beatcreation

peek I sent you a pm

I packed 1 of the first three with an ok opening but not the last one which I got slammed on. It does have a pocket slider.

Thanks Dawn, I would agree that I wouldn't hesitate too long to sell this canopy if I was upfront about it to the seller. I believe that it could be easily managed or fixed and I think like you mentioned that a new jumper with little bank could benefit from the affordability of this canopy. Thats why I purchased it in the first place.

Well with my background in crash testing and dynamics I would say that any broken bones due solely to a hard opening would indicate that the opening was truly of special case cause and not of the native population of pilot deployments. I have limited jump numbers but most of my jumps have been with a pilot and the openings and landings have been nothing less than awesome. The events that you speak of may have very well occurred but statistically speaking based on the rave reviews of the pilot I would say that these situations were probably flukes.

Flight Concepts 9 Cell F111 With dacron lines and around 280 Jumps on it. Lines appear to be in good shape and material is in very good condition. Lands Surprising well for the style of canopy.

To give the situation some context I will explain what happened. I purchased a used f-111 canopy which was manufactured in 2002 and is in very good physical appearance. I jumped it 4 times the first three times the canopy opened slightly hard but about what I would expect from an f-111 canopy ( I have no experience with f-111, basing my observations on what I have heard). The 4th however slammed me real good. I was not able to jump for about 3 weeks and had a tough time getting around. I believe that the opening could have very well have been due to the way it was packed. I believe this canopy to be less forgiving to packing blunders. I have since then purchased a new canopy which I have fallen in love with. Here comes my actual question. I obviously would like to recoup some of the cost from purchasing this canopy in the first place and I would hate to see a canopy go to waste especially with the appearance and condition that it appears to be in but do I sell this canopy? I would like to post it for sale with an explanation of what happened to me and see if someone is interested in trying to salvage this canopy, maybe fixing it or just learning to pack it correctly. I would just hate to sell the canopy even with a disclaimer and then find out that something happens to the buyer using it. I know that a disclaimer would put more of the responsibility on the purchaser but I would still feel bad. What does everyone think????

Ive been working on making less narrow. Also I find that I need it to be less narrow to fill the corner of the bag.

Not hammering on you but...This should be one of your last concerns. No worries, while Im asking these questions I am in the back of my head assuming a bunch of things including the things you just pointed out. I would never (intentially) track into another group in an attempt to get closer to the DZ especially because I know that my tracking wouldn't get me all that much closer anyways. Also I wouldnt pull super high to accomplish the same thing just because I know that is a really bad idea. I always stick to my deployment altitude. Truelly, getting back to the DZ is not my biggest worry. landing off doesn't scare me cause we all have to do it from time to time. I most likely will do some tracking runs with some people from the DZ most of my questions here are purely out of curiosity. I would much rather train with someone who knows what they are doing.

Well good tracker definitely makes it more interesting. The reason I would like to do some solo tracking runs would be to practice my track cause I'm not sure how I am tracking currently. If I am tending towards a head down track then my horizontal distance may not be as far away from the jump run as one would like and my vertical position might be closer to the jumpers around me. Though I guess any tracking away from the jump run would be sufficient? Yeah the second question is much more difficult. I have wondered if I exit as a solo belly but I get into a good sit then I might end up crossing paths with a group of freeflyers but if I exit as a solo freefly and end up on belly most of the time I may end up with a long haul from the dz. Thanks all for the input keep it coming!

First, lets say I am interested in doing a solo tracking jump. Where in the exit sequence would I fall? Second, for someone just starting to work on their sit position but knows that they will most likely end up spending most of their time on their stomach seeing how they suck at sit should that person get out as belly or free fly?

I hear what you are saying. I thought of that as well. One of the things you may have noticed is after the second time I press air out I pull the outside edges of the canopy and fold them back on top of the back side of the pack job ( to keep lines under control) and then press more air out. When I am "sausaging" I am more or less just pushing the outside tail material around and under while making sure not to push too much material inside the cocoon under as well. This is just to make sure that the tail is wrapped around tightly so that when I go to make my first fold I can keep a good grip on the canopy and not let it explode every where.

Apparently when I reduced the size of the video it came out darker. Ill try to lighten it up and repost.

Thanks for helping with the link. I wasnt thinking clearly last night.

