4 Way team 'The Bombdigity' on a training jump at Australian Skydive, Bridgewater, when on exit Phil's cutaway handle somehow dislodged and flew off into the blue.
@cpoxon He did. The guys at the DZ watched it come down not too far away so jumped in the van and picked it up for him. The next day a student landed a bit off and even found the cutaway handle!
@ 0:31 see that red handle with the 2 yellow lines attached to it flapping around and then you see it fly off into the blue, that was his cut away handle. Looks like one of his friends pointed it out and he had a look at his rig and seen the handle was missing. So he just deployed his reserve coz his main would have just opened and flew off into the blue aswell lol. This dude played it super cool knowing he only had his reserve left.
Nice one on the tandem and even better on the AFF! Yes that was the cutaway which disconnects you from your main parachute. So what effectively happened was his main was no longer connected but of course still packed in the container. If he had have deployed his main it would simply have come out and flown straight off, and then he would have had to deploy his reserve. So instead of having that happen he just waited and then punched out his reserve and main stayed safely in the container.
dieselcam : Would the main have completely blown away? Also, if he'd had an AAD does that not fire if the reserve is already open? Thanks - Trying to understand things before my AFF! :)
if he is safely under his reserve canopy, his AAD would not fire. It only fires if he is still going over a certain speed and gets to a certain altitude. (eg: 75+ MPH and at 750ft AGL) Since he would be riding under his open reserve canopy his AAD would not fire as his descent rate has slowed considerably.
*Camera Dude:* "oh. That's not good. BRO! Your cutaway just flew off!" *Phil:* "oh. Huh. Well ain't that the darndest thing. I guess I'm poppin' reserve today. Hey Bro, come here. It's alright, I'll see ya'll on the ground. Wish me luck!" *Main:* "Aawww, dang it Reserve, you get to have all the fun today. " *Reserve:* "poof!"
By the time he and everyone worked out what had happened, we were already at terminal and probably still at about 12,000 feet. It's best not to panic and just punch out your reserve, plus a terminal reserve deployment at that altitude would be fast and hard because the air density is lower which means harder openings, which may also increase the risk of damage to you and/or the canopy. Best thing to do was stay calm, make sure everyone else was in view and in front and then deploy at safe height
There would only be significantly harder openings at higher altitude if there was a significant difference in terminal velocity. Terminal velocity can be controlled by body position.
I was wondering the same thing, so by just hitting the reserve you keep your main with you and don't have to go searching for it. Is that the other side of the coin?
I like this video. Crap happens and everyone was experienced enough to know exactly what to do. The correct message was sent and understood. Everyone runs through some of this in ground school.
The right move in this situation is to deploy the reserve and pray you don't have a problem, because you can't cutaway. Nice response! Stayed cool and calm
The main risers sit on top of the reserve risers but there isn't much pressure on the reserve risers. The main risers are much narrower and the reserve risers I assume just slip out and up, but maybe talk to someone who knows more than me! But yes you can just deploy your reserve without a problem.
you have the option of deploying the reserve alone if you want? Wow...COOL! So, how did he figure it out? you gave him hand signals? It looked like it was behind him, so would he not see it? or is there some kind of handle on his hardness that he noticed missing?
The cut-away handle that flew away is normally attached on the other shoulder strap in a similar location to the reserve deploy handle (just on the opposite side). So he simply looked down and saw that it was gone and knew that a normal deployment would just cause a lost parachute at best and a dangerous situation at worst. Normally, during emergency procedures, you locate and grip both handles (cut-away with your right and reserve with your left) then pull the cut away handle, then pull the reserve handle.
@@jackbrear657 Hi Jack, that comment was eight years ago lol. I now have a B license and I’m a coach and this was a cool blast from the past, I don’t even remember making this comment but I know I’ve always had a passion for Skydiving and here I am today… just ordered a vector and a brand new 150 Sabre III 😃
What would generally be the better approach here: 1. Deploy reserve directly like he did or 2. To pull main handle, let it detach and then deploy the reserve? With the way he did it, isn't there a tiny risk of the AAD firing or the main deploying by mistake?
Just deploy the reserve directly - it's what you have a handle for. AAD firing is not relevant in this case as it detects if you are in freefall at a low altitude. There is no reason to think the main would deploy by mistake as the pilot chute that initiates the deployment of the main is still packed inside the BOC pocket untouched.
Very low chance of the main coming out of the container. When the reserve comes out, it will make the main container looser so there is a slight chance it could come out but unlikely and isn't attached even if it did fall out.
It would be unnecessary as it would just send the main floating away. The main container may loosen a bit when the reserve is out but unlikely to fall out and if it did would just hang down in the d bag still most likely.
For reference, when this happens and you have a main malfunction...whats the procedure? Wait for AAD to fire the reserve / auto cut the main? Thanks, blue skies!
