SAFA Skysailor Magazine

23 May | June 2022 SKY SAILOR a length of red bungee cord and the harness was close-by, but I couldn’t see the knife or red bungee and quickly gave up looking. Meanwhile, the man relayed my message to others on the beach. I was well onto the reef now, but still unable to stand up even though the depth varied between knee and thigh height. The waves continued to pull me off my hands and knees. A woman ran in handing over another pilot’s hook knife. The man did in fact cut a couple of lines from under my arms, yet not the 15 or so lines restraining my ankle. When I asked him to cut these, he apologised, he’d lost the knife in the surf. At this point, I was getting tossed around and became very weak, fearing I couldn’t hold out much longer. Fortunately, another fellow PG pilot had descended to the beach and ran to my aid, physically supported me whilst calling for another knife. Two more pilots now realised the incident wasn’t over and ran to assist with yet another hook knife. With that I was somewhat miraculously saved, albeit needing assistance to exit the water. Later, an experienced PG5 pilot advised that I had been in the water for seven to ten minutes. I walked away exhausted, but without a scratch. I had encountered a situation never conceived of previously. Recovered from around my ankle: Wet lines, pulled tight are extremely difficult to remove without some kind of knife Honest reflection I don’t believe the wind/weather was a contributing factor, nor was anything wrong with my equipment or an equipment failure had occured. Neither was I tired, or impaired in any way. Rather, it is most likely I mistimed the wingover execution – it did feel a bit weak/ untidy going into the last right turn. Loss of wing control, and not understanding either the situation or recovery actions required, was the sole factor – pilot error, plain and simple. Lessons learned • • Modern reserves are capable of opening very quickly. Even if deployment seems futile it’s worth an attempt. • • If I had not been carrying a hook knife, the outcome would have been very different. Checking the hook knife is present and secure prior to launch has been added to my pre-launch checklist. • • I fly a lot on the coast and thought I had considered a range of possible emergency scenarios and what likely options might be available and actions to take. I had never considered entering water under the reserve canopy. In my scenarios, I would descend towards water (possibly due to a sudden loss of lift at an inconvenient time), but imagined I would be sitting in the harness and all webbing straps would be clearly visible to undo/cut before getting wet. From the moment the reserve deployed, I could not see the harness webbing as it was held tight against me.