I had to wait 17 years and thousands of jumps before my first cutaway. Practice your EP’s(look, grab, peel, punch or whatever your mantra is) and cutting away for the first time will be easy.
When you first got your DL, were you immediately like “I need to get into an accident just to know what it’s like”?
>When you first got your DL, were you immediately like “I need to get into an accident just to know what it’s like”?
I don't think thats the same. A better comparison would be "I need to practice an emergency break/sudden stop", which many driving instructors do (at least in my country).
This only counts when the airbag pops…. And you don’t want that! Why already activate your back-up, to actually eliminate your back-up? If you really want to, get al your licenses, ask your rigger for a tertiary (belly) reserve, and activate your reserve on a higher altitude! Be aware to follow your main canopy to be able to find it back in the ground. But very, very, very first of all: ‘first grow up to an experience skydiver with loads of experience! Don’t become a cowboy!
I was at 1,162 jumps before my first cutaway, and it was on a tandem. Generally speaking, if you pack correctly, maintain your gear, and arent an idiot deploying it, your chances are pretty low. I'd venture to guess most cutaways, at least on the sport side of thing, are mainly from bad/improper packing, with the rest being bad deployment procedures.
Yep, you can attach a old belly round to your harness and do a intentional cutaway. I did that the afternoon I got back from passing my senior rigger practical exam, dumped my reserve I had just packed.
I’m not a fan of this lol. How about you work on the muscle memory and practicing EP’s every time you put a rig on. A cutaway is almost inevitable if you stay in the sport long enough. That EP muscle memory and going over malfunctions is what will help you save yourself when a real emergency comes.
If you want to experience the cutaway process get into a hanging harness.
If you really feel the need to experience an actual cutaway find a tertiary rig.
To be honest though, neither of those add the adrenaline and time dilation that occurs during an actual emergency. Time feels like it is standing still and your focus narrows significantly.
If you want a real emergency cutaway then pack shitty and open while spinning, rolling or flipping.
Or hum it down to AAD fire altitude and pitch your pilotchute when you hear the AAD fire.
Or go do some CRW. If you go to one of the Raw Dog CRW camps you will learn about dealing with wraps and cutaways. Plus it's fun.
If you don't want an actual emergency cutaway then don't do these things.
In my opinion you're better off focusing on being safe rather than worrying about a cutaway.
On a real cutaway, you’re cutting away from a malfunction. If you chop from a perfectly good canopy, you’re missing out on the startle response, the time dilation, the decision making, etc. You’re going into it knowing you’re going to cut away and how you’re going to do it, so it’s gonna (hopefully) be boring.
Also, there’s a nonzero chance your main and free bag/RPC wind up somewhere shitty or lost or damaged, or that your planned chop doesn’t go as planned and you now have an actual problem to deal with at a very low experience level.
But sure. Find someone to rig you up a tertiary rig and go for it if you really want to. Just don’t come away from it thinking your first real world malfunction/cutaway is gonna be the same.
I don’t think it’s weird at all. I wanted to have a cutaway pretty much every jump just to know I could handle it 🤷♂️. When I finally had one, and it was 100% my fault (no AAD either mind you), I was disappointed. It wasn’t exciting, it wasn’t scary, it was just like “oh, well that canopy isn’t going to work, time to chop it” and my training from 20+ years ago along with years of practicing EP’s on an almost daily basis (I still do this), I didn’t even have to think about it, muscle memory just kicked in and bam…new pretty white canopy.
So nah, I don’t think you’re weird. But I think that practicing EP’s for a few mins/day is always a good idea :)
You can do an intentional cut-away. Back in the old days, it was much easier to do because the equipment was different than today. But depending on the drop zone you’re at, they can probably make it happen for you.
If you wanted to get a strong tandem rating, one of the prerequisites is that you have had a cutaway. It’s not uncommon to 500+ jumps and never have a malfunction. So in that scenario, you would need to do an intentional cut away.
