Main-Reserve Entanglement/Unintentional Water Landing: Lessons Learned

[NWFlyer 2]

It's sobering to return from a weekend like I just had, read the incident forums, and realize how close I came to being one of them. I hope that by writing this up maybe I can help someone else learn something; I know I learned a lot (sorry this is so long, but there's a lot of detail to share.)

Saturday, May 27th, at the Emerald Coast Skydivers Beach Boogie. I was making my second jump of the day, my first beach jump. The skydive itself was uneventful - a five way. I was a bit low on the formation but had them in my sights at breakoff and I tracked away cleanly at the planned time and deployed, as planned at about 3,500 feet. According to my Protrack I was in the saddle at 2700 feet, about normal for my canopy.

My canopy is a Spectre 230. I have about 200 jumps on this canopy. On deployment, I had a brisker than normal opening, and found myself in a very fast turn to the right. (Lesson #1 below) I looked at the canopy, trying to diagnose the problem, and realized that I was burning altitude very quickly. I glanced at my altimeter, saw that I was already at my decision altitude of 2000 feet and I wasn't going to figure out the problem in order to fix it and decided to chop (Lesson #2). As I have trained, I looked at the handles, got one hand on each, and I pulled the cutaway. Didn't budge. (Lesson #3). Tried again, and knowing how quickly I was burning through altitude, made the decision to pull my reserve handle in hopes of getting fabric over my head. (Lesson #4)

From my perspective, staring at a completely extracted reserve handle in my hand and seeing nothing white over my head, it didn't feel like a great decision. Witnesses tell me my reserve was trailing around behind me for quite some time. I then went back to the cutaway handle and started pulling cutaway cables manually by pulling directly on the exposed portion of the cables. At that point, the right riser released, and I could see the main trailing by the left riser. The reserve then popped up above my head, cleanly, but in massive line twists. I continued pulling on the cables while also trying to get the reserve out of the twists. The main eventually cleared (witnesses on the ground estimate this was at about 250-300 feet), and I finished kicking out of the line twists. (Lesson #5)

After kicking out of the line twists, I had just enough time to look at the water, look up at my reserve toggles and think about pulling them, and I was in the water. Surprisingly (to me) I hit no harder than jumping off the high dive. I was flying parallel to the shoreline (in the same direction jumpers were landing on the beach) and landed in water that was just above my head. The canopy dropped cleanly behind me, and I started working on getting out of my chest strap while some spectators came out to meet me and help out. (Lesson #6).

Found everything but the freebag; I still had the reserve handle in my hand at landing, but I gave it to one of the spectators who came out to help and I believe he dropped it; it never did turn up in the pile of gear that I had back at the dropzone.

Most likely theory is a toggle fire; either I neglected to stow my left toggle (Lesson #7) or it was popped by the slider on my relatively brisk opening.

As I've had lots of time the rest of the weekend to think about what I did right and what I did wrong, I thought I'd share a few lessons I've learned so far:

Lesson #1: Expect the unexpected. Things can still happen very quickly even under a big, "docile" canopy that is not heavily loaded. It surprised the hell out of me how quickly I burned through those first 700 feet and how quickly the rest of the process went.

Lesson #2: Know and respect your decision altitude. I was pleasantly surprised by how completely automatic it was to me to say "2,000 feet, I don't like what I see, it's GONE!" and execute emergency procedures. Decision altitude is not the time to continue trying to figure out what's wrong; it's time to take action.

Lesson #3: Know *your* gear. My previous cutaway experience was on single-handle student gear. I have had specific transition training, and have practiced in a hanging harness with two handles more than once. However, I have never been in a hanging harness on *my* gear and there's a big difference in the velcro on the ratty old beater harness that is used for Safety Day demos and my relatively new container.

I also have not pulled the handles at repack time since my repack in June 2005. On the subsequent two repack cycles, it wasn't convenient for me to do so (dropping the rig off at a rigger's home when he wasn't there or giving my rig to someone else to take to the rigger). I will now try to make it convenient to pull my handles at repack time. I am not sure why my cutaway was hard to pull (I do have hard housings), but it was most likely the combination of the angle I was spinning and not getting adequate leverage on it, and trying too hard to pull rather than peel the cutaway handle. Practicing that move on my gear is my short-term solution; longer-term options are considering a two-handed cutaway procedure, and also considering a loop instead of a cutaway pillow. Haven't made any decisions on either of those yet.

