Have you ever seen this??

[554]

So I’m sitting on top of the bridge helping the new guy get his first jump….. He launches off in excellent form. He is hand held and does about a ½ second delay. The PC goes to full bridle extension and then inflates normally above him. Here’s the strange part. The shrivel flap peels half way off and stops for what seemed like a long time. I would say at least another ½ second. It never shriveled, it just stopped coming off. It was packed the night before. He was jumping a new(less than 10 jumps) 48” CR PC. The velcro was in average condition. Nothing out of the ordinary.
I let it go as one of those things, and after the cop was done issuing all of those criminal citations, we head to a different site so he can get another jump.
Same jumper and set up as above, but with a different rig. Fresh pack job one hour before. 52” Hankachuto? PC in good condition. The exact same thing happens. ½ of the shrivel flap peeled and then hesitated. It was a long (OH #####) hesitation.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
Thanks

[imported_Tom Aiello]

What kind of rig?

>He was jumping a new(less than 10 jumps) 48” CR PC.

Are you sure about this? The biggest stock CR PC is a 46", so a 48" would have to have been special order.

>52” Hankachuto? PC in good condition.

How old was this PC? I haven't ever seen a Hank Ascuitto PC personally, but the only people I know who have used them have other gear dating back to the mid 80's.




>½ of the shrivel flap peeled and then hesitated.

I would wonder about the shrivel flap and the rig itself. What was the rig? When was it made? My best guess would be something in the shrivel flap, or some tension change when the rig was put on. Can you give us any more information about the rig?


--Tom Aiello
tbaiello@ucdavis.edu

[554]

OK, 46" CR PC. Either way, it was a new ZP.

I don't know when the other PC was made. It is in good condition. It didn't spin. It seemed to grab air just as well as any other PC. It was probably made in the 80's.

The rigs were both home made velcro water rigs made in the 80's. There was nothing different about them. The shrivel flaps were functional and they had 1" velcro on the container.

How do you have a tension change when the rig is put on? It's a velco rig.

[space]

some Things that can cause this are, a roomy container without stiffeners in the side flaps. also head down deployments can aggravate the prob.anybody else got anything to add.
space

[Dwain]

> a roomy container without stiffeners in the
> side flaps.

I've seen this result in some pretty excessive forces due to crinkling of the side flaps and the resultant sheer force on the velcro - especially in a head down situation.
(As a side note 1.5 inch velco on the side flaps should always have stiffener plates regardless of the canopy fit in the container.)

In regards to this problem the first thing to do is to test the pull force required to remove the shrivel flap.

A fishing scale (or similar device) will measure the maximum pull force needed to extract the shrivel flap (in the absence of a measuring device just mentally compare the extraction force to that felt during an average PCA).

To best simulate the situation have the jumper gear up and lay face down in their freefall position. Attach the scale to the bridle and pull the shrivel flap off in the same direction the p/c was pulling when the problems occurred.

The maximum pull force shouldn't dramatically exceed the weight of the canopy in the container (which will be somewhere between 5.9 and 11 lbs depending on the size and type).

Hope this helps.

[guest]

I have an opinion on this matter.

*Two different rigs.
*Same jumper.
*Same rare, scary "mal".
*This has never happened with these particular rigs right?

It's a juju thing. Have the jumper in question donate to Toys for Tots, donate blood, go to church, and help an old lady cross the street. Then try another jump. Let me know how it works out.

Fall fast, pull low ---Dex:7