Inconsistent flare?

[Jimbo 0]

I pulled this out of another post in the Canopy Control forum.

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It had a very inconsistent flare. Sometimes it would land fine and other times it slam me and I was doing nothing different. At first I thought it was just me, but after jumping for over a year I knew something was up. Besides, a few other jumpers at my DZ had the same canopy and about half of us were having the same problem of inconsistent flares...and these jumpers had 1000+ jumps so I think they can figure out the flare.

Anyway, I ended up selling the canopy and the guy who bought it called a couple weeks later after jumping it several times and asked what I did to this canopy because of it's inconsistency. I told him I didn't do anything but that I experienced the same problems. He ended up sending it back Icarus, who then told him that this canopy was manufactured incorrectly and they ended up doing a Safire2 mod for no charge. Never spoke to the guy since so I don't know if that fixed the problem. As you can imagine, I was kinda pissed off that I bought a brand new canopy, which I jumped for over a year, and it was made wrong from the factory!!

I don't get it. How can a canopy have an inconsistent flare? It's the same lines, pulling on the same tail every time. Unless the lines stretched or have shrunk, how can a canopy have an inconsistent flare? Shouldn't it be the same flare (good or bad) each time?

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Jim

"Like" - The modern day comma
Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

[PhillyKev 0]

Possibly not if the design of the canopy caused turbulent airflow across it.

[andy2 0]

thats what I was thinking. Much like an oblong or mishaped pilot chute will oscillate a out of line, defected canopy would probably act funky now and again.

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let my inspiration flow,
in token rhyme suggesting rhythm...

[mr2mk1g 10]

If the canopy genuinely was manufactured incorrectly you ought to contact Icarus for some money back. Try an get as much info off the guy you sold it too first though as they may have admitted that it was screwy in a letter to him or something.

I'm loathed to say it cos I want to keep law as far away from skydiving as possible, but if you buy a defective product you should be compensated. In any other market you wouldn’t hesitate on asking for some compensation - imagine if your new car had dodgy breaks that slammed you into a wall every now and again.

[Jimbo 0]

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If the canopy genuinely was manufactured incorrectly you ought to contact Icarus for some money back. Try an get as much info off the guy you sold it too first though as they may have admitted that it was screwy in a letter to him or something.

It's not, I have two Icarus canopies and they've both been GREAT to me. I am just curiuos how a canopy can have an inconsistent flare. I'd understand a canopy that had a consistently shitty flare, or a consistently great flare, I want to understand the inconsistent part of this. The pilot is the only thing I can think of that might be inconsistent (assume stable line configuration and flying in clean air).

-
Jim

"Like" - The modern day comma
Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

[mr2mk1g 10]

No I dont mean the design - I mean if that specific canopy was defectively made in some way. If the design was simply bad there would be no cause of action, but if that one canopy was bad and all the others are good, then you (I assume its your canopy) should get compensation.

As for why a canopy would have an inconsistent flare, I don't know. Guess if the canopy was made wrong then anything could be happening. Still its hard to imagine why it would only happen sometimes and not others, especially the pilot is doing everything the same.

[andy2 0]

why are you assuming perfect line lengths and clean air? Those two reasons very well may be the culprit. Its skydiving man, its not rocket science

---------------------------------------------
let my inspiration flow,
in token rhyme suggesting rhythm...