
Regarding Pins & closings
Here is a USPA notice regarding pins piercing the bridle and locking the container:
http://www.uspa.org/NewsEvents/News/tabid/59/ctl/Detail/mid/797/xmid/10148/xmfid/19/Default.aspx
UPT's recommended alternate closing method:
http://unitedparachutetechnologies.com/PDF/Support/Sport/ALTERNATIVE_MAIN_CONTAINER_CLOSING_TIP_INSTRUCT-027_Rev-0.pdf
Brian German talking about this closing technique and demonstrating it (which can be used on any rig, not just Vectors):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgU9wT7O0-E

The Two Ways to DIE by Pete Allum (link to Skydive the Mag.)
this is mostly about canopy flight, but is quite illuminating in general.
IS JUMPING A WINGSUIT MORE DANGEROUS THAN REGULAR SKYDIVING?

That is the question I’ve been asked at least a dozen times since doing my first wingsuit jump a few days ago. First of all, what’s regular skydiving? Second of all, in case you didn’t know it, skydiving in all its disciplines, is a dangerous sport. Every skydive, as with most worthwhile things in life, involve calculated risks. Before moving forward I think we should ask ourselves two questions.
1) Can we minimize the risk to an acceptable level?
2) Is it going to be rewarding (fun) enough that it’s worth taking the risk?
The safest type of skydiving we can do is static line with a round parachute. We will almost certainly have a parachute over our heads. There won’t be any canopy collisions. We can’t do low turns. There would be a higher percentage of broken legs and sprained ankles but that should be the worst of it and in skydiving terms those injuries are minor.
Yup, if we’re looking for the safest way to jump out of an airplane static line round is the way to go. As far as the fun goes, why bother.
Every additional element we add from there increases the risk factor.
-Freefall is higher risk than static line.
-Jumping squares is higher risk than rounds.
-Fast parachutes are higher risk than slow parachutes.
-A 2-way is more dangerous than a solo. A 10-way more than a 2-way. A 100-way more than a 10-way.
-Freeflying adds faster speeds and more difficult visuals.
-CRW is more dangerous than never flying within 200 feet of another canopy.
-Demos are higher risk than jumps on the dz.
-Jumping with a camera is higher risk than jumping without one.
-Jumping with a wingsuit is higher risk than jumping with an FS or FF suit.
In my limited knowledge and experience with wingsuits it looks to me that there are two additional safety issues to consider.
1) Deploying your main pilot chute while wearing a wingsuit requires more focus, care and attention. I minimized this risk, as instructed to by my coach, by doing several practice pulls and deploying smoothly at a high altitude of 5000’.
2) Getting your parachute under control quickly after opening is more difficult in a wingsuit. I minimized this risk, as instructed to by my coach, by jumping a big, docile canopy which opens on heading and flies stable. Also by being absolutely certain I had plenty of separation from the other jumpers. This gave me adequate time to get my canopy under control even had there been a situation that we all had off heading openings and were headed right at each other.
I was just the right amount of nervous as I was preparing to exit on my first wingsuit jump. Not scared as such (well, maybe a little), just extra aware enough to make sure and do every detail exactly as my coach had showed me to. I’m sure I was a text book first flight student. It seemed as safe as any jump I’ve ever made, safer than many. As far as fun goes, when I kicked it into full speed I was flying across the ground so fast I could’ve sworn I was Superman. And who doesn’t think it would be fun to be Superman.
Life is full of calculated risks. Analyze the risk. Determine to what degree you can minimize it. Decide if it will be rewarding enough to make it worth it.
Then skydive smart.
If you’re interested in reading more about smart risk taking read “The Power of Risk” by friend and skydiver Jim McCormick. Available on amazon below
http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Risk-Step—Step/dp/097285200X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372622183&sr=8-1&keywords=the+power+of+risk+%E2%80%93+how+intelligent+choices+will+make+you+more+successful
1) Can we minimize the risk to an acceptable level?
2) Is it going to be rewarding (fun) enough that it’s worth taking the risk?
The safest type of skydiving we can do is static line with a round parachute. We will almost certainly have a parachute over our heads. There won’t be any canopy collisions. We can’t do low turns. There would be a higher percentage of broken legs and sprained ankles but that should be the worst of it and in skydiving terms those injuries are minor.
Yup, if we’re looking for the safest way to jump out of an airplane static line round is the way to go. As far as the fun goes, why bother.
