Reserve incident -- Line hitched around a flare and slider stop

[pchapman 262]

A couple weeks ago at a drop zone in Ontario, Canada, a jumper had a minor reserve malfunction that did not result in injury or canopy damage.

After a low speed cutaway from a lineover on a large canopy, the jumper activated his reserve, which was also activated quickly by the RSL. After a fast and on-heading opening, he noticed an entanglement at one front corner of the canopy. He was able to counter steer against the turn, and landed safely.

The entanglement was still present after landing so the issue could be investigated. I did the informal investigation but wasn't present at the DZ where this occurred, so am relying on others' statements and photos. (I'm not highly experienced but have 600+ reserve pack jobs.)

The malfunction:
One line on the reserve canopy was hitched around an A-line slider stop, which on that design of canopy is at the bottom of a flare.
The reserve was a Glide Path Fury, a design which continues to be built by Flight Concepts International. That canopy and others in their product line, use flares rather than direct line attachment.
The line that entangled was most likely an adjacent line, either the next A-line over, or the B-line directly behind.
The Fury reserve is 220 ft. sq. in size, and the jumper was perhaps 150 lbs. without gear.

My conclusions:
Flight Concepts knows of only one other incident where a line hitched around a slider stop (one which resulted in serious injuries). It appears to be an extremely unusual event. Both the entangling line, and the line with the slider stop, would need to be slack in order for a line to loop around a stop, either within the pack job itself, or perhaps more likely during an out of sequence deployment. The design of the Fury reserve (and others like it) with flares and no stabilizers, may in my opinion be more susceptible to such an entanglement, than a reserve which has the slider stops embedded in a stabilizer, even if the overall risk is extremely low. I would consider the incident to be largely due to chance, although it can be asked whether the pack job might not have been as neat as it could be..

Details:
Picture 1 shows the line around the slider stop, as it was found after the jump. Since it is poorly exposed and focused, Picture 2 is the same but with colour added to show how the routing of the lines. Picture 3 is a re-creation using another canopy with flares, showing how such an entanglement can look when the lines are under tension.

The entanglement was I believe technically a "simple hitch" -- the line just looped once around the stop. (Not quite a "half hitch", although that term is used a lot.)

While it wasn't confirmed which line entangled the A-line slider stop, due to the limited amount of canopy distortion it was likely one of the adjacent lines.

For Flight Concepts and Glide Path canopies like the Fury, Firelite, or Sharpchuter, there are both main and reserve canopy versions. As far as I know, all the reserve versions have no stabilizers, so the slider stops are at the bottom of flares rather than embedded in the bottom edge of a stabilizer. I hypothesize that a stabilizer's fabric and the fabric tapes around a stop, may help 'protect' a stop from having a line loop around it, even if that fabric is still flexible.

While looping a line around a slider stop is simple enough in concept, even on the ground it takes some work to hitch a line and have it stay in place when tension is applied to the lines. It is still more difficult to see a way for it to have a significant chance of occurring on reserve deployment.

I contacted Flight Concepts, and they said they know of only one case where a line has ever entangled on a slider stop on a Flight Concepts or Glide Path design.

While minor incidents may not get widely reported, Flight Concepts noted that there have been no concerns in the industry regarding canopies like the Manta, perhaps the most popular student canopy every produced. Although the main canopies have stabilizers, they do not cover the A-line flare. (At least on some of the companies' mains. Pic 4, from another dropzone.com thread, shows an example of a Flight Concepts or Glide Path main canopy.)

I personally haven't heard of similar line entanglements on other types of canopies that have stabilizers and direct line attachment. A rigger I asked at one of the major reserve canopy manufacturers had not heard of other incidents either.

The one previous reported slider stop entanglement incident was a case in 2006 where a Sharpchuter reserve suffered serious damage on deployment, likely when multiple A-lines entangled around an A-line slider stop. This was reported on dropzone.com:
http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2171368
Ultimately the cause was unknown, but could have been more likely to occur if the pack job was not neat or the opening was not perfectly in sequence due to chance or another reason.

A hitch would be more likely to happen there were slack in some lines, especially if the slider had already moved part way down the lines. One would have to imagine a scenario that could include things like a less neat pack job, the canopy at least partially dumping out of the freebag on deployment, an unsymmetrical canopy inflation, etc. A less than neat pack job would not necessarily contain an entanglement, although it could still encourage a poorer opening.

The rigger who packed the reserve in the Ontario incident is a newer rigger, and was involved in the analysis of the incident. I have seen his work and have no reason to believe that he is anything but thorough in his approach to reserve packing, and he has good awareness of things mechanical. Nevertheless, maintaining canopy neatness when S-folding and squeezing it into the freebag is one of the challenges of rigging, especially for the newer rigger, so that will receive extra focus in the future.

