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Spooky52

GQ Security "The Unit"

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I am looking for inspection and packing instructions for a GQ/Security "The Unit". The canopy appears to be new, never jumped. I obtained it from Perry Stevens so I trust that it is not junk. I am specifically looking for line routing info. the steering lines go over each other and I haven't figured out how to untangle them. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. I currently have a PD 190 canopy in my rig but it seems a bit fast for an old fart like me when landing. I'm hoping that the Unit will be much more docile. Thanks.

Jim Chandler D-4501
If you know how many guns you have - you don't have enough!

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Just throwing this out there: is it possible the current landing characteristics of your PD 190 are, at least partly, affected by the age/permeability of the fabric? How well does it flare anymore?
Also, if the Unit - which is what, 30 - 35 years old? - has been well-jumped, wouldn't fabric permeability be an issue with that one, too? And if it's one of the 200 sq ft canopies, would that land much slower than your 190?

Again, these are just questions, and I'm sure as heck not a rigger. I'm humbly open-minded to learning.

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Spooky52

I am looking for inspection and packing instructions for a GQ/Security "The Unit". The canopy appears to be new, never jumped. I obtained it from Perry Stevens so I trust that it is not junk. I am specifically looking for line routing info. the steering lines go over each other and I haven't figured out how to untangle them. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. I currently have a PD 190 canopy in my rig but it seems a bit fast for an old fart like me when landing. I'm hoping that the Unit will be much more docile. Thanks. Jim Chandler D-4501



Jim, I think the first thing I would do is to see what the pack volume is of the Unit compared to the PD190. I don't think you want something much too big or too small in your container. The Unit might be much bulkier. Sorry, I have no idea where to get the Unit pack volume, but the PD190 pack volume will be in a catalog somewhere.

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Hi Jim,

Quote

GQ/Security "The Unit".



I'm going from memory here, but I think that they only had three suspension lines per rib.

As for clearing the steering lines, see if you can hang it by the tail somewhere. I would think that it should be fairly easy to sort things out. It was not a 'strange' canopy.

They did come in a number of sizes. You should see which one you have and then consider the loading ratio.

Packing was just like any other canopy of that era; flat pack.

To Andy9o8) He mentions: "The canopy appears to be new, never jumped."

Jerry Baumchen

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Pack volumes here http://www.pia.com/piapubs/TSDocuments/TS-104CanopyVolume.pdf

Unit 546 ci
PD 190 around 440 ci

May not fit. And I can't imagine any world I'd jump a Unit instead of a PD 190. I don't think the Unit is going to go any slower. IIRC it was trimmed pretty step but it's been 25 years since I saw one. I don't think it's going to be a good option for you. There's a reason they still make the PD 190, at least up until a couple of years ago, and the Unit didn't out last the 80's, and you found an unused one (no one wanted to jump it;)).

It's also from a time when the brake systems weren't necessarily standardized. Try to find someone that remembers whether it can be set with standard toggles at the standard 4" from the end of the riser.

Did they really start making it in the 70's?

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

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Yes, I think it does go back that far or close. But more importantly, no one ever actually flat packed a Unit. You pick it up and trash pack it, stuffing it into the container willy-nilly. It's the only way it would ever actually open :P

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

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I think their were three or four models. It's been years since I jumped a unit, once. I do not recall a single impressive thing about it. It wasn't super bad but I would grade it in both flight and tech way, way bellow a 190.

The one I jumped was a five cell. Low aspect ratio, four=square + one. Once inflated it was square. Three line groups and a few other oddities. Nice mussem piece. Are you telling me you can't find any thing better to jump? Really?

I don't generally dump on older gear and I'd have no fear of jumping this for fun. But as to packing instruction for daily use... It's complicated. Proper construction of curtains requires specialized machinery.

Lee
Lee
[email protected]
www.velocitysportswear.com

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A few guys bought Units when they first came out, but I don't remember anyone raving about how good they were, and they disappeared from the scene pretty quickly.

One guy chopped his over the lake, and it landed about 500 metres off shore. He didn't even bother to try and retrieve it.

It might be useful to use in an intentional cutaway rig.
My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

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wmw999

Yes, I think it does go back that far or close. But more importantly, no one ever actually flat packed a Unit. You pick it up and trash pack it, stuffing it into the container willy-nilly. It's the only way it would ever actually open :P Wendy P.



You used a container? Wuss.

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Spooky
In my opinion, you would be ill advised to jump that piece of shit. I actually owned one for a few minutes and dumped it when it wouldn't open reliably. (As did a number of us back then.) Sometimes it would open, sometimes it wouldn't.

Regularly those canopies didn't open for a long long long time, as in "almost didn't open". In one of the old Wally Gubbins movies, which were rife with parody and humor, a streamer goes on forever and the subtitle was, "Openings by Security".

Do you really want to jump a parachute that had an earned reputation for not opening? The Unit was a piece of shit back then; and even though you found one in new condition, guess what? It's still the same.

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wmw999

Yes, I think it does go back that far or close. But more importantly, no one ever actually flat packed a Unit. You pick it up and trash pack it, stuffing it into the container willy-nilly. It's the only way it would ever actually open :P

Wendy P.



Wendy for the win. I seem to remember it being described as the "snivel, snivel, snivel, snivel, open on demand (grab the toggles and flare) canopy".
----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

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Hi Jim,

Wow; lots of negativity about these canopies.

I jumped one for nearly an entire summer 'back in the day' and thought it was a rather nice canopy; it was not mine.

I never had any problems with it opening and the landings were just fine; but I only weighed about 170 lbs then.

Jerry Baumchen

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diablopilot

***Yes, I think it does go back that far or close. But more importantly, no one ever actually flat packed a Unit. You pick it up and trash pack it, stuffing it into the container willy-nilly. It's the only way it would ever actually open :P

Wendy P.



Wendy for the win. I seem to remember it being described as the "snivel, snivel, snivel, snivel, open on demand (grab the toggles and flare) canopy".


I put a dinner plate on my slider and hot knifed a hole into it - that sorted the opening issues. Probably put about 100 jumps on it. It had Kevlar lines and a wicked inbuilt turn to the right to the point it would corkscrew a downplane! ;)
2 wrongs don't make a right - but 3 lefts do.

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Funny how Units had a reputation for slow openings. I only did one jump on a Unit .. pulled the ripcord at 3,000 and was open by 2,000. Other than that it flew fine.
Then I bought a Cruislite and enjoyed hundreds of jumps on my Cruislite. Modern jumpers derisively refer to Cruiselites as "Bruiselites."
Hah!
Hah!
Sounds like Unit openings have now returned to the height of fashion.

Units were fashionable circa 1980. Ask Ray Ferrel (Action Air, Davis, California) for the details. GQ Security quit building Units shortly before they closed their factory in San Leandro, California (near San Francisco). The GQ Security factory closed because they lost a bid on a military contract.

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I had a Unit III for a year or two. I wouldn't call it a great canopy but it was cheap and came with the Wonderhog. I'd jump one again just for fun... maybe once.

Spooky52

I am looking for inspection and packing instructions for a GQ/Security "The Unit". The canopy appears to be new, never jumped. I obtained it from Perry Stevens so I trust that it is not junk. I am specifically looking for line routing info. the steering lines go over each other and I haven't figured out how to untangle them. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. I currently have a PD 190 canopy in my rig but it seems a bit fast for an old fart like me when landing. I'm hoping that the Unit will be much more docile. Thanks.

Jim Chandler D-4501

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