One Brake Unstowed on Opening

[MakeItHappen 15]

One Brake Unstowed on Opening

Disclaimer: Skydiving is a hazardous activity that may result in injury or death to you or others. Performing or attempting to perform any of the maneuvers in this article may result in your injury or death, or injury or death to others. Do NOT attempt this if you are on student status. Solicit advice from local instructors before attempting this.

Every once and awhile you hear about someone that has one brake unstowed on opening.

Many people do not know how their parachute will act when one brake is unstowed on opening.

There is a very simple remedy for this unknown.

Manifest for a solo jump and plan to open high. This is not something to try after a regular jump with others in your group.

Plan to open 2 to 3 thousand feet above your normal opening altitude.

Upon opening, do not unstow your brakes.

Then make some clearing turns, with your risers, to ensure your airspace, including several hundred feet surrounding your immediate area and below you, is clear of traffic.

Now select a toggle to release. Pull it and hold it in a position to maintain level flight.
Check for traffic.

Raise the unstowed toggle SLOWLY to the full flight position while diligently checking for traffic. CAUTION: If you raise the toggle too quickly you may induce line twists. Some wing loadings may induce line twists even with a slow and smooth toggle movement.

You and your canopy will start to rotate and descend rapidly.

This will be very similar to a situation when a brake becomes unstowed on opening.

After a few rotations pull the unstowed brake down to return to a steady state descent.

You may opt to retry the maneuver, if you have sufficient altitude, or release the other brake for a normal descent.

Ensure that you have a good canopy at your cutaway decision altitude.

You should take away an appreciation of how fast you will spin and how rapidly you will lose altitude with one toggle released on opening scenario.

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Make It Happen
Parachute History
DiveMaker

[wildcard451 0]

The exact same thing can be accomplished by pulling a brake to the catseye from full flight.
So to practice a blown brake on opening we simulate it by making a moderately aggressive turn? I don't get it.
A brake blowing out on opening is not going to raise slowly and produce a gentle spin. It is going to fly up and likely toss you into a violent spin while still inflating with/without linetwists.

I'm happy for the teaching point and idea, I just don't see how this is more of a realistic simulation than just doing spirals while flying around the sky...

[airtwardo 6]

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The exact same thing can be accomplished by pulling a brake to the catseye from full flight.
So to practice a blown brake on opening we simulate it by making a moderately aggressive turn? I don't get it.
A brake blowing out on opening is not going to raise slowly and produce a gentle spin. It is going to fly up and likely toss you into a violent spin while still inflating with/without linetwists.

I'm happy for the teaching point and idea, I just don't see how this is more of a realistic simulation than just doing spirals while flying around the sky...

I think the post was more directed at newer jumpers with an eye toward giving some safe understanding what happens and that it can be dealt with, not just chopped.

I don't know if it's even taught these days, but I'm automatically on the rears during deployment to both counter a brake fire, and/or avoid a possible collision.

I think if ya know the technical intricacies regarding the basic procedure she posted, it probably wasn't aimed at you.

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[pchapman 262]

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The exact same thing can be accomplished by pulling a brake to the catseye from full flight.

That can change the speed at which it happens, and more so what one would be doing with one's hands.
Mentally I think getting whipped around while not touching anything with one's hands is going to be a lot more unsettling for someone than if they are deliberately pulling one toggle down to spiral. Sure seems that way to me when I practice it, despite having 2000+ jumps.

So actually popping a brake will have more training value. (One can start off the training slowly though, and not just pop the toggle and entirely let go the first time.)

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It is going to fly up and likely toss you into a violent spin while still inflating with/without linetwists.

Sometimes a toggle unstowing on opening will cause line twists early on, while at other times the canopy just starts a sudden turn once it really starts to fill with air and fly forward. So this practice won't prevent all chops with a popped toggle, but can help people learn to deal with those situations where it doesn't instantly twist up.

