obelixtim 150 #26 September 24, 2012 QuoteQuoteQuoteand what if I'd find my self in need to turn relatively hard later on? Why would you need to do that at all?. If you know the canopy is damaged but you are going to stick with it, all you need to do is select a safe landing area and fly conservatively till touchdown. If you look where you are going you have no need to do any hard turns. as I said- I wanted to make sure my canopy is fully useable- meaning I can do with it everything I usually can. If I can't make any hard turns I'd rather chop it. How about on that jump in particular, once you elected to stay with it, you simply fly it cautiously and land safely. First priority. Obviously if it has suffered some damage, you would be foolish to try and fly it as hard as you normally do. After it has been fixed and checked out you can then return to flying it as you normally would.My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riggerrob 643 #27 September 24, 2012 Quote... and the lines are strong nylon. .... Knowing how a canopy is built is something every skydiver should know. What do you do with your downtime at the DZ??. ....................................................................................... Hah! Hah! The last time I jumped a canopy with nylon suspension iine swas 1986 ... and it was round ... and it was green ... and it was static-lined ... and it suffered so many holes - from a partial inversion - that it went straight to the trash after I landed. Modern square canopies have suspension lines made of Dacron, Spectra, HMA, or Vectran. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
obelixtim 150 #28 September 24, 2012 Quote Quote ... and the lines are strong nylon. .... Knowing how a canopy is built is something every skydiver should know. What do you do with your downtime at the DZ??. ....................................................................................... Hah! Hah! The last time I jumped a canopy with nylon suspension iine swas 1986 ... and it was round ... and it was green ... and it was static-lined ... and it suffered so many holes - from a partial inversion - that it went straight to the trash after I landed. Modern square canopies have suspension lines made of Dacron, Spectra, HMA, or Vectran. Nylon......A generic term I use, meaning not made of cotton or string.....and easier for whuffos to understand. 1986?. Did you have a break from jumping for a while?. And didn't you have any gaffer tape to repair it with?. Waste of a good canopy... I hope you saved all the 550....My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riggerrob 643 #29 September 24, 2012 Quote Quote Quote ... and the lines are strong nylon. .... Knowing how a canopy is built is something every skydiver should know. What do you do with your downtime at the DZ??. ....................................................................................... Hah! Hah! The last time I jumped a canopy with nylon suspension iine swas 1986 ... and it was round ... and it was green ... and it was static-lined ... and it suffered so many holes - from a partial inversion - that it went straight to the trash after I landed. Modern square canopies have suspension lines made of Dacron, Spectra, HMA, or Vectran. Nylon......A generic term I use, meaning not made of cotton or string.....and easier for whuffos to understand. 1986?. Did you have a break from jumping for a while?. And didn't you have any gaffer tape to repair it with?. Waste of a good canopy... I hope you saved all the 550.... ..................................................................................... 1986 Sorry about the typographical error. My fist jump was in 1977 - on a military-surplus round parachute. I have done a few jumps every year since then. A few years I only made a half-dozen jumps, but many yeas I did 350 tandems per year. I also did a hundred military jumps on my way to earning Canadian and West German Army jump wings. No, I did not save the suspension lines, because the canopy (early T-10 lacking anti-inversion netting) belonged to the West German Army and I merely borrowed it for a jump. As for gaffer's tape/sticky ripstop tape/etc. ... the canopy had dozens of small holes. They would have gone broke sewing patches on it. I elected not to pull my reserve because I was descending at about the same rate as the other T-10s beside me and I was guaranteed to land in a snow drift. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riggerrob 643 #30 September 24, 2012 QuoteQuoteand what if I'd find my self in need to turn relatively hard later on? Why would you need to do that at all?. If you know the canopy is damaged but you are going to stick with it, all you need to do is select a safe landing area and fly conservatively till touchdown. If you look where you are going you have no need to do any hard turns. ....................................................................................... Agreed! I tore up a lot of first-generation tandem mains during the 1990s and came to a few conclusions. First: bottom skin tears are no big deal. I have even torn a few bottom skins from nose to tail and landed them without injury. Secondly: top skins tears are really scary. Once I saw a 2-3 foot long tear in my top, center tail. The canopy turned fine, but folded up when I did a practice flare. I told my student: "Put your hands on your chest and arch more!" while I cutaway. Third: holes all the way through the canopy (both top skin and bottom skin) are automatic cutaways as soon as you see them. Do not waste any altitude on control checks. As for the risk of tears getting larger - at lower altitudes - not much risk on tandem mains loaded at 1:1. HOWEVER, heavily-loaded swooping canopies have such soft openings that - often - the greatest strain is during the last turn onto the swoop lane. I remember a German load-organizer breaking a steering line (Elsinore circa 2000) as he turned onto final. We should also remember Koji breaking a Slink as he turned onto final. In conclusion: if your canopy is damaged, evaluate it up high. Decide early (high) if you need to cutaway. If you decide to land it, only do gentle turns. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
