Calling people who have had lots of Cutaways

[wmw999 2,439]

Quote

do you feel rounds were more susceptible to malfunctions that required a cutaway

In my personal experience, obviously (2 round, 1 square) . That's very possibly true anyway.

The big difference is that a much larger percentage of round malfunctions are survivable than are square ones, especially as you begin to wingload more aggressively.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[base698 14]

I had 3 malfunctions in 93 jumps, but none in over 940.

They were:

-Horseshoe which I was able to clear by throwing pilot chute then cutting away the bag lock and pull my reserve.

-Tension knot resulting in a spin I couldn't stop.

-Total which couldn't be pulled on the ground either.

I know of one girl who has had 4 malfunctions in 40 some odd jumps. Most extreme example I know of.

One student a few years back also had 3 in under 12 jumps. (mostly totals on a rip cord system).

[thrillseek 0]

IN my first 100 jumps, i had 3 cutaways, earning me the title as captian cutaway around the dz.

The first was jump #8, and was a huge eye opener. (Student gear--Manta 288 that managed a wicked spinning mal somehow...no evidence when inspected on the ground)

the 2nd was jump #30-something (line over that was my own fault for poor packing skills on a Sabre 210. {as a side note, the bigger sabres have an extra steering line that is longer that normal and is prone to want to go line over--these NEED to be stowed carefully so that they stay out of your way during deployment})
Cutaway #3 was jump #90-something...same canopy, same problem. After this one, i bought an eliptical canopy and have had no problems since. I will never go back to squares again...The eliptical canopies are just safer in my opinion(less likely to have issues like line over when packed properly)
Just my $.02, but elipticals are the way to go, as long as they aren't overloaded for the experience level, they are perfectly safe and not a dangerous choice.

[faulknerwn 38]

Let's see - I'm at 13 reserve rides in 3400 jumps.

4 were spinning ellipticals
1 was a hung-up slider (packed by someone else)
1 was a reserve ride on an old-fashioned round system I was jumping for fun after I couldn't find the handle
7 were from CRW incidents.

I also probably have ~20 intentionals cutaways I've done with third canopies.

Also to note - I've never had a malfunction on a square (only ellipticals). I've probably got ~1500 elliptical jumps and ~1900 square jumps.

[medoa 0]

Ive had 2 cutaways in 42 jumps. I succeded in getting the first one in my first jump. After analizing the situation I think I overreacted to having a couple of endcells which werent inflated. I actually tried to pump a couple of times as I was tought, but as nothing happened I pulled the reserve. The second cutaway came at jump 33 and was a lineover with a spinning canopy. I reacted promptly and actually felt pretty much at ease with the situation. Both were with studentgear, navigator and manta. Thanks to this I at least now know that im capable of saving my own neck in a situation like this. I still do feel nervous going in to the plain and gaining altitude. This usually goes away with the freefall though.

[riggerrob 643]

18 reserve rides out of 4,300 jumps

1 packing error on a Crossbow
1 horseshoe caused by too long a closing loop
1 test jump on experimental military canopy
14 from damaged 1st generation tandems
1 spinning elliptical canopy (Diablo)

I only packed two of those mals.
I also landed a couple of damaged military canopies and more damaged tandem mains than I care to remember. As for the first generation tandems, I still have a few in my loft and you can have them cheap! Hee! Hee!

[TXSkydancer39 0]

10 malfunctions 1360 jumps....

First malfunction, jedi 190, 250+ jumps... First 8 malfunctions were on this rig.... I'm just not an elliptical canopy person... Last two, one a bag lock on a Spectre 170, a "slink" on a Cobalt 120 came undone on the first jump.. Another jumper had problems with same issue.. Tacked down the slinks... The first malfunction I packed on the Jedi.. One of our packers, videographer who jumps Jedi packed the rest of the Jedi packs.... Packers also packed the last two..Not sure about the bag lock but the last one was not packers fault...

[kaerock 1]

3 chops in my first 350 jumps, none since.

1st - self-induced line-twist. At about 1200 ft I initiated a very strong toggle turn that cause my canopy to twist, then death spiral. Chopped and under reserve at about 1000ft

2nd - lazy pull, I didn't pull the pilot chute out all the way, then couldn't find it again 'cause it was flapping around. (I had just packed my reserve that morning)

3rd - shoulder flap popped open while doing transitions from sit to head-down, when I deployed my toggle was wrapped around my risers so tightly that I wasn't even able to steer with rear-risers.

Stiletto 150 loaded at 1.3-ish and a voodoo v3, voodoo has since been modified and is much less prone to opening a shoulder flap.

-R

You be the king and I'll overthrow your government. --KRS-ONE

[SkyKat 0]

Quote

7 were from CRW incidents.

New guy here. Excuse dumb question. What is a CRW?

Thanks,
Mindy

[hookitt 1]

Taken from the Canopy Relative Work forum, here's a picture of a Dutch CRW record.

New Dutch Record

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

[SkyKat 0]

Thanks. And...

photo is TOTALLY awesome. I wanna be there some day.

Mindy

[batbex 0]

One reserve ride on jump number 7,
static line - video shows the whole thing, me in a nice stable body position and a lovely packed line-over coming out! and settling above me.
It was student kit, packed by its last student jumper at a foreign dropzone.
Personnally I blame the rig - dropzones shouldn't have rig number 13s

[Kramer 0]

Here's a thread where several people listed their overall number of jumps, with their number of reserve jumps. Some of the posts blew my mind.
http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=572100;sb=post_replies;so=DESC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

-Kramer

The FAKE KRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMER!!!!!!!!!

[whatever 0]

when I was jumping at a DZ in Kent, England, there was a guy who earned himself the nickname of 'Chopper'...

by cutting away on something like jump no. 19 (which was my packjob, so maybe I'm to blame), then having another cutaway 2 or 3 jumps later....

I heard he was up to 3 cutaways before jump no. 40, maybe some of the DZ regulars can comment on that...

Chopper, if you're reading, share the story and I hope you're still jumping and enjoying it.

cheers

Sam

soon to be gone

[tbrown 26]

An embarrasing topic. As I'm fond of pointing out, I've returned to the sport after a 22 year layoff, which in the early years I think might just have saved my life. I was a bit of an "a-hole" in the early days....

First chop was when some suspension lines hung up at the cascade point on the fwd right side. I actually had all seven cells and as clearly as I can remember was controllable. But I chopped because I didn't want the situation to suddenly deteriorate below 500 ft. Second chop was due to a hung up brake release. I'd packed my canopy soaking wet (I'm not joking). It opened just fine, but I'm guessing the right brake line was too swollen from the water to release. It was a very gusty day and I dicked around with it down to 1200 ft before cutting away. Third time was a streamer. I was using a new D-bag for the first time and the bag was heavily damaged in the opening, so I think it might've been afactor, though I'm not sure how. Anyway, I didn't waste any time once I saw that the canopy was simply not going to inflate. I was under my reserve above 1500' on that one.

I'm a different, older and wiser person this second time around and hope to join the ranks of those who go 3000 or more between chops. They work, but are no fun until you bullshit about them later.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[RichM 0]

2 chops in 700.

1st @ 497 - racer, boc, xfire 119. Deployed and after 5 secs was still face to earth, cut away and deployed reserve. Learned to look over shoulder if nothing after a couple of seconds to clear pc in burble (don;t know if this is what this situation was, but I didn't try).

2nd @ 650ish - pc got caught in lines before line stretch. An interesting ride! Fought it from 5000ft to 2000ft and chopped to reserve.

Rich M