line twist on a sharp turn

[freeryde13 0]

as always, any insight would be greatly appreciated.

cool sit fly dive, seperated at 4k , threw out at 3k and under canopy by about 2400'.i colapse the slider and flare. one guy under me and i'm watching to see the wind sock and what way the guy below me is landing. i decide on my landing pattern by about 1800' and do a quick 180 left turn to enter the landing pattern where i want to. i'm jumping a sabre 2 170 and i am about 180lbs. the 180 turn puts me in a line twist wrapped around 2 times. the canopy is flying real straight and i'm not losing altitude unussually fast. i kick out by about 1200', check the canopy, the left side closest to me is folded over and a flare opens up the corner. my turns at this point feel funny. i don't feel the usual resistance i feel when pulling the steering lines. it kind of feels like i'm floating more than usual. land fine.

my 2 big questions are 1) if i couldn't kick out the twist at the hieght i was at, should i have cut away or went straight to the reserve. 2) what could have caused the line twist. i know it was the turn ( i think), but i've done a whole lot mor radical turns up higher with the same canopy and never had that happen. is there any kind of weather condition that could cause that. there was almost no wind and it was a perfect clear day , about 70 degrees at 5:00 or so and the north east weather was getting cooler to about 55 degrees by night fall.

thanks in advance for any insight.

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people see me as a challenge to their balance

[Hooknswoop 19]

Too much input on one side can stall 1/2 of the canopy and the other 1/2 flys around the stalled side, causing line twists. Be smooth and don't pull too much toggle.

At 1200 ft under a partial mal, you can easily cutaway and deploy your reserve, just be quick. Until the reserve is out, you don't know if it is going to deploy with line twists, trading one mal for another. Might be better to fix what you have at that point. Ideally, avoid it altogether.

Derek

[GravityGirl 0]

Could it be that you were flying in half brakes when you cranked that 180? That would do it for sure.

Are you jumping an RSL? A cutaway at 1200 feet would have you wanting one.

I have seen self induced line twist with a cutaway at 1000 feet and no RSL. She was on it like a fly on shit and got everything out in time. Even time to turn into the wind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peace and Blue Skies!
Bonnie ==>Gravity Gear!

[JohnMitchell 14]

Glad your Sabre flew straight in line twists. They usually do. When you transition to ellipticals, they can spiral you in. I've lost two friends to that.

Were you slow prior to the hard turn? I think that might be a common denominator for flying into line twists, dunno.

If you chop at a grand, don't try to get stable, just pull your reserve and arch. That's how you survive that stuff.

[headoverheels 291]

There is a jumper at my home DZ who recently did the same, but the turns after the line twist were more violent. She chopped it and landed okay on her reserve. Had she made that radical turn at 800 feet, she would be dead. She was also on a "conservative" Sabre2, wingloading probably about 1.2:1.

[piisfish 135]

my question is :
how tight was your chest strap ??
the tighter it is, the more your canopy will be prone to twisting.
but too loose might not be good either (in freefall)

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[freeryde13 0]

i don't think i was in half breaks.... but maybe i was since i was looking at the ground . yes i have an rsl.

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people see me as a challenge to their balance

[freeryde13 0]

yes, i put my chest strap pretty tight. damn, the more i jump the more i see how little i know. i just found out last weekend that uneven leg straps were making my canopy do 90 degree left turns on opening.

any way, i'll play with different chest strap tightnesses and try some turns.....up high that is.

thanks again.

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people see me as a challenge to their balance

[phoenixlpr 0]

strap tightnesses ?

It is not a rocket science. Get it tight for freefall and loose it under canopy.

[Genn 0]

This happened to me once, many years ago, while downsizing from a 150 to a 135.

The first 2 jumps were uneventful, stand up landing in the peas.

The third jump was like you explained:

I did a hard toggle turn into my landing pattern. My canopy went into line twists- flying straight and level- and I quickly kicked out of them. Landed.

Lessons learned:

- My friend lent me the canopy to jump while downsizing. For his personal preferences, he shortened the brake lines. A toggle turn is more responsive when the lines are shortened- which helped to add to my F*** up---self-induced line twists at a low altitude.

-I didn't have many jumps at the time so I asked around...What the hell happened??...The answer....

Learn to fly your canopy....don't just bury a toggle. Control the turn. Feel the turn.

My 2 cents....Hope it helps

[freeryde13 0]

thanks for the breakdown.

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people see me as a challenge to their balance