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Reserve Packing - Rigging - Training - Tandem
Complacency is the biggest problem with this subject. However, even a badly packed canopy wants to open and usually does. I believe a high percentage of packers have not been taught to pack properly, but get away with reasonable pack jobs. There are many different systems in use and a good pack job means adopting your packing method to suit your own personal parachute system. It's important to learn and stick to good packing skills specific to your system.
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During the last two months I have received reports on the following types of malfunctions: Three skydivers had bag locks, eight skydivers had line over's, four skydivers had pilot chutes in tow, two skydivers could not release one of their toggles and two skydivers had line knots. Once again all reports stated that the jumpers carried out good reserve drills and landed safely but very little information was included that could have helped with why these incidents occurred. I get a strong impression that because we know the type of malfunction, we just accept it's going to happen so very little is done to investigate them properly.
Conclusions
Some of these may be put down to poor maintenance but the majority are, without doubt, due to bad packing. Every single one of these malfunctions are preventable, yet they all keep occurring again and again.
Recommendations
I have written a lot of reports that have covered everyone of these incidents and how to prevent them. Knowledge and attention to detail is the basic answer but because it's very easy to become complacent with the common malfunction types I think a more radical role should be implemented. I would like to see instructors and riggers getting together to fully investigate each malfunction in detail soon after it has occurred. Have the equipment checked out to see what could have caused it and have the packer checked out to see what caused it and make it as high profile as possible so everyone knows that it is a problem and not just an acceptable part of skydiving. If this was done in a very professional manner I believe more skydivers will become more attentative to the cause and effect and take action to avoid becoming one of the many incidents.
This report was written by Allan Hewitt
Since the last lot of incident reports we have had a total of 3 Bridle lines miss-routed and not picked up on flight line checks, and 2 pin pull systems packed incorrectly. All five resulted in reserve rides.
This is a problem that continues to show itself on a regular basis, the only conclusions I can come up with is the packers are not paying attention to the pack job or the right information is not being taught to the jumpers on the rig that they now own, not all containers close the same way.
This is the easiest malfunction to prevent, please check your manuals for the correct closure sequence and if in doubt get some advice.Also flight line checkers should be aware of this problem to prevent skydivers from emplaning with a miss routed bridle line.
This report was written by Allan Hewitt
A camera jumper had a very hard opening and blacked out for a few seconds, this resulted in whiplash and a visit to hospital
The stiletto is well known as a slow deploying parachute; however, a bad pack job can still cause it to open fast. It’s also worth remembering that some manufacturers have 2 slider sizes for the same canopy depending on how you like your openings
Pack carefully, especially when doing camera jumps. Also it’s common practice for camera jumpers not to look down on deployment as this can prevent whiplash.
This report was written by Allan Hewitt
There has been an extremely high number of reserve rides over the past two months, which have been attributed to twists. twelve reserve rides refer to high performance canopies, five reserve rides refer to intermediate canopies and four reserve rides refer to student canopies. It has been noted in almost all of these reports that the jumpers carried out good reserve drills, however, some of the high performance jumpers stated that they had to use both hands to cutaway due to the canopy spiraling and creating more pressure on the cutaway cables. It was also noted that some jumpers reacted too slowly and should have cutaway earlier. On the other hand it was also noted that the intermediate and student jumpers took too long to make the decision to cutaway and they spent too much time trying to kick out of the twists.
Conclusions
It is difficult from these reports to analys the reaction times as the information is very limited on each one and the judgment of those making the reports are based on their own expectations, but it's not clear what canopies they jump or what experience they've had with twists. However, there does seem to be a very clear divide between high performance canopies and the more docile ones. It would seem that twists on a high performance canopy can rapidly turn into a fast spiraling canopy making it difficult for the jumper to cutaway. The more docile canopies give the jumper a feel of no urgency and it seems like these jumpers get carried away with trying to get out of twists to such an extent that they lose altitude awareness or location awareness.
Recommendations
First of all it's important to realise that twists are avoidable. Learning how twists occur can help you to learn how to avoid them. Generally, twists are caused by canopy packing, line stowage, body position and even a badly fitted rig. Twists are generally referred to as a nuisance factor but it's a bad habit to accept this because people then accept that it's just part of the sport and they're going to happen anyway. Don't take this attitude as a lot more effort needs to be put into understanding and avoiding twists. If you have to kick out of twists always monitor your height and location while kicking out and if you're jumping a high performance canopy, don't hesitate and let your canopy build up speed during it's spiral.
