Interesting malfunction this weekend

[faulknerwn 38]

One of the guys here had an interesting malfunction here last weekend. He has a hybrid Triathalon but took it on a freefall jump this load. He experienced a pilot chute in tow, and on the ground, the pictures show what we discovered. Somehow, when the pin rotated up after he threw the pc, it pierced the bridle and locked it close.. The pictures are a tad blurry, but you can see the pin extending out the other side. What's also interesting is that the closing loop was quite tight - the grommits were lined up before the jump. The loop stretched considerably..

Just an interesting fyi - we think running the bridle down the left side instead of the right side of the pin was a contributing factor here..

W

[Miami 0]

Wow...what are the odds of that?

Was the pin originally facing away from the bridle?

Miami

[ZigZagMarquis 9]

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Wow...what are the odds of that?

Well... in this case... they were about 100%!



Anyway, faulknerwn, thanks for sharing, that's a good one!

[riggermick 7]

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One of the guys here had an interesting malfunction here last weekend. He has a hybrid Triathalon but took it on a freefall jump this load. He experienced a pilot chute in tow, and on the ground, the pictures show what we discovered. Somehow, when the pin rotated up after he threw the pc, it pierced the bridle and locked it close.. The pictures are a tad blurry, but you can see the pin extending out the other side. What's also interesting is that the closing loop was quite tight - the grommits were lined up before the jump. The loop stretched considerably..

Just an interesting fyi - we think running the bridle down the left side instead of the right side of the pin was a contributing factor here..

W

Saw the same thing many years (about 15 or so) ago with a T4 (1") bridle, the pin pearced the bridle and caused a lock. statiscly that's what? Pretty rare either way.


Mick.

[teason 0]

Is..is that big foot in the pic?!?

Its kinda hard to make out but is that a Dacron line bridle? If so, I can see how easy it would be for the pin to get through the weave.

I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

[faulknerwn 38]

Its the Triathalon CRW bridle. The part attached to the canopy is dacron, the rest is Spectra.
W

[waltappel 1]

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Is..is that big foot in the pic?!?

Its kinda hard to make out but is that a Dacron line bridle? If so, I can see how easy it would be for the pin to get through the weave.

The bridle on that pilot chute retraction system consists of a short length (a foot, maybe) of red 900 lb Dacron line attached to the bridle attachment ring and a much longer length (about 8 or 9 ft.) of either Spectra or 400 lb Dacron line larksheaded to it that runs through other rings on top of the canopy.

When the canopy is packed in a bag and the bridle pulled tight, the red 900 lb Dacron portion extends through the deployment bag grommet and goes to the base of the curved pin.

The curved pin slides freely along the longer length of the bridle. The red 900 lb Dacron acts as a pin stop.

I don't recall whether the longer portion of the bridle is Dacron or Spectra on that rig but the factory was shipping Spectra when I got my Triathlon hybrid years ago. I think it was on my 5th jump that I got a tension knot in it and had to cutaway. After that I switched to a collapsible pilot chute and bridle. More recently I went back to using the pilot chute retraction system and switched from Spectra to Dacron and haven't had any problems.

I use a pullout, so my rig has a straight pin. The one that malfunctioned has a curved pin.

Walt

[jheadley 0]

Wendy, the EXACT SAME THING happened on a hybrid triathlon about a year ago at my dropzone... Weird, we thought it was just a freak accident. The local rigger blamed the packer and the jumper for not checking his gear. You say you think this happened as the pilot chute was being thrown?

[dorbie 0]

This has happened before, see this thread:

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1662858

[faulknerwn 38]

I think just like the other thread - the bridle went down the left side of the pin instead of the right. We think when the pc was thrown that it caused the pin to gp through.
W

[dbattman 0]

This one happened a few years back at my DZ. This one didn't pierce the bridal, but it locked through the window on the bridal where you check for the color. Unsure if this one happened during packing or sometime afterwards.

[Chilly_Dk 0]

When I was working as a packer, I saw rigs once in a while where bridles where routed over/around the pin when stowing it.
I asked a few of the jumpers whether they were aware of this, and they all put it down as important, since the pin was curved and not able to snag.

Personally I always place the pin pointing to one side, and route the bridle to the other side without crossing or being on top of the pin.


Another type of PC-in-tow I witnessed a couple of years ago:
The loop on the rig was not tightened up very well, and ended up being on the wrong(!) side of the eye of the pin.
Since a pin check was done on the ground and in the plane, it is believed that the bridle snagged on the pin, causing the pin to lift up like a lever (because of the loose loop) and letting the loop slide over the eye. Another reminder for tight loops.

(See attached drawing for better idea)

It's all right to have butterflies in your stomach. Just get them to fly in formation.

[jojo0815 0]

I have examined this problem before but I think it all comes down to opinions at this point. personally I think pointing the pin down would favor this mal because the bridle could snag it on its way out and put some considerable pressure on the tip of the pin. pointing the pin up would let the bridle deflect off the pin and clear. another reason why I think a pin that is pointed down is a bad idea is that when you are sitting in the plane leaning against the wall or sitting on the floor, it could push your pin out and would favor a premature deployment. pointing it up would force it to be punched into the closing loop. also remember that the parachute manual says to place the pin half way into the loop. again when freeflying I would rather risk a PC in tow than a premature.
as for bridal routing, placing the bridal on top of the pin would mean the bridal would have to move out to the side first before it could snag anything.
as for straight pins... I have seen a straight pin punch through a bridal on an Infinity. this happened after or during deployment though so all that happened was that the PC didn't collapse.