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re hard ripcord pulls...
There is more to it than just pull force needed to dislodge the pins from the cones. When a lot of force is applied and nothing happens the jumper's adrenaline spikes and he starts to panic a bit. AM I PULLING ON THE WRONG THING? Add night, tumbling, cold, scared, wet and you have a situation that can spin out of control really fast. It can cause a jumper to discard the ripcord handle and start pulling on webbing or something else that is not going to open the container flaps no matter how hard you pull.
Sure, the smart thing is to just pull harder. Even a so called hard pull isn't normally going to take an impossible amount of force... but that logic can escape the mind of a panicky jumper.
I had two VERY hard pulls on surplus gear back in 68. I was jumping a sleeved C 9 packed in an unextended surplus rental rig. Even though I was prepared for the second one, it still was scary. I was taught to give it two tries then go for my reserve. I probably gave it five and might have stupidly gone to a dozen had it not opened on the fifth, who knows? That is not clear thinking. Fear clouds good judgment. A hard pull definitely starts the adrenaline going. It can spiral downhill fast from that point.
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There is more to it than just pull force needed to dislodge the pins from the cones. When a lot of force is applied and nothing happens the jumper's adrenaline spikes and he starts to panic a bit. AM I PULLING ON THE WRONG THING? Add night, tumbling, cold, scared, wet and you have a situation that can spin out of control really fast. It can cause a jumper to discard the ripcord handle and start pulling on webbing or something else that is not going to open the container flaps no matter how hard you pull.
Sure, the smart thing is to just pull harder. Even a so called hard pull isn't normally going to take an impossible amount of force... but that logic can escape the mind of a panicky jumper.
I had two VERY hard pulls on surplus gear back in 68. I was jumping a sleeved C 9 packed in an unextended surplus rental rig. Even though I was prepared for the second one, it still was scary. I was taught to give it two tries then go for my reserve. I probably gave it five and might have stupidly gone to a dozen had it not opened on the fifth, who knows? That is not clear thinking. Fear clouds good judgment. A hard pull definitely starts the adrenaline going. It can spiral downhill fast from that point.
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2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.
Cooper got rid of those with his Capt Video field strength meter .... or, they shreded as they went through the fans with Cooper.
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