Lesson #4: Never stop problem-solving. We drill EPs so we don't really have to think that much when an emergency hits; however, as I learned, it doesn't always go as planned and you may still have a problem after attempting to execute EPs the way you have trained. Everything was automatic up to the point of my attempted pull of the cutaway handle; the rest was on-the-fly problem solving.

Lesson #5: Never stop fighting. I did exactly what I always hoped I would do: I fought the situation all the way to the ground (or water in my case).

Lesson #6: Hope that luck is on your side. I have no idea why I am here to write about this and other much more experienced, skilled skydivers who lost their lives this weekend are not. At no point during the skydive did I have control over either canopy... their flight paths were pure luck, and the fact that I landed where I did was pure fate, and I know that I dodged a major bullet. A no-flare landing into deep enough water is no big deal; 10 or 20 feet inland or on the shore, and it might have been a very different story. Farther up the beach and I might have hit buildings, boardwalks, or other obstacles.

Lesson #7: Don't get distracted or complacent about packing. I have replayed that pack job over and over again in my head, and I cannot distinctly remember stowing the left toggle. Looking at the canopy afterwards, the left toggle was loose and the right was still through the cat's eye. I always field-stow my brakes and uncollapse my slider, then daisy chain my lines. I specifically remember stowing the right one; the person I'd just jumped with walked over as I was stowing the left one to talk about our jump and it is very possible I let him distract me and just stuck the toggle in its keeper without properly stowing the brakes. I'm never going to know for sure if it was a packing error, but I will be changing my packing procedure to include a check of both brakes as I lay down the container to begin packing. It's something I should have been doing all along; I have three points in the packing process where I check that my pilot chute is cocked; I should also have double- and triple-checks of my brakes.

All in all this is shaping up to be a really pricey jump... bare minimum is a repack a month early, a new handle and new freebag; quite possibly will need a new Vigil, and the reserve has yet to be inspected to see if it's airworthy.

Edited to add that my Vigil did fire, however, I am confident I had the reserve extracted prior to it firing, but because I did not get a reserve canopy overhead until well under the Vigil firing altitude, it fired appropriately within its parameters.

At least I did not pay the ultimate price, and for that I am very grateful, particularly as I struggle right now with the loss of a dear friend.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[micro 0]

First of all, congrats for successfully dealing w/ the situation and getting down alive. You are a dear and much-loved friend, one of those dz.commers I've met in person and whose friendship I cherish. I couldn't handle losing another friend this weekend.

Second, VERY well written post. VERY well written. I learned a good deal from it, and I thank you. On my last repack, I made sure to pull my own handles to get the experience. For that I'm glad.

Love you, girl!

I miss Lee.
And JP.
And Chris. And...

[Feeblemind 1]

Krisanne,

Way to keep fighting and saving your own butt.

Awesome post, very well written!!

Fire Safety Tip: Don't fry bacon while naked

[divnswoop 0]

Glad everything turned out alright!!!

To add to your post, I have seen MANY people surprised on how hard it is to pull their cutaway handle even on the ground. It is VERY important to peel the velcro before the pull. These hard cutaway pulls are amplified when it happens on new gear or with articulated harness' on short woman. When there is just enough room on the MLW to fit a cutaway handle, I have seen some heavy pull forces.
Pull your handles when ever you can! (repack OR when you go to your rigger and have him show you how to clean you cutaway cables!!)

[NWFlyer 2]

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repack OR when you go to your rigger and have him show you how to clean you cutaway cables!!

This is a great idea! I haven't used cleaning my cutaway cables as an opportunity to practice my pulling my cutaway cable (with the RSL disconnected, of course!) - when I've pulled cutaway cables to clean them, it's been with the rig already on the ground (usually because I'm doing it while I'm in the process of packing), not wearing it normally.

