut she waved at me with one hand, stuck her tongue out at me, put both hands back and then went. Perfect arch too. She swears it was her first jump.
Kris