Every additional element we add from there increases the risk factor.
-Freefall is higher risk than static line.
-Jumping squares is higher risk than rounds.
-Fast parachutes are higher risk than slow parachutes.
-A 2-way is more dangerous than a solo. A 10-way more than a 2-way. A 100-way more than a 10-way.
-Freeflying adds faster speeds and more difficult visuals.
-CRW is more dangerous than never flying within 200 feet of another canopy.
-Demos are higher risk than jumps on the dz.
-Jumping with a camera is higher risk than jumping without one.
-Jumping with a wingsuit is higher risk than jumping with an FS or FF suit.
In my limited knowledge and experience with wingsuits it looks to me that there are two additional safety issues to consider.
1) Deploying your main pilot chute while wearing a wingsuit requires more focus, care and attention. I minimized this risk, as instructed to by my coach, by doing several practice pulls and deploying smoothly at a high altitude of 5000’.
2) Getting your parachute under control quickly after opening is more difficult in a wingsuit. I minimized this risk, as instructed to by my coach, by jumping a big, docile canopy which opens on heading and flies stable. Also by being absolutely certain I had plenty of separation from the other jumpers. This gave me adequate time to get my canopy under control even had there been a situation that we all had off heading openings and were headed right at each other.
I was just the right amount of nervous as I was preparing to exit on my first wingsuit jump. Not scared as such (well, maybe a little), just extra aware enough to make sure and do every detail exactly as my coach had showed me to. I’m sure I was a text book first flight student. It seemed as safe as any jump I’ve ever made, safer than many. As far as fun goes, when I kicked it into full speed I was flying across the ground so fast I could’ve sworn I was Superman. And who doesn’t think it would be fun to be Superman.
Life is full of calculated risks. Analyze the risk. Determine to what degree you can minimize it. Decide if it will be rewarding enough to make it worth it.
Then skydive smart.
If you’re interested in reading more about smart risk taking read “The Power of Risk” by friend and skydiver Jim McCormick. Available on amazon below
http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Risk-Step—Step/dp/097285200X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372622183&sr=8-1&keywords=the+power+of+risk+%E2%80%93+how+intelligent+choices+will+make+you+more+successful
SHOULD EXPERIENCED SKYDIVERS USE RSLs?

There has been a lot of discussion recently about whether experienced jumpers should use RSLs. This discussion has actually been going on for years. Throughout my skydiving career I chose not to use an RSL. The logic for this being that if I had to cutaway and only had one parachute left I wanted to be as flat and stable as possible before deploying my reserve. For some 25+ cutaways I did just that and it worked fine. I was always under my reserve plenty high.
A couple of years ago I saw a good friend, and very competent skydiver with over 2000 jumps, ride a gently spinning malfunction down to about 500 feet and then cutaway. She never got the reserve out. I thought long and hard about this. It occurred to me that there had been several times over the years that I ended up in freefall lower than I had intended. Fortunately those weren’t the times I had malfunctions but they just as easily could have been.
It’s the combinations of problems that get you in trouble. You know, those times when you break off and deploy a little lower than you planned. But you have a hard pull, then a pilot hesitation, then a snivel, then a malfunction, then it takes an extra second to get your hand on the cutaway handle, now you are down at 1000 or lower and cutting away, then you tumble for a few seconds before getting stable and pulling your reserve.
I decided that this type of scenario was more likely, and risky, than using an RSL and cutting away from a spinning malfunction which could then possibly hinder my reserve opening. The RSL deploys the reserve so quickly that this shouldn’t be a problem. And with a Skyhook, which is even better than an RSL, you don’t even have time to get unstable before your reserve is out. I’ve had three cutaways now with a skyhook and it is more like a canopy transfer. I didn’t for even a second have that feeling of going back into freefall.
After looking at all the different scenarios I came to the conclusion that getting a parachute over your head as quickly as possible was the most important thing to do.
Everyone needs to make this decision for themselves. But as far as whether an experienced jumper should use a skyhook and/or an RSL, I absolutely think the benefits far outweigh the risks. Both my rigs have skyhooks and RSLs on them. And I’m a fairly experienced skydiver.
Thanks for putting up with all my safety tips. I hope they’re useful.
