Date sent: Tue, 1 Aug 1995 12:03:43 -0700...............To: ravensave@precision.net

Subject: Happy to have a Raven 2.............................From: canpara@idirect.com (andrew haines)

Dear George,

I was reading rec.skydiving and saw your message about Raven saves. I thought about writing to you about my first malfunction, and the subsequent first use of my Raven 2.

The Canadian Nationals were held from July 24 to July 30, 1995 at the S.W.O.O.P. DZ near Grand Bend, Ontario. I am a Zoomie by nature so Style and Accuracy is what I entered. About two weeks ago I decided to try a new deployment bag, one that was slightly larger than the one that I had. I had made several jumps at the Provincials and had no problems, but on my third round Accuracy jump (sub-terminal) I experienced a bad opening. I looked up and saw that my canopy was not deploying properly, one side (left) was inflated, and the right side was not. I immediately looked at my altimeter and saw that I was still over 2,000'. I looked at the lines and saw that I had some line twists very high up, and I thought that if I could get rid of them the parachute would work properly.

I was wrong. When I cleared the line twists, the full effect of the line-over became apparent. For that particular second I had a "deja-vue" sort of moment, as I was remembering something that I teach during the first jump course, "What is another indication of a malfunctioning parachute?", "a wild spin". And boy was I starting to pick up speed. I would need to be clear of this immediately.

With another look at my altimeter to see that I was passing through 1,200', more of a glance as I was reaching for my handles, I proceeded with the cutaway and the reserve deployment. Because I was spinning so badly, I had a few line twists as the reserve deployed. After I cleared them and cleared the brakes I had the chance to follow my freebag down, and then land in a wheat field. An important safety tip: When landing in a field full of something other than flat ground, be sure to bleed off almost all of your speed before setting your feet down... Otherwise you do a face plant.

The Raven 2 is a smooth canopy to fly and it is quite responsive.

Thanks for the smooth landing!

Take care,

Andrew

Andrew Haines C-2000........... Instructor B............Editor Canpara Magazine

"We fly through the air (together) with the greatest of ease"