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From: dt@spice.cs.cmu.edu (Dean Thompson)
Newsgroups: net.rec.skydive
Subject: Engine failure on t/o (e.g. Caravan)
Message-ID: <476@spice.cs.cmu.edu>
Date: Thu, 31-Oct-85 08:04:45 EST
Article-I.D.: spice.476
Posted: Thu Oct 31 08:04:45 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 3-Nov-85 12:17:47 EST
Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI
Lines: 31

Brent's suggestion that maybe the Caravan's pilot was prevented from
recovering airspeed on engine failure by a mass movement toward the rear
exit sounds to me like a very plausible theory.  I would like to see someone
who has data on some of the more common jump planes and who knows enough
about aeronautics sit down and figure out what IS going to happen in case of
engine failure soon after takeoff, and come up with some recommendations on
how the jumpers should respond at various altitudes.  For example, it may be
that below 1000 feet jumpers in a plane such as the Caravan with a rear exit
should move towards the front of the plane and not try to exit, while above
1000 feet (or some altitude)  all but the rearmost person(s) should move
towards the front while those at the rear open the door and jump.  The
others could then move back a few at a time and jump.  Obviously I'm making
this up as I go along, and I personally have never been in a Caravan, but it
does seem as though there should be SOME procedure for each plane.

I have an unrelated question for the group.  I currently have 21 jumps and
am doing 20 second delays on T-10's.  We are taught NEVER to try to cut away
under any circumstances -- in fact the instructor tries to avoid even having
the students know where the capewells (is that how you spell it?) are.  The
idea is that it is far more likely that a student will panic and cut away
from a minor malfunction and/or cut away too slowly and too low.  Instead we
are supposed to manually deploy the reserve (which has no pilot chute) by
throwing it down and away from us, and into the direction of the spin if we
are spinning.  Recognizing that capewells are a relatively slow and tedious
way to cut away (two motions with both hands), and that serious malfunctions
on a T-10 are very rare, this procedure still worries me.  Does anyone know
how safe it is to deploy a round reserve (with relatively short lines) while
under a Mae West on a T-10?  How about a streamer?

					Dean Thompson
					dt@spice.cs.cmu.edu