Ok, here's something that happened a couple of days ago on a jump...
A buddy and I climbed up a 290' freestander at night, it was completely overcast with low clouds but it was almost full moon bright with reflected light. Pretty much perfect conditions for that tower wind wise; light and in the right directions. We get to the top and start gearing up, I've got my rig on and snugged up and am starting to get my pilot chute set up for hand held.
Suddenly I realize I didn't do my pre-gear up pin check (Apex DP rig). Now, I had just packed it up an hour before we left and I know everything is good, but you know how that mind fuck thing goes...
I undo my chest strap, loosen my leg straps, and drop my rig down far enough where I can twist around and take a look at my pins. While I am there, I take a moment and route the bridle up the back of the rig and mate the magnets (I've got a magnet set up on the shoulder of the rig/bridle so I can tell it's routed correctly).
Having double-checked everything I pull the rig back up, redo the chest strap, snug the leg straps and start with my pilot chute. It's a nice relaxed evening and we're kinda taking our time and shooting the shit about nothing.
I've got my bridle s-folded and am prepping my pilot chute as we head over to the exit point. Suddenly, as I'm setting my bridle length by extending my arm, it feels kinda different. At first I don't think anything of it, it just feels like the bridle got snagged on my jacket or something. Then I realize that it's not just snagged, it was routed underneath my chest strap!
Evidently, when I routed the bridle up the back of my rig before putting it back on, my bridle was laying down the front of my chest and I unknowingly cinched my chest strap down over it.
Fuck me. I rerouted everything and then triple-checked my entire setup (and then had my buddy do the same thing to me because now I'm super paranoid about everything).
Now, even thoug it would have been Black Death if I hadn't caught my rigging error, I don't believe that ultimately it was a huge deal because my bridle routing on hand held jumps is something that I end up checking many times before I actually climb over the rail to the platform (and then a couple of more time before actually jumping), but it was enough to really crank the "what if" scenario machine into high gear!
Lessons Learned: No BASE jump is a "casual" thing; have a pre jump routine set and if you do deviate, then double-think everything through before making your commitment; stay focused on the task at hand; never take anything for granted.
So, other than that, the jump was awesome and I lived to do it again.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by hamsandwich
Bookmarks