Walking With Airlocks

[BrianSGermain 1]

There are many schools of thought on the topic of walking in wind with an airlock canopy. Although many methods work well, there is one way that has tested well in most conditions. Here are the steps:

1) As soon as you are on the ground, release one toggle. This will send the canopy into a turn. As you do this, lean your body weight upwind to tension the lines. This will quicken the response to your input.
2) When the canopy if facing the ground, let go of the remaining toggle. This allows the canopy to fly into the ground.
3) Take a step forward toward the parachute. The canopy will then float on its back, with the nose facing you. There will be little or no drag at this point, which allows you to stand still for a minute and rest from your jump.
4) Do not stow your toggles or push the slider back up just yet. The cupping action of stowed toggles will increase the drag of the canopy, and pushing the slider up in this configuration will form an inflated wall that will be hard to walk with.
5) When you are ready to walk in, separate your front risers from the back risers. Pull the front risers away from the canopy, so as to tension only the nose of the parachute.
6) Next, grab all of your lines in this offset configuration and push the slider back up to the canopy and loop the lines in one hand. By tensioning the leading edge only, you end up changing the shape of the wing from a wall into a tube. Tubes have less drag because the air passes right through them.
7) Flipping the nose of the canopy to the top seems to help keep the air from re-entering the wing. Without a constant influx of air, the pressure in the wing will gradually drop as the outside air presses against the inflated mass. By the time you reach the packing area, most of the air should be out of the wing.

I sincerely hope that this information is helpful for all our members of the Airlock Family. Perhaps this knowledge will dispel some of the preconceived notions about airlock canopies, and help to break down the barriers standing in the way of making the choice to go with airlocks.

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[sdctlc 0]

It works! With my Sam I do basically that maybe slightly different, I really dont pay a whole lot of attention now. After you jump an airlocked canopy for awhile you dont even think about it, first few times in wind, that is a different story. Now even on a windy day I see other people hainvg more problems then me. It is just getting use to it!

Scott C.

"He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

[yurbai 0]

I never even thought about this problem, but I do exactly what you discribed and it worked for me great.

I got a question for you, Brian, why did you choose 7 cell base for your Sensei, was it the pack volume, that was major factor?

[totalbodypilot 0]

I use steps 1 thru 3 then step on my bridle as the canopy is floating backwards. This exsposes the top skin and the wind forces the air out.

seek and destroy, clear and sweep, what ever you want to call it, its all fun in games in the game of war.