I understand that no anomalies were seen with the rest of the gear (e.g., safety stow, freebag & canopy size compatibility, etc.)

Other thoughts about slider stop entanglements:

One can try to imagine various scenarios for different lines of different lengths, entangling with the A-line stops. If all lines were the same length, the slider up against the stops would be very good at preventing a line (from below the slider) looping around a stop (above the slider). But with unequal line lengths from A through D, there may be more potential for lines of different lengths to interfere. The slider will help keep some lines separate from each other.

The pack job method may influence the likelihood of entanglement. If the tail of the canopy is well wrapped around the canopy, right down to the bottom of the flares (that is, where the lines start), the tail material will help keep the longer lines separated from the shorter A-lines and their slider stops, when the canopy is S-folded into the bag. The two known incidents, however, seem to involve only A- and possibly B-lines.

The Flight Concepts reserve packing manual does show the tail of the canopy being brought down to the bottom of the flares. Flight Concepts emphasized this when I discussed it with them, as a method of keeping the pack job organized when the S-fold is made. (However, the instructions are a little vague about wrapping the tail around to the nose. The written instructions do not explicitly mention it, but the drawings suggest that the tail is to be brought around as on a main PRO pack, although not rolled as it would be for mains.)

Although riggers are to follow manufacturers' instructions on reserve packing methods (especially in the USA with the FAA), in reality I think many riggers have their own preferred method. It is possible that some riggers do not bring the tail of the canopy right down to the bottom of the flares, particularly if they are less familiar with canopies built with flares.

Having a generally neat pack job, that is adequately retained in the freebag until the lines are taut during deployment, should encourage a symmetrical, well sequenced deployment, that reduces the chance of a slack line entangling a slider stop, but there are no guarantees.


==============================

Any comments, corrections, additions, or opinions are welcome before I send in a report to the CSPA, USPA, and Flight Concepts.

[ianmdrennan 2]

Yep - looks like the same incident that happened at our DZ (Last year I believe it was) - Except that one was at terminal and blew out the entire front right riser line group - scarey stuff but amazingly the jumper survived. I have video of the inspection somewhere.

At the time it was concluded that the hitch occurred because of packing error (slack lines) - seems like this is the same situation.

edit: I think it's a testimony to the canopy that the jumper was still able to survive after such a failure. This is in no way a negative reflection on Flight Concepts or their product (Just wanted to be clear) Blues,
Ian

Performance Designs Factory Team

[proswooper 2]

not saying this is the case in either incident but lack of line tension can and does occur from body position during deployment as well as packing. This is why the reserve line stow system on certain containers incorporates a system that creates 'tension' on the lines instead of the usual 'freestow' system of most reserve freebags.

after watching slow video of lines on reserve deplyment without a tension system(ie freestowed in the freebag) it is scary to see how messy the lines are during the bag lifting off and reaching full linestretch. It is surprising there arent more tension knots on reserves!! and thats on a normal controlled deployment!!

just my two cents

[RiggerLee 61]

I just wanted to throw out a testamoneal to some of these canopies. Over the last few years Flight Concepts hasn’t been aggressively prosueing sales in the skydiving market. Many people have never heard of them. There business has been growing in other areas. More then once I’ve gotten calls from younger riggers asking about this strange thing they found with no staibalizers and these funny things on the bottom. Part of it is the area of the country. In some states there products are everywhere. There was a time here in north Texas when Mantas were the standered student canopy. Many people went on to jump there mains when the time came to buy there own gear. The dealers around here started to push Pd’s and Ravens. We go through a generation about every five years and it’s gotten to the point that most of the people around here have never seen a flare on the bottom of a canopy. I learned to jump on a Glide Path Manta. The first canopy I ever owned was a Mavrick. I made my first BASE jump on it and felt perfectly secure. I jumped there CRW canopy the Prodogy for years when I was playing with Dimond Quest. And as the reserve in my CRW rig is a Glide Path Firelite, which I am still jumping by the way, I have more then a few jumps on it. It has taken good care of me over the years. I still to this day jump Fury’s and a Pegasus for BASE. Even now when poo pooing non BASE specific gear. And I’ve jumped shit with those canopies that no one else has ever done. One of them just came back from a trip to Baffin island where it did good service once again.

