No idea what caused the canopy to blow. Any ideas?

[skittles_of_SDC 0]

See attached pictures.

First the information
-Jump 38
-Safire2 249
-Wing loading of .85:1
-sitfly jump
-transitioned to belly for about 3-5 seconds before deployment
-packed by a packer who has done many packs

I was told it could have something to do with the dive since I was only on my belly for a few seconds before deploy but that it still shouldn't do what it did.

The opening was a little hard but not much harder than some jumps I've had in the past.

EDIT: Just realized this may need to go in gear & rigging admins feel free to move it.

[diablopilot 2]

How many jumps on the canopy?

----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[skittles_of_SDC 0]

I was renting but I was told by the shop less than 200.

[chuckakers 426]

Quote

I was told it could have something to do with the dive since I was only on my belly...

That would be my bet. Ya might wanna slow down a bit more before dumping.

Chuck Akers
D-10855
Houston, TX

[Bill_K 0]

Did the opening hurt like hell? How are your ribs?

[rwieder 0]

Quote

Wing loading of .85:1

I wouldn't think so wth that light of a wing load. IMO no way the jumper could be going fast enough to blow up a canopy. IMO the canopy had a rip in it some where, it was just missed by riggers and packers, just speculatory.

-Richard-
"You're Holding The Rope And I'm Taking The Fall"

[Bill_K 0]

Quote

Quote

Wing loading of .85:1

I wouldn't think so wth that light of a wing load. IMO no way the jumper could be going fast enough to blow up a canopy. IMO the canopy had a rip in it some where, it was just missed by riggers and packers, just speculatory.

I'm with you. I've dumped after a sit without slowing down properly and my altitrack said my minimum speed was 154 for that jump. I'm loading a tick over 1.2 and while it hurt like hell, my canopy did not blow up.

I'm more inclined to speculate that there was already a tear and that combined with a probable higher than normal opening speed caused it to go. However a normal belly opening could do the same thing if the tear was already there and far enough along.

[chuckakers 426]

Quote

Quote

Wing loading of .85:1

I wouldn't think so wth that light of a wing load. IMO no way the jumper could be going fast enough to blow up a canopy. IMO the canopy had a rip in it some where, it was just missed by riggers and packers, just speculatory.

You may be right, but any canopy can blow up on any jump, and sometimes do so for seemingly no reason.

Chuck Akers
D-10855
Houston, TX

[skittles_of_SDC 0]

Quote

Did the opening hurt like hell? How are your ribs?

yeah. but once i was down there wasnt really any pain. my ribs were actually fine. I had a fresh tattoo on my ribs but even that was relatively ok. the only "injury" i had was a strained calf due to a poor set up and crosswind landing. (tried to stand it up and run like 12 mph, actually worked too) all i had to do for that was take some ibuprofen and it was gone about an hour later.

[Bill_K 0]

Quote

Quote

Did the opening hurt like hell? How are your ribs?

yeah. but once i was down there wasnt really any pain. my ribs were actually fine. I had a fresh tattoo on my ribs but even that was relatively ok. the only "injury" i had was a strained calf due to a poor set up and crosswind landing. (tried to stand it up and run like 12 mph, actually worked too) all i had to do for that was take some ibuprofen and it was gone about an hour later.

Well, in the future break higher and get a good box man going to slow it down more. I break at 5500 ish when I'm free flying and dump around 3000. Give ms plenty of me to slow down.

[skittles_of_SDC 0]

Yeah ever since the incident I've been going to my belly at around 5000 and catching as much air as I can for a few seconds then back to belly so I'm not moving too slow at opening (3500ish).

[Bill_K 0]

Quote

Yeah ever since the incident I've been going to my belly at around 5000 and catching as much air as I can for a few seconds then back to belly so I'm not moving too slow at opening (3500ish).

Make sure to get some coached jumps and be sure that you are tracking. Track perp to the jump run your solo's, never up or down the flight line. Of course anything bigger, do what makes the most sense, normally 180 from the center of the formation. Get in the habit of that now. You can slow down while tracking too if your doing it right. Promise...
Glad you were not hurt and can keep learning and enjoying the play ground we call the sky!

[AndyMan 7]

The color of the lines, and the color of the "white" fabric makes me think that canopy has a lot more than 200 jumps on it.


Either way, a canopy can blow up on any jump. That's why we have emergency procedures!

_Am

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[skittles_of_SDC 0]

Quote

Quote

Yeah ever since the incident I've been going to my belly at around 5000 and catching as much air as I can for a few seconds then back to belly so I'm not moving too slow at opening (3500ish).

