Harness failure during flight?

[darrenspooner 0]

It struck me last weekend while under canopy that I have never contemplated the possibility of a harness ripping or failing during flight. I mean, I check my straps, webbing, stitching, container and metalwork regulalry, but has anyone ever had a leg strap break or something bad go wrong with the harness while flying?

[phoenixlpr 0]

By flying no. I got once one of my legstrap open during freefall/opening.

[TaylorC 0]

There was an incident at my old DZ a couple years back where the chest strap actually snapped at the seems i believe it was. From what was told it was just a normal jump but the guy who was jumping the rig was a really sketchy fellow and did stupid shit a lot like not tie up his chest strap properly and stuff like that.

[skip 0]

Quote

I got once one of my legstrap open during freefall/opening.

What was the outcome on that?

[riggerrob 643]

Since opening shock puts the greatest stress on harnesses, they are most likely to fail during opening shock.
Most harnesses failed before they boarded the airplane.
For example, they may have already been frayed, or a strap was mis-routed through a buckle.
To clarify, miss-routing a strap through a buckle rarely tears webbing ... more likely the strap will just fall loose.

A few other harnesses failed when they were deployed going stupid fast (i.e. deploying a reserve after a long, head-down dive).

The bottom line is: if your harness survived opening shock, you can quit worrying about it. Your brain cells would be better utilized planning a landing pattern.

[phoenixlpr 0]

I got shit scared and landed with a single leg strap on. I was more scared than with having a cut-away.

[sid 1]

there have been incidents of harnesses breaking, notably adjustable student harnesses. The manufacturer of the harnesses that broke issued an instruction to riggers to immediately inspect the harness in the field. At least one other manufacturer issued a "redesignation of use" notice for their single point adjustable harness, declaring it to be used for round parachutes only, and introduced a pulley adjust system that deflected the vulnerability.

The 1st line of defense against harness failure belongs to the skydiver that owns the gear. This is otherwise known as "take care of your shit, your life depends on it". However, many skydivers don't take care of their equipment leading to line of defense #2. The "repack cycle" - no, not the bike that you ride to the rigging loft on, but the mandatory inspection and repack cycle (120 days in the USA). Note it's not just a repack cycle, it's an INSPECT and repack cycle. Your rigger will inspect the harness for signs of wear and weak stitching (note - you can do a lot of damage to your gear in 120 days - so please refer back to line of defense #1).

Pete Draper,

Just because my life plan is written on the back of a Hooter's Napkin, it's still a life plan.... right?

[skydiverek 63]

Quote

At least one other manufacturer issued a "redesignation of use" notice for their single point adjustable harness, declaring it to be used for round parachutes only, and introduced a pulley adjust system that deflected the vulnerability.

http://www.jumpshack.com/Download/Re-Designation_safetynotice.pdf

[riggerrob 643]

"... you can do a lot of damage to your gear in 120 days - so please refer back to line of defense #1).

[sid 1]

Quote

"... you can do a lot of damage to your gear in 120 days - so please refer back to line of defense #1)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.

You are too kind Sid.

I'm welling up, nobody has ever said that about me before..............

Pete Draper,

Just because my life plan is written on the back of a Hooter's Napkin, it's still a life plan.... right?

[sid 1]

here's the other one (in the interests of balance) http://sunpath.com/downloads/bulletins/sp03.pdf

Pete Draper,

Just because my life plan is written on the back of a Hooter's Napkin, it's still a life plan.... right?

[billvon 3,080]

I have never heard of a harness failing during the canopy ride.

I have heard of a few cases of harnesses yielding/failing during opening shock. One was in Europe on an oddly designed student container; the reserve risers peeled off. Here at Perris, Robin Berg had an extremely hard opening (and he's a big guy) and bent the hardware on his rig pretty severely - but it held. We had a case at Brown where a container failed pretty drastically when the reserve went over the tail of our plane, but miraculously kept the student inside until he landed. When we looked at the container later, there was one last piece of velcro keeping the harness aligned with the reserve riser.

[Dazzle 0]

I vaugely remember a case of a mismanufactured container where the stitching had not been done, only glued.

Not sure when that was spotted - during assembly at least you'd hope.

[riggerrob 643]

Quote

I vaugely remember a case of a mismanufactured container where the stitching had not been done, only glued.

Not sure when that was spotted - during assembly at least you'd hope.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

About a decade ago, an Atom snuck out of Parachutes de France's factory without any 5 cord in the shoulder joint, just below the 3-Ring.

That sort of error rarely slips past quality control.