Loose handle...

[yeyo 1]

Hi all, please see attachment...

What is the best action to take if I see this happening to me? Should I finish the cutaway or try to put it back?

I know what Ill do if I see it on someone jumping with me....Ill try to point it out and run away!

HISPA #93
DS #419.5

[riggerrob 643]

That much loose cable is scary.
Most cutaway systems only have 5 0r 6 inches of spare cable.

[bob.dino 1]

It resulted in a reserve ride. Bbarnhouse was there and can provide more detail.

[darkwing 5]

Point out the problem if it isn't you. If it is you, then stop the skydive, get flat, secure the handle (taking care to keep track of altitude), dump the main, and do whatever is necessary afterwards.

-- Jeff
My Skydiving History

[davelepka 4]

Quote

If it is you, then stop the skydive, get flat, secure the handle (taking care to keep track of altitude), dump the main, and do whatever is necessary afterwards.

And when you get to the ground, kick your self in the ass, and figure out how you let that happen. Proper gear maintenence, gear checks, and being protective of your handles is essential for safe skydiving.

Some people will say that you can't always keep this from happening, but the way I see it, I haven't been kicked in the balls in a long time. Why? Becasue part of my daily life involves keeping the boys out of harms way. Treat your handles accordingly.

[payback462 0]

what would be the reasoning in deploying your main when your cutaway handle has already been pulled?
a fun afternoon in the wilderness?


even if it didnt yet clear the loops it wouldnt really be a great idea to land it like that, (having seen a similar incident that resulted in a LOW RSL deployed reserve ride)

[NWPoul 1]

Quote

Point out the problem if it isn't you. If it is you, then stop the skydive, get flat, secure the handle (taking care to keep track of altitude), dump the main, and do whatever is necessary afterwards.

If there is a good chances that yellow cable came out of the one/both white loop, why dump the main (at least without check the both loops)? why not to straight for reserve?

Why drink and drive, if you can smoke and fly?

[Praetorian 1]

Quote

If there is a good chances that yellow cable came out of the one/both white loop, why dump the main (at least without check the both loops)? why not to straight for reserve?

Not an answer just a thought, because your reserve is your LAST chance to live, why use your last chance when there is a good chance the main will function normally, pull a little high and LOOK at you white loops/3rings. if there is NO chance the main will stay put or your sure 1 set of 3rings will release then yea go silver. but to me going to your LAST chance without TRYING your main is foolish, reserves do fail

Good Judgment comes from experience...a lot of experience comes from bad
judgment.

[billvon 3,006]

>If there is a good chances that yellow cable came out of the one/both white loop, why dump the main . . .

Because

a) you don't know if the main is going to cut away or not and

b) there is a lot to be said for always following the same procedure.

When we had hip-mounted ripcords, occasionally our students would pull the cutaway handle instead. SOP was to then deploy their main. If the main remained attached, all was well. If it cut away, the RSL would deploy the reserve.

[NWPoul 1]

Just thought too:
1) You'll still have your silly chance of using the main if it will stay in your rig;).
2) IMHO it's make a sense to look that yellow cables didn't release before you deploy the main coz if they did - dump the main give you only chances to seek your ~1000$ somewhere below or worse...

2Billvon: agree, if One don't sure of what he should to do - that just follow the trained EP, but if One be able to keep the coolhead and recognize the problem during freefall having enough altitude IMHO he has the right to think and don't throw out his main if he see that the 3-rings no more secured by the white loop...

Just MHO

Why drink and drive, if you can smoke and fly?

[skydiverek 63]

Quote

When we had hip-mounted ripcords, occasionally our students would pull the cutaway handle instead. SOP was to then deploy their main. If the main remained attached, all was well. If it cut away, the RSL would deploy the reserve.

Scott Lutz's video :

http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=2885 (QuickTime)

or

http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=1004 (Real Player)

[grue 1]

I knwo this "shouldn't" be an issue with properly-sized cutaway cables, but I'd be a little worried about the possibility of one riser having been cut away and the other staying, especially if one was RSL-side... I'd think that you'd want to have your hand on that handle ready to finish the cutaway, just in case.

of course, I'm not even a 100 jump wonder yet, so I'm probably missing something really obvious about this

cavete terrae.

[hookitt 1]

That said... I've watched a person try and put the handle back by sticking it back in the velcro.

He deployed the main, it sat him up and released. The rsl activated the reserve while he did a back flip in to the lines. It was quite impressive and luckily he was mostly unscathed. Just one small line burn.