This report was written by Allan Hewitt
3 jumpers had bag lock, 8 had line over's, 4 had pilot chute in tows, 2 could not release one control toggle, 2 had line knots, 2 had pilot chute over the front of the canopy. All did the correct reserve drills and landed without further incident
Bad packing is without doubt the cause of most of these typical malfunctions
Maybe a packing test should be given to all jumpers who have these type of malfunctions to see if the problem can be spotted and prevented by improving packing techniques and knowledge.
This report was written by Allan Hewitt
After nearly a year of use , a jumper decided to query a problem with the main at the next reserve repack. He asked the rigger to see if he could see anything wrong with the canopy, as it had always been very hard to pack. There did not appear to be anything wrong with it’s performance. The rigger instantly saw the problem. One ‘C’ line was a ‘staggering’ 27” longer than the others. On another occasion the lines attached to the canopy had no stitching on them and over a period of time the lines gradually became longer as they slipped out of the finger trapping causing the canopy to have a bad line trim.
The first canopy must have been very strange to pack, and would almost certainly have flown with one line trailing slack all the time. The second report was a company test canopy which was not inspected and cleared to be used, It's remarkable that these incidents did not become malfunction reports, and the question which begs to be answered is, who rigged these canopies up in the first place?
When assembling a set of kit remember that the inspection is just as important as the correct assembly, this does not just mean just attaching the canopy to risers and saying it's good to go. When you first inspect a canopy inspect it for any manufacturing faults and after then its just a matter of concentrating on the general wear and tear and any accidental damage. Are you sure your system has been assembled and inspected correctly?
This report was written by Allan Hewitt
I've had two reports that seem very similar, in both cases the jumpers reported having a bag lock malfunction and cutaway to deploy their reserve parachute.
Conclusions
In both cases the jumpers reported that the lines entangled on the deployment bag around tube stoes that seem to be installed too close to each other. One jumper had his rigger install a new method for attaching the tube stoes so the lines can't entangle with each other. The other jumper said it's made him more careful with his packing and now he makes sure that his lines have short loops through the tube stoes.
Recommendations
Bag locks have been around for a long time, before tube stoes came onto the market. The problem is still the same now as it was before tube stoes, however, the strength of the tube stoes increase the chances of a bag lock, remaining locked, but an elastic band might have given way and released the lock. The solution is down to how you pack your lines. If you're not sure how to pack to prevent bag locks get some packing training because they are easy to avoid.
This report was written by Allan Hewitt
I have had many reports in the past about line stowage problems and the trend seems to be more cutaways on high performance canopies that could be attributed to this issue. The reports show a lot of different opinions but the overriding conclusion is that there are so many different canopy lines, retaining bands, grommet sizes on deployment bags and some components are not compatible with each other.
Conclusions
One jumper was using tube stoes on his canopy for microline's and he had consistent opening problems. When he started using the PD micro line elastic bands he suddenly started to get nice consistent on heading openings. Another jumper who used the centre's elastic bands which were bought for the student equipment, changed to using tube stoes and then his openings got better. Another jumpers stated that they now stow approx 1" of line through the elastic bands and since he started doing this his openings are now very consistent. Another jumper stated his canopy always turned left on deployment and when he changed his line stowage method so his first line stowage was the opposite to where he used to start from, his canopy started to open on heading.
On my system I have microline and I use microline tube stoes wrapped around the lines only once on the first four line stows (These are the ones that use the deployment bag grommets) On the rest I use the PD micro line elastic bands wrapped twice around the lines but with only 1" of line through the elastics, apart from the last stow which is only wrapped around once and I have a small amount of slack line not in elastic bands. My openings are comfortable, smooth and always on heading, but this was not always the case. When I got my parachute I went through various packing methods before I found the right solution for me and my equipment. After five years of trouble free use I opened my copy of the BPA riggers minutes to find out that the committee had banned the wrapping of elastic bands around the lines twice. When I investigated this rule I found out that it was a decision that came about because of problems with packers double stowing lines on student equipment instead of replacing the stretched elastic bands for good ones.
Recommendations
Your elastic bands may be one of the smallest items on your rig but don't under estimate the importance of using the correct type of elastic bands, tube stoes or any other product used for line stowage, because they have to be compatible with your canopy lines, your deployment bag grommets and the position of the attachments tapes and the grommet size as well as fine tuning your openings for consistent on heading openings. There is a great deal of advice on line stowage in canopy manuals and every skydiver should be aware of the manufacturers recommendations. Also it pays not to get complacent about the condition of your elastic bands, if they are not in excellent condition then change them.