Dan
By the way, if you have any interest please check out my blog and web site at
www.danbrodsky-chenfeld.com
A couple of years ago I saw a good friend, and very competent skydiver with over 2000 jumps, ride a gently spinning malfunction down to about 500 feet and then cutaway. She never got the reserve out. I thought long and hard about this. It occurred to me that there had been several times over the years that I ended up in freefall lower than I had intended. Fortunately those weren’t the times I had malfunctions but they just as easily could have been.
It’s the combinations of problems that get you in trouble. You know, those times when you break off and deploy a little lower than you planned. But you have a hard pull, then a pilot hesitation, then a snivel, then a malfunction, then it takes an extra second to get your hand on the cutaway handle, now you are down at 1000 or lower and cutting away, then you tumble for a few seconds before getting stable and pulling your reserve.
I decided that this type of scenario was more likely, and risky, than using an RSL and cutting away from a spinning malfunction which could then possibly hinder my reserve opening. The RSL deploys the reserve so quickly that this shouldn’t be a problem. And with a Skyhook, which is even better than an RSL, you don’t even have time to get unstable before your reserve is out. I’ve had three cutaways now with a skyhook and it is more like a canopy transfer. I didn’t for even a second have that feeling of going back into freefall.
After looking at all the different scenarios I came to the conclusion that getting a parachute over your head as quickly as possible was the most important thing to do.
Everyone needs to make this decision for themselves. But as far as whether an experienced jumper should use a skyhook and/or an RSL, I absolutely think the benefits far outweigh the risks. Both my rigs have skyhooks and RSLs on them. And I’m a fairly experienced skydiver.
Thanks for putting up with all my safety tips. I hope they’re useful.
Dan
By the way, if you have any interest please check out my blog and web site at
www.danbrodsky-chenfeld.com
Selecting the right canopy

Thanks for the great response to the posts I did about safety. We've gotten a lot of people talking and that's good. Many have asked me my thoughts on selecting the right canopy. The best answer I have is to pick a canopy you can land easily and gently under any and all conditions. I jump a PD Katana 107 for several reasons. 1) It opens soft every time and I refuse to jump anything that might open fast. When I had a Stiletto I put Dacron lines on it to guarantee a slow opening. You can't jump a lot and have hard openings. 2) I can land it gently anytime, anywhere under any conditions. I weigh 165 and I can easily land it flying straight in into the wind, cross wind or down wind. I can land it gently at 5000' or sea level. I can dodge dust devils or other canopies and still land easily. I can land off the dz and sink it into a tight area if I have to.
I see a lot of skydivers picking the canopy that is only perfect for them in the perfect situation. That perfect situation doesn't happen often enough. Pick the canopy that "has your back" no matter what the situation is.
One other thing, never forget how to do a good PLF. Skydivers often break a leg when they try to stand up when they are obviously descending too fast. If at one or two meters off the ground you realize you are going to land harder than you'd like get your feet and knees together and get ready to roll. A good PLF can save most broken legs and sprained ankles.
Followup post:
Many skydivers feel that for some reason they need to have the smallest parachute they can get away with, only to find out they can't get away with it. The biggest part of your decision on which canopy to use for your every day skydiving are the things I mentioned. For specific unique types of jumping that require special equipment like canopy piloting competition or demos jumps you will need to take other things into consideration. Based on the things I mentioned earlier both a Katana 107 and a Stiletto 120 will land me gently under any conditions. The reasons I chose the Katana 107 over the Stiletto 120 is that I can jump in somewhat higher winds and still get penetration. I can also get down quicker and hopefully land first to establish the landing direction. Other people would rather hand under canopy longer and land last rather than first.
I see a lot of skydivers picking the canopy that is only perfect for them in the perfect situation. That perfect situation doesn't happen often enough. Pick the canopy that "has your back" no matter what the situation is.
One other thing, never forget how to do a good PLF. Skydivers often break a leg when they try to stand up when they are obviously descending too fast. If at one or two meters off the ground you realize you are going to land harder than you'd like get your feet and knees together and get ready to roll. A good PLF can save most broken legs and sprained ankles.
Followup post:
Many skydivers feel that for some reason they need to have the smallest parachute they can get away with, only to find out they can't get away with it. The biggest part of your decision on which canopy to use for your every day skydiving are the things I mentioned. For specific unique types of jumping that require special equipment like canopy piloting competition or demos jumps you will need to take other things into consideration. Based on the things I mentioned earlier both a Katana 107 and a Stiletto 120 will land me gently under any conditions. The reasons I chose the Katana 107 over the Stiletto 120 is that I can jump in somewhat higher winds and still get penetration. I can also get down quicker and hopefully land first to establish the landing direction. Other people would rather hand under canopy longer and land last rather than first.