[bob.dino 1]

In regards to the hard pull on the cutaway: when was the last time you cleaned & lubricated your cutaway cables?

edit: how many jumps had you done at the boogie? How many were beach landings?

I'm curious as to the possibility of dirt/sand in the housings contributing to the pull force (cf. Aerodyne SB).

edit to the edit: upon learning to read properly, I discovered this shouldn't have been the problem.

[tdog 0]

Questions:

1) Did you have your cutaway pillow out of the Velcro upon landing, or was it still velcroed in??? If velcroed in, was it as normal, or as if it got revelcroed half in when you stopped pulling? To clarify, you chopped your main by pulling the yellow cables out at the threerings - and disconnected both before landing?

2) Vigil fire - when it fired, what canopies were "out"? Was your spinning dive that fast, or by this time did you already have some of your main cutaway?

3) Were the toggles, upon finding your main?

4) Were you taught anything about a toggle fire - and what to do to avoid it becoming a bigger issue? Did you try anything to diagnose a toggle fire before chopping?

Congradulations at being alive and thank you for letting us know what you learned! Great job and thank you for your post!

[NWFlyer 2]

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In regards to the hard pull on the cutaway: when was the last time you cleaned & lubricated your cutaway cables?

At my last repack in March. Before I get lectured, I have only done about 15 jumps since then, none in particularly dusty/dirty climates.

However, I think the problem was getting it out of the velcro, not the cables themselves.

[Squeak 17]

Glad you're not Boken Krissane.
Did you try a 2 hand pull on the cutaway pad, before pulling on the cables?
Some people are taught 2 handed EPs.

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[NWFlyer 2]

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Questions:

1) Did you have your cutaway pillow out of the Velcro upon landing, or was it still velcroed in??? If velcroed in, was it as normal, or as if it got revelcroed half in when you stopped pulling? To clarify, you chopped your main by pulling the yellow cables out at the threerings - and disconnected both before landing?

Still velcroed in, I believe "as normal." My rig's not with me right now - it's being brought to a rigger for me. Your statement is correct. I cutaway my main by pulling directly on the yellow cables.

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2) Vigil fire - when it fired, what canopies were "out"? Was your spinning dive that fast, or by this time did you already have some of your main cutaway?

I don't know the exact timing of the fire. Since I pulled the reserve not long after I started EPs, I'm confident that I "beat" it, though it's possible I'm wrong. I will have to wait to see what (if any) data is able to be retrieved from the soggy Vigil. It may be fried. I only know it fired because the closing loop was cut. I have also sent that to the rigger for inspection to see if he can tell if it fired under tension or not.

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3) Were the toggles, upon finding your main?

Neither was in the toggle keeper, as stated above the left one was not through the cat's eye, the right one was. Bear in mind I didn't see the main until after it had been plucked from the ocean, carried back to the landing area, shoved in a garbage bag, and carried to where I gave its first rinse. I have no idea what, if anything, was touched.

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4) Were you taught anything about a toggle fire - and what to do to avoid it becoming a bigger issue? Did you try anything to diagnose a toggle fire before chopping?

As I said, the turn was pretty fucking fast, and I really didn't have as much time as I would have liked to diagnose anything. The time between 2700 and 2000 went too quickly for me to really get a good look at anything.

[NWFlyer 2]

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Did you try a 2 hand pull on the cutaway pad, before pulling on the cables?
Some people are taught 2 handed EPs.

I don't believe I did. I was taught two-handed, but made a decision early on to do a one-hand on each handle procedure. I may change that now.

[tdog 0]

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As I said, the turn was pretty fucking fast, and I really didn't have as much time as I would have liked to diagnose anything. The time between 2700 and 2000 went too quickly for me to really get a good look at anything.

Just today on a high pull I intentionally pulled one toggle down to the stowed point to see what it was like... I agree it is fast on a docile canopy, and I am using this experience to discuss this with students and other jumpers... I know a few people who chopped a perfectly good canopy that just had one toggle released and could have fixed the canopy just by trying pulling on the toggles once... The question is, can you do that before you reach your decision altitude????

[NWFlyer 2]

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The question is, can you do that before you reach your decision altitude????