I've never had crappy enough risers or such sloppy packing that I had to deal with many popped toggles, but quickly countering the turn with a rear riser pull worked for me once...

[mccurley 0]

I once loaned my Stratocloud to a student at the old Coldwater DZ

Then I let him pack it, as he was honestly trying to gain more experiance in all facettes of the sport

I believe (hind sight is a great thing) he didn't stow one of the breaks at all.

Even on a canopy which today would be considered quite slow and low performance, the opening was quite a shocker.

I don't think releasing brakes on an already open canopy is cgoing to simulate a released brake due to the forward surge being applied at time of opening.

I don't think packing a premature break release for training is a good idea either,

Watch my video Fat Women
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRWkEky8GoI

[tbrown 26]

I think it's a good thing for a beginner to practice. So, it may not be quite the wild ride of a real life misfire, but then again Jan is calling attention to the possibility of creating line twists. The object of this excercise is not to induce a real life choppy-chop, but to give some appreciation to the feel of a spin and seeing just how quickly altitude is lost.

I had a real life misfire several years ago with a Spectre canopy that induced a violent spin. It was my fault, a packing error that destroyed a toggle keeper. But it was so disorienting that it took me a moment to remember to pull both toggles down - which cleared it immediately. But the altitude I'd lost shocked me, lesson learned. And by the way, pulling hard on the opposite rear riser did NOTHING to help.

Considering that a woman with over 2000 jumps lost her life last week to an apparent brake misfire, this is NOT a malfunction to just be shrugged off. It has to be fixed or chopped, and quickly either way. Any kind of training to approximate the feeling is well worth it - even for those of us who think we're "experienced".

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[DocPop 1]

I don't really see the point of this. The post could have been abbreviated to:

"Clear your airspace and bury a toggle".

I don't believe that a self-induced, controlled spiral is going to be anything like a brakefire during opening.

"The ground does not care who you are. It will always be tougher than the human behind the controls."

~ CanuckInUSA

[PiLFy 0]

OK, what am I missing here? My Newb understanding is, a toggle-fire will cause line twists & violent spinning within seconds. I fail to see how this exercise will help me w/that scenario. After I finish the "A." Am I supposed to gradually induce stronger turns until...what? I could just do some spirals, & watch the altitude burn (I've already done that). Am I to continue increasing the turns' force until I get a few twists? If it happens for real. I'll either kick out of them very quickly, or chop. I'm not going to play w/it for more than a few seconds. Even though I open a bit high. Not after all the incident reports I've read here.

[virgin-burner 1]

not really directed at you pop..

but those fucking idiots burying toggles and NOT checking their airspace.. gets my blood boiling! had a fucking dumb-ass student on his fucking boat spiral on me last season. stopped less than 100 yards from me. then he does it again on the next load.. made sure that idiot got his ass handed to him after that.

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[SethInMI 146]

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I don't believe that a self-induced, controlled spiral is going to be anything like a brakefire during opening.

I disagree, I think it would be a good idea. IMHO, it would build what could be called "awareness memory" instead of "muscle memory". Spiralling with only one hand in a toggle will feel different than a spiral with two hands in toggles. May give someone a mental kick in the head when spiralling after opening, that this might be a brake fire.

Here is my brake fire story, from a few years ago. I had a normal opening, IIRC, but followed by a spiral turn. I quickly grabbed a rear and straightened it out, then looked up at the canopy. Could not see anything wrong, let the rear go, started spiralling again. WTF, I think, look at the canopy again, no broken lines, no ripped cells, no line overs...I think I am going to have to chop it, let up on the rear again, and spiral, pull the rear back down.

Now I am getting a bit low, and I didn't want to put my hands in toggles if I was going to chop it, but fuck it all, I am going to try to pop the toggles. So I do and hey problem solved, flying normally. Now of course I feel like a bit of an idiot, but brake fire did not occur to me at the time.

