Incident #1 - Accidental Reserve Deployment
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As a novice CRWdog, I was doing a fun rotations dive. The experienced
jumper docked on me and planed-up (after he docked he applied brakes so
that he slid all the way up until my feet were at his slider). I then
proceeded to rotate from this planed-up position by applying brakes to
slide back up the parachute and over. As a result, my Reflex pop-top on my
reserve caught on a line at the nose of his canopy, and as I continued
to rotate over the top of his canopy, the tension caused my reserve loop
to break. My free-bag remained attached to his parachute and my reserve
deployed into a side-by-side with my main. We were at approx. 11,000-ft.
I think I had a desire in the back of my mind to ride both parachutes
down to a lower altitude before cutting away my main. But before I
thought too much about this, my Lightning 143 started to drive forward
and around my 175 reserve. I promptly grabbed the outside rear riser of
each parachute and pulled to cause each parachute to pull to the
outside. I then cut away my main.
How to avoid: I should have used my brakes to slowly slide up his lines,
get my rig above his canopy, and then proceeded to rotate. I should
also have had CRW flaps on my rig to protect the reserve.
Lessons to be learned: Had I decided to ride these two canopies down to
a lower altitude, I should have the outside risers in-hand so that I
could separate the canopies if they started to mush together.
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Incident #2 - Successfully hook-knifed way out of a wrap
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As a novice pilot, I turned into a docking wing for a 4-way diamond
attempt. This caused him to rise up too high, his canopy partially
collapsed, and then he fell away. Unfortunately, my toggle hitched
around one of his lines on the way down. This put both of us into a
quick spin. Since our canopies were attached and we were both clean and
on the outside of the spin, either of us could have cut away safely, and
indeed should have if the spin rate was too high. Instead, we remained
together long enough for me to realize that the entire problem was just
one of my brake lines. I got out my hook knife and cut the line. The
other jumper's canopy re-inflated without incident. For whatever
reason, mine did not. I then had to cut away and deploy my reserve.
Positives: neither of us cut away right away, which allowed one of us to
land their main. Although repairing the cut line was a pain, it was
cheap and it was worth it to avoid a cut-away.
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Incident #3 - hand caught in lines
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I don't remember how this one started, but ultimately I ended up with my
hand trapped in some lines, and some fabric around my body. There were
two parachutes, minimally inflated, and the other jumper had already cut
away. Fortunately, I had a lot of altitude. I was basically hanging
from my right hand, so what I did was push all fabric and lines up that
arm until my body and rig were clear. At this point, I was able to
wiggle my hand and slowly it came out of the Newman glove and broke free
of the lines. I then cut away from my main and deployed my reserve once
I fell free. Had my hand not come free this way, I could have used my
hook knife until altitude ran out, and then I could have deployed my
reserve and hoped for the best (should have deployed OK).
Positives: Cutting away sooner may have just put more weight on my hand
and arm and made things worse. I knew I could cut away, what I didn't
know was that I could get my hand out. So I worked on the more serious
problem first.
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Incident #4 - Cleared cutaway canopy from body
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Again, I don't remember how this one started, but ultimately I ended up
with another canopy around me (the other jumper was already gone). It
was mostly on my head and neck. When I had cleared my head I saw that
the other canopy was around the lines of my canopy, right around where
the slider was. I made a brief attempt to see if it could all be pulled
down over my body and off of my feet, but there was too much tention. I
could have landed like this, and I would have if I did not have enough
altitude to cut away and/or the canopy was not clear of my body and rig.
But, it is very hard to tell what your decent rate is in the air, and I
assumed my decent rate was fairly high due to the compression of the
lines of my parachute and the extra drag. In addition, my risers and
toggles were also wrapped up, so I had no control. So, ultimately I
took more time to make sure absolutely nothing was hooked on my
container (by reaching back and feeling and pushing things up my lines).
I then cut away, fell free, and deployed my reserve.
Positives: Again, cutting away sooner could have caused all the tention
to be transferred to my container and could have prevented reserve
deployment. I had time and I used it to improve my situation as much as
possible before cutting away.
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Incident #5 - top-docked while wrapped in a canopy
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I was a wing-lockup, and a new wing docking to my right came around into
me. I deflected her off to the side, but for some reason I was dropped,
causing me to wrap with a canopy below me. It took me a good 60 seconds
to get my head and arms clear, and by this time I looked up and saw that
Chris Gay had top-docked me. This was reassuring as I could concentrate
on the wrap and he would keep us stable and going in a safe direction.
I spent the next several thousand feet trying to get the other canopy
free from my rig. I was not successful, and at about 1500-ft I asked
the other jumper to cut away, which she did without problems. I tried a
bit more to clear the canopy, but ultimately decided that Chris Gay
could just land me as I was. He dropped me about 10-ft above a freshly
plowed field and I did a PLF and everybody walked away without incident.
Positives: Chris Gay was a significant help. Very few people have the
skill to top-dock somebody in a wrap, but what is easier to do is to
hold on to somebody in a wrap instead of dropping them. You can then
walk them over to a center-cell dock and do what Chris did -- he kept me
flying straight and towards a safe landing area. He did not make any
significant turns that could have made things worse. At the very least,
he set me down in a great landing spot. But without him there, things
could have gone much worse. Two parachutes are much more stable than
one. Without Chris up there, I may have had stability problems under my
parachute, or my decent rate may have been dangerously high. In
addition, the cut-away parachute could have inflated and wrapped me
and/or my parachute again. Had this happened with Chris up there it
would not have been lethal. If it had been just me, it could have been.
In addition, Chris was telling me where the canopy was attached to, and
both jumpers were giving me altitudes.
Negatives: I waited too long to have the other jumper cut away. I was
trying to avoid making her cut away, and thus took her down fairly low,
especially since she had never had a reserve ride before. Part of this
was the fact that Chris was up there and the situation was low-pressure.
Had Chris not been there, clearing the canopy would have been much more
important, and I would have had her cut away sooner. In any case, I
should have had her chop once I realized I wasn't making much process,
and it could have ended up helping me. She also could have asked to cut
away when the altitude was getting uncomfortably low.
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Incident #6 - canopy entangled with PC
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I was in a 25 or 36-way diamond and we hit wind-sheer and one whole side
of the formation collapsed. After things sorted out, it was just me and
one other jumper spinning as our canpoies were attached. The other
jumper cut away, which was OK since the spin was violent and fast and
communication was not possible. This left me with his main attached to
my pilot chute, which was pulling on it and causing my canopy to be on
the edge of deflation. The canopy was, however, somewhat stable in that
I could keep it pointed in one direction, plus/minus 15 degrees or so.
I was at about 7000 feet. Chris Gay indicated a desire to top-dock me
and try to untangle or cut off the pilot chute. I held heading for him
to top-dock, but even with significant effort he was not able to dock
due to my extreme decent rate. At about 1500-ft I cut away since my
decent rate was too high and I had no concerns about achieving a clean
cut-away and reserve deployment.
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Incident #7 - attempted top-dock
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I was waiting to dock as the second wing on a 4-way diamond. But the
first wing wrapped around the pilot's leg two times. The pilot was
trying to clear the lines and motioned for my help. He wanted me to set
up for him to dock on me so that he had added stability to unwind the
other canopy. Instead, I top-docked him but not cleanly, and did a
sharp turn causing yet another wrap around his leg. Ultimately the
other jumper had to cut away.
Negatives: My intentions were good, but although I can top-dock, I did
not consider that top-docks on somebody in a wrap need to be perfect.
My attempt to help just made things worse. I should have thought to let
him dock on me, or I should have taken the time to make the dock smooth
enough and I should have paid considerable attention to maintaining
heading after the dock.
