Checking for Main Cut-Away Before Deploying Reserve

[wilmshurst 0]

I recently read in the Incidents forum of including in your emergency procedures a check that your main has been cut-away (ie, is no longer attached to your harness) before going for your reserve. This seems to make some sense, but assuming that the main is still attached, what next?

I have been taught emergency procedures by several experienced instructors, but this check has never been mentioned and I have never been told what to do to affect a main separation when the cut-away handle has already been pulled. I guess the answer depends on what is (still) holding the main to the harness and the most straightforward response is to clear the cables from the three rings.

Any advice on how best to do this (or respond to other causes for the main still being 'attached') with the minimum of fuss and maximum of speed??

The only thing worse than a cold toilet seat is a warm toilet seat.

[billvon 3,006]

>I recently read in the Incidents forum of including in your
>emergency procedures a check that your main has been cut-away . . .

I don't recommend a separate step to do this. You will feel if your main has been cut away if you have a low speed mal, even a baglock. If you have a high speed mal (i.e. total or PC in tow) you won't feel anything change, since cutting away does nothing. Pull the cutaway handle, make sure the cables are clear, then pull the reserve. The chances of neither riser releasing if you get the cables out is incredibly small. If one releases and not the other, you have a few seconds to do something. If you get out your hook knife, manage to saw through the lines (note you can't cut through a riser with a hard housing) but impact just as you get the reserve out, you haven't done yourself any good. If, on the other hand, you get the reserve out first and it inflates, you have time to try to deal with the one stuck riser. The reserve may entangle with the main, but better to land under an entangled main/reserve than under a main with only one riser attached.

The one time you may want to fuss with the riser is if you are deploying unusually high for some reason and are 100% sure you have ten seconds or so to screw around. In that case you are probably best off taking the riser, pulling it away from the harness, and flexing it. Different risers have different reasons they won't release, from a deformed harness ring (is a problem on very old rigs) to 'reverse' risers being pinned to interference with other gear (like a jumpsuit.)

[flighty 0]

I think the idea behind what he is referring to (and possibly misunderstanding) is especially when using the one-hand-on-each-handle method, most people will unconsciously let muscle memory take over and pull cutaway then reserve. The problem is that if your hand slips off of the cutaway without pulling it, then you pull the reserve handle, because that is what your left hand does when your right arm reaches extension.

That is one of the biggest arguments of the two-hands-per-handle folks.

I'm a one-hand-on-each-handle person myself, but always put the mental image of the main leaving when I dirtdive a low speed mal. not crap..chink..chink , but, waveoff..pull..spinningcrap..chink..fall..chink..ahhh

~Cindy~
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
Spelling and grammar errors are left as an exercise for the reader.

[sundevil777 102]

We should acknowledge that using an RSL and worrying about this subject are incompatible.

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

[billvon 3,006]

>The problem is that if your hand slips off of the cutaway without
> pulling it, then you pull the reserve handle, because that is what
> your left hand does when your right arm reaches extension.

Good point. That's definitely a disadvantage of the one hand per handle method. It can be faster, but is also prone to out-of-sequence emergency procedures and lengthy fussing when the cutaway force is high and you have to switch back to the old procedure.

[wilmshurst 0]

Thank you kindly Billvon - nice reply.

Interesting that you mention _feeling_ a cut-away, which sounds like noting whether the main has detached without checking by visual means. However, your overall point is noted. I do realise that reserves are designed to deploy past a malfunctioning main, but clearly this does not always happen.

After I posted I was thinking "get at it with a hook knife". I hadn't considered your point about hard housings. Given that scenario, where would you recommend attacking with a hook knife?

The only thing worse than a cold toilet seat is a warm toilet seat.

[billvon 3,006]

>Given that scenario, where would you recommend attacking with a hook knife?

The riser just above the hard housings. Problem is you will almost surely not be able to reach that point. (It will not be in the same place it is when you are under a normal canopy.)

[jsaxton 0]

Quote

We should acknowledge that using an RSL and worrying about this subject are incompatible.

Not necesssarily, consider this situation:
spinning malfunction, cutaway is pulled but not far enough, only one riser is released. RSL dosen't pull reserve but the jumper does because we teach them not to rely on the RSL. Now er have a jumper firing his reserve into what looks like a streamer.

[sundevil777 102]

Quote

In Reply To

We should acknowledge that using an RSL and worrying about this subject are incompatible.

>>>>>>
Not necesssarily, consider this situation:
spinning malfunction, cutaway is pulled but not far enough, only one riser is released. RSL dosen't pull reserve but the jumper does because we teach them not to rely on the RSL. Now er have a jumper firing his reserve into what looks like a streamer.

I'll put it a different way...

I think that if you are going to worry about whether your risers will release when you pull your cutaway handle, then you should not use an RSL.

The scenario you describe would have the same results whether the rig is equipped with an RSL or not.

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