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Ron

You are under your reserve.... Now what?

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OK, so you had your first malfunction and performed well and you are now hanging under your pretty little reserve - Now what?

First things first.... Forget about stowing handles, make sure you are not going to collide with anyone and then make sure you are headed to a SAFE landing area. Notice I said "safe" and not "closest to the DZ". Yes, the DZ may be the closest place to land, but you also might be far enough away that you are going to land off. In fact, because you are lower than normal your chances of landing off on your reserve are MUCH greater than on a normal jump. Standard landing off rules apply. Land safe, not close.

Next, have you ever flown this canopy before? Have you ever flown a small, 7 cell, low aspect ratio, F-111 canopy? If not, then it might be a damn good idea to do some practice flares. In fact, it might be better to land a bit off in a nice area than try to stretch the glide to the DZ and skip this drill. I have seen numerous people break themselves with a canopy stall 3 feet or less off the ground.

I say practice the flare because a buddy just snapped his wrist this weekend after a pretty vanilla chop. Some highly loaded reserves will just collapse and drop the jumper on their ass HARD. This is not something you want to learn when you are 3 feet off the ground.

Best defense? Try to jump the reserve you have BEFORE you have to jump it. Some manufacturers will allow you to demo their reserves at events. How about you take a jump or two and learn a life (or wrist/coccyx) saving skill?

So practice your flare if you have the time. Better yet, MAKE the time by spending a jump on a demo.

What do you do if you don't have the time and were too lazy to take the time to learn this life saving skill and now you are too low to practice a flare before you have to execute it in a manner that might just break you (don't feel bad, I didn't do any of that either, but I did learn on F111 7 cells while I bet most new jumpers have not made one jump on one)? Well, like the rest of this post it is personal opinion.... I'd perform a 1/2 to 3/4 flare and get ready to PLF. If you do stall the canopy, try to raise the toggles up a bit to get the canopy flying again and over your head... And perform the worlds best PLF. Flare to your crotch when under a reserve, NEVER like normal and to your sides and back.

Further wild assed opinion.... I am not sponsored by PD, but they are the ONLY reserve I will now own. I have seen and experienced way too many stalls on just about every other brand.

Take any and all of this for what it is worth.... But I hate seeing a perfectly good chop and a pretty reserve deployment still end up in a hospital trip because the jumper expected his reserve to flare like his main and was rudely and unceremoniously dumped on his/her ass with a bone crashing thud.

It is better to crash a bit forward and down, than stall and fall backwards.... Take a jump and learn how to identify and fix a stall.

You are free to ignore any and all of this, I most likely would have if I was a student today.... But it is your wrist/ass on the line not mine.
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

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i have a brand new pdr 160 that haven't had the chance to fly yet. when i do, it will be loaded at about 1.19 to 1. do reserves this size stall as easy as a heavier loaded reserve? and please elaborate on the different technique of flaring. thanks for the tips btw these are things i haven't considered.

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Great advice, Ron.

I notice you didn't mention "chase your trash" and I really appreciate this. I think there's sometimes way too much emphasis on encouraging skydivers to follow their main and freebag, potentially at the expense of priority #1, which is getting yourself down safely. Personally, I'd much rather be able to walk around looking for my gear later than to land somewhere sketchy but right next to it and hurt myself in the process.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

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Ron



Next, have you ever flown this canopy before? Have you ever flown a small, 7 cell, low aspect ratio, F-111 canopy? If not, then it might be a damn good idea to do some practice flares. .



+1 here. When the downsize craze started, I watched 2 of my friends break their hand/wrist when they learned the hard way that their reserve was not designed to land like their modern zippy dippy wings. They found the hard way how quickly and abruptly a reserve can fold up (esp when wing loaded).

I had my first ride shortly there after and did 3 practice landings. The first two...well I would have probably broken my arm if I landed them that way. I was amazed how quickly it went from max lift, to bow tie stall. My 3rd practice landing I figured out a way that would work for me, and give me time before the quick stall.

I know there has been a refresh in some of the reserves in the last few years, and that may help this issue out quite a bit, but in general people need to know that they may be surprised to find how different a reserve may perform on landing than their "sport" canopy.

I know PD and Icarus will let you demo their reserves. That is a fantastic idea (and something I need to do myself). I hope your buddy heals quickly.

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when i do, it will be loaded at about 1.19 to 1. do reserves this size stall as easy as a heavier loaded reserve?



It may or may not be as abrupt as what I experienced and have seen others experience. The key take away is you really need to make sure you work practice landings into your emergency plan so that you know what to expect before you actually land in an emergency.

I will also note that the reserves today (many of them) were designed around canopies that were mains decades ago. Back then, even a 1.2-1 loading would have been aggressive. keep in mind that you are jumping a 1970-80's style wing (low aspect ration, 7 cell, rectangular, thick wing, non zp etc.). So "low wing loading" by our standards today and back then are quite different.

Edit to add- the more you load a wing (any wing) the higher speed it will stall. so a 1:1 will stall more slowly than a 1:8-1, but they BOTH may really surprise the pilot who is used to how their mains fly.