Aight well I said I would post a video and I have. I wanted to show I how I learned to use my body to control the canopy at all times of the bagging process. This is a brand new canopy with 1 jump on it. I have practiced packing this canopy about 40 times. The first 28 times were messy and since then I can bag it no problem. I just wanted to share my technique. I'm sure that there could be other and better ways of doing it but I found this to be the easiest and fastest for now with the condition of the canopy. I posted the video on skydivingmovies.com and the format is mov so you will need quicktime. Also sorry for the ass shots but it is part of the technique. http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=6912

Thanks for the video. In the past day I have managed to come up with a technique that works for me. I cocoon the canopy while laying on top of it then when I go to make my first s-fold I keep a monster grip on it and use every bit of my body to surround it (stomach, chest, legs, knees, chin, forehead). Then I work the bag around and stuff the slider in. The biggest trick I noticed with the pilot is keeping it surrounded. The material that the pilot is made out of I feel is more springy than some of the pd canopy materials. When I was packing a sabre 2 I felt the material was slicker but not as springy. I like the idea of using a pull up cord to stow your lines. I always wondered if that would work or just break the bands. Im thinking about posting a video later showing the packing method I have found successfull.

6 beers....theres your answer. Now, how to do that after the first load...? Wow so I have tried to repack it yet again today after work and I cant repeat the results. Maybe it was the beer. Too bad the two activities dont go well together.

Aight, update! After 20 attempts and 6 beers later I finally got it neatly in the bag. My best trick was after I laid it on the ground and started cocooning it I laid on top of it and worked the air out and constantly worked the cocoon narrower and narrower. I made it as narrow and tight and possible then as I went to make my first s fold I slid my body down still laying on it and made my first fold (reverse s fold). Once I got the fold over I got up and completely surrounded the fold with my body (legs chest chin etc..) then I slid the bag around but I still had to maintain a tight grip on the bag and canopy cause it wanted to eject from the bag. Then I stuffed the slider in and wrapped the bag around compressing even more air out. Then finally I was able to get the lines stowed. Thanks everyone for the input.

I almost bagged it once earlier today. I was reverse s-folding and when I went to stuff the slider in, my hand slipped and I lost the center fold (cleavage) and the canopy practically ejected its self from the dbag. almost there.

Ive watched that video a bunch of times before and it is great. My main problem is just how spring loaded this new material is. If my fingers slip just a little bit the whole thing just explodes like its sprig loaded.

I would love some videos and help. I have learned alot about correct packing and some of the tricks but this new zp material is unbelievable. Out of curiosity I tried to psycho pack it and that was worse because the material was so slippery as I rolled it the tail just kept on pulling away from the slider.

Well I picked up my new canopy today and jumped it once which was awesome. This thing is a beast to pack though. I was amazed that a packer was able to get it in the d bag. Unfortunately I opened it back up when I got home today and I just cant get it back in. This is my first brand new canopy and I have heard about the horrors of packing a new canopy but I never thought it would be this bad. It is now currently daisy chained and in a garbage bag sitting in my closet. Hell even getting it into the garbage bag was difficult.

I completely understand that there is going to be a difference between what I know is deployed and what my altitrack will read but a 1000 ft plus discrepancy doesn't jive with me. I come from a highly technical background in areas close to aerodynamics and electromechanical devices such as a digital altimeter and this delta in read outs of measurement systems just drives me nutts. One of the posters earlier in this blog mentioned that they got spanked for their neptune reading 3200 ft which was below where they should have pulled. I would argue that if I were to come up with a good sampling plan and run an measurement system evaluation (mse) I would find that this form of measurement is not stable consistent or predictable.

I'm confused by this as well. I recently got spanked by a really fast opening canopy that i tossed at 5100 feet. My altitrack registered a deployment 1500 ft lower at 3600 ft when I know I was under a fully deployed canopy 400 ft after I tossed. I really don't get it.

Yep Im not necessarily looking forward to being there during august but that is when my family is all congregating down there. I spent almost a year of my life down there on vaca so I unfortunately know what to expect weather wise. I most likely will have to jump during the week so I guess I will check out deland. Thanks for the info.

Hey all I will be in the st. augustine florida area during august and I plan to get to a DZ for atleast one day while I am down there. Any suggestions on a DZ not too far from st augustine that is friendly and welcoming to visiting fun jumpers?