Premature deployment

[Bolas 5]

I was doing a 2-way sitfly jump. I kind of hosed the exit and semi-corked trying to get back over to the other guy so he started coming to me. I got a foot dock on him and then backed up and was getting ready to come in level. Next thing I know I'm shooting straight up in the air and I'm under canopy. The opening was very quick but not hard. I've actually had harder on belly, when I was accidentally pulling my risers during the opening causing it to pop. My arms were in front of me so the pilot chute and bridle did not get wrapped around anything.
At first I thought I had a Cypress fire but when I looked up and saw my collapsible slider and my red canopy it dawned on me I had a premie. I looked at my altitude and I was at 6000 feet. I checked the canopy for any tears, rips, broken lines, etc. but everything was fine. Luckily it was a warm day so after putting the canopy through it's paces to make sure nothing was going to break I came into a nice standup landing.
I actually have video of the pilot chute fabric sneaking out of the BOC and the deployment. I'll try to get it in a digital format and post a link this week.
My rig is a '94 Javelin that was a leg mount but was converted to BOC with a spandex pouch. I'm going to get the pouch replaced as I've had the mouth tightened before. I'm thinking spandura is what I'll use. My rigger thinks my pilot chute is too small but I'm not so sure about that. It's a 24 inch ZP Monkey Fist. I've never had a problem with it and I think the smaller pilot chute may have saved me from a harder opening.
I have been told I was very lucky and I agree. I don't know what let me have such an uneventful opening, maybe I had packed my self one helluva snivel.

Stupidity if left untreated is self-correcting
If ya can't be good, look good, if that fails, make 'em laugh.

[rigging65 0]

This ties nicely into the discussion about pull-outs and throw-outs. Loose BOCs and air flow over a permeable pouch can cause funky things to happen!

"...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward.
For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

[JohnRich 4]

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This ties nicely into the discussion about pull-outs and throw-outs. Loose BOCs and air flow over a permeable pouch can cause funky things to happen!

Get an old-fashioned ripcord - they don't have any air drag issues, and will stay in place in any body position, at any speed.

[rigging65 0]

True enough...but then you have to rely on the spring to clear the burble, something your arm can do for you.

"...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward.
For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

[Praetorian 1]

can spring pilots shoots be "killed" somehow I dont think a kill line is gonna beat the strength of the spring.. maybe useing a big grommet and letting the D-bag slide down the bridle?

ADDED sorry I should stick to a question not a question and then speculation

Good Judgment comes from experience...a lot of experience comes from bad
judgment.

[Bosveld 0]

I have a friend who had three premature openings in the last year because of the same problem, stretched spandex.
We had the rig converted to a pull out, and now the problem seems to be solved. He was very lucky to have three in such a short time and still be okay.
The last one I think scared him properly because that's when he started jumping another harness till the problem was solved.

Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, will be true!

[sid 1]

that's one reason I did not have a hackey put on my new rig. Too much mass...if your pouch is loose, or you have the hackey in the burble (outside of the profile of the rig) it can bounce up and down and extract the pilot chute.

Pete Draper,

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

[JohnRich 4]

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True enough...but then you have to rely on the spring to clear the burble, something your arm can do for you.

The spring is good enough for your reserve, isn't it?

If you sit-up a bit as you pull, a spring-loaded pilot chute won't linger in a burble. Even if it does on rare occasions, it's not for long, and a quick, simple thing to clear. You can just dip a shoulder a bit to get some air over your back, then go back level again as the pilot chute takes off.

Another benefit of a ripcord: you can pull it with either hand. If your right arm becomes disabled for some reason in freefall, you can still deploy your main canopy with your left hand. With a pull-out or throw-out located back there by your right butt-cheek, you can't reach it with your left hand... Even if you perform some contortion to get to it, you're going to be doing a barrel roll as you dribble it out...

[JohnRich 4]

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can spring pilots shoots be "killed" somehow I dont think a kill line is gonna beat the strength of the spring.. maybe useing a big grommet and letting the D-bag slide down the bridle?

