Broken Line - Flight Characteristics

[MikeJD 0]

During the weekend I came to gather up my canopy after landing and saw that one of the suspension lines had broken. It's the leftmost D line, the break is about 2cm above the link and the broken ends are quite frayed although the other lines don't look excessively worn to me.

The opening wasn't violent, the canopy flew and flared as normal, I didn't snag it on anything when I was picking it up and a teammate who watched me land saw nothing out of the ordinary. So it's possible that it happened right at the bottom of my flare and when I was as good as down.

On the other hand, it's the first time I've had a line break, and the thing that really gave me pause was the question of whether it could have happened on opening - which I would have thought the most likely time - and I'd never even noticed. I jump a Katana 107 loaded at around 1.7, and I'd have thought it unlikely to fly normally with a broken line (assuming it's possible I didn't see it).

Mainly I'm just curious. Who has flown and landed a similar canopy with a broken line and found it no different from normal? Has anyone failed to spot a break while they were under canopy?

Needless to say, my Katana is now with my rigger and I'll be placing an order with PD for a new line set.

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[craigbey 0]

Couple of years ago on a Samurai 120 @ 1.85 ... broken C line at attachment point. It was easy to see the line trailing behind me, but I did not notice a difference in performance.

FWIW: it was a conservative landing.


http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2313855;search_string=broken%20c%20line;#2313855

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Who has flown and landed a similar canopy with a broken line and found it no different from normal? Has anyone failed to spot a break while they were under canopy?

1. Highly loaded Stiletto, outside "A" line. Did not even know it until I coiled the lines after landing.

2. A long time ago with a large canopy, spotted it after opening, no difference in performance.

[lguard8 0]

Broke an inside C/D line on my Velo 84. Noticed it after opening and did some practice flares up high. Didn't do a high performance landing and decided to do a straight in landing instead and it landed just fine.

www.lukeevens.com
http://beachbodycoach.com/lguard8

[d100965 0]

I've seen 3 people land canopies with 1 or 2 broken lines trailing. 2 out of the 3 did not know till after landing.
I've never had a broken line myself but have sailed close to the wind this year after doing 670 jumps on my current lineset (500HMA). I've now had to send mine in for a reline (and mid season; such bad admin!).
What line type and size, and how many jumps have you now done on them?

[justme12001 0]

Landed a jonathan 136 wl of 1.8 with a broken D line and a blown center cell, it was a top skin rip.

Didn't notice either one until after landing. Flew and landed pretty normally. I even did my normal 180 approach.