Should a Cutaway cable move or slip at all upon opening.

[skip 0]

Can a cut away cable move through the riser retaining loop upon opening?

Also sometimes (actually quite often) one of my cables comes out of the hard housing after opening, no big deal I though and I just pop it back in, after checking my airspace, and proceed with the skydive. The reason I ask about the cable moving through the loop is that last weekend the cable came out of the hard housing – however unlike any other time there was only about two inches of cable above the retaining loop, where as in any other “incident” it was actually pulled taught with 5-6 inches exposed. I had cleaned my cutaway cables the night before this skydive and wonder if I had inadvertently not housed the cable completely.

As far as the cable popping out of the hard housing I will have my rigger take a look at it but I would imagine I need to get a new set of cables and have them cut a little longer? Would that be correct?

Thanks for any insight.

[JohnnyZ 0]

I'm not a rigger, but your idea of getting longer cables sounds about right to me. My cables go up into the hard housings about 6 inches or so. Two inches above the retaining loop definitely sounds a bit unsafe.
I'd definitely consult a qualified rigger before jumping that rig again. If one side of your risers releases and the other doesn't, you probably won't like the ride... especially if you have an RSL or Skyhook and that's the riser that releases.

I hope this helps... And I hope my opinions are correct.

John Z.

[masterrig 1]

Sounds to me like your cable(s) are too short. I can't see your rig or cables so, I would take the advise of getting it to a rigger. He'll be able to help better than we can here. New release cables and handle aren't that costly.


Chuck

[justinb138 0]

Quote

If one side of your risers releases and the other doesn't, you probably won't like the ride... especially if you have an RSL or Skyhook and that's the riser that releases.

With the Skyhook, the collins lanyard should release the other riser and activate the reserve.

[spoons 0]

I had a similar problem with my rig - the sheaths (if that is the right word ...i thought they were the hard housings!) expand and contract and do all sorts of things whilst being packed and jumped and so on...this caused the excess cable that is normally in the riser inserts to be used up in the sheath and made my left (the RSL side ) pop out of the risers insert a couple of times on opening.

I've since got a temporary cut away pad and cables (friendly rigger
So yes, you may need a new set of cables that are slightly longer but sometimes fiddling with the hard housings/sheath can move around that excess cutaway cable.

That's what i think anyway

• Quote

[JohnnyZ 0]

"justinb138" wrote:

"With the Skyhook, the collins lanyard should release the other riser and activate the reserve."
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To my knowledge, the lanyard is connected to the right riser of a Skyhook-fitted container system. If somehow the cable pulled out on that riser, releasing from the rings, how would the left riser be released?
In this circumstance, I'd imagine that the reserve would deploy and you would still be conected to the main by the left riser.
Am I wrong?

[bliston 0]

Speaking just for Vector's w/ skyhooks...

There is a break (about and inch) in the housings on the right side of the yolk for the long cable. The yellow cable is threaded through a loop in the rsl that lines up with the gap.

Basicly, with the skyhook, you have three components to that make up the lanyard assembly: the black webbing with velco that connects to the riser - this has an eye-let at the end (and this is what the yellow cable goes through), next you have a white piece of dacron that has the reserve pin at one end and is also connected to the eye-let, and lastly you have the red skyhook lanyard that loops throw the skyhook on one end and connects to the black RSL webbing (side by side w/ the "pin" lanyard) on the other.

So, if the right riser breaks, as it pulls away, it'll extract the long yellow cable. If you're having a hard time picturing this, imagine hooking your finger under your main pc kill-line at the window. If the end that connects with your main was sewn down and the other end at the pilot chute wasn't actually connected to the top of the pc, you could see how yanking on it would pull the loose end of the kill line out of the bridle. This is basically what would happy with the long yellow cable.

Pretty cool design - it also covers prevents the possibility of an entanglement if a jumper's cable's were the wrong length and he/she only pulled the cutaway handle enough to release the right side.

Kinda hard to explain in words, but if you can find one to take a look at, it makes perfect sense. Hope the long winded post sheds some light on it for you.

Ben

Mass Defiance 4-wayFS website


sticks!

[ChrisClark 0]

http://www.relativeworkshop.com/pdt_skyhook.html

Download the packing instructions for the Skyhook from this page. The manual explains the Collins Lanyard part of the RSL. The Collins is designed to release the other riser if the RSL attached riser should break or release for some reason.

[riggerrob 558]

Sounds like your cables are too short.
2 inches remaining is waaaaay too short!
One version of the Telesis student rig uses SOS. The minimum length for SOS cutaway cables is 3.5" above the white loop, with 4" preferred.
Most sport rigs have 5" or 6" or even 7" of yellow cable extending above the white loop.
If they have an RSL, the RSL-side cable should be 1" inch longer, to prevent some sissified, limp-wristed half-hearted cutawayer from releasing the RSL-side first.
In other words, if you are going to err - when trimming cables - err on the side of caution, so that the RSL-side releases last.
RSL = last
RSL = longer

[Elisha 1]

Quote

Can a cut away cable move through the riser retaining loop upon opening?

Also sometimes (actually quite often) one of my cables comes out of the hard housing after opening, no big deal I though and I just pop it back in, after checking my airspace, and proceed with the skydive. The reason I ask about the cable moving through the loop is that last weekend the cable came out of the hard housing – however unlike any other time there was only about two inches of cable above the retaining loop, where as in any other “incident” it was actually pulled taught with 5-6 inches exposed. I had cleaned my cutaway cables the night before this skydive and wonder if I had inadvertently not housed the cable completely.

As far as the cable popping out of the hard housing I will have my rigger take a look at it but I would imagine I need to get a new set of cables and have them cut a little longer? Would that be correct?

Thanks for any insight.

Read these two threads - probably the same issue:

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1775227;search_string=cable;#1775227

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1927115;search_string=cable;#1927115

[CrazyL 0]

There is also a 'Floating Tack' that is on most equipment that would be a good part to check. Most floating tack on cutaway cable housings float 1 inch allowing some movement of the housings for the odd cutaway situations. If the tack breaks or is excessively loose this could also cause the sort of problem you've described, as well as too short of cables themselves.