Hole in Airlock Material

[west33freefall 0]

I have a jedei 170 which is airlocked. I have recently developed a hole on the airlock material in the center cell. Its in the bottom left corner where the stitching meets the bottom skin of the the center cell. The rib, bottom skin, and top skin stitching are all great with no rips or anything. I had two riggers pull the material back and re stitch the material to close the hole but it has pulled away from the stitch both times. I have talked to a few people and even the designer and they have said its not a critical part of the canopy and as long as it is not getting really bad or really loose it will be fine. I was wondering what I could do to fix this problem this winter. I need a reline in the winter anyways and the canopy is great besides that. Any Ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.

[JohnRich 4]

Can't the riggers put a patch over the hole?

[likestojump 3]

if you are willing to pay for it, you can always replace the whole airlock piece in that cell. May be a bit expensive though :)

[darkwing 5]

It sounds to me like that place is under some stress due to a misalignment or mis-cut. Perhaps put a small extension patch there.

-- Jeff
My Skydiving History

[angryelf 0]

Call Brian Germain. His number is on the old BigAir Sportz.com website. He will fix the canopy up for you, do your reline for a great price. he does great work for a fair price and since he designed the canopy he can straighten the issue out. He just built a custom HMA lineset for my Jedei 150 and I am extremely happy with the results. Brian will take his time with it as he is way busy, but the results are great!

-Harry

"Sometimes you eat the bar,
and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

[AndyMan 7]

I'm a rigger and I jump two different airlocked canopies - a Samurai and an older Jedei.

If I were to have an upached hole anywhere on the system, the airlock is the perfect place for it to be. It's the least critical place for a small hole, anywhere. I don't see a significant amount of depresurization happening through a small hole in an airlock.

If you're willing to wait until winter, then great. Keep an eye on the problem and keep jumping it unless the problem grows.

I'd be curious to see what happens if you did absolutely nothing. The airlock takes most of its wear during opening, and not during flight. I think the worst case scenario is simply what you've already got - a torn airlock. A torn airlock is kind of like no airlock. Most people jump with no airlock.

This is assuming the tear is in the airlock itself and not the bottom skin. If this is true, the tear isn't going to spread onto the top or bottom skin. Also, since the tear is in the center-cell, there's no issues relating to symmetry during opening. If the tear is in top or bottom skin, get it fixed right away.

If you had a brand new Samurai that you loved like your first child, then get it fixed. It sounds like you've got some manageable wear on an older canopy, so maybe you can live with it.

Also, I agree with the previous poster who suggested adding an extention flap to the airlock. It does sound like something is mis-cut and pulled too tightly during opening.

Trust the advice you get from Brian. If he says it's safe to wait until the winter, wait until the winter. He'll be happy to have a winter project.

_Am (and yes, this is the first time I've ever suggested NOT fixing a problem. I'm glad you're having it looked at by a few different people. Consider all advice)

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.