When to Throw?

We all should be flying with them. We should all know how to use one. We should all repack it every year. But do we all know when to use it?

As a paraglider pilot that has carried one for over 10 years and used it correctly and not, I would like to share my experiences with others that carry a reserve parachute with them.

I started carrying one over ten years ago and have had a variety of them over the years: steerable, bolistic, and hand depoly. I have ended up with a simple, pull-down apex chute mounted in front of my harness. I discarded the bolestic as too troublesome to transport, the steerable being unlikely to steer and larger ones as too slow to open and unlikely to need for many soft landings.

I started by learning to throw them in the air at two different safety clinics. I towed up behind a boat with the intention of getting wet. I simply got out in the middle of the lake and tossed the chute. The experience gave me practice disabling the paraglider to come down on the reserve alone but little other training.

The next time I lost control, I relied on my experience with many safety clinics to get the wing flying again. As a result: a broken back, hips and 2 weeks in a coma demonstrated that I could not get it to fly again.

It was only the last time that I got it all worked out. I suffered a large cravatte while releasing a b-line stall and tried to control the steeping spiral dive for two rotations before realizing how close the houses were below me. This time I reached for the handle, threw the deployment bag with great force, and began to pull in my b-lines to disable the wing. I hung 5 feet off the ground next to a tree and power lines. I walked away satisfied and unharmed that I had finally crashed correctly!