exchanging canopies with a friend: mirage dbag/pilot chute/risers in a vector

[Couloirman 0]

any problems with it? Im doing a balloon jump tomorrow and am borrowing a friends canopy from his mirage. Can I just cut away his chute and attach his mirage risers to my vector container with his mirage dbag and pilot chute, or are there any compatibility issues that I should know about between the two container manufacturers? I don't wanna repack his chute into my vector dbag if I dont have to, id rather just transfer the packed d bag into my container if possible. I cant think of anything that would not work about it, but just wanna ask and need to know before the DZ opens tomorrow and I can ask a rigger, thanks.

EDIT: my container is sized for a 170 sabre 2, his is sized for a 150 but has a 170 sabre 2 in it.

[mnealtx 0]

NB: I am *not* a rigger

D-bags and pilot chutes are sized for the container they were manufactured with - nothing might happen, or anything might happen - hard to say.

If it were me, I'd swap bags.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[bigway 4]

That has been the cause of at least one death i know of.

I know I sure as hell would not do that.

They are the same container so maybe it is not a big deal. If i was you i would take the to change it all over.

That 170 must be damn hard to pack into a d-bag made for a 150.

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
.

[DrewEckhardt 0]

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any problems with it? Im doing a balloon jump tomorrow and am borrowing a friends canopy from his mirage. Can I just cut away his chute and attach his mirage risers to my vector container with his mirage dbag and pilot chute, or are there any compatibility issues that I should know about between the two container manufacturers? .

The last time I did that the damn thing spun up. Could have just been the way the last person to use the canopy packed it; or it could have been how the shape of the D-bag interacted with the container. Fortunately I keep a spare rig in my car so I was back in business as soon as I got a ride back to the hanger.

You also want the D-bag tight enough to have a staged deployment if you're unstable when you dump which is more likely given a 0-airspeed exit from a hot air baloon.

Switch canopies, D-bag, and do a continuity check.

[jimmytavino 16]

well as long as you have One Hundred THOUSAND jumps... i guess you can do whatever YOU want...

how about just using the other guy's rig?????


my first cutaway,,,, came at a 4 way meet where i was using two similar mains, each in their own D BAG,,, ( called it a POD, back then...)
..well the risers somehow got criss crossed,,, and so I had a chance to use my shot and a halves, and 26 foot LOPO....

not a rigger, and can't say How compatible the d bags may or may not be....
But either way.... pull the main out, and RE-Pack it...

balloon jumps usually mean OFF field landings, and to cutaway Somebody Else's main is bad enough ,, to do it over territory far from the Dz,,,and with No certainty of where it might land....
Well THAT sounds like a waaay over a thousand Dollar Balloon jump..... not to mention, a new freebag and reserve re-pack...

have fun be smart


jmy

[jacketsdb23 45]

Let me tell you a story, take it for what its worth:

I am generally speaking a pretty anal guy when it comes to packing my main parachute. Its kind of ironic because I packed myself a malfunction when I only set one brake. I don't like other people packing for me. Anyway, I gave my canopy to a buddy who made a few (50!) jumps on it. He gave me the canopy back nicely packed in the Dbag and the lines stowed.

So that Dbag is sitting there, the risers were attached and we were pretty careful at converting from one rig to the other. There were about 5 people there telling me to just close the rig up. To be fair half of them were kind of kidding and the other half were sort of serious.

It took me a few minutes and I finally was like "fuck it - I'm repacking it". Sure as shit I unpacked it and it was a pretty ugly setup. Pretty sure I would have had a reserve ride.

Long story short.....Open it up and repack it if you switch rigs. I wouldn't be as concerned about using the Dbag and pilot chute as long as it fits in the container well.

Have a rigger check out the setup.

Just in case you were wondering my position:
Take the ten minutes to pack the rig!

Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen
God is Good
Beer is Great
Swoopers are crazy.

[freakflyer9999 1]

The last time I was at WFFC (1997), all of the canopy manufacturers had their demo canopies packed on risers ready to attach to your rig. All you had to do was cut away your canopy and attach theirs, close the container and off you went. They did have some neat little packing mats that they velcroed the risers to, so that they kept left and right straight.

Just make sure that you don't swap the left and right risers and go for it.

[fcajump 153]

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The last time I was at WFFC (1997), all of the canopy manufacturers had their demo canopies packed on risers ready to attach to your rig. All you had to do was cut away your canopy and attach theirs, close the container and off you went. They did have some neat little packing mats that they velcroed the risers to, so that they kept left and right straight.

Just make sure that you don't swap the left and right risers and go for it.

Rotating a riser (or both) is also a potential issue, and not so easily found without repacking.

As to compatibility, I would recommend checking with the container mfg.

JW

Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

[fcajump 153]

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That has been the cause of at least one death i know of.

Would like to see a writeup or link here...
(not questioning the statement, simply would like to read about it to understand what went wrong past the swapping of canopies.)

JW

Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

[ryan_turner 0]

It will probably work. But I also think it is very bad idea. If it was me, I would not do it.

Ryan

[ficus 0]

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That has been the cause of at least one death i know of.

Would like to see a writeup or link here...
(not questioning the statement, simply would like to read about it to understand what went wrong past the swapping of canopies.)

JW

This is probably the referenced incident:

http://www.dropzone.com/fatalities/Detailed/12.shtml

The short version is that the jumper had attached reverse/integrity risers to a rig that was not designed for them (a Javelin, if I remember correctly.) The risers did not leave cleanly and she went in under a main/reserve entanglement.

[peggs82 0]

edit to ask Sabre 2 170 to a Sabre2 170...why even bother changing??? And also...is a balloon jump really the time I want to change to something new????? And if its just to "quickly pack" I think you will find that it takes just as long to switch (with mirage dbag in your container) as it would be to just pack your own stuff.

Not a Rigger.... Only my opinion

However, as it has been mentioned, many canopy demos (particularly at boogies) come all ready on risers and in a dbag for a quick swap. They have neat demo bags that clip the risers down through the 3 rings.

I doubt that they would continue doing that if it was that drastically unsafe.

That is at terminal-terminal'ish speeds. I don't know if I'd do it on a balloon jump though? Its not like it takes all that long to switch a dbag.

For reference - I am happy to do the demo canopy swap out. If the bags were made for the same size canopy sure - on a normal jump (not balloon).

[mnealtx 0]

Good points on the demo canopies.

Re: OP's canopy - you're carrying a Spectre 170, if your profile is correct... why bother switching?

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[Couloirman 0]

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Good points on the demo canopies.

Re: OP's canopy - you're carrying a Spectre 170, if your profile is correct... why bother switching?

I sold my spectre 170 a while back and was waiting for my sabre 2 150 to arrive, which it finally did, so I did not have to exchange with my buddy after all. Thanks for all the info though guys, my rigger who I asked later told me it'd be fine, but again, I did not actually do it.