That's the big question. I was about to go for the toggles to see if I could stop the turn (I'd grabbed at the left rear riser to no avail, ) but at the moment I considered trying to get to the toggles, I blew through my decision altitude and chose not to mess with the main any more.

[bob.dino 1]

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[Just today on a high pull I intentionally pulled one toggle down to the stowed point to see what it was like... I agree it is fast on a docile canopy, and I am using this experience to discuss this with students and other jumpers... I know a few people who chopped a perfectly good canopy that just had one toggle released and could have fixed the canopy just by trying pulling on the toggles once... The question is, can you do that before you reach your decision altitude????

A brake that fired is perfectly fixable by yanking on a rear riser until you have enough time to release the still stowed brake. A brake that was never stowed may be a different matter.

[skydivermom 0]

Thank you and bless you for writing that up....and praise God you're okay. Your post and the incidents from this weekend are very sobering.

Mrs. WaltAppel

All things work together for good to them that love God...Romans 8:28

[Ron 10]

#1 congrats on not dying. Believe it or not your actions kept you from being in the other forum where you can't defend yourself.

You kept your wits when all hell broke loose. I know plenty of dead skydivers that did not. Seriously, you did fine.

Now it would not be me if I didn't point out a few things.

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As I have trained, I looked at the handles, got one hand on each, and I pulled the cutaway. Didn't budge.

PEEL, then pull. My first mal I had a hardish pull. I thought ,"Oh, what the hell?!?!?!?!?" And I applied massive power to the handle and I felt the velcro rip. At that point I realized that the velco was holding it in, not a hard pull. Talking with my buddies back then they all told me to peel first. To be honest I had 600 or so jumps and I was never told that before. Lesson learned.

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Most likely theory is a toggle fire; either I neglected to stow my left toggle (Lesson #7) or it was popped by the slider on my relatively brisk opening.

Next time try a controlability check. If it was just a brake fire it would have cleared and there would have been no drama. Even if you could not *fix* the problem a good number of times you can slow your turn rate and give you some more time.

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I also have not pulled the handles at repack time since my repack in June 2005. On the subsequent two repack cycles, it wasn't convenient for me to do so (dropping the rig off at a rigger's home when he wasn't there or giving my rig to someone else to take to the rigger). I will now try to make it convenient to pull my handles at repack time.

How about you fire it anyway and then put it into a cooler or trash bag? Not as nice, but hey...Its safer and therefore better.

All in all you did fine.

1. You had a hard deck and used it.
2. You reacted instead of freezing.
3. You fought till the saltwater filled your goggles.

Practice:
1. PEEL then pull the cutaway... And remember if you have a soft reserve handle the same applies.
2. Controlability check....Unless you are at your hard deck, try to get control.
3. Practice your E procedures. Even if you go to the DZ and have them put you in the hanging harness.

Really, you did fine. Next time, just do better

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[Lindsey 0]

PEEL, then pull. My first mal I had a hardish pull. I thought ,"Oh, what the hell?!?!?!?!?" And I applied massive power to the handle and I felt the velcro rip. At that point I realized that the velco was holding it in, not a hard pull. Talking with my buddies back then they all told me to peel first. To be honest I had 600 or so jumps and I was never told that before. Lesson learned.

Me too. I was a little freaked out on my first malfunction and even more so when I realized that the pillow didn't pull any easier than it did. But, like you, when I peeled the handle off the velcro, the pull was much easier. Second time wasn't so traumatic....

I'm so glad you walked away, woman....

linz

--
A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

[bradp 0]

Good job in handling a stressful situation like this and walking away alive.

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On deployment, I had a brisker than normal opening, and found myself in a very fast turn to the right. (Lesson #1 below) I looked at the canopy, trying to diagnose the problem, and realized that I was burning altitude very quickly.

Did it turn into line twists? Generally when a canopy is turning fast but is not in line twists it is due to one toggle being released. Releasing the other toggle will generally fix this. I have had a toggle release on deployment several times and as soon as you release the other toggle it starts flying straight. Unless of course the toggle release spins you into viscous line twists like it did to me on the weekend. Then you have no chance, just cutaway.

