My low cutaway video from 1997

[Ron 10]

I finally got off my butt and bought the crap I needed to take a VHS tape and put it on the interweb.

The situation.... 8 way exit where the rear had my right lift web on exit. The exit funneled and (unknown to me) my cutaway handle managed to flip under the lift web. I tracked off from the 8way, pitched my Stiletto 107 and it opened in line twists in a dive and the twists were so low that they had my head pinned back.

I went to go cut it away.... And to my surprise, there was no handle. So I split my risers and looked down to see nothing but lift web. I tried to dig the handle out, but this was back when I was 140 pounds and weight *vests* were the rage. The handle was neatly tucked under the lift web and between two weights.

As I was spinning, I decided that around 500-600 feet I was going to pull the reserve into the main. I was afraid that any lower it might not inflate, and any higher that it would have longer to double mal. That, or that I would just have longer to know I was a deadman. (not saying that is the best course of action, but it was what went through my head at the time).

I looked at my alti and saw I was about 1200'. I noticed my gloves and thought, "If it weren't for these fu(king gloves, I might be able to get the handle...... Oh hell, I have time."

So I took off my right glove, dug between the lift web and the vest and managed to pop the handle out.... a quick look at the ground told me it was now or never, so I chopped and tried to roll into the relative wind while pulling the silver handle.

I have no idea how high I was when I chopped. I'd GUESS maybe 600-700 feet. My reserve opened with one half twist and then I managed to find a firebreak to land on (really it was what was below me).

I had about a 6-8 second canopy ride.

The things that run through your mind at a time like this are pretty strange. I pretty much knew I was dead. I figured the main and reserve would entangle and I would hit hard enough to be wounded bad enough that I would not survive. Heck I even imagined the fatality report stating that no one knew why a guy that had had mals before didn't cutaway before dumping his reserve.

I started walking to the road and found my main and freebag *entangled* together. When I got to the road some jumpers on the way to Zhills stopped and picked me up.

As I walked past the bunker, Mike Truffer, Derrick Thomas, and Ron Andre are all standing there.

Truffer: "I think you could have kicked out of it."
Thomas: "It wasn't a hard cutaway was it?"
Andre: "Damn, we thought you were dead"

The guys from the 8way team were all huddled around the monitor with a bunch of other folks and they were debriefing the malfunction.

I said, "I'd like to thank each of you for coming to get me....Jerks" Someone pipped up, "Suck it up, we saw you landed fine." They asked me what the heck happened and I told them about the glove. They asked if I had kept my handles and I showed them the handles AND the glove.

We had one more jump to do that camp. So I borrowed a rig from Paul Meagher and headed out to the plane.

Funny story about the video. So I am sitting at the bar with my GF and this video comes on. She is watching this in horror just knowing the guy is gonna die. She asks Paul, "Did this guy die?" Paul stares right at me and says, "Oh, I think he makes it out OK."

The video was shot by Tony Hathaway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Liq4HYJZaho

If I can find it.... I have POV video of me about bouncing on my first camera jump.

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[spootch 0]

weird, I wonder how the main ended up with the FB? oh well, glad you made it there were more than enough spins in that to loose ones lunch

speaking of weird, three blocks down showed nakEDs cut away. I never knew it was posted, but I did watch it from the deck of ESC. Nothing like being geared up for your first jump of the year and watching Ed cut, dirty low

[skydiverek 63]

My Infinity has a cutaway pillow, which has a stiff insert (the whole flat part that touches the main lift web and more). Next to impossible to have it 'fold under'.

[Joellercoaster 6]

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If I can find it.... I have POV video of me about bouncing on my first camera jump.

That would be a pretty useful salutory lesson to add to the ongoing "camera won't distract me" discussion, if you could find it.

Assuming the intended recipients didn't just say "that guy must be an idiot", obviously

--
"I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan

"You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

[Ron 10]

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My Infinity has a cutaway pillow, which has a stiff insert (the whole flat part that touches the main lift web and more). Next to impossible to have it 'fold under'.

That became standard equipment on Javelins...... About a week later

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[popsjumper 2]

Wild ride. Good head.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[kkeenan 14]

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Good head.

I think that came after the GF watched the video...

[BigMark 1]

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My Infinity has a cutaway pillow, which has a stiff insert (the whole flat part that touches the main lift web and more). Next to impossible to have it 'fold under'.

