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Velopilot

Velo openings pissin me off

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If the canopy starts to open one way or the other, depending on the intensity of the seek/search/surge/dance/dive, I apply correct pressure on the opposite rear riser and correct weight shift in the harness.

I think this is most of your problem. JUST LET IT DO IT'S THING.

+1. Just be an anchor. It will search and shake, but just keep your heading and position it will just follow you. Don't control the risers so much as just keep them in place so they don't cross.

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Check the video of your friend in that jump.
Seems to me that your risers were not under the flaps.
At some point you see them in your video in front of the lens.... and always in sitfly position. check the video from 30 sec...

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I agree with the fact that you need slow down more after a freefly jump. You might also want to make sure that the front side of your slider "stands out" of the nose of the canopy (at least a little) when packing.

And watch out for that stuff (rsl?) flying freely around your head

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agreed, I pulled quickly ( track, belly for barley a second then big arch and pitch ) as wanted a little more time on the canopy and i think that could have contribulted for sure but never had a opening that hard even pulling just out of a track after a big way, harder yes but 5 times less than that. was looking for anymore ideas as to what cause it but im thinking its all related to that more so now. The canopy of course come to find out has the slider that is slightly smaller on it than the larger option pd provides standard now. I think that plays in a bit too

lesson learned- dont go outside your routine for a few extra seconds after opening

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and correct on the rsl. i thought it was in a good spot but didnt connect it. no harm there though that had nothing to do with the opening. and thanks all on the info about the slider out a little more in front of the nose, etc

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i think that could have contribulted for sure but never had a opening that hard even pulling just out of a track after a big way,




Most folks that I know that jump Velos swear by pitching in a track to open them.



How many people do you know jumping velos? One? Maybe they got one of those special 5" Atair ZP pilot chutes?

Literally none of the people I know that jump Velos have said that, quite the opposite in fact.
--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

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How many people do you know jumping velos? One? Maybe they got one of those special 5" Atair ZP pilot chutes?



22-24" could be the right size. :P


Yeah. Do you remember when "CobaltDan" would come on here and yell at everyone that they were full of crap if they had an Atair canopy that sucked? Then tell them to get a smaller PC and to dump in a track?
--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

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I'm with Dave on this one, my best terminal openings (though I don't do terminal jumps lately :P) have always been when fully stopping my tracking motion and trying to slow down my vertical speed the most I could.

I'd never suggest to open a velocity with any kind of motion other than straight down (you might try with a sideway motion once if you want to experience a cutaway, I have, it works :):S).

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Most folks that I know that jump Velos swear by pitching in a track to open them.


This definitely helps promote heading, in general. If you read the manual that comes with any PD canopy, this is what they recommend.




Where does it say that? I didn't find anything in their manual that refers to pulling in a track. In fact I have found the opposite on page six of their parachute manual.

PD Parachute Manual
http://www.performancedesigns.com/docs/MainUsersManual.pdf

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Here is the section I was referring to.

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4. DEPLOYMENT AIRSPEED
Anybody who has pulled in a steep track knows that the higher
opening speed at pull time, the more potential for hard
openings. In fact, any of the factors described above can occur
if the jumper’s freefall speed is high enough. How fast is too
fast? That depends on how much effort the jumper has taken in
controlling his packing, line stows, and pilot chute factors.
Smaller jumpsuits and weight vests have helped advance RW
skills, but place more demands on jumpers at opening time.
You should work aggressively at tracking flat. When tracking,
you should grab every bit of air you can! Try to minimize your
rate of decent while tracking clear of other jumpers. Then a
good flare to stop the forward speed will really help smooth out
your openings. Sitting up in a head high position is a common
practice. If you like to sit up, try to do it smoothly with the
canopy reaching line stretch simultaneously. Don’t sit up too
early, because you will pick up speed in the sitting up position!
Jumping at high elevation drop zones poses special problems,
since the freefall true airspeeds are much higher as altitude
increases. This will also aggravate the other deployment
factors. At extremely high elevations, a slightly smaller pilot
chute on a long bridle may make the other factors easier to
control.

