SkyMonkey saves himself.......barely....

[basehoundsam 0]

Update from Eloy: monkey shaped creature flying wingsuit has nasty cutaway beneath teeny-tiny 75 ft2 canopy. Scared me ...... that's for sure.......... I'll let the guy with curly tail tell the tale. (Ha A pun.....)

Jay E.

Jay Epstein Ramirez
www.adrenalineexploits.com

[kevin922 0]

So what's the deal ?

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

Here are the details:

It was my 16th or 17th wingsuit flight of the boogie, about 12 noon on 2 January. I was in a 4-way diamond formation with Jay Epstein and Drew from Colorado, as well as LouDiamond (Scott Campos) from Virginia. We were looking to get some better video to give to Lewmonst and Cajones for the boogie video because that was the only way to ensure our bad-assedness.

At any rate, I was left wing, Drew was point, Scott was right wing, and Jay was tail, flying a big high to get the shot. We broke-off at 4500 feet and I split left. Jay also went in that direction, so he saw the whole mess. At 4000 feet, I waved off with my feet and dumped, totally stable. I gave my "two count", then dropped my knees and looked at my handles as per my SOP. After feeling the canopy start to inflate, I quickly started unzipping the left arm of my SkyFlyer. It was then that shit got VERY ugly. My main, totally uncharacteristically, had a violent right spin while I was laid over to the left. I knew right then that I needed to pull all of my suit handles right away if I had any hope of kicking out. After pulling all my handles I looked back up to see that by that time I was on my back, spinning straight out from my 75 square foot H-mod Cobalt with the risers spun up clean in front of my neck; not good, as there was no way I was going to kick out of that much twist before impact. Anyway, I resigned myself to chopping, so i reached down and took firm grips on both of my handles. I do NOT bullshit when I chop, so when I punched the cutaway handle and it didn't budge, I knew I might be fucked. I punched a second and finally a third time before the force of "punching" dislodged my reserve ripcord from it's pouch and pulled the cable just enough to fire the reserve. We all know what ought to have happened, but somebody had my back because that freebag made it to clean air and the reserve caught air on the opposite side of me than the main was spinning me, sort of stopping me dead in the middle in a sort of double-spinning downplane. It was only then that I tried to cutaway again and the tension released off the main risers by the reserve allowed the three rings to function. It was at this time that I got the "flatline" on my Pro Dytter, which I keep set at two grand. This entire situation took maybe six or seven seconds and I burned up two thousand feet in that short amount of time. Once free of the totally-spun main, I kicked out of the four reserve line twists, then landed unscathed in the grass of the main landing area at Eloy. Omar shagged my reserve and we balled it all up and I walked off. It was only at the dropzone.com tent that I took full accountability of what was there and what was not.

I had both of my arm handles, but my LQRS handle was gone. I had my cutaway handle, but the reserve handle was still in the housing, pulled only about three inches from its seat. I thought the main and freebag were a loss, seeing as how the wind had really picked up, but Brian Burke had them recovered almost before they hit the ground. He returned all but the LQRS handle within ten minutes of my landing.

Now, to the crux of the matter: the reason I was unable to cutaway was that I did not have my tubes in the risers I was using at that boogie. The tubes were still in my triple risers which I had removed some months ago, sitting in my gear bin at the RPC school at Raeford (where I work as a tandem master and AFF monkey).

Let me tell you one thing: I will never make another skydive without tubes in my risers. I lived through this one by the grace of God and will not tempt fate in that manner again.

Chuck Blue
D-12501

PS: I had a great time flying with Jay and the other Colorado gang people. Hopefully I will see you monkeys again at Rantoul or somewhere else this year.

[Spy38W 0]

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Let me tell you one thing: I will never make another skydive without tubes in my risers. I lived through this one by the grace of God and will not tempt fate in that manner again.

Damn man, thats scary and amazing at the same time. Glad you made it ok.

I recieved my riser inserts 2 days before I had a major spinner/diver, and worry about what might have happened if I hadn't had them.

--
Hook high, flare on time

[kevin922 0]

Okay so give me the low down on these riser inserts, do they fit in any risers how much are they where do you get them. I'm pretty sure I know the concept behind them, just don't have any more info abotu them.

So did the video get this or not?

Good to hear you survived.. thanks for sharing.

Kevin

[LouDiamond 1]

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I do NOT bullshit when I chop, so when I punched the cutaway handle and it didn't budge, I knew I might be fucked. I punched a second and finally a third time before the force of "punching" dislodged by reserve ripcord from it's pouch and pulled the cable just enough to fire the reserve.

I witnessed all of this from above as I deployed my chute right after break off and clearing. I watched Chuck's chute deploy and begin spinning to the right and pickup speed as it continued to wind up. I clearly remember seeing his freebag and reserve deploy and then his main detach. His reserve came out to the left and up as the main spun to the right. I attempted to follow the main as did chuck but it was hauling ass and chuck turned back towards the DZ. I stayed up as long as I could watching the main and landed just short of the grass on the asphalt with a very good idea where the main was. No sooner than I walked the 50 feet back to the tent and dropped my chute did Brian drive up with Chucks main. All of this really reinforced Chuck's SOP in my mind for pulling no lower than 4000 on Birdman jumps. Even though others pull lower with no problem, had this been the case I can say Chuck wouldn't be here to tell you about it. He lost a lot of altitude in an INCREDIBLELY SHORT PERIOD OF TIME. Had it been anybody other than Chuck I don't think they would of handled it as efficiently as he did. Otherwise it was an incredible jump and an awesome diamond formation. Unfortunately Jay's camera was set up wrong and we look like specks in the video so no birdman footage for the Eloy boogie tape this year. You da MONKEY CHUCK

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[Spy38W 0]

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Okay so give me the low down on these riser inserts, do they fit in any risers how much are they where do you get them. I'm pretty sure I know the concept behind them, just don't have any more info abotu them.

