Hooknswoop

The pic is out at the DZ, one of the packers took it. he is wanting to get into free-fall video and was playing w/ his camera. It isn't a digitial shot, and I don't want to pay $20 for it, so guess that one won't get posted

Hey Chuck, he doesn't actually need one anymore, since he hooked it in. He plans on selling all his gear and quiting. I saw a really nice 8 X 10 w/ his toes, knees and face impacting the ground, with one hand still on a dive loop. OUCH! Hook

I'vee seen that design, where on the inside of the D-bad the kill line is hodden isdie a sanwhich of 1 inch or 3/4 inch tape. As you cock the PC, this tape "scrunches" up and the kill line is not exposed. The downside to this design is that the "scrunched" up tape is trying to "un-scrunch" itself, which collapses/un-cocks the PC. I'll stick to cocking the PC then putting the canopy in the bag. It's worked for me. Hook

Links/risers/harness even = canopy flys straight. Links/risers/ harness un-even = canopy spins. Hook

Oops, sorry. I mis-read your post. Hook

Preventing and Curing Line Twists Line twists have gone from a common nuisance to a common malfunction requiring a cutaway. There are techniques for reducing the chances of incurring line twists and correcting them if you do get them. The first step to handling line twists is to prevent them in the first place. The looser the chest strap is the wider the 3 rings will be on deployment, which makes it harder for line twists to develop. Of course, be sure that your harness is secure enough to keep you from sliding out of it. Make sure your leg straps are even. For free flyers, a piece of bungee or elastic between your leg straps will help keep the leg straps from creeping to the back of your knees and keep the risers loaded evenly on deployment. Evenly loading the harness on deployment by keeping your hips and shoulders level with the ground will help keep the canopy opening on heading. Take care when setting the brakes of your canopy and take out any twists in the steering lines, which shorten the line. A pre-mature brake release can easily cause line twists and limits your ability to steer away from others immediately after deploying. When stowing the lines on the deployment bag, one side will have less excess in the line from bottom of reserve container to last stow on deployment bag lines than the other. If your last stow was on the left of the bag, the right side would have the least amount of excess lines in the bottom of the pack tray and vice versus. Leave 12 to 18 inches of excess line between the side with the least amount of excess and the corner of the reserve container. This will prevent the lines from hanging up on the reserve container on deployment and twisting the deployment bag as it leaves the container. A worn out pilot chute can spin on deployment, which can spin the deployment bag. Replace a pilot chute that has holes in the fabric or tears in the mesh. Re-line a canopy that is out of trim. If one end cell “A” line has shrunk more than the opposite side, the canopy will open turning in the direction of the shorter line. Also, if one steering line has shrunk more than another, the canopy will want to turn in the direction of the shorter line on opening. Pulling the slider down to the 3 rings can prevent self-induced line twists and most importantly, smooth control inputs. Even if you take all possible precautions, line twists still happen. If you find yourself under canopy with line twists and the canopy is flying straight, simply kick out of the twists. Make sure you are kicking in the right direction. You can also twist the risers to bring the twists closer to you and reach above the twists for leverage to get yourself out of the twists. If the canopy is spinning with line twists, react quickly, look up at your links and make them even by shifting your weight in the harness. Be careful not to overdo it and cause the canopy to spin in the opposite direction. At the same time, make sure your brakes are still set. You can use any reference you want, but I’ve found using the links to make the risers even is easiest. The canopy should stop spinning and fly straight. Now kick out of the line twists. Again, make sure you are kicking in the right direction. A canopy that is spinning in line twists loses altitude rapidly. Watch your altitude. Remember under a highly loaded elliptical, you don’t have much time depending on your pull altitude and you do not want the twists to include the excess cutaway cable in the back of your risers. This can make for an impossible or difficult cutaway. Riser inserts have been proven to reduce the pull force during a cutaway from line twists. Hook

Be very careful cocking a PC after the canopy is in the D-bag. If the kill line wraps around fabric as you cock the PC................ Always cock the PC after cocooning the canopy and before putting the canopy in the bag. Aloso, if you cock the PC, then lift the canopy to PRO pack it, the D-bag can slide down the kill line, colapsing, or partially colapsing, the PC. Hook

