Cutaway with reserve boost

[Deimian 43]

Since there are not many reserve boost out there I thought that maybe somebody would be interested in seeing how it worked in my case, in a real and not-staged cutaway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY2sndGBv_c

First cutaway by the way.

I'd also appreciate if any of the video analyzing ninjas have any insight on what happened and how to prevent it. I'm having twists pretty often with this canopy (in like 30% of the jumps, which seems unacceptable to me, even though normally it keeps flying straight), and I can't pinpoint the reason.

[jpell 1]

I jump a lotus as well. I often get line twists too, I cannot figure out if its my body position, packing, or the canopy.

Do you have a problem with the slider not coming all the way down? On my lotus the slider stops down the lines just out of reach every jump, I have to fool around a bit to get it down and collapse it.

The canopy flies/lands great but the openings are interesting.


Nice spot by the way

[EnricoPalazzo 1]

Nice spin there :)
The twist was pretty low down the lines.
If you are give this chance, instead of gripping below the twist and try to kick it out with legs only, grip above the twist and gain a LOT of leverage in turning out of the twists.
I don't know how high you were or how hard you were spinning of course, but this might have helped.

[Deimian 43]

jpell

Do you have a problem with the slider not coming all the way down? On my lotus the slider stops down the lines just out of reach every jump, I have to fool around a bit to get it down and collapse it.

Not really. It happened once, but pulling on the rears it came down.

[Deimian 43]

EnricoPalazzo

Nice spin there :)
The twist was pretty low down the lines.
If you are give this chance, instead of gripping below the twist and try to kick it out with legs only, grip above the twist and gain a LOT of leverage in turning out of the twists.
I don't know how high you were or how hard you were spinning of course, but this might have helped.

The canopy was diving and accelerating, and I was on my back over a forest. She wasn't showing me any love, and I am not the kind of guy that offers the other cheek .

Once the canopy is diving it is pointless to try, in my opinion. Many have hit the ground hard with that mindset. If it was flying straight that'd be a different story, of course.

[piisfish 140]

Nice offset in your risers.
For me it could be :
-body position
-asymetrical release of your riser covers. Can be caused by several things (PC not powerful enough, stowing bands too loose...)
-main pin protection flap too rigid (there was a SB for that)

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[Deimian 43]

piisfish

Nice offset in your risers.
For me it could be :
-body position
-asymetrical release of your riser covers. Can be caused by several things (PC not powerful enough, stowing bands too loose...)
-main pin protection flap too rigid (there was a SB for that)

That's interesting.

I doubt it is my body position because this is not the first time I'm in twists with this canopy, it happens pretty frequent, and I make sure to have very neutral position on opening since it put me in twists twice on the same day. More elliptical canopies (crossfires and nitros) with the same WL didn't cause me any problem in the past.

My PC has 350 jumps and it sure doesn't look like new. But has been working fine so far. I have an mPOD, so no stowing bands at all.

Regarding the SB, do you mean this one: http://skydivewings.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Wings_Service_Bulletin_08325.pdf I don't think my container is affected. It is a W11 manufactured in late 2012.

For me it looks like the canopy has asymmetrical inflation for some reason. The offset I see in my risers is right after I start spinning, not before, so I guess the riser asymmetry is the result of a different problem. I tend to close the riser covers with the risers being tight, without any slack. Could that be a contributing factor?

[piisfish 140]

maybe your mPOD doesn't give enough resistance to provide an "in-sequence" deployment.
Remember that both riser covers should open symetrically prior to line unstowing/line stretch ?
350 jumps can be a cause of deployment troubles for your PC. Tired fabric, shortened kill line etc etc. Try a new PC and new kill-line and compare.

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[Deimian 43]

piisfish

maybe your mPOD doesn't give enough resistance to provide an "in-sequence" deployment.
Remember that both riser covers should open symetrically prior to line unstowing/line stretch ?
350 jumps can be a cause of deployment troubles for your PC. Tired fabric, shortened kill line etc etc. Try a new PC and new kill-line and compare.

The kill like is not an issue, there is plenty of slack in it and I always pull the line itself, after pulling the pud. Now, a worn out PC.......... that might be. There is something to take a look at. I can also quickly switch back to my normal POD, and check if that makes any difference.

Thank you for the ideas! I am sending the canopy to the manufacturer, complete with risers, POD and PC. Hopefully they can pinpoint the issue.

