Hooknswoop

You can look at it and see it. You can't look into someone's head and see that they misunderstnd their EP's. Derek

How are they going to find out they misunderstand it? There are a lot of skydivers that know very little about their gear. Derek

They won't know they misunderstood their EP's until they either need them, read something, or hear something. Then there are a lot of skydivers that shouldn't be skydiving. Derek

Again, people tend to resort to their initial training in stressful situations. I never said that is what happened, just a very real possibility. Derek

Good, but a lot of people, skydivers included, cannot always work through the panic that you are about to die in a few seconds brings. We place the title of 'hero' on people that can still think and make things happen when it ges tough. That is because it is not the norm to be able to do that. Derek

Did you expect the RSL to do anything? Derek

But you may have failed it if you had been visualizing it incorrectly and were unable to re-think it and get it done within those same 10 seconds. Derek

Unless you have been in a situation where you thought you were going to die, you do not know how you are going to react. I wonder if you would pass my combination lock test. I bet there are a lot of skydivers that wouldn't. Resisting panic and thinking your way out of certain death is a rare trait. By your standards probably most skydivers shouldn't skydive, possibly including yourself. No one is disputing that and the fact that you keep bringing that up tells me you are still missing my point. Derek

You can think that all you have to do is cutaway and the RSL will deploy your reserve and know what the reserve ripcord does. Knowing what the reserve handle does not not mean you can't think that all you have to do is cutaway and the RSL will activate the reserve. This is one of my 'con's' abour RSL's. People practice their emergency procdures thinking that they will cutaway, the RSL will deploy their reserve, but they will pull the handle like they are supposed to. Then in a real emergency, they cutaway, nothing happens, things are not going as they envisioned and they don't know what to do next. On the ground or someone with a bunch of jumps will say, "Duh, pull the reserve handle, it's right there and you know what it does." But in that situation in a real emergency, thinking at an even normal level is difficult, especially for someone with 100-jumps having their first mal. So they don't think top ull the reserve handle, allthey know is that things re not going as they are supposed to and the ground is betting big. Hard not to panic when you think you are going to die. As this incident probably proves, this can happen. Again, remeber the GK that was tracking for water when their Cypres fired? They never pulled their reserve handle. it was there the whole time, but again, when you think you are going to die in a few seconds, it is incredibly difficult to remain calm and think through the situation. I think thatif she never knew what the RSL was or did (not the right answer either though), she would have never thought all she had to do was cutaway and she would have pulled her reserve in this case. I say that because she did cutaway and was waiting on the RSL. When it didn't work, she couldn't figure out what to do because of the stress involved. Give someone a combination lock and give them the combo. Chances are good they will get it open in a short amount of time, say less than 10 seconds, on the first try. Now give the same person a combination lock and tell them they have 10 seconds to open it or they are going to die, a lot of people would mess it up on their first try and not get it open within 10 seconds. Human nature. Derek

Why? It is possible and if a change could be made to prevent it from ahppening again, why not address that? A student can come away with a misunderstanding from the world's best FJC. You don't have to be a poor Instructor to have a student misunderstand you. Derek

Doesn't matter who is right, any reason that could have caused this incident should be looked at and adressed in an effort to prevent the same thing from ahppening again for any reason. Derek

She didn't do nothing, she pulled her cutaway handle and expected the RSL to activate her reserve. Derek

Right, but how much EP training did she recieve after her FJC? Absolutely it does. My only point is this incident highlights possible issues in training. If she simply didn't listen, didn't care, etc, then it had nothing to do with training. If she simply froze, then it had nothing to do with training. I don't think she froze, since she did cutaway and was waiting on the RSL. This means that she was aware of the problem and did take action and was aware of the RSL. If she had froze, I don't think she would have pulled the cutaway handle. It appears to me that she misunderstood the function of the RSL and how it should (or really, shouldn't) affect her EP's. Derek

Then you catch the student. If you can't catch a student within a reasonable amount of altitude (and a student shouldn't be allowed to initiate an intentional back loop from too low of an altitude), they shouldn't be doing AFF, IMO. I have some video of me doing exactly that. Derek

Fair enough, but I am not blaming the FJC or their Instructor. I am trying to explain how a student can come away from a good FJC with the wrong idea. We all know to come in on our final approach in full flight and flare from there. then how did I get the idea I should come in in half brakes on final and flare from there on my fisrt skydive? I took something the Instructor said out of context, didn't know any better, it seemd to make sense to me, so I ran with it. If this jumper misunderstood or simplified their training down to cutaway and the RSL will handle the rest, they didn't freeze, they went with what they thought their initial training was. How can you explain the GK that was tracking for water after cutting away from a wrap and their Cypres fired? They didn't freeze, they were in fact doing everything they thought possible to survive. Try teaching a FJC and get an AFFI to quiz the student afterwars. You will be amazed at what they learned vs. what you taught. Derek

That is because you are seeing it from your perspective. Listen to how the Instructors on here are talking about how to teach AAD's/RSL's. It is difficult to teach because of the potential for misunderstanding. It is very easy for a student to come away from a FJC with the uderstanding allt hey have to do is cutaway and the RSL will activate the reserve and still understand what the reserve handle does. 100 jumps doesn't mean anything. People tnd to revert back to their initial training in an emergency situation. If you don't buy it, teach some FJC's and then have the students explain everything back to you. You'll be amazed at how much you didn't get across. It gets easier as you begin to teach from their perspective (0 skydives) and not from your perspective. Derek

What, exactly, did she know? Derek

From popping reserves, flaps don't seem to make a difference in the launch of the PC. Spring length/strength seems to make all the difference. The flaps just aren't that stiff to imped the launch of the PC. As for the fastest opening reserves, the smallest reserves deploy the fastest. Same size PC dragging less weight, less airspace to inflate. That being said, don't use that as a reason to get a smaller reserve. Derek

They aren't sueing us, they just quoted us in their lawsuit. I'm not sure why, except to make more work for the defendant. Derek

Exactly how a student could understand that all they had to do was cutaway and the RSL would handle the rest even though the Instructor did a good job. Derek

Ya, I saw that. Maybe they will contact me to testify on their behalf?. I'm not sure how part of one sentence I said is going to help them. It seems like they just want to rack up USPA's legal fees. Derek

Absolutely, but the really good AFFI's grabt he student before that happens. Derek

I had an altimaster III for years, over 2,500 jumps on it without an issue. They don't handle being dropped very well at all. Altimeters in general are fragile instruments. Once I get either a new aircraft altimeter or the one I have fixed, my test chamber will be operational and I'll be able to test them. Derek

If it can happen in Canada, it can happen here in the U.S...... Derek

Seeing it doesn't really help, unless you are going to measure it yourself. The label is going to say Raven 1, which PA says is 181 sq ft. The only measurement that really matters is to compare it to another canopy you have jumped and, even more important, see how it flys. Derek