I think some drills like Jan described could have saved me some grief.

It's flare not flair, brakes not breaks, bridle not bridal, "could NOT care less" not "could care less".

[pchapman 262]

I'll say again that this isn't just a matter of "clear your airspace and bury a toggle".

No it isn't a full simulation of everything that can happen with a popped toggle, such as spiralling with line twists and a cutaway.

A popped toggle may cause line twists, or may not. I don't know all the probabilities and how it varies by canopy. The effects can vary depending on whether the toggle was left unset during packing, or it slipped off during the opening due to a poorly secured toggle, or whether one knocked a poorly secured toggle out of place as one reached up to the risers at the end of opening.

Pilots on twin engined aircraft will pull the power back on one engine, maybe feather it, and practice flying on the other. It won't fully simulate what happens if one engine actually blows up ... but it still teaches some of the things you may want to do in that situation.

Makeithappen's original post did start the exercise out nice and gently for someone new to this, e.g., "Raise the unstowed toggle SLOWLY to the full flight position". But as one gets used to it, one can release the toggle a lot faster, and let it completely out of one's hand.


I still maintain that the feeling one gets with no hands on toggles, one brake set, and spiralling, can be a lot different than if one is intentionally spiralling - even if the aerodynamics are the same. BIG difference in the feeling of control.

(OK, I haven't tried it lately on different canopies. Sure is true on my FX 88 at 2.0 WL. I'd be interested to hear what anyone finds on a more lightly loaded canopy.)

The exercise can also help one with learning to deal with having one free and one stuck toggle. -- Again by not getting phased by an unexpected spiral, and recovering from it.

Can a stuck toggle become serious? Yes!

This is a bit of a digression, but here goes my example:

I know a tandem instructor who pulled in the wrong direction on the toggles after opening, and only one came off its snap. (This was all documented on video.) Fighting with it, he let go of the other toggle, so the speed built up as he went into a spiral. While there was nothing wrong with the toggle, it wasn't being pulled the right direction, so it stayed stuck for him as the spiral deepened. He has little choice then but to cutaway, but his left hand had missed the ripcord handle and was instead inadvertently clamped on the 3-ring, preventing that from releasing. So the RSL/Skyhook activated reserve dumped up into the main still attached on one side, with the reserve pilot chute bouncing off the bottom skin of the main. The reserve opened with twists, and after a couple seconds of canopies fighting each other, he let go of the 3-ring, and the main cleared without catching the reserve. And he had already loosened the passenger side straps before he tried to pop the toggles, so the cutaway was done in that condition.

All turned out OK. But that odd chain of events could have been stopped had he been able to keep the canopy flying straight with one toggle popped and one set. As it was, it lead to that panicky feeling of spiralling out of control and the rest of the events that could have ended with a main-reserve entanglement.

[Edit: I'm not claiming that Makeithappen's exercise is the best thing since the invention of the reserve parachute. But I'm saying it isn't as useless an exercise as one might think at first. It's not "just a spiral".]

[virgin-burner 1]

how about if you pack yourself a lineover? or a PC in tow? why not treat yourself with a double-mal!? those would all be "precious experiences"..

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[pchapman 262]

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how about if you pack yourself a lineover? or a PC in tow? why not treat yourself with a double-mal!? those would all be "precious experiences"..

The key is to simulate an emergency to SOME degree, if a minor added risk is worth the learning opportunity in case of a real emergency. But not to simulate your way into a real emergency by taking risks that have not enough training vlue.

While single engine flight practice is normal on twin engined aircraft, doing it in certain ways at certain times can too easily create a real emergency. Such as doing single engine approaches with one engine completely shut down. Or, it can be debated to what degree pilots should learn spins or just spin entries, balancing the learning vs. risk.

I have intentionally malfunctioned a canopy...when I'm prepared for it by having it as a 3rd canopy. And it would be fun to line over a junk canopy. But the standard in skydiving would be to have a third canopy available in such situations.