WAKE UP AND SKYDIVE SAFELY.

I have seen and heard a few too many times about skydivers who took too long to decide what to do with a canopy that wasn't working properly after opening. Skydivers landing canopies they should have cutaway or being indecisive and taking too long to cutaway, sometimes with fatal results. We often hear people saying, “I thought I could get out of it”, “I wasn’t sure if it was good or not.” If you have to ask yourself if your canopy is good or not, than it’s not good!
Remember when you were a student. Freefall was fast and loud, your heart was pumping, adrenalin running through your veins. You’d threw out your pilot chute and gently slowed down as your main parachute blossomed open. Hanging underneath your parachute everything was quiet and serene, the opposite of freefall. As you looked up at your canopy it was almost as if it was looking down at you saying “It’s all good, I got you.” It felt like you were getting some love from your canopy, your best friend.
So, if after you deploy you look up at your canopy and you’re not getting any love, CUT IT AWAY!
Remember when you were a student. Freefall was fast and loud, your heart was pumping, adrenalin running through your veins. You’d threw out your pilot chute and gently slowed down as your main parachute blossomed open. Hanging underneath your parachute everything was quiet and serene, the opposite of freefall. As you looked up at your canopy it was almost as if it was looking down at you saying “It’s all good, I got you.” It felt like you were getting some love from your canopy, your best friend.
So, if after you deploy you look up at your canopy and you’re not getting any love, CUT IT AWAY!
Complacency kills

Don't rest for a second. Expect everything that can go wrong to go wrong on every jump you make. We respond correctly and immediately when we are anticipating a problem. Being surprised by a situation usually slows our response time.
When you track off from a jump expect people to be close to you. Expect a hard pull. Expect a malfunction. Expect canopies to be coming at you. Expect someone to cut you off in the pattern.
A hard pull is a good example of this. Several times I’ve seen jumpers open low. When I asked them what they were doing down there they said they had a hard time finding or pulling their pilot chute. But they got it out on the third try. If they got it out on the third try it wasn’t that hard! The only difference was by the third try they expected it was going to be difficult and got serious about doing a good pull. Expect it to be difficult each time and get serious about the first pull!
I don't know of anyone who was in a canopy collision who saw it coming. They didn't see it coming because they weren't looking. And they weren't looking because they thought it couldn't happen to them. As a general rule we don't get more separation after opening, we get less. People don't open and then fly away. More often we are all aiming for the same general landing areas. After opening we get closer and closer until landing. Canopies are converging. If you're not looking you are aiming for a canopy collision.
I'm not asking everyone to skydive scared. Just to wake up. Be aware, be ready, be in control, don't be a victim. If you do this you'll grow up to be an old skydiver. And I'm looking forward to partying with all my old skydiving friends for many years to come.
When you track off from a jump expect people to be close to you. Expect a hard pull. Expect a malfunction. Expect canopies to be coming at you. Expect someone to cut you off in the pattern.
A hard pull is a good example of this. Several times I’ve seen jumpers open low. When I asked them what they were doing down there they said they had a hard time finding or pulling their pilot chute. But they got it out on the third try. If they got it out on the third try it wasn’t that hard! The only difference was by the third try they expected it was going to be difficult and got serious about doing a good pull. Expect it to be difficult each time and get serious about the first pull!
I don't know of anyone who was in a canopy collision who saw it coming. They didn't see it coming because they weren't looking. And they weren't looking because they thought it couldn't happen to them. As a general rule we don't get more separation after opening, we get less. People don't open and then fly away. More often we are all aiming for the same general landing areas. After opening we get closer and closer until landing. Canopies are converging. If you're not looking you are aiming for a canopy collision.
I'm not asking everyone to skydive scared. Just to wake up. Be aware, be ready, be in control, don't be a victim. If you do this you'll grow up to be an old skydiver. And I'm looking forward to partying with all my old skydiving friends for many years to come.
