I was a Piglet jumper. They are as reliable a canopy a canopy as you will ever get.
I would not recommend jumping one if you weigh more than 150#. Especially, as you can assume the canopy is much more porous now. Even when the canopy was new, it had a reputation as a hard lander. It was possible to "flare" it, if you had perfect timing and wind conditions.
It also opened very quickly (read hard). I liked the hard openings, but not everyone does.
If a 23' Piglet was available, it would be a better choice unless you are a lightweight. All the good of a Piglet 2, but bigger, so the landings weren't as brutal. My husband jump one and never really had any problems with it.
Wish I had that advice about 30some years ago, my knee still hurts from one of my two or so piglet jumps. What I did learn is that you do not hook turn piglets for landing like you would a PC or Starlite.
About reliability, the guys that jumped the Piglets were the guys that would pull at a grand with no concern.
I had a Piglet I, or II, for a reserve. It has a full diaper for the deployment system, and it was packed into my Rapid Transist System, which also contained my Pioneer Merlin.
I had two successfull reserve deployments, hence I'm still here. I did one standup landing at Marana, AZ, and one landing followed by being drugged a little bit due to high winds at Elsinore.
Jumped a piglet once ... had to borrow it for a demo when my own rig developed an issue. The demo was in the mountains on a hot day. I weighed 180#. The ground was hard and rocky. I thought my hip bones had gone into my chest cavity. Really liked the canopy in the air, and it packed small for its time ... but the openings were "distinct" and the landings for heavier guys were memorable.
That's news to me. Besides myself, there were a lot of other Piglets at Elsinore. I don't remember it being an issue. Maybe someone else will have more info.
Jumped a piglet once ... had to borrow it for a demo when my own rig developed an issue. The demo was in the mountains on a hot day. I weighed 180#. The ground was hard and rocky. I thought my hip bones had gone into my chest cavity. Really liked the canopy in the air, and it packed small for its time ... but the openings were "distinct" and the landings for heavier guys were memorable.
Hi Mr Wart
My memory is fadeing along with my spelling. But the way I remember it all the Big people would have a "distinct" landing on anything round that didn't land in the peas.
Big People had to be hard core or else they didn't stay around very long
To bad these days anyone can have major issues flying or landing a properly sized canopy if they try hard enough..
I don't remember any more isolation than a para-commander.
My memory is fading with time as well...but didn't the Piglet reserves tend to swing a lot loaded heavy as opposed to the mains being a lot more stable..?
I made a few on a main, as a heavier jumper it didn't seem to isolate all that badly IIRC, saw a couple of reserve rides though and they did look rather 'sporty'.
Edited to add: I used a 23' Tri-Con as a reserve for years, now THAT thing would isolate...especially with 240#'s suspended under it!!
~ya really hoped the timing of the swing was such that the parachute didn't touch the ground BEFORE you did !
So maybe MY definition of severe oscillation... is a little different than other peoples.
(This post was edited by airtwardo on Feb 2, 2012, 12:06 PM)
Hey Krip - The canopy that I jumped most of all was a short-lined (36") PC mod that was done by Hugh Bergeron. I did stand-up landings on that as a matter of routine, and before that, almost always did stand-ups on a 7TU "cheapo". Maybe that's part of the reason why I now have problems with hips, knees, and ankles, but the point is that the piglet's landings were a little more like the end of a (round) reserve ride.
Could not say--only reserve rides were 26' navy conical that ossilated like crazy the first time I used it. Installed a 4-line release and it flew nice, no swinging around (like the first ride) and steered it to a stand up landing on a front lawn in the middle of a housing project.
I was a Piglet jumper. They are as reliable a canopy a canopy as you will ever get.
I would not recommend jumping one if you weigh more than 150#. Especially, as you can assume the canopy is much more porous now. Even when the canopy was new, it had a reputation as a hard lander. It was possible to "flare" it, if you had perfect timing and wind conditions.
It also opened very quickly (read hard). I liked the hard openings, but not everyone does.
If a 23' Piglet was available, it would be a better choice unless you are a lightweight. All the good of a Piglet 2, but bigger, so the landings weren't as brutal. My husband jump one and never really had any problems with it.
A PLF is your friend under this canopy.
