Tandem Main Incident

[skydog 2]

First tandem of the day. Jumping an EZ384 main.

Normal skydive followed by a normal opening, not hard or spanky.

Took control and did my usual control checks. Nothing appeared to wrong at all.

Spent the majority of the canopy ride on half(ish) brakes as the spot was a trifle deep.

At about 1500(ish)ft I went back up onto full drive. I noticed something wrong immediately. The end cells seemed to surge forward a little and there was a noticeable distortion in the centre cells. This was corrected by going back to brakes.

There were no broken lines nor was the drogue under the centre cells pulling it back. I could see no obvious reason to cause this problem.

I let up slowly again and this time the end cells immediately bow-tied frontwards into the centre cells.

Back onto brakes again held the canopy stable. Check of altimeter and we were at 1000ft. I thought about cutting away but didnt as the canopy was stable in half brakes, and I was concerned that if I let up prior to doing my EP's the canopy would collapse in on itself, losing valuable altitude.

The last 1000ft seemed to take forever. I had control so long as it was held in brakes.

I told my student that we were going to land hard, and I opted to land in the long grass just off the circle.

We landed in half brakes, although hard, no injuries were sustained.

The pictures reveal the cause of the problem. I can only summise that an initial tear in the top skin was caused on opening, but not enough to show up during my control checks. Then progressively as the canopy ride went on tore more and more. Especially when I went back onto full drive, but thats only a guess.

So what did I learn?

Expect the unexpected.
Keep trying till the end.
Stay calm.
It wasn't my day to go....

All in all it was a learning experience, and one which I can say "No shit there I was, thought I was gonna die..."

Bryn

ps I have been through the "what ifs" and the "why didnt yous" and have decided that given the circumstances, the fact I was the only one there and the outcome, I did the right thing. So please no "you should of......" This post is to inform of what can happen and to expect the unexpected at any time during a skydive......thanks

Journey not destination.....

[chutem 0]

What did your passenger think of this? Will he/she do it again? Was it their first jump? I'm glad my first jump was smoother than that. Probably doesn't mean much comeing from me, but this sounds like some "cool" headed decision makeing in a tough spot. Keep keeping them safe.
James

[skydog 2]

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What did your passenger think of this? Will he/she do it again? Was it their first jump?

The passenger didnt know about how serious it could have been. Told him there was a bit of a problem and that I wouldn't be talking much until we got back down....After everything had quietened down he did ask and I told him what happened, but didnt really go into massive detail. He was happy with the explanantion and thanked me for bringing him back safe.

As for jumping again I dont think so, he was there to get over his fear of heights.........go figure.

Bryn

Journey not destination.....

[Mixoligist 0]

Yikes.
Thanks for posting.

How many jumps does that canopy have?
Any history of hard openings?
Line set?
skyhook?

You lived and your passenger was ok.......well done

..................................
Better you than me
..................................

[dropzonefool 0]

Back onto brakes again held the canopy stable. Check of altimeter and we were at 1000ft. I thought about cutting away but didnt as the canopy was stable in half brakes, and I was concerned that if I let up prior to doing my EP's the canopy would collapse in on itself, losing valuable altitude.<<<

Good job, glad you and your passenger are ok.1000' seems a little low to chop a tandem.

[riggerrob 643]

Really rare for a canopy to tear AFTER opening.

Reminds me of a torn canopy that I had many years ago. Right after opening, I could half-see a 2 foot long tear in the center, tail, top skin. It turned left great and turned right great, but when I practiced flaring, it bow-tied in a most exciting manner!!.
I cutaway around 4,000.'

Bottom line is: given a bad situation, you handled it gracefully and your student walked away.
You did the right thing.

[billvon 2,998]

> Really rare for a canopy to tear AFTER opening.

Although not so rare for a canopy to tear on opening, then get worse as you descend. I once blew an old PD190 in almost exactly the same spot. It seemed slightly odd at altitude, but it turned, flared fine etc so I kept it. By the time I got to flare altitude there was no flare to be had. Landed hard but walked away. The tear was chordwise, from the PC attach back 2-3 feet.

[panzwami 0]

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ps I have been through the "what ifs" and the "why didnt yous" and have decided that given the circumstances, the fact I was the only one there and the outcome, I did the right thing. So please no "you should of......" This post is to inform of what can happen and to expect the unexpected at any time during a skydive......thanks

forget the "what ifs". You got yourself and your passenger to the ground safely. That's good enough for me.

[Salsa_John 0]

Great Job! Thanks for the Post.

"You did what?!?!"

MUFF #3722, TDSM #72, Orfun #26, Nachos Rodriguez

[billbooth 10]

forget the "what ifs". You got yourself and your passenger to the ground safely. That's good enough for me.

[iowa 0]

Good work!

Keith

''Always do sober what you said you would do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.'' - Ernest Hemingway

[skydog 2]

Just a quick update.

Have taken some frame grabs from the landing video.

I didnt realise how bad it looked from the ground.....

I think my face tells the story.....

To all those people who have sent messages....Thanks, they mean a lot.

Bryn

Journey not destination.....

[rasmack 0]

Scary f***ing s**t. I am duly impressed with your handling of the situation as well as with the equipment that was able to bring you down safely even after a partial failure like this.

HF #682, Team Dirty Sanchez #227
“I simply hate, detest, loathe, despise, and abhor redundancy.”
- Not quite Oscar Wilde...

[Orange1 0]

Wow. Glad you got down ok.

Possible dumb newbie question re I can only summise that an initial tear in the top skin was caused on opening, but not enough to show up during my control checks. Then progressively as the canopy ride went on tore more and more.

Isn't ripstop nylon supposed to stop tears getting worse, or isn't the canopy made of ripstop, or is there another factor I'm not aware of?

