How would you inspect a pilot chute?

[mirage62 0]

Something I've never thought a lot about, but after reading some post about "worn out pilot chutes" I got to wondering. I have aprrox. 1,000 jumps on my current p.c. beyond the few threads around the outside it "looks" okay - normal wear and tear.

Thanks

Kevin Keenan is my hero, a double FUP, he does so much with so little

[Hooknswoop 19]

“Caring for Your Kill Line Pilot Chute”

Kill line pilot chutes are a high wear part of your skydiving equipment requiring periodic inspection and maintenance to ensure that they will continue to function properly. Pilot chutes are deployed at 120 mph, lift the bag off your back, then it rapidly collapses as the canopy leaves the bag, and finally they are dropped onto the ground with each landing. Who hasn’t been walking back to the packing area to the calls of “dragging!”, only to discover you have been dragging your pilot chute across the ground?

Kill line pilot chutes wear at several points. The following is what to inspect and some suggestions for increasing the life span of your kill line pilot chute.

The Spectra kill line shrinks from the heat generated from sliding through the bridle as the pilot chute collapses and the bridle stretches over time, affecting the original calibration. Because the change is so gradual it often goes unnoticed until you begin to experience hesitations on deployment. To check for correct kill line length, cock the pilot chute and watch the kill line. Does it become taunt before the two white ribbons that run from the apex (the top of the pilot chute) to the bridle? If it does, then the kill line is too short, not allowing the pilot chute to completely inflate. When cocked, the two white ribbons should be taunt and there should be some slack on the kill line. Also, if the handle of the pilot chute being pulled through the small opening at the base of the pilot chute on deployment, the kill line is too short. Your rigger should be able to replace the kill line, or if the kill line was manufactured with enough excess line, your rigger can simply extend the kill line.

Check the stitching that holds your handle to the pilot chute. If the handle rips off, you would have a total malfunction. Check the bridle, especially where the pin attaches to the bridle. If any of the stitches have come out, have your rigger repair it. If the pin rips off of the bridle you would have a pilot chute in tow malfunction. As you fly your canopy, the deployment bag is free to spin around the bridle. Eventually the bridle will wear out and break at the grommet. Have your rigger use waxed nylon cord to tack both sides of the rapide link to the reinforced part of the deployment bag to prevent the bridle from rotating in the grommet. Some manufactures sew the pilot chute bridle to the deployment bag, eliminating this problem. The disadvantage of a sewn-in pilot chute is they are difficult to replace, usually a job for a rigger. Lastly, have your rigger install stainless steel rapide links instead of the plated links. They won’t corrode, reducing wear on the bridle.

Whether your pilot chute is a kill line or not, the Z-P or F-111 fabric wears just like the fabric on a canopy. The porosity of the fabric degrades with use, decreasing the drag of the pilot chute. Eventually the pilot chute will not have enough drag to deploy your main canopy, leaving you with a pilot chute in tow or a bag lock. An indication that your chute may have problems is a pause between throwing your pilot chute and the canopy coming out of the bag.

A patch on a pilot chute would be difficult to sew and could cause it to spin on deployment, creating lines twists. As the mesh wears, holes will develop. Once the mesh tears the hole will become larger quickly. Replace a pilot chute with holes in the fabric or mesh.

Check that the tape on the mesh runs at a 45-degree angle to the 'grain'. If it doesn't the pilot chute can distort, reducing its effectiveness.

Checking your pilot chute every time you do your 30-day three-ring maintenance is simple and could prevent a malfunction. If you are not confident inspecting your pilot chute, have your rigger help you. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Derek

[riddler 0]

And from the inventor of the hand deploy PC:

Bill Booth

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[darkwing 5]

I will add the place where the kill line exits the bridle, on the bag end of things. On Cazer's at least, there is a lot of friction wear on the bridle tape where it wraps around the connector link. I've seen several pilot chutes where this was the first thing to fail.

-- Jeff
My Skydiving History

[floormonkey 0]

And don't forget to inspect the actual apex line on all types of PC's (the white ribbons). It would suck pretty bad if one of those wore out, or, more commonly (though not very common) the stitching failed.

[crapflinger2000 1]

actually this would probably be not too big of a deal, but for sure you would not be getting max performance out of your pilot chute if the centerlines broke....

__________________________________________________
What would Vic Mackey do?

[JohnRich 4]

Quote

"worn out pilot chutes"

Beyond the physical inspection, examine how it is performing on deployment. Pilot chutes wear out over time so slowly that we hardly notice the change. Maybe it starts taking longer to drag the bag off your back, or you are getting some hesitations now and then. If so, then it may be time to replace it.

I just had a lesson in this. My pilot chute was taking a while to get things moving, and my deployments were eating up a couple hundred more feet of altitude than usual. So I replaced the pilot chute. On the very next deployment - WHAM! I got a snatch force so violent it gave me neck pains and a headache. That was just the snatch force, not opening shock, from the speed at which the pilot chute gets you to line stretch. That continued for five jumps in a row. Ouch!

The new pilot chute was so much more effective, that I figured it was creating "line dump", stripping my line stows out too suddenly. So I then decided to start double-wrapping my rubber bands over my line stows, in order to slow things down a bit. And that worked like a charm. Now I'm back to comfortable openings once again.

Stay in tune with your gear!