deployment time of a reserve

[rendezvous 0]

From under a fully open canopy if someone was to cutaway how much altitude would it take for a reserve to fully deploy. And here is another hypothetical situation, ofcourse I'm not trying it and I know this is best left to the base jumpers and their rigs but if someone was to jump out of a 300 feet building and pull the reserve handle would it deploy in time. Alternately if you were to jump out and toss the pilot shoot manually by holding it while jumping off would that help.

[scottbre 0]

I don't know enough about most canopies to know whether you could get an open and landable reserve in 300 feet, but I do know that you would be severely pushing your luck throwing your main, considering that you are doing it at subterminal speeds. 20 million bathtubs can't be wrong. . .

[rendezvous 0]

I agree with you on the main not working. Not the way it's packed for skydiving. It's the reserve that I'm curious about. This question is more from an academic point of view, just to understand what a reserve can and cannot do outside it's original working environment.

[Hooknswoop 19]

Time from cutaway to fully open reserve depends upon several things including, but not limited to: Reserve size, PC launch and inflation, PC size, body position, and packing.
Containers are made w/ the same size reserve PC. Cutting away from a fully inflated main w/ my old XRS to having my 109 fully inflated took less than 200ft (on video and another jumper witness) Cutting away and deploying my Fury 220R on my J4 took longer for the canopy to come out of the bag, but inflation time was about the same, but i was falling faster because it took longer for the canopy to come out of the bag. So it took closer to 400 ft for full canopy inflation from the cutaway. Same PC lifting more than double the weight. I guess ideally, you would fire the reserve on your side or head high for the best PC launch and be belly to earth shoulder even for the deployment.
Hook

[flyinryan 0]

I cannot tell you about deployment times/heights for cutaways but I can tell you that there are BASE canopies that used to be skydiving reserves. I have seen a guy use a cruiselite (sp?) and I myself use a Raven IV. Keep in mind though that the wingloading on these canopies is around .7 where as your sport reserve may be loaded more than that making it a bad BASE canopy. Also, a special pilot chute, bridle, and container is used for BASE aplications...I know you said this was just academic but hypothetically speaking, please don't go off of a 300' building using the reserve on your sport rig.

[SkydiveMonkey 0]

I think it's 3 seconds or 500 feet whichever is first. I wouldn't like to try a 300 foot BASE with it.
You shouldn't put a knife in the toaster - but you're an adult now !!!

[billvon 3,111]

>From under a fully open canopy if someone was to cutaway how much altitude would it take for a reserve to fully deploy.
On a Reflex with a catapult, with an Amigo reserve - 60 to 100 feet.
>if someone was to jump out of a 300 feet building and pull the reserve handle would it deploy in time.
Probably.
>Alternately if you were to jump out and toss the pilot shoot manually by holding it while jumping off would that help.
Depends on a million things. What size PC? Kill line/bungee/nothing? What material is the PC made of? What bridle length? What sort of linestow system? (tailpocket on canopy, linestows on bag, tailpocket on sleeve) What sort of main canopy? Original or modified (mesh/chopped up) slider? Brake stow position? Type of pack job - freepack, in a bag, in a sleeve etc.
Tossing the PC "manually" (exiting handheld in other words) does not speed inflation BTW - it just gets the PC out in the air a bit faster. There's very little difference from taking a one second delay handheld and a half second delay stowed - the big issue is how soon you launch the PC.
But to answer the question I _think_ you are asking, if you tried to do that with standard skydiving gear and a Spectre, I think you'd have a 50/50 chance of getting canopy before impact.
-bill von

[riggerrob 643]

BASE canopies and skydiving reserves are built the same. They are also packed the same way. Most of the tricks I use while packing reserves I learned from BASE jumpers. The greatest difference is in the pilotchutes. Most reserve pilotchutes are around 36" diameter. The problem is their heavy springs, which may result in some weird gyrations at low airspeeds.
BASE pilotchutes - for sub-terminal openings - are usually over 40" diameter and hand-deployed.
If I had to jump off a 300 foot building with a skydiving rig, I would tie the reserve pilotchute to the railing. Direct-bagging the reserve would produce a high probability of survival. The toughest part would be keeping the freebag neatly on my back as I climb over the railing.

[rendezvous 0]

but aren't BASE canopies free packed normally. How is that the same as the packing of a reserve. I always thought reserves go into a deployment bag, just like the main. I'm quite new to the sport so my knowledge is quite limited so bare with me if the questions sound a bit silly. Since I haven't seen reserves being packed and haven't read anything about reserve packing on these forums I'm intrigued by it. Want to understand it a bit more than just knowing that if I pull the silver handle it'll pop it out.

[billvon 3,111]

>but aren't BASE canopies free packed normally.
No!!! They are generally packed like reserves, with a lot more attention paid to nose position, air channel and control of the tail. They generally use tail pockets instead of line stows. They are generally packed without a D-bag, in a velcro closed rig. It takes a while to learn to do it.
>I always thought reserves go into a deployment bag, just like the main.
There are a few differences.
1. They go in a freebag, which has no bridle attachement point.
2. The freebags are often "molar" meaning you can't put any material in the center of the bag - there's a grommet there to receive the reserve closing loop.
3. The lines are stowed in a pocket on the freebag, not in elastic bands on the bag.
4. The packing process is different, although if you were to just use a pro-pack it would likely work.
>Since I haven't seen reserves being packed and haven't read anything about reserve packing on these forums I'm intrigued by it.
>Want to understand it a bit more than just knowing that if I pull the silver handle it'll pop it out.
Next time your rigger does a repack ask him if you can watch. You'll learn a lot.
-bill von

[Hooknswoop 19]

I think he ment BASE canopys and reserves are folded the same until being put into the D-bad or container. I pack my BASE rig almost identically to the way I pack reserves.
Hook

[alan 1]

Quote

BASE canopies and skydiving reserves are built the same.

I think BASE technology is ahead of current reserves in some areas, although I don't believe most of the current state of the art BASE canopies would pass TSO testing. One example, the use of open mesh on the bottom skin of BASE canopies. May not hold up to speed/weight drop tests, but perhaps it could with some work. What about releaseable steering lines as a solutiuon to some line over mals? May not be a great option on a heavily loaded reserve, but some people don't overload them and I think it is a better option than trying to get out the hook knife. Just some thoughts.
alan