Packing to prevent hard opening

[pilatus_p 0]

LOL

http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/troll.htm

[pilatus_p 0]

Ok this is what I was looking for. Great articles on causes of and prevention of hard openings.

Repeats a lot of the advice on this thread.

http://www.skydivewestpoint.com/WhackArticle.htm

and

http://www.skydivewestpoint.com/HardOpenings.pdf

Ross

http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/troll.htm

[steve1 5]

It seems that some canopies are designed to open slower than others. The old Sabres, Monarch's, and others seem to have a rap of sometimes slamming people. Maybe not all these canopies did, but some. A friend of mine with thousands of packjobs under his belt, could barely walk last summer, after his Sabre spanked him again.

We had a student last summer who was getting severely banged up, almost every jump. He even lost control of his body functions on one slammer openning, and ended up with the nick name "DB Pooper". We figured he wasn't packing right, so one of the most senior members of our club did a perfect pack job, and he was almost nocked senseless also. So, we mailed that rig off to a Master rigger to find out what's wrong.

My "hornet" was really slaming me when I first got it. It came from the factory with an over sized slider. It shouldn't have been opening like that. The error was probably mine, trying to fit it into too small of a bag, and things were slipping all over, with the new material.

I started Psycho packing it, and this seemed to tame down the openings on it. Psycho packing helps me get the air out, and into my undersized bag more easily. The slider is kept tight against the grommets using that method, and I love it. It's quick and easy, and everything fits. Other packing methods probably work just as well, if that's what your are used to.

Rolling the nose should help also. If you try all these tricks and it doesn't help, send it off to a good rigger. Try a bigger slider, a pocketed slider, different pilot chute. (So, that's about all I know on this subject.)

My neck is still messed up today, from hard openings, I had three years ago. But then again there were all those slammer openings 35 years ago on para-commanders.....Steve1

[recovercrachead 0]

This is what I tell my packers with my saber1.
1/4 that slider
keep slider tight
role everything
Role it alot , I want to be scared.

Track high, Pull LOW!!!

[sparkie 0]

Quote

I started Psycho packing it,

What is psycho packing? Does that involve the help of jack nicholson?

[phoenixlpr 0]

Nope, just an axe to slash the troll.

[steve1 5]

Quote

Quote

I started Psycho packing it,

What is psycho packing? Does that involve the help of jack nicholson?

You know I think that name causes people to think you have to be crazy to pack that way. It does look a little crazy when you roll or fold things up to go in the bag upside down. I have really nice, on heading openings with it.

There was a web site that showed you step by step how to Psycho pack on the internet. In fact, that's where I learned.

I've heard that for at least one new canopy being manufactured they recommend Psycho-packing. If you really look at it, it isn't that much different than a pro-pack. I feel psycho packing makes it easier to get the air out and get it neatly into a small bag. If you can pack neatly another way, that's good also.....Steve1

[jheadley 0]

Quote

Quote

Quote

I started Psycho packing it,

What is psycho packing? Does that involve the help of jack nicholson?

You know I think that name causes people to think you have to be crazy to pack that way. It does look a little crazy when you roll or fold things up to go in the bag upside down. I have really nice, on heading openings with it.

There was a web site that showed you step by step how to Psycho pack on the internet. In fact, that's where I learned.

I've heard that for at least one new canopy being manufactured they recommend Psycho-packing. If you really look at it, it isn't that much different than a pro-pack. I feel psycho packing makes it easier to get the air out and get it neatly into a small bag. If you can pack neatly another way, that's good also.....Steve1

Prescision Aerodynamics recommends it and even calls it the "precision pack".

Here's the link for the video http://www.precision.aero/packing/mvc-002v.mpg

Icarus also does recommend it for some of it's canopies, but not all. Also Beezy Shaw of HiPer USA recommends the psycho-pack to a lot of people (although the Nitro manual actually shows a PRO-pack?). Even PD says on it's website that while they recommend a PRO pack, they found that psycho "bagging" works well, and is ok to use.

I've tried it a few times and like it. With the tail open you can really make sure no lines are near the nose, if any are, you can actually just take the lines and pull them back around. I typically don't use it because it actually makes the canopy pack so small that it fits too loosely in my bag and container. Also keeping tension on the lines is more difficult. You can see even in the video, on that last fold, some line tension was lost.

[pilatus_p 0]

Hi Steve

Many thanks for your input on the various packing techniques. When my back has healed and I am back up in the air I wil go about experimenting with them. The psycho pack sounds very appealing - I have been reading a lot about how base jumpers pack their rigs, and being a newbie, anything that allays the fear of another hard opening or malfunction is a good thing by me.

Just a note on your student who lost control of his bowels. Any kind of disturbance in the butt end of things is the first sign of spinal damage. They check that out when you go to hospital with any sort of spine injury. Your student could well have been very close to permanent spinal cord damage, which can result in paralysis.

Glad to hear you sent the rig back, sorry to hear that people got hurt

Still sore

Ross

http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/troll.htm