I landed a lineover this weekend..

[Auryn 0]

on jump number 331, I landed a lineover, something I never thought I would concievably do in my skydiving career..

this goes to show that no matter how much you prepare for emergencies, the actual situation determines what you decide to do.

I had packed the night before after dark, slower than usual, didn't do anything different.

it was on a freefly coach (sort of) jump, tracked.. was absolutely meticulous about body position b/c I had 8 line twists on my elliptical 1.4 : 1 canopy the weekend before.

slowwww opening, 800 feet. thought everything was okay at first until I let go of the risers to stow my slider, and my canopy started turning right... I checked my legstraps first to make sure they were even, and they were.

I looked up, and could not find anything wrong.. I was giving it 1/2 left brake to keep it straight during this time..

on second look, I saw it (picture attached) the line was hung on one of my slider stops on the right stabilizer.

I steered the canopy left and right, and decided I could control it, and determined that the situation could NOT get worse because it was on the very outside of my canopy. I decided to land it at 2200 feet.

I reassesed my decision at 1800 (my hard deck) and determined it was very controllable.

I didn't flare on landing, instead I gave a bit more brake on both side and PLFed like a mofo.

looking at the picture you can see the line in the middle of the stabilizer, pinching the canopy shut about the distance of the last cell.

when I landed I immediately went to that slider stop, and sure enough the line was right there, wrapped around it. I held the configuration together as I walked back to the packing area so I could show someone with more experience what was going on. They confirmed the lineover.

has anyone else landed a minor lineover like this ???

how often do they occur ?? and by chance would you have cut away a canopy with a built in turn ?

blue Ones !

Bryan

[marks 0]

glad your ok dude/...

if it is square stable and steerable... i would land it also.....

but dont think for a second that lineovers are usually like that...

[Rdutch 0]

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glad your ok dude/...

if it is square stable and steerable... i would land it also.....

but dont think for a second that lineovers are usually like that...

I personally watched someone Die this way. Never try to land a lineover. A lineover is one of the worst malfunctions because you can fool yourself into thinking that the canopy will fly. The girl I watched flew her canopy from 4'000ft and then at around 1000 ft her left side (the one with the lineover) collapsed, and she spiraled into the ground. If she had cutaway she would probably be alive today.

Trust your reserve, that is what it is there for. Never try to land a Lineover, the fact that the person that started this thread survived is good, and I am happy it happened. That said I hope it is never repeated. Once you pass your decision altitude, it is too late, if your at 500 ft and your canopy collapses, its too late. You can clear a lineover, but not always, try and clear it, a few times, if not cutaway and use your reserve. There is a awesome movie called Breakaway I recommend everyone should watch it at least once. We are all afraid to cutaway, but Im much more afraid of what could happen if I dont do it when I need to.

Ray
Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

[hookitt 0]

Jumper had a previous malfunction and successfully cut away. He bought a Jonathon 136 and had a low speed malfunction, for some reason he chose to ride it in. It would only fly straight with one toggle down to at least his shoulder. Some where around 80 feet, the malfunction cleared and since he had one toggle down so far it just hooked him into the ground breaking his hip, femur, arm and face. I believe his ribs too. He turned blue. He didn't die, but he sure can't walk the same. His brain was a little different after he finally woke up from his coma.

Steerable is one thing, if it can possibly collapse or clear itself unexpectadly near the ground then stop screwing with it and remove the problem by cutting away and pull the reserve.

To answer your question, >>how often do they occur ?? and by chance would you have cut away a canopy with a built in turn ?<<

I don't know how often, but I had a line wrap around the slider stop on the stabalizer of my Jonathon 136, just like what happened to you. To fly straight, I had to pull the toggle down to around my shoulder. It cleared very abrubtly just before I reached my hard deck. (which was much lower than my hard deck is nowadays) I had been under canopy for about 1500 feet when it suddenly "un-malfunctioned".

No I wouldn't try and land it. I'd try hard to clear it but no way would I chance it suddenly clearing near the ground or getting worse. I would stop messing with the main and cutaway at or above my hard deck.

You PLFed like a mofo. Good for you but you shouldn't have needed to test out that skill under a loaded up Jonathon that wasn't flying straight.

I'm glad it worked out but please note that It sucks when things suddenly change at the wrong time. Keep in mind, I can understand why you landed it, but please don't let this "successful" or shall I say "Lucky" landing encourage you to do it again.

