Broken steering line

[Diver23 0]

What would you do if you had an broken steering line upon deployment? Land with rear risers or go for the reserve.
Please add what type of canopy you are flying and wingload.
cheers

[SkydiveMonkey 0]

I'd be inclined to land on the rear risers - I jump a hornet 170 @ 1.2 with the standard 1 inch risers.
When I grow up, I want to be a post whore

[Remster 24]

rear risers, stiletto 170 at 1.5, if the only thing wrong with the canopy is the break line and it flies fine.
Remster
Muff 914

[Geoff 0]

I would be very cautious about making a decision in advance about this. It really depends on how controllable the canopy is with rear risers, with one brake line broken, and the other unstowed. This may be quite different from the handling of the canopy on rear risers with both brakes unstowed (the only easy way you could poractice).
The canopy may not fly straight, because the rear of one half of the canopy is still being loaded to some extent by the unstowed brake line, but the other side will be completely un-loaded. This would be worse if brake lines are too short (many are) or on a canopy with a very short control range like a Stiletto.
On my Cobalt 105 loaded at 1.8, I doubt the canopy would be adequately controllable, but I'll make the decision in the air if it happens, not now.
Geoff

[slotperfect 7]

This can be landed without incident. It is a minor malfunction.
If the canopy is turning because of the tightness of the other steering line, just cut it with your hook knife (you ARE carrying a hook knife, aren't you?). Your Rigger is going to replace both of them anyway (never just one side).
Remember to go easy pulling down on the rear risers when you flare - you are pulling down the entire back half of the canopy instead of just the trailing edge.
I have never had one . . . I replace mine before they get to the breaking point. Prevention is my most effective emergency procedure.
The bottom line: I do not want to cut away a fully open canopy just because of a broken steering line.
I jump a Silhouette 210 @ 1.18 to 1
Respectfully,
SP

[Hooknswoop 19]

"The canopy may not fly straight, because the rear of one half of the canopy is still being loaded to some extent by the unstowed brake line, but the other side will be completely un-loaded. This would be worse if brake lines are too short (many are) or on a canopy with a very short control range like a Stiletto."
If the canopy turns w/ one broken steering line, the steering lines are too short.
Safire 189 at 1:1, land w/ rear risers
VX-60 at 3.1:1, cutaway
Hook

[Bruno 0]

Stiletto 135 at 1.7 land w rear risers (done once)

[Jimbo 0]

Quote

This can be landed without incident. It is a minor malfunction.

I disagree. What you may think of as a minor malfunction may be a disaster waiting to happen for others. Someone with 200 jumps on a lightly loaded Sabre could probably handle it, but maybe not. Someone with 2000 jumps on a highly loaded Velocity, well, that's a judgement call.
I don't think it's fair to call it a minor malfunction, that really depends on the pilot. Would you want an AFF first jump student to land his 280 sq ft canopy on RR alone?

[hobbes4star 0]

rear risers, have had to do it before. but i pulled to hard on them and stalled the canopy. hard landing but i limped away.
why jump when you can fly

[drenaline 0]

Depending on altitude I would practice some rear riser control (after cutting the other line) if no good or confident enough with the flare, I would go for the red and silver.
"Life is full of danger, so why be afraid?"
drenaline

[faulknerwn 36]

Hmmm. On my Lightning 113, absolutely land it. On my Diablo 88, absolutely land it. On a no-wind day, I'd _probably_ decide to land my Tri 99 - the reason being is that its rear riser stall-point is much higher than any of my other 3 canopies and I'm more likely to accidently stall it. My Cobalt 85? In 10+mph winds absolutely land it. In lower winds, I'd probably still land it. It flies really well on rear risers. I weigh between 145-150 with gear.

[caseyusa 0]

Good call Geoff- I was reading the replies waiting for someone to mention the controllability! :)

[hookit 0]

I would land with rear risers. I fly a Xaos 104 at about a 1.8 wing-loading. I've practiced landing with just rear risers before on my last canopy (Vengeance 120) but haven't yet done it on the Xaos.

[freeflir29 0]

I'd land with rear risers on my Stiletto 170 loaded about 1.3. It's still pretty big and docile. I have seen a camera guy cut away from this nuisance because he had prior experience trying to land his fairly small canopy with rear risers. It didn't turn out to well so he chopped it. It's totally dependant on your main and your abilities.
"Here I come to save the BOOBIES!"

[cloud9 0]

I had this happen about 8 months ago. I was jumping a Triathlon 175 loaded at about 1.2. Both steering lines broke on opening, both toggles were still in the keepers. The cascades on the right side were wrapping around the whole line group, while the left side was trailing behind the canopy. Honestly I couldn't tell how many lines were broke and wasn't sure if it was just the steering lines or not. The canopy was in a slow right turn that could be stopped using riser input. I tried flaring using rear risers but it would kind of carve while flaring. I still wasn't sure about landing it going through 1800 ft. so I chopped it. I really think you won't be able to answer this until your under that canopy thinking about landing it.

