question about a tv show i saw

[alanab 0]

i was watching a program called most amazing videos or something to that extent the other night.... anyways there was a clip on a skydiving incident that i was wondering about.
it was a tandem jump somewhere in the UK and the drogue ended up getting wrapped around the students neck which made him go unconscious and had the tandem pair spinning out of control. the videographer came in last second and pulled for the TI.
my question is what would have caused this mal to happen? was it the TI pulling the drouge on his back and rolling over into it? something else? how often does something like this happen and what can be done to prevent and fix this problem?
thanks! and sorry if this is a dumb quiestion.

[mjosparky 4]

It was the TI who had the bridle of the drouge around his neck. I am not sure what caused it, but that is the only time I have heard of it happening.

Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[BIGUN 1,486]

Sparky's right. It was around the TI's neck and he was blacking out. Videographer was the hero of the day.

Bottom line - do not use the drogue to get stable. Get stable first, then pitch the drogue.

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[mr2mk1g 10]

Did the vidiot clear the entaglement first, go straight to silver or somehow manage to deploy the main?

[bodypilot1 0]

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was it the TI pulling the drouge on his back and rolling over into it?

Probably

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how often does something like this happen

Unfortunatly some TI's are let loose on the paying customers BEFORE they can exit stable and rely on the drogue for stablity.

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what can be done to prevent and fix this problem?

Better exiting techniques, PRACTICED WITH OTHER SKYDIVERS ACTING AS STUDENTS, before they are let loose to take the general public.

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sorry if this is a dumb quiestion.

It's not a dumb question.
Unfortunatly some insrtuctors do this regularly, and some DZO's are too interested in just having instructors at the DZ to make them money, rather then have TI learn to do exits correctly and be safe, they let them practice on the paying customers and some of the video's get seen by everyone.



Ed

www.WestCoastWingsuits.com
www.PrecisionSkydiving.com

[alanab 0]

just the kind of reply i was looking for... thanks ed!

[piisfish 140]

and the passenger didn't even realise something was wrong... He just had the ride of his life... The pair was spinning BIG TIME...

Saw it on swiss TV 10 days ago... Scary video. Unfortunately you don't see when the TM throws the drogue

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[Foggy 0]

IIRC this incident was 12+ years ago at Sibson in the UK, i.e. prior to an AAD being mandatory on tandem gear. The videographer was Ronnie O'Brian who was also a TI and I believe he pulled the reserve as the drogue was around the TI's neck causing him to lose consciousness. Once under the reserve, he recovered and landed normally. The passenger was totally unaware.

Foggy

[dorbie 0]

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Did the vidiot clear the entaglement first, go straight to silver or somehow manage to deploy the main?

He went straight for the silver. Says they were pretty low when he got it.

[crazydiver 0]

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Did the vidiot clear the entaglement first, go straight to silver or somehow manage to deploy the main?

He went straight for the silver. Says they were pretty low when he got it.

Just because the video person pulled the reserve for them doesn't mean the tandem pair was low. On a tandem, you MUST clear the drogue before you release it or you will have a horseshoe mal. I suppose if he had gone for the drogue release, there was a chance that the drogue would have cleared from the guys head...or flat out ripped his head off. Too big of a risk. bottom line...when you can't clear the drogue, tandem instructors are taught to pull thier reserve immediately. I wonder how the reserve managed to be fired into the drogue bridle without entangling...lucky guy!

Cheers,
Travis

[dorbie 0]

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Did the vidiot clear the entaglement first, go straight to silver or somehow manage to deploy the main?

He went straight for the silver. Says they were pretty low when he got it.

Just because the video person pulled the reserve for them doesn't mean the tandem pair was low. On a tandem, you MUST clear the drogue before you release it or you will have a horseshoe mal. I suppose if he had gone for the drogue release, there was a chance that the drogue would have cleared from the guys head...or flat out ripped his head off. Too big of a risk. bottom line...when you can't clear the drogue, tandem instructors are taught to pull thier reserve immediately. I wonder how the reserve managed to be fired into the drogue bridle without entangling...lucky guy!

I was referring to the information accompanying the video. They interviewed everyone and the video guy claimed that they were about 5 seconds away from disaster. I forget his exact words but 5 seconds was the number he used.

P.S. the tandem pair were spinning pretty quickly. The drogue around one side of the neck cocked the TI up at an angle and induced the spin.

They were lucky the video guy reached a handle.

FWIW it did look like the exit was reasonably stable before deploying the drogue but there was a bit of vertical separation between the TI and the cameraman so the exact cause of the wrap wasn't obvious.

I think the TI said he blacked out as he was reaching for a knife, next thing he knew he woke up under canopy and didn't realize how the situation had resolved itself until he saw the video.