One night I dreamt that I had been talking with a friend after skydiving, and he said to me “I knew you’d cut away before your 100th.” The next day, it came true…
A couple weeks back, during the Everglades Boogie at Skydive AirAdventures, I experienced my first cut away. It was an enlightening experience in a number of ways…let me explain.
(And yes, for the record, I already purchased my owed case of beer.)
Friday evening we signed up for a high altitude jump first thing the next morning – after which we jumped on the sunset load to finish out the day.
The weather was beautiful – nothing quite like a sunset Skyvan load – though the wind had picked up slightly.
Naturally, this makes me a little nervous about making it back to the DZ, given that I’m under a canopy that’s proving to be too large for my exit weight. And I was right – the skydive was immensely fun, a 4-way horny gorilla – but I didn’t quite make it back to the LZ. I landed just shy of the target…in the camping area. A fellow skydiver who was firing up his grill about 10 feet from my landing spot gave me a ride back. Nice guy!
So I took this frustration and headed straight to the Aerodyne tent to ask them for a smaller, demo canopy to use on the high altitude jump in the morning.
Given the fact that there was a higher probability of my landing off on a high altitude, I didn’t want to increase those odds by flying my canopy in the higher winds that were expected for the morning.
I worked with the rep, Les, to decide on a canopy to fly. We settled on a Pilot since I was familiar with them as a student.
As he was installing the demo I asked who packed it last and if I should repack the canopy. His words: “This is a brand new canopy and I packed it myself so that should be the least of you worries.”
Perfect! So I was good to go for the morning.
That day I was nervous. Mainly because I was doing a high altitude at an unfamiliar DZ in a little bit of wind – I really didn’t want to land in the sugar cane!
But the jump went well – I was a little late out the door, but was able to hold a sit for 60 seconds or so. It was good practice.
And then, I deployed. Almost instantly (read: as soon as the bag was out of the container) I could feel that something was amiss. Looking up I said to myself (literally, aloud) “I’ve seen videos of this shit before.” There were countless line twists above my head and I was spinning to the left.
Reaching up and attempting to spread the risers I realized the situation was too far out of hand, the lines weren’t budging. At just under 2,000 feet, I didn’t want to waste anymore time so I reached for the cutaway pillow and chopped.
Before I could even grasp onto that silver handle my reserve was above my head. Thank you RSL.
Now safetly under a crisp, white canopy, I gathered myself, stuck my cut away handle in my teeth (I wasn’t about to be the girl who lost her handles) and steered myself back to the DZ.
I thought for sure with this situation I was going to end up in a sugar cane field somewhere, but with the breeze that had picked up even more, I made it back. Though when I got there, I wasn’t penetrating the wind at ALL, so I had to pick from one of three options:
1) land on the packing tend
2) land on top of the skyvan
3) gracefully set myself down on the tarmac between the two
I went for the latter and prepared to PLF like it was my job. The winds helped set me down on my feet and luckily there were plenty of people nearby who rushed over to pluck my canopy out of the air before it touched the concrete.
As expected, Les was there to meet me after the cut away – though not quite with the message I had anticipated. He briefly interrogated me on why I cut away his canopy (to which I responded “because I wanted to live”), then, with clear frustration, he headed off to “find it.”
Lucky for everyone, both the canopy and freebag landed at the edge of the airport and were retrieved unharmed.
I was then approached by two Performance Designs reps who had no idea I was testing out a canopy, but wanted to see if I was alright and inquire about the malfunction. I instantly gained a lot of respect for PD. Throughout the weekend I talked with Karl about accuracy and tips for packing to ensure that things like this don’t happen in the future.
Feeling rather exhilerated, I disregarded the attitude the Aerodyne rep presented, and headed over to meet Rick. The extra adrenaline rush was really starting to hit me. The event seemed so clear (though now it’s rather fuzzy – wish I would have worn the GoPro on that jump after all) and I was feeling like I could do anything. Hell, I just saved my own life!
Thankfully, Thomas was available for a rush repack, so we headed up to the rigging loft. While I was waiting, Les came back to me with my canopy in hand (my personal canopy, not the cutaway). He proceeded to blame me for cutting away a canopy he seemed to believe was landable.
What gets me more than anything is that the thought never crossed my mind to be upset with Aerodyne – and yet that’s exactly how they approached me.
I was completely taken aback by the disrespect and lack of concern for my safety that he displayed, so were other onlookers.
Jokes began to fly that I cut away a perfectly good Aerodyne canopy because I knew I had a better PD reserve to use. Which of course, was not the case. Funny, none the less.
After spending time talking with lots of different folks about the incident, it’s uncertain the exact cause of the malfunction – precisely where a helmet cam would have come in handy. From body position to a bad pack job, it could be any number of things, or a combination of these factors. Regardless, as the pilot of that canopy I had a decision to make, and chopping was the right one for me. Even with some of the doubt I’ve encountered along the way, I look back with confidence and say “I had to cut that canopy away.”
One thing I’ve learned by talking to others is that other skydivers will always question your malfunction and doubt your decision to cut away. But the truth is, I was there and they were not – and in the end I learned that I can do it and it’s nothing to sweat. When you’re in that moment and you have to pull that handle, you just do it. Nothing else exists but that moment as you release your main from the container.
Though some of it is fuzzy, I look back on certain details of the malfunction with great clarity – the feel of the cut away pillow, the sound of the main releasing. I look back on the incident with an odd fondness as I walked away a more confident and knowledgable skydiver.
