shorepiper82 0 #1 June 1, 2011 I had a cutaway recently and after the first day of searching turned up no results. I'm trying to refine the search area (I know the wind line and direction of travel but distance is key... the DZ is in the poconos in heavily wooded terrain). Assuming the following, how far would you estimate the canopy drift? Canopy: Sabre 2 - 210 Malfunction: Line over (center cell, unclearable). Cutaway altitude: 2650 ft. Winds: Approximately 15mph. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airtwardo 7 #2 June 1, 2011 All you can do is follow the wind-line from where you chopped it to where you find it...very difficult to judge where it landed with simple math because you don't have the variable of how long it was in that 15mph wind. Did it ball up and fall like a rock or did it stay partially inflated and blow around like a feather? ~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chuckakers 425 #3 June 1, 2011 Even if you can calculate where - give or take - the canopy might be, finding it in a heavily wooded area will still be a bitch. I suggest an air search with a small light plane like a cub. They are cheap by the hour and can fly really slow, maneuvering tightly to make passes at various angles efficiently over the area. One more reason to jump a brightly colored canopy I guess.Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shorepiper82 0 #4 June 1, 2011 very true... it stayed partially inflated for some time. the packer knows a guy who flies an ultra light class powered parachute so that's been up and scanning the area... but hasn't found it from the air. I'm thinking this balled up when I couldn't watch it anymore. there's some houses and a ton of dirt bike tracks in the woods so I'm hoping a neighborhood kid happens on it... I put up a few flyers indicating a reward... that might be my best hope now! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnRich 4 #5 June 1, 2011 QuoteAssuming the following, how far would you estimate the canopy drift? Canopy: Sabre 2 - 210 Malfunction: Line over (center cell, unclearable). Cutaway altitude: 2650 ft. Winds: Approximately 15mph. A slow-falling canopy will flutter down at around 10 fps. A fast-falling wad about four times that, or 60 fps. A 15 mph wind: 5,280' per mile X 15 miles per hour / 60 mins per hour / 60 secs per min = 22 fps drift. Slow fall: 2650' altitude / 10 fps fall rate = 265 seconds of air time. 265 secs. air time X 22 fps wind drift = 5830 feet of drift. Fast fall: 2650' altitude / 60 fps fall rate = 44 secs air time. 44 secs air time at 22 fps wind drift = 968 feet of drift. So, starting at the point over which you cutaway, follow the wind line, and you should find the canopy somewhere between one-quarter mile out and one and a quarter miles out. Most likely it will be somewhere in the middle third of that range. Put on your hiking boots, take a sandwich and a canteen, and a compass. Determine the compass bearing of the wind line, and follow that. Don't forget to look up at the treetops as well as around on the ground. , and Enjoy the woods. Take some orange surveyors tape to mark a trail if you find it up in a tree, so that you can follow your way back to it to cut it down. Good luck! Someone check my math... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
likestojump 3 #6 June 1, 2011 let's also not forget that a canopy cutaway via skyhook will likely have the freebag/reserve pc attached, and if the said canopy is small enough, the weight of those things has the potential to inflate one side, and the canopy will drift A LOT further Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thrillstalker 0 #7 June 1, 2011 i saw a xhopped canopy get stuck in a thermal updraft. it was airborne for well over 15 minutes. "Never grow a wishbone, where your backbone ought to be." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
crotalus01 0 #8 June 1, 2011 Good luck. I have 3 cutaways, 2 went slightly over a mile and one landed the next field over. All of them were directly on the windline though (freebag as well). As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnMitchell 16 #9 June 1, 2011 I've found a couple of canopies in the woods. My advice is to get a GPS to track your search. Bread crumb as you go to track your grid search. Otherwise it's too easy to follow the easy trails and not do a complete search. Good luck. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Niki1 1 #10 June 1, 2011 QuoteI had a cutaway recently and after the first day of searching turned up no results. I'm trying to refine the search area (I know the wind line and direction of travel but distance is key... the DZ is in the poconos in heavily wooded terrain). Assuming the following, how far would you estimate the canopy drift? Canopy: Sabre 2 - 210 Malfunction: Line over (center cell, unclearable). Cutaway altitude: 2650 ft. Winds: Approximately 15mph. In the mid '80s, I was doing a test jump on a Vector Tandem over DeLand. I had always been pretty good at putting the cutaway canopy in the middle of the airport so I thought I had it figured out. I cutaway beyond the end of runway 23 (over the approach of 5) at 4.000 ft. Afer I opened the reserve, I looded up for the cutaway canopy and saw it was still mostly inflated. Damn! That thing went all the way across the airport and another mile and a half and came down in a very nasty area of the tall and uncut. Getting it back is another story involving "interesting" personalities. About the same time, there was a guy auound there who was trying to develope a devise to help find canopies like that. He had made a matchbos size thing that would evit a loud "BEEP" every 15 or 20 seconds. The battery technology back then would only allow about 6 hours of beeping but the idea seemed good. You wouild put it on your risers by the confluence wrap and a pin attached to the shoulder pad. When you cutaway the pin was pulled to activate the thing. Today maybe some one could make one that sent a radio signal and you might have "an app" on your cell phone to locate it. Or maybe there is already some thing like this out there. If so, "Never mind."Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shorepiper82 0 #11 June 1, 2011 I just got a call from someone that found the canopy... got lucky! now I just need to have them show me where they found it and aim back towards the DZ to find the freebag. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DocPop 1 #12 June 1, 2011 QuoteI just got a call from someone that found the canopy... got lucky! now I just need to have them show me where they found it and aim back towards the DZ to find the freebag. Congrats! That must be a relief."The ground does not care who you are. It will always be tougher than the human behind the controls." ~ CanuckInUSA Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
