Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!mintaka!ai-lab!ai.mit.edu!bleck
From: bleck@ai.mit.edu (Olaf Bleck)
Newsgroups: rec.skydiving
Subject: Re: my first reserve ride (don't try this at home!!)
Message-ID: <16120@life.ai.mit.edu>
Date: 24 May 91 01:46:25 GMT
References: <1991May22.195426.17798@ge-dab.GE.COM>
Sender: news@ai.mit.edu
Organization: MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
Lines: 25

In article <1991May22.195426.17798@ge-dab.GE.COM>, coleman@sundae10.DAB.GE.COM (Richard Coleman) writes:
|> Well, I got my first reserve ride this weekend.

|> I was using a different rig than what I had been using in the past;
|> it had the pilot chute in a *slightly* different place than what I had
|> been using.  For some reason (probably stupidity) I did not do any
|> practice rip-cord pulls on this jump.  Well, guess what,  when it was
|> pull time I couldn't find my ripcord.  I tried 3 times, then popped
|> the reserve (my first time doing this).


Ha!  Welcome to the club!  What you didn't do was ****LOOK**** at your
pilot chute!!!  I've had two reserve rides, in my 50 jumps to date, the
first one on my first throwout, and the second on jump 36, the first
serious RW jump I did this season.  On the first one, I actually induced
a horseshoe, because I got my thumb under the bridal and pulled--the
pilot chute stayed in the pocket until I cut away, when it ripped out.  The second one was just like above!  Felt around for a bit, then with both hands, then the silver handle.  It was not fun, and the more I think about it, the more it scares me.

Anyway, with the student gear I used, the ripcord was always really easy
to find, if you looked or not, which lead to my bad habit.  With the
pilot chute, who knows were it's going to be--often it's out of the
pocket a few inches flapping in the breeze around on your side.  LOOK
until you really see it, and keep looking until you've pulled it out.

-Olaf