Two tandem chops in two days.

[Deuce 1]

I went 260 tandem jumps without a reserve ride and then had one on Saturday (linover 380) and one on Sunday (slider hung up and just a ton of tangled line above it A2)

Tried to clear them both by pumping, but both were hosed. The first one was textbook, and was kind of a relief to get out of the way (like that first sport rig chop), but the second one was a little too quick on the tail of the first one for my taste.

Having frequently talked with the rest of the staff about "what it was like" it really was just what I was expecting. While clearly a malfunction, it was much slower than the malfunctions I've had on sport rigs. The big three rings make a clearly audible clink-clink-CLINK! And the reserve takes FOREVER to open.

While toggle pressure is very high, and the brakes are hard-up against the riser rings, the reserve had great flare (again very high toggle pressure) and I stood both landings up.

[AggieDave 6]

Something you may not be aware of is on RWS systems, they use an L-bracket for the reserve (as you are aware of), however, it is possible for the contol line of the reserve to get under that L-bracket on opening and lock in place. You'll have to pull the line back out from under the bracket to release the brake.

Learned that one the hard way on my first ride.

Good job, sucks having them so close together, I had my 1st and 2nd exactly 7 days apart (from different packers and for different reasons)...I know what you mean. Its farking annoying.

The reserves don't take too long to open if you're spinning on your back when you chop, but you do get linetwists on the reserve.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[cpoxon 0]

Nice one JP. I did my 250th tandem this weekend. I think it is highly probable that my next mal will be on a tandem rather than a sport rig. Might be a good sweepstake actually because I also jump small ellipticals, quite often with a wingsuit! Also I pack practically all of the tandems I jump. Does that increase or decrease the chance of a mal? I'm not at the mercy of busy, stressed, packers, but then, you haven't seen how I pack! Anyone fancy a wager?

Anyway, glad you dealt with it well JP and hope I do to when the time comes.

Skydiving Fatalities - Cease not to learn 'til thou cease to live

[chopchop 0]

And I dub thee chopchop#2 since it seems you have shrugged off your old moniker Divot onto poor unsuspecting but deserving Ballsack..

chopchop
gotta go... Plaything needs a spanking..

Lotsa Pictures

[Deuce 1]

Quote

You'll have to pull the line back out from under the bracket to release the brake.

Yeah, my Tandem-I, Connie Krusi has warned me about that one.

Craig, honestly I really enjoyed the first one. I was over a thick, white, layer of industrial haze and was looking directly at my shadow when I chopped, and I watched the whole deployment in shadow. My student was perfectly still and arched and we just went back belly to earth and sang the National Anthem while we waited for the reserve to finally deploy what seemed like 10 minutes later . That one was on one of our older canopies that will be replaced once the next batch of A2's arrive.

When the A2 opened like a bag of dirty laundry the next day it was not as much fun. It was spinning harder and my student bicycled as we went back into freefall, which put us almost on our side while the reserve deployed, spinning us up 720 degrees.

Our packers are the greatest, and I'm not thinking it's them being any variety of careless. The linover was the first one ever out of zillions for that packer, who packs in the US in the summer and NZ in the "winter".

I fear the slider/spaghetti malfunction might have had something to do with all the grit out in the landing area because of the fire might be causing more friction in the lines than the slider is able to overcome during opening.

As to packing for yourself, I remember Marty Martinez asking me about my first sport chop:
"Who packed it?"
"I did"
"Well, you get what you pay for."

[LawnDart21 0]

(Knock on wood..........)

I'm approaching my 1000th tandem without a cutaway.......

Together we even out the bell curve.........lol

--
My other ride is a RESERVE.

[GravityGirl 0]

Quote

And I dub thee chopchop#2 since it seems you have shrugged off your old moniker Divot onto poor unsuspecting but deserving Ballsack..

Hey! That nick name was a gift from me! You can't just give it away like that!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peace and Blue Skies!
Bonnie ==>Gravity Gear!

[chopchop 0]

Quote

Hey! That nick name was a gift from me! You can't just give it away like that!

Passed that gift along just like Aunt Thelma's Christmas fruitcake...

chopchop
gotta go... Plaything needs a spanking..

Lotsa Pictures

[divnswoop 0]

Quote

(Knock on wood..........)

I'm approaching my 1000th tandem without a cutaway.......

Together we even out the bell curve.........lol

Yeah, I'm on your side of the fence...I'm approaching 1,600 without one yet.....Not that there weren't a couple I could have!!!
(knocking on my head!.......

[mfrese 0]

Welcome to the club! It kinda sucks to have them back-to-back like that, but as long as the reserves are working, no complaints, right?

I've had three tandem chops now, and the first two are pretty much what you described. The third was on a Sigma system, and I am now totally sold on the Skyhook. That thing had me under a reseve so fast I pulled the reserve handle as an afterthought.

The first two went something like this:

Peel and pull cutaway...start to drop...peel and pull reserve...still dropping...still dropping...now back to belly...still dropping...less legs, almost head down...reserve starts to open, upright again...reserve finally opens completely.

With the Skyhook, something like this:

Peel and pull cutaway...start to drop...peel and, whoa, pulled upright again...open reserve!
Turned me into a believer without having to watch Egon chop from 300 feet again!

Anyway, congratulations, hope you go a while before the next one.

Doctor I ain't gonna die,
Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash

[Deuce 1]

OK, the lightbulb just went on. I haven't been able to see the need to have that lightning-fast reserve out of the skyhook on a sport rig. All my reserve deployments on my sport rigs were fast enough pulling my own handles (camera flying, no RSL)

But as you describe its effectiveness on a tandem, I'm sold. Getting belly to earth after chopping a sport rig is pretty easy, with a thrashing tandem student it's darn near impossible, and on that second one the guy really made an effort to get us on our backs during the deployment sequence. I was scared. It would have been real nice to have avoided all that drama by eliminating all that freefall.

[billbooth 10]

I originally designed the Skyhook for tandem and student rigs only. But, as soon as the test jumpers had a few Skyhook cutaways, they all wanted it on their own rigs. Reserves just seem to open cleaner, not just faster and softer, when Skyhook deployed. If you get a chance, try one, and you'll see what I mean.

[skypuppy 1]

My two tandem chops were the same day!

Chopped with a teenage boy for a passenger, he wasn't sure what happened. Then took his sister up for hers which went ok.

After that took up another guy (beer company rep) and had another chop!

I was ready for a beer after that. But the skyhooks worked nice!

If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead.
Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

[mfrese 0]

Quote

But as you describe its effectiveness on a tandem, I'm sold.

Sweet! Now all you need to do is convince Connie, Vic, and Mike to spring for all new Sigmas and you're golden.

Seriously, I've seen plenty of evidence that the Skyhook is a great idea; having experienced it, I'm pretty sure I'll get a RWS container with a Skyhook for my next sport rig. And I know this has been asked before, but it would really rock if it could be retro-fitted to existing Vector tandem systems.

Doctor I ain't gonna die,
Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash

[Deuce 1]

Well, Bill, I learned pretty early on not to demo anything I can't afford to buy . I'd hate to find out how much I'm missing. While our rigs are safe, they are a little tired, and there's no better way to begin to hate your perfectly serviceable car, than to go out a drive a brand new one!

[billbooth 10]

Tandem rigs don't COST...they EARN.