This report was written by Allan Hewitt
I've had three reports this month of bridle lines routed around the leg strap preventing deployment.
Conclusions
It's been a long time since I last came across this problem and suddenly we get three in one period all from different drop zones. This packing error is due to bad packing which could be caused by rushing your pack job or just not taking the time to do an inspection after you've finished packing.
Recommendations
This is a packing problem but as we know everyone gets complacent with their pack jobs and that's one reason why we have a flight line check, to stop these problems from getting onto an aircraft. The flight line checkers who checked these jumpers did not do their job properly otherwise these would be incidents that never required a reserve ride.
This report was written by Allan Hewitt
Since my last reports, 15 reserve rides have been reported due to one of the main steering toggles releasing during opening or the jumper not being able to release the toggle after opening. In most cases the canopy started to spiral complicating the issue.
Conclusions
These problems are generally caused by poor maintenance of velcro or what ever retaining means are used, toggles that are not compatible with the risers, incorrectly positioning the toggles during packing, or steering toggles badly manufactured.
Recommendations
This is one of the easiest malfunctions to prevent, check the items mentioned above and if you're not sure what's' right for your system talk to a rigger. Learn how these problems can occur by getting someone to show you so you don't make the same mistakes. Also check that any lose control line can not catch during deployment. Be especially vigilant if all your components did not come from the manufacturer of your rig.
This report was written by Allan Hewitt
Since my last reports, 31 reserve rides have been reported,due to the following: line over, knotted cascades preventing the slider from descending, broken A lines, broken control lines.
Conclusions
The majority of the broken lines are down to the lack of vigilance on behalf of the jumper and because the main parachute is not part of the six monthly inspection. These problems usually show a fair amount of wear on the lines before they eventually break. It's rare that a good line breaks. Other line problems are usually due to poor packing, especially, the line stowage.
Recommendations
These are two of the biggest reasons for malfunctions, poor maintenance and poor packing, if you're a good packer and you maintain your equipment properly, then the chance of you having one of these malfunctions is almost nil. Inspect your lines on a regular basis and if in doubt consult your rigger. Knowing how to pack to avoid line problems will stop you having one. Do you know how to stop a line over from happening, do you know how to stop a knotted line from happening? If not ask someone to show you then you can make sure it doesn't happen to you. Also make sure your elastic bands, tube stoes etc are doing their job properly.
This report was written by Allan Hewitt
Since my last reports 25 reserve rides have been reported due to skydivers not deploying the main pilot chute. Six were due to not finding or dropping the pin pull pad, seven were due to not being able to locate the toggle or not being able to extract the pilot chute on ROL systems, eight were due to not being able to find the toggle or not being able to extract the pilot chute from BOC systems, the remainder never stated the reason.
Conclusions
We've covered these problems many times in previous reports and considering that the first survival skill a skydiver learns is to deploy the parachute; I find this number of incidents incredible. The majority are down to training and practice and a few are down to packing the pilot chute incorrectly.
Recommendations
Don't underestimate the importance of ground practice, the more you practice with the correct techniques, the more you build up your natural muscle memory so it becomes second nature. You should practice with a rig and deploy your real pilot chute many times in both the standing position and the horizontal position. Learn how to pack your pilot chute so you don't get a difficult pull, always pack for the least resistance and make sure your pilot chute is compatible with your deployment pocket.
This report was written by Allan Hewitt
During a flight line check the checker spotted a damaged riser locking loop and a grommet that was showing it's teeth and dislodged from the riser.
Conclusions
The riser in question was a reinforced 1" riser, however, instead of being manufactured with a grommet with a long shank that is required for the thicker reinforced risers, it was manufactured with a short shank grommet which obviously didn't set properly. It's believed that the loop caught on the sharp teeth a number of times to cause the amount of damage that was found on the loop. A short shank on a mini riser is not difficult to spot and this should have been picked up by the reserve packer
Recommendations
Firstly, well done to the flight line check who spotted this problem, this rig had done many jumps since it was assembled within a short period of time and no one else spotted it. Flight line checkers have to inspect the risers properly and that means looking under the 3 ring to see the routing of the loop, the yellow cable and the housing. Reserve packers must remember that a new rig assembly means you have to look for manufacturing faults and you should know what the most common ones are.
This report was written by Allan Hewitt
I've had a few reports of pilot chute in tow malfunctions since my last reports. Two jumpers claimed that the bridle line must have got caught on the container flaps. One stated that the bridle line must have wrapped around the pilot chute. One report blamed a short bridle line.