Blind Spots - STOP Turning! Words by: Bryan Burke

Head on a swivel does not work. We are not owls, our shoulders are locked in place by the rig and we have huge blind spots below and behind us. Any turn over 90 will put you into your blind spot, going fast. We also have huge blind spots above and behind us, where the danger may be coming from.
The only way to minimize collision risks is to minimize turns. The standard of excellence in skydiving should be how little control input you use from deployment to landing. In the big picture, our culture of making unnecessary turns is even more of a problem than aggressive downsizing.
The only way to minimize collision risks is to minimize turns. The standard of excellence in skydiving should be how little control input you use from deployment to landing. In the big picture, our culture of making unnecessary turns is even more of a problem than aggressive downsizing.
Clean Your Cut-Away-Cables Day

This is something of a safety alert. Since the change to 180-day repack cycle we have noticed a dramatic increase in the filth level of cut-away-cables. We have on several occasions (while helping to change out a main canopy) experienced very hard cut-away pull force. In every instance cleaning the cables eliminated this problem. Therefore we are officially recommending cleaning every three (3) months. If you need help or are unsure how to do this, just ASK.
(the only stupid question is the one you did not ask)
We have all the fix-ins and will be there to help so don't be shy!
(the only stupid question is the one you did not ask)
We have all the fix-ins and will be there to help so don't be shy!

UPT gives this as inspection reference: The white Type-2A loop may vary slightly in length, depending on the risers in question.
The best reference is to use the bottom edge of the Type 4 square weave, that holds the small ring.
When placed flat, the fold of the Type-2A should be even with the bottom edge of the Type 4 square weave. (Please keep in mind that there are tolerances that allow for up to 1/8” of difference)
The best reference is to use the bottom edge of the Type 4 square weave, that holds the small ring.
When placed flat, the fold of the Type-2A should be even with the bottom edge of the Type 4 square weave. (Please keep in mind that there are tolerances that allow for up to 1/8” of difference)

Bill Booth Talks About Pilot Chutes:
Reply from Bill Booth:
What happened to you is getting more and more common. Although I hold the patent on the hand deploy pilot chute, I never charged anyone a royalty to use it, and therefore never published construction details. I'm afraid this has led to some poorly made pilot chutes as people have copied, but not copied EXACTLY, my original design. As a matter of fact, last Sunday, a jumper came up to me, said that he was having "pilot chute hesitations" on his Vector, and asked me to have a look. His problem, it turned out, was the same one I've seen countless times before...His pilot chute was made by "God knows who", and made incorrectly.
I don't know about you, but one of the the scariest malfunctions I can think of, is a streamered main pilot chute that has enough drag to open your main container, but not enough drag to lift out the bag. What do you do? If you just lie there and wait, the ground may "rise up to smite thee". If you pull your reserve, your main is going to simultaneously deploy, and main/reserve entanglements are rarely much fun either. What to do...Easy, don't jump an incorrectly manufactured or adjusted pilot chute.
So, how can you tell if your hand deploy pilot chute is OK? First, some basic definitions. 1. Apex - The center of the fabric part of your pilot chute. 2. Skirt - Where the mesh and fabric meet. 3. Base - The center of the mesh part of your pilot chute. 4. Centerline - One or two pieces of tape, of fixed length, that lead from the apex to the base. 5. Bridle - A piece of tape, doubled in the case of a collapsible pilot chute, leading from the base to the deployment bag. 6. Kill line - A single piece of line, on a collapsible pilot chute only, that runs from the apex, through the center of the pilot chute, and down through the bridle to the pilot chute attachment point at the bag, or in some designs, to the apex of the canopy. 7. Support tape - 4 pieces of thin tape, sewn to the mesh, leading from the base to the skirt. 8. Bias - Simply put, the direction the mesh stretches the most (a diagonal line, at 45 degrees to the little squares that make up most mesh used in hand deploy pilot chutes). Sorry for all that defining, but if you don't understand those terms, you won't understand what comes next.
OK, now the easy part. If you want your pilot chute to always function properly, simply make sure, in the inflated state, that no part of the skirt is above the apex. In other words, make sure neither your centerline nor your kill line is too short. I pulled the apex on my hand deployed pilot chute for two reasons. 1. It makes them open faster. 2. It yields 11% more drag. However, IF THE APEX IS PULLED DOWN BELOW ANY PART OF THE SKIRT, THE PILOT CHUTE WILL NOT FUNCTION PROPERLY.
