F111 Canopy loadings

[lazerq3 0]

In the Unruley slider post there were some comments made about loading a F-111 canopy above 1.1. One comment form Lisa was that it can lose perfomance and flare power loaded over 1.1. Another comment was:

Quote

... I've actually heard that it's even getting a little dangerous to load them above 1.1:1, especially if it's an older f111 canopy.

I fly a pd170 with approx200jumps on it loaded around 1.03, and I was just wondering if you could elaberate on losing performance , and what is the dangers that go along with the loading over 1.1. I'm not paroniod or anything just a little concerned becuase I fly a F-111 canopy. What are things to look out for in the performance aspect.
Jason
A-38658

[prost 0]

Mostly the concern is not having enough lift to land you lightly. F-111 lets more of the air pass through the canopy. This causes the canopy to have less flare power. If you load a canopy to a point that it can not produce enough lift at full brakes to briefly stop (or very close to it) your downward movement, you are in for a rough landing.

[cobaltdan 0]

the max wing loading depends more on the canopy design than the fabric.
i load my f111 reserve a hair over 2#/' . as a test jumper i have more than a few rides.
it flys and flares beautifully .
the thing with f111 is that it will not continue to fly the same, for as long as a zpo canopy.
f111 will steadily become more porous with use. the flight caracteristics of your canopy will change over its life. at a certain point you will want to consider retiring the canopy.
zp fabric gains porosity much, much slower. you could wear out several line sets before the fabric degrades to a point where it even minorly effects the flight characteristics.
btw the above goes towards why we recommend zp pilot chutes over f111.
sincerely,
dan
atair aerodynamics
www.extremefly.com