Early static line deployment

[JeffGordon 0]

Twice in my short jump master career, I have seen deployment of the main canopy initiate while the student was still hanging from the strut of a Cessna 182. Once the spring loaded pilot chute just missed the horizontal stabilizer, and once the main suspension lines contacted the horizontal stabilizer and damaged it. Have other JMs had this happen? I'm sure I didn't pull the static line loose as I was putting the student out. What can I do to minimize this in the future?

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

Your school is obviously not doing a good job of stowing the static line. I teach well over 100 SL students per year at the club I work for. What is MOST critical to rigging of SL student equipment is the first two stows (as you are rigging) of the static line. Let me tell you our procedure. First let me state that we use three different kinds of rigs: Quasar II's, Prestige, and Telesis. On all of them, we use a direct bag. Upon closing the container, the SL is routed out the top left of the container. Next, the closing loop is pinned with the ripcord on the SL. The first stow is in the upper left corner; it is a quadruple/single stow. Next, we go to the bottom left stow; it is a triple/double stow. What that means is the first loop is triple wrapped, then the SL is run accross to the bottom right and triple wrapped, then it is run back to the original (bottom left) stow and single wrapped under the same band. All of the other stows are double wrapped. I too have had a student yanked off the plane; she wasn't even out to the "hang" position yet. It turns out that one of our "part time" jumpmasters, who is also a senior rigger, closed her rig incorrectly. It could have gotten very ugly. We forbade the guest "rigger" from touching students again and have not had another instance of this in the past two years.
Chuck Blue
D-12501
SL-I, TM-I
Skydive Raeford

[axe96bam 0]

we use direct bag and we use break cord (25 lb) to keep the pin from extracting on the strut. We tie it through the grommet of the closing flap and the loop at the tail end of the pin (which is also attached to the S/L) This ensures that the drag from the relative wind will not open the container as the student is still on the strut.

[spectre230 0]

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

That is a VERY naive answer. Contrary to popular beliefs and rantings at big "boutique" dropzones, the SL progression program is still by far the most commonly used method of training skydivers in the world. It is also the most economical way for a small dropzone to keep itself in qualified jumpmasters and Instructors. Safety? You look up the statistics for the past 20 years (since the inception of the AFF program) and see which method has the most fatalities on it's head.
Believe me when I tell you I am no "SL nazi." I am not in any way, shape, or form xenophobic. What ratings I do not already possess, I will have by the end of this year. My point is that it is pretty crazy to talk crap about any one training method; especially now, with the advent of the ISP.
Chuck

[freeflyguy 0]

Here here (hear hear???), Go get 'em Chuck.
Static line is cool. I was in the otter the other day, on the same level as a 182. It threw out a first jump static line dude. He did a nice layout and it deployed at some point in his rotation. Yahooo!!! Not exactly a stable exit. But oh well. But like I have said, after five times tied to the aircraft, you free fall anyway. And at least at our DZ, you get constant attention from everybody, until long after you graduate, at 20 jumps or so. I have jumped with "Graduated" AFF guys at 8 jumps, and they still don't have a clue how to land. Some DZ's need to keep up the training a little longer, my opinion.
I heard of one DZ that only does AFF and Tandem. Once you graduate AFF, you can't really even jump there anymore. Sadness.

[spectre230 0]

[pyke 0]

Again, spectre230...I would have to agree with Chuck on this one...
That is a very naive answer. Having graduated S/L myself..and seen enough graduates of AFF...you learn the most crucial elements of skydiving long before you get in the sky (ie. freefall). I have seen so many AFF students biff in because they just don't have the canopy control that someone with S/L training does. Not that AFF doesn't teach it..it just doesn't concentrate on it...and if you can't land...you certainly aren't going to be able to stay in the sport long (eg. broken bones).
I (personally - and I accept that I can be wrong here) believe that AFF teaches TOO much at once, and therefore invites more danger into learning to skydive than say S/L or something like IAD.
Sorry dude, no offense.
Kahurangi e Mahearangi,
Pyke
NZPF A - 2584

[skymedic 0]

maybe too much to learn if you aren't good at learning. some people take longer than others to learn simple things. I breazed through AFF with no problems. I also understand that AFF is not for everyone as there are those slow learners. and it might take a while for them to get stability and the like under control. I do agree however that canopy control can not be adequatly taught with AFF unless you have excelent instructors that stress it every time you are up there and not just the first two or three jumps.
Marc