How do I check that? First cock you pilot chute like you would during packing. Now hold your pilot chute UPSIDE DOWN by the bridle at the base. Simultaneously pull downward on the apex (handle) and each support tape where it touches the skirt. The apex should be equal to, preferable slightly "below", but never "above" the skirt. (Please remember, the terms "above" and "below", in quotes, refer only to the "upside down" pilot chute you are holding in your hands for this test.) Now look how your support tapes are sewn to the mesh. If they are sewn "on the bias" your pilot chute is properly constructed. If they are not sewn on the bias it means that the mesh halfway between each support tape IS on the bias and will stretch more than enough to allow the skirt to get way "below" the apex. Try it. It's like a round parachute with several different line lengths. It simply doesn't work very well. This extremely common construction error might not let your pilot chute fully inflate, or in extreme cases, inflate at all. If your pilot chute is "borderline" when it is new, then things will get worse and worse as it ages.
Now to "adjusting" a correctly manufactured pilot chute. Kill lines are usually made out of Spectra (Microline). Friction generated during the collapse sequence causes heat, and Spectra SHRINKS when heated. This means that your centerline could eventually get short enough to prevent your pilot chute from inflating correctly. Use what you have learned above to recognize this situation, and correct it.
This is just a BASIC primer on pilot chute construction, and does not address several other important design considerations such as fabric and mesh choices, and how pilot chute size vs. the weight of your main canopy affects seperation velocity, snatch force, opening shock, and malfunction rate. More about these another time.Bill Booth
Dave replied:
Wow, excellent advice. Tried the test and the apex is nowhere near the skirt. It's inches above. The end of the hackey handle doesnt even reach the level of the skirt.
The support tape goes in the same direction as the lines of the mesh, not 45 degrees to it. You're saying this is improperly made? Do all "real" parachute manufacturers install the support tape 45 degrees to the mesh? Do I have some sort of homemade pilot chute? There doesn't seem to be any kind of tag or marking to tell me who made it.
Watching the pilot chute as i pull it down through the air and let it inflate, I can CLEARLY see that the apex falls below the skirt. Until my incident, I wouldn't have know this is unsafe.
The rigger I bought my rig from gave me a one year warranty on everything. If he hadn't been evicted from the DZ and his house, I'd get my money back. I am quite shocked he sold me potentially (or definitely) unsafe equipment. The good news is he's gone now and I don't have to deal with him anymore.
Thanks for the info! I'm sure I'm not the only person relying on posts like this to keep me safe in the future. Keep it up! Dave
Bill's reply:
Your pilot chute is "unsafe" if it doesn't deploy your main correctly. What is "correctly"? You want your pilot chute to open your container and the pull your bag away from your container quickly, but not too quickly. If your pilot chute accelerates your bag away from you too slowly you have the potential for line twists because of the extra time your unsymmetrical deployment bag is exposed to the slipstream, or a bag lock caused by your suspension lines actually "blowing up" above your bag and entangling with it. Not to mention taking more altitude than necessary to deploy. If your pilot chute accelerates your bag too quickly, you have the potential for inertial line dump, high snatch force (when the canopy hits the end of the lines and is decelerated back to your speed), slider rebound (where the slider bounces off the slider stops and your canopy starts its opening sequence with the slider a few inches down the lines. OUCH), and a generally disorganized opening, increasing your chance of malfunction.
The ideal separation velocity, that is the speed which the canopy is traveling away from you at line stretch, is 50 feet per second. An acceptable range is 30 to 70 FPS. If a pilot chute causes separation velocity outside that range, I do not considerate it "safe". How can you tell what your separation velocity is? You can look at a video of one of your deployments and count video frames at 30 per second. An acceptable time from container opening to line stretch is 0.45 to 0.75 seconds, or about 13 to 22 frames. Any faster or slower and you are "asking for it".
Separation velocity for any particular system depends on the size, material, and construction details of the pilot chute vs. the weight of the bagged canopy. You of course also have to factor in deployment speed, what your lines are made of, and how you stow them. A very large pilot chute, constructed as yours is, might be perfectly "safe" with a light canopy. The construction details I gave you make the most efficient use of materials, and yield the most consistent results over the most number of jumps. Of course, if you pull the apex down far enough, no pilot chute, no matter how large, will do its job. That's what the "kill line" is supposed to do, isn't it...pull the apex down so far that the pilot chute totally collapses?
