Michele 1 #1 September 22, 2003 I went to my rigger's last night, and pulled the handle on the reserve. Beautiful launch - about 10 or so feet. I was very impressed...until I walked over and picked it up, and noticed a rip in the mesh of the pc. It was about 2-3 inches from the bottom of pc (not the top part), and was easily 3 inches long, on both sides of the seam. The seam, however, was intact. There was no fraying at the edge - very clean rip; and when additional pressure was applied, there was no further ripping. The mesh does not look like it's worn, very white and clean. this is my inital repack cycle with this rig...and when it was put together, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the mesh. My rigger and I went over it together then. The rip was easily spotted, so it's not as if it were missed during the initial inspection. Does anyone have any idea what could've caused this? My rigger is confident it can be repaired easily, and that it would've worked had I needed it, but I am really at a loss to understand what caused it. For reference, it's a Javelin, DOM early 90's. It's in spectacular condition (thanks again, Diablopilot!!). I just dunno.... Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skip 0 #2 September 22, 2003 Could it have hit something during deployment or landing on the ground? The first time I dumped my reserve in my riggres loft I launched the PC right at a pair of sicisors laying on the ground. No harm done but quite a learning experiance. thats all I got. .:skip Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Michele 1 #3 September 22, 2003 Thanks, Skip. No, it was a clear area, landed on the floor (wood), and it was totally clear behind me. I looked, because he has dogs, and I didn't want to hit one of them. hrm... Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dkpbxman 0 #4 September 22, 2003 Damage like that can occur if a packing paddle was improperly used to tuck the fabric under the pc cap. You wouldn't be able to see it Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
miller 0 #5 September 22, 2003 I had the exact same scenario with a customer's Dolphin last week, except the rip was only about 1-inch wide and did not travel across any of the support tape. This was the second repack on the rig, and I performed the first. Note: I do not use a packing paddle to deal with the pilot chute fabric. What I believe happened in this case was that a small bit of the mesh caught the bottom the spring where the coil is swaged together. This pilot chute did not have any rubber shrink wrap around the swage, as most pilot chutes do. Therefore, there was somewhat of an unproteched metal edge. This is what I believe caused the small rip. Anyway, called Altico and was told to go ahead and pack it up. Mesh is not really structural in nature, support tape takes the load, etc...but watch for the expansion of the rip in the future. In order to actually repair this type of rip properly (ie not darned by hand), the pilot chute would have to be mostly taken apart, and it's probably more prudent (financially) to buy a new one at that point. I typed a little note stating that the rip was found during repack on xxx date and that the manufacturer was contacted and instructed me that it was okay to pack....and then I attached the note to the reserve card. I think this accomplished two things: it makes the next guy who packs it aware that it's there and he'll know that I didn't miss it, and it let's the next guy know that it's not a blatant rigging error due to the instructions from the manufacturer. NOTE: your rip sounds a little more drastic than the one I was dealing with. Procede with caution. My 4 cents, Mike Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
