Dear George,

I just wanted to write you a quick note to share my "No Shit, There I Was..." story, and thank you for creating a top quality product. As a rigger, I have long appreciated the small pack volumes of the Raven and MicroRaven Reserve series. But, not having flown a canopy from the Raven and MicroRaven Reserve Series canopy in over 500 jumps, I had forgotten how well they performed... until last Friday.

I was flying reserve side on an AFF jump, a jump that went perfectly until breakoff. The student deployed his main and we, the jumpmasters, turned and tracked. I threw out my pilot chute just above 2000 feet. After about three seconds I looked over my shoulder and saw a deflated pilot chute dancing around in my burble. It seems that my bridle had half-hitched itself around my pilotchute during inflation. I fired my MicroRaven 150 Reserve and in no time I was confronted by the sight of a fully-inflated reserve canopy.

Unfortunately, during deployment of the reserve, two bad things happened. First, the main pilotchute wrapped itself around my right foot. Second, when the reserve left my container, the decrease in pressure in the main compartment caused the pin to come free. I saw my main leave the bag and I tried to pull it in, but it was too late. The main deployed with my foot caught in the lines. No Shit, There I Was! At 100 feet, upside down, foot caught in the suspension lines, and two canopies out there doing their best to create my own personal downplane!

I managed to get the lines off my Teva and take a look at what I had to deal with. The main and reserve risers were wrapped around each other a couple of times. I got the risers clear of each other and flew the canopies into a side-by-side. I cut away my main about 5oo feet and I got one more line twist in my reserve as I swung under it. I untwisted the risers, clearing my brakes, turned into the wind, flared, and had a soft standup landing. Not bad for 185 poundssuspended under a 150 square foot 7-cell!

George, thanks again for creating the best reserve canopy on the market.

Sincerely,

Perfect Tommy, FAA Senior Rigger, D-15153, AFF JM '94