RichM

I don't blame premature opening on d-bag. I blame d-bag (magnets) that it didn't keep canopy inside bag when PC take it from container. if the process of opening were normal, links would be tightened and there would be a normal process of opening a parachute. It didn't happen and all lines and canopy were on my back and legs, canopy just blow up, slider does not slow down the opening. BOC/bridle protection/closing loop - everything was ok, checked on the ground by me and my friend, before exit i have checked hackey. BOC is in very good condition (DOM 07.2015). Your main problem was the premature, which put your canopy in the air while you were in a freefall speed that is greater than optimum. That has hurt and killed people who have had normal d-bags. Deployment at high airspeeds is a known and well documented danger to both you and your equipment. Your slider was still at the top when you reached line stretch and so was still doing its job, but in the higher airspeed the canopy inflation was so violent it forced the slider down much faster resulting in far higher decelration forces. This also has nothing to do with the out of sequence cause by the dbag and it all would have happened even if you had a normal dbag. Your secondary problem was an out of sequence deployment. This can cause tension knots, line overs and asymetrical inflation resulting in line twists. If none of these happened then the dbag did not cause any of your issues. I would still change the dbag though. Happy to be corrected by more knowledgeable people (and there are many :)). Rich M

Yes, I am afraid of cutting away. Right now, if I were to have a line over, I would use my hook knife to cut it just above the toggle and land with rear risers. Do you have any idea how a canopy flies with no pressure on the tail? I have seen people hurt themselves very badly landing canopies ranging from 240sq ft to 303 sq ft on their rear risers due to losing a toggle or both..I took a water landing once when i lost a toggle and it hurt like hell!!..Try to do that on a 150 and i guarantee you wont be walking back to the packing mat! Guarantee!!! Are you also willing to risk breaking your back and legs just because you didnt want to spend 60 bucks on a reserve repack? Have fun buying a new line set which will cost you a few hundred bucks at the end of the whole deal!!!!! NOT guaranteed. I lost a toggle on a 245 recently, ditched the other one, flared on the rears with the tail fluttering and PLF'd. I could have stood it up and been fine but I didn't need to add that risk. At the UK AirgameZ some people were practising ditching their toggles and landing on rears with the tail fluttering and there were no injuries. I think your comment was intended to point out that a canopy will fly very differently when the tail is not under tension so you have effectively 25% of the usable surface are is very valid, and practising rear landings with the toggles at the stop does not prepare you well for a rear landing with no toggles at all, and that I agree with. The stall characterists change quite dramatically. Rich M

I agree. I have jumped a Sabre 120 for all of my 30 WS jumps so while I can't compare with other canopies, I agree its cheap and appropriate as long as it's at a sensible wing loading. The only con I can think of is they have a reputation for spanking open, mine never has (in a total of 150 jumps), but be aware of it. Rich M

It may be the lines aren't out of trim just too short for pulling fronts. The slight bow described would not be enough to allow the fronts to be pulled to your chest without significant application of the brake, and both at once can make the canopy quite unstable and unpredictable so I wouldn't do that. Lengthening the lines between the toggle and the loop (if the lines are in trim) is easy and quick to do but this will change your flare and stall points and so you will need to relearn these. I found that I needed to adjust the lengths over period of 20 jumps or so to get the best compromise of fronts vs flare. To do this my rigger fitted much longer lines after the loop and S fed them into the toggles several times (6 S's giving 6 lines jamming through the toggle grommet) with a figure 8 knot on the end of the line to secure it, which allowed me to adjust the lengths in the field while packing. Once I was happy he changed it to a loop and tacked them. After changing the brake line lengths all the jumps following should be high hop and pops, finding at a safe altitude where the new flare and stall points are until you have built up the muscle memory. And only conservative straight in landings until you have the muscle memory. If you treat it with the respect it deserves it's good fun :) Rich M

Perfect, thanks. And it is what I thought but that's a much clearer description. I googled "double finger trap" and got a load of medical sites Rich M

Yep. I jump a Katana 107 for normal jumps and a Sabre 120 for wingsuit jumps. They are both connected to their own risers, dbags, bridles and pilotchutes and closing loop. I keep one in the container and the other in a hotswap bag. When I want to swap at packing time say for a WS last jump of the day, I pack the Katana until it is in the bag and the lines are stowed on the bag. Then I cut the Katana away, take the Sabre out of the hotswap bag and put the Katana in, hook up the Sabre risers and RSL, swap the closing loops, put the bag in the container, close it, attach the wingsuit, and you're good to go. Cutting away and reconnecting should not be taken lightly. Check it thoroughly. Check it again to be sure. The check again again anyway. If at any point you have any doubt dump the canopy out of the bag and do line check, and/or cock the PC. If your experienced enough to WS then packing shouldn't take you long. Always get a gear check before emplaning to get another experienced person to confirm you have connected the risers and RSL properly. In the UK this is mandatory on every jump anyway, but even then I always say that I have just cutaway and reconnected so they do a thorough check. And if you haven't got a 9ft bridle already then get one for the WS canopy when you're buying the second set of risers, dbag, bridle and PC. Hope that helps Rich M

Thanks, that site still works, but I don't find the instructions very clear. People who felt the same were complimentary about Sid's pictorial which is no longer available. So I wondered if anyone had a link to Sid's article. Having said that from the later posts it seems you can take either side of the finger trap and thread it through itself as shown in the picture in your link, and pull until it inverts and you end up with a smooth line. But a visual confirmation of this would set my mind at ease :) Rich M

I'm just looking into using this technique. Sid's article is no longer available at this link, does anyone know where I can find it? Thanks Rich M

Have you thought about a removable slider? Not a full RDS just a removable slider. I have one from Lookma.de and it's excellent, the slider stops at the bumpers and you cut the material away from the rings and stash it in your jumpsuit Rich M

I'm no rigger so feel free to ignore this. But logically, with bungee stows, at the bungee the lines in the bight not only rub past each other but are tightly squeezed against each other by the stow as they rub, so the wear effect would be accentuated. In a semi stowless the lines are not pressed against each other. Logically, stows would wear them faster than semi stowless. But I have evidence either way. Rich M

Flying a JVX with only 535 jumps and only doing 90s. Lol, troll, surely... Rich M

How about a small roll of webbing sown onto each riser creating a block say 6 inches below the links. This would mean you could reach up, grab, allow the hands to slide down until the blocks provide grip. It would also ensure both hands are identical distances from the links. And blocks on the front of the rear risers would not complicate finding the toggles in a hurry should it be needed. Just a thought. Rich M

Hi Rob It may look like a swoop lane but its actually the accuracy mat, there is no swoop lane at that DZ. I didn't see him because I was target fixated on the people with the beer, my fault; well beers fault really ;p Rich M

I screwed up a few weeks ago, only just got to posting the video here http://youtu.be/sfjcU-m2vnw Last lift of the day, we knew a crate of beer would be by the crash mat so I made a 90 swoop, a bit too high but safe, followed by a carve to come safely close to the kind peeps who bought the beer and were at the crash mat. It was only when I was happy I was going to carve close but a safe distance away from them that I looked ahead and discovered a mate of mine walking a beer to a previous landing, right in my path. I braked to lift and he ducked, we just missed each other, but only just. It could have been very nasty... knee to the head at 20mph would not haver been a good ending for either of us. Please excuse the colours, I was trying to pick him out so it could be seen better. We got lucky, stay alert please peeps, assess the whole landing area for hazards. Rich M

My GF is planning to do AFF and would like to get some some income protection insurance in case she is injured in a skydiving incident and cant work. Does anyone know or could recommend a product? TIA Rich Rich M