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hypoxic_fool

i have a brand new pdr 160 that haven't had the chance to fly yet. when i do, it will be loaded at about 1.19 to 1. do reserves this size stall as easy as a heavier loaded reserve? and please elaborate on the different technique of flaring. thanks for the tips btw these are things i haven't considered.



I've had my first two reserve rides in the last year, both on Micro Raven 150 reserves loaded at 1.3:1. Both were easy standup landings, but I pull high and made the decision to chop above 2000' in both instances leaving me ample time to fly a normal pattern with traffic and do multiple practice flares on both canopies.

Two things I noticed:

The Micro Raven's reputation for an early stall was not the case on either of the two I rode, I could easily flare to hip height without the canopy starting to deform even at 90 degrees and 5000', and

The toggles on both canopies (both in Infinity rigs) were more difficult to access with gloves than I had anticipated, particularly on the first system. I believe there is more than one way for a rigger to stow the toggles on a reserve setup, and the latter was much better.

I have heard from multiple sources that the flare on a PD standard or Optimum reserve are much better than on the older Ravens so I could only imagine that would have made things even easier.

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when i do, it will be loaded at about 1.19 to 1. do reserves this size stall as easy as a heavier loaded reserve?



ALL canopies will stall and when they do they are pretty much ALL violent and will ALL break you.

As a general rule, larger lower wing loaded reserves are harder to stall. But that means very little since they will stall just the same.

Any suggestion I give would be pure speculation. I will say that I have flown and landed a PD113 at a 1.8 WL and it has been fine. And I have flown larger reserves that stalled violently at lower wing loads.

And as others have mentioned.... Reserves are like the mains of old. When I bought my first rig it had a Raven II main (218 sqft) and it was loaded under 1:1. When I got it, I was told to be very careful because I was jumping a pretty small canopy.

Even it would stall very violently if I let it. There is really no replacement for experience. I would strongly suggest getting a demo reserve and flying it.
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

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And as others have mentioned.... Reserves are like the mains of old. When I bought my first rig it had a Raven II main (218 sqft) and it was loaded under 1:1. When I got it, I was told to be very careful because I was jumping a pretty small canopy.



When I last landed my Raven II (which I've since replaced with an Optimum 218, which I also have in my second rig) at about 300ish jumps, it never really occurred to me to do anything but PLF it given the reputation. I was in a tight spot crabbing along a road trying to get to a small patch of grass so didn't take the time to do a practice flare, but fortunately got to the grass which was much better for a PLF than the asphalt would have been. Not the most graceful landing but also not painful. :)
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

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To add to your points, Ron:

With the practice flares I also mention to people that small stubby F-111 canopies don't necessarily have a lot of energy for a long flare. So then you can't start a gradual flare from up high and slowly add brakes while evaluating the progression of the plane out. You may have to wait until pretty low and then "flare hard" (and not beyond the stall point).

This may not be as apparent to people used to modern canopies. If you have had to flare a baffed out 7-cell F-111 main canopy, that's a somewhat better simulation of what might be needed.

A practice flare up high will reveal the stall point but some jumpers might not notice that they aren't flaring out of the dive very well if they pull the brakes more slowly.

As an example, last year a local jumper thumped in pretty hard on a reserve ride. While only slightly smaller than his main, he was flying his PD 113 for the first time, and at a 1.85 WL. He was amped up a little from events, and low enough on opening to scare the AAD after he pulled, so he forgot to practice flare. He tried a gradual flare from higher up and "ran out of flare". Soft spring mud in the farm fields saved his ass (& spine & ankles).

So even the "good designs" aren't immune from misuse.

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I've had two rides on my Smart 220 loaded at a 1.2 or so, never had any sort of issue, nice soft standups both times.

However, I "grew up" as a student on beat-to-shit F-111 7cells going through static line progression, so I think I had somewhat more of an idea what to expect. Hell, I think those also helped me simulate a terminal reserve opening, on every jump :D

Also, I think this is just another downside to the tiny rigs that everyone seems to want, but nobody considers the consequences of. Not only are a lot of people using reserves smaller than their main so they're downsizing when they chop, but a lot of jumps have never flown ANY sort of F-111 canopy let alone a 7cell one, so like you said they don't know how to fly it, and don't know how it's gonna react.

I for one will not downsize past my 220 (reserve, anyway… my main is a 190, I might consider a 170 some day but meh…), even though I'm loading it lighter because I lost weight. The downsides are a bit too strong, as far as I'm concerned.

cavete terrae.

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Ron, this is a great post! :)
So if this is a reserve you have had a few landings under, and you are going to make the DZ easily, is practicing front riser turns an incorrect answer? :P

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

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DougH

Ron, this is a great post! :)
is practicing front riser turns an incorrect answer? :P



double fronts was the way I was able to get a few extra seconds of lift before stall. Not a "swoop" or anything to show off for... just a few extra mph. Airspeed is lift...lift is life. Both of my rides were landed with a little double front dive before landing.

