When did PD change their collapsible sliders?

[bootlegtrader 0]

The sliders on older canopies have the tabs that barely stick out, the newer ones have the lines that hang out about 10cm. Did they make this change at a certain point on all their canopies? Thank you.

[SEREJumper 1]

They did change the style on all canopies, I want to say around 2007-2008 (rough guess). The reason was that with the older style with the tabs, if the tab was not completely seated into the slider, the tab could get hung up on a cascade and cause a mal. Although highly unlikely, it has happened before. They also widened the draw string channel.

We're not fucking flying airplanes are we, no we're flying a glorified kite with no power and it should be flown like one! - Stratostar

[bootlegtrader 0]

Thank you so much for the informative answer, it was exactly what I was looking for. I would still like to know the date that they changed it, if anyone knows. Thanks a ton!

[davelepka 4]

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The reason was that with the older style with the tabs, if the tab was not completely seated into the slider, the tab could get hung up on a cascade and cause a mal. Although highly unlikely, it has happened before.

Exactly. The old tabs would actually 'lock' into the channel if you pulled them tight enough, and this would keep them secure during the deployment. Most jumpers didn't know or do this, and would just rectract the tabs 'mostly'.

One of my skydiving heros and mentors had this happen to him when the drawstring sliders first came out. He then proceeded to ride the mal down to spot his cutaway main so it would land on the DZ. After cutting away, he opened his custom colored reserve which matched his main, so mobody realized he had a mal at all (in retrospect, I guess it was good that he spotted his main because nobody else was looking).

This is also the same guy who taught me early on that if you're going to throw up under canopy, kick yourself into half a line twist so the vomit gets blown away from you, and not all over your jumpsuit. Fun guy.

[theonlyski 8]

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Exactly. The old tabs would actually 'lock' into the channel if you pulled them tight enough, and this would keep them secure during the deployment. Most jumpers didn't know or do this, and would just rectract the tabs 'mostly'.

I caught a packer packing a tandem with both of those long tabs sticking out, had to stop him and fix it, guess common sense isn't so common.

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