catfishhunter 2 #1 April 10, 2006 *EDIT* my writing sucks forgive the grammar and typos. 1st load of the day Saturday I had my second chop and 3rd reserve ride. This was my first "Major" Malfuntion. My first chop was because of Tension knots with 50 something jumps. This one was defintley different. Deployed about 3 (came out of track around 3.5,looked, waved ) looked up and thought hmm that looks like the picture on the front of the Breakaway Video(line over) Grabbed my rears to stop the spin. Took me about 2 seconds to say fuck this grabbed Handles. Canopy starts spinning, punch right, rolled with the spin back to belly to eart and punch left. I remember thinking hmmm I wonder if this one is gonna work. My first instinct was to head to the DZ then quickly realized that wold be stupid as my Canopy and free bag weas now heading for the Freeway. I followed my canopy over and around the industrial area near the freeway the whole time thinking/hoping yelling at it to not land in the middle of it as there was not very many outs for me to land in. At one point I could have caught it and actually thought about it for a split second but thought about the incident posted here and quickly turned away from it and continued to follow it down. It landed in the best possible spot right next to the freeway. As I was coming in to land 3 cars had pulled over and people where getting out and going over to it. I pulled my full face helmet up and started yelling at them to get away from it LOL (we have lost several tandem mains from people taking them after landing near the free way after chops) The first guys near my main we actually great guys. They gave me a ride back to the DZ. Dropped my stuff got in the car and found my freebag on the opposite side of the free way in just about the same distance from the road as my main had landed on the other side. LUCKY couple interesting notes~ I had just had the reserve repacked the week before (total 5 jumps before the Chop) I was nervous on the plane ride up. I attributed it to the fact my friend was making her first jump off student status. She graduated in January and hadn't jumped since so I thought I was nervous for her. I hadn't dumped above 3 in a VERY long time. Normally I wave at 3 and dump at 2.5 and in the saddled asround 1900 ALTITUDE IS YOUR FRIEND I never looked at my alti before chopping. I knew there was no way I was landing that shit over my head so it didn't matter where I was. My best guess is i was around 2 as my canopy takes anywhere from 6-800ft to open and with the spin etc. DON'T SPEND THE REST OF YOUR LIFE WONDERING WHAT YOUR GONNA DO I didn't look for my handles my hands where on them before I even finished say fuck! PRATICE YOUR EP'S! YOUR HANDS WILL KNOW WHERE THEY ARE BEFORE YOU DO Last but not least learn all you can. As I said the first thing I thought of when my main opened was the cover of Breakaway. My canopy looked just like that. I knew I had a Line over, . Reading here about mid air rigging being a bad thing, I knew it was fucked so I didn't sit there and wonder if I could fix it. Because someone died (bsbd) catching a canopy in mid-air, when the thought crossed my mind it quickly got Vetoed. I am wondering though if something is wrong with me cause I kinda sorta really liked chopping. Maybe I need to find a cutaway rig MAKE EVERY DAY COUNT Life is Short and we never know how long we are going to have. We must live life to the fullest EVERY DAY. Everything we do should have a greater purpose. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AFFI 0 #2 April 10, 2006 Good job, and glad you enjoyed it too. “I am wondering though if something is wrong with me cause I kinda sorta really liked chopping.” My favorite skydives are night jumps first release dives with students and cutaways so I understand completely. Yes there is something wrong with you. I haven’t had to cutaway in 6 years and 3,000 skydives, really looking forward to it soon though. “I never looked at my alti before chopping. I knew there was no way I was landing that shit over my head so it didn't matter where I was.” If you were not at a sufficient altitude for your reserve to inflate fully it would matter but only for a fraction of a second, then the paralysis sets in. Don’t get me wrong, you did a good job because you are still here but to reiterate something you emphasized in your post, never stop training and asking yourself what could have been done with better judgment. The trick about chopping is to make the right decision before running out of sufficient altitude to get the reserve inflated and keeping in mind that there might be issues with the reserve to deal with. Seems like several people die every year getting line stretch on their reserve and that would totally suck. I have seen a couple cutaway from -900 agl and both lived but it was really close. When temporal distortion sets in it is very easy to loose track of altitude, don’t think it can’t or won’t happen. Make the decision with sufficient altitude and when too low I was taught to fire the reserve hoping it would create enough drag to survive the landing. Some people think altitude awareness is not ultra important but it is hard to argue with a corpse. KNOW THY ALTITUDE! “I followed my canopy over and around the industrial area near the freeway - there were not very many outs for me to land in.” It worked out for you this time. I have done the same thing before, but nowdays I land at the DZ, replacing a canopy is cheaper than getting jacked up. Good job with everything glad you enjoyed it – now go get your AFF rating. Ummmmm, beer?Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat… Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