Kelli & I are in for Laughlin. Hook

With a Single Operating System, the one handle is connected to the yellow cutaway cables (2) and the reserve ripcord. It is set up so that the excess cutaway cables in the channels on the rear rises are shorter thatn the slack in the reserve ripcord at the handle. This ensures that the main is released before the reserve pin is pulled, activating the reserve. The RSL is STRICTLY a back up device, as is an AAD. In short, yes you need to still pull the reserve ripcord on a two-handle system w/ an RSL. I have seen 3 RSL become disconnected in free-fall w/o the jumper being aware of it (one studnet, one experienced jumper, and one tandem) The designer of the 3-ring system recommends a 30-day maintenance. Disconnect the risers from the harness, clean the yellow cutaway cables w/ Ace Pure Silicone Lubricant (great stuff), and “massage” the 3-rings to prevent them from taking on a “set”. This will make them release faster in a normal cutaway situation, ensure the lightest pull force of the cutaway pillow and help the 3-rings release in a horse-shoe/can’t find/pull the PC situation. Make sure your 3-rings are re-assembled correctly and the risers didn't get twisted during this process. The easiest way I’ve found t performing the maintenance is while the main is packed and using the riser covers to keep the risers from twisting. Hook Hook

I have seen many canopies plane out, and have experienced this under a Safire 189, with zero tiggle input. I can actually get my Safire to climb w/o any toggle input. It then slows down, slower than normal full flight, then begins to surge towards the ground, all w/o any toggle or risr input. I have seen a Stiletto 120 climb slightly with no toggle input, with the same result. A canopy that will plane out w/ no toggle input requires releasing the front risers at exaclty the correct altitude to allow the natural recovery arc to plane it out exactly above the ground where the pilot wnats to be. So the input that determines the plane-out altitude happens well above the ground. If the canopy will not plane out w/ toggle input and the pilot releases the front riserrs a bit too high, the only thing lost is a bit of speed, and the pilot can plane the canopy out at the altitude they wish, becaus ehte canopy will not level out of it's out accord. I think they have the same, either way you wil have "dig out" of the dive. If the have the same recovery arc, it will require the same amount of toggle to pull out. The diffference being if the pilot hooks the canopy that planes out w/o input too high, the landing is not a nice swoop. with the canopy that does not plane out on it's own, a too high hook, simply result is a slower swoop, still at the altitude above the ground the pilot chooses. Learning to hook turn on a canopy that planes itself out can result in the pilot constantly being in the corner, because he knows a turn too high will not rtesulkt in a nice swoop landing, but a turn too low only requires a bit of digging to fix, resulitng in a slower, but still just above the ground swoop. So the pilot tends to hook a little low to ensure a nice swoop, then he hooks it a bit too low and can't pull out. I've seen this scenario played out mnay times. Canopy pilots can look at both of our opinions, take what they think is corrct or works for them and profit by it. Differing opinions benifits all by allowing people to read, think, and decide for themselves. So iguess what I am saying is, let's not focus on "right" or "wrong", by offer our opinions, and heck maybe we can meet in the middle someday

Let me take a shot: After a front riser turn (or any diving turn for that matter) a canopy will do one of three things, if no input is applied to it. 1) It will recover from the dive to level flight, parallel to the ground, (again w/o any input), slow down below it’s “normal” forward flight speed (the normal speed at which the canopy flies at w/ the brakes released), then “surge” forward and accelerate to it’s “normal” forward flight speed again (back to the speed, attitude, etc it was in before the initial dive-inducing turn). 2) I will recover from the dive to its “normal” forward speed, w/o ever flying at a shallower angle to ground than it’s normal decent angle. If, for example, the canopy descends at a 35-degree angle, relative to the ground, after a hard/turn, say a 90-degree dive (straight down dive); it will recover back to the 35-degree descent angle. It doesn’t recover past it’s normal glide angle. So it seems to continue to “dive”. It really isn’t, but it just doesn’t “plane out” w/o riser or toggle input. Why is this an important distinction? If 3) Somewhere between 1) and 2). Why is this an important distinction? If you hook turn a canopy that falls into 1) above, and you initiate the turn too high (say 20 ft too high), it will plane out 30 ft over the ground, slow down below it’s normal full flight speed, then surge towards the ground to accelerate back to normal full flight. Why is this bad? That leaves the jumper at 20 ft, with no airspeed and under a canopy that is diving to regain that airspeed. This is similar to flaring a canopy at 20 ft, almost completely, coming to almost a complete stop, then letting the canopy fly. So there you are w/ less that full flight airspeed to trade for lift to flare with. So the landing is hard. Most people respond to this situation by holding some brakes in to prevent the surge, and sink the canopy down to a generally “brisk”, “ankle-burner” of a landing. So a canopy that behaves like 2), and not 1) is preferable for swooping, because if the jumper hooks it a bit too high, the worst that can result is a landing that would be identical to a straight in approach, because the canopy doesn't "level" off and bleed off all it's forward speed. You never slow down below it's "normal" forward speed, unless you add riser/toggle input. Hook