I'm not sure about Mirage Systems, but I know Sunrise either gives the inserts to you with purchase of the H/C, or you can get them for free by requesting them.

The Sunrise inserts are a smaller version of the cutaway cable housing. You take out the yellow lolon cable, put the inserts in, then re-insert the lolon cable into the inserts and tack them down. This helps prevent a hard cutaway if the line twists go down to the risers which could bind the cutaway cables into the risers without the inserts.

--
Hook high, flare on time

[PhreeZone 20]

They should be sewn into place by your rigger too.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[AggieDave 6]

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Let me tell you one thing: I will never make another skydive without tubes in my risers.

You need to post this in some other forums, like G&R and maybe Incidents so some others may learn from it.

At what wingloading do you think that hard-inserts in the risers make a difference? I don't load my canopy *real* high (1.64), although I had hard inserts put on my rig just in case.

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

[Hooknswoop 19]

Monkey- great to finally meet you. Heard you weren't feeling well the last morning I was there. Too much nig-noggery?? We will have to go fly wing suits next time. Glad the reserve ride turned out OK, nice job.

Riser inserts. I see absolutely no down-side to the metal riser inserts. Like it was already stated, make sure they are takced in place. If the slide down out of the channel, they can slip through the r-ring locking loop and prevent the 3-ring from releasing (I have seen this happen, it was caught on the ground). Even at light wingloading, riser inserts will do their job, which is to prevent the cutaway froces from increasing if the risers are twisted around each other, trapping the excess cutaway cables. Also, the channel where the excess cutaway cable goes can "grip" the excess cable, increasing cutaway forces. I don't think there is a minimum wing loading before someone should consider inserts. They can't hurt, they can only help. If you don't have them, get them and have your rigger install them with super-tack. Cheap insurance.

Hook

[gus 1]

Hey Chuck,

Glad you came through unscathed and able to tell us the story.
I watched some video of a friend of mine's deployment (with wingsuit on) that got me thinking about riser inserts. His canopy deployed ok but he accidentally let one of his arm wings open a little, putting in 3 or 4 twists. This is the crux though - because the twists went in from the bottom (ie his wings turning him) rather than the top (ie the canopy turning) the twists were right at the bottom and his risers were well and truely mated together. I don't know what would have happened if he'd tried to cut away from that but it would have been significantly more difficult than 'normal'.

Gus

OutpatientsOnline.com

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

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Monkey- great to finally meet you. Heard you weren't feeling well the last morning I was there. Too much nig-noggery?? We will have to go fly wing suits next time. Glad the reserve ride turned out OK, nice job.

Derek, likewise.
Actually, both Katie and I were sick as dogs for most of the trip. We had went to bed at 8:30 PM on New Years Eve, right after eating, so we missed the entire party. I had no idea you guys had even left, so we will do the suits next time.

Chuck

[kevin922 0]

My rigger is installing them tonight for me.. thanks for the info.

He said ironically he never sells the things until someone reads about an incident and then wants them.

Kevin

[JGarcia 0]

Damn, just read this one last night. Sounded like a pretty hairy situation. Cool nerves and your SOPs saved your ass!

It was good to meet you at Eloy, unfortunately I had to leave on Sunday (29th) to go Snowboarding up north. We'll have to get some flights in soon! Say hello to Katie for me!

...ordering some riser inserts today.

Cheers!

--Jairo

Low Profile, snag free helmet mount for your Sony X3000 action cam!

[alain 0]

wow, scary shit here !

glad you're here to tell the story
anyway, forgive my ignorance, but whats the risers inserts???

alain

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

Read all about riser inserts in "gear and rigging", but they are the tubes you put up in your risers that prevent your excess cutaway cable from binding up together during a spinning malfunction. There are two common types: plastic (Sunpath), and metal (like the cutaway cable housings on most rigs).

Chuck

[alain 0]

thanks monkey dude

alain

[AndyMan 7]

Your story was virtually exactly the same as that from Missy Nelson. The only difference was that she intentionally pulled her reserve after being unable to cuttaway her main.

After hearing the stories, it took Bill Booth making fun of me to actually get me to buy them. Looking back, I really should've been more progressive to change.

_Am

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[skybytch 273]

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There are two common types: plastic (Sunpath), and metal (like the cutaway cable housings on most rigs).

Metal ones are available through RWS or any of their dealers.

[VectorBoy 0]

Which ones do you have Lisa? Glen

[Costyn 1]

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Riser inserts. I see absolutely no down-side to the metal riser inserts.

I have metal inserts (my rigger refers to them as 'Power-housing'), and the only downside is that they make the risers a bit more stiff and bulky. They sit right where the bend in the risers is greatest (when the rig is closed), making packing a little more of a chore. Its harder for me now to put my tuck flaps back into place. I think that I will have to replace the stiffners in my tuck flaps a little sooner now.

Even so, I'm glad I have them. I have a comparatively low wingload, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. :-) I really recommend everyone to get them. They're not expensive (compared to the rest of your rig), and if you are ever in a situation where you need them, you'll be happy that you got them installed.

Great to hear everything ended well with SkymonkeyOne.

Cheers,

Costyn.