jumperconway 0 #1 November 16, 2003 I think this should be posted here so that people can learn. After our friend spiraled in in Perris Valley with a stuck toggle from the Slinks, I changed my excess brake storage to the bottom of my toggle keeper instead of through the top of the riser. What I didn't know about was the fact that my new canopy has rather large cats eyes in the brake lines! When I stowed the excess on one jump today. I actually pulled the cat's eye over the grommet on the toggle! After a long spot, I flew in with the brakes stowed untill about 800'. When I went to unstow the brakes for final and landing. the front left leading edge, collapsed! I snapped quickly that for whatever reason, the left brake was still in a stowed situation. I could only fly staight by holding the right toggle down half way, Understand that I'm under a Xaos 27 cell 79' canopy loaded 2.4/1! I took a double wrap on my right toggle to even the toggles to brakes set mode and landed on rear risers. I flared the rears a little hard on landing and collapsed the canopy. I was happy to walk away from it. Having landed a stuck toggle before on a Xaos 80-21 helped me not make the same mistake but I never should have put myself in a situation below cutaway level to unstow my brakes. I hope all that read this learn from my mistkes an dont put yourself in the situation that I put myself today. Peace. Conway Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 4 #2 November 16, 2003 Dang. Y'all be carefull up there. Long spot eh? Ya know, one thing I've never understood is why people, after making sure the area around them is clear, don't immediately release their brakes -- long spot or no. If I need to "hang in brakes" I release them and then pull them down to either the tops of my shoulders or all the way down to my laterals (depending on the amount required) and then just hook my thumbs under the rig to hold them there. Very little effort required to hold them at those positions for an extended period of time, but immediately available for adjustment if required. Give it a shot and see if it might work for you.quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
johnny1488 1 #3 November 16, 2003 Thats why I think if you're gonna fly back in brakes, unstow them after you open and grab your legstraps if you need help holding them down. Not to sound condesending, but a conrolabality check needs to be done to know if the canopy is landable. Glad your OK, glad you posted this for other people to learn. Somone with less expierence could have been real hurt had they not assesed the situation as quick as you. Get those control lines changed. If im not mistaken, too large a cats eye can lead to premature brake release also. Not something you want at 2.4! Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sundevil777 102 #4 November 16, 2003 Sunpath' preferred excess brake line stow method almost shows the mistake that you made (see attachment). I posted about this before: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=547630;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unreadPeople are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 4 #5 November 16, 2003 I'm still not sure I understand the mistake. If you have time and access to a camera, do you think you could take a photo of the issue and post it here?quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jumperconway 0 #6 November 16, 2003 QuoteI'm still not sure I understand the mistake. If you have time and access to a camera, do you think you could take a photo of the issue and post it here? Hi Paul, If you look at the post above you, you will see basically how i stowed the excess except with large cat's eye, I pulled the cat's eye beyond the grommet on the toggle. When I went to unstow the brake lines the cat's eye was underneath the toggle grommet and I was freeking low! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 4 #7 November 16, 2003 Ahhh, ok, I think I now understand it. If I do, then I think the cat eye was a -part- of the problem, but you also need to make sure that you snug up the upper control line on the top portion of the toggle whenever you pack -- yes?quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jumperconway 0 #8 November 16, 2003 Unfortunately Paul without looking, what I apparently did was snug it below the grommet. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
