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gcalder

Backwards main

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Immediately after opening after doing a two way head down jump I noticed a reserve canopy out. After landing I asked the other jumper what haas happened. He gave me his camera and told me to watch the video. The video showed that the canopy was facing backwards after opening. And I thought that I had seen it all.

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I've heard of canopies being hooked up SIDEWAYS and flown in :S



And backwards...both intentionally and unintentionally...and landed safely...but it's not recommended.
...mikeB|
-----------------------------------
Mike Wheadon B-3715,HEMP#1
Higher Expectations for Modern Parachutists.

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On very, very windy days, a backwards main can come in handy, the flair would be interesting though! As for sideways, you need a smart person to do that without disconnecting the main from the risers:P.

More seriously, I hope his reserve was hooked up the right way!

Don't underestimate your ability to screw up!

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Rigger?

Mabey I am braging here but in Canada we do not need a rigger to hook up our main canopy.



You can hook up your own main in the US, no rigger is required.

But it is recommended that newer jumpers have a rigger check their work when hooking up a main.

Kris
Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and
Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

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Well, it depends on if it was off the risers or not and how the mains lines were marked/seperated when it was removed from the other risers. Attached to the risers already, no problem. Big mess of lines attached to nothing, I'd be seeing a rigger just to be safe. My opinion...



-Kenny

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I've heard of canopies being hooked up SIDEWAYS and flown in



Sideways...that must have been interesting.

I now see the reason why a rigger must do this in Norway :)

There are only 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.

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Hey just think you would be set up to do a really good PLF.. not that most people seem to actually practice doing one nowadays.;)

I did a night jump this week and am really glad I still remember how to do a really good PLF.. in the dark.. no wind... my depth perception ain't what it used to be....I flared a bit high.....oops:)

It sure was pretty up there though..tranquil.. lights...

Today I hooked up a canopy that I bought last week to my risers and jumped it..no problems.. every last line continuity was right on. Attention to detail on the ground can help alot... I would suggest getting help from a rigger though, if you have never done it before.

Amazon

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Check this out...

First load of the season up in New England, I had about 120 jumps and I was waiting for my new gear to arrive so I am jumping someone elses gear for the day. We get out and do a 2 way belly dive, all normal and all good, minus the spot. We are a bit long...usually not a problem. We break off and track and I dump. The canopy surges backwards. I am thinking that is odd, but hey its not my canopy and I never would have thought that the main would be hooked up backwards until I looked at it and I see the P/C in front of me. I ended up landing it off field, which in NE...they are very small fields with plenty of trees surrounding it. It was extremely weird to fly a canopy backwards dealing with winds etc. Getting yourself into the wind and doing penetration checks. I ended up using backrisers which were now front risers to slowly spiral down to a field. Toggle turns were just to radical to judge altitude loss and directional control. It was also interesting because everytime that I looked over my shoulder I was giving harness input causing more of a turn. Anyways, long story short. I landed into the wind in the middle of some field way far away from the DZ...almost stood it up, but flaring was tough to judge because the only thing that I could do was look straight down between my legs and not out to the horizon. I got mixed reviews on whether I should have kept it or not. I figured that it was a functioning canopy and I felt I could fly it and land it safely so "why not keep it". I also figured that I saved the persons gear because if I cut it away over that wooded area, chances are they would never find it again.

Apparently the rigger that packed it was lazy. Instead of taking the main out and packing it when he did the reserve repack, he just unhooked the risers with the canopy in the bag...then forgot which risers were wich and hooked it up backwards. fucking muppet.

It was only a 150...would I land one like that again, not on anything smaller...interesting experience overall...kinda fun, kinda scary...no harm...no foul & mark that one up as a learning experience.

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Did you consider cutting away your main? I know a guy that this happened to and he chopped it. They never found out who packed it.

If you pack carefully, you'd probably notice a backwards hook-up easily. I can't help but wonder if someone made a canopy switch with the main still in the D-bag, and so it wasn't detected during packing. Just a thought.
|
I don't drink during the day, so I don't know what it is about this airline. I keep falling out the door of the plane.

Harry, FB #4143

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Apparently the rigger that packed it was lazy. Instead of taking the main out and packing it when he did the reserve repack, he just unhooked the risers with the canopy in the bag...then forgot which risers were wich and hooked it up backwards. fucking muppet.



This just happened at our DZ a few weeks ago. Upon external inspection, everything looked fine. the jumper debated for a while then chopped. He has a pretty high wing loading, and a backwards landing would have been very ugly at best.

Guess I'll be finding another rigger.

Rock

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Apparently the rigger that packed it was lazy. Instead of taking the main out and packing it when he did the reserve repack, he just unhooked the risers with the canopy in the bag...then forgot which risers were wich and hooked it up backwards. fucking muppet.



I would think this practice is extremely common. What should also be common is neatly laying out your main and risers (maybe covered with R/L labeled shot bags or something like that) while the reserve is packed.

If you mark your toggles and/or risers R/L in some out of the way location, you can easily check.

I guess doing a canopy transfer in this situation would be...interesting.
People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

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I've seen backward landings before without problems. However, they were at lower wingloadings, but it was a no wind day.

Also, last time I was at Eloy, I was talking to Gregg Gasson and he was telling me about a crew jump he did. First of all, he did it at night. He also hooked up his main backwards, and on top of all this crazy shit, he did it naked. He now sometimes signs logbooks NNBCRW and a number. NIGHT NAKED BACKWARDS CRW.

So, a backward canopy can be fun!!!!!;)




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I too have had the opportunity to see a backwards main. If it were a Manta or something, i would ride it down and PLF (hopefully w/o smacking the back of my head), but anything loaded more than .8:1, a person really should probably cutaway. Maybe if you have the experience you could dick around for a while, but for the A or B licenced folks, there are way to many factors and differences to take into acount. (E.G., think about a no wind landing on a canopy that is 1:1 or greater, a jumper would first have to worry about setting up the correct approach from a compleatly different orientation, and a normal running landing in no wind would be almost impossible. The greatest concern would be falling backwards, and putting out your hands to stop yourself could easily break your wrists or lower arms.)
Geeze, i sound like a pussy, but maybe i just see it as an unnecessary risk.

Blue Skys,
sds

"Why didn't the pirate go visit his mother for mothers day?

Because she lived to fAAAAARRRRGH away!!!"
=========Shaun ==========


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...but anything loaded more than .8:1, a person really should probably cutaway.



Actually, I would have no fears about landing my Stiletto loaded at 1.4:1 backwards.

It's a good canopy if it passes the normal tests: ie, Can it can turn right, turn left, and flare. The fact that it's backwards doesn't worry me that much at that wing-loading.

And before anybody pipes in with my being too hesitant to chop it, I have two reserve rides.;)
Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and
Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

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Your probably rights, but for myself, until i get a hell of a lot more experience, i'll play safe and use my tempo. Give me a couple hundred more jumps, and i'll probably feel differently.
Better safe than sorry!! :)
- s. smith

=========Shaun ==========


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You're right - there is. I was there in 94, and came back and did it here. It's great for jumping with newbies as you have good eye contact and can reach further to pick up canopies on the dock. The canopy still goes the right direction when you pull a toggle. Landings can be interesting, particularly on comp CReW canopies.
I would not recomend this on highly loaded Elipticals, or for HP landings.:P

t

It's the year of the Pig.

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