Difficulty with chest strap after opening....

[WrongWay 0]

I'm guessing I should post this here since I'm tryin' to let my canopy breathe a little bit.....but if it needs to move, move it.

After opening, I'm having a hell of a time loosening my chest strap.....do I just have it cranked down too tight or what? It just doesn't seem to want to come loose. Any ideas/advice?

Wrong Way
D #27371 Mal Manera Rodriguez Cajun Chicken Ø Hellfish #451
The wiser wolf prevails.

[TALONSKY 0]

Use the palm of your right hand and push the right side main webbing toward the left(hand placed at chest strap height). That should take the tension off then just take your right hand fingers and pull the friction adapter out which should start it loosing. I do this all the time with my tandem students.
Kirk

[WrongWay 0]

Sweet, thanks.

Wrong Way
D #27371 Mal Manera Rodriguez Cajun Chicken Ø Hellfish #451
The wiser wolf prevails.

[ccowden 0]

Better yet, have the thin little chest strap replaced with a 2 inch wide one, like I did. You will be able to undo it with one finger. Of course you won't look as cool.

[SLOfreefall 0]

Is there a chance that bad things can happen if you accidently induce some sort of malfunction after the chest strap has been loosened? I was loosening my chest strap up until the day I learned that I can induce line twists, and I decided that I'd rather have my rig secure in the event I need to cut away.

What's your take on that?

[blitzkrieg 0]

as long as it's attatched securely and won't come undone, you should have no problem.

when i do hop and pops i leave it all the way out... it's one less step to prepare for landing!

[WrongWay 0]

I do have a wide one, sucka.

Hear you guys are hittin up Crosskeys for the reunion tour.....not sure I'll be able to make it, but have fun bro!

Wrong Way
D #27371 Mal Manera Rodriguez Cajun Chicken Ø Hellfish #451
The wiser wolf prevails.

[ccowden 0]

Oh. Then you need to start workin out!

Ah come on man, you can swing Xkeys!

[payback462 0]

Quote

Is there a chance that bad things can happen if you accidently induce some sort of malfunction after the chest strap has been loosened? I was loosening my chest strap up until the day I learned that I can induce line twists, and I decided that I'd rather have my rig secure in the event I need to cut away.

What's your take on that?

from my experience id say yes its safer to have a tight chest strap while executing emergency procedures, but for me the perfomance and comfort gained by loosening it make it worth the risk.
besides by loosening the cheststrap it makes self induced linetwists MUCH less likely (i found this out after having to cutaway from self induced linetwists)
id be much more concerned about other situations that could result in me having to cutaway after loosening my chest strap/stowing slider i.e. collisions, wraps..


i should also mention that my harness isnt exactly a loose fit
well anymore

[grega 0]

as was said, i think it's still safe as long as it's attached.
You should know though, that with loose chest strap handles for cutaway and reserve probably won't be on the same place as with the chest strap tightened. Especially after cutting away, the rig could shift...

"George just lucky i guess!"

[rsibbald 0]

I would not loosen the chest strap if you're planning on playing around with your canopy and testing its limits. Just think what would happen if you were halfway through a barrel roll / one-sided canopy stall and your shoulder straps were loose

But if you're just about to join the pattern and land, there's no real security reason not to.

[AggieDave 6]

Even with my extended chest strap all the way at the stop point and my shoulders not being totally inside the rig I never felt like I was going to come out of my rig. Never once.

Why would anyone do a barrel roll, I've got other things going on after I open, like getting to my holding area so I can hit my "balloons" and get a nice swoop. When I do altitude clear and pulls I'm usually working on something specific like turn rates or harness input trying to improve my swoops.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[ccowden 0]

The only reason anyone should be loosening their chest strap to this extent would be for swooping. In which case, the flight and pattern flown should be fairly controlled and definitely not "testing limits" or doing any extreme things like a barrel roll. If you are doing anyhting in which you might induce a malfunction, then you are just asking for trouble anyway, but then you should definitely leave the chest strap tightened.

It is really just common sense.

[Cacophony 0]

On my vector 3 I would open my chest strap out to the stop. I just used my left hand to pull outward on the friction adaptor. It would slide out until the stop. You shouldn't loosen your chest strap until you know you don't have a malfunction and you plan on landing with the canopy you have overhead.

[freefli 2]

it's quite simple to relieve the tensions on your chest strap without using your hands at all, leaving them free to undo the strap. use your shoulders and upper arms to squeeze the mud flaps together, giving you slack to use your hands to undo the loose strap. you could just use your hook knife too.......jim

[alan 1]

In reply to no one in particular,
A barrel roll, when understood and done properly is just another fun flight parameter to explore and is not an extreme manuever for an experienced canopy pilot. It is a smooth, positive G manuever that can be learned incrementally. It does not involve any stalling or toggle whipping but instead requires you to learn how to conserve the energy of your canopy. It does require a relatively high performance canopy (Stiletto is a good example) with a wing loading that allows one to build up enough energy to maintain a positive G force through the manuever. About 1.4 should be fine for a canopy like the Stiletto.

Induce some speed, a steep toggle turn of 180 or 360 dregrees should be more than sufficient when you are first learning the manuever (I can do one from neutral flight with my 89 VX). Smoothly transition back to neutral flight. Watch the horizon. The canopy will plane out and even start to climb a little all on its own, because of the extra lift generated from the speed induced by the turn. As the canopy wants to climb, smoothly add brakes to increase the angle of attack. Be very sensitive and aware of the feel of the canopy. The goal here is not to stall or bleed off all of the speed. In fact, you want to conserve as much of the energy (speed) as possible. The feel on thr brakes should remain firm.

As the canopy pitches up, smootly add a little more toggle on one side (the side on the direction you want to roll in) and smoothly let up a little on the other. As you go over the top, ease up on that first toggle a little, come back to both in a slight brake, then go all neutral. At the very bottom of the finish, you may need to counter steer a little to stay on heading.

You won't be able to get 100% over the top because the canopy needs to maintain a positive angle of attack, but you can get within about 10 or 15 degrees of verticle. Go at it easy. Don't try to do it on the first try. Learn how to build a lot of speed, then learn how to pitch the canopy up and see how much speed you can maintain. Then add in the braked turn (yes, braked turn, if done well, a barrel roll can be done with very little loss of altitude) a little at a time as you build confidence and get a feel for your canopy. You can learn to do this with risers as well, but remember, it is not about yanking on a control input to the point of inducing a stall on one side or the other or possibly inducing line twists.

It is fun. Video a tandem and do a barrel roll after the opening. During the playback, pause the the vid at the point where the horizon is upside down. You'll be surpised at how many people will want to know how you did that. This is not a comprehensive instructional on barrel rolls. Just a little primer of the basics and it assumes you understand basic principles of flight and aerodynamics. It should go without saying, but I'll say it any way............Do this at a safe altitude in clear airspace.

alan

[AMax 0]

Quote

I learned that I can induce line twists, and I decided that I'd rather have my rig secure in the event I need to cut away.
What's your take on that?

The chances of getting induced line twists are smaller if the chest strap is loose because the risers get more spread out. There is a believe that loose chest strap also lessens the chances of line twists during opening sequence for the same reason.

[murps2000 86]

Not knowing how you stow your excess chest strap when it's tight, I can't say if that's part of the problem when you go to loosen it, but it's something else you could check out. I've got a wide one, too, and sometimes I need to take that excess, and sort of pull up or down on it a little as I'm trying to loosen it at the friction adapter. Somewhere in there is a point at which it seems to free up nicely, and get easier to loosen. Hope that helps.