kas@hp-pcd.UUCP (kas) (11/09/85)
The following is an assortment of thoughts that I had concerning the recent material on T-10's and hand deployment: *********** >One of the guys in the class had THE WORST T-10 MALFUNCTION anyone on the >drop zone had ever seen. Many of them were old-timers in the sport. The >malfunction was just a line over which had caught a wad of material on top >of the canopy, causing a high (but not lethal) decent rate, and a 1-2 second >spin... >Students there had also been taught not to cut away. Instead, they were >taught to throw their reserve "down-and-out at a 45 degree angle in the >direction of a spin." When this student tried to do it, it didn't work. >Pictures taken of him with a telephoto camera seemed to show him holding >onto it so that it couldn't catch the air. He said that it kept blowing up >in his face, and he couldn't get it out into the wind. I have personally experienced an identical malfunction (on my 9th jump, I think), and I had no problems in hand deploying the reserve. The trick is to place the left hand over the reserve while pulling the handle with the right hand. This prevents the reserve from getting away from you before you're ready. Then, remove the canopy with both hands (the handle has to be dropped, obviously), and pull it out of the container far enough to unstow the first couple of line stows. Then, throw it HARD while it is still wadded up tight. If you just let it go, or if you have allowed it to partially unfold, you can't throw it effectively, because it gets too big. It's sorta like spitting into the wind. After throwing it, it's often helpful to immediately grab the edge of the canopy, or a couple of lines near the edge, and spread and/or shake the canopy in the breeze to help it catch air. Once it begins to inflate, it'll yank itself out of your hands, so don't even try to hang onto it. This is only necessary for low speed malfunctions, and maybe not even then. With a high speed mal- function, you won't even be able to grab it after you've thrown it. >-- Is it naive to believe that students can correctly execute complex >sequences to deploy a reserve? Apparently not, since I managed to do it, and lived to tell the tale. But I'll be the first to admit that the procedure is more complex than a student should have to worry about. The newer gear is soooo much easier, and therefore safer, I think. >-- What would he have done if his spot wasn't as good as it was? You can't > steer two parachutes. > >-- Would it have been reasonable to cut away the main after the reserve had >inflated? What would have been the risks of the main fouling the reserve on >its way out? My main also opened after the reserve deployed, and as pointed out, neither could then be steered. I had three choices: (1) Do nothing, and land at the mercy of the wind -- the landing would be soft because I had two canopies. (2) Cut away the main and land hard under a 24' reserve -- the reserve wasn't steerable though, so why bother? (3) Collapse the reserve and fly the steerable main. I chose option (3), and collapsed the reserved by grabbing one line and pulling it down hand over hand until the air "spilled" out of the canopy. It was then a relatively easy matter to wad the canopy up and stuff it between my knees to keep it out of the way. The rest of the descent was normal, and the landing was one of my better ones. It would have been safe to cut away the main, though, if I had wanted too. It's too difficult to explain without drawing pictures, but suffice it to say that the forces involved would actually make the canopies move AWAY from each other at the instant of cutaway, so entanglement would be unlikely, if not downright impossible. >-- Is a relatively slow malfunction like this really fast enough to catch a >reserve without a pilot chute, and get it out? If not, a cut away seems >appropriate. Yes, there is ALWAYS enough wind to catch a reserve, but you can help it along by following the procedure I described above. Where I learned to jump, every student was required to wear an AOD. We used the old KAP-3 AOD's which had to be disarmed by inserting a pin to prevent the reserve from opening, if the main was good. About half of the first-jump students forgot to disarm it, so we routinely saw reserves popping out at 1500'. If the student was fast, they could grab it and stuff it between their knees, but often as not, the reserve would just catch air and open up alongside the main. I NEVER saw a reserve entangle with, or attempt to collapse, a main that was already open. -- Do jumpers panic so much that they would really hold on to the material of a chute? If so, a cut away seems inappropriate. Once it begins to catch