There is mesh around the equator of the drogue, i suspect it there is reduce the oscillations. Where the fabric/tape meets the mesh is a big wear point on drogues. The mesh tears easily. So adding more mesh would increase the amount of repairs that has to be done on a continuing basis. I read that some BASE PC's now incorporate a bit of mesh near the top to reduce oscillations. I think because of the massive burble drogues operate in, there isn't much that can be done to stabilize them. I haven't felt the oscillations under a drogue before, so I don't think it is a big deal. Hook

I was thinking how ironic would it be if someone choked to death on a life-saver candy. Hook

It isn't the momentum of the jumper swinging foward, it is the drag of the canopy wich causes it to "sit back" and change the lift vector and angle of attack. A small canopy has less drag, which is why a Stiletto 97 at a 1.5 wingloading is faster than a Stiletoo 150 at a 1.5 wingloading. Hook

Wether a canopy will plane out w/o any input is determined by drag. If the there is enough drag on the canopy, it will "rock back" and the lift vector will be vertical and the canopy will plane out. The lager the canopy, the more drag there is. Even loaded at 2.0-2.1 I doubt if my VX would plane out, there isn't enough drag on it. Hook

Depending on the canopy and wingloading, some canopies will "level off" or even climg w/o toggle input after an aggressive dive. Smaller, highly loaded canopies generally will not "level off" and will, after an aggressive dive eventually slow back down to their normal "full flight" mode w/o ever leveling off or climbing. I have seen a Stiletto 120 climb a little in a swoop w/ zero toggle input, my VX-60 does not plane out or level off w/o some toggle input. Hook

Surprising you say that on the heels of experiencing a Rapide link failure yourself. I think, like most of the skydivers at the DZ you jump at, are resistent to change of any sort. You still jump a rip cord, correct? Has not the throw out pilot chute proven itself? In mass usage, over time? Soft links have the same inspection interval as Rapide links, are stronger, less bulky, allow the slider to be pulled down (if your into that), don't damage the slider groments which then wear on the lines, don't rust, don't require slider bumpers that wear out, don't come undone, if they do fail, it will most likely be on opening unlike a Rapide link, they are approved for reserve and tandem use, and they last at least as long as the line set itself. Hook

I remember reading something about that. It explains why at landing the student can no longer hear the radio. Hook

Very true. There are only so many possibilites and I figure probably all of them have been tried. So what works and what doesn't? What signals do we really need? I have found that on later levels looking at my own altimeter is the best "Check altitude" signal there is. It bypasses them having to see me, reconize what signal I am giving them, translate that signal into what it means, then do it. Radios in free fall wouldn't work very well I think. Just like when the radio is working great until w/ in 100 ft of the ground and they can't hear it anynore. The radio is still working the same but their stress level doesn't allow them to hear it anymore. Hook

I agree Mark. I don't use a PHT/PRCP signal. If they forget to touch their handle, I put their hand on it and they remember. Maybe it is time to make an attempt to make hand signals universal and uniform between DZ's? Hook

The AFFCC is supposed to be standardized between Course Directors. Different DZ's do things differently. That is generally driven by the DZO and how he/she wants things taught. Heck, I saw a video recently where it was standard operating procedure for the instructor to pull for the student of AFF level 1. AFF/AFP/ISP, etc is not standardized between DZ's. Hook

I did enjoy swooping past them to a nice stand-up landing as they were picking themselves up and dusting themselves off w/ a canopy 1/2 the size they were flying. Hook

I've never seen a closed fist used for any signal before recently. For PRCP's/PHT's I've seen an open hand w/ the fingers folded in as if hooking something with all four fingers and I've seen three fingers indicating 3 PRCP's/3 PHT's. So there isn't much in the way of uniformity of AFF hand signals between DZ's. So that shouldn't be a "show-stopper" for using a closed fist for the pull signal. Hook

Might want to double check that one. Hook

Seems like we already have that problem. Hook