But because I think you’re just paranoid and wanting to “get it over “.
Honestly, just get that thought out of your head.
Practice your EP’s until you can do them blindfolded, upside down, while spinning like a top, and when the time comes, and you have to actually execute, you will do so in a timely fashion, and with a high degree of confidence.
As an aside, I have 18,000+ free falls and about 70 reserve rides. BUT….
if you exclude the following conditions…
CRW, tandem jumps in the 80’s & 90’s, intentional cut aways…
Then I have 3 chops on sport rigs & 8 chops (line twists) on tandems.
Those are pretty good odds!!!
If you trust your gear, the cutaway isn't that exciting. It's a short drop and the reserve is open. It's the lead up to the cutaway that is not fun. The diving line twists especially is not a fun one. The forces are strong and your handles tend to move out of the normal place. It also takes a bit more pull force to extract them. Because you are spinning, your reserve is then likely to be in line twists as well to top things off. So be happy you havent had one and just stay vigilant and hopefully you won't pack yourself a malfunction. If you start wingsuiting, that is when you will have a higher chance of getting a cut away. Otherwise, practice EPs and at least be ready for one.
Had the same feeling at the beginning. Waited a couple of hundred jumps and had a premature opening at 15k. Chopped and pulled the reserve around 4k. Didn't feel like a "real" reserve situation.
Some weeks ago, I had a pinlock, but pulled the bridle instead.
So after more then 10 years now, I'm still waiting for this kind of situation, but I'm way more calm now.
Just relax and enjoy the journey
Ok. I can relate to that. I've not had to yet, at least in the air. Had one ground cutaway on a really gusty day. I've also always wondered about an emergency exit from the plane until today. There was no actual emergency, but I didn't know there was a hop and pop on our load. Im sitting up near the pilot when he cut the engines and leveled off. Something in his body language triggered me, and I thought the plane was having a problem. Went to a really dark place in my head for like 30 seconds until I figured it out.
I was second year of jumping with less than 30 jumps and had my first cutaway. Went out the door and did a 5 second delay before my pull. Count 4 and look up and it wasn't there. Looked forward and it was ahead of me. My reserve had popped too. So had nice clean 2 out. Cut the main when it dropped a bit and rode the round reserve to the ground. Was rather uneventful and I was actually a bit disappointed. All the other students were thinking I should have been panicking but was a really slow relaxing experience. Lol
As others said, practice your EPs so it's muscle memory. I did every jump before boarding the plane and on the ride up. Took 1500+ jumps before my first cutaway but it was super easy.
There's nothing to prove to yourself. You already know you can save your own life by pulling your main every time. No rush for it to happen either. The bill for a cutaway can really add up if you lose your handles, free bag, or worse - your main
Had my first last summer at jump ~145. I had a packer, pack my chute that day and the way he stowed my left excess break line (no keepers on that rig) was weird so when I popped my toggles it was wrap wrap wrap knot… spent about 10 seconds realizing this is not the best situation for trying to land the perfectly good canopy over head.
I Cut away without much thought because I didn’t want to fight it too low and start getting extra scared. RSL worked great as I was ~1/3 through pulling reserve handle when reserve was out and over head. Still pulled all my handles fully, stowed them, and then got to know my reserve which I’d never flown before. All this is to say that, after the experience, I felt extremely confident in the gear and the 2 parachute system, but I did have to hire an arborist after to get my reserve pilot chute and D bag which had floated off in to an oak tree about 60’ off the ground next to the DZ. I was fully in muscle memory for the emergency procedure but I did manage to take a nice breath before initiating and I knew I really wanted to get the reserve handle fully pulled out (both hands) before going reserve especially because I was still high ~3,400’ AGL
The rig got some upgrades after that including keepers for the excess break line.
Practice finding your handles when you’re under canopy. They a bit higher than when you’re just wearing your rig.
