Have you customized your brake settings

[jasonf 0]

A Vtec Fox or FLiK only require one brake setting. Using a non Vtec slider down brake setting with Vtec results in a surge backwards after opening. I have experienced this with a Fox I had retrofitted and also on an early Vtec Fox which came with 2 brake settings standard. There is footage on the 2003 ABA video of Jesse doing his first jump (a PCA) using a Vtec Fox packed using the old factory non Vtec deep brake setting, the canopy opens and then surges backwards. At Petronas this year I was using both the old slider down and the slider up setting for sub terminal slider up delays, both worked well. I would not use and do not see a need for a shallower brake setting than the single setting currently available on a Fox and FLiK. Basically I have found sub terminal slider up it is possible to use a deeper brake setting than slider down.

A lot has happened since I first suggested removing the 5th upper control line. More jumpers have had issues with the 5th control line and more jumpers have removed it. In relation to DBS the problem is the 5th line condenses your control range. With 4 control lines 4 inches between brake settings works well on a Fox or FLiK. You can then really fine tune your DBS setting by using 2 inch spacing between settings if you wish. The condensed control range of the 5th control line means you have to use 2 inches between settings and if you wanted to fine tune your DBS you would have 1 inch between settings. If your DBS is not quite correct and you have 5 upper control lines it will effectively be twice as bad as with 4 upper control lines.

There is also the issue of lengthening the brake line from the brake setting to the toggle to help prevent stalling on landing. A lot more toggle input is then required to initiate a turn after opening.

I also found that with 5 control lines forward speed on opening would vary greatly with delay time. A PCA would require a much shallower DBS to a 3 second delay slider down to achieve similar forward speed on opening.

The problem I have with the 5 control lines on a Fox or FLiK is that it works great when your jump goes to plan and you are jumping in good conditions. It’s when your jump doesn’t go as planned and you find yourself trying to land down wind or trying to avoid unexpected obstacles that the sporty nature of the canopy causes problems. Jumpers in Oz have found the 5th control line will work great and love it until they do that jump where they have to do the unexpected. There would be about 10 jumpers who have now removed the 5th control line and so far none have felt the need to replace it.


I am not sure how much of this applies to other canopies but it would be interested to find out.
Jason Fitz-Herbert

[CanuckInUSA 0]

I was back at the legal potato-land span this weekend and based on my last jump which was videoed, I'm beginning to think that maybe my brake settings are already dialed in. More jumps are needed at the span before I take it to Moab, but I think I'm on the right track. On my first and last jump of the day yesterday around noon (before getting in the car for the long drive home), I went stowed off of the bridge with slightly more than a 1 second delay. I had good body position and thought I had done a nice neat pack job the night before. But I experienced my first bonified 90 degree off heading opening to the left. You can see the canopy on the video open 90 to the left, barely surge at all, then as I get on my right rear riser, the whole canopy pivots on axis (not moving forward whatsoever) until I complete the riser turn back on heading, pop my brakes and go about my merry way to landing on the beach. So maybe just maybe the folks at BR know what they are doing with this FLiK canopy setup and single brake setting. I'm now in a position to start doing floaters (my stowed exits went well this last weekend). So the next time I'm up at the span, I will be doing some floaters hopefully in low winds and with video and I'll have a better idea as to whether or not I should leave the brake setting as they are or if they need to be tampered with.

Good stuff I tell you ... a few more trips to the potato-land span, a few hop n' pops on the canopy to learn to fly it backwards and then maybe just maybe Moab will be calling my name.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over