Tell me about opening related damage

[BlindBrick 0]

I am seperated from my Poynter's at the moment, and am looking for info on damage to canopies from opening. Going from memory, I seem to remeber a mention that damage is almost always seen on the bottom skin. Is that right? Also, would the damage be a standard L-shaped tear or would the damage pattern look different?

I ask because I have a canopy here that I know has consistently been opened at high speeds and the damage is to the topskin and outboard, well away from the center cell.

It's also a weird damage pattern. I'd almost call it circular except that the rip-stop effect has kicked in around the edges. The damage is also weird in that rather than a clean tear, it's almost as if the fabric is worn through. The fabric is frayed(but the canopy is fairly new) for lack of a better term and in some places it looks like the individual filaments of the fabric have actually been elongated. I've also noticed some white specks of stuff on some of the filaments. It almost looks like melted plastic except that it's white, where I'd expect it to be black.

As I typed this, I just started thinking. Could this have been the result of a line over that cleared itself before the jumper noticed it?


-Blind

"If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

[crazydiver 0]

It could be from a lineover, but the damage you are describing seems much more severe than just a line burn. IF there is white residue it could be battery acid. There is also a chance, from you saying that the fibers are pulled apart, that it could have got caught on something and drug for a ways. I would definetly say your damage is not related due to hard openings or high opening speeds.

Cheers,
Travis

[hookitt 0]

Do you have a collapsible pilot chute or a standard?

How large is the damage?

If it's not collapsible, ss it possible that damage was caused by pinching the canopy inbetween the Inside Ring and the Deployment bag grommet?

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[KevinMcGuire 0]

[reply I would definetly say your damage is not related due to hard openings or high opening speeds.

[BlindBrick 0]

Quote

Do you have a collapsible pilot chute or a standard?

How large is the damage?

If it's not collapsible, ss it possible that damage was caused by pinching the canopy inbetween the Inside Ring and the Deployment bag grommet?

Non-collapisble PC looks to be 35-36 inches. Pinching is a possibility, but I am leanig towards not. This is a large canopy and the damage is well away from the center cell If you want to call the end cell #9, and then go sequentially, the damage is right on the seam between cells 7&8. Plus when this canopy is pro packed, it is large enough that only the center cell skin is exposed when it is bagged.

I do not think acid or is a likely cause unless the off chance that there was some layign unnocticed on the packign area carpet. I'm positive that the AAD battery is not leaking because I had the unit out the day previously, showing it to another rigger who'd never seen a Vigil.

Other things. Size of damage mentioned is roughly 1.75 inches. Threre are two more damaged areas that are roughly in line the this area. one is a standard L -shaped tear that's a little smaller than a quarter. Just above that is a slit that's ~ 1 inch long. Canopy is a largish ZP, semi-elliptical.

Kevin, this may be friction damge but it isn't the resutl of color swap as the only colors on the canopy are blue, red and black.

I appreciate all the comments. I've never seen this before, and before I sent it out the door, I want to make sure that it was something besides fabric degradation from deployment speeds that are consistently 30+ mph over the canopy's placarded max.

-Blind

"If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

[firstime 0]

where and how do store your rig??

[gemini 0]

Have you landed off and ridden back in the back of a pickup? I've been picked up by passersby who had a lot of stuff in the floor and bed of the truck. Battery acid would be possible in that situation.

I saw another situation where someone spilled something in the packing room on a canopy that almost melted the fabric. Luckly it was notice before it was packed and the panel was replaced by PD.

Sometime later a normal series of openings or a single hard openings could have stressed the weaken fabric and caused the failure.

Blue skies,

Jim

[mjosparky 3]

It you feel around the damage and don’t feel any stiffness or hard rough texture it is not likely to be deployment damage.

The way you have described the fibers being stretched and the one tear being “L” shaped sounds like it is ground damage. Snagging the canopy on something or dragging it across something.

Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals