Paragliding Reserves Save Lives. Don't miss Santacroce's thinking on SMART RESERVES.

Chris Santacroce shares his thoughts on paragliding reserves. If you have ever thrown your reserve, or know someone who has, you probably know they work. Let's take a minute to reframe the way we think about that wonderful piece of technology sitting under our seats.

[@ripmanridin7092]

"This is the other half of my equipment.......I can't wait to throw it.......It's gonna be fun!" Thanks so much for all this valuable info you are putting out! I truly believe its gonna save someone and possibly myself!

[@EPH620]

❤thanks Chris Cisco

[@devonc1696]

Love the nuggets of gold in this one! Chris your the Man!

[@MrKbtor2]

Great advice from experience

[@AriintheAir]

I LOVE THROWING MY RESERVE!!! and I love Chris Santacroce!

[@JohnnyFaber]

And the paragliding community love you both!

[@DarrellMalick]

Great! Thanks!

[@paralifeppg]

You have some of the best Most helpful videos on line, thank you.

[@phoenixreimagined]

This is invaluable information. Thank you so much for putting these videos together!

[@PPGExplorer]

Very valuable information. Thank you so much for putting out these videos!

[@dilnozaerkaboyeva6397]

Super helpful! Changed my whole perspective on reserve. Thank you

[@timentz737]

Very accurate, I've always had the mindset of wanting to throw it, even thought about doing it for fun, but when things went wrong there was no hesitation to throw and it saved my life because i was at 100 feet in riser twist and spiral.

[@VanningAintNoJoke]

Another great video. Thanks for making these

[@chucklist3074]

Great stuff!! Reminds of my mistake in Telluride circa 1996

[@clubsnapperuk]

life-saving video, Thank you,

[@NiftyGuy100]

"Round parachutes look like an ice cream cone." Haha!

[@frondelli]

Since you've mentioned the reserve theme, it would be nice if you could make a tutorial video about how to fold a reserve again, after it was used, or when we opened it to ventilate. Thanks for your videos, they are very useful for me. Regards,

[@goldwingerppg5953]

Three or four seconds seems like lifetime in a emergency situation. Was there video? Was it possible it was a shorter time than in your memory. It’s amazing how many thoughts can go through your mind in a fraction of a second. Thanks for another informative video.

[@CuervoRC]

ice-cream cone!!!! 😉

[@HeadStocks]

I want to “Grab my Happy Handle”

[@joesacher3729]

How does down and back change when you are in a PPG?

[@parapilot09]

Chris I love your content and attitude but as a former PG instructor in New Zealand I really can't agree with you with the approach, telling pilots to be 'reserve happy' and be wanting to throw. Yes, low to the ground, yes I get that look, pull(kill the engine of you have one) , wiggle, throw, kill the wing, grab it and be ready to do a PLF. However with significant height, we have time to try and sort a problem out with the wing, whether it's a cravatte, a couple of riser twists, a locked in spiral with progressive opposite weight shift and brake. The reason I say this as it isn't always going to be plain sailing down to the ground. Reserve deployment can be dangerous in themselves. There is wind drift to consider, could we come down on power lines, roofs of buildings and then get dragged off the roof by the reserve, could we come down in water, on a busy road? There is a slim but a very real chance of the reserve tangling with the glider and failing to open, no matter what we try and do and us being able to open it. There is the risk of downplaning of we aren't able to stop the glider from flying. The is risk of a heavy landing and broken ankles or lower limbs because a PLF wasn't correctly executed. There is a risk of a long and quick dragging and subsequent collision into a fixed object. A friend of mine threw his reserve because or a brief mid air collision which ripped out one or two brake lines. Within a second after the collision, both pilots flew away and both wings were in normal flight. However the pilot with the broken trailing edge line/lines I think its fair to say, didn't assess the situation acted too rash and tossed his reserve. Reserve came out, but he was unable to get control of the glider/get a hold of it and he downplained into the ground and broke his back badly. I watched his in flight video. He needed lumbar spine surgery, lost his bladder control and feeling to his penis which lasted considerable time. He was an accomplished commercial pilot and after medical advice never flew a PG again. For him, the willingness to act almost instinctively had severe consequences. If he has just stopped and realised his wing was flying straight and he could have turned and landed with rear riser steering and flaring, I'm pretty sure he would still be flying today. My conclusion is, there are potential positive and negative consequences of a reserve toss, and it has to be a quick but calculated and a measured response rather than having the mind set and/or the social pressure and the expectation to get it out. If I was still teaching today, I would not want any of my students panicking momentarily because the had taken a frontal or a 30% assymetic from the edge of a thermal and automatically being reserve happy and tossing the laundry. I respect you as an instructor and as a very experienced pilot Chris but for me, reserve deployment considerations have to be: 1/how high am I, 2/ do I have height = time to sort the wing out and 3/do I believe I have a realistic chance of returning the wing to normal flight before going for a reserve deployment. It's always going to be, I hope I never find myself in a situation when I need to toss my reserve, even though I have used one in SIV and I regularly visualise the process when I'm in flight. I fly PPG mainly these days and I think the consequences of a rash reserve deployment would be a higher risk of damage to myself, in particular legs, ankles and back and of course my gear. A PLF with a motor and cage on my back isn't going to be a text book PLF. That's my 2 cents. Blue skies. ✌🏼

[@niconico3907]

The crash statistics say there are way more pilots who tried to fix the problem until impact whithout using the reserve, than pilots who threw the reserve for no reason.

[@charlesterrellbr]

Downplaned with a round reserve? Unless the equipment was super undersized I can't see it happening. I agree with both of you. Yes, do asses the situation, and yes, do toss the reserve if no control, low altitude (150m is my number). A modern reserve withing the correct sizing specs will bring you down nice and smooth.

[@niconico3907]

@@charlesterrellbr all type of reserve downplane, its not dependant on the typeof reserve, its dependant if your main wing is inflated or not. kzbin.info/www/bejne/h5LSon96rNKZhcU

[@samik83]

@@niconico3907 Were those undersized? Looks like they came down hard even when not downplaning.

[@niconico3907]

@@samik83 No, they were not undersized. In the end of the video, they say the 125kg test is the maximum allowed weight for the reserve. So its better to not be near the max weight. Round reserves parachute for paragliding come down hard. Other types of reserve can have a lower sinking rate.