Bill Booth
Reply from Bill Booth:
What happened to you is getting more and more common. Although I hold the patent on the hand deploy pilot chute, I never charged anyone a royalty to use it, and therefore never published construction details. I'm afraid this has led to some poorly made pilot chutes as people have copied, but not copied EXACTLY, my original design. As a matter of fact, last Sunday, a jumper came up to me, said that he was having "pilot chute hesitations" on his Vector, and asked me to have a look. His problem, it turned out, was the same one I've seen countless times before...His pilot chute was made by "God knows who", and made incorrectly.
I don't know about you, but one of the the scariest malfunctions I can think of, is a streamered main pilot chute that has enough drag to open your main container, but not enough drag to lift out the bag. What do you do? If you just lie there and wait, the ground may "rise up to smite thee". If you pull your reserve, your main is going to simultaneously deploy, and main/reserve entanglements are rarely much fun either. What to do...Easy, don't jump an incorrectly manufactured or adjusted pilot chute.
So, how can you tell if your hand deploy pilot chute is OK? First, some basic definitions. 1. Apex - The center of the fabric part of your pilot chute. 2. Skirt - Where the mesh and fabric meet. 3. Base - The center of the mesh part of your pilot chute. 4. Centerline - One or two pieces of tape, of fixed length, that lead from the apex to the base. 5. Bridle - A piece of tape, doubled in the case of a collapsible pilot chute, leading from the base to the deployment bag. 6. Kill line - A single piece of line, on a collapsible pilot chute only, that runs from the apex, through the center of the pilot chute, and down through the bridle to the pilot chute attachment point at the bag, or in some designs, to the apex of the canopy. 7. Support tape - 4 pieces of thin tape, sewn to the mesh, leading from the base to the skirt. 8. Bias - Simply put, the direction the mesh stretches the most (a diagonal line, at 45 degrees to the little squares that make up most mesh used in hand deploy pilot chutes). Sorry for all that defining, but if you don't understand those terms, you won't understand what comes next.
OK, now the easy part. If you want your pilot chute to always function properly, simply make sure, in the inflated state, that no part of the skirt is above the apex. In other words, make sure neither your centerline nor your kill line is too short. I pulled the apex on my hand deployed pilot chute for two reasons. 1. It makes them open faster. 2. It yields 11% more drag. However, IF THE APEX IS PULLED DOWN BELOW ANY PART OF THE SKIRT, THE PILOT CHUTE WILL NOT FUNCTION PROPERLY.
How do I check that? First cock you pilot chute like you would during packing. Now hold your pilot chute UPSIDE DOWN by the bridle at the base. Simultaneously pull downward on the apex (handle) and each support tape where it touches the skirt. The apex should be equal to, preferable slightly "below", but never "above" the skirt. (Please remember, the terms "above" and "below", in quotes, refer only to the "upside down" pilot chute you are holding in your hands for this test.) Now look how your support tapes are sewn to the mesh. If they are sewn "on the bias" your pilot chute is properly constructed. If they are not sewn on the bias it means that the mesh halfway between each support tape IS on the bias and will stretch more than enough to allow the skirt to get way "below" the apex. Try it. It's like a round parachute with several different line lengths. It simply doesn't work very well. This extremely common construction error might not let your pilot chute fully inflate, or in extreme cases, inflate at all. If your pilot chute is "borderline" when it is new, then things will get worse and worse as it ages.
Now to "adjusting" a correctly manufactured pilot chute. Kill lines are usually made out of Spectra (Microline). Friction generated during the collapse sequence causes heat, and Spectra SHRINKS when heated. This means that your centerline could eventually get short enough to prevent your pilot chute from inflating correctly. Use what you have learned above to recognize this situation, and correct it.
This is just a BASIC primer on pilot chute construction, and does not address several other important design considerations such as fabric and mesh choices, and how pilot chute size vs. the weight of your main canopy affects seperation velocity, snatch force, opening shock, and malfunction rate. More about these another time.Bill Booth
Dave replied:
Wow, excellent advice. Tried the test and the apex is nowhere near the skirt. It's inches above. The end of the hackey handle doesnt even reach the level of the skirt.
The support tape goes in the same direction as the lines of the mesh, not 45 degrees to it. You're saying this is improperly made? Do all "real" parachute manufacturers install the support tape 45 degrees to the mesh? Do I have some sort of homemade pilot chute? There doesn't seem to be any kind of tag or marking to tell me who made it.