[prost 0]

As long as the canopy was flying good beside that I would land it. I am almost always jumping video and I would rather not cut awy if I don't have to. Both of my canopies are a FX99 at 2.4 to one so I know I am going to have to slide it out a ways on landing but I like that option better than risking an entanglement on a cutaway. If the canopy is turning even just a little bit or did not seem to be flying normally I would chop it immediately.
William

[slotperfect 7]

Jimbo,
Not intended to start a debate, nor am I trying to change your opinion. Just applying mine to your scenarios.
It's a judgement call . . . absolutely. It's up to the pilot . . . absolutley. Both of those are true in every emergency situation.
In your scenarios: 1) 200 jumps, lightly loaded Sabre - landable with rear risers, agreed. 2) 2000 jumps - highly loaded Velocity - I've never jumped that fast a canopy. In that situation, I would cut the other line, see how the canopy reacted to a rear riser flare, then make my choice. I have seen swoopers land with rear risers before, although I don't recall what canopies they were jumping 3) 1 jump, AFF student. Yes, I would rather they land the canopy with rear risers than cut away a fully open and otherwise operational parachute. Several things are in the student's favor: a higher opening altitude (plenty of decision time), having recently been trained, drilled, quizzed about this scenario in his first jump course (they should do a controllability check), jumping a big, docile canopy, and being on a radio with an instructor on the ground.
The life and limb saver available to all of those scenarios is the good old PLF.
Thanks for your reply. I look forward to the next, if you choose to do so.
Respectfully,
SP

[Jiggs 0]

It depends on the individual, their ability and their confidence level. If you don't think you can do it or you are unsure you probably can't or will screw it up. That said I would not do it unless I was comfortable with the canopy and the way it was handling.
Besides, isn't it a perfectly good excuse for another freefall? :-)

[Hooknswoop 19]

"2) 2000 jumps - highly loaded Velocity - I've never jumped that fast a canopy. In that situation, I would cut the other line, see how the canopy reacted to a rear riser flare, then make my choice."
Depending on your altitude, you might not have time for all that, it is amazing how fast you can lose altitude under a small, loaded up X-brace, just a full flight.
I teach students how to turn and flare with the rear risers. And I also teach them that each time they jump a new canopy, they should go through all the drills with the new canopy, flat turns, front risers, rear risers, stall, etc. A better time to make a descion on landing a canopy on rear risers is when both steering lines are still intact and you can calmly evaluate how the canopy flares on rear risers.
Hook

[AvK 0]

Today's modern canopy's are high performance, mostly because of the airfoil and modern 'silk'.
If a line is broken (don't care if it is a steering line or another) you will dramatically reduce the performance of your canopy.
You will also increase the chance of a (very) bad landing and injury. In the almost 19 years I am in this sport I've seen or heared of several rear-riser landings and they were all bad (sometime's very bad) landings.
Why take that risk if we all have a perfect reserve on our back?
Seems to me most responders are afraid of using their reserve!

[Bruno 0]

AvK
Not afraid, but reserve is my last chance, and I'll use only if I really need, or have a doubt on safe landing.
Bruno

[AvK 0]

A lot of people are talking about their reserve as 'a last chance'. As if it would be a miracle that it would function. Your reserve functions as well as your main canopy. It will open as well and even fly better with all the lines intact.
That's why we call it a reserve, and not 'a last chance parachute'.

[prost 0]

Everyone should learn to land on rear risers.

Why take the risk if you have a good canopy already out. If you practice on rear risers it isn't that hard to land.
William

[Trent 0]

I agree. When I learned about how to make the chop/don't chop decision we were taught to check 4 S's: Square, Stable, Slider Down, Steerable (includes ability to flair). If I have a parachute that meets all those criteria, I'll land it. There is no reason to chop a good canopy that fits the 4S's.
I had a brake line wrap up my left risers and couldn't release it, but I went over the 4S's and flaired it a few times with the left-rear line group and the right riser. I felt I could control the canopy well enough to land. I was taught to PLF, so the last thoughts before I landed were, "Feet and knees together!" Everything worked out okay.

[billvon 2,400]

>A lot of people are talking about their reserve as 'a last chance'. As if it would
>be a miracle that it would function.
No, but it would not require an act of god for it to fail. Mains fail; reserves fail. If you can learn to land your main safely instead of using a reserve that may fail you should do that.
>Your reserve functions as well as your main canopy.
Which, in this case, just broke a line. Reserves work just as well as main canopies, and can fail the same way. If your reserve breaks an outer A line you may not be able to land it at all.
If I'm jumping my Sabre 150, and a steering line breaks, I have a better chance of landing it safely than I have of landing my reserve safely. It would be foolish to get rid of it.
>That's why we call it a reserve, and not 'a last chance parachute'.
It _is_ a "last chance parachute." It is intended to give you one last chance at survival if you have a malfunction on your main. That's it's _only_ function. It does not help you fly, or make you look cool, or hold your container together.
BTW we don't call AAD's unconscious-life-savers either, yet they do that on occasion, and that's why most people buy them.
-bill von