Hi Anthony, the main was already disconnected as the cutaway handle had come out, so if he had have pitched his main it would simply have come out of the container and flew off into the blue. Waiting for the AAD to fire isn't such a good option as firstly, it would be scary as shit seeing the ground rush at about 750-1000 feet when it finally fired, and also you are very low after AAD activation so not much time to land or sort out any issues you might have with the reserve. Safe jumping.
He can do that? Let me see if I got it: He performed an accidental cutaway, and then he launched the reserve canopy, right? Isn't this risky? What if the main opens and, despite being cutoff, entangles with the already opened reserve canopy?
@@timmyingelbrecht6977 Yep, add to that if you have a canopy one size smaller than what is the regular size for the rig then the chance of the pin being too loose is real after reserve is out the container. I'd throw out the pc just to be sure and then go to reserve. Sure it will suck because you'd have to go look for your main, but still safer.
I probably would've threw out the main just to get rid of it and remove the possibility of it falling out after reserve deployment and causing a problem.
Just out of curiosity - I was expecting him to ditch his main canopy before popping the reserve. Only because i imagine the cutaway having flown off already may somehow make it easier for the main to pop due to the jolt from the reserve inflating, which could tangle in to the reserve. Is that possible at all?
+Mike Laverty I'd say it could be possible that main comes out after deployment of the reserve, though would probably just be hanging down still packed in the free bag and not deployed. Unlikely though. Problem with ditching the main before the reserve is as that height it would drift off and you'd probably lose it, so best to just leave it packed in the container.
May I ask how the reserve risers are placed inside the container. I always thought that the reserve risers were packed under the main's risers, which would prove opening the reserve without opening the reserve first impossible. Obviously not huh?
There is no plane of jumpers above him. Planes don't 'hover' and each group waits to allow separation between groups. While the jumper should clear the air above him, he should feel safe as long as he identified the other four jumpers in his group. The camera guy will be the one that's not on a plane, and speaking as a former camera jumper, he will clear the air above you if you start to pull. There are instances where designated altitude make a lot of difference, this is not one of them.
I just took my first tandem ride and im going to AAF now, so im super new but can someone explain that malfunction to me? Was that the handle for a cutaway? So I take it that if he had a line twist he would not have been able to cut away?
@@pietskiet8763 if they don't understand what happens when the main cutaway handle is pulled before the main canopy is deployed, they won't understand what you just said.
It probaly got looser over time and didnt notice it, or he bumped it somewhere. If the handle comes out while under parachute, the parachute will detach and if he has an RSL or skyhook it will pull out the reserve, not something you want during landing
Personally on realizing the situation I would have left the group immediately deploying my reserve as high as possible giving maximum flight time to deal with any further problems. Cool guy though...
A RSL would not have made any difference because the main was not cutaway. A RSL goes from the main riser to the reserve ripcord. He wouldn't have noticed it at all.
This happened to me a couple years ago, but I didn't realize until I pitched. If you know you're going to your reserve, that's a great opportunity to take it to the basement!
Beginner skydiver here, wouldnt it be better to break off and immediatly go reserve in case something is wrong with reserve you want as much altitude as possible?
Yes a very logical and sensible approach to have height to deal with problems. We exited at 14k though so a couple of things for the decision: higher altitudes have harder openings, he would have almost certainly lost his reserve free bag and pilot chute, but also he pulled his reserve at about 4,000 feet. So if there was a problem with the reserve that couldn’t be resolved from that height then it probably wouldn’t be fixable from any height. Might as well then have a shorter terrifying ride to impact 😁
Why did he wait to deploy his reserve at pull altitude? He should have pulled right away, in case of a reserve line twist. He needed time. Can everyone agree that was a high speed malfunction
Mark Smith a reserve deployment at terminal and at height would lead to a really hard opening due to lower air density, therefore even faster opening. Reserves already open faster than a main. The chances of line twists on a reserve when you are in a stable, belly to earth position are extremely low to almost non-existent. Still, he punched out the reserve at about 4K so still plenty of time if there were line twists. Not a malfunction at all as there was no main deployed to malfunction. It was just a straight out reserve deployment.
@kenhia. Have you never heard of free fall drift? Or the fact that someone unintentionally may have tracked down the line of flight? Designated pull heights are to avoid any unwanted traffic to the other 16 jumpers on the load. Learn something!!!!
it took the video guy a few seconds to get his attention. i dont know this guy but he did right. he pulled above 5000 for sure maybe 6. if the reserve has a mal at 5 that could not be fixed it would not matter if he pulled out the door. i would have continued my jump. if i had a reserve mal then maybe it was just my time to go. i would ride that down to 4 or 5. no lower but id try to have a little fun. BUT THAT WONT EVER HAPPEN TO ME BECAUSE I INSPECT MY GEAR. silly bellyfliers lol.
fuck that, the last thing I would be doing is giving a thumbs up at the through of a reserve at terminal haha. nice work though staying calm and making sure all parties knew what was going on.