When Hank Asciutto was developing the Piglet system, I jumped his Piglet-1 rig one time. The Piglet-1 did not have the stabilizer panels found on the 2 and the opening was VERY quick, prompting an immediate expletive that rhymed with "DUCK!". I went on to make about 200 jumps a Piglet-2 which was much more comfortable on opening.
At 140 lb. I didn't have much trouble landing. I did witness a lean, but very tall jumper have an oscillation on landing that smacked him into the ground and knocked him out cold.
When Hank started bujilding canopies he gave Mike Lee and I canopies free of charge and maintained them also because they were blowing out panels now and then. I don't remember which model they were but initially they had an OSI and then he did away with that. I remember one jump using the OSI when I woke up under canopy at about 1K feet wondering where I was. I used one for some time because they packed up so small.
The Piglets did not have “stabilizers”, they were canopy extensions. Each panel was wider than the gore and would catch air on deployment and slow the opening down. I have around 500/600 jumps on Piglets, most on the 23 foot “Big man” version. I also did the live jumps when Hank TSO’d his 26 foot R-4 reserve.
The Piglets did not have “stabilizers”, they were canopy extensions. Each panel was wider than the gore and would catch air on deployment and slow the opening down. I have around 500/600 jumps on Piglets, most on the 23 foot “Big man” version. I also did the live jumps when Hank TSO’d his 26 foot R-4 reserve.
I worked for Hank at Para Innovators in the summer of '75. I may be mis-remembering this, but I think he called the extensions as stabilizer panels. They certainly looked similar to those on Paracommanders but, yes, their function was to slow down deployment. A similar system was used on the Piglet-2 reserve, but the panels were separated rather than being contiguous. This was also found on a military emergency parachute, but I don't know the details.
Some of you may recall the James Bond movie where Bond skied off a cliff and opened a parachute. It was a Piglet-2 done up with a Union Jack pattern.
The very same summer I worked for Hank, I took possesion of a Piglet-2. I jumped it until I got a 5-cell Parafoil. It never failed me nor bit me. It was a great canopy in its day. Were I ever to be on a zillion-way formation attempt (lol), I'd be willing to use it again, provided the landing area was big enough.
The Piglets did not have “stabilizers”, they were canopy extensions. Each panel was wider than the gore and would catch air on deployment and slow the opening down. I have around 500/600 jumps on Piglets, most on the 23 foot “Big man” version. I also did the live jumps when Hank TSO’d his 26 foot R-4 reserve.
I worked for Hank at Para Innovators in the summer of '75. I may be mis-remembering this, but I think he called the extensions as stabilizer panels. They certainly looked similar to those on Paracommanders but, yes, their function was to slow down deployment. A similar system was used on the Piglet-2 reserve, but the panels were separated rather than being contiguous. This was also found on a military emergency parachute, but I don't know the details.
Some of you may recall the James Bond movie where Bond skied off a cliff and opened a parachute. It was a Piglet-2 done up with a Union Jack pattern.
The very same summer I worked for Hank, I took possesion of a Piglet-2. I jumped it until I got a 5-cell Parafoil. It never failed me nor bit me. It was a great canopy in its day. Were I ever to be on a zillion-way formation attempt (lol), I'd be willing to use it again, provided the landing area was big enough.
Ralph Johnson
Hey Ralph,
1975 was before my time…..first jump in 1976.
But you right about the Bond film, it was a Piglet with the extensions/stabilizers removed. If was filmed at Baffin Island. Hank sent Buckley to work the job and Jim said he went nuts up there for 2 weeks.
I was curious about the panel naming issue so looked things up:
A Piglet container manual refers to the canopy panels on a Piglet as "canopy extensions", while the Para Commander manual uses "stabilization panels" and also shortens it to "stabilizers". So it looks like different companies used different terms, even if skydivers didn't distinguish between the brands in whatever term they used.
I was curious about the panel naming issue so looked things up:
A Piglet container manual refers to the canopy panels on a Piglet as "canopy extensions", while the Para Commander manual uses "stabilization panels" and also shortens it to "stabilizers". So it looks like different companies used different terms, even if skydivers didn't distinguish between the brands in whatever term they used.
On a Piglet they are “canopy extensions”, and designed as such. They are designed to catch air and slow down the inflation.
. 
