Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!batcomputer!caen!sdd.hp.com!spool.mu.edu!munnari.oz.au!brolga!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!lance!ptcburp!michi
From: michi@ptcburp.ptcbu.oz.au (Michael Henning)
Newsgroups: rec.skydiving
Subject: Re: Near Accident...
Message-ID: <355@ptcburp.ptcbu.oz.au>
Date: 19 Mar 91 04:32:40 GMT
Article-I.D.: ptcburp.355
References: <8bt3JYm00V86NdvX4E@andrew.cmu.edu>
Organization: Pyramid Technology Corporation
Lines: 47

bb1v+@andrew.cmu.edu (Barry Lowell Brumitt) writes:

>Yesterday, I was witness to what very easily could have been a plane
>crash and 4 fatalities.

We nearly had a similar accident a while ago, out of a Twin Bonanza.
Since we do not have an in-flight door, and things get rather cold in winter,
we decided to construct a cheap in-flight door ourselves. Basically, it
looks much like a roller blind that is attached to the inside top of the
door frame. It is simply a piece of strong, fabric reinforced plastic a bit
larger than the door frame, with a few plastic stiffeners sewn in. A strip
of 2 inch velcro (hook) is glued to the inside wall around the door frame,
and the velcro pile is sewn onto the roller blind. To close the door, you
simply unroll the blind and velcro it onto the frame. Some time before exit,
the door gets rolled up again and is secured with a few leather straps at
the top of the frame.

The problem occurred when a jumper was sitting beside the door on takeoff,
with a belly-band throwaway container. The handle on the pilot chute was
a cushion covered with a material that is very much like velcro pile.
As we got close to lift-off (the in-flight door was still open), he moved
slightly, brushing the pilot chute handle against the door frame. Of course,
it immediately stuck to the velcro hook on the frame, and it pulled his
pilot chute halfway out of the pouch before I yelled at him to grab it.
This was rather scary, I mentally aready saw him disappear out the door,
possible crashing the plane in the process...

On the same flight, the exact same thing happened again, as the same jumper
was spotting.

After the jump, he immediately removed the cushion handle from the pilot 
chute and replaced it with a normal PVC tube handle.

We still need to change the setup of the in-flight door though, in Australia
all students jump SOS containers, and the reserve release handle is covered
with velcro pile. A good many experienced jumpers use the SOS system too.

Moral: If you want to build an in flight door like ours, don't make the
       mistake of glueing the velcro hook on the door frame - do it the
       other way round, and things should be much safer then.

							Michi.
-- 
      -m------- Michael Henning			+61 75 950255
    ---mmm----- Pyramid Technology		+61 75 522475 FAX
  -----mmmmm--- Research Park, Bond University	michi@ptcburp.ptcbu.oz.au
-------mmmmmmm- Gold Coast, Q 4229, AUSTRALIA	uunet!munnari!ptcburp.oz!michi