Oct 2, 2011, 2:29 PM
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How big (how many persons) do you build stacks?
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Can you/do you build stacks with as many persons as you have jumpers available? Or do you usually "switch" to planes once the formation starts getting bigger?
Additional question: Lets say you are flying a 5way-stack. What inputs should be given? Half brakes at the very top? A little bit of brakes by number 2? A bit of frontrisering by the lowest person to create some tension? What to take care about while flying it?
Oct 7, 2011, 4:35 PM
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Re: [morris] How big (how many persons) do you build stacks?
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Morris, you are from Germany, right? Then the Fürstenberg Fallschirm Team might be a good source for information about stack formations. http://www.ff-team.de/
(This post was edited by StefB on Oct 7, 2011, 4:36 PM)
Oct 8, 2011, 7:30 AM
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Re: [StefB] How big (how many persons) do you build stacks?
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I´ve already been checking their website before even posting here and couldn´t find the information I´m looking for. There is a video of a 10way on the site, but they are flying it as a plane, not a stack...
Oct 8, 2011, 9:08 AM
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Re: [morris] How big (how many persons) do you build stacks?
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I once saw a 12 -way stack being build (i was the cameraman) by a group of english crw-nuts it was partly build as using a planed formation, partly stack. The biggist problem was that it was swinging at the low-end, making it VERY hard to dock. Eventually the succeeded the full formation (uk record as i remenber) I should have the video somewhere..... If i find them i will post them
edit: picture found and attached
(This post was edited by CaTo on Oct 8, 2011, 10:33 AM)
Oct 9, 2011, 1:14 AM
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Re: [CaTo] How big (how many persons) do you build stacks?
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"...it was swinging at the low-end..." this is why I´m asking, without any planes in the formation at all, just "pure" stacks, we experienced a 5way that didn´t fly very nice at all, but maybe that´s just us...?
Oct 11, 2011, 7:48 AM
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Re: [CaTo] How big (how many persons) do you build stacks?
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There's a pic on the wall at West Tennessee Skydiving (Mullin's home DZ) of a stack that I think is the state record. I don't remember exactly how many were in it, but it was around 15. It was set a long while ago.
My largest is a 10 stack, which is the Alabama state record. I was next to last on the bottom. I found it harder to dock there than higher up in the stack due to the increased sink rate.
Oct 14, 2011, 2:44 AM
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Re: [morris] How big (how many persons) do you build stacks?
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Hi Morris You plane the stack for stability. Unplaned stacks tend to sway as they are longer and pivot around the ankle/line grips on the centre cell. Planed stacks are shorter and far more stable. We built an 18-way planed stack in South Africa in 1988, and even that had quite a sway at the bottom. Cheers Andre
Oct 15, 2011, 2:30 AM
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Re: [Andrelr] How big (how many persons) do you build stacks?
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Now we are finally "closing in" on what I want to know... I understand that planed stacks are far more stable than unplaned ones. This was exactly what I´ve been asking for. My question was: a) Do you plane the stacks - from a certain number of persons on - for stabilitiy reasons (I know the answer is yes)? and b) What I don´t know is: What is that number??? With how many persons can you build UNPLANED stacks?? Or do you always plane ´em as soon as possible? let´s add c) What is the largest UNPLANED stack on record? let´s add d) What to take care about flying ´em? I´ve seen pictures of 5ways that flew very nice. I have not been looking/searching for pics of larger ones yet, I thought it´d be better to ask you guys as words will tell me more than any pic. We´ve tried to build an unplaned 5way stack with regular Storms (not CF-Storms but with the CF-option and dacronlines) of various sizes and loadings ranging from ~1.5 to 1.6. After the final jumper docked (myself) the formation became very "nervous" very fast. This was not caused by the dock! After the final dock it flew very nice - but just for some moments...
Oct 16, 2011, 11:06 AM
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Re: [CFPasi] How big (how many persons) do you build stacks?
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What to take care about flying unplaned stacks? Quite a lot of brakes at the very top? A little bit of brakes right below the very top/towards the middle? Or would you recommend building planes if we´re exceeding four persons because unplanned stacks of 5 or more persons are too difficult to fly especially at higher loadings?
Oct 16, 2011, 8:34 PM
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Re: [morris] How big (how many persons) do you build stacks?
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There is a picture in the hanger of my home DZ of the TN state record, a 13 stack. Of the 13 only one of the canopies is planed - the rest are stacked.
Oct 20, 2011, 11:55 AM
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Re: [CaTo] How big (how many persons) do you build stacks?
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In reply to:
I once saw a 12 -way stack being build (i was the cameraman) by a group of english crw-nuts it was partly build as using a planed formation, partly stack. The biggist problem was that it was swinging at the low-end, making it VERY hard to dock. Eventually the succeeded the full formation (uk record as i remenber) I should have the video somewhere..... If i find them i will post them
found some footage, look between 8:56 and 9:21 and you see some clips that show the setup of the 12 way. And yes, no stack but almost all in plane.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo1xXtZrsuc
(by the way, I grew some muscles keeping track of the stack going down... :-)
Oct 31, 2011, 5:28 AM
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Re: [morris] How big (how many persons) do you build stacks?
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To be technical, a "planed stack" is an oxymoron. A plane is where feet are at risers, a stack is where feet are at bottom skin. Planes are more stable because the canopy is supported by the lines of the canopy above, whereas on a stack the canopy can pivot around the feet.
it was partly build as using a planed formation, partly stack. The biggist problem was that it was swinging at the low-end, making it VERY hard to dock. Eventually the succeeded the full formation (uk record as i remenber) 
12-12way.jpg
