Swift reserve manual

[rapaz 0]

Im looking for a manual to pack a Swift reserve Para Flite
I already found service bulletins on parachute manuals and Australia Parachute Federation web but no manuals.

Thanks

[pchapman 279]

There is a manual on the other site that has rigging manuals, uk-slydiver.co.uk:

http://www.uk-skydiver.co.uk/cms/files/file/1458-swift-cirrus-orion-manualpdf/

That shows an archaic flat pack folding method that one can ignore, but does show the rather unusual Swift brake line system, which is important.

(I once saw one with the brakes assembled wrong and missed by 5 subsequent riggers. Good thing the jumper hung onto his toggles after deployment -- they were fly-away like with slider-off BASE.)

[gowlerk 2,216]

Yes, do be careful and be sure you understand the brake setting system on the 5 cell Swift. Although the toggles are certainly not supposed to be "fly away", the line with the brake setting loop is. As far as I know there is no other system like it. It is designed to make the canopy very difficult if not impossible to stall with the toggles. This was a serious concern when ram air reserves were being first introduced.

Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

[hajnalka 0]

In addition to the strange brake setting:

Please test the fabric on this Swift reserve.

I packed some Swifts in my early rigging days, hoping they'd go away. I had some Swift and Cirrus reserves come through my loft in the late 90's to mid-2000s.
We sent them back to ParaFlite, and they did not pass their own porosity or strength tests. So they were grounded. Based on this, I won't pack them.

I'm glad that you've gotten links to the manuals.
But, please test the fabric before you repack this 30+ year old reserve, because the fabric might not be airworthy anymore.

Someone's life could depend on it.

[rapaz 0]

Thanks a lot, yes I already did the pul test on 3 cells top skin and pass great, also I check those SB about bartacks and is OK and the canopy is in very nice shape, probably never used.
tanks for the info and the link of the manual, very nice.

Nico

[sundevil777 102]

rapaz

Thanks a lot, yes I already did the pul test on 3 cells top skin and pass great, also I check those SB about bartacks and is OK and the canopy is in very nice shape, probably never used.
tanks for the info and the link of the manual, very nice.

Nico

The bartack SB was for the swift plus 7 cell I believe, not the 5 cell.

My memory is that the 5 cell swift had an unusual SB regarding the airfoil shape due to badly cut ribs.

People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

[masterrigger1 2]

Quote

My memory is that the 5 cell swift had an unusual SB regarding the airfoil shape due to badly cut ribs.

Pretty good memory there BTW...

But the ribs were from a wrong/different canopy were actually sewn in by mistake. Dave DeWolf actually found this. He saw a guy properly flaring his canopy and just pound in anyway. He told the guy that something was wrong with his canopy. He sent it in and Para-Flite found the problem.

Several canopies were never sent back in and are still out there somewhere.
The affected canopy S/N's are listed in Poynter's Vol I.


MEL

Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC
www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com

[accumack 14]

The problem was actually during making of new patterns the person making them changed the way the curves were generated.In those days(before computer generated patterns) they were drawn by hand. The fix was to trim the ribs to a more correct shape and a new front top panel. I don't remember what the stamp said on the reworked canopies but it was noted on the canopy.

Quote

masterrigger1

Quote

My memory is that the 5 cell swift had an unusual SB regarding the airfoil shape due to badly cut ribs.

Pretty good memory there BTW...

But the ribs were from a wrong/different canopy were actually sewn in by mistake. Dave DeWolf actually found this. He saw a guy properly flaring his canopy and just pound in anyway. He told the guy that something was wrong with his canopy. He sent it in and Para-Flite found the problem.

Several canopies were never sent back in and are still out there somewhere.
The affected canopy S/N's are listed in Poynter's Vol I.


MEL

• Quote

[councilman24 37]

masterrigger1

Several canopies were never sent back in and are still out there somewhere.
The affected canopy S/N's are listed in Poynter's Vol I.


MEL

Almost, Vol II page163, R3-2750 -R3-3471. Stamped "Modified on accordance with Para-Flite Drawing No. 886028".

I had one that had to get fixed. Hmmm, may still have it somewhere. Others in the area also. Think O have one of those too.

But I stopped packing thhe last one 10 plus years ago.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[riggerrob 643]

Which model of Swift reserve?

Is yours an early 5-cell Swift, with flat-braided Dacron suspension lines (serial number beginning with R3-......) made during the early 1980s?
The rib Service Bulletin only applies to 5-cell Swifts.

Or is it a 7-cell Swift Plus, with Spectra suspension lines made during the late 1989s?
There is a separate Service Bulletin about Swift Plus suspension lines. Apparently a few were sewn incorrectly. I have packed a hundred Swift Plus reserves, but never found any loose bartacks.