Testing Slider Down

[zennie]

I had my suspicions that going out of an airplane in a slider-down configuration wouldn't be such a hot idea. A little research confirmed my suspicions.

So that sort of brings up my question. How have folks done (non-BASE) practice jumps with their canopy in a slider down configuration? When I get my new Rock Dragon I'd like to take it for test flights both slider up & slider down.... put it through its paces and get a feel for how it flies. I'd also like to re-check my Ace's brake settings.

One option which came to mind was exiting from a helicopter or balloon.

Any other ideas?

[Rod]

Jeez Ted,

Just do a go & throw from the top of one of those monster towers yall have down there....plenty canopy time to play around. That's practically (airplane) hop & pop territory anyway.

cya

[Tom Aiello]

If you use BASE risers, you can route the control lines outside the slider. You will likely have to pump the risers to get the slider to deploy fully (since pressure from the control lines is what normally pulls it down). Out of an airplane, you ought to have plenty of time to do this. You might also want to consider a tailgate or other line-over inhibition strategy.

If you blow a toggle on opening, you can end up entangling the slider with it, and needing to cut away the mess and pull that funny handle they put on skydiving rigs.

Alternately (also with BASE risers), you can route the control lines throught the slider but outside the keeper rings, so they push the slider down. After opening, you can push the toggle through the grommet to get a "slider down" flight feel. If you blow a toggle here, you're virtually guaranteed to wrap the slider and need to cut away.

I've done both of these, but less than 10 times each. Consider yourself a test jumper and all that.

Also, consider triple risers. I've never used them, but I understand they approximate slider down toggle positioning fairly well.

[Faber]

as Tom said,and rember you do have a reserve;o)