[piisfish 140]

don't forget to send your riser covers

Oh by the way can you post a picture of how you close your riser covers ?

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[Deimian 43]

piisfish

don't forget to send your riser covers

Oh by the way can you post a picture of how you close your riser covers ?

Maybe, I have to see how much time I have later today. But I don't put the risers below the reserve riser covers/flaps, if that's what you are thinking

[piisfish 140]

Deimian

***don't forget to send your riser covers

Oh by the way can you post a picture of how you close your riser covers ?

Maybe, I have to see how much time I have later today. But I don't put the risers below the reserve riser covers/flaps, if that's what you are thinking I saw a light girl complaining about how hard her toggle were to reach. She had landed with both riser covers closed

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[pchapman 279]

I'll throw in my guess.
Who knows, there might be an issue similar to those suggested, with things like uneven riser cover release combined with low tension from a non-elastic line stowage method.

But to me it is that opening just looks funky. The sides of the canopy aren't opening evenly. The slider stays part way up, the corners of the canopy are still pulled inwards, and are staying collapsed and not popping out immediately due to crossport pressure or air entering the inlets.

If that unevenness lasted only a fraction of a second, maybe it would be a canopy that "usually gives you a 90" but nothing more. But here, the slowness of the sequence might be what sends the canopy off heading suddenly enough to snap you into line twists.

Admittedly, whatever the canopy is doing at the very start of the opening sequence is not seen, and that's likely the crucial part.

It can be tricky to interpret what happens without a lot of staring at video, but it looks like the canopy whips left and then quickly returns a bit right, and that's what snaps the jumper into line twists -- thrown left, lower g load, can't catch up to sudden right turn, lines cross and so he keeps rotating and spins up.

I'm just thinking that the way that canopy opens, if it is anything like typical, is likely a big part of the issue.

[Deimian 43]

pchapman

I'll throw in my guess.
Who knows, there might be an issue similar to those suggested, with things like uneven riser cover release combined with low tension from a non-elastic line stowage method.

But to me it is that opening just looks funky. The sides of the canopy aren't opening evenly. The slider stays part way up, the corners of the canopy are still pulled inwards, and are staying collapsed and not popping out immediately due to crossport pressure or air entering the inlets.

If that unevenness lasted only a fraction of a second, maybe it would be a canopy that "usually gives you a 90" but nothing more. But here, the slowness of the sequence might be what sends the canopy off heading suddenly enough to snap you into line twists.

Admittedly, whatever the canopy is doing at the very start of the opening sequence is not seen, and that's likely the crucial part.

It can be tricky to interpret what happens without a lot of staring at video, but it looks like the canopy whips left and then quickly returns a bit right, and that's what snaps the jumper into line twists -- thrown left, lower g load, can't catch up to sudden right turn, lines cross and so he keeps rotating and spins up.

I'm just thinking that the way that canopy opens, if it is anything like typical, is likely a big part of the issue.

That's what I was thinking. The canopy is airlocked, so I'm wondering if the airlocks can cause somehow that the nose in one side of the canopy inflates slower than the other, for whatever reason. I'm also wondering if larger crossports can help to compensate that and push air quicker in the slowly inflating cells. Or maybe clearing the airlocks during packing can help. I don't know.

[hackish 8]

Small thing to add here. Make sure the main PC is the appropriate size and in good shape with a properly adjusted kill line.

I have seen cases where an inadequate snatch led to tons of nasty openings. I replaced the PC for the jumper and he swore that I'd relined his canopy or something.

-Micael

[jpell 1]

Deimian

Not really. It happened once, but pulling on the rears it came down.

What DOM is your lotus? Rear risers do nothing to bring the slider down unless I stall the canopy.

I know the lotus has changed a bit over the years.

[Deimian 43]

I don't remember exactly, 2003-2004. Around that. But it has the new line set with HMA 400.

[EnricoPalazzo 1]

I did not mean to fight it until you hit the dirt, hence
"I don't know how high you were or how hard you were spinning".
Of course, always watch your alti regularly when fighting a malfunction, and stick to your harddeck, but the technique I described saves time in untwisting the canopy. Much more effective than simply trying to kick it out, if you can reach above the twist.
If you chop, it's your decision alone and no-one but you has the right to second-guess it.
But if you decide to give it a try, use the best tools available.