Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site spice.cs.cmu.edu Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!rochester!pt.cs.cmu.edu!spice.cs.cmu.edu!dt 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