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pchapman

Tandem instructor holds onto 3-ring, not reserve handle while cutting away...

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Obvious skydiving tip: When cutting away, your left hand has better places to be than grabbing your 3-rings.



The full story, that I've been hanging onto for a little while:

I've travelled around a bit this summer and met up with a rigger friend who gave me the details and showed me the video. I'll skip names / date / location and focus on what happened.

One day a Sigma tandem instructor had a hung up toggle and ended up chopping and using the reserve. The left riser didn't release for about 4 seconds after the cutaway, so the main was still there while the reserve deployed by RSL/Skyhook.

Lots of concern, and almost disbelief of the instructor's story.

But the instructor actually happened to have a video camera atop his helmet that day, getting a video of one of his own tandems. At first look, the video confirmed his story.

Suspicion first fell on the almost new UPT risers, but they looked fine, and nice and flexible.

The video showed the tandem pair spiralling, then the cutaway, but the main is still attached at the left side. The main is still partially inflated, while the reserve deploys just in front of it. Reserve lines start out pretty slack, swimming around in front of his face, with the reserve coming out of the bag with a couple of line twists. The freebag (not in view) probably had bounced off the main in some way. Whatever the RSL & Skyhook were doing off screen, the reserve pilot chute can be seen bouncing off the bottom skin of the main. One reserve line snags on the toggle of the left main riser, but soon slides off.

The left main riser then departs, missing the back corner of the reserve by a few feet. The tandem pair are left with a few twists under their reserve, but unwind without difficulty.

So what really happened, why did the left riser not release?

Looking at the video frame by frame, one started to see brief glimpses of knuckles & clenched fist at the bottom left corner of the screen, at the base of the "stuck" risers. Conclusion: The instructor's left hand can't have been grabbing the high mounted Sigma reserve handle as he said; it must have been firmly clamped on the left 3-ring, preventing it from flipping through. As soon as he let go, the main departed.

Oops.

Adding to this, it wasn't even a real mal. It was one of those toggle hangups that one hears of occasionally, where the instructor yanks down hard on the toggle, but doesn't pull it back away from the risers. Especially with new risers, the snap in the riser & toggle is very tough to release unless one (properly) peels the toggle away from the riser. On the ground, the toggle released just fine.

And for a third strike, at some point while still trying to deal with the "stuck" right toggle, the instructor let the left toggle go completely, not holding the canopy straight, so they got into an accelerating spiral turn while he's trying to fix things. After some seconds he chops.

The instructor is moderately experienced (1000-1500 jumps total?) but has jumped little this year. Nice guy, no other issues with him, but not all that current. It sucks for him that he videod his own screwup, but at least the cause was explained. Don't ask me what the DZ has done with him, as I haven't heard, but I understand they were planning to report everything properly, and the guy probably is going to at least stand down from doing tandems until he gets more current sport jumping.

(One canopy flight exercise I recommend to jumpers for their own canopies, is to try popping one toggle after opening, getting a feel for how fast the canopy starts to accelerate into a spiral, and stopping it with that 'opposite' toggle or rear riser.)

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Do you think a person could hold the weight of 2 people with just his left hand? That what he would have to do for that situation to happen.

Sparky


Yes, if he's serving the same function as the loop through the small ring, it would be easy.
People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

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I've seen similar things before with students.

One of the great failures of the current USPA system is that we move instructors through the ranks too quickly, especially into the tandem program, and they don't get the experience I think they need prior to taking charge of complex systems.

An experienced instructor has seen students screw-up, and should know how to simplify and manage tasks based on that added experience. An instructor with a couple of years of teaching ground school and managing students in the SL/AFF programs will be far better able to teach and manage a tandem event, which I still think is the toughest and most complex teaching assignment in the sport.

Our instructional programs should be focused on placing our best and most experienced instructors in the tandem program, and in making sure every single instructor is fully trained and adequately experienced before being assigned to teach at an appropriate level. We are not doing that, as an industry institution, or as individuals.
Tom Buchanan
Instructor Emeritus
Comm Pilot MSEL,G
Author: JUMP! Skydiving Made Fun and Easy

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Was the rig really equipped with a skyhook (or a regular RSL)?

I thought a skyhook only releases the reserve pin when both risers are "gone".
Am I wrong here?

EDIT: It seems I was wrong. The skyhook releases the left riser's cutaway cable, if the right riser detaches first. So this scenario is also possible with the skyhook.

...and with a standard RSL fitted on the right riser.

Martin

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Was the rig really equipped with a skyhook (or a regular RSL)?

I thought a skyhook only releases the reserve pin when both risers are "gone".
Am I wrong here?

EDIT: It seems I was wrong. The skyhook releases the left riser's cutaway cable, if the right riser detaches first. So this scenario is also possible with the skyhook.

...and with a standard RSL fitted on the right riser.

Martin



Maybe the Collins lanyard did try and "release it", but if he is still holding onto the little ring it wont matter.
BASE 1384

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I've seen similar things before with students.

One of the great failures of the current USPA system is that we move instructors through the ranks too quickly, especially into the tandem program, and they don't get the experience I think they need prior to taking charge of complex systems.

An experienced instructor has seen students screw-up, and should know how to simplify and manage tasks based on that added experience. An instructor with a couple of years of teaching ground school and managing students in the SL/AFF programs will be far better able to teach and manage a tandem event, which I still think is the toughest and most complex teaching assignment in the sport.

Our instructional programs should be focused on placing our best and most experienced instructors in the tandem program, and in making sure every single instructor is fully trained and adequately experienced before being assigned to teach at an appropriate level. We are not doing that, as an industry institution, or as individuals.



And we will, in part, continue that craziness as long as we allow Tandem ratings with no Time-as-Coach rating requirements.
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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When under your tandem canopy press onthe small ring to see the pressure that is put on the white loop. It will surprise you, there is really a small amount of pressure on it. Further, doing exactly what it is supposed to giving the mechanical advantage.

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do you think those two little white loops hold your weight? 3 ring system = triple mechanical advantage




Actually a larger 3 ring has a 200:1 reduction in force. So let's say they maxed the system out at 500lbs and the spin loaded it up at 4g's. Each riser is taking 1000 lbs. That's still only 5 lbs on the smallest ring and that's in a pretty extreme worst case scenario.

Just for info the mini 3 rings give about a 30:1 reduction in force. (Hope I remembered the figures correctly).

-Michael

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