Was it a lineover or funky opening ?

[Cornholio 0]

Had a strange jump yesterday....

Pitched at 3.5 and had the weirdest thing above my head. My canopy looked like a bowtie. It was skinny in the middle and the end cells were inflated. However, it was bucking me back and forth pretty violently and I seemed to be losing altitude faster than normal. My first observation was "Lineover" so I check alti - just under 3K. OK, still above my 2k harddeck. I'm looking for the line that might be over and I don't see anything. All the lines appear to be where they're supposed to be. So, I grab the toggles and give a quick yank and nothing really happens. Let them go, and I'm still bowtied and still shaking pretty bad. Give em another yank and hold them down for a second - ok, stall, not shaking anymore...that's good. When I let them back up, the canopy appeared to be flying normally.

Was this a lineover or just a funky opening ?

Butthead: Whoa! Burritos for breakfast!
Beavis: Yeah! Yeah! Cool!
bellyflier on the dz.com hybrid record jump

[Danne 0]

Most probably a tension knot.

/Dan

[EDYDO 0]

If what you described had been a lineover, it would have left burns on your canopy.

Ed

[DavidKing 0]

May have been a pilot chute over the nose.
David

[vt1977 0]

I had one of those once too – I was also open pretty high so managed to clear it.

I think mine was caused by the bridle (I did not have a collapsible pilot chute then – whether or not that would make a difference I don’t know) or pilot chute interfering with the steering lines. At least that’s what it looked like with the purple bridle against the orange bottom skin of the canopy. It was weird!

I realised I had a few seconds to play with it before chopping, so basically stalled the canopy and it all popped out and was flying fine, but for a moment I really thought I was about to chop.

I suggest hanging up and inspecting your canopy to see if there are any line burns – if so then it was probably a line over that cleared. I found nothing when I inspected my canopy afterwards and have just put it down to one of those weird things (and it was a Sabre...).

For the record - that happened a few years ago on a Sabre 150. I now jump a Spectre 135 with a collapsible pilot chute.

Vicki

[orbitjunkie 0]

I agree with dave..if there are no line burns..where was the pilot chute? sounds like it went around the middle

[feuergnom 22]

if the pilot chute falls over the nose it is very unlikely to get cleared by doing a flare or some pumping as described (at least as far as i know and experienced)

The universal aptitude for ineptitude makes any human accomplishment an incredible miracle

dudeist skydiver # 666

[JohnRich 4]

Quote

if the pilot chute falls over the nose it is very unlikely to get cleared by doing a flare or some pumping as described (at least as far as i know and experienced)

I disagree. I've had quite a few of these, and stalling the canopy allows the pilot chute to float back out from under the nose, and then as it rises up, you let the brakes back out to resume normal flight and allow the pilot chute to drape back over the top as normal. It can be done very predictably, as long as it's not wrapped around some lines.

[mattsplat 0]

DID IT LOOK LIKE THIS

[Cornholio 0]

Quote

DID IT LOOK LIKE THIS

Like what ??
Thanks for the replies. I'm sure it wasn't the pilot chute as that looked normal. Burns ? I'll have to look for those after the next jump.

Butthead: Whoa! Burritos for breakfast!
Beavis: Yeah! Yeah! Cool!
bellyflier on the dz.com hybrid record jump

[mattsplat 0]

SORRY ABOUT THAT. HOW ABOUT LIKE THIS

[Cornholio 0]

Quote

SORRY ABOUT THAT. HOW ABOUT LIKE THIS

I would say almost - except I have a bigger canopy.
I don't think the middle was as narrow as your picture, (edit) or had the linetwists - but it was close to that.

Butthead: Whoa! Burritos for breakfast!
Beavis: Yeah! Yeah! Cool!
bellyflier on the dz.com hybrid record jump

[mattsplat 0]

if you didnt have the line twist, me pelsonaly i would proboly inspec. my canopy for burns before i jumped it, also depends on how close my repack date was for an excusable reserve ride if nessary.