air, it is very difficult to hang onto. But, it IS possible. On the other hand, a person who is panicked probably isn't going to execute a cutaway, either. I once witnessed a fatality where a student had a STREAMERED T-10. It's rare, but it CAN happen. For reasons we will never know, he panicked and did not pull the reserve himself. At 1500' the KAP-3 AOD fired, but he wrapped his arms around the reserve pack and didn't let it out into the airstream (people do weird things when they panic). At about 100' he finally let go of it, but by then it was too low to open. >-- Why aren't Steven's cutaway systems used on more conventional gear? One of the arguments used is that if you have to make a high-wind landing, you may want (or need) to cutaway the main if you're being dragged. A Steven's system will only dump your reserve into the wind, and you'll be worse off than you were before, because you can't cutaway a reserve. In my opinion, though, I think you could always roll over on the reserve, or even grab it, before it had a chance to inflate. Most ground winds are not cruising by at 120 mph. >Happily, the ole T-10's are a dieing breed.... Yes, Happily... >......... How 'bout the letter to the editor of Parachutist which advocated >a gas or rocket deployed reserve? Inflating a 2' diameter airbag in a car is one thing, but inflating a 24' diameter (or whatever) parachute at 120 mph is a whole different ball game. Nevertheless, I suppose its' possible... *************** >Hand-deployment of a reserve is no easy job. As soon as you >pull the ripcord you have a huge UNMANAGEABLE mass of nylon >spewing out of the reserve container. It's certainly not >an easy bundle that you can toss in any direction as your >instructor might have you believe.... I agree that it is not the simplest procedure, but I strongly disagree that it is unmanageable. I'm not Superman, and I've lived through the experience twice. The key is CONTROL -- you have to place one hand over the container when you pull the handle, so the canopy doesn't get out on its' own. You need to control what it does. If the instructor teaches the method properly, it works very effectively. If he simply says, "Pull this handle, then try to throw all that white stuff...", he shouldn't be instructing. The instruction MUST include hands-on experience for each student BEFORE they jump. A dummy reserve, or reserves that are due for repack, can be used for practice. You students out there should INSIST on this practice, if you haven't already done it. If your instructor says "No", go find another DZ that is more interested in your life. > ....Its so much easier for >a novice jumper to pull a one-pull-does-all handle, >get under a nice steerable reserve and get the hell away >from a nasty malfunctioned main. I agree. *********************** >......... I don't know how well the method would work on a streamer, but I >do know a fellow who got away with hand deploying a pilotchuteless reserve on >a total. The second case in which I had to deploy a pilotchuteless reserve was also on a total. My ripcord was stuck (sand in the housing, or something), and in the process of trying to pull it with both hands, I flipped over on my back. When I dumped the reserve, it just sat there on my belly because there was no pilot chute to spring out of the burble. I simply tossed it "overboard", and it opened fine. Once you get any part of it in the air- stream, it's gone. In any position other than back-to-earth, there will be enough wind to grab it without human assistance. ************************ * / \ |---/---\---| Ken Scofield C-9355 | Gone | Hewlett-Packard PCD | Jumpin' | Corvallis, OR |-----------| {ucbvax!hplabs, harpo, ogcvax}!hp-pcd!kas
s255@sol1.UUCP (alcmist) (11/16/85)
Ken Scofield is quite right on almost all points in this discussion,
but I do have one quibble.
If you're under two round canopies, it is not always safe to cut away
the main. Consider the case where a reserve went in between the lines
of a main before inflating. Then cutting away the main would cause it
to slide up the lines of the reserve and collapse it.
That would be a *weird* situation, and I can't imagine how it would
happen with a properly executed hand deployment of a reserve. I'd worry
about it in the case of someone opening a pilot-chuted reserve while
reaching for a dummy ripcord. It's still unlikely there, but unlikely
accidents leave people just as dead.
As a point of comparison, students at my home drop zone were taught
to ride both canopies down if both were open. Surprisingly, it is
possible to steer, albeit very badly.
Fred Wamsley D-8844al@infoswx.UUCP (11/20/85)
I believe that actually happened about 6 years ago. Al Gettier D 5850