Emergency situations are the stuff of nightmares for pilots, and nobody wants to throw their reserve in anger. But if you have to, you have to. Acro star and regular Cross Country columnist Théo de Blic shares his top ten tips for ensuring it all goes smoothly.
1. Make sure that your rescue is repacked regularly, and that everything is fully functional. When I was a teenager I filmed for SIVs: many people couldn’t even throw their rescues because they had closed their rescue containers the wrong way. That is definitely something you want to find out when both your feet are safely on the ground and not at 200m in a strong autorotation. I even saw a guy with an allen key inside his pod [deployment bag], can you imagine that? Me neither!
2. Make finding the red handle as natural as snoozing your alarm clock in the morning. In an emergency situation seconds can separate life and death. So make sure you know where your handle is and that you can find it as fast...
