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skybeergodd

parafoil question

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I have a customer who recently broke a steering line just below the cascade on his Jalbert Parafoil 282. Making a line isn't a big deal at all, done it more times than I care to remember but never on a Parafoil. Usually if it's an A,B,C,or D line I just match it up with the current length so it keeps the canopy in it's current line trim. With brake lines I usually recommend replace both sides. The customer has agreed to do this, but now here's where I need alittle help.....
I've never worked on a Parafoil so I have no info on line lengths or trims. Nor do I even have a clue what size and type of line their brake lines are made from......
I've e-mailed North American Aero( the manufacturer) several times but I get no reply.......Can anyone help me out??? If I can just get help with what type of lines the brake lines are constructed with I can make my way thru it.
Before anyone asks...I have not seen the canopy yet and the first time I'm going to see the canopy is going to be at the DZ on the day of the repair.

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I
I've never worked on a Parafoil so I have no info on line lengths or trims. Nor do I even have a clue what size and type of line their brake lines are made from......



..*cough*cough* case *cough*

:P
"Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you long to return." - Da Vinci
www.lilchief.no

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My GUESS would be 800 or 900 lb round dacron. Probably with a set in eye - not a loop. But this is a guess...



It's been a few years since I had a 'Foil, but I think you're right. It was very heavy-duty stuff. They're not worried about bulk or speed on a accuracy canopy.

The eyelet is probably on the end of a brake stow lanyard, fingertrapped into the main brake line higher up. The purpose for this is to eliminate the lump of the eyelet as it passes through the guide ring at about half-brakes. For accuracy, you want a smooth length of line during the entire travel of brake application. So the attachment point is above the stall point, on a lanyard - a separate piece of line that dangles down with an eyelet on the end, at a point where the eyelet would normally be patched into the regular steering line.

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Some Parafoil brake lines don't even have an eye; the jumper just does a daisy chain like knot to set the brakes.

If one has that situation, it leaves it up to the jumper to figure out the right position, and makes the brake line rather simple to make...

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Some Parafoil brake lines don't even have an eye; the jumper just does a daisy chain like knot to set the brakes. If one has that situation, it leaves it up to the jumper to figure out the right position, and makes the brake line rather simple to make...



Oh yeah, I had forgotten about that. You just daisy-chain tie it to the guide ring. I used to put a magic-marker mark on the line where I wanted it set. But I had trouble with that method, with several jumps where the daisy chain knot cinched up so tight from opening shock that I couldn't pull it loose with the toggle.

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