Doing the one brake unstowed simulation can be quite safe if approached gradually as Makeithappen suggests, yet provide an unexpectedly disorientating situation for someone unpracticed.

[MakeItHappen 15]

Let me address a couple of items people have brought up.

My suggested jump is an approximation to the real thing, as 3.14 is an approximation to PI. The simulation I proposed is to give you an idea of how your canopy will fly with one brake stowed and one brake unstowed on opening, and your ability to control the situation with riser and/or toggle inputs. It may also give you an idea on how much your harness can shift or twist around your body.

The scenario of unstowing both brakes and then pulling one down to the 'stowed position', eg cats-eye aligned with the riser retaining ring is a lesser approximation to the real thing, as 3 is a lesser approximation to PI, not as good as 3.14. This scenario is not exact because a person's ability to hold a toggle at the proper 'stowed distance' configuration is suspect at best. It also does not allow the jumper to feel the ride through the harness, as you would on opening. In fact, the act of pulling a toggle down to the 'stowed' position disrupts the entire simulation of one brake stowed and one brake unstowed. It also does not allow the jumper to attempt steering corrections via the risers, unless, of course, you are one of those jumpers with 3 arms. ;) Unstowing both brakes and then pulling one down to the 'stowed' position defeats the purpose of learning how your canopy system flies with one brake stowed and one brake unstowed. It may be an approximation, but it is not as good as a situation where you can safely fly with one brake stowed and one brake unstowed.

Several years ago I attended a Safety Day lecture given by someone with +18K jumps. (That's +18,000 jumps.) This guy said he did not know how his new canopy would react to a single brake fire on opening. So he unstowed one brake after a normal opening. Then he said 'That thing spun around so fast – I couldn't get it stopped fast enough.' IOW, he had a much greater appreciation of his canopy and it's potential flight characteristics after a simple and relatively safe and controlled maneuver. (Unfortunately this experiment was motivated by a jumper that recently died because of a one brake unstowed on opening type scenario.)

I once mis-packed my brakes and had an opening with one toggle stowed and one toggle unstowed. The canopy does not fly as though you were at full flight and then buried a toggle. It's not the same. It is however very similar to the controlled scenario I delineated in the OP.

There are also other things that you can observe while you do this.
Like, how much does the harness rotate around my body?
Are my handles getting rotated to a position that I may not be able to reach?

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Make It Happen
Parachute History
DiveMaker

[wildcard451 0]

Thanks for the explanation as to why you suggested this. Hell, I might even give it a shot for shits and giggles.

[popsjumper 2]

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Thanks for the explanation as to why you suggested this. Hell, I might even give it a shot for shits and giggles.

I already have. Several times. At least once on each canopy I've flown with one exception.

To everyone:

It's good to get an idea of how your canopy might react in a premature brake release scenario without putting yourself into an entirely different situation. That's why the suggested slow release on the brake line.

On behalf of the youngsters out there,
Thanks, Jan.


Now, if you want to take it further and create a different situation and twist yourself up with one released brake...you're on your own as far as I'm concerned. She didn't recommend that and even provided a means to prevent it while testing the premature brake release situation.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[popsjumper 2]

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OK, what am I missing here? My Newb understanding is, a toggle-fire will cause line twists & violent spinning within seconds.

Spinning/turning, yes. Violent, maybe - depending on canopy make model and wing loading. Line twists, maybe/maybe not.

(Note that the terms spinning and turning are relative. Relative based on YOUR definitions.)

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I fail to see how this exercise will help me w/that scenario.

It won't. It is not designed to test violently spinning, twisted up situations. Note that she put in the prevention for that by saying let up the toggle slowly so as to NOT create that situation.

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Am I to continue increasing the turns' force until I get a few twists?

By all means...NO!

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If it happens for real. I'll either kick out of them very quickly, or chop.

