"Fang
Packed My Reserve On Friday The 13th..."
George
Galloway Precision Aerodynamics, Inc. PO Box
386 Dunlap, TN 37327
Dear
George,
Ever
since Fang (Richard Fennimore) packed my reserve
on Friday the 13th, I was leery of an impending
malfunction of my main. It’s not that
I was superstitious, it’s just that this
is not the way I wanted to be converted.
Fang
was an expert rigger, and his pack jobs were
always neat and clean. My Raven
2 is a tight squeeze into my tiny
container, but Fang made it look easy and
did it perfectly.
Not
being superstitious, I didn’t think twice
about my 213th jump. I was packing for the
load while debriefing a S/L first jump student.
I was more intent on teaching the student
why he backlooped through his lines than I
was on paying attention to the tangle of lines
I was packing into my own main container.
I remember thinking, “Hell, it always
works!”, as I wrapped the tail around
the canopy and continued the debrief.
We
boarded the aircraft and took off for the
second student load of the day. After dispatching
the first static line, I retrieved the d-bag
and climbed onto the step for a two-way with
a less experienced jumper. (He had a reserve
ride on his 13th jump!)
We
broke off at 2500 and tracked. I pulled at
2100 and it felt right, but when I looked
up I saw the lines on the entire left side
of the canopy in a tangled mess. I tried clearing
the malfunction by first pulling on the risers
an then the toggles.
I
remember looking at the ground rather than
my altimeter to decide if I had time to play
with the canopy or not. I was spinning, and
the tangled lines caused the canopy to begin
deflating on the left side. Realizing I had
to cut away, my thought process was “arch,
look, pull, pull, pull” (Now I think
and mentally say “Right, Left”...
two things to do, and in the correct order.)
As
I fell away from the main, I remember thinking,
“Wow, those trees look close”. My
reserve opened quickly and on heading. I kept
both handles, but I lost the freebag in the
swamp. While some students retrieved my main
from the trees, I thanked Fang and handed
him my Raven Reserve for a fresh repack. I
grabbed another rig which contained a Raven
Reserve, went to debrief my student, and began
to get ready for the next load.
Andy
Surgess Bunnell, Florida
