Canopy collapse & airlocks question

[Amazon 7]

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As you said, standing on the bridle during all of this helps keep things under control as well. One other thing I've found over the years is that in 20 to 25 mph winds, the best way to control the canopy on the ground is to leave it on the ground. I have much more fun drinking beer in 25 mph winds than I do jumping. Prolly safer too.

Guilty as charged.. Most of the time I do not do it.. but I travel so much to unfamiliar places.
The Byron Boogie was fairly calm winds this year as compared to last year when they were still jumping in 30 MPH... and at Lost Prairie in the afternoons you can get some interesting gusty winds... As I have told people on more than one occasion.. my D number is low enough that I know when its time to stay on the ground. BUT when I travel elsewhere and only have a weekend to jump then come back to the SHIT GRAY SKIES of SEATTLE...I will stretch my comfort zone a little to get in some jumps. But when I start thinking about wind or dustdevil conditions.. I think about what it would be like to land my reserve in that. ( That goes back to the old ROUND reserve days) SO I know when to call it quits.. and sit back and watch the show

[ajmclean 0]

What exactly is an airlocked canopy practically speaking????

Mack The Knife
"IT IS SAID THAT THE WARRIOR'S IS THE TWOFOLD WAY OF PEN AND SWORD, AND HE SHOULD HAVE A TASTE FOR BOTH WAYS." MIYAMOTO MUSASHI, A BOOK OF FIVE RINGS.

[Amazon 7]

They are a small flap of material that is set at an angle inside each of the cells of the canopy. They allow air to get in to the cell and then block it from coming back out very easily. It allows for a more rigid canopy and prevents turbulence from affecting the canopy in ways such as end cell closures when you get into turbulence. It alos makes it difficult to collapse the canopy once you get on the ground....it maintains that airpressure for a while.

[crazydiver 0]

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I owned the Lotus 2 135 for around 200 jumps. There are definite advantages to an airlock as compared to a normal ram air canopy without an internal closing cell.

The technology is really simple, if there is a lower air pressure outside of the cell, a flap that is sewn along the sides and bottom of the cell will flap up to the top of the cell, thus closing the cell and "trapping" air within the cell.

This will help in several situations, such as side winds, and turbulence at non-critical altitudes, but it will not help you in situations such as vorticies and dustdevils. The last two still have the ability to twist you up and send you to the ground with a fully inflated canopy, regardless of airlocks.

I have been able to collapse my Lotus with considerable effort, and I do not advocate it to anyone that is not willing to accept the possiblity of a chop. Without taking wraps on my brakes, I wasnt able to collapse it, but it did bow tie alot and it was unmanageable. After taking several wraps, at 10,000' AGL I was able to collapse it. It was different than any other canopy in the way it reinflated due to the fact that I had scrubbed all of my forward speed to get it to collapse, so it seemed to take a bit longer to reinflate (read sphincter factor here).

All in all, I believe in the airlock system. The technology has proven itself to me several times, and perhaps proven itself when I didnt even know it was. The only reason I dont jump one now is because the dont open like a Xfire does. And if it means anything to you, the Lotus flies like a dream with many many many line twists. I am an expert on the Lotus Twist.....its my own manouver that others dont seem to want to try.....

The second pic is from when my brother dropped down on the end of my canopy. See how its still fully inflated? All that happened is I made a very fast diving turn to the right and it was normal again. I can honestly say that if I was under my Xfire and that happened, that side would have collapsed and probably spun me up.

I agree with you, mostly. Your crossfire would have probably spun up, but due to its being faster and more tapered. To compare the Lotus collapse to something else you would need to compare to something like a Sabre 2 for example. THe sabre two would probably collapse, but not spin up like your crossfire would. the Lotus is a much tamer canopy than your crossfire. We must compare apples to apples

Cheers,
Travis

[PhreeZone 15]

How about a Samauri? Is that elliptical enough to compare to a Crossfire? I've got 700+ Airlock jumps now and almost all those are on Jedei's and Sams. I've got almost identical findings as Jose had on his Lotus years ago when this was a new thread

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And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[crazydiver 0]

That canopy will still spin up. I jumped a jedei 120 and a Samurai 105 for about 500 jumps. They will still stay relatively inflated, but they will spin up like you wouldn't even believe.

Cheers,
Travis