Line twists AND a released brake?
You'll have a hard time fixing the line twists while your canopy is spinning because of the released brake.

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I'm not going to play w/it for more than a few seconds. Even though I open a bit high. Not after all the incident reports I've read here.

Please, for your safety...get away from the idea of time. That "few seconds" may have put you on the ground or it may have only lost 50 ft.

Please focus on altitude. You're having a fixable problem you need to know your altitude. THAT is your determinant for decisions and actions.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[airtwardo 6]

Ya know what...that is SO freakin' important I'm gonna repeat it!





Please focus on altitude.

You're having a fixable problem you need to know your altitude.

THAT is your determinant for decisions and actions.

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[Eddles 0]

Might be worth for newbies to try this regardless. I had a jump (#79) on a hire Sonic 190 yeseterday. After the canopy opened, I reached up to put my hands through the toggles and to pull them to release the brakes - I managed to release the left brake without putting my hand through the toggle and the right one was still stowed, but with my hand through the toggle. I then concentrated on putting my hand through the left toggle without really thinking about it - the toggles on the Sonic 190 is rather small for my hands and the huge slider flaps a lot making the loose toggle flap hard. After a few seconds, I noticed that the canopy was turning moderately (it's a 190, after all), I immediately released the right brake and thus stopped it turning, and kicked myself for not releasing the right brake earlier. A lesson to learn for me for a future smaller canopy that'll spin harder in the same situation. Makeithappen's lesson for newbies might increase awareness of turning with one unstowed without actually recreating a malfunction?

[stayhigh 2]

this drill sounds retarded.
i much rather spend time flairing with one arm in a event of shoulder dislocation.
letting up a toggle on fully opened canopy will cause it to turn
It is far away from what will happen if you have toggle fire during sniveling stage.

how about suggesting people to get under huge canopy and pop one toggle while it is sniveling.

Bernie Sanders for President 2016

[MakeItHappen 15]

Let me make a clarification.

My OP was not targeted towards 'newbies'.
It was targeted to experienced jumpers with thousands of jumps.

In the past decade there have been at least 3 fatalities attributed to 'one brake released on opening' or its cousin malfunction 'not being able to unstow one brake'. There was insufficient or incomplete response by the jumper. All 3 of these jumpers had +2000 jumps apiece.

These jumpers were heads up enough to realize that they were in a death spiral and needed to execute EPs ASAP.
For some reason, they could not do that in time.

What could be the reasons?
- not recognizing the situation - oh only one toggle released, pop the other one or maintain steady flight with the released toggle
- not being able to reach a handle - twisted harness
- not being able to pull a handle - multitude of factors here

To all the 'newbies' that are saying my original post was directed towards 'newbies', take yourself off that high horse and go try the exercise. I'm pretty sure you'll learn something.

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Make It Happen
Parachute History
DiveMaker

[base283 0]

Brake setting seminar would seem to solve all of this.
Take care,
space

[regulator 0]

This happened to me while I was on student status. Once I deployed, I found myself in a turn to the left. I thought about trying to clear it via pulling the handles, but I was afraid I'd forget my hands were in the toggles when I cut away. So I ditched it. I was reaching for the reserve handle when the RSL kicked in. I now know I would try and do two toggle pumps before giving up on it, but at the time I didnt want to screw around. I'm wondering if this was a bad decision since when I cut away I was still at around 3,500 to 4,000 feet. Perhaps still being on student status I did the right thing. But what I will stick with is that I knew something was wrong and I knew I didnt initiate the turn on my own accord so I initiated EP's.

[virgin-burner 1]

i think it's never a bad idea to cut away.. that's what your reserve is there for!

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[DBCOOPER 1]

I have a set of risers that will fire the right brake on about every other opening if anybody would like to try them.

Replying to: Re: Stall On Jump Run Emergency Procedure? by billvon

If the plane is unrecoverable then exiting is a very very good idea.