Stowing brakes wrongly

[JustRelax 0]

Have done this twice now.

When threading the brake handle end through the eye, I have done so above the ring and then tucked the end through the elastic keeper. It should be threaded through below the ring ... result ... when the canopy opens it rips the elastic keeper off the risers ... also one may rip off first causing line twists or spinning chute. The second time I stowed one right and one wrong, so the chute jumped to one side in a sort of spin. ... I remembered to reease both brakes and later had tp pay to get keepers resown.

Any body else make the same mistake?

________________________________________
Taking risk is part of living well - it's best to learn from other peoples mistakes, rather than your own.

[ChrisL 2]

I did this one time. It was while stowing brakes out on the landing field after a jump but I caught the mistake while repacking the rig back in the hangar.

I had one premature brake deployment but this was after a packer had packed for me so I am not sure if there was a problem with the way they were stowed or if it just happened.

I stow the brakes out on the field but I dont stow the excess line until I repack. This assures that I will come back to the brakes for a second look.

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My mighty steed

[Remster 24]

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Any body else make the same mistake?

Yes.

I've pretty much always packed myslef after 100 jumps, and last year, for no reason at all, I did it on both toggles on the same jump.

Remster

[riggerrob 558]

Yes. I did that a couple of years ago on my Sabre 170. I grabbed rear risers to stop the spin, took a second look at it and cursed myself for sloppy packing. After landing, I quietly took it into the loft to resew the damaged toggle hood before anyone noticed.
I have stopped dozens of people - half way through packing - for stowing brake eyes ABOVE the guide ring.
Just last week I replaced both toggle hoods on a rig. Guess what? It arrived with one brake stowed properly below the guide ring and the other brake stowed improperly above the guide ring.

[nightjumps 1]

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Have done this twice now.

Well, stop it.

[jmfreefly 0]

Simple solution.

After threading through the cats eye, tug on the brake line above the cats eye. If the cats eye slides off the toggle, it wasn't threaded below the ring.

j

[gulaz 1]

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After threading through the cats eye, tug on the brake line above the cats eye. If the cats eye slides off the toggle, it wasn't threaded below the ring.

Ya, I kinda do that, when im pro packing, I just tug on the steering lines when I first put it over my shoulder, just to check that. Same as when I flat pack, just to make sure.
I did it once, but noticed it when I was putting the bag in the container, and it came undone.

[bluewaterstream 0]

Just curious, what exactly would happen if both brakes were left unstowed? Have any of you accidentally or intentionally done this? What kind of opening would this present?

[ps5601 0]

Around a year or more ago I had a reserve re-pack and the packer also did my main (Springo 140 loaded at aroud 1.35:1).

The initial opening was very nice, until the end cells inflated. At which time my canopy had a massive surge forward, started to dive and turn - fast. However my lines were all straight. Upon reaching up to remove my brakes and flare (to recover from the diving turn) I found that both my brakes were unstowed.

In over 1000 jumps I have never had a brake fire, and it appears a little too coincidental that I suddenly have 2 brake fires at the same time, so I have to assume that it was packed that way. Needless to say, I was not best pleased.

Blue skies

Paul

[FrogNog 1]

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Just curious, what exactly would happen if both brakes were left unstowed? Have any of you accidentally or intentionally done this? What kind of opening would this present?

The theory I have read is that the back half of the canopy can try to fly over the front half of the canopy if it opens with the brakes not set. I'm not sure how that could end up, but it doesn't sound good.

-=-=-=-=-
Pull.

[relyon 0]

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Just curious, what exactly would happen if both brakes were left unstowed? Have any of you accidentally or intentionally done this? What kind of opening would this present?

Many CRW competitors pack with brakes unstowed so they can steer through the openings. I've done it a number of times on my Lightning. The canopy opens a slower and you can either just stab both brakes to get full inflation or wait and it'll open by itself. Unless the canopy is giving slammer openings (in which case something else is probably wrong), I don't see any advantage to packing brakes unstowed for freefall.

Bob

[diablopilot 2]

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The theory I have read is that the back half of the canopy can try to fly over the front half of the canopy if it opens with the brakes not set. I'm not sure how that could end up, but it doesn't sound good.

And where did you read this? Not likely.

The brake settings do to things usually.

1) Reduce foward speed upon infation.

2) Speed up the time it takes to pressurise the cells. Think about what you do to clear closed end cells.

The couple of times I've jumped with no brakes stowed on a sport canopy the openings were soft long snivles, but the presurization was uneven.

That of course doesn't include the several hundred jumps on Icarus/Eclipse Tandem mains that don't have a brake setting.

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You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[Kimblair13 0]

hey, did it once on my sabreII 150 just to see what would happen. only thing i really noticed that was different was pretty crazy end cell closure. easy to fix though. i was told by my rigger some people don't stow breaks ever to save time.

[billvon 2,406]

>Just curious, what exactly would happen if both brakes were left
> unstowed?

It would open oddly, more likely more softly. Some tandem mains are designed to open like this.

>The theory I have read is that the back half of the canopy can try to
> fly over the front half of the canopy if it opens with the brakes not set.

Well, sorta. The additional slack in the lines makes a lineover a greater possibility, but the back half doesn't "fly over" the front or anything.

[rickjump1 0]

Yes,I forgot to stow one side and went around a couple of fast times with my antique Jedei 136 before I figured it out. I also needed a sewing job. I sure felt dumb.

Do your part for global warming: ban beans and hold all popcorn farts.

[jmfreefly 0]

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2) Speed up the time it takes to pressurise the cells. Think about what you do to clear closed end cells.

I am not so sure that being at half brakes (static state) makes the cells pressurize quicker. To clear closed end cells, i.e. flaring, changes the cross-section in the tail (dynamically), forcing the air that used to be there into the other cells via crossports. At least that has always been my interpretation.

I have always heard that not stowing your brakes runs the risk of assymetric openings, and therefore should be avoided (certainly on highly loaded ellipticals). It is like turning the car on and instantly having it try to drive away. Truthfully, I never have bothered to jump canopies that way.

j