moonglo 0 #1 November 10, 2004 After a beautiful almost-sunset birdman jump with the Crewdogs last Sunday I flew off and pulled just below 4K. I had a slightly faster/harder opening than usual, but not really remarkable. I opened with 6 or 8 linetwists starting right above my risers, with the slider stuck in the middle. The canopy was flying straight and level, but backwards. I unzipped my arm wings to reach the risers and attempted to kick out of it, but by the time I reached 2k I had not undone any twists! (Normally if I have linetwists I will be untwisting under my canopy even before I can free my arms) I said bye-bye to my main and pulled my reserve handle. I deployed my reserve on my back/left side due to the open right arm wing catching air and putting me into a barrel roll when I put my right arm over my head to stabilize for deployment. My reserve opened quickly, but smoothly and on heading. The rest of the dive was uneventful as I attempted to watch where my gear would land while undoing my booties and trying to assure an on DZ landing. I flared my raven-m too hard and laid myself out on my back, but was luckily uninjured. (so glad I always wear a helmet!) The next day my rigger called to tell my there was wear on the main lift web and damage to the stitching on the main lift web. (My guess is the main opening caused the damage to my rig, or the damage caused the unusual opening.) I found a few wear marks on the right arm wing of my suit too, I’m guessing from the reserve going by as it opened. Next time I have any doubt about my main being landable I’ll use the wing cutaways to maintain control over my arm wings in the event of returning to freefall! My second cutaway went well, all things considered, and I was very happy to see the world from 1700’ under my fully functional reserve instead of 800’ like my pre-second! Thanks to Scott for bringing back all my gear almost before I could go looking for it, and of course to Catfish for packing a great opening on my reserve! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KrisFlyZ 0 #2 November 10, 2004 Did you swoop the CREW formation?? Glad you are O.k and retrieved all your gear. Kris. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
voodew1 0 #3 November 11, 2004 I had one of those on Saturday too! Ted, Bob, Doug and I on a 4 way -- I was under my reserve by 2k. Let me know when those suits come in and we will all fly together again. Voodew The pimp hand is powdered up ... say something stupid Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JeNnEjEnN 0 #4 November 11, 2004 2nd week in December... ahhh...Can't wait ------------------------------------------- "Scars remind you that the past is real..." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hookitt 1 #5 November 11, 2004 QuoteI had one of those on Saturday too! Ted, Bob, Doug and I on a 4 way -- I was under my reserve by 2k. Let me know when those suits come in and we will all fly together again. Voodew Was that on the same rig I borrowed ?My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
voodew1 0 #6 November 11, 2004 Well Tim that rig just doesn't want to make a full cycle - I am just about ready to order an Icon/Pilot/Smart - hopefully I won't have anymore of those spinners with that combo - and it should fit nicely on a Vampire. I really haven't had a problem with the cobalt until last weekend most of the openings have been close to on heading and if I had any twists it would only be 1 and clear itself. So yes Tim it was the same rig you used. The pimp hand is powdered up ... say something stupid Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ph8068 0 #7 November 11, 2004 QuoteThe canopy was flying straight and level, but backwards. So how come you couldn't get out of the twists? Fair enough, you had lots, but also 2000ft to play with. If I saw that many twists, I'd cut away the wings in half a second flat, rather than playing with zips. Any reason you didn't? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
moonglo 0 #8 November 11, 2004 I'd had worse twists than that, and i thought i had enough altitude to get out of it. My 2nd Birdman flight i counted 12 or 14! Oh well, lesson learned. I don't know what was different about these twists or why i couldn't undo them, other than the slider in the middle of the mess instead of above or below. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
moonglo 0 #9 November 11, 2004 I was too high on the 2 stack, but turned around and had a great flyby with one of the guys lurking the formation. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkymonkeyONE 4 #10 November 11, 2004 QuoteQuoteThe canopy was flying straight and level, but backwards. So how come you couldn't get out of the twists? Fair enough, you had lots, but also 2000ft to play with. If I saw that many twists, I'd cut away the wings in half a second flat, rather than playing with zips. Any reason you didn't? I can't answer for Jenn (edited), but I can tell you that I can unzip at least as fast as it takes me to pull the wing cutaways. Practice, practice, practice your EP's. The more you practice your post-opening procedures, the faster you will be able to address the linetwists. On a skydiving wingsuit jump, the primary way of getting out of your wings is your zippers. Your wing cutaways are your secondary, or contingency means. That is not to say that it's not OK to go straight for your arm cutaways, just that it makes it much more of a pain in the ass to re-rig for your next jump if you go that route. Some BASE guys will argue that it makes more sense to go straight for the cutaways, but I can promise you that that isn't the smartest way to do things if you have any posibility of landing in the water. Also, in the event of an irrecoverable spinner on a skydive in a wingsuit the first course of action is to cutaway, not dick around with your zippers or your wing cutaways. You deal with the suit after dealing with the malfunction. In this case, though, Jenn had the canopy straight over her head for quite some time and had every reason to believe that he was going to be able to eventually kick out of the twists. It's all good; he lived. I have had two rides on wingsuit jumps; one nearly killed me three years ago. The simple act of dicking around with my zippers under a spun-up canopy got me, under my 75 square foot main, spun up to my neck and diving at the ground at near terminal velocity. Chopping immediately would have definitely helped in preventing my cutaway cables being locked into the twisted risers. I don't recommend anyone attempt to recreate my problem. Firing my reserve straight into that shit was definitely not the hot ticket, but I lived to tell about it. The bottom line here is that I know very, very few active wingsuit pilots who have not chopped in a suit. Chuck edited because I misread who started the thread... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
moonglo 0 #11 November 11, 2004 SkymonkeyONE is correct. It's normal and probably just a quick for me to unzip. And BTW, I'm Jenn. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
voodew1 0 #12 November 11, 2004 For the record Jason's(voodew1) canopy opened up in spinning line twist I was on my back when I chopped and never cut away my wings or even unzipped until under the reserve The pimp hand is powdered up ... say something stupid Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhreeZone 20 #13 November 11, 2004 >The bottom line here is that I know very, very few active wingsuit pilots who have not chopped in a suit. I'm hoping to make it to 200 flights with out chopping (1000 jumps total is the real goal ), about 25 flights to go Yesterday is history And tomorrow is a mystery Parachutemanuals.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
moonglo 0 #14 November 11, 2004 Now you've jinxed yourself! Better go knock wood I was saying just last week how I was surprised I hadn't had to chop in my wingsuit yet and how i tend to have mals in Nov.! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
diablopilot 2 #15 November 11, 2004 QuoteI'm hoping to make it to 200 flights with out chopping (1000 jumps total is the real goal ), about 25 flights to go 400 is possible.....---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