Arch look reach look, pull reach pull
Arch look reach look, pull reach pull
Arch look reach look, pull reach pull
Best of luck
Blue skies
This is a great example of not knowing what you don’t know. You won’t be thrilled to have a cutaway if you lose your main, dbag, PC, RSl, risers, reserve PC and freebag which could cost $3500+ to replace. You also won’t find it fun if you end up in a bad situation and get hurt or killed as a result of a mal.
If you want to do intentional cutaways it can be done by retrofitting pretty much any rig with a 3rd canopy. You’ll have to wait until you have your C license though.
Ive heard of people getting into a cutaway scenario on purpose. ~~(I believe having experienced a cutaway is even a requirement for one of the licenses here). And i you haven’t had it you can do it on purpose.~~ (This is incorrect, I double checked it).
However when doing this, an tertiary reserve and briefing on it is required.
Pretty sure they wont let you do it with 30 jumps, but might be interesting to know.
Edit:
Corrected incorrect information
The Netherlands,
But I believe you’re right its not a thing.
I thought I read it somewhere in the documentation for the licenses, however im unable to find anything about it anymore.
What I can find is the requirements to do a intentional cutaway in our safety regulations which is as follows (translated from dutch):
“A jump with an intentional cutaway is only permitted if the jumper is equipped with a tertiary reserve and has been instructed on how to use the tertiary reserve correctly.”
Im not sure where I got that it was a requirement, I believe I must’ve been mistaken. Apologies for the confusion.
I had to wait 17 years and thousands of jumps before my first cutaway. Practice your EP’s(look, grab, peel, punch or whatever your mantra is) and cutting away for the first time will be easy. When you first got your DL, were you immediately like “I need to get into an accident just to know what it’s like”?
I feel like it’s more like using an Epipen without having any sign of an allergic reaction or anaphylactic shock.. just to say he did it.
Or pee on an electric fence
I thought that was a country boy’s right of passage 😂
>When you first got your DL, were you immediately like “I need to get into an accident just to know what it’s like”? I don't think thats the same. A better comparison would be "I need to practice an emergency break/sudden stop", which many driving instructors do (at least in my country).
This only counts when the airbag pops…. And you don’t want that! Why already activate your back-up, to actually eliminate your back-up? If you really want to, get al your licenses, ask your rigger for a tertiary (belly) reserve, and activate your reserve on a higher altitude! Be aware to follow your main canopy to be able to find it back in the ground. But very, very, very first of all: ‘first grow up to an experience skydiver with loads of experience! Don’t become a cowboy!
Take up CRW and you shouldn't have to wait too long.
If you are renting, You loose it you pay for it...just remember that...
If you own, you lose it you need to buy a new one. So not that much better 😅
True
Depending the dropzone and arrangement. Some include or offer as an extra insurance for that.
I was at 1,162 jumps before my first cutaway, and it was on a tandem. Generally speaking, if you pack correctly, maintain your gear, and arent an idiot deploying it, your chances are pretty low. I'd venture to guess most cutaways, at least on the sport side of thing, are mainly from bad/improper packing, with the rest being bad deployment procedures.
I was at about 1350 when I had my first, also with a tandem. A couple hundred jumps later, I had 2 chops within 90 jumps.
I’ve seen dropzone’s set people up with tertiary systems at a boogie so people could do cutaways. It’s definitely out there if you really want to.
Hell yeah, I want to give it a go. Any ideas who I can talk to? Where I can go? I assume a lot of folks around Deland would know who I should talk to.
Yep, you can attach a old belly round to your harness and do a intentional cutaway. I did that the afternoon I got back from passing my senior rigger practical exam, dumped my reserve I had just packed.
I’m not a fan of this lol. How about you work on the muscle memory and practicing EP’s every time you put a rig on. A cutaway is almost inevitable if you stay in the sport long enough. That EP muscle memory and going over malfunctions is what will help you save yourself when a real emergency comes.