Thanks

Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

[tkhayes 348]

"nothing appeared to be wrong...."

exactly the complancency and assumptions that get us into trouble. I really doubt the canopy got 'worse' or the damage progressed AFTER it opened. The damage is done during deployment and not much after that.

Same thing happened to me a few years back. What do you learn?

CHECK YOUR CANOPY. full control check, steering, flar, slow flight, the works. LOOK at it! FLY it!

I ended up chopping a tandem at 2200' and had a Cypres fire and a lot of questions to answer.

TK

[skydog 2]

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"nothing appeared to be wrong...."

exactly the complancency and assumptions that get us into trouble. I really doubt the canopy got 'worse' or the damage progressed AFTER it opened. The damage is done during deployment and not much after that.

If you had read my post PROPERLY you would see I had done my control checks. I did them EXACTLY as you have described. And I can tell you categorically that the canopy did not behave like that during the checks. If it had do you think I would have rode it down????

I really dont care if you believe me or not. All I can say is that during the flight the canopy DID get worse. How do you explain that? The first time there was a "bow" in the front. The second time the end cells started to move frontwards around the centre. The last time the canopy end cells came right round facing each other.

Just because something has not happened to you doesn't mean it cant happen at all. Read the rest of this post and you can see conflicting ideas of what can and cant happen with canopies.

As for being complacent.........what can I say. I really hate it when people make assumptions on what someone has or hasn't done. Especially without them being there or having experienced the situation or know the person.

I can assure you I wasn't complacent and "nothing appeared" to be wrong. Unless I got a pair of X-ray glasses, that I keep in my jumpsuit for these occasions, I couldn't see the damage. Given the position of the slider, and the location off the tear, it would have been very very difficult to see.

I now understand why people hesitate to post anything here, because of people like you calling others complacent.......whatever.

Take care.

Bryn

Journey not destination.....

[achowe 0]

>>I really doubt the canopy got 'worse' or the >>damage progressed AFTER it opened. The >>damage is done during deployment and not >>much after that.

Complacency? I think not.

The canopy DID get worse after deployment, I was on the ground watching.
I would bet my right leg that with any doubt whatsoever he woudlve chopped it.

On most occasions you may be right, the majority of damage is done on opening. On this occasion this was not so.

You mention assumptions? Isnt that what you just did? Assume?

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Woooaaaaaa!!! Woooaaaa!!! I'm gettin' off it!

[tkhayes 348]

jesus $%#%%@ christ - I did not say "YOU", I said "US" and I did read your post......

I was sharing a similar experience and supporting your post - not critisizing it.

take a pill.

TK

[skydog 2]

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exactly the complancency and assumptions that get us into trouble.

Well you can see where your post gets lost in translation.....

I am chilled about it knowing that it was dealt with without complacency.......

Anyways, its all good.

Bryn

Journey not destination.....

[lizzieuk 0]

Woah, that's really scary stuff Bryn! Well done landing that, the look on your face in that final picture says it all - I've never seen you look serious like that!

It's really reassuring to hear how you coped with that, I'm quite glad I wasn't there at the time - if I'd been watching that canopy come in I'd have probably bitten my nails right down!

Well done

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[BBKid 0]

If you get a chance Lizzie, watch the video - then buy Bryn a suitably flavoured Bacardi Breezer!

The screencaps really don't show how nastily that canopy was trying to collapse on finals.

Also of note is the passenger apologising for the landing, while Bryn "exhales" from the other end!

Respect Bryn - serious respect.

Nick
---------------------------
"I've pierced my foot on a spike!!!"

[Deuce 1]

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Took control and did my usual control checks. Nothing appeared to wrong at all.

I'm curious what these are. If you were long enough to have to ride back in brakes, did you do a left 360, right 360, and full flare before going into brakes and heading back? Did you leave the canopy in brakes until 1500 feet?

I am not capping, busting, burning or whatever the local slang is for criticising you.

In the bigway world there have been several incidents where world-class skydivers came out of brakes low only to discover malfunctions too low to initiate cutaways.

I fly the 384 about a third of my tandems, otherwise we have the new A2's with the collapsible sliders. With the 384's slider down, it is really hard to get a good look at the canopy. Was that giant duvet of a slider preventing you from being able to get a good look at the problem?

Congratulations on your head's-up action that lead to a landing that you and your student survived without incident. Well done.

Bill Booth? Could we have your thoughts about deploying the reserve under 1000 feet with a marginal canopy without cutting away the main?

[AggieDave 6]

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Was that giant duvet of a slider preventing you from being able to get a good look at the problem?

I move the slider on our 384 and our Sigma 370s to quickly check the canopy for more light coming through then usual after opening on every jump.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[skydog 2]

Good question.

My usual control checks are:

Release brakes.
Pull down to about 3/4 (usually to get slider all the way down)
Let back up onto full drive.
Left turn (not 360, but enough to feel how the canopy reacts...if that makes sense?)
Right turn.
Deep brakes (to simulate flare)
Back onto full drive.

(then monitor the canopy during the flight)

During all these the canopy showed no signs of any problems. I know this is hard for some to believe. I have had two tandem malfunctions and have not hesitated to deal with them. If I suspected there was a problem, which could be very serious, I would have got off it.

The spot on this jump was deep, so spent most of the time in brakes. So to answer the question. I had released the brakes but was flying a long spot.

As for being able to see the problem, the answer is no. The slider (non collasible) obscured my view of the actual damage. All I could see was the distortion in the front and back of the centre cells.

I have no problem answering questions like these, as the answers may help others to make better or more informed decisions if something like this happens to them.

Bryn

Journey not destination.....

[skydog 2]

I move the slider on our 384 and our Sigma 370s to quickly check the canopy for more light coming through then usual after opening on every jump.