Cheaper than a hospital bill

[BoobieCootie 0]

A little lengthy, but worth the read...

On Saturday, I experienced my first cutaway (Yeehaw! case of beerTom Carter, I ain't owing you booze).

What started out feeling like line-twist were line-twists when I looked up. I tried to kick out of it, but the canopy started turning. I knew right then that I needed to go through my emergency procedures as the spin got faster and faster with each revolution.

There I was, 3000ft, under a spinning mal., and on my back. Looked for the handles, found the silver but where's the red? I kept my cool and continued looking for it. Then came that moment and I got ready for a 2nd freefall. Pulled the red, but man was it hard, and remembered that I should first peel it off, then pull it down. But just enough adrenaline was there to yank it all out.

Ping! Time for the silver. And there she was. A white Raven Dash-M 181 I saw inflate as I witnessed each step of the deployment.

Now I was in another line-twist. Probably because I was not quite yet stable. But at least it wasn't turning and I was able to get out of it by kicking out a couple of times.

I was just about above 1000ft when I released the reserve toggles and flew my normal landing pattern back to the DZ. I knew that coming back to the DZ was the smarter thing to do for 2 reasons: 1) because I was still on course and had enough altitude to land back, 2) that going after my main could put me in another emergency situation.

I managed to save my handles though (saved ~$50-75) That'll run me $174. The lines on the main had suffered friction induced burns and I had to peel them off each other. They look ok, but common sense tells me that a little extra G's while having fun spiraling down could put enough force to break them. So I'm sending my main back to Aerodyne for an inspection and a reline with the 4.0 mod. And that's another $240. On top of that, I'm owing a case of beer ($20) and a bottle for my rigger ($40). But to post this thread and share with you my experience Priceless.

So lessons learned:
Always familarize yourself with your gear.
There is no such thing as too many gear checks.
Always do one more check-of-3's before you step out.
If at first you can't find it, keep looking till you find it. (In the case of not pulling my reserve when I couldn't first find my cutaway handle)
Pull, pull stable, pull on time. Note that nowhere did I mention anything about altitude - There is no time to find out your altitude in an emergency to make up your mind!
Don't give up!
Lastly - You can never stop owing beer!

[hookitt 1]

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(Yeehaw! case of beer, and unless your name is Tom Carter, I ain't owing you booze).

Yes! nNice story and nice work on the Mal. Oh and of course nice work on what ever bottle Tom Prefers

Thanks for sharing
Tim

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[freakous 0]

Actually, you did mention altitude. Of course it was when you first noticed your spinning malfunction at 3000. This is a nice example of not taking it as low as the BSR's state you can. Suggesting that you initiated deployed atleast around 3500. I like to give myself some extra time as well. Good job! Whenever I want that extra 500 to 1000 feet, I just beg one of the girls show boobies to the pilot!

[CrazyIvan 0]

Interesting story, and I'm glad you are OK, blue ones bro.

__________________________________________
Blue Skies and May the Force be with you.

[sdctlc 0]

Did the Night Jumps you were working so hard on coordinating happen with out you? Did you sacrifice all of the beer you had lined up for the night jumps? On a serious note, I am glad you did your procedures just right and are OK! Congrats on at least one first for the day, though maybe not the one you were planning on.
I guess the bright side is that you were not on your First night jump with your first spinning mal resulting in your First cutaway, after it being the First time you organized the night jumps for a group of people, though it would have been exciting it would have added up to a lot of beer. The only other way it may have been better in reference to "firsts" is if you were the First cutaway of 2003 for Kapowsin. I think Elden is the proud recipent of that from two weeks ago, sorry.

Scott C.

"He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

[weid14 0]

he had another on Saturday too (Elden).... William did a good job recognizing and dealing with the mal. good job... techincally he really doens't owe any more beer, but hey, what the heck....

Oh, the lines were burned together? that is some heat, do you remember anything packing that was different?

[sdctlc 0]

Elden is going to keep his rigger happy if he goes at this pace! 2 cuts in 3 weekends...

Scott C.

"He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

[Casch 0]

The last one was at the end of his repack cycle. I WAS there when he said this, although that may not mean anything

[ScratchTX 0]

Hey good job/good story. But I wonder about:

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If at first you can't find it, keep looking till you find it. (In the case of not pulling my reserve when I couldn't first find my cutaway handle)

In your case, yes, but that lesson of course does not apply to the main handle... :>)

And also except that I'd think at a certain altitude (say, 500 - 700 feet) it would be better to stop looking for it and pull the reserve -- go for the "more nylon overhead" approach.

I mean, that you kept calm and found your cutaway handle was crucial -- panicking and going for the reserve could have probably killed you. But if I was spinning on my back and my canopy was diving, and I hadn't practiced finding my cutaway handle in difficult cirumstances, and I just could NOT find it, and I was going to hit ground hard enough to injure or kill myself anyway, isn't pulling the reserve better than nothing? What do the more experienced people think on this?

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Pull, pull stable, pull on time.

I see more and more people saying this here lately--Pull stable is the THIRD of the pull priorities, NOT the second. Pulling while not stable MAY get you; pulling too late WILL get you. If you meant something else, then never mind...

--Scratch