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HeatherObscura

backwards canopy?

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If you're talking about the canopy going backwards because it was a round in significant winds, well, that doesn't count... Lots of folks have plenty of those.

Wendy W.
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 made over 900 jumps on a French Papillon
back before "they figured Out " squares...

many jumps resulted in landings due to winds,, which had us dealing with "negative ground speed"..

I developed a technique, whereby i would cross my arms above my head, just before landing,,,,grasping each rear riser, and Then quickly uncrossing my arms with risers in hand.. this would 180 my Body, under the round,,,, and although the canopy was still facing forward,,, I would land facing backward....
:oB|;)
sometimes i'd have to run it out.... sometimes, i'd land standing up, in place, sometimes i'd fall down !~!!!:o

but every time,,,,,,, it was an adventure!!!

KKeenan??? isn't it true that some CReW
instructors would don their rigs with main attached, backwards??? soas to face those novices,, who were docking on them????
from behind and below,,, ( before top docking was acceptable) ?.. seems that for sure,, i have read of that..... not sure what techniques were employed for landing.... but it certainly gave the Base person a real good view of the approaching docker....

jmy

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No, it doesn't count. That's just landing backwards. Doing a blindman probably doesn't count either, but it's closer. It's dynamic, though; i.e. you didn't have to remember the whole way down that it was backwards.

Take it from someone who has hooked up her square backwards, jumped it, and landed it.

And learned her lesson :ph34r:

Wendy W.

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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It is an option to grab the risers and twist oneself 1 1/2 times and land it.

But that's still a gutsy move, a theoretical possibility, not "recommended" in any way, "use at own risk". The standard advice is still to chop the canopy!!

Putting in just a half twist (180 degrees) in the risers is wrong because as soon as it untwists a tiny bit, it'll apply a strong untwisting torque and one will too easily snap back to untwisted. One and a half twists is enough that it is easy to hold twisted.

The twists should end up low in the risers so you just reach up above the twists to grab the toggles. It is easy enough to practice up high in flight on a regular jump - eg, put in 360 degree twist and fly that around - and see if it is easily controllable. (But it can be harder to twist oneself under small sensitive canopies without sending oneself into a diving spiral while yanking on the risers.)

(I've flown around with a deliberate full twist this past weekend but I haven't yet gotten around to landing that way... so I haven't yet provided proof of the technique's usefulness.)

(P.S. - The 180 twist technique is still OK for the specialized situation of landing a round canopy, that is assembled correctly, while blowing backwards in high wind.)

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When ParaFlite was still selling canopies they used to provide a patch that said "Paraflite Makes it Right!". You had it stiched onto the right riser so you always knew the canopy wasn't hooked up backwards. Sometimes the low tech works!



I've got a rig with that patch sewn on the riser!

Just a few weeks ago we purposely hooked a main up backwards and made a few jumps on it. You can land ok, just be ready to backpedal (and have a helmet just in case...).


SkydiveAllegan.com

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I friend of mine had a crazy mal & ended up going backwards & landing it. Not saying that he shouldn't have chopped but I'll see if I can get him to post up. ;)



My name isn't "Reverso Rodriguez" for nothing. BrianG gave me the name after i told him about landing my Samurai150 (1.6) backward. I had about 1000 jumps at the time.

It turns out you can have your risers on the correct sides and still be flying backward. Lemme 'splain.

I took my canopy off to demo another. I remembered "right on top" when i bungeed my risers together, lashed them to the bag so as not to twist and went about my merry way. I put them back on correctly BUT.. at some point, some how (still don't know how, unless someone was fucking with me) one 3ring passed through the V of the other riser. Everything looked ok, and the Risers were on the proper sides -- this is why it's important to do a full line check.

What happened when i opened initially looked horrible. the lines form the right side extended over my head, across to the left side where they were somehow interfering with the left lines... i was reaching for my handles when the crossing point slid down the lines until it was right in front of my face.

At that point the canopy was open & flying in what was effectively a permenant or locked-in 180 line twist. I'll see if i can find the video for anyone having trouble visualizing.

At any rate, it was square, stable, slider down, and, sonofabitch, steerable! Truth be told, I'd had a dream of doing a backward jump for a while, but had never mustered the cojones to actually do it, but here was my chance, so i went with it.

I've gotta say the sensatin of turns backward was definitely something new. instead of diving forward, you're diving backward... really strange.

Anyway, i had done 4way video on that jump so i was open pretty high, so i wanted for most people to land, went down to the far end of the DZ to give me lots of space to land and flared when it was time to flare.

It was a no-wind day, so i didn't even try to stand up/run out. I just slid in backward on my butt nice & smooth.

Lots of fun, but I would recommend against it for most people, tho. (haven't done it again in 2000 more jumps ;) )

Landing without injury is not necessarily evidence that you didn't fuck up... it just means you got away with it this time

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POST VIDEO!!! :D

I didn't know you had video Jerm, me wanty.



meh.. the video is 1st person, so beyond just getting do see the opening clusterfsck, it's pretty dull. remind me to look for it after bridgeday.

Landing without injury is not necessarily evidence that you didn't fuck up... it just means you got away with it this time

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Jerm, Miss ya big guy,You are my backwards hero!!!!!
I am still alive. Doing 8 way video at the Nationals next week.
Hope to get up to the Ranch for the Maggot ash dive when I get back from the Nationals.
Hopr you and Heide are doing well!!!!! L.T.
You are only as good as you think you are.

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