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I then went back to the cutaway handle and started pulling cutaway cables manually by pulling directly on the exposed portion of the cables. At that point, the right riser released, and I could see the main trailing by the left riser.

Did you start pulling at the cables above the cutaway puff, or by the 3 rings? If you were able to pull the cables directly with your fingers then the problem sounds like tight velcro on the puff and not pressure on the cutaway cable.

I have had a hard pull before where the velcro wouldnt come undone. where I had to pull it with 2 hands. taking me about 5 - 10 seconds to cutaway. Very scarey experience. Ever since then every weekend before jumping I unpeel my reserve and cutaway handle from the velcro and put them back on. Over time, and especially when your gear is squashed in your gearbag the velcro compresses and gets tighter and tighter. Its a good idea to unpeel and put them back on a regular basis, not just once every six months at reserve repacks.

Also, it is very important to get in the habit of peeling the velcro off then pulling.

Every experience is part of the learning curve.

Cheers,
Brad

[NWFlyer 2]

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Now it would not be me if I didn't point out a few things.

Really?

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PEEL, then pull.

Yup! I've heard that many a time this weekend, and as I noted above, that was most likely the cause (particularly considering I was able to get the cables out by hand).

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Next time try a controlability check. If it was just a brake fire it would have cleared and there would have been no drama. Even if you could not *fix* the problem a good number of times you can slow your turn rate and give you some more time.

As I said in my reply to tdog, I was just getting to that point when I blew through my decision altitude. It's duly noted if this ever happens again.

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How about you fire it anyway and then put it into a cooler or trash bag? Not as nice, but hey...Its safer and therefore better.

Yup. Convenient isn't as important as safe. I chose "easy" over "helpful" and that's not going to be the case any more.

[NWFlyer 2]

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Did it turn into line twists?

No line twists, just a hard fast turn. Now that I've seen it I can probably recognize it as a toggle fire faster; but as it was, even grabbing at the left rear riser didn't want to slow the canopy down much.

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Did you start pulling at the cables above the cutaway puff, or by the 3 rings? If you were able to pull the cables directly with your fingers then the problem sounds like tight velcro on the puff and not pressure on the cutaway cable.

Above the cutaway pillow. I agree with your assessment, particularly since I have hard housings. The only way I think the pressure / angle contributed was in my ability to get leverage on the cutaway handle.

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Every experience is part of the learning curve.

Yup. This one taught me a lot.

[ladyskydiver 0]

Glad you're ok and learned some lessons instead of ending up in a different forum! Hugs!

Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

[micro 0]

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I have had a hard pull before where the velcro wouldnt come undone. where I had to pull it with 2 hands. taking me about 5 - 10 seconds to cutaway. Very scarey experience. Ever since then every weekend before jumping I unpeel my reserve and cutaway handle from the velcro and put them back on. Over time, and especially when your gear is squashed in your gearbag the velcro compresses and gets tighter and tighter. Its a good idea to unpeel and put them back on a regular basis, not just once every six months at reserve repacks.

thanks for posting that. i have a new rig w/ only about 20 jumps on it, just checke the cutaway velcro, yep, to get that f*cker out takes ALOT of pull... that advice you gave is a Godsend! I'm indebted!

I miss Lee.
And JP.
And Chris. And...

[councilman24 37]

One thing that causes excessively hard to pull (yes, peel and pull) cutaway pillows AND reserve ripcords is constantly checking the velcro. If every time you inspect your rig you run your fingers over the handle velcro to make sure it's seated you making it harder and harder to pull apart.

One alternate procedure is to remove either handle, make sure the cables (cutaway or reserve) are free to move in the housings, and reseat the handles. This way you check the cable motion and don't keep making the velcro harder to separate.

Don't if you were continually seating the velcro but something to think about.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[Mockingbird 0]

So glad that you're OK, and were able to turn this near-tragedy into a lesson for all of us here!

Way to go, NWflyer!

Blue skies & happy jitters ~Mockingbird
"Why is there something rather than nothing?"

[micro 0]

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So glad that you're OK, and were able to turn this near-tragedy into a lesson for all of us here!

Way to go, NWflyer!

DITTO!!!

I miss Lee.
And JP.
And Chris. And...