Bruno Brokken hasn’t had a cutaway in 29 years! As a professional full-time cameraman that’s some record!!
Bruno’s Top Tips
We asked Bruno if he could share his secrets with Skydive Mag readers, on how to avoid cutaways…
I don’t really have a secret, but here’s 5 things that probably helped me to be so long without cutting away…
- Jump docile canopies (like my 7-cell PD Spectre) as much as possible.
- Pack properly or have good packers (my last cutaway in ’93 was a line-over, probably pulled some lines of the tail over the leading edge while packing)
- Pay attention to a symmetrical body position on opening and learn to react quickly to unusual openings, like line twists for example.
- Do a proper line check when you have any doubts, like when the canopy falls down in no wind landings or you picked it up in an unusual way.
- Use rubber bands with proper tension…
… and number 6: some luck I guess!”
Choose the canopy you feel comfortable with, not the one other people tell you that you’d look good under
Bruno Brokken
Wisdom by Bruno Brokken
Bruno started jumping in 1980, has over 20,000 jumps, is a professional cameraman and a multiple Canopy Piloting champion. His canopy progression includes the PD210, PD190, the Sabre 175 & 150, the Nova, the Stiletto 150, the Velocity 120 &110, the Spectre 135 and has just ordered a Sabre3 125.
