Cutaway01

Yes i know all about bag locks i have found 37 of them but what i am lookong for is the drift on a tandom baglock i have been recovering cutaways for over 40 years and this is the first tandem baglock i have been involved in looking for i am just trying to get an idea how far that 52 inch drouge takes it down range. You are absoluty right when you have a cutaway look straight dowm and take mote where you are this gives us a starting point i was so impressed you said that tell everyone. Thats the number one problem i have when i go after a cutaway is trying to find the point where the cutaway took place. Your so heads up wow. Take care

Has anyone ever seen a tandem baglock. If so can you tell me how far it traveled after being cutaway and the aprox speed of the wind that day. Any info would be helpful Thanks

I will be doing a Cutaway Recovery talk during thanksgiving here at Skydive City in Zephyrhills if anyone is intrested. I will cover everything you need to know to recover your main or freebag in all kinds of conditions.

Has anyone seen a tandom baglock I need to know how far it went after being cutaway and what the wind speed was the day it was cutaway. I am trying to get some info on locating tandom baglocks any info would be helpful. Thanks Robert

Has anyone seen a baglock on a tandom I need to know what alt it was cutaway and aprox how far it went. and the wind that day if anyone can answer this for me it would be a great help. Thanks

you didn't upset me I have been falsely accused of that befoe and I guess I am a little sensitive about that Sorry. I did some research in the laws about lost items. I love to see everyone get there gear back my fee is secondary. I strickly leave my fee up to the skydiver. again I am sorry if I came across to strong.

lets get one thing straight I have never ever in all the years I have recovered gear ever held anyone canopy for any reason. I return everything I find to the righful owner its up to the owner to decide to pay me or not. I have even at my own expence recovered canopys and mailed them back to the owner and never heard from them again. So let not start the ransum thing. I have come close to putting people in jail for that and if the skydiver that owned the canopy would have pressed charges they would hve gone to jail. Its illigal to pick up and keep a canopy or freebag its theft. IF I woure to hold someones canopy until they paid me I would be commiting theft. The law that governs that is call the Lost or abandend law. To keep a canopy and not turn it into the police is a filony in the third degree.

So what your saing is I should take of work go out and search for a canopy and freebag. and after three days searching find it and then say dont forget my beer this weekend. This is hard work and time consuming. There are exceptions to the rule if I go out and find the canopy in an hour or it just out in an open field I would propley not charge anything or I would just say beer or what ever you want to give me is fine. I wish I could show everyone the things I have gone through to recover a canopy I have done just about anything you can think of. I dont stop until the canopy and freebag is found and returned. there are a lot of expenses involved also like Gas, food, water, sometimes the cost of an airplane, and sometimes I have to pay a ransum because some idiot thinks what falls from the sky is his. sometimes I take off work because if I dont the canopy will be worthless. So I do agree with you if the canopy is very easy to get then I dont mind but what I am talking about is a hunt.

Here is the solution for a freebag in a tree, go get yourself a fishing pole with twenty five pound test line on it, then get yourself two hundred feet of five fifty cord and a couple of sinkers. take the fishing pole and cast the sinker over a limb that is higher and directly above the freebad. Then attach the five fifty cord to your fishing line and pull it up and over the limb once thats completed your next step in dependet on how the freebag is hanging in the tree if the pilotchute is hanging down then simply work the five fifty cord until you can wrap the cord around the pilot chute this will take several wraps then just simply pull the freebag down. if the freebag is pilot chute is not hanging down then I usually have a forked stick with me and I attach the fork stick to the five fifty cord with the Y of the stick pointing down then simply pull the forked stick up past the bridle and then pull it back down hooking the bridle this will cause the bag or the pilot chute to drop down then simply wrap the five fifty cord arund it and pull it down. I have removed hundreds of freebag from just about every kind of tree you can think of its simple and it dont damage the freebag at all.

I charge a flat rate to recover both the main and freebag I charge 150.00. If it takes longer than expected the price remains the same. Thats if the skydiver wants me to recover it. If the skydiver wants to recover his own I will provide help for free.

following it down is ok if the canopy is going to land in a nice open field but what about swamps, woods, housing areas, and corn fields. I think the skydivers experience level would come into play on that one. Safty first. Remember your on your reserve not your main canopy. I agree with folloing the canopy if the experience level is there and the conditions are right but often than not following it is dangerous and we as experienced skydivers should not urge inexperienced skydivers to do so.

most people write there name and phone number on the bridle of the freebag. Its not a bad idea but from experene if the freebag dont find its way back to the drop zone in the first two days chances are it wont. Recording the seral number of your canopy and keeping the info in a same place will help more than anything. If the canopy or freebag is stolen the first thing a cop is going to ask is the seral number. If a canopy or freebag is found the finder usually will contact the drop zone anyway. so a good idea is to drop off your personal info with manifest.

I have never ever kept any canopy freebag or anything else I have recovered I have returned everything to its owner. I was accused in Quincy Ill at the Freefall convention of holding canopys for ransum but that wasn't me any canopy I recovered at the convention was returned because I had all jumpers who lost something fill out and sign a form allowing me and my crew to recover it. Even if someone didn't want to give us anything for the recovery we still gave it to the owner. I am very perticular about that. But your right there are those who take things that dont belong to them and keep it. There in a law in place that covers abanded or lost items and the law states that the item has to be turned in to the police and after thirty days the finder can lay claim to it. But to just pick up a canopy and take it home is theft.

I would love to give you the top ten tips but I would have to explane each one. I have developed a method of finding the canopy and freebag in a short amount of time. I wanted to try just a pamplet but there is so much info that the pamplet would turn into a book anyway you have to understand I have years of recovering just about everything lost during a skydive. There is more to it than everyone relize. For example your main canopy goes in a corn field and the corn field is so large that searching the field would take you a couple of weeks I can recover it inside a half day and I have done just that before in Quency Ill. Now to explain how I would go about doing that would take alone a couple of pages. I would use a step by step method to recover it.

Hi my name is Robert and I have been recovering lost main canopys and freebags and other items that are lost while skydiving for over thirty five years. I am thinking on writing a book on how to recover a lost main and freebag I was wondering if there is a interest in such a book. I know of countless main canopys and freebags that could have been recovered should I have been there or the skydiver had the know how that I have. please send me a reply and let me know if there is an interest.