Main deployment 'muscle memory'

[3fLiEr 0]

If you read it sounds like it went of prematurely............ am i wrong????
"In a world where we are slaves to gravity I am pleased to be a freedom fighter"

[3fLiEr 0]

hah........... thinking alike at the same time......... i hate it when that happens...................
bsbd
"In a world where we are slaves to gravity I am pleased to be a freedom fighter"

[E150 0]

Oh, OK. I missed that bit. Sorry.

[PhreeZone 20]

The 70's were also a time where the "Low Pull" contest was a frequent occurence and opening at 300 feet was not unheard of. The most high tech AAD was the modern equivelent of the FXC 12000, which is off by +/- 1000 feet. So if it goes off at 1500 feet when you had it set for 500, sure I'd be a bit upset, but why would you want to go that low anyways?
With the relatitlvy low forward speed and high sink rate of a Paracommander and its fast opening speeds, I've heard stories of people all tracking in the same direction to make it up wind of the DZ. Under a modern canopy with huge amounts of forward drive, this just is'nt a good idea. Under a modern canopy you are covering up to 25 feet per second forward in brakes.
I want to touch the sky, I want to fly so high ~ Sonique

[GrumpySmurf 0]

I thought about this last night - so *MIGHT* have an RSL. *shrug*

[steve1 5]

Maybe I should have worded my post better. The AAD activation that I mentioned was around 6 or 7 thousand feet. Long before it was supposed to fire. Opening a reserve at terminal back then was no fun. Especially if you were in the middle of a backloop. It would Jerk the heck out of you. The reserve canopy would inflate and you would fall to the end of your lines. I know that by todays standards, para-commanders are probably considered junk. Back then a P.C. packed into a B-12 container, a motorcycle helmet, french para-boots, baggy jump suit, and chest mounted reserve was all considered hot gear. A few people were trying para-planes. The one we were using would malfunction on a regular basis. They were wild and crazy times but I don't know of anyone who purposely went low. Our club had strict rules on this, just as today. Most all of us were members of USPA. Safety was a big concern with all the people I jumped with. In fact I think low pull contests were more a matter of fiction than reality. Undoubtedly it is much safer to jump now than back then. I knew of four or five people who went in. Almost noone ever was killed under a perfectly good canopy. They were just too slow. I'm getting my daughters into the sport now. I wouldn't have done that back in the 70's.

[billvon 2,991]

>Has anybody here, or anybody you know, ever lost altitude
> awareness, then found they were under 1500 feet - thought
>'oh shit', and then actually pulled the reserve instead of
> the main.
Nope. Happened to me when someone hung onto my right arm at deployment. I was actually grabbing my reserve handle when he released me, and I still couldn't stop my right hand from opening my main.
During another jump, I asked a current AFF-JM if he would go for his reserve if he got too low. He said yes and pantomined doing it - he said he wouldn't risk a cypres firing by opening his main. We jumped, he went low, he opened his main, and his cypres fired.
-bill von

[billvon 2,991]

>I read an incident report in an older Parachutist (about 10
> years ago?) where there was an aircraft emergency around
>1,000 feet and a jumper exited and only pulled his cutaway.
Interestingly, in that incident, the jumper had a cypres, and had admitted to his friends that was not confident in his emergency procedures, and would not be jumping without his cypres to save him if he screwed up. The cypres had not yet armed when he bailed out, and he died when he pulled his cutaway handle (and then, just before impact, his main.)
One of the few provable cases where cypres dependence led to a fatality.
-bill von

[skreamer 1]

bill, we had a second cypres fire at my DZ last week (3flier's being the first). Jumper was filming someone, lost altitude awareness . Watching the video of this jump is SCARY shit (it was being played continuously at the DZ this past weekend). Anyway, he comes out of cloud at about '1 200, gets major ground rush and instantly chucks his main just before the cypres fires. The two canopies were OK at first, but then at about 80 feet he pulled on the main's rear risers and caused a down-plane. Luckily for him he came down through some sparse trees and brush. The canopies and lines caught on the trees and after PLFing he walked away from it unharmed (but very shaken).
Anyway I think this is just further evidence to what Geoff and yourself are saying - that muscle memory dictates your actions in this situation.
Will

[E150 0]

Yip. The video is scary. The ground looked so BIG! Jeeesss. We are all just so happy and tankfull they both lived to tell the tale.

[scottbre 0]

Need to post that video on here...
"Can't keep my mind from the circling sky. Tongue-tied & twisted just an earth-bound misfit, I."

[3fLiEr 0]

"We are all just so happy and tankfull they both lived to tell the tale"
ah.......... how sweet......... i did not think you cared.......... ;op
On cypres fires - got my stats back from Airtec - and the cypres fired at between 700ft and 750ft............. (me at line stretch......... which was nice!!) so nice to know my cypres has a +/- of phuq all !!! ............ better than an AAD fire high!.............
NO More smoking low for me ............... been there did that and managed to live......... that suits me.............
bsbd
"In a world where we are slaves to gravity I am pleased to be a freedom fighter"

[3fLiEr 0]

"Need to post that video on here..."
My mate is thinking possibly of selling the footage if anyone knows of anyone who would want such footage...........
great whimpers when it starts to downplane!!!
"In a world where we are slaves to gravity I am pleased to be a freedom fighter"

[E150 0]

Of course. . . . Your my 'car riding bandit' partner.

[Geoff 0]

Quote

.....the cypres fired at between 700ft and 750ft........so nice to know my cypres has a +/- of phuq all !!!

Not sure I understand this.... surely you can't use the data from inside a Cypres as a calibration of it's own height-measuring accuracy. Obviously, it fired when it thought it was at the right height. If it was reading high or low, it would still think it fired at the right height, and the data readout would still show 750ft.....
Maybe I'm missing the point.....
Time for a beer...

[PhreeZone 20]

What the data can tell you is if you are going to low to fast.
Situation that comes to mind that the CYPRES would show it fired low: Cutaway from a spinner at 1200 feet and never pull the reserve. It is going to take you till at least 600 feet to get to the speed needed to trigger the Cypres (I'm thinking 87 mph for some reason...) Its now going to fire and admit that it fired at sub 600 feet. Based on this info, the S&TA could ground a jumper or not. Another thing is accidental fires (They do happen) at say 3500 feet could read as that high and Airtec can use that data to figure out why it activated....
I want to touch the sky, I want to fly so high ~ Sonique

[billvon 2,991]

> . . .gets major ground rush and instantly chucks his main just before the cypres
> fires. The two canopies were OK at first, but then at about 80 feet he pulled on
> the main's rear risers and caused a down-plane.
Yep. I've said it before - if you use an AAD you should have at least minimal CRW training. Knowing how to start and stop a downplane, a pretty simple skill, can save your life when your AAD either misfires or fires when you pull too low.
-bill von

[3fLiEr 0]

if you use an AAD you should have at least minimal CRW training.
Too true all the CReW guys when they saw him start pulling his rear risers shouted "NO" - they knew what was about to happen............................
bsbd
"In a world where we are slaves to gravity I am pleased to be a freedom fighter"

[Slappie 9]

Quote

You can also do it at home.

But as Zennie points out don't point your rig towards your wife or the coffee table. The thing tends to shoot across the room and can and will hurt someone or break something. Just a bit of ribbin there Zenster!
My New Website with 24hr Chat

[GrumpySmurf 0]

*shudder* that's just scary.