🚀 go-pugleaf

No s___, there I was, skydiving real hard...

     Ok, here comes the first, and scariest, story.  This incident is the only
one in which I had the personal satisfaction of experiencing rectal pucker.
I've got a couple of other stories to tell later that don't involve me.
     No s___, there I was, skydiving real hard with three other guys, doing
some RW.  At about 3500' we broke off and separated.  I looked back over my
shoulder and watched one of the other guys deploy his pilot chute.  When I see
someone else deploy, it is my custom to wait a second or two before dumping my
own, to make sure we have vertical, as well as horizontal, separation.  When 
I dumped, I got a very fast, hard opening.  After making my usual canopy check,
I looked straight in front of me, and to my horror, saw a canopy heading
straight toward me!  It seems that the other guy had a long, snivelly opening
which, in conjunction with my fast opening, put us at the same altitude!  Now,
I ask you, what is the probability that two canopies will open at the same
altitude?  Given that, and given that each canopy will open in a random 
direction of the compass, what is the probability that each canopy will have
a half-twist in the lines, such that they are facing each other?  It has to 
be something like 3 billion-to-one.  But it happened.  So, there I was, staring
straight into the center cell of another canopy approaching me with a closing
speed of over 30 mph.  By the time my brain registered the fact that I was in
trouble, we were probably less than 100' apart, and closing fast.  I made a 
grab for the control toggles, but before I could get my hands thru the loops
we collided head-on!  In retrospect, it may have been faster if I had grabbed
the rear risers and tried a riser-turn.  But riser turns are slow at best, and
probably wouldn't have gotten me out of the way in time anyway.  In the mean
time, the other guy had managed to get his hands on his toggles, but we 
collided just about the time he released his brakes and tried to turn.  At the
moment of impact, our canopies were separated by about 6-8 feet in altitude,
so our bodies did not contact (thank God!).  I passed directly over his head
and went completely thru his center-cell lines, and out the back side!  Need-
less to say, his canopy wrapped around my lines just above the risers, and
collapsed into a ball of junk.  His canopy then slid down over my head and 
shoulders and wrapped around me, so that I was hopelessly entangled in it.
I couldn't see a thing, so I didn't even know what shape my canopy was in!
One thing I did know, however, was that with the other guy still dangling
below me, and his canopy wrapped around me, there was no way I could cut-away
and dump my reserve!  My first priority was to ascertain the condition of my
own canopy, so I grabbed handfulls of his and managed to open a small window
which allowed me to see only one or two cells on the right end.  They looked
OK, and I didn't sense any radical turns or descent rate in the seat of my
pants, so I figured the rest of the canopy must be good.  About this time,
the other guy started yelling at me to try to untangle and drop him.  I yelled
back that there wasn't a chance and he'd better start thinking in terms of a
cut-away.  In the mean time, I was still scrabbling at his canopy, trying to
clear it away from my risers enough to find the control toggles.  It took an
eternity, it seems, but I finally found the toggles and released the brakes.
I could just barely see where I was going through all the junk, so I turned
and found the airport.  Checking my altimeter, I discovered that we were at
1500' and the other guy was still with me!  I asked (yelled) if he intended
to land with this mess, or do a cut-away.  He kept asking if I could untangle,
and when I finally convinced him I couldn't, he cut-away at about 1200'.
Other than the fact I couldn't see much, the remainder of the canopy ride was
uneventfull, although the landing was a bit hard, way out beyond the end of
the runway.  My greatest concern was that after he cut-away, his canopy would
slither up my lines and foul my canopy.  To prevent this, I hung onto whatever
I could, using elbows, armpits, chin, knees, you name it!  After landing, I
untangled the mess and discovered that at least one of his lines had been
completely torn off his canopy in the impact.  I didn't look for more.  He 
had landed safely under his reserve on the other side of the highway.  Someone
driving along in a van saw us land, and stopped to give us a lift back.  It
would have been a long walk otherwise!
     After that jump, and forevermore, I made it a point to break off the 
formation at 4000' minimum, and track like hell down to 2500' before dumping!
I don't ever intend to let that happen again.  I've never done CRW, but I've
been interested in it.  Now I'm not so sure.  Maybe I'll stick to RW.  
     My heart is pounding again, just thinking about that jump.  I think I'll
go have some lunch.  Bye for now!
							Ken

*****************************************************************************
To: rice!hp-pcd!hpcvlo!kas
Subject: Re:  Chapter Three
Status: RO

Ken,
   Sheeoooo.  That was a beauty!  I have never been in such a radical
situation as this -- and I'm impressed with you and your fellow jumpers
cool headedness while deciding what in the world to do.  I will say, however,
that if I had been the guy on the bottom, I would not have been asking
questions all the way down to 1200'.  My rule is 1800' if possible --
1500' if it is not clear that I should cut away.  Anything below that
I consider emergency territory!  Was this one of the earlier jumps that you
made or did this happen towards the end of the trip?  Congratulations on
getting down safely on this one.

   I was going to say that I have done some CRW work -- have been in a 9-stack.
But, I have since gotten out of it because I do not jump enough to stay
current in all the CRW techniques and policies.  I enterred 5th on that
9 stack (in Muskogee, 1983) and as it built to 9, I started asking myself
questions about "what if this happens -- what is the correct reaction".
I began dreaming up a million situations that I didn't know the answer.
Luckily, our 9 stack was solid as a rock with no worrysome events.  But
I have not made a CRW jump since then.

   I was on one CRW jump where I was the pilot (me on top), a second jumper
had docked on me and was planed all the way up.  The third guy was making
his approach -- and missed his shot.  I looked down and saw his canopy
directly below us about 5 feet.  At that point, the guy put on brakes
or something and his canopy floated straight up into us.  It engulfed the
below me and was threatening to engulf me.  I began to reach out to push
down his canopy -- when I accidently lost my foothold of my planed 
partner.  He fell right through the 3rd jumpers lines and resulted in
a very ugly, twisting mess.  There I was, safe and sound, watching
helplessly my two friends struggling with some real trouble, that I
was at least partially responsible for.  They also were very calm -- talked
it out -- and both cut away safely.  That jump really affected me, as
I watched the whole thing from a 30 ft vantage point.

   CRW is fun if you are doing it with very experienced and safety 
minded folks.  But you do have to face the fact that you will eventually
get into a wrap -- and those are much harder to deal with than freefall
emergencies (I think, anyway), especially if you have one of those
spinning ones where the centrifical force of the spin prevents thinking
straight, communication, vision, etc.  I would consider it again if
I jumped regularily.  I do not think that I would ever compete in CRW
as those guys are pushing the limits and are asking for wraps.

   I'm enjoying these notes!  Keep them coming.  I may be listening more
than speaking.

Dane