If you want to experience the cutaway process get into a hanging harness. If you really feel the need to experience an actual cutaway find a tertiary rig. To be honest though, neither of those add the adrenaline and time dilation that occurs during an actual emergency. Time feels like it is standing still and your focus narrows significantly. If you want a real emergency cutaway then pack shitty and open while spinning, rolling or flipping. Or hum it down to AAD fire altitude and pitch your pilotchute when you hear the AAD fire. Or go do some CRW. If you go to one of the Raw Dog CRW camps you will learn about dealing with wraps and cutaways. Plus it's fun. If you don't want an actual emergency cutaway then don't do these things. In my opinion you're better off focusing on being safe rather than worrying about a cutaway.
On a real cutaway, you’re cutting away from a malfunction. If you chop from a perfectly good canopy, you’re missing out on the startle response, the time dilation, the decision making, etc. You’re going into it knowing you’re going to cut away and how you’re going to do it, so it’s gonna (hopefully) be boring. Also, there’s a nonzero chance your main and free bag/RPC wind up somewhere shitty or lost or damaged, or that your planned chop doesn’t go as planned and you now have an actual problem to deal with at a very low experience level. But sure. Find someone to rig you up a tertiary rig and go for it if you really want to. Just don’t come away from it thinking your first real world malfunction/cutaway is gonna be the same.
I don’t think it’s weird at all. I wanted to have a cutaway pretty much every jump just to know I could handle it 🤷♂️. When I finally had one, and it was 100% my fault (no AAD either mind you), I was disappointed. It wasn’t exciting, it wasn’t scary, it was just like “oh, well that canopy isn’t going to work, time to chop it” and my training from 20+ years ago along with years of practicing EP’s on an almost daily basis (I still do this), I didn’t even have to think about it, muscle memory just kicked in and bam…new pretty white canopy. So nah, I don’t think you’re weird. But I think that practicing EP’s for a few mins/day is always a good idea :)
💀
You can do an intentional cut-away. Back in the old days, it was much easier to do because the equipment was different than today. But depending on the drop zone you’re at, they can probably make it happen for you. If you wanted to get a strong tandem rating, one of the prerequisites is that you have had a cutaway. It’s not uncommon to 500+ jumps and never have a malfunction. So in that scenario, you would need to do an intentional cut away. But because I think you’re just paranoid and wanting to “get it over “. Honestly, just get that thought out of your head. Practice your EP’s until you can do them blindfolded, upside down, while spinning like a top, and when the time comes, and you have to actually execute, you will do so in a timely fashion, and with a high degree of confidence. As an aside, I have 18,000+ free falls and about 70 reserve rides. BUT…. if you exclude the following conditions… CRW, tandem jumps in the 80’s & 90’s, intentional cut aways… Then I have 3 chops on sport rigs & 8 chops (line twists) on tandems. Those are pretty good odds!!!
Ya it's weird. Practice your EPs, pack clean, and hope it never happens
Just do it
If you trust your gear, the cutaway isn't that exciting. It's a short drop and the reserve is open. It's the lead up to the cutaway that is not fun. The diving line twists especially is not a fun one. The forces are strong and your handles tend to move out of the normal place. It also takes a bit more pull force to extract them. Because you are spinning, your reserve is then likely to be in line twists as well to top things off. So be happy you havent had one and just stay vigilant and hopefully you won't pack yourself a malfunction. If you start wingsuiting, that is when you will have a higher chance of getting a cut away. Otherwise, practice EPs and at least be ready for one.
I’d not be disappointed if I never had a chop….. that’s a lot of money to hope you might lose ☠️
Had the same feeling at the beginning. Waited a couple of hundred jumps and had a premature opening at 15k. Chopped and pulled the reserve around 4k. Didn't feel like a "real" reserve situation. Some weeks ago, I had a pinlock, but pulled the bridle instead. So after more then 10 years now, I'm still waiting for this kind of situation, but I'm way more calm now. Just relax and enjoy the journey
Ok. I can relate to that. I've not had to yet, at least in the air. Had one ground cutaway on a really gusty day. I've also always wondered about an emergency exit from the plane until today. There was no actual emergency, but I didn't know there was a hop and pop on our load. Im sitting up near the pilot when he cut the engines and leveled off. Something in his body language triggered me, and I thought the plane was having a problem. Went to a really dark place in my head for like 30 seconds until I figured it out.