Student jumps ... Of course, deploy the main and let the RSL do the rest. There's the slim chance it won't work and a manual deployment will then be needed.

I've had mine come free about 11 years ago. I could see that it hadn't pulled the cables free so I covered it and deployed the main.

If the handle was many inches out like in that picture, pulling the reserve doesn't seem unreasonable.

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[billvon 3,006]

>I'd think that you'd want to have your hand on that handle ready to
>finish the cutaway, just in case.

If you do that, you WILL cutaway as the opening forces pull your arm down. We had a guy do that with a floating reserve handle; instant dual deployment.

[grue 1]

Quote

>I'd think that you'd want to have your hand on that handle ready to
>finish the cutaway, just in case.

If you do that, you WILL cutaway as the opening forces pull your arm down. We had a guy do that with a floating reserve handle; instant dual deployment.

See? I was right about being wrong and missing something obvious

I guess you just have to hope your cables are the right length

cavete terrae.

[yeyo 1]

I think I should give credit to where I got the pic.
http://www.funairphotos.com/
Beautiful pics, great site.
Sorry Mr Michael McGowan...

So, I guess it all depends to how high you are when you see the thing flapping, IF you see it
If you notice at 9k, thats good to try to fix, dump the main and check the rings.
If you see it at 5k, its better to finish cutaway and pull silver...
Right?

HISPA #93
DS #419.5

[sundevil777 102]

Quote

So, I guess it all depends to how high you are when you see the thing flapping, IF you see it
If you notice at 9k, thats good to try to fix, dump the main and check the rings.
If you see it at 5k, its better to finish cutaway and pull silver...
Right?

I say wrong.

I would deploy the main and see how much cable is left through the loops. If it is just barely enough, you might be able to push a little more of the excess up through.

Let your last chance be the second chance if possible.

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

[yeyo 1]

Yes you are right, thanks.
Go for the main first...

HISPA #93
DS #419.5

[marks 0]

Quote

Yes you are right, thanks.
Go for the main first...

this is tricky.... because say the riser with your rsl. "assuming you have one" is the only riser that has come loose. you dump your main, then only have the non rsl riser attatched, so now you have a streaming main with an rsl that pulled your reserve... very very dangerous. I would go straight for the reserve if the handle was pulled that far and I had an rsl.

if I had no rsl, I would push the cable back in as much as possible, watching altitude, then dump the main and see what happens.

[billvon 3,006]

>because say the riser with your rsl. "assuming you have one"
>is the only riser that has come loose.

Note that when a rig is equipped with an RSL, the cables are trimmed so that the non RSL riser releases first. In addition, a Collins lanyard solves that problem without depending on cutaway cable differences, but AFAIK the only rig that's offered on is the Vector/Micron with a Skyhook.

[phoenixlpr 0]

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Note that when a rig is equipped with an RSL, the cables are trimmed so that the non RSL riser releases first.

AFAK it was a thread about it. I think the conclusion was that both should be trimmed the same way....

[brianfry713 0]

If you had an RSL and you couldn't tell or were unsure whether the handle was pulled far enough to cutaway one or both risers, why not try to disconnect the RSL and then dump your main, altitude permitting. In this picture with the cutaway handle that far out I'm guessing that it's already been pulled far enough.

Of course if it was the reserve handle thats floating that would require a different course of action, like everyone breaking off and clearing the airspace for that person right away and trying to let that person know that their handle is floating.

[davelepka 4]

Holy shit people, mid-freefall rigging, and trying to re-invent the wheel are both bad ideas.

It's simple, follow procedures, and pull your handles in order. Main, then maybe cutaway, then reserve, like any other skydive. Go into it with the understanding that is may be an abnormal situation, and be ready to react to that.

Even if you do have an RSL, and even if the RSL riser goes first anf the other stays put, I'm pretty sure that you'll catch on real fast that things aren't right (you were ready for this, remember). Finish the cutaway, and thank whoever invented the freebag (Bill Booth?).

Then go hit yourself over the head with a bottle for letting yourself get into that situation.

[Trent 0]

I know I'm late in here...

I'm on that jump. No idea how the handle came out, but we figured it might have snagged something on the door during climbout or exit.

Anyway, in the pic, he hadn't noticed the handle yet. We were trying to get his attention so we could all get back to our bellies. He noticed it as it was a bit further out, slapping him in the face. By the time we went flat, and spread out... it had come completely out and was gone. He pulled his reserve.

Oh, hello again!

[tbrown 26]

if I had no rsl, I would push the cable back in as much as possible, watching altitude, then dump the main and see what happens.