Frenchy68

Agree with all the above. So does my friend. "For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

What for?? From the PD dual square report: "Intentional cutaways from biplanes showed that the main had the possibility of engangling with the reserve 11 out of 11 times" We are taught to NOT chop from a biplane. I can only guess the experience of your friend as being somewhat similar to yours, so this training was probably fairly recent. I think that your friend got lucky in this particular incident, and that he should probably speak with an instructor or S&TA to review what the proper procedures are for dealing with two out. According to what he told me, he chopped the main as a reflex to seeing something going wrong above him. I don't think there was much assessment time involved. Yes, we were taught not to mess with a stable bi plane. But I do not know for sure whether the reserve was stably deployed when he chopped, or whether it was deploying (SIM seems to preconise different courses of action between the 2 different events) And yes, there was a thorough de-briefing by the S&TA. "If it's opened and flying nicely, stick with it" "For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

He probably should have had a rigger sign off on the pin (and I should have insisted he did). However, although I thought the pin was a little "short", it looked very safely jumpable to me. I have pointed such "short" pins to experienced jumpers in the past, who told me it was fine. I guess it is NOT fine... I would suspect that the pin did get pushed out some more during the ride to alt. "For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

The RSL was not disconnected. The reserve was already depolying when he cut away. "For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

"Why did he cut away the main right away? " According to what he told me, because 2 canopies being out didn't seem like the right thing to be. Probably a reflex type of reaction. "Was the biplane not flying stable?" Not sure it got as far as him finding out whether it was stable or not. I believe he chopped right after the reserve was deployed. "What size main and what size reserve?" Main= Sabre II 170, reserve=PD 143. He's wearing 5lbs of weights on this jump. He weights about 125lbs (+/- 145 lbs exit weight+weight belt). "For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

I grab them ONCE I have line stretch. I had a slammer today, and I am so glad my hands were not NEAR the risers... Nick "For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

Today (Sunday) at Perris. Garet, my close friend and Jumping partner chopped his main after a 2 out situation. Landed safely and uneventfully in the peas under his reserve. What happened: 2nd jump of the day. After giving him a gear check before the 1st jump, I noticed and mentioned to him that maybe the reserve pin was a tinny bit "short" (ie distance from closing loop to tip of pin), but not by much in my opinion. 1st jump was very uneventful. I gave him a gear check before the 2nd jump. Same situation with the pin (no worse). In the Skyvan, lots of moving around (bunch of solos, different pull altitude, belly down/sit/head down, etc...). He got a pin check, but found out later (once on the ground) that the jumper who checked on him only looked at his main pin, and never checked the reserve pin. He and I did a 2 way. Thing is, it was botched, and we never made contact. Never came closer to each other than maybe 8 feet. We broke away at around 6k, tracked. I pulled at 4k, he tells me he pulled lower than that, but definitely above 3k. He told me that as we was watching his main getting perfectly inflated, he all of sudden felt a jolt, and saw that "big yellow thing that didn't belong there" (in his words). 2 out biplane (front/back), he chopped the main pretty much right away. He had a good landing. I kept a visual with the main, which ended up landing in the DZ. Free bag was chased by (the other) Nick. Eventually, Tim retrieved everything except the Reserve handle (and is probably enjoying his free BUD as I type...). Not quite sure what happened there. I can only speculate that the reserve pin was somehow dislodged during the ride up to altitude. Which would mean: PIN CHECK = CHECK BOTH PINS!!! And maybe my bad for not telling him to take the rig to a rigger for safety... Nick "For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

My rule of thumb from my almighty 40 something jumps: if I have to even WONDER whether I can fix it or not, CHOP CHOP. Unless I pull at 10k, and know I have few thousand feet to dick around with it. But once people start looking like ants... Nick "For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

Frenchy. Came from... take a wild guess!!! "For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

Kris, I bet I'll get to 50 before you get to 100!!! (hell, maybe I'll race you to 100!!!???)

Very good point: trying for horizontal separation too long = terminal vertical separation! "For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

Is it me, or do people ALWAYS get "skydiving" tats before they reach the 100 jump plateau? Aggie? Plummet (man, this is foul!!!!!! I love you already!!)? How many jumps before you got them? N. "For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

1/ Pull 2/ Pull with altitude 3/ ... Alright, who am I to judge you from my almighty 40-something jumps??? Now, seriously, what do you think happened? I myself always count (on a 2 way, break off at 5,5k, count to 1000-5, turn aroudn to visually check seperation, if clear pull at around 4k). I have a pro-track, which I use more as a back up. Truly curious to know what you think went wrong. Cheers, Nick "For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

Extremely good point! The cost of adding a graphic on to a canopy compared to the cost of liability insurance is almost unsignificant. As a matter of fact, very few insurance companies are willing to cover 2nd or 3rd party liability when it comes to skydiving. I was turned down 2 weeks ago by the biggest underwritter in the world to insure 3rd party liability... In some European countries, probably not an issue, but in the US... Nick "For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

My wife's cousin was Miss Masachussets (late 90's), went on to be Miss USA. HOT! HOT! HOT! And not dumb by any means. But never tripped off an airplane... I hope my wife doesn't go on Dropzone.com!!!!!!!!!! N. "For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

Sunday it it. And I'll piggy ride your jumps to crank to 100 as well Nick "For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

I'll be there. Any spots still available??? Nick "For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

I know there's been many threads about 2 out situations. But I am still confused! In the case of a biplane (front/back), the SIM stipulates releasing the leading canopy's brakes and steering them gently. But throughout my AFF progression, I was told by instructors to leave the brakes stowed and gently steer using the leading caopy's rear risers. Thinking about it from my whooping 44 jumps experience, leaving the brakes alone would make sense, assuming I have 2 similar size (read glide ratio & speed) canopies, and that the leading one would actually do "lead" the trailer. But that's the theorical world. Now, in the real world, I would love to get REAL EXPERIENCE feedback as to what happened, what went right/wrong in both configurations (Brakes stowed/unstowed) from skydivers who actually experienced such a situation. I am assuming that as always, the specific situation dictates the reaction... "For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

Paul, you gotta be kidding me! And I sent them a check as a donation for further scientific research (I actually volunteered!) Nick "For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

http://www.landoverbaptist.org/news0903/redbull.html Off to the store to get me a couple cases and do the Jungle Monkey dance... Nick "For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

Pulling at 4,000ft, hard deck at 2,500ft. I've had a 1,200 ft snivel once on a Spectre... Now I usually get about 500ft of snivelling on average, which still leaves me enough time to kick out of routine line twists (never had any, so I must be due!) without having to chop. Nick "For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

Classic!!! "For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

California Skypark????? I know I haven't been jumping there for that long, but is that what the complex is actually called? That's pretty gay! Nick "For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

Bill, What Dropzone do you call home? If it's the one I am thinking of, please do point me to the LOANED out gear department this week end, as I am running out of $ faster than I usualy run out of altitude... Nick "For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

"My Way" (Sex Pistols version) Fat Boy Slim - "Because we can (can can)" Apollo 440 - "Getting high on your own supply" "For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."