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Your AAD opened your reserve for you ....do you still live???

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Little reserves are better than a PLF at terminal, but there are circumstances under which the results are about the same.


***

Absolutely...:)

I jump a 170 main and a 270 reserve...

When you're down to your "Last Bullet" better take the 'best shot' ya can!;)










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

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An F-111 7 cell reserve loaded at 1.56:1 is not going to be anywhere near docile without some serious input from the jumper.



Agreed. It's likely to kill me if I am unconscious. Hence my wording "more docile" [than my Katana 97].

Being unconscious under any square canopy is bad news. Being unconscious under a small heavily loaded one more so.

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There are many variables but I agree with:

You won't live without one, you may live with one.

I am assuming (please correct me if wrong) that a parachute with breaks stowed (is this the proper term) will have a slower descent rate than a parachute with breaks released. Another student who jumped during my first AFF jump landed with his breaks released and without flaring and was uninjured so I believe someone landing under a reserve with breaks stowed would most likely survive (need to take into account wind, wing loading, landing area and obstacles, and many other factors though).

* Most student main canopy wing loadings are lower than advanced reserve canopy wing loadings from jumpers I have questioned.
"That looks dangerous." Leopold Stotch

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An F-111 7 cell reserve loaded at 1.56:1 is not going to be anywhere near docile without some serious input from the jumper.



I disagree. I demo jumped a PDReserve 143 at about a 1.8 wingloading, and had a great deal of dificulty inducing harness turns. I found it to be the case that pretty much the only way to get it to turn was through toggle or risers. Shortly thereafter I bought one.

Fast, but docile.

_Am
__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

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This one of the reasons I have 99 sq. ft. mains with 218 sq. ft. reserves.



Hopefully some of the new canopy fabrics being experimented with now will usher in a day when even the coolest fashion whores can jump 99 ft swooper mains with 250 ft reserves. The last year or two, PD has been exhibiting some reserves made of new fabrics (not for sale yet) that pack down WAY smaller F-111 type low porosity ripstop. It will take a few years to be sure and they'll cost a fortune, but I can just see an advertising campaign that emphasizes fast openings and the ability to sink that baby straight down in deep brakes when you need to.

And any reserve is better than no reserve. You might even get lucky and get hung up in a tree like that woman who got knocked out bailing out of a Twin Beech with one engine shut down.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

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I wish RWS offered such combinations. When I bought my last rig, the smallest reserve I wanted was a 143. The smallest Vector that is sized for a 143R is built for a 150 9-cell main. So, I bought that. But now my main is fairly loose (though not dangerous), and I definitely wouldn't want to put something smaller in there.

It seems strange that a company with such a history of safety innovations in this sport wouldn't offer a rig with a small main container and relatively large reserve container. I suppose that's safe for lighter people, but it sucks for us beefy folks that like to fly smaller canopies.

I guess PD's new reserve material offers some hope. However I probably wouldn't buy that for at least a few years after it hit the market.

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I disagree.



You may disagree but I doubt you have not landed one at that wing loading while unconscious or seriously injured.

This is a quote from PD’s web site.

Quote

The maximum exit weight for a reserve is a legal limit. In the United States, it is a violation of federal law to jump a reserve if your exit weight exceeds this limit, and other countries may enforce this limit as well.



Loading a PD-143R at 1.8:1 puts it over that legal weight limit by just a few pounds. But it is loaded some 57 pounds over the maximum recommended weight for an expert canopy pilot.

The problem, as with a main, is not the deployment and landing that go just like it is supposed to. It is when your world is turning to shit and that little overloaded piece of nylon is the only thing between you and a crater.

But look on the bright side, a few years ago a jumper won 50 some million dollars is a lawsuit when his reserve “failed”. Of course he was over weight and over speed but he still won. Trouble is he can’t walk.

But since you find a reserve loaded that far above maximuim weight is “Fast, but docile”, there is no chance of this happening to you.
My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

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and the ability to sink that baby straight down in deep brakes when you need to.



Or get blown way far from where you want to be. I still remember round reserves and people jumping in high winds cos their mains could handle it. I KNOW people jumping 99 sq ft mains won't stand down cos they have 250 sq ft reserves.

It's all about balance.

t
It's the year of the Pig.

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The maximum exit weight for a reserve is a legal limit.



Give me a break, that's a rounding error. Fine, I jump a PDR 143 at 1.776 wingloading, less after I go to the bathroom.

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The problem, as with a main, is not the deployment and landing that go just like it is supposed to.



I'm aware of that. That's why I've landed that demo PDR 143 downwind in 20MPH winds, landed it on rear risers, and with one toggle stowed. I recomend a similar exercise to others but regularly get shit for it.

You're paddling up the wrong creek here. I'm fully qualified to fly the canopies that I do.

Getting back on track, I found the PD Reserve to be very docile, even moreso with brakes stowed. It was very dificult to induce any kind of harness turn at all. I presume this is true of other reserve canopies, but I don't have firsthand knowledge.

If you'd like to go through a similar execersise, I'd be very interested in your observations.

_Am
__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

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This is a quote from PD’s web site.



Show me an FAR that says exceeding the recommended or TSO'd max exit weight is not legal.

Derek



Like I said in the post, it was a quote for PD's web site. You will have to ask them.:)
My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

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So what custom rigs offer you the oppertunity to have such a large reserve, and a small main?



My Wings:
Safire 169 Main
Raven 249-M Reserve
Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

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Which means you suscribe to the same belief.



No, it means that a PD-143R has a listed maximum exit weight of 254 pounds and one loaded at 1.8:1 is carrying 257 point something pounds, hence the “just a few pounds”. While I agree that loading any canopy above what the manufacture maximum I do not know if it is legal or not.:)
My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

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Cool, I don't like it when a manufacturer oversteps their authority, like calling a SB mandatory, or saying you can only use certain canopies in their containers, etc. There are many misconceptions about what is required by the FAR's and what isn't. A recent example is Tandem Instructor currency requirments, or the lack thereof.

Derek

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