Conclusions
After some research it turned out that two of these had worn pilot chutes. I am a little dubious about the cause of these malfunctions but if these jumpers are right then it's down to packing. The bridle line will not wrap around the pilot chute if the bridle and the pilot chute are packed properly. Also, if the bridle is packed and routed properly it won't catch on the container flaps. The worn pilot chutes were probably the main problem in these cases. A pilot chute has to lift the bag out of the container and if it hasn't got enough drag effect it won't do it's job. The bridle line should be able to put a snatch onto the deployment bag to ensure that a tight pack job is released from the container.
Recommendations
To prevent a pilot chute in tow make sure your pilot chute is in good condition, that it's the correct size and design for the system. Make sure the bridle line is the correct length and properly secured. Finally, make sure you know how to pack a pilot chute and bridle to prevent this type of malfunction. Bear in mind, what's right for one container may not be right for another so if your equipment does not have all original components then make sure you get it checked by a rigger who is familiar with your complete system.
This report was written by Allan Hewitt
Today, I have a report of my own to write. A customer gave me her rig to do a reserve repack and when I asked her if she has any problems that I should be aware of, she said "only packing, I can't seem to pack it properly" when I inquired further it turned out that she has had packing lessons from an instructor and a rigger who, basically, told her to start using packers. Her confidence was completely shot away and she had been using packers for the past couple of months. I was so intrigued by this that I asked her if she minded doing a pack job for me so I could see what the problem is.
Conclusions
What was initially obvious was the fact that she was having problems separating the line groups. I took over the pack job to show her a few different ways to do this to find out which method would help her best. When I tried to separate the line groups I had problems as all the lines seemed to be different lengths in the same groups. After a full inspection, I found the following: the lines were so badly out of trim with lines in the same groups being up to three inches different. Trying to work out the campy trim was almost impossible due to the hugh differences. After further inspection I realised that none of the lines had any bar tacks at the canopy attachment point. When I contacted the manufacture I found out that this canopy was never sold and was recorded as destroyed by the company. It was a test parachute that they used and between jumps they would adjust the line lengths for further tests. To add insult to injury this girl had bought the parachute from her own instructor.
Recommendations
This was a very rare incident indeed, however, it does reinforce the the fact that anyone buying used kit should get a full inspection by an independent rigger before investing in the equipment. I really don't know what to recommend reference the instructor and rigger who had taught her to pack on this canopy because they should have noticed this problem, it was so badly out of trim that it was impossible to do a decent pack job. Even the packers missed the problem and they pack different canopies all the time.
This report was written by Allan Hewitt
During a normal six man formation skydive all the skydivers broke away at the planned altitude, tracked away and deployed at two thousand five hundred feet. The break off was seen from the ground by a lot of very experienced skydivers. Two of the skydivers did very poor tracks before deploying and on deployment these same two skydivers both had a 180 degree off heading opening. Both skydivers were seen spinning very rapidly around the entangled canopies.One of the skydivers cutaway and deployed his reserve without further incident. The other cutaway and went into a stable freefall position by approx one thousand feet. He was observed holding this free fall position until impact and no one saw any attempts to pull his reserve parachute.
Conclusions
The first problem was obviously the track, if either one of the two jumpers had done a proper track, this fatality would not have occurred. The second problem was packing, if either one of these two jumpers had packed properly, this fatality would not have occurred. The first jumper who cutaway automatically pulled his reserve straight after the cutaway and survived. The second jumper did not carry out his full. reserve drills. No one can really say why he never attempted to pull his reserve after he got stable but reports from psychologists would point out that anyone who gets involved in a life threatening situation either reacts to well practices drills or they either think through the problem or totally blank out.
Recommendations
I've said many times that tracking is not just a freefall skill, it's a survival skill and it must be given high priority on every skydive. Most people agree with me on this issue but unfortunately the majority of people still accept off heading openings as part of the sport. I know it's not and off heading openings can be prevented so why accept them and why risk a canopy collision. If your canopy opens off heading then get some packing training to stop it happening. Finally give a great deal of support to your reserve drills and stay current. Remember, it's never one thing that causes a fatality it's always a chain of events so one simple problem solved can prevent a major problem from happening.
This report was written by Allan Hewitt
Since my last reports I have had a total of 22 tandem incident reports;10 were classed as typical malfunctions, line knots, line over,bag lock etc and all instructors were reported to carry out good reserve drills. Three of these students reported having dislocated shoulders which happened during freefall or during canopy deployment and all had previous experience of this. One student blacked out for the duration of the jump but was ok after landing. In addition to the canopy malfunctions; one instructor had a total and carried out his reserve drills without further incident but no explanation was presented for the reason behind the total. One instructor couldn't release his control toggles after deployment so landed using his rear risers without further incident. Five students received landing injuries.