Make sure to get some coached jumps and be sure that you are tracking. Track perp to the jump run your solo's, never up or down the flight line. Of course anything bigger, do what makes the most sense, normally 180 from the center of the formation. Get in the habit of that now. You can slow down while tracking too if your doing it right. Promise...
Glad you were not hurt and can keep learning and enjoying the play ground we call the sky!

That was actually on a coach jump.

[CarloC 0]

It happened to me once on a sabre 135 loaded at 1.3, the same damage as yours, but the canopy had over 1500 jumps, it had brand new lines and the porosity of the canopy still looked fine.

The opening was hard as a sabre always is, but nothing different, just a blue sky above me. kind scary.

[SimonBones 1]

Interesting, I just recently had a partial blow. I was doing a tandem on a Rage 360. After opeing I noticed a line over on the left side which cleared itself quickly since it was so close to the edge. I told our rigger to check out the canopy for line burn and just by chance he found a small seam blow out on the top center cell of the canopy. After looking at it from the inside of the cell it he determined that the stitching had come undone and ruled it a manufacturers defect. Maybe one more jump on the canopy and the rip could have been much much bigger and as catastrophic as yours.

Maybe your canopy had a pre existing flaw that went unnoticed and finally gave out big time. Just a thought.

-Simon

108 way head down world record!!!
http://www.simonbones.com
Hit me up on Facebook

[CarloC 0]

Could be! But when i found the canopy a few weeks later, it was such a mess, that i didn´t even had the mood to send it to my rigger to check it out. It Seemed easier to buy a new one.

[skittles_of_SDC 0]

Quote

It happened to me once on a sabre 135 loaded at 1.3, the same damage as yours, but the canopy had over 1500 jumps, it had brand new lines and the porosity of the canopy still looked fine.

The opening was hard as a sabre always is, but nothing different, just a blue sky above me. kind scary.

Sucks doesn't it?

[gearless_chris 1]

Quote

Quote

It happened to me once on a sabre 135 loaded at 1.3, the same damage as yours, but the canopy had over 1500 jumps, it had brand new lines and the porosity of the canopy still looked fine.

The opening was hard as a sabre always is, but nothing different, just a blue sky above me. kind scary.

Sucks doesn't it?

Sure does, I blew out 3 cells on my Monarch, jump #11 on the canopy. I was definitely hurt more than you.

"If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane.

My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

[erdnarob 1]

Maybe your hard opening was a combination of :
*on belly position and de-arching too late (too much speed)
*line dump
*riser cover tuck tabs not releasing at the same time
*slider not exposed
*slider away from the stoppers
*...etc
But it seems also that your canopy had a weakness like...too much exposure to the sun maybe. Maybe this canopy has been cut away and found only a week later. Have it inspected and fabric tested by a rigger.

Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

[flydog 0]

I had a tandem canopy with the same damage. Was not a hard opening or anything. Turns out Strong said it was sand in the seems. This had been a southern California canopy for most of its life. Also had damage on an old PD210 around the bridle attach due to sand in the seams. Being that canopy is with a paraconcepts logo probably not sandy as IL is very grassy.

[skittles_of_SDC 0]

True about the grass thing. That is good to know however since the canopy I bought for my gear came from a desert environment.

[phoenixlpr 0]

+ garbage packed in that cell....

One friend of mine got a blown up cell by packing a small piece of wood in.

[erdnarob 1]

Very interesting this discussion. I understand that a piece of hard material caught in a cell can eventually with the inflation high pressure start a weak point on the fabric and generate a tear. However I am not surprised that when jumping and packing in a sandy area, that can weaken a canopy after a while since sand goes everywhere and is sawing the lines and the canopy stitches.
Just for the fun : One time at the end of the flaking I saw a live bumblebee in one of my cell near the tail ready for a free ride. I thought for few second and decided to open my chute and release that passenger. The insect didn't want to get out and I had to invert completely the cell to get rid of it.

Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

[airtwardo 7]

Quote

I was renting but I was told by the shop less than 200.

That looks a lot like the canopy I jumped there a month or so back...If it is, I'd say 200 jumps would be on the high side unless someone has been really using it lot since I did.

I would venture to say it was not a manufacturing problem in regard to the failure type, again....if it's the same one I used, S.C. rigger Tracy and I went over it extensively post deployment because I wanted to compare the cell design, stitch per inch and line attachments to my new, similar size flag jumpin' canopy made by another company.

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~