Malfunctions

Malfunctions are inevitable, anything made, maintained and packed by a human being not only can malfunction, but at some time will. To ensure that you are properly equipped to deal with a mal, you should never start a day's skydiving without mentally rehearsing your malfunction procedures and, when you hand your rig over to your rigger for it's inspection and repack, why not practice for real and actually pull the handles right there to feel what it's like.

So, while it is almost certain that, at some time in your skydiving career, you will experience a malfunction, you can minimize the risk by several means.
These include;

The sharing of information, learning from the experiences of others.

Maintaining your rig.

Packing carefully.

 

This section of the site is dedicated to helping you to keep the risks of a malfunction down by reporting on the circumstances of actual malfunctions and, where possible, offering clues as to what caused it and what could have prevented it. Often a malfunction is the culmination of several bad choices or practices, but there is always something to be learned.

One good rule of thumb to remember whenever you are considering changing something on your rig, or altering something that is already there, is to ask for help from a rigger.

For instance, if your brake lines are getting chewed up by the velcro on you risers you might consider removing it. If you're looking at your risers and thinking "Hell, I don't need a rigger for that" put the steak knife down, step back, think again and ask your rigger next time you see him.

So, click on a malfunction below, consider the information and store it away. Remember smarter means safer.