Skyhook RSL snag on door handle, at pin cover flap

[Remster 30]

As a general comment: I remember saying that any component you add to a system adds complexity and therefore adds potential failure points. A few people commented that the Skyhook was so great because they couldn't see any downside.

There you go.

I'm not saying Skyhooks are bad or dangerous, but people tend to minimize the added complexity and new types of malfunctions new systems bring to the table.

Remster

[nerd137 0]

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That is the scariest video I have ever seen.

+1

[sundevil777 102]

The cheapo orange plastic knife has been known for a long time to be junk. However, it doesn't have to be a metal knife, there are plastic models that are very good. This plastic knife is great, light, and not expensive (I have one):

http://www.square1.com/...inchPlastichookknife

Also, there is good reason to think that 2-bladed designs such as the Jack-the-Ripper knife are vulnerable to lines getting wedged between the blades instead of being cut cleanly.

People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

[BeattheDrums 0]

I think what freaked me out the most about that video is that pulling the Main didn't even cross my mind. I was trying to figure out how to fix the reserve... which once the twist got to the risers I knew was impossible...

I'm glad videos like this are out there because it got me thinking... new rule... at hard deck Get rid of what I can. and If i can't just get fabric OUT.

By far the scariest video I have see.

Think I'll buy another hook knife

A thunder of jets in a clear blue sky, a streak of gray and a cheerful "Hi"

[rlucus 0]

http://www.benchmade.com/products/product_detail.aspx?model=5

http://www.benchmade.com/products/product_detail.aspx?model=7

http://www.benchmade.com/products/product_detail.aspx?model=8

3 different sizes for your cutting pleasure.

These knives are LEGEN... wait for it ...DARY!

Seriously, if you have never held one or used it to cut something, you are missing out. $30 isn't much for the best hook knife on the market.

[d123 3]

Yes, that is totally true and can't be debated.

However the skyhook is designed more for the probable problems that happens more often (spinning malfunctions, etc). This one has a small probability to happen to you/me/avarage skydiver.
So the problem saved/problem made ratio is still good

Lock, Dock and Two Smoking Barrelrolls!

[wmw999 2,447]

Read this thread

While a line-over on a main is different from a ball of shit for a reserve, remember that the second part of your statement

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If i can't just get fabric OUT

is probably the more important.

The upshot is that a very experienced jumper who packed himself a lineover on a known line was unable to cut the offending line. From altitude. And no, it wasn't because he had a plastic hook knife.

That doesn't mean no one can do it. But it does mean that you shouldn't count on being able to do it. If you have a ball of shit, make sure it's the biggest ball of shit possible.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[danielcroft 2]

Sorry for the OT but this is the scariest skydiving video I've seen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgaLxD3wu6M

After a certain point, I think your only hope is more material. The scariest part is that I could see someone pulling the cutaway cable too. Hopefully looking at this situation will be a reminder & lesson.

[masterrigger1 2]

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......If you have a ball of shit, make sure it's the biggest ball of shit possible.

Like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAQ43yUVLho&feature=PlayList&p=692BC523B6E7D7E9&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=7

Never give up!

Cheers,
MEL

Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC
www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com

[BeattheDrums 0]

Thanks Wendy! Yeah I agree with that thread and had decided a while back that any in air riggering (is that a word) on the main was just a bad idea. Not worth it with a perfectly good reserve.

The hook knife is for the unlikely and rare Ball O shit on the reserve.

The new hook knife will just be for when I drop the first one

A thunder of jets in a clear blue sky, a streak of gray and a cheerful "Hi"

[jerm 0]

if you, best as one can, frame-by-frame through the slow-motion version, you can see that the reserve does indeed delpoy 'normally' until it gets snagged across the horizontal stabilizer. The video isn't good enough to note any actual damage to the fabric or lines, but in the split second that half the canopy is draped over the stabilizer, you can make out the right 2, now semi-inflated, cells flipping through several of the suspension lines. setting itself up to become the ball of shit that it does once free of the aircraft.

Landing without injury is not necessarily evidence that you didn't fuck up... it just means you got away with it this time

[Skydivesg 7]

I believe the seal thread is there to help keep the lanyard from slipping off the Skyhook during the final staes of packing the reserve and things of that sort.

Be the canopy pilot you want that other guy to be.

[riggerpaul 1]

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I believe the seal thread is there to help keep the lanyard from slipping off the Skyhook during the final staes of packing the reserve and things of that sort.

Yes, I've heard that explanation.

But I am hard pressed to see how you might remove the red loop from the hook by mistake while you finishing closing the rig.

The red loop comes out the side of the flap such that pulling on it will keep it on the hook.