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Any extra speed with a Velo will hurt. On tandem video I'll slow down before they open if it's a big TI & student. I rarely go freeflying with my velo because I can't slow down fast enough - I'm a bigger boy B|.

The only thing I recommend doing (and at that only with camera wings) is backing up ie putting your feet up and your hands out before pulling. It promotes a cleaning opening and then does a gentle 180.

I had the most trouble on a 96. My 96 and I just did not get along but my 90 is incredible. The smaller the velo the better the opening at least compared to a 120, 111, 96 and 90.

If you have a small velo spread the risers to keep the slider up. Don't pull and don't pop your break or you're fucked. If you're spreading your risers and it starts fighting you lean into the turn to keep excess tension from pulling the risers out of your hands and flinging you into linetwists.

Never been spanked by a velo when I opened slow - so slow down a bit more and you'll be fine.



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Here is the section I was referring to.

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4. DEPLOYMENT AIRSPEED
Anybody who has pulled in a steep track knows that the higher
opening speed at pull time, the more potential for hard
openings. In fact, any of the factors described above can occur
if the jumper’s freefall speed is high enough. How fast is too
fast? That depends on how much effort the jumper has taken in
controlling his packing, line stows, and pilot chute factors.
Smaller jumpsuits and weight vests have helped advance RW
skills, but place more demands on jumpers at opening time.
You should work aggressively at tracking flat. When tracking,
you should grab every bit of air you can! Try to minimize your
rate of decent while tracking clear of other jumpers. Then a
good flare to stop the forward speed will really help smooth out
your openings. Sitting up in a head high position is a common
practice. If you like to sit up, try to do it smoothly with the
canopy reaching line stretch simultaneously. Don’t sit up too
early, because you will pick up speed in the sitting up position!
Jumping at high elevation drop zones poses special problems,
since the freefall true airspeeds are much higher as altitude
increases. This will also aggravate the other deployment
factors. At extremely high elevations, a slightly smaller pilot
chute on a long bridle may make the other factors easier to
control.

I'll try to find it. What I read didn't say "steep track". It was more along the lines of opening with some forward motion -- basically "flaring" your body after a track. Maybe they've changed it, but it was definitely in there for my last three PD canopies.

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I'll try to find it. What I read didn't say "steep track". It was more along the lines of opening with some forward motion -- basically "flaring" your body after a track. Maybe they've changed it, but it was definitely in there for my last three PD canopies.



"Flaring" your body after a track is sitting upright, belly to the relative wind, in an effort to present as much surface area to the relative wind of your forward motion and stop the motion as quickly as possible. If the manual instructed you to flare your body before deploying after a track, it's instructing you to stop your forward motion before deployment, not the other way around.

Reccomending anyone pull in a track is a bad idea. People's definition of track will vary from person to person, and people's version of a track will vary from jump to jump, none of which promotes consistancy or the ability to tune openings during R&D.

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I'll try to find it. What I read didn't say "steep track". It was more along the lines of opening with some forward motion -- basically "flaring" your body after a track. Maybe they've changed it, but it was definitely in there for my last three PD canopies.



"Flaring" your body after a track is sitting upright, belly to the relative wind, in an effort to present as much surface area to the relative wind of your forward motion and stop the motion as quickly as possible. If the manual instructed you to flare your body before deploying after a track, it's instructing you to stop your forward motion before deployment, not the other way around.

Reccomending anyone pull in a track is a bad idea. People's definition of track will vary from person to person, and people's version of a track will vary from jump to jump, none of which promotes consistancy or the ability to tune openings during R&D.

I stand corrected. Personally, I've found that opening with some forward motion promotes heading. But most of my jumps are in a wingsuit, so...

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Just an update to all. Nothing but sweet openings since the one hard one in the video prior. 75+ more on the velo now and not a single hard opening.

Only set two sets of line twists, 4 to 5 of them each time, Ive had I rolled the tail way too much (out of fear of a hard opening, resulting in massive twist before it uncacooned) and that was the last time that happened. if packed well with the slider positioned well no issues what so ever. I appreciate everyones advice. thanks again

Oh yeah lets end it with velo destroys the xoas 21 for canopy piloting period. camera and work overall i would say the xaos rocks it all the way tho

later

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