My bag slides up the bridle, and turns inside-out covering the base of the spring-loaded pilot chute, streamlining it.

Yeah, it might have a little air drag on it, but not much. How important is another one-half mile per hour of canopy speed?

Compared with a premature deployment while head-down, I'll gladly sacrifice the one-half mph of canopy speed.

[Bolas 5]

The video is coming, but I have some pictures now:
1. You can see my pilot chute up over my right shoulder.
2. Pilot chute fully extended, me still oblivious.
3. The ride is starting...
4. Off I go!!! I forgot I had line twist, that may have slowed the deployment some.

Stupidity if left untreated is self-correcting
If ya can't be good, look good, if that fails, make 'em laugh.

[rigging65 0]

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The spring is good enough for your reserve, isn't it?

The biggest reason you still have a spring in your reserve system is that its a remote system. That is, you can pull the handle, hold on to it, and the spring does the rest. It's also highly conducive to using the current model AADs. Other than that, it's a bulky, expensive, labor intensive system that does one thing well, and that's it. Of course, that one thing is the thing we insist upon with a reserve system: Remote activation.

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If you sit-up a bit as you pull, a spring-loaded pilot chute won't linger in a burble.

So, I should have to alter my body position (into a less stable one that has me moving around the sky) in order to ensure a clean deployment? No thanks. I'll stick with a system that let's me STAY STABLE AND IN ONE COLUMN OF AIR while I deploy.

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Another benefit of a ripcord: you can pull it with either hand. If your right arm becomes disabled for some reason in freefall, you can still deploy your main canopy with your left hand.

This assumes you're placing your ripcord on your leg or belly or chest. Many ripcords are (currently) placed right where a BOC handle would be...to help ease the transition to throw-outs. This is like saying that a pull-out system is an out-of-order deployment, because it doesn't follow the same order as a throw-out.

IMO, if you could somehow (and I don't know how) get an AAD to activate and deploy your non-spring loaded reserve system without ANY jumper intervention, I think you might see a great decrease in the Spring count out there. People like hand deploy...it's cleaner to use and more compact (giving you a cooler, smaller rig), and you don't have any pieces to loose. Why do you think that less than 5% of the licensed sport community are using ripcords on their mains anymore?

"...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward.
For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

[JohnRich 4]

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If you sit-up a bit as you pull, a spring-loaded pilot chute won't linger in a burble.

So, I should have to alter my body position (into a less stable one that has me moving around the sky) in order to ensure a clean deployment? No thanks. I'll stick with a system that let's me STAY STABLE AND IN ONE COLUMN OF AIR while I deploy.

There is nothing "less stable" about going a little head high on pull. In fact, everyone is pretty much already doing it. Coming out of your track, you should be doing a wave off, waving both hands in front of you, to let anyone over your back know that you are about to pull. The act of doing that, changes your body position to one that tilts you up a bit head high. So following your wave off, you're already in good position to pull, and have air over your back for the spring-loaded pilot chute.

If you can't stay stable in a simple belly-to-earth, slightly head high body position, then you've got big problems.

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Another benefit of a ripcord: you can pull it with either hand. If your right arm becomes disabled for some reason in freefall, you can still deploy your main canopy with your left hand.

This assumes you're placing your ripcord on your leg or belly or chest. Many ripcords are (currently) placed right where a BOC handle would be...to help ease the transition to throw-outs. This is like saying that a pull-out system is an out-of-order deployment, because it doesn't follow the same order as a throw-out.

If you're going to use a main ripcord, then the transition scheme doesn't apply. You just go ahead and put it on your main lift web, where you can see it and reach it with either hand.

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Why do you think that less than 5% of the licensed sport community are using ripcords on their mains anymore?

Fashion. The same reason that many people use mini-3-rings and tiny risers. Mini-risers are more prone to create problems than the old-fashioned large ones. But people like them anyway. Fashion can kill.