Conclusions
When I sit down to write these reports I hope to have enough information from the reports to make conclusions, however, this in one of those periods where those making the reports have not bothered to explain what caused the problems and therefore it's difficult to make good conclusions about these specific incidents. I can generalise based on my experience and in some cases I've been lucky enough to have the time to investigate some of the incidents further to gain the full story.
To generalise I would break these reports into two categories; equipment problems and injury problems. The equipment problems all show either a failure in either packing or maintenance or a combination of the two. Every incident reported here has been reported hundreds of times before and the cause of these incidents are extremely well known and all are preventable.One concern I've had for a long time is the packing skills of those packing tandem equipment. The majority of tandem equipment is packed by, so called, professional packers. These packers are generally the most inexperienced jumpers on a drop zone who have learnt to pack to fund their skydiving. They have never jumped a tandem rig in their lives and the training they have received is generally not of a high standard. I've had a total of five tandem malfunctions in over a thousand tandem jumps and all five were packed by packers, I've never had a malfunction from my own pack jobs. This is not me blowing my own trumpet, it's because I know what causes a canopy to malfunction and therefore I know how to prevent them. The majority of, so called, professional packers do not know what causes a tandem to malfunction because they have never been taught this. All they've been taught is how to fold it and close the container so they can get paid and do this as quickly as possible.
The shoulder injuries are not too common but the landing injuries are very common and once again we've had many of these reported in detail which show that they are preventable. The most common is caused by students landing first before the instructor can put his feet down but some are caused by bad canopy skills or equipment that should have been retired a long time ago.
Recommendations
First and foremost, please make more effort when filling in incident reports. Secondly, more effort should be put into training tandem packers and monitoring their results. Look at your own tandem operation and see what you can do to reduce the amount of tandem malfunctions, prevention has to be cheaper than than dealing with the incident, finding equipment and repacking reserves etc. Make sure your tandem equipment is being properly maintained, there are a lot of tell tale signs that you should look out for and if you are not aware of them talk to your rigger and learn what to look out for. Landing injuries can be reduced by putting more effort in training instructors and students how to make sure that the instructor lands first, if need be look at how you can set up your student harness to assist with them getting their legs up. Don't jump canopies that are so old they barely flare and if it's a light wind day be more prepared and consider the risks before you agree to jump. Avoid the high risk combinations; low wind, an old canopy and a very heavy student
This report was written by Allan Hewitt
I have had three reports of reserve rides caused because the skydivers dropped the pad before the pin had been pulled and one report of a pin pull jamming and not pulling the pin.
Conclusions
The jammed pin pull was caused by bad packing, the packer never made sure that the pad would pull directly against the pin, instead it pulled the base of the pilot chute into the corner of the container without any load on the pin. Those who dropped the pin pull pad have not explained why this happened and there's no information on the experience level of the jumpers with regards to using pin pull systems.
Recommendations
When packing a pin pull always do a final check to ensure that the pin will easily be extracted when pulling the pad. This must be done after the container has been closed. When jumping a pin pull give some extra thought to taking a good solid grip on the pad before pulling and make sure that your pin pull pad is secure and can't accidentally be knocked off.
This report was written by Allan Hewitt
During a normal canopy deployment, the jumper reached up for his control toggles and noticed that one of his connector links had come undone. It had also been bent causing a big gap on the side of the connector link. The suspension lines were held in place by the connector link barrel only.
Conclusions
The mini link in question was an approved type and certainly prevented this from becoming worse. However, this is the second report on this subject this summer and it's an age old problem that keeps coming back. It's also worth noticing that if the connector link had been fitted with the barrel at the riser end then the lines may have released over the threads of the connector link.
Recommendations
Check your connector links on a regular basis, check the barrel is done up properly and has no hairline cracks in it and check that the connector link is an approved maillon rapide type. If you're unsure of it's security it can be undone and then tightened by hand plus 1/4 of a turn extra. Do not over tighten as it can crack the barrel. The use of a connector link cover can prevent the barrel from loosening during use. Some riggers use lock tight and others use nail varnish to mark a line across the barrel and the link so they can see if it moves. Some methods of solving this problem can produce other problems so it's important to make sure that all your parts, no matter how small, are all compatible. The connector link, the cover, the grommet size and what you do with your slider can all have an affect and some covers have trapped the control lines during flight. If you have any concerns make sure you check with your rigger.
This report was written by Allan Hewitt