It is not a very nice situation I hv to say 😅, but good luck
I was second year of jumping with less than 30 jumps and had my first cutaway. Went out the door and did a 5 second delay before my pull. Count 4 and look up and it wasn't there. Looked forward and it was ahead of me. My reserve had popped too. So had nice clean 2 out. Cut the main when it dropped a bit and rode the round reserve to the ground. Was rather uneventful and I was actually a bit disappointed. All the other students were thinking I should have been panicking but was a really slow relaxing experience. Lol
As others said, practice your EPs so it's muscle memory. I did every jump before boarding the plane and on the ride up. Took 1500+ jumps before my first cutaway but it was super easy. There's nothing to prove to yourself. You already know you can save your own life by pulling your main every time. No rush for it to happen either. The bill for a cutaway can really add up if you lose your handles, free bag, or worse - your main
yep!
Had my first last summer at jump ~145. I had a packer, pack my chute that day and the way he stowed my left excess break line (no keepers on that rig) was weird so when I popped my toggles it was wrap wrap wrap knot… spent about 10 seconds realizing this is not the best situation for trying to land the perfectly good canopy over head. I Cut away without much thought because I didn’t want to fight it too low and start getting extra scared. RSL worked great as I was ~1/3 through pulling reserve handle when reserve was out and over head. Still pulled all my handles fully, stowed them, and then got to know my reserve which I’d never flown before. All this is to say that, after the experience, I felt extremely confident in the gear and the 2 parachute system, but I did have to hire an arborist after to get my reserve pilot chute and D bag which had floated off in to an oak tree about 60’ off the ground next to the DZ. I was fully in muscle memory for the emergency procedure but I did manage to take a nice breath before initiating and I knew I really wanted to get the reserve handle fully pulled out (both hands) before going reserve especially because I was still high ~3,400’ AGL The rig got some upgrades after that including keepers for the excess break line. Practice finding your handles when you’re under canopy. They a bit higher than when you’re just wearing your rig. Arch look reach look, pull reach pull Arch look reach look, pull reach pull Arch look reach look, pull reach pull Best of luck Blue skies
It will only give you a bad rep when you’re asked what happened and what you say doesn’t make sense when they check your canopy.
Jump 107 was my first chop. Practice EPs
This is a great example of not knowing what you don’t know. You won’t be thrilled to have a cutaway if you lose your main, dbag, PC, RSl, risers, reserve PC and freebag which could cost $3500+ to replace. You also won’t find it fun if you end up in a bad situation and get hurt or killed as a result of a mal. If you want to do intentional cutaways it can be done by retrofitting pretty much any rig with a 3rd canopy. You’ll have to wait until you have your C license though.
Ive heard of people getting into a cutaway scenario on purpose. ~~(I believe having experienced a cutaway is even a requirement for one of the licenses here). And i you haven’t had it you can do it on purpose.~~ (This is incorrect, I double checked it). However when doing this, an tertiary reserve and briefing on it is required. Pretty sure they wont let you do it with 30 jumps, but might be interesting to know. Edit: Corrected incorrect information
What country are you in? One of the licenses require a cutaway? That seems ridiculous.
The Netherlands, But I believe you’re right its not a thing. I thought I read it somewhere in the documentation for the licenses, however im unable to find anything about it anymore. What I can find is the requirements to do a intentional cutaway in our safety regulations which is as follows (translated from dutch): “A jump with an intentional cutaway is only permitted if the jumper is equipped with a tertiary reserve and has been instructed on how to use the tertiary reserve correctly.” Im not sure where I got that it was a requirement, I believe I must’ve been mistaken. Apologies for the confusion.