catfishhunter 2 #3 April 10, 2006 QuoteKNOW THY ALTITUDE! I understand that the way I worded about not looking at my alti wasn't quite right. What I meant was I knew "where" I was. looking at it to make sure wasn't going to make a difference in me chopping. I thought about checking for a split second but didn't waste the movement as I knew my decision was already made (Amazing how fast the brain computes scenarios when it has to) Funny you mention the the low cutaways. The DZO had to chop the same load he actually performed a canopy transfer. He was to low to get rid of his main by the time he got out of line twists and realized he was still screwed (sub 100 canopy) He dumped his reserve then cutaway his main. I am confident if the scenario was different my EP's would be different but KNOWING where I was I didn't watse anytime second guessing what I was gonna by checking what I already knew :o) As for following my main I made sure to stay within my outs. I know the wording could/should have been better. What I was saying is I didn't want it to land where I couldn't land next to it. I never planned on chasing it to my death I made my "Out" decisions long before it landed. I was yelling it at NOT to land where I had no outs to land in but never planned to land anywhere I couldn't. Thanks for the post and pointing out the terrible wording so someone reading this doesn't think it is ok NO TO KNOW where they are because that was not what I meant at all MAKE EVERY DAY COUNT Life is Short and we never know how long we are going to have. We must live life to the fullest EVERY DAY. Everything we do should have a greater purpose. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ChrisL 2 #4 April 10, 2006 Quote*EDIT* my writing sucks forgive the grammar and typos. Why should one be forgiven for an offense that they fully acknowledge in advance of actually committing it, and consciously refuse to correct or avoid said offense? Hmmm? __ My mighty steed Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
catfishhunter 2 #5 April 10, 2006 I put the edit in after posting and reading WTF I posted But yeah I didn't want to go back and try to fix EVERYTHING but I did fix a few things MAKE EVERY DAY COUNT Life is Short and we never know how long we are going to have. We must live life to the fullest EVERY DAY. Everything we do should have a greater purpose. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
catfishhunter 2 #6 August 14, 2006 Happened again...Unfuckingbelievable. Poor Kid has packed me two lineovers in less then 10 pack jobs. I didn't let him pack for me for a long time then recently started letting him pack for me again. Had Great openings, this one sniveled a really long time but when it opened all I could do was yell FUCK! I was way to pissed on this one though. I was at 2 and should have grabbed the toggles at least once to see if I could clear it but just went straight to the handles. I bet I would have beat a RSL I chopped so fast. AT that point i thought uh oh WTF did I just do as I let my being pissed rush my pull. I was really glad when the reserve opened cleanly. To get an Idea on how fast I dumped the Free Bag and Canopy where side by side on the way down and landed 10 feet apart. I know I am gonna get my ass chewed as I could have caused an entainglement on a slow speed mal. There is a time and a place for a Gunslinger chop but this wasn't one of them and I know that. Anyway the most Ironic thing about this whole thing was we where just talking about chops and I had just finished saying how I like chopping and couldn't wait until I got to do it again..This was right before we walked to the plane... Good thing the reserve was due for a repack anyway Oh and I kept my handles and all the shit landed on the airport MAKE EVERY DAY COUNT Life is Short and we never know how long we are going to have. We must live life to the fullest EVERY DAY. Everything we do should have a greater purpose. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GreenMachine 0 #7 August 14, 2006 I would love to give you shit for the scary simultaneous "chop & pull", but I haven't had a cutaway yet so I have no room to talk Dude, maybe you should pack your own chute for your next jump...Glad you are okay Rigger, Skydiver, BASE Jumper, Retired TM Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
