DEPLOYING YOUR PARACHUTE
07
If you are in the unfortunate situation of needing to throw your reserve, do so with conviction:
Look; Reach; Pull; Throw.
Look at the handle, grab it and pull out the retaining pins with sufficient force.
Pull out the deployment bag. You need to adapt the way you pull your parachute depending on the design of your
harness’s deployment system. e.g. under seat positioning often requires an action to the outside so that the parachute
extracts sideways from the pocket, pulling the handle upwards will not allow the parachute to release. Know your
equipment and adapt your technique accordingly.
Throw the parachute away from you as hard as you can into clear space, not towards your wing. It is important at this
stage to remember to LET GO of the handle. Aim to throw with the direction of airflow to aid a fast opening and against
the direction of rotation.
If after throwing the parachute does not deploy (possible in low energy emergencies e.g. parachutal stall), grab the
reserve bridle and give it a strong pull. This will help encourage the parachute to open faster.
As the parachute deploys, the next stage is to concentrate on disabling the paraglider. There are several ways to do
this – B line stall; rear riser stall; gathering the canopy by working up the A lines until you have the material in your hands
or using the brakes to stall the wing. The best technique depends entirely on the situation. The most important thing
to remember is to completely disable the wing so that it does not act against the parachute and cause a down-plane.
Whichever method you choose do so symmetrically, you do not want the paraglider to start rotating, this could cause
the paraglider to fly into and effectively disable the parachute.
Due to the position of the reserve bridle hang points on most harness, deploying the reserve parachute tends to
automatically put you in to the PLF position (legs down), if you are not, do everything you can to get yourself into this
position so you can absorb the landing impact with your legs.
Always use a PLF when landing under emergency situations or under a rescue parachute.
