laught at me and help me

[wingnut 0]

okay guys/gals,
i've been away at the "State of Ohio 4-H Leadership Camp" for the last 7 days and came back to over 1000 messgaes new. i could never get through them on my parents slow ass computer. so i need your help, give me a shortened version of what happened here the last week., i already know HH is moving i read that post. HELP!!!!!!
okay and now it's time to laugh!!!!!
i was all set to do a demo jump into this 4-h camp i was a counselor at. i set everything up and found the funding to go along with it. had to go to the dz to jump and show the dzo/s&ta that i wouldn't kill myself landing at the camp. well i exit with his wife and i do few flips and turns and then deploy. i look up and hey, it's good parachute,....wait a minute this looks funny, not like normal...IT'S ON BACKWARDS!!!!!!!!! oh shit what do i do now, i rememeber reading about it on dz.com!!!! i though to myself they had talked about a nice huge pd canopy they landed loaded lightly, well i'm flying a sabre at 1.3:1!!!! i was thinking..."cutaway now or fly it in?" well if ya know me i did the later...yey, maybe it was stupid maybe it wasn't. i felt i could do it and assesed the situation and acted on it. the anding area was a mile long and about 1000ft wide,(the airport) as i'm thinking this the dzo's wife is spiriling down to me, i'm like no she can't see me like this, they won't let me do the demo....shit!!!! well i fly it in, do a nice lefthand pattern and everything. i get on the ground and she askes me.."was it me or were you flying backward?"..i answer.."well if you think i was then i guess i was"..... she then said: "i'm going to have to tell my husband about this"..i'm thinking shit, shit, i'm not going to beable to do it. well i talk to him and he's like: "if you can land that well backwards then you can most likely land better forwards so your all set." i landed with a nice flare andthen slid on my heals and butt, then on my rig, (oops)......flash forward to today..............we're on jump run, i jump and deploy.... and then start some good turns for the crowd below. some switch backs and a nice high speed 720. i go to land and the landing area is surounded by trees but is a huge wide open filed on a nice big hill. i go past the crowd, make a nice carving turn around a tree and smack a small branch with my leg, nothing hurt and then do a nice landing where i get a good 15 ft surf where everybody can see it. i grab my chute and walk back up the hill about 100 ft and we finish the rest of the program we had planed and then the camp ended. the campers loved the demo jump. they though it was the coolest thing since sliced bread. well i got home and now i have to read some of thses pst to catch up and get ready for aerohio tommorow.....so far vacation rocks!!!!!!!!!!
p.s. the moral of this stiry is: always do your 4 line check when ya reatach your chute and think of the slope of a hill when you plan on landing on it............all in all a good day though!!!

"if dreams are like movies, then memories are like films about ghosts"-counting crows

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

I have posted previously that this same thing has happened to me more than once. I used to test-jump parachutes for FTS (now APS). I would just hit the ground, pencil some remarks, then put on another rig and go up again. I never rigged up these canopies myself. I have landed backwards at least five times; had crossed steering lines; had one or both toggles come off in my hand; and lastly had a combination of crossed steering lines and a backwards canopy. I landed every one of them, though I admit it was pretty stupid to land the last one (it was a 150 reserve prototype). Anyway, you obviously did OK and gave them something to talk about in the process. Lovely.
Chuck
Edited by SkymonkeyONE on 7/3/01 02:18 PM.

[GeekStreak 0]

Wingnut,
U R 1 BRAVE DUDE!

What would you have done?
Land it
Chop it
Land as far off as possible, fix it, and swear it must have been an optical illusion.

1111,
GeekStreak

[pyke 0]

That is some funny shit!!
I thought this happened to me once, but it turned out to just be a walk through resulting in a riser twist.
I don't know if I would have landed mine, but I might have...I was thinking about it when I realised it wasn't. If I had a smaller main though..I wouldn't have. Too risky.
Good on ya wingie!!! you're one crazy dude!!!
Kahurangi e Mahearangi,
Pyke
NZPF A - 2584

[spectre230 0]

[PhillyKev 0]

ok you asked for it....
click this
Funny, I just reviewed emergency procedures again over the weekend, and my instructor asked me what I would do if I had my canopy on backwards. I never even thought of that as a possibility. His advice was chop it unless you happen to be in the middle of the desert with no cacti or other obstacles within 100 miles on a low wind day.
cielos azules y cerveza fría
-Kevin

[Grogs 0]

Hey Wingie, glad you're ok. We can laugh about it since you didn't get hurt. Sounds like you did pretty good landing it. How the heck did it get rigged on backwards btw? After trying to help a friend put a cobalt demo in his rig at Louisburg and seeing how badly it was twisted on the risers, I'm a firm believer in doing a continuity check every time I put a new canopy on.

[wingnut 0]

to answer the question of how it got on backwards i just have to say it was my own dumb ass fault for doing it!!! i took off my main to get the reserve repacked and thought i rapped the right riser a certain way when it turned out it was the left, so when i put it back on it was backwards......... my fault!!!! oh well "that's life"! or as my tat says: "das ist leben"

"if dreams are like movies, then memories are like films about ghosts"-counting crows

[spectre230 0]

[Aviatrr 0]

Quote

Heres how to make it ALMOST foolproof.Lay rig on backpad and pull cutaway handle.Detach risers with rings laying on floor(take them off one at a time and lay them ring side down) and move your rig away.Next pick up one of the risers and lay it on top of the other riser with the toggles touching.Now take a pull up cord and wrap around the risers and tie them together without moving them.When you re-attach the main reverse the process.It works as long as no one has moved the main d-bag or risers.When I do this it is only inside my house and the main is in a locked room.I have done this at least 100 times without doing a line check before jumping it.I have never had a malfunction doing this.This is not something for a person who is not good at packing or working with their gear to try.This is how I deal with my main when repacking my reserve.This can be dangerous if you dont know what you are doing.You must make sure NO ONE touches or moves the main whil it is detached or you MUST do a line check.Again,I only do this with my own gear.

Damn.. Sounds a bit....complex.. I guess I do it the hard way.. I put a piece of masking tape on one riser - labeling either RIGHT or LEFT, and tie the 3 rings together with a pull up cord..
Mike

[DZBone 0]

Guys, is it really that much of a difficulty to do a line check? You have to pack it anyway. I usually just take the extra time and have never had a problem.
Carl

[skymedic 0]

When I get mystuff, thats the way I'm gonna do it. it is the ol KISS principle...
Marc

[Aviatrr 0]

Quote

Guys, is it really that much of a difficulty to do a line check? You have to pack it anyway. I usually just take the extra time and have never had a problem.

Not necessarily.. If your rig is packed, and you take it in for a reserve re-pack, but decide to remove the main first.....most people just pull it out still in the bag and pull the cutaway handle.. However you choose to do it - make sure you don't re-attach it wrong.. The way I do it is easy, quick, and works for me..
Mike