skydivejunky 0 #1 February 9, 2004 Chopped my 79 x-vx this weekend after a very strange opening. After doing an AFF recurency with a long spot(thank god 'cause I told the student we'd have to open a little higher) I threw out at about 4000' looked up and my parachute was trying to eat itself. It looked like it was bowtied with the nose facing itself but I couldn't see any line over. I pulled the rear risers trying to get it to inflate but no luck. One brake came unstowed while I was pulling the risers so it started a hard spin that I had to counter as well till I got the other brake unstowed. Still not fully inflated with both halves of the nose facing each other. About this time I'm saying "Screw this.." and I cut it away. I can't find any damage whatsoever. I tried for about 1500' to fix it. Usually this canopy opens fast which I like so maybe I was a little quick with the cutaway. I was just wondering if anyone has had strange openings with their VX's. It's had the x mod done with about 200 jumps on it since then. John Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hooknswoop 19 #2 February 9, 2004 I had several openings (yes, on video) like you describe. I popped the rear risers and it would open. Pulling the center cell out a little cured it. Derek Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
markbaur 0 #3 February 9, 2004 I've had openings like you describe on my FX99 and VX93, before and after x-mods on both. Like Hook, I've found that popping the rear risers fixed it when it happened. Unlike Hook, it's happened when I pack (all the cells fully exposed) and when others have packed (various degrees of rolling nose and tail). Mark Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MrHixxx 0 #4 February 9, 2004 I had 1 out of 18 openings do this on a Xaos 27 cell with the exect same remedy. It was bowtied with the slider up and one pop on the rear risers and it inflated and sent the slider down. It was flying well enough that I didn't even lose that much altitude either... -Hixxxdeath,as men call him, ends what they call men -but beauty is more now than dying’s when Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
alan 1 #5 February 10, 2004 I believe my canopy was the first production x-mod and served asa beta test. The first four jumps on the original x-mod congfiguration all open like you described, a reverse fortune cooky. They stayed on heading and open nicely by just pulling down the rear risers. I asked Chris Martin if I could expect that to be normal. He said most certainly not and asked me to send him my brake lines from below the cascade as they had tried several configurations and it sounded as if I had gotten one that they had abandoned. I sent him the old ones and he senr me the new ones. Sure enough, they were differet, The openings are just superb now. In several hundred jumps now, ther have benn only 2 or3 that wanr the end cells to fly around in front of the nose. Pump th brake, bump the risers and it is no problr. My guess id that onmy canopy it started t oshow up after a few hundred jumps, so it may be s critical linetrim situatuin. I wrote a fairly extensive reiew of the X-Mod VX a few months ago that appeared in Skdiving and I thi nk PA may have incorporated it into their wed site Magazine a few months ago. you mayfing somevaluable informatiion in italan Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
webracer 0 #6 February 10, 2004 I had similar openings on my VX and other crossbraced. The end cells would fly toward each other, leaving the center cells without airflow to inflate. Eventually it would inflate, but all the time the p/c was dancing on the topskin, waiting to go over the nose, bowtying the canopy. My fix was to pull the center cells out a couple inches prior to wrapping the tail. I felt due to the short cord, when the tail was wrapped, the end cells were pulled out infront of the center nose. I still use this technique on my Xaos/Velocity. I quit using the VX due to the pack volume. Maybe I'll go back if I lose some weight (probably won't happen) so I can jump a smaller VX that will fit in my containers. The VX was a blast to fly.Troy I am now free to exercise my downward mobility. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skydivejunky 0 #7 February 10, 2004 Thanks for all the input on this subject! I've put maybe 300 jumps on this canopy and that's the first time it's done that. Or maybe it's just opening a little slower and that's the first time it's had a chance to. Pumping the rear risers didn't seem to help tho and I jump cobalts a lot which usually need rear riser input to get the slider down so I'm used to doing that. Lucky for me it was the last day on that reserve pack cycle. John Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
