anyone get frequent line twists?

[alexjlongo 0]

Hello fellow skydivers! I just passed my 50 jump mark this weekend, and had several line twists that I can't seem to figure out. I jumped Saturday, and had 2 line twists-1 I had to kick my way out of, and the other cleared itself. Sunday I had 2, the first I kicked out of, and on the second the crossed risers popped me in my Adam's apple and started to spin me, but I kicked out of it in time. I brought the problem to my packer's attention the first time, and they triple-checked the next pack job and all was fine. Went to another packer and it happened almost the same. So it's not a packing issuse. I'm on heading and stable when I open, so the only thing I can think of is that when I track away from the group, that I may not be allowing myself enough time to slow to a belly-fly before opening. How much time should one allow between ending a track away before opening? I think the increased speed may be throwing me into a twist on opening. Any suggestions?
-Alex J.

[skycat 0]

Quote

when I track away from the group, that I may not be allowing myself enough time to slow to a belly-fly before opening

Actually if you are tracking correctly you should actually be going slower than your normal freefall speeds. So that when you come out of a track you start to speed up rather than slow down.

As for line twists many things can cause them. If this is your own rig, you may want to start packing for yourself so you can change things one at a time to figure out if just need more excess line in the bottom of the container or if you need to get your rigger to mod your D-bag so the stows are on the top flap rather than the sides. If this is rental gear the only thing you can control is your own body possition.

See the following article on how to prevent line twists.
http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=86247#86247

Fly it like you stole it!

[Faber 0]

does your canopi flie straigt?
try ask a experienced if he/she could go whith for a jump,were you pull higher than normal,so the person could see if you do somthing wrong.you migth forget to get you left arm above your head.you migth push you shoulder down abit while pulling...

Stay safe
Stefan Faber

[skycat 0]

I was thinking....if this is student gear with a ripcord, you could be having a hard pull causing you to twist your body in an odd way.

Fly it like you stole it!

[Faber 0]

yup i agree,ive seen the same here.
no really big problem,just need to find the rigth way again..

Stay safe
Stefan Faber

[alexjlongo 0]

I've only had 15 jumps on my canopy, but it seems to fly straight as far as I can tell. It's a sabre 170, in a Mirage G3 container. I asked one of my instructors about it and he seemed to think it was body position, but I have been very aware of holding a good stable arch at pull time.

It has the standard manual throw-out pilot chute

AJL

[Faber 0]

Quote

I have been very aware of holding a good stable arch at pull time

thats migth your problem..my gf is a student she had same problem,she tryedto be as stabel as posible but did the oppersit,becours she tryed so hard... try to relaxe...

Stay safe
Stefan Faber

[BoobieCootie 0]

It could be a worn pc - twisting the d-bag. Before my first cutaway, my Diablo opened with funky line-twists. That should have signaled a re-line.

After my cutaway and with the rig out of commission due to a lost $180 freebag (now why is it called a freebag when it ain't free) and re-line (lines were tacked together on inspection), I had the pc replaced, and a bungee installed on my legstraps. Now my 's
edit: I'm assuming that you bought your gear preowned

[alexjlongo 0]

Yes, I bought everything used and had it all put together. The canopy had a re-line about 100 jumps ago, but I'm going to have it measured just to be sure. PC is in good condition and looks new (don't know how old exactly), but looks may not mean anything. I'll have the PC looked over as well.

Thanks for all the great advice everyone!

AJL

[indyz 1]

Quote

I asked one of my instructors about it and he seemed to think it was body position, but I have been very aware of holding a good stable arch at pull time.

It is possible to have bad body position during the pull, but still maintain stabliity and heading. You may be dropping a shoulder and correcting with your legs, for example.

[mikkey 0]

Totally agree, it is probably your body position. I had an issue with a slight right hand dive after openeing on my canopy. Found out that this was caused by leaving my right arm slightly "out" after deploying PC. Corrected this by bringing both hands up in front of my eyes after "dump" to ensure symetrical position. Problem solved. If you are dipping your shoulder it could be enough to get that bag spinning.... so try to bring you hands forward and ensure you are in a box.

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When people look like ants - pull. When ants look like people - pray.

[skymick 0]

Is it just me or does it seem wrong that so many newbies have their own packers? While packers can be a good idea for more experienced people I think novices should be packing themselves (at least some of the time) as this will help them understand the deployment process and this way they can experiment with different techniques when packing in order to correct any problems they are having rather then just getting their packer to fix it for them.

[dreamsville 0]

Just as long as both arms are out in the same position and symetrical after the toss, that should not cause a problem. I have had one or two line twists where, in retrospect, I could swear that my left hand stayed up near my head for too long, while the other was down after the toss. That would cause more wind resistance on the left, and so cause me to turn right, just like a shoulder drop to the right.

Add to that the fact that I NEVER have had a line twist where I can ever remember having to kick out with other than a left turn. That means the twist was going to the right upon opening. This consistency has a lesson in itself, I believe.
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I don't drink during the day, so I don't know what it is about this airline. I keep falling out the door of the plane.

Harry, FB #4143

[dreamsville 0]

Some voice concern about packing their rigs correctly with low jump numbers (will it be a safe pack? DO I know what I'm doing? It won't go in the bag!), which of course is just