Watching the pilot chute as i pull it down through the air and let it inflate, I can CLEARLY see that the apex falls below the skirt. Until my incident, I wouldn't have know this is unsafe.
The rigger I bought my rig from gave me a one year warranty on everything. If he hadn't been evicted from the DZ and his house, I'd get my money back. I am quite shocked he sold me potentially (or definitely) unsafe equipment. The good news is he's gone now and I don't have to deal with him anymore.
Thanks for the info! I'm sure I'm not the only person relying on posts like this to keep me safe in the future. Keep it up! Dave
Bill's reply:
Your pilot chute is "unsafe" if it doesn't deploy your main correctly. What is "correctly"? You want your pilot chute to open your container and the pull your bag away from your container quickly, but not too quickly. If your pilot chute accelerates your bag away from you too slowly you have the potential for line twists because of the extra time your unsymmetrical deployment bag is exposed to the slipstream, or a bag lock caused by your suspension lines actually "blowing up" above your bag and entangling with it. Not to mention taking more altitude than necessary to deploy. If your pilot chute accelerates your bag too quickly, you have the potential for inertial line dump, high snatch force (when the canopy hits the end of the lines and is decelerated back to your speed), slider rebound (where the slider bounces off the slider stops and your canopy starts its opening sequence with the slider a few inches down the lines. OUCH), and a generally disorganized opening, increasing your chance of malfunction.
The ideal separation velocity, that is the speed which the canopy is traveling away from you at line stretch, is 50 feet per second. An acceptable range is 30 to 70 FPS. If a pilot chute causes separation velocity outside that range, I do not considerate it "safe". How can you tell what your separation velocity is? You can look at a video of one of your deployments and count video frames at 30 per second. An acceptable time from container opening to line stretch is 0.45 to 0.75 seconds, or about 13 to 22 frames. Any faster or slower and you are "asking for it".
Separation velocity for any particular system depends on the size, material, and construction details of the pilot chute vs. the weight of the bagged canopy. You of course also have to factor in deployment speed, what your lines are made of, and how you stow them. A very large pilot chute, constructed as yours is, might be perfectly "safe" with a light canopy. The construction details I gave you make the most efficient use of materials, and yield the most consistent results over the most number of jumps. Of course, if you pull the apex down far enough, no pilot chute, no matter how large, will do its job. That's what the "kill line" is supposed to do, isn't it...pull the apex down so far that the pilot chute totally collapses?
Bill Booth
The Seemingly Never-ending Question of Exit Separation
So how do I know how long to wait between groups?
Here is the short answer:
Uppers:
mph > seconds
0 = 8
10 = 9
20 = 10
30 = 11
40 = 13
50 = 16
60 = 21
70 = 28
80 = 43
90 = 97
95 = 257
96 = 383
97 = 751
You will hear 45-degree angel. THAT DOES NOT WORK.
Exit Separation Revisited - By Bill von Novak
You will hear look at the ground. YOU CAN'T JUDGE IT.
For a great visual explanation got to: John Kallend's freefall simulation program
For more details & discussion check out: Fundamentals of Freefall Drift and Separation
Another Look at Descent Kinematics: http://www.koyn.com/clouddancer/articles/jmprun98.html
Other Good Stuff By Bryan Burke:
The Horizontal Flight Problem
Implications of Recent Tracking, Tracing and Wingsuit Incidents
skydivemag article loss-of-altitude
Here is the short answer:
Uppers:
mph > seconds
0 = 8
10 = 9
20 = 10
30 = 11
40 = 13
50 = 16
60 = 21
70 = 28
80 = 43
90 = 97
95 = 257
96 = 383
97 = 751
You will hear 45-degree angel. THAT DOES NOT WORK.
Exit Separation Revisited - By Bill von Novak
You will hear look at the ground. YOU CAN'T JUDGE IT.
For a great visual explanation got to: John Kallend's freefall simulation program
For more details & discussion check out: Fundamentals of Freefall Drift and Separation
Another Look at Descent Kinematics: http://www.koyn.com/clouddancer/articles/jmprun98.html
Other Good Stuff By Bryan Burke:
The Horizontal Flight Problem
Implications of Recent Tracking, Tracing and Wingsuit Incidents
skydivemag article loss-of-altitude