Some good news

On Saturday, October 24, 2015 at 12:28:50 PM UTC-4, Dan Marotta wrote:
And I'm disappointed that there's been no narrative of everything
recalled from the decision to leave the aircraft until feet were
safely on the ground.* Any time someone experiencing such an
emergency can pass on all the thoughts, fears, worries,procedures,
successes and failures to the rest of us, it can only improve the
prospects of success for the rest of us.



On Saturday, October 24, 2015 at 12:28:50 PM UTC-4, Dan Marotta wrote:
And I'm disappointed that there's been no narrative of everything
recalled from the decision to leave the aircraft until feet were
safely on the ground.* Any time someone experiencing such an
emergency can pass on all the thoughts, fears, worries,procedures,
successes and failures to the rest of us, it can only improve the
prospects of success for the rest of us.



On a personal note, I used to unbuckle my parachute before getting
out of the glider because it's easier physically.* About a year ago
I decided that it would be better to always leave the glider with
the 'chute on to avoid unbuckling out of habit before an emergency
exit.* Since then, I've been refining my method for getting out and
it's much easier now.* I realize that g-loading can have quite an
impact on exit, either positive or negative.




On 10/23/2015 11:04 PM, Ramy wrote:



I second that. It is much more helpful to be able to discuss an accident/incident with those directly involved vs having to speculate, although I maintain that the latter is still better than not discussing at all.

Ramy





--

Dan, 5J

Sorry to disappoint Dan...
I have done a 5(ish) page writeup on the whole event, but do not quite feel comfortable posting it to RAS or in Soaring magazine at the moment, as we haven't fully grasped the weather and all that went into the various events that occurred, and i haven't solidified my personal conclusions on my decisions yet. If i left the parachute ride out of it, my apologies, it was not my intent.

On the parachute question, I make it a point to not unbuckle my harness until standing outside the glider, as the muscle memory issue pointed about above was made to me several years back while at Caesar Creek.

As far as the actual bailout process. while in the spiral, i opened the canopy, crouched in my seat, placed my hand on the D-ring, jumped, arched my back, and pulled the ring (about a 3-second sequence in all from when i was crouched. As mentioned and debated previously, once the opening shock hit me, i had difficulty pulling on the left risers, but was able to reach and pull down on the right rear riser of the parachute to steer myself closer to Rt-16 on the descent. Being unable to turn left made this more of a sequencing thing, where i would turn faster when facing into the wind, then relax the pressure when going in the correct direction. As i got down to ~100ft over the trees, i prepared for impact by releasing the risers and covering my face with my forearms, putting my legs together, and bending my knees. The "impact" never came, so from then on out i was just faced with the dilemma of safely hanging 30 feet over the ground and trying not to cause an injury in getting myself down.

Chris