"
As The Canopy Spanked Me Hard ..."
Date
sent:...........Mon, 17 Jul 95 15:15:20 PDT
From:.................Cliff Saunders
Organization:.....Mt. San Antonio College
Subject:..............A Love Story
To:.....................George Galloway
George
Galloway,
I
was tracking away from a not-too-impressive-but-fun
6-way and noticed I was over houses. Here
at Perris that means you're kind of far off
the DZ (thanks GPS!). I decided to pull just
above 2500 instead of my usual just above
2000 so I could be assured of making it back.
I had been tracking since 4000 feet and saw
no one near enough to be affected by my pulling
a little higher than I normally do.
As
the canopy spanked me hard I thought, "Idiot!
That's what you get for pack- ing in such
a hurry." After the opening shock I immediately
knew something was wrong. Right away I could
feel the herky-jerky, undulating oscillations
of a low-speed malfunction. Sure enough, as
I reached for my toggles, above me was a blue
bow-tie-looking thing that used to be my Sabre,
the bridle and pilot chute wrapped around
the middle cell. I didn't take much time to
inspect for a line over or anything else that
may have been wrong with the canopy. After
two quick hard pumps on the brakes, to try
and clear the lines and\or fully inflate the
canopy, with no effect I knew I couldn't land
it.
Look,
reach, grab.
Look, reach. grab.
Pull, Pull.
My
Raven inflated so quickly I didn't
even notice going back into freefall! I was
so happy to see that beautiful ugly green
Raven that I just hung in my harness for a
few seconds let out a victory yell at my buddy
who had seen the whole episode and was following
me down. Even after taking the time to try
and clear my malfunction, I was under a good
Raven at 1800 feet. I had a long ride (for
a reserve ride) and noticed the canopy really
handles well. I had a nice stand up landing
on a no-wind day in a field next to my gear.
You
can bet I was back in the air the very next
weekend with my Raven freshly repacked and
ready for another flawless performance, should
I ever need it. Thank you for a fine product.
I know this may have been a little "ho-hum"
for a reserve ride story, but with it being
my first (jump #389, Dec. '94), I found it
extremely exciting.
Cliff
Saunders
Perris Valley, CA
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
CLIFF SAUNDERS, USPA C-22877
COMPUTER TECH./ INFO.SVCS.DEPT.
MT. SAN ANTONIO COLLEGE
WALNUT, CA
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