I would n't recommend that to people who are not familiar with that type of approach... but for me it seemed like the right choice.

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Can you please extend on the exact procedure of practice flare. What are we looking for? Stall point, the relation the to the canopy, it moving overhead, etc? General feeling of deceleration? Something else?



I tried to make time to answer this... Didn't happen. I'll type out a quick and dirty test you can run.

Flare the canopy fairly quickly. This is a 7 cell F-111, and not a modern canopy with a more dynamic flare. If you flared a modern canopy like you need to flare a 7 cell low aspect F-111 - You would pop back up pretty aggressively.

Listen for slowing by listening to the wind.

Watch for the canopy to rock you backward. Hard to explain via typing, but under normal canopy flight you are actually a bit behind the center of the canopy kinda like (\). When you flair, you will go from (\) through (I), to (/). Mentally time how long it takes to transition from (\) to (/). This is how long it is going to take to flare.

Watch and feel for the stall. The canopy once it gets to (/) will soon stall. You will see the stall by the canopy deflating from the rear center of the canopy. You will feel the canopy slam back and you will feel your self rock forward and start to drop.

Take your current canopy up and stall it, you might have to put your hands on the top of the toggles, or even take a wrap of the lines to get the main to stall. Most people have their canopies set up so they will not stall at full flare stroke unless held for a long time. Reserves are not always set up the same way and this is what gets people hurt.... the stall comes quickly and they are dropped on their backs.

It is easy to fix a stall, just slowly let up on your toggles till the canopy comes back over head (I).

It is better to land in full flight (\) or half breaks (I) than stall.

Play with the stall on your canopy (above your decision altitude and stop AT your decision altitude). till you can recognize and recover from a stall.

Once you can do that, you should try and get a demo reserve and do the same process.

Every time I get into a new airplane, I do a "stall series". I do every type of stall that plane is certified for (Power on, power off, cross-over, cross-under, inverted...etc). It is the only way to know how the plane will react.

I do the same with canopies when it is my first jump on them.

hope this helps, ask if you have any questions.
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

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Why do people jump a reserve so much smaller than their main? What happens when you are unconscious under a heavily-loaded reserve? A correctly-sized reserve canopy will answer most of the questions in this thread. Anticipate the worst-case scenario - not the best!

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>Why do people jump a reserve so much smaller than their main?

A few reasons:

1) They just didn't think. They got a container sized to fit their main and got whatever reserve would fit in that.

2) They figure "by the time I need this I'll have another X jumps and be able to land a smaller canopy."

3) They figure "well since it's so infrequently used I can live with a slightly more risky landing."

4) They assume that square 7 cell canopies are much more docile, and thus a PD126R flies more like a Sabre2 150 than a Sabre2 120.

5) They wanted the smallest rig possible.

6) They wanted a larger main than the smallest wing they can land, and size their reserve closer to the smallest wing they can land.

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unkulunkulu

Can you please extend on the exact procedure of practice flare. What are we looking for? Stall point, the relation the to the canopy, it moving overhead, etc? General feeling of deceleration? Something else?



I guess I'd start with a slow flare to check the stall point.
Once I've found that, then I'd try a couple faster flares to see how the canopy reacts, both in terms of pitching through the flare and the g-loading indicating a pullup from one's descent. One will never quite know how the landing flare it while trying it up high but it is the best one can do.

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ripcord4

Why do people jump a reserve so much smaller than their main?



I usually don't see many people jumping reserves siginficantly smaller than their mains. What I tend to see is people who jump similar sized reserves (or even bigger reserves) than their mains... but they are jumping reserves at wingloadings that the canopes are not designed for, or at very least have significantly different flight characteristics than at a lighter loading.

On a Katana I am at the "expert" wingloading on a 97, and on a velo I'd be at a 90. While on a PDR/Optimum I would need a 126 for that same rating.

There are some arguments out there as to why you may not want a reserve that is 50% bigger than your main, but most people end up getting containers/ gear sized more closely together. So you end up with someone with a zippy main, and a similarly sized (or bigger )reserve, but still at wing loadings where the landing and flight characteristics might be very different than what the pilot is used to.

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Thanks. Yes, I tried observing pitch changes during dynamic brake application and can say that it's a bit easier if you have a point of reference e.g. some clouds or canopies or even sun, because when you're up high, the ground is not that obvious of a reference. Any other suggestions on spotting the pitch change more confidently?

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unkulunkulu

I heard another argument about compatibility in case of a two out. Any comments on that one?



Yes - don't worry about it.

Much better to have a big enough reserve every time you want it than to have one that is compatible with your main in the very rare event that you have two out.

Prepare for the likely event, not the unlikely.
"The ground does not care who you are. It will always be tougher than the human behind the controls."

~ CanuckInUSA

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unkulunkulu

I heard another argument about compatibility in case of a two out. Any comments on that one?



My argument against that one is that the odds that you'll end up with two out are significantly less than the odds that you'll end up under your reserve, on its own. Size for the more likely scenario.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

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