You'd need to push on the red cord to get it to come off the hook if everything is positioned correctly in the first place.

How easy do you think that would be?

But that entire discussion is moot in light of Bill's comments.

If that snag on the door handle didn't just clear, the Collins release would very likely have been activated.

At that point, there's very little hope of avoiding disaster.

[MakeItHappen 15]

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The door handle has been replaced with one that is much less likely to snag anything.

You kinda have to wonder why that was not done prior to anyone jumping from that AC ?????

Did they teach the pilot how to fly so that the door stays up against the wing?

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Make It Happen
Parachute History
DiveMaker

[Skydivesg 7]

I agree Jan.

There are many more problems here than the Skyhook.

JMHO

Be the canopy pilot you want that other guy to be.

[Skydivesg 7]

I'm not debating whether or not it helps. I'm just stating what was told to me by a rigger with UPT.

And you are right about the Collins lanyard.

Bill Booth always said that no matter how idiot proof you make something, someone will figure out another way to screw things up.

This guy was really lucky.

Be the canopy pilot you want that other guy to be.

[jacketsdb23 49]

Hey all you guys running out to get knives...thats great and all, i'm not knocking it...but I hope you spend equal (if not more ) time identifying snag hazards in your local aircraft, on your rig (is your RSL exposed at all across the back/top of the rig) and reviewing your emergency procedures.

Stay safe!

Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen
God is Good
Beer is Great
Swoopers are crazy.

[claudioventorim 0]

[reply-am I the only one who thinks that 3/4 of the jumpers 1st reflex would have been to cutaway ?

[diablopilot 2]

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As a general comment: I remember saying that any component you add to a system adds complexity and therefore adds potential failure points. A few people commented that the Skyhook was so great because they couldn't see any downside.

There you go.

I'm not saying Skyhooks are bad or dangerous, but people tend to minimize the added complexity and new types of malfunctions new systems bring to the table.

Amen, and I seem to remember pointing out the same concept, and being blasted for it.

----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[bigway 4]

All his gear was so brand new and that did look like queenstow.

I thought it looked like he was protecting his camera gear so much that he forgot to protect his rig. If he is from NZ then he will be use to jumping out of cessnas.

I have to wonder how many jumps he had with all that gear matching 100% and looking so new. Should he have had camera gear on his head if he cant look after his gear that saves his life?


I am only asking.

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
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[MakeItHappen 15]

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I thought it looked like he was protecting his camera gear so much that he forgot to protect his rig.

If you watch the video carefully, you will see the door come down and hit his yolk. Then it looks like the front edge of the door catches on the back of his helmet. He raises his left arm to push the door up. Then the guy inside tries to push up the door.
During the shuffling is when the latch catches the reserve.

The mistakes were the protruding latch mechanism and the pilot not keeping the door up. The jumper did everything right.

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Make It Happen
Parachute History
DiveMaker

[riggerpaul 1]

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> it is supposed to be able to let the reserve deploy without pulling the Collins Lanyard.

The RSL, the Skyhook connection, the reserve pin and the Collins lanyard are all one piece. If you take your RSL and pull it all the way out, as hard as you can, you will pull the pin on the reserve and cut away one side of the main canopy.

If, on the other hand, you pull the pin and then stop pulling, the pilot chute will (likely) disengage from the Skyhook device as it departs, leaving the main parachute attached.

In this case, the jumper is very fortunate that he did not pull the RSL out far enough to activate the Collins lanyard, and that his friend helped clear the entanglement before he got yanked off.

For a better view of what the RSL looks like on a Skyhook equipped rig check out the second page of this:

http://unitedparachutetechnologies.com/PDF/Support/Manual/09109(skyhPackIns).pdf

The document you linked to has pictures of the older style RSL lanyard.

I was thinking of the lanyard as it is now being produced.

The new lanyard has the Collins loop on a separate "leg" of the RSL.

At least one purpose of the change was to better isolate the Collins from the pin and the Skyhook attachment.

The new design makes it far less likely that the Collins will be activated unless you are actually pulling from the riser end of the RSL.

That said, it is hard to tell which type of RSL lanyard was involved. So, it might have been great luck, or it might have been the modified design.

[CarloC 0]

The skydiver on the video is a good friend of mine from Argentina, Diego.

I sent a email to him so he can give more data about the incident and post here if a get a response soon!

Scary s$#%, gets even scarier when you realize is a friend of yours in that scenario!

Blue ones!

[piisfish 140]

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The jumper did everything right.

except jumping with RSL and Video, even if the video has nothing to do with the incident.

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

[virgin-burner 1]

if the RSL was disconnected, that wouldnt have changed the outcome tough???

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda