Line Breaks

[jarrodh 0]

What is the general rule for Line Breaks while under canopy for students? Im still of course on the lightly loaded student canopies (Ive jumped both 240 and 288 sq foot mains) so I know its not nearly the same as the highly loaded elliptical advanced mains, which have different guidelines for how to handle linebreaks, but is a line break an always cutaway situation? What if I see multiple line breaks over my head yet the canopy is still steerable, should I cutaway? Is it worse to have a line break towards the center of the main or more near the edges? Will a student main spin with a line break or still fly docile as always?

Id prefer to have responses from Instructors or coaches, who tend to be the most well informed on the most up to date SIM guidelines, but any and all rational advice is welcome.

Thanks and Blue Skies

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[shermanator 3]

you said it yourself... the best information you are gonna get, from YOUR instructors at your dz.

blue skies

CLICK HERE! new blog posted 9/21/08
CSA #720

[jarrodh 0]

I know the best people to ask are my instructors. I also know Im not gonna be able to jump this weekend so I wont be at the DZ. With that being said I wanted to have this question answered now, not later so I thought I might want to ask the hundreds of registered Instructors on these forums daily who can also provide intelligent answers.

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[shermanator 3]

don't get too mad at me... I'm just being the dick i was born to be. I'm kinda curious about this answer myself. I know what i would do, but it is always good to hear others' inputs

CLICK HERE! new blog posted 9/21/08
CSA #720

[jarrodh 0]

Nobodys mad on this end

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[councilman24 36]

These kind of questions and training are best done in a personal interaction. Individual DZ's and Instructors will have DIFFERENT answers. I(we) do not want to second guess the decisions your instructors and DZ have made about their program.

One of the things I HATED is when a student came out to the DZ with copies of forums and said "It says here ... but you told me ....." I'd have to explain why yes, that might be right if x, but not for you or not for this DZ.

Advice you get on the internet is as useful as used chewing gum you pick up off the sidewalk. It might be usable and it might have some flavor but you don't know who left it and where it's been.

You can't learn everything from the internet, as much as you might like to. Have some patience and give your instructors some respect.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[JohnMitchell 14]

Okay, we teach "any broken lines, cutaway."

Now ask your instructor at your DZ.

[phoenixlpr 0]

Quote

Okay, we teach "any broken lines, cutaway."

Quite logical. A student can not decide is any damage is serious or not.

[azureriders 0]

Advice:
Talk to your instructors

Not advice, just my experience:
Jump #6 ATP. Hard opening from deploying very very unstable. Broke an A line from the center cell. Canopy had a slight built in turn but passed my controlability check and I landed it. Was told, by my intstructors not yours, that I done fine, both for deploying and landing it.

Jump# 249. Broke right steering line just below cascade. uper steering lines rap around most of the right line sets causing the right side of my canopy not to inflate. Yeah, I cut that one, the only one to date.

[StreetScooby 5]

I personally would be considered about possible deterioration of the situation. So, one line is broke. What happens if others start breaking as I'm descending? What happens if they start breaking at 300'? Then, you're going to be hurting.

We are all engines of karma

[DougH 270]

It may be there, square, and steerable. Do you trust it to remain the same all the way to final, 300 feet above the ground?

If I have shit hanging down, and I am above my hard deck I am going to trust my rigger, and hope I recover my main and my freebag. That is my personal choice, and I would have to have enough altitude to do a long long controllability check to convince myself otherwise.

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

[jakee 1,274]

Quote

I personally would be considered about possible deterioration of the situation. So, one line is broke. What happens if others start breaking as I'm descending? What happens if they start breaking at 300'? Then, you're going to be hurting.

That could happen on any jump. With only one line broken the extra load on the other lines is not going to be much is it? I don't see why the lines that did survive the opening would be any more likely to break than on any other jump.

Riggers please correct me if I'm being a muppet

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[DougH 270]

Quote

That could happen on any jump. With only one line broken the extra load on the other lines is not going to be much is it? I don't see why the lines that did survive the opening would be any more likely to break than on any other jump.

Riggers please correct me if I'm being a muppet

Here is my concern, and I will lay it out there so others with more real experince can pick it apart. I don't think additional lines are going to break.

I do think conditions might change however as you get closer to the ground. The canopy is walking wounded, but it is flying ok, and practice stalls seem ok. I get down low and I hit some of the nasty turbulence my dz allways has.

Is the parachute, which was functioning despite broken lines at 2500 feet, going to continue to function at 500 while getting bounced around.

Maybe I am putting to much trust in my reserve to be trading a functioning, although damadged main, for it? That is worth considering.

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

[Reginald 0]

One broken line may not look like much. The other lines probably won’t break. My concern is what other damage to the canopy is there that I can’t see or accurately assess? For example, is there a tear on a top seam that is getting bigger? Will the canopy fall apart at 500 feet?

So if I see one broken line, I’m wondering what the hell else don’t I know that could kill me. Personally, I’d trust my beautiful PDR that is packed by a master rigger with almost 250 saves over a damaged main any day.

"We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

[riggerrob 561]

Opening shock is by far the most stress that most canopies will ever encounter, ergo, most will occur during opening shock.Trust me, I have 20 reserve rides, mostly from malfunctioned (first generation) tandem mains. I have also landed a bunch of damaged tandem mains. I found out the hard (pun intended) that landing a tandem main with a broken center A line is a bad idea!
If a canopy suffers minor damage (i.e. one broken line or a small hole) that damage probably won't get any bigger before landing. If the - slightly damaged - manni canopy survives a control check, then go ahead and land it.
The worst thing you can do is hum and her and ha and delay a cutaway decision until you are too low to inflate a reserve.

Caveat, all those rules of thumb change with heavily-loaded canopies (i.e. 2:1). Because the latest pond swooping canopies open so softly, but can build up major "Gs" during that last screaming turn towards the first gate, you MIGHT break a line that was damaged during opening shock.

The bottom line is: if you don't like the way a canopy looks or flies, cut it away NOW! The higher you cutaway, the better the chances of your reserve inflating.

[jarrodh 0]

Thanks for the advice.

2 BITS....4 BITS....6 BITS....A DOLLAR!....ALL FOR THE GATORS....STAND UP AND HOLLER!!!!