Article published in Volume Three No. 4 'Tour & Travel 2005' issue.

Copyright fotoglider/Paraglider Magazine 2004

Accidental Reserve Deployment on Launch

"Fail to train and you are training to fail!"

 In the sequence below the pictures were taken from a 35mm camera on fast motordrive and by looking at the actual position you can see how little time is available to the pilot to control the situation, if this happen to you you do not want to be trying to work out what to do! Pre-planning in your training is the only certain way of reducing the risk factors.

11 degrees 13 degrees 18 degrees

28 degrees 62 degrees 68 degrees

The green 'target' is placed over the position of a small bush on the ridge to give a visual reference point, the approximate path through  the air at that instant in time is stated next each image and shown by the violet line.

Must an incident lead to an accident?

 As with much of what I do in paragliding, this article is aimed at looking at actual accidents that typically result in injury and doing a little thinking "outside the box". I believe that in some cases a little pre-planning and perhaps specific training aimed at building motor skills for a seldom needed but vital part of flying & surviving, can turn an accident into an incident or even a non-event!

 The term "accidental reserve deployment" inherently requires us to first turn our attention to the circumstances that cause the situation in the first place. In the UK it has been stated that as many as /3rd of all reserve deployments fall into the "accidental" category. Some examples are a pilot being 'helped' on launch where the reserve handle is pulled inadvertently, or a dog on launch that lunges for the brightly colored handle as the pilot takes to the sky, or most typically, a pilot falls over or bumps into something disturbing the reserve handle and the situation remains unnoticed until after they have left the ground and the reserve simply falls out. And so it would seem the first and best way to avoid the situation is to follow some simple rules:

1. Check your reserve before launch! Make it part of your pre-flight checks and make it a good habit. And if you check your handle during pre-flight, and then sit on your under-seat reserve while waiting for the conditions to improve, check it again before launch. Why put your self in danger by not taking an extra couple of seconds?
2. Be aware of your surroundings/conditions on launch. Are there branches sticking out that might snag your reserve handle?
3. Beware of the dog. Many sites simply do not allow them (also beware of the 'helpful' audience and this can even include other pilots!).
4. Check your reserve in flight. I can think of worse things than developing a habit of reaching/feeling your reserve handle in-flight. This simple exercise may not only help you to ensure everything is intact and correctly set, but has the additional benefit of developing the motor memory so that you know exactly where the handle is when you DO need it!

 Even after taking these precautions, there are any number of possible situations that can result in an accidental deployment, and these accidents are common enough that understanding what's likely to happen, and preparing for how you might best deal with it is always time well spent. And so let's take a look at what you can expect when a reserve is dropped from a flying paraglider.

 As the reserve comes free of the harness it will drop both downwards and to the rear as the pilot keeps moving forwards, at this point they are likely to notice the small 'bump' as the lines fully extend.

1. If the deployment bag comes clear (remember there is much less shock on the lines than in a real deployment so the reserve MAY remain in it's bag) the opening reserve will start to rise back up towards the pilot's height while the drag it produces will increase the effective 'weight' on the glider, resulting in a increase in the wing's (not the pilot's) airspeed.
2. Coming level (or a bit above the pilot's level) the pull from the parachute results in a 'down plane' with the paraglider continuing to fly and accelerate. Keep in mind that the paraglider will almost certainly not suffer from a frontal collapse at first because of the pull of the reserve keeps it under load! The resulting 'dive bomber' attitude takes the pilot around an arc, centered on the reserve parachute and often ending moving vertically towards the 'hard stuff' for a short time. This is the most dangerous point.
3. Watching videos of actual reserve deployments, you can see this initial high decent rate until the wing dives well below the pilot and is no longer under load. At this point the wing stops pulling the pilot downwards, and only them does the pilot swing back under the fully deployed reserve. This is the key to understanding / visualizing what would happen if the pilot was only above the ground by less than two to three line lengths. At this height a safety system while only part of the way through its cycle can vastly increase the risks to the pilot.

 So what do you do? Looking now at what happens as soon as the pilot realizes that the reserve is hanging, we need to look at the role that 'instinct' will play in the developing accident. The first thing most pilots will want to do if the reserve is still in its bag is to try and pull it in. But letting go the brakes at this moment surrenders your fate to luck and whether or not to in the next few seconds an inflation of the reserve occurs. This is a very bad idea. Instead you need to decide quickly and decisively which of several options is best. The only way to do this is with pre-planning for the day it does happen to you.

1. If you have a smooth surface beneath you, quickly reduce your ground clearance by turning back to cross wind and at an angle towards the slope. This MAY work well if the ground below is smooth grass, but otherwise anything that will snag the dangling 'bag' may stop you much more quickly than an opening parachute! The aim here is to quickly but smoothly minimize the time and height the glider has to accelerate and dive you into the ground.
2. For most sites #1 is not likely to be a viable option, so you need to smoothly turn and fly clear of the slope as you can without producing any swings/jerks on the hanging, but still closed, deployment bag. Then and only then with the sort of height where a reserve has the chance to work as it should, you should attempt to recover the un-deployed bag. With great care not to free the last lines still holding the bag shut, and at all times keeping the lines both clear and untangled, pass hand over hand the lines, feeding the loop of lines back down as you work towards the reserve. Never bring the lines forward of you or anything that could let even a single line catch on the harness if the reserve were to suddenly open. Once you reach the reserve, and only then, pass it forward onto your lap, keeping a firm hold and pressing it closed at all times, use one hand to un-zip your flying suit and stuff it into your suit, once you have fully zipped back up gather the lines in and tuck them into whatever pocket you can. Any time during this you can see the reserve wanting to open do not hesitate but let it drop out to the side and downwards, as it is vital if it opens it does so in a manner that it will function.
3. If the deployment bag does separate and you are not high enough for the normal (safe) course of events following a deployment to follow, you must at all cost avoid the paraglider diving you into the ground. Initially the way to proceed is to let the glider fly forward, this lets the reserve fill and start to rise. As the glider under the extra load accelerates forward and down you must progressively and smoothly add just enough brake on both sides to hold the glider about 30* forwards & above you. You will end up with the reserve at about 45* up & behind you and you'll need to maintain this position for the short time it takes to descend to surface level (remember, this is for when you are to low for a reserve unaided to work.) In practice, for the few seconds needed to touch down, a small amount of directionally control (I would recommend only weight-shift to avoid spin problems with the paraglider, not uneven use of brakes!) helps chose where you land.

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While testing procedures for this article I made a considerable number of deployments from 120 ft to less than 20 ft AGL in a variety of conditions from near zero wind to good lift days all ending in a safe and normal 'on feet' landings. As I aim to let both the both the reserve and the paraglider, without fighting, descend me safely to the ground, the decent rate is slower than that under a reserve on its own and a fraction of that that would be produced by a diving paraglider which could easily accelerate the pilot to 30+ mph vertically downwards in the first few seconds before the reserve has time and ground clearance to do its usual job.