Revisiting Pilot Chute Issues

[guest]

I was hiking to an exit point this week, and we started discussing gear. It was a long hike, so we had lots of time.

The jumper I was with mentioned that he often preferred F111 pilot chutes. Since I had disgarded F111 PC's early in my jumping career, I was very interested.

I know that at least one major manufacturer makes F111 PC's for BASE. I also know that at least one major manufacturer does not make them. Obviously, there is some contention here.

Here are the arguments I came up with for and against F111 (and so, by definition against and for ZP).

For F111:

1) PC tends to reach bridle extension prior to inflation, hence promoting a "straight up" pull for deployment, possibly minimizing off headings.

2) PC exerts less snatch force, which may better stage deployments at or near terminal.

3) PC compresses more, hence stowing tighter for high speed maneuvers.

For ZP:

1) PC escapes the burble more easily since it begins inflation almost immediately.

2) PC "wants" to unfold itself more, making PC hesitation less likely.

3) Greater snatch force is an asset at low airspeeds.

In summary, I am thinking of switching back to F111 PC's for terminal jumps (although not for wingsuit jumps, where I am afraid of the F111 PC falling back into the burble).

However, I know there have to be more arguments about this on both sides. Can anyone help me out with reasoning for and against F111 PC's (especially at high airspeeds)?

Thanks,

--Tom Aiello

[Yuri]

Yo !

I have been thinking about ZP vs. F111 PC for a while. I believe everybody agrees on ZP for slider-down/short delays, so we are discussing slider-up, stowed jumps. In a nutshell, my opinion on pros and cons of both is as following.

Pro-zp: faster, more reliable container opening and canopy extraction.

Pro-f111: slightly better on-heading perfomance (?).

These differences are rather marginal IMHO. I put higher priority on container opening during low pulls, but don't particularily care about on-heading perfomance. For these reasons, ZP suits my jumping style better. If you pack using clamps and pull higher, F111 may be a better choice ;-)

bsbd!

Yuri.

[guest]

Hi Yuri,

You wrote "I believe everybody agrees on ZP for slider-down/short delays".

CR and Vertigo both recommend this but as far as I'm aware (Corrections please if I'm wrong) BR recommends just the opposite, ie F111 hand held, ZP stowed and this is pretty much how I select my PC's (BR ones anyway). I've used 48" F111 from 220ft with no noticable difference from people using ZP but going stowed with a 42" or 38" I use ZP.

I'm obviously not the worlds authority but what I've started to believe recently is that PC size on very short delays does not make much of a difference. Jumping a 310ft cliff on Sunday I decided to use a 48" whereas my jumping buddy used a 42" and there wasn't a great deal in it.

It'd be nice to hear views from the manufacturers as this is one of the arguments our little group allways seem to disagree on.

Cheers

Craig