Thanks for sharing

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[Miami 0]

Are you sure that's a line over? It really looks more like a tension knot or something like what hookitt had, the slider stop entangled with the first cascade. But if you say it was a line over I'll take your word, you were the one there lookin at it.

Oh, you may want to untwist those steering lines.

Miami

[skydivegirl 0]

Hey Bryan! I'm glad you're ok!!!!

Pink Mafia Sis #26

[McDuck 0]

I know that was nerve-wracking for you, my friend. I saw the look on your face when you came back to the packing area. I'm just glad you made it safely back down.

Kevin - Sonic Beef #5 - OrFun #28
"I never take myself too seriously, 'cuz everybody know fat birds don't fly." - FLC
Online communities: proof that people never mature much past high school.

[EricaH 0]

I have a few questions.
1) what's the differnce between flaring & giving brakes?
I think I should know by now, but apparently I don't. Isn't flaring actully giving brakes? In this case just pulling on the brake line unevenly to keep it straight.

2) if you have a full line over, I believe I've heard this option. If the line that's over the canopy is not a support line, that you can cut it w/ a knife.
Is this correct? Is it a viable option & would one want to do it instead of cutting the whole canopy? Also, which lines are not support lines?

Thank you!!

There is no can't. Only lack of knowledge or fear. Only you can fix your fear.

PMS #227 (just like the TV show)

[Auryn 0]

I couldnt tell what line it was, so cutting it wasnt an option.

when I landed I just gave the canopy a little more brake instead of full brakes..

thank you for everyone's input.. I never considered the option of it clearing suddenly on landing and changing the dynamics of the canopy.

note, I had to hold the left toggle down to just above my shoulder to keep it flying straight, so I wasnt giving it a whole lot of brake to keep it straight.

to learn from this, I would recommend not repeating this course of action to anyone.

in the future, I will cut away if this scenario repeats itself.

Blue Ones !

bryan

[TomAiello 25]

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2) if you have a full line over, I believe I've heard this option. If the line that's over the canopy is not a support line, that you can cut it w/ a knife.
Is this correct? Is it a viable option & would one want to do it instead of cutting the whole canopy? Also, which lines are not support lines?

I've used a hook knife to cut a line over and clear it. I wouldn't do that unless I did not have a reserve. With a reserve, I'd just cut away the whole thing and go to the reserve.

On a skydive, the only time I could see being faced with this problem is when a line over occured on the reserve. In that case, you might be better off cutting a line, but only if you're sure you know which line and that either (a) the canopy is not landable as is, or (b) you won't make it worse by cutting the line.

-- Tom Aiello

[email protected]
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[DutchSkyCam 0]

OK to have the lineover discussion again, but if you have a lineover your canopy will not look as good as the picture attached above.

It looks like an entanglement between the outer D line(stablizer) and the cascade of the linegroup next to it...

If the canopy is steerable and controllable it looks like this canopy was landable. Do a few practice flares up high and you wil know...

Barry

[ihateskydivers 0]

Agreed, also, a lineover doesn't snivel for 800 feet. Usually slam dunks you.

[lug 4]

Sorry Auryn I just don’t see the line over all I see is a tension knot between the outboard D line with the next inboard line on your right side.

I can see that some tension knots are land able and others are not, so it is however up the pilot to do a controllability check.

Now I wasn’t there and I didn’t see it but you made your decision and you obviously were ok.

Regarding just a line over I will cut away and pull my reserve with out debate.

Memento Mori

[Casch 0]

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how often do they occur ?? and by chance would you have cut away a canopy with a built in turn ?

On jump 22 ish, I made a jump at a different DZ than my home. On opening, the canopy had a built in right turn due to a lineset that needed to be replaced. It wasn't a hard turn, but not unagressive. I did a controlability check and did several practive flares flaring Asymetrically. I did probably 10 or so practice flares before my hard deck and decided it was perfectly fine for landing. It wasn't a big deal, I flared as normal, but with the right toggle a little higher than the left.

[Auryn 0]

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Sorry Auryn I just don’t see the line over all I see is a tension knot between the outboard D line with the next inboard line on your right side.

I can see that some tension knots are land able and others are not, so it is however up the pilot to do a controllability check.

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when i landed the first thing I did was inspect the slider stop I suspected was the culprit, and the line was still hung up on the slider stop.

I called it a lineover because a line was over the stop.. and for lack of a better name for the malfunction, because a line was caught over a portion of my canopy, luckily the very outside of it.

this configuration is something I have never seen before, nor heard of.. but apparantly some other people have had this happen to them.

Blue Ones !

Bryan

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