Now having said all that I’d like to put forward a few questions. These canopies have gone through several iterations starting with Dejango then Glide Path and now Flight Concepts. I know Red is out there lessening. Maybe you can clear up some questions on the history and design for me. The Flares seemed to come about as a response to the direct line attachment law suit at the Dejango/Glide Path transition. The Stabalizers on the reserve seemed to go away at the same time. You continued to have stabilizers on the main. Was this also part of dodging the patent. Is there any thing that would prevent you building a reserve with sabalizers? Next question. If there is a slider stop on the stabalizer at the B line then do you really need one on the end of the A line flare? They are a lump floating out there among the A and B lines. Again for those lessening let me repeat I’ve never had or seen in person a problem with this. I was simple careful with them when I packed.

I think this is just an one of those having a bad day lightning strikes. I wish all of the canopies out there had as good a track record as the Flight Concepts canopies.

Lee

Lee
[email protected]
www.velocitysportswear.com

[JohnRich 4]

Quote

If there is a slider stop on the stabalizer at the B line then do you really need one on the end of the A line flare? They are a lump floating out there among the A and B lines.

That's what struck me about those photos - the slider stop on the end of that skinny flare looks like a large lump that is just asking to snag something. That's why the corners of flaps and such are tapered, so that a line can slide off if it half-hitches. But these lumps look like natural born trouble to me.

I'm not a rigger, so take my comments with a large lump of salt.

[NickDG 23]

Glidepath, which later became Flight Concepts, used flares only to avoid paying a license fee to Steve Snyder for his method of direct line attachment.

Too bad jumpers today are still paying the price for that business decision . . .

On the up-side, except for the unstable turbulance killers like the Nova and the Clipper canopies, they also built the Fury and the Unit, which were popular in BASE jumping because they were built well and worked okay if you removed the slider and packed really neatly.

I guess you can change the name, but not the pedigree . . .

NickD BASE 194

[NickDG 23]

HH,

Why is "BASE Jumping" in my post above now a link to your new BASE board?

If I wanted to steer people there I would.

You're putting words in my mouth, and assigning untold meaning to my thoughts.

Please stop it.

Nick Base 194

[RMURRAY 1]

Quote

not saying this is the case in either incident but lack of line tension can and does occur from body position during deployment as well as packing. This is why the reserve line stow system on certain containers incorporates a system that creates 'tension' on the lines instead of the usual 'freestow' system of most reserve freebags.

after watching slow video of lines on reserve deplyment without a tension system(ie freestowed in the freebag) it is scary to see how messy the lines are during the bag lifting off and reaching full linestretch. It is surprising there arent more tension knots on reserves!! and thats on a normal controlled deployment!!

just my two cents

maybe reserve bags should use rubber bands just like mains.....

rm

[proswooper 2]

thats what i am saying, some do have a line stow system, not rubber bands but elastic stows.

i know aerodyne's free bags have a stow system and when you watch a video comparison of line deployment with the stows Vs without the stows... the difference is dramatic.

of course this was a during the R&D phase of the early icons and i have no way of gettinng the video but it truly was amazing.

any ways my point was: it is not always just packing error that can create slack in the lines during deployment.

[RiggerLee 61]

Are you two conspireing? Could you possably set him up with a better oppertunity to get up on a soap box? Note to all, the guy two up jumps a Racer the only rig left on the market with rubberbands on the reserve line.

Lee

Lee
[email protected]
www.velocitysportswear.com

[DougH 270]

Quote

thats what i am saying, some do have a line stow system, not rubber bands but elastic stows.

i know aerodyne's free bags have a stow system and when you watch a video comparison of line deployment with the stows Vs without the stows... the difference is dramatic.

of course this was a during the R&D phase of the early icons and i have no way of gettinng the video but it truly was amazing.

any ways my point was: it is not always just packing error that can create slack in the lines during deployment.

Aerodyne has those elastic stow pockets, but doesn't mention using them in either the Icon packing manual, or the Smart manual that I printed a little while back.

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[PeteS 0]

Nick, I know it's been a long time but the Unit was a direct line attatched canopy built by GQ Security of San Leandro, CA.

[NickDG 23]

Yes, that's right. Sorry. I get them mixed up since I blew up a Security reserve on a terminal reserve opening.

NickD BASE 194

[Gene03 0]

To quote Rob Stewart, "Every picture tells a story, story."

“The only fool bigger than the person who knows it all is the person who argues with him.

Stanislaw Jerzy Lec quotes (Polish writer, poet and satirist 1906-1966)

[Gene03 0]

Would you care to provide a link to the aforementioned videos?

“The only fool bigger than the person who knows it all is the person who argues with him.

Stanislaw Jerzy Lec quotes (Polish writer, poet and satirist 1906-1966)

[DougH 270]

Quote

Would you care to provide a link to the aforementioned videos?

Quote

of course this was a during the R&D phase of the early icons and i have no way of gettinng the video but it truly was amazing.

Still strange to me that they would leave them in the free bag design, but not mention their use in the packing manuals. We just freestowed last repack.

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P