JohnMitchell

Thanks for the input. Like I said, my perusal of incident reports indicated "no reserve pull" was more common, but I could be wrong. Time for further research. I still can't fathom pulling out of sequence, except in the case of a hard pull on the cutaway handle. One newer jumper confessed to doing just that because of a hard pull. I coached her a little more on technique. Make sure you're pulling on the correct handle and straight down. If necessary, let go of the reserve handle and try twice more with both hands. In keeping with the "only 2 extra tries" rule of problems, it may be time to go straight to the reserve if you still can't pull the cutaway handle. Or you may have time to try again. This is one situation where you really need to watch your altitude..

Okay, so I see things in the sport and on youtube and I just want to get my 2 cents worth out there. My profile will show that I'm an instructor, NOT a rigger, and not particularly expert, but I have been in the sport a while and have 12+ cutaways to my name, so here goes: When you've done all you can and you decide it's time to chop: 1- LOOK at your handles while you grab them. Stuff moves around on opening. I've known people to grab and pull on a lot of stuff that was NOT going to save their lives. If you have a D-ring reserve handle, hook your thumb thru it so you're not grabbing jumpsuit material and so you're pulling with your whole arm behind it, not just with your finger tips. 2- I recommend 1 hand on each handle. Very few people do "out of sequence" deployments. Too many people have died when they couldn't find their reserve handle in time. I know will be a point of debate in this discussion, but this is how I and my DZ train. Train and trust yourself to pull the handles in the proper order. 3- Put your feet on your butt and ARCH while you grab the handles. I see way too many videos of people flopping around, back to earth, feet at the sky, bent at the waist while their reserves deploy. This in not good. (If you have a camera on your head, think about keeping your head down as far as you can when you chop) 4- Every handle should always be pulled the direction the cable housings run. For most gear, this means pull STRAIGHT DOWN, towards your crotch. I see too many people teach and demonstrate "punching" the handles away from the body, as if they were boxing. This puts a 90 degree kink in the cables, increasing the pull forces dramatically. 5- Feel free to hold onto the handles after you pull and arch. A lot of us old timers used to use ripcords to open our mains. Hanging onto the handles was something we always did and has never caused me any troubles. If you really DO have a problem, you can deliberately drop the handles to free your hands. Anyway, 1 and 3 may save your life. #5 may make your life a little easier. I've followed all these steps in each of my reserve rides, and all of them have been unremarkable. Feel free to discuss this with your own instructors..

You know I grew up in DFW. Around Olympia, WA it's those damn Prius drivers, with their smug righteousness.

Sad indeed. I love the story of the Wright Brothers, and, with the help of their sister, their quest to solve the problems of flight. One author I read posited that the problems of flight were so numerous that perhaps only a pair of focused siblings, living and learning together, was sufficient to crack the code.

Riggerrob said it well. Know where you are well before the light comes on. Be checking the spot and searching for traffic well before the DZ. You should never be surprised when you open the door. BTW, old timer tip. When needing to look "straight down" to spot, remember that the plane can easily be nose high, low, or banked left or right. Look out at the horizon, to the side or to the front, and mentally draw a line straight down from it. That will give you your true position above the ground. Don't line up on the plane's doorframe.

I took Vskydiver to her HS reunion a few years back. Not 10 feet from the rental car before I met the first of many guys who had a "thing" for her. She even had a former stalker come up and confess to following her through all of her classes.. . She pretended to remember him.

I read an article not long ago, talking about the fact that some people (Asperger's Syndrome, etc.) can not process facial expressions or remember faces very well. At the other end of the spectrum are people with extreme ability to remember and recall people's faces. They're called "super recognizers". They very often "meet for the first time" people they chatted with on an elevator 2 years previously, or recognize extras in the backgrounds of movies as having worked in other shows. Many learn to tone down this amazing ability so as not to seem stalkerish. The London police now screen their employees for this ability. They have, I believe, 6-7 people that scored very well, and they get the duty of watching video tapes from crimes, trying to make ID's of the bad guys.

Oh, I get it. No, I didn't get THOSE calls. I thought he just meant girls calling up that you didn't recognize/remember. I hated playing the "don't you know who this is?" game. Got old real quick. To this day, I still introduce myself.

Ha, I moved to a different area code, back in the day when that made a difference.

And now you're just used to it? You're right, that's a little ambiguous. NOW I'm married. Don't get those kind of phone calls anymore.

I used to hate that when it happened.

My God, I don't think she could handle that many guys wanting to make a date with her. . .

BOC, and I want to say at least 10 years ago, but maybe 13-14. It's been a good change from ripcords. Doing AFF we have some quick release pocket rigs, but I've pulled the pilot chute out several times from the reserve side. Very easy to reach across.

Pulling the cutaway handle or just finding it under layers of fat?

Acro yoga, sport bike, skydiving . . . you're my (our) kind of girl. I esp. like the yoga pose on the bridge. Maybe you're intimidating too many guys. Add a picture of you in the kitchen taking fresh cookies out of the oven. I liked the bit of advice someone said for this guy "Nope, I don't think it will work this time either." If he can't realize how cool you are, he's not worth it.

Meh - just interesting to hear different points of view. Sometimes imagining a scenario is more fun than actually going ahead with it. Things rarely happen like you think they will anyway. We're still waiting for your tinder pics. . .

I jumped those for years. I had forgotten that nickname.

I've seen that situation. Going to the DZO was all it took to fix it. Did this guy consider that?

When you're not quite 60, but you have the knees of a 90 y.o.

I didn't know about the rail line going in. I wish WA state could get that progressive. DZs do well in low-rent areas that are an easy drive from population centers. Many DZs have been forced down the road due to rising land values.

Very cool.

Best advice here. I've had lawyers save me thousands of $$$. They may be S.O.B.s, but when you hire 'em, they're YOUR S.O.B.

Cheaters and cons always get upset when they're exposed. They are playing your emotions to bilk you out of what's rightfully yours. Don't let 'em.

Love the "label" thing. I have return address stickers stuck on just about every piece of camera equipment and my altimeter. With so much look-alike equipment at the DZ it's been a huge help to me. And for traveling TMs, don't forget your Class III medical card.