Blue Skies!
Ashley
I’m terrified about my first cutaway (even though I know it happens to everyone). That Aerodyne rep had some nerve–it was YOUR skydive, YOUR ride. Who is he to say you could have landed that safely? He’s not you. Grrr, people that like make me mad.
On a side note, I rarely trust anyone else but me, Bear, and the packers to pack my gear anymore. When I was still learning to do it, a visiting jumper got all condescending and insisted I was doing it wrong and just packed my rig for me. On that jump I had a steering line malfunction. (I probably should have cut it away as it was only my 15th or so jump and I didn’t have the skill to navigate it with the rear risers.) I landed so hard I fractured my pelvis. (Itty bitty hairline fracture. No big. Drove to a hospital 1.5 hours away from my home DZ and found the night nurse was a jumper at Cross Keys!)
Anyway, congrats on surviving, right? And you got the requisite case of beer, so good on you.
It sounds like you learned a few things Ashley.
You will always have people in the sport who are uncaring to say the least! I try my hardest to ignore them. I have heard the same stories from people after i have had cutaways. ” why didn’t you try to get out of those line twists” I could spend the rest of my life trying to get out of something like that, Literally! Like you said you were there and they weren’t. It’s always the same in my situations and everyone else’s too. You made the right choice because your still standing and able to tell this story!
“When in doubt, whip it out.” You did the right thing.
But too, it might not have been the packing that resulted in your line twists, but your orientation on opening. It was your first jump on the canopy, remember. Aerodyne might have been reacting a bit defensively that you would blame them (since you are a web celebrity, even though it doesn’t appear that you’d jumped to any conclusions yet) — testosterone, eh?
You walked away and so of course you did the right thing. Give it some time — it will come full circle.
Wow. Craziness! I’m glad you made it alright. I am interested in your view on jumping now that you’ve had a chop. Has your view or outlook changed on the sport? How do you feel about skydiving now? Is that a pic of you at the top of the post? It looks like some serious spaghetti lines!
I don’t like jumping other peoples pack jobs. I must admit that if I was in the same situation, I probably would have pulled the main out and repacked it myself. Although being a new canopy it would have been very slippery and hard to get in the bag.
Regardless, I’m glad your ok.
Blues.
Glad to hear the outcome was a safe landing. I had my first cutaway on jump 6, floating ripcord I couldn’t find. As you know, a jumper should never fell bad about saving their life. Thanks for sharing.
JJ – I remember you telling me that story, and I actually thought of you after landing on the tarmac, thanking my stars that I was able to walk away unharmed. In my opinion, you shouldn’t be terrified about a potential cut away. You’re prepared for it – you’ve learned all the procedures. From my experience, when you’re in the situation, you just do it. Trust yourself and you’ll be fine!
Lonnie – thanks for the support! It’s nice to hear from people that have been there for me from the beginning. I’m definitely still learning from this experience, and now I can take up a little more confidence with me on every jump, knowing that I can handle the situation as it comes at me.
Joyful – I LOVE that! I’ll definitely be using that saying in the future… it’s hard to know if the mal was caused by me, the packjob or a combination of factors, which is exactly why I didn’t blame Aerodyne. That thought never crossed my mind. And I hardly consider myself a web celebrity…hahaha…but thanks for the ego boost
SB – Typically I’m not a fan of jumping pack jobs that are not mine, either, however I assumed this would be okay since he packs so many Pilots on a daily basis. Regardless, I was incredibly nervous on the first jump back, but now I’m right back in the game. I still have faith in my pack jobs and now I know that if the time comes where I need to cut away again, I can. And no, that picture is from Google – we didn’t get any shots of my chop, unfortunately.
tazmwl – thanks! definitely a story I wanted to share. the more people can learn from each other in this sport, the safer we all will be!
Hi Ashley,
Nice story! Pleased to hear that everything went well. It brought me back to memories of my first cutaway 32 years ago. After one particular jump it became obvious that I wasn’t dealing with little problems (closed end cells and stuck slider) quickly enough. I was still messing with that stuff down near 1400 feet! After that jump I was really wondering if I would be able to handle a malfunction or whether I’d just continue to sit there like an idiot. After reflecting on this thought, I decided right then and there to go back to the basics, and religiously stick to my “decision altitude.” I would cutaway by that altitude without hesitation if anything wasn’t flying right. The very next jump, number 73, I had a spinning line twisted thing with the slider stuck up high. I checked my altitude and I was already at the decision altitude, so I just pulled the handles. What a feeling to have that reserve over my head! It still feels like it was yesterday, and it was a real confidence builder for me 32 years ago. There were people cussing me out for cutting away instead of sorting it out, but they didn’t phase me at all. They weren’t in the harness. I was.
One final comment: Don’t worry about landing on a hard surface. Don’t let the self-talk get the best of you. Just pay attention to making your landing flare really spot on, then PLF if you need to. People don’t hurt themselves landing on asphalt, they only hurt themselves by crashing on it…. so wings level and be determined to perform your flare just right!
John – thanks for the advice. Altitude awareness was pounded into my head as a student, and I thank my instructors to this day for that guidance. It’s easy to lose sight of that when you have what seems like bigger things to deal with.
Getting back on the ground after an successful cutaway is an experience like no other. That extra adrenaline really had my head spinning.
Thanks to you and your team for being so supportive and involved. I can’t rave enough about the incredible people who work for and support PD.