Minor incident - fingertrapped brake line

[billvon 2,435]

Saw a minor incident at Perris this weekend that was noteworthy. Jumper did a freefly jump, deployed normally. At 800 feet one of his toggles came off in his hand. He assumed the line had broken, and prepared to flare his main (a midsized Pilot) with his rear risers. When he got to flare height, he pulled the rear risers down hard. The canopy stalled; he dropped hard onto his back. Fortunately he was not injured seriously (just a bit sore.)

Upon inspection his 'broken' brake line was found to be intact, with a 9-12" section of it pristine white and not fuzzy at all. It was also considerably longer than the line on his other toggle. The other toggle had a standard fingertrap and a knot just above the toggle. From those clues I concluded that the 'broken' line had a fingertrap that had not been knotted or sewed, and that caused the line to slowly make its way out of the fingertrap. The jumper stated his risers had just been changed, and was last seen going off to talk to his rigger.

Some lessons here:

1) Inspect your lines regularly, and especially after any maintenance. Check them on the ground; make sure the toggles are secure, the brake lines aren't damaged (velcro risers can chew them up) and the links or slinks are secure. Learn to do line checks, and do them whenever the canopy is removed, or something odd happened on landing that might have moved a line over the rig.

2) Check your lines/risers in the air on occasion. This is an excellent time to ensure that there are no line continuity problems; a canopy that has a few lines switched will generally still open fine, but will look odd once the lines are loaded. (Generally one riser will be twisted.) Also make sure your brake lines have some bow in them at full flight, and that when pulled down they deflect the tail evenly. Ensure the yellow cables are contained by the riser channels, and that the cables are not kinked by the white loop on the riser.

3) If you do have a broken toggle, practice flaring with rear risers up high. Learn where the stall point is (it will be very sudden!) Then do not flare any further than that on landing, even if it seems like you will land hard. Make up the difference by doing a PLF.

[itllclear 1]

I'll bet he was glad it didn't come loose in the flare. Ask Andy Rowan about those events.

Was he headed for the grass or soft, plowed up dirt area?

"Harry, why did you land all the way out there? Nobody else landed out there."

"Your statement answered your question."

[riggerrob 558]

Steering/brake lines should always have a knot or a few stitches in the bottom end.

[billvon 2,435]

>Was he headed for the grass or soft, plowed up dirt area?

The grass. The soft, plowed up dirt area is beginning its annual change to the field of rock-hard dirt clods.

[Martini 0]

My slightly opionionated amendment to Rob's post: Steering/brake lines should (MUST) always have a knot or a few stitches in the bottom end.

If fingertraps aren't secured they will inevitably come loose. IMHO the best way to secure toggles to brakelines is:

Fingertrap the line leaving about 3/4" loop. Run the excess (tag end) line up inside as far as you can. I run mine all the way to the cat's eye fingertrap.
Knot the line immediately above the loop with a simple overhand knot.
Secure the line to the toggle. If you don't know the correct method ask your rigger.

The advantage to this method is that it allows for adjusment to the lower brake line as the brake line shrinks or as you feel the need for a change in length. Simply undo the knot, pull out the fingertrap and re-do to a new length. Done carefully no compromise is made to line strength.

All other fingertraps on my lines are stitched.

Sometimes you eat the bear..............

[itllclear 1]

Quote

The soft, plowed up dirt area is beginning its annual change to the field of rock-hard dirt clods.

While it's possible to turn an ankle in those clods, I've usually found them to be more like big pea gravel. The clods also break up with an impact, which is what you want if you're in doubt as to how your landing will be.

I'd rather clean some dust out of my teath than grass off the end of the femur sticking though the skin and jumpsuit.

As I tell my flight students, an emergency landing area is one which will allow gradual, if not necessarily pretty, deceleration.

"Harry, why did you land all the way out there? Nobody else landed out there."

"Your statement answered your question."

[Dolph 0]

Hm, imagine this kind of problem manifesting itself on a 360 degree turn swoop that is just a tad bit low. A little input to pull out of the dive - only one side of the canopy is slowed down...could turn something minor into something major.

[itllclear 1]

It could be just as bad just flaring from a regular approach.

BSBD

"Harry, why did you land all the way out there? Nobody else landed out there."

"Your statement answered your question."

[Dolph 0]

That is true. The increased forward velocity that comes with a swoop would increase the overall energy in the "system" and has to go somewhere though.

[billvon 2,435]

>Hm, imagine this kind of problem manifesting itself on a 360
>degree turn swoop that is just a tad bit low.

This has killed at least one person I can think of.

[CrazyL 0]

What a simple mistake. Did a rigger assemble his main? If so, why are they a rigger? Arghhh!!@#$% Another Q: would you go for the reserve in his scenario? I'd treat it as if I were flying a micro raven 120 reserve and land it in the pond! Really.

[itllclear 1]

Quote

The soft, plowed up dirt area is beginning its annual change to the field of rock-hard dirt clods.

I landed in it a couple of times today. It's VERY well plowed and VERY soft.

Dusty and dirty, yes, but it's easy to wash dust out of the jumpsuit. I agree it's not great for your lines.

Soft landings.

Harry

"Harry, why did you land all the way out there? Nobody else landed out there."

"Your statement answered your question."

[UDSkyJunkie 0]

Quote

What a simple mistake. Did a rigger assemble his main? If so, why are they a rigger? Arghhh!!@#$% Another Q: would you go for the reserve in his scenario? I'd treat it as if I were flying a micro raven 120 reserve and land it in the pond! Really.
------------------------------------------------- Blind folded packing contest anyone?

If it was simply fingertrapped and nothing else, those are good questions, however... I am a rigger, and last year I attached my father's toggles per the instructions for spectra lines in the Racer canopy owner's manual (looping the fingertrap "through" itself). A few dozen jumps later, he was mid-flare on his Stiletto 150, when out of nowhere one of the lines left the toggle. Fortunately, 30+ years and 4500+ jumps was enough to give him the ability to pull that landing out of his ass with just a couple of bruises. Point is, this was done by the book, and still came out. Needless to say, I do not use that method of attaching brakes anymore, and will ALWAYS have a knot.

Oh, and blindfolded packing? Been there, done that. Had a very nice opening, actually.

"Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

[billvon 2,435]

>I landed in it a couple of times today. It's VERY well plowed and VERY soft.

You sure that's not the field of poop? That's even softer. (I had to land out there Sat.)

[CrazyL 0]

I'm glad to hear that you followed manufacturers instructions. Being a rigger that has assembled many a canopy to risers, there are a couple of basics on each and every assembly. As for the steering lines as you probably already know, a knot or stitch in a fingertrapped line will secure the loop from releasing. The loop then is installed onto the toggle through the grommet on the toggle and then over the long (handle) end of the toggle. It's pretty easy to get it right and it is just as easy to get it wrong. Just be good at it bro!