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bclark

Sigma Drogue Malfunction

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Threw my drogue on Saturday and it came out collapsed and stayed that way throughout droguefall. Could DEFINATELY tell. Went on with the skydive but pulled slightly high, expecting the collapsed drogue to deploy the main slower than normal, which it did. Landed and the cross piece which holds the disk stationary on the drogue bridle had come free, allowing the bridle between the disk and bag to pull through and collapse the drogue. (SIGMA). I knew the drogue was cocked, and had seen this happen once before, so I had an idea as to what was going on. 150 mph freefall with collapsed drogue. 37 seconds of freefall from 14000 to 7000 where I released the drogue. The main opened nice even at the higher speed (icarus 365).
I wonder if a little blue loc-tite on the alan screws that hold the disk in place would be out of order?

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I don't see how those two screws could work themselves free on one skydive, or how they could not be noticed to be backing out when the rig is being closed.


I don't see why loc-tite couldn't be used, but then I haven't checked with the manufacturer.
----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

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I'm sure it took multiple jumps to work free. Once the rig is closed, hard to see on a normal preflight. Easy for packers to overlook during a 150 way state record event. But you can bet I will be paying more attention to it now. I suppose that once one of those screws has backed out the other may fail. The jump prior I was hauling a 270 lb passenger, which probably put some stress on the drogue. I am sure glad that this waited one more jump to happen.

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Out of curiosity;

Why didn't you deploy when it stayed collapsed?
The trouble with skydiving; If you stink at it and continue to jump, you'll die. If you're good at it and continue to jump, you'll see a lot of friends die...

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If his terminal velocity was only 150mph its likely he had a very small passenger...I would probably do the same and pull a little high if I were in the same situation (with a tiny passenger). Hell, when I had an 84 pound passenger we considered doing the tandem drogueless (with baggy jumpsuits) until shortly before pulltime just so we would maintain a normal fallrate.;)

Miami

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Excuses my question only have <50 Tandemjumps. But doesn't a light passenger increase the risk of a flat spin and other interuptions of "one's natural flow of the day"?
The trouble with skydiving; If you stink at it and continue to jump, you'll die. If you're good at it and continue to jump, you'll see a lot of friends die...

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The jump prior I was hauling a 270 lb passenger, which probably put some stress on the drogue. I am sure glad that this waited one more jump to happen.

:o say what now? I'm glad you had a full drogue for that one too......
Pete Draper,

Just because my life plan is written on the back of a Hooter's Napkin, it's still a life plan.... right?

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I didn't release the drogue when it stayed collapsed for 2 reasons: #1 I have seen uncocked drogues "cock themselves" after a few seconds of droguefall. #2 I know from other peoples experiences and from the manufacturers training materials that a collapsed drogue should deploy the main No Problemo albeit maybe a little slower. We were in the middle of the TSR 150 way event with multiple aircraft in the air at one time. I felt better about riding it down to a reasonably normal pull altitude than I did about opening up high and having a CASA drop a load of freefallers on my head. I released the drogue at 7000' where we normally start drogue release sequence at 6000'.
I was under a main at normal altitudes. I speculate that the collapsed drogue may also be LESS effective at opening the main at a lower speed.
My student was 198 lbs...I am the small one 140 lbs.
In response to a the post about a smaller student giving you control problems, yes they can be a little harder to handle during exits, but once you have a drogue set, even a malfunctioned drogue, YOU SHOULD be able to fly them.

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In response to a the post about a smaller student giving you control problems, yes they can be a little harder to handle during exits, but once you have a drogue set, even a malfunctioned drogue, YOU SHOULD be able to fly them.



Not to mention tandems started without drogues at all...so drogue or not you should be able to fly your student!
Miami

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so drogue or not you should be able to fly your student!



Talk about kicking open doors in. My comment was ment for intenional drogueless with inexperienced jumpers. Personally I don't have any problems flying my students, but I'm a tall guy so I can outfly any student quite easily. Still I don't like tempting faith. But that could also be my lack of experience.
The trouble with skydiving; If you stink at it and continue to jump, you'll die. If you're good at it and continue to jump, you'll see a lot of friends die...

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We all get unexpected surprises on exits from time to time. Seems like the more experience we get the less frequent they become. But, the point of the post was not to debate flying tandems. Just to tell about what happened. Has anyone else out there had this happen / seen this? What did you do and what was your experience. How about some blue loc-tite on those screws eh? Anyone know the manufacturers stance on this or if they have one? :)

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#2 I know from other peoples experiences and from the manufacturers training materials that a collapsed drogue should deploy the main No Problemo albeit maybe a little slower.



I think you may interpret that wrong.

It may take longer from pull time to line stretch but not necessarily.
If you had someone that was 85+kg's with a good body position, did the same but replace the Icarus main(with no brake settings = slow opening) to an EZ or the likes.............. whamo!


Personally I would pull as soon as possible in the same situation! I have seen hard openings on Icarus Tandem mains, though not that common they do happen.

My $0.02

Blue skies,

Rhys
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

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