Basejumper.com - archive

After reading posts in Zoter's thread called
'Locking off' 3 ring assembly I was curious
how many of you have actually cut-away
your BASE canopy after a jump and what
was the situation (water, tree, chase, etc).
Thanks in advance for all serious replies.

none....but had a close one, water landing and the water started to drag me down.....

2 times, both because of tree landings

 
I've choped them in high winds being drug on a base jump. There was also one time I really wish I could have choped it. I was just too lazy to build a cutaway. My bad.

Lee

ive seen video of an aussie whos yellow cable got caught on who knows what under canopy at about 300ft, after a succesful jump in norway.. his right side risers released, and he spun in under 3 somewhat inflated cells... it was pretty ugly, and due to sheer luck,or grace of god/satan/whatever his final revolution spun him into the water, missing the boulder infested, definate death shore line by about 3 feet. or a quarter revolution. the water was just deep enough to disperse the impact, but shallow enough (due to a boulder under the surface) to not drown...

real one in a million kind of shit. i dont think he posts here, but maybe some of his mates do.
cya. -b

any modification involved with his yellow cables?? too short??

Twice....first was a 'tree' landing
Second was to effect a quick getaway/car entry

Once..... and it saved my ass. Running water and parachutes don't mix.

once....linetwist

Could you please elaborate? Thank you.

Crashed through the glass of a building and thought I might get sucked back out.........

no i can`t...cause i died, i found out the hard way that i had only one parachute

Once... talus hillside. The rocks started to fill my canopy and pull me closer to a class 4 rapids.

Superlocksystem from Ulli Wambach to prevent such events.

yeah, i really think i like that idea...

Once before a jump, when both of my pins popped and my canopy inflated outside the tower. It didn't release when i pulled the handle (presumably due to the reverse risers and the direction of pull on the risers), and I had to fuck around with it for a bit. That's another thing to keep in mind.

That was GW in Italy. It was an intentional (sort of) from what I remember. The landing was not as dramatic and near death as you think. But very entertaining nevertheless.

Me - cutaway BASE (as in prior to landing - B & A with sorceror, S & E with S18). Lots of cutaways in water (nearly always do as a procedure). Getaways (not many).

Cutaways done at BD, KL Twr, Norgie Cliffs, Antennas everywhere.

Three times come to mind.

I chopped after landing next to a river. The canopy landed mostly next to the water and the nose was in the water.

As soon as the nose filled with water, I was off my feet much faster than I imagined possible.

I grabbed one riser and cut the canopy away with my other hand.

The second time I chopped a canopy was after poaching a crane over a rock quarry with a mandatory water landing. The chop was so that i could quickly tow the canopy without having to worry about lines and other stuff around my feet as we made our swimming getaway.

The third was after I landed a buddy got hurt really badly during the final part of his canopy flight. I chopped the canopy so that I could get to him and start working on him as quickly as possible without having a damn parachute in the way.

On all three occasions I was very glad to have the immediate cutaway ability. I trust the design of the three ring system. I understand it thoroughly, inspect it religiously, and jump it confidently.


.

4 times in high wind, once in water landing near huge cliff, twice while jumping in city for quick stowage, and once at about 180 over the moab Iguanadon valley floor after a BASE jump, while also set up and hooked into FRASCA rope jump. probably the coolest funnest rope jump I have done yet.

I even still sometimes jump my sewn-in risers, and leave it packed that way, because it really makes me feel better on a climb and jump. I have no doubt that even without a cutaway in all situations, I would have been fine had i not been able to cut away. as a PG pilot, one gets very good at collapsing a 'runaway' parachute very quickly.

Twice for water, once for a lampost.
Just as a point to note - I once cutaway accidentally whilst kitting up. It was a power-tower at night, and the platform was the kind with expanded steel mesh to stand on. I checked my rig, put it down to stash my sack, picked it up and put it on. A minute or two later as I moved around, my foot touched something and on the floor was the yellow cable, complete. When I'd put the rig down the ferrule/swage at the cutaway handle had caught in the metal grid and cleanly pulled out when I lifted it up. I never felt it at all and although I like to have a buddy check before exit it could've been missed...
I now check my rig and put it straight on my back as a matter of habit, whatever the surface.

Once after water landing to made it easier to get canopy into boat. Once for lamp post.

Was on the a jump where some one had a riser release coming into land, before that I used to check my 3 rings before most jumps, now I check them on every jump.

I recently ordered a rig that doesn't have 3 rings, but will never jump it where I think I may need the system, or without a hook knife, but never say never.....

definatley not...

this was paul p. in norway, and the video was shown to me at kl07..

maybe simlar cicumstances... cheers -b

Weathergirl-
that is exactly why I partially/mostly disagree with 'easy' cutaway systems on BASE gear, and have a rig with sewn in risers, and another where I have disabled the cutaway. IMHO, its just a matter of time before a fatality from a similar happening as yours. Kudos for catching that.

its been discussed a lot, but my next rig I order will have a dual release system, a cutaway handle on both lift webs, and two cables will go through each riser.

For a more secure cutaway handle I've sewn a piece of 2" webbing on top of the handle, stitched on 3 sides (outer, top and bottom). The handle now sits in a pocket between the 2" webbing and the shoulder strap . The loop of the handle can be pulled out (exposed) or left in, depending on the jump.
















0 or left in depending on the jump.

Was that on your "almost died twice in on jump" jump?

Yes, definitely was Paul. Lucky man. He said upon "landing" the cable-housing on the side with the riser release had a good length of cable protruding and the rings were intact on the riser and he couldn't attribute the cause of the release to anything.

This incident was the "straw in the camel's back" that was the decision for me to lock-off my 3-rings.

g.

So you would choose to not be able to cut-away rather than double checking your three rings before EVERY jump?

I know one spot in Oz where I wouldn't like to jump without a operational cut-away, but you only go there for the hike hey

Ah Jim.... fishing for a bite huh.

I always check my 3-ring system before the rig goes into the stash-bag and just before donning the rig at the exit pt. It's the white loop and associated stitching that freaks me out as a single point of failure. I don't lock-off the system for all sites.

Will post pics of the setup in a few days.

g.

Well the first part was serious. IMO, Paul could have prevented his half chop by checking his cut-away before the jump, but thats just my opinion ohh but look at my jump numbers! Arn't I so cool and experienced? You should trust me.....or probably not.

.

Attached is a photo of the jump I was thinking of.

Hey Tom, thank fuk that's over water. The look on Greg's face from your vid when he walks out of the water is priceless. What exactly happened???

(BTW you guys, Tom's video is a must-have. A bit dated (1999?) but lot's of hard-nut Aussie shit with Tom & DW +others, featuring the genesis of aerials, Dwain's double-gainer from 180' & the shooting of Ray L. amongst other good shit)

g.

Thanks GP.

That particular bit of footage was shot by somone else (see credits). Possibly Feral, maybe Marko.

The canopy is my first ( & only) Pooster which Feral ended up getting from me.

GW walked away as per usual. I think he drank lots of milk when he was youngster. He's had a few hits and survived pretty well.

When I hit, I stay hit.

Maybe I should not be so lazy and read the beginning of the thread, but did you come up with a reason why he had a half chop?

Did the cut-away riser pull the slider up compounding the situation?

My understanding (from GW) was that the cable was completely removed, but one 3 ring failed to release. If the 3 rings are left assembled long enough, they can "stick" in place. This is the reason that skydivers will regularly cutaway and flex the 3 ring assembly.

The Norway footage will be in the next ABA video actually... I'm compiling it as we speak..... should be out in another month or so :)