That became standard equipment on Javelins...... About a week later

The Sky Gods used to say " I'd rather catch one, than jump one".

[champu 1]

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That became standard equipment on Javelins...... About a week later

To learning lessons in beer rather than blood.

[danielcroft 2]

Thanks for posting this. It's another reminder to what I don't know and another something to learn. : )

[airtwardo 7]

Fuckin' Hard Core!


~respect

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[Ron 10]

I will add that even though this worked out, and makes a great story .... Lots of people have died messing with trying to fix a problem till impact. I could write a book citing examples.

Here is one from a friend Jack Larrison

http://www.skydivingfatalities.info/search.asp?MinDate=1%2F1%2F1999&MaxDate=5%2F1%2F1999&Place=Zephyrhills&State=&Country=&Category=&MinAge=16&MaxAge=78&UnknownAge=on&MinJumps=0&MaxJumps=15000&UnknownJumps=on&AAD=&RSL=&Description=&DescriptionOperator=OR&Lessons=&LessonsOperator=OR

So, I could have *easily* ended up a fatality report for 1997.

So lets look at where I screwed up:

1. I had no idea a handle could fold under after I had done my handles check before climbing out.

2. I blew through the normal hard deck.

3. I attempted to fix a problem with some "new" idea instead of relying on the standard method.

Would I have changed anything? I often wonder that.... It is hard to argue with still being able to breathe. But, I have read so many fatality reports where people spend the rest of their lives trying to fix a problem that I often wonder if I did the right thing. AND I don't want anyone to think this is really a valid solution to this type of issue.....

Yes, it did work out, but the fatality reports are FILLED with people who thought they could fix a problem and filled with people that fixed it too late to survive.

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[skyrider 0]

I left my comment on the clip.....bet the ol ticker was a pumpin!

[LongWayToFall 0]

Why were you so worried about a main reserve entanglement? It seems like under a spin that hard and fast, the reserve pilot chute would have no problem getting the air it needs to lift the reserve to line stretch and deploy it. After the reserve is open it would probably be pretty hard for the main to choke it out and collapse it.

Did you ever think about pulling the cutaway cables directly at the risers?

One last question, would you do what you did again?

Personally, it bothers me to see people cutting away way below their hard deck, just because they think they have the altitude, or worse yet, "I have a skyhook!" and they think 500ft cutaways are no problem for them. If you have a hard deck, you should stick to it....

[Ron 10]

Good questions.

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Why were you so worried about a main reserve entanglement?

I have seen them kill people. I have seen them break people. I was actually planning on dumping the reserve into the main, but my thought was that they will entangle and choke each other out.

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After the reserve is open it would probably be pretty hard for the main to choke it out and collapse it.

Maybe, but my thought was that a fast spinning main would have causes the reserve to 'barber pole' around the main and both would choke each other out.

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Did you ever think about pulling the cutaway cables directly at the risers?

Yes, I forgot to mention that. I had a bad habit of putting my cutaway and reserve smack up against the housings. With the glove, I could not feel very well, and that's what started me cussing out the glove.

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One last question, would you do what you did again?

Doubt it. While I felt pretty altitude aware, this did personally teach me how people can get wrapped up trying to fix a problem instead of stopping the skydive.

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Personally, it bothers me to see people cutting away way below their hard deck, just because they think they have the altitude, or worse yet, "I have a skyhook!" and they think 500ft cutaways are no problem for them. If you have a hard deck, you should stick to it....

Me too. I should state that this was without an RSL. And again, I had every intention of just pulling the reserve, just not till later in the fear that they would entangle.

This is a damn good discussion. Just like I posted a bit up thread, I am not sure I would do this again and I do not want others to think it was a good idea to try an fix a problem past the hard deck. I had to think about if I was even going to post it since I don't want to put that idea into someones head.

But I have mentioned this incident a few times and people have asked to see it.

But this could have easily killed me. I could have messed with it for so long that I chopped and hit the ground. I could have dumped the reserve and been fine, or it could have resulted in a double.

I guess I posted it for two reasons... It was a pretty wild ride and people like seeing thouse, and hopefully so people will never give up and fight till blood fills their goggles.

But yeah, not the best choices even if they worked out.

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[fencebuster 7]

Nice job! That is about 10 revolutions beyond where I would have cut away. But I am a pussy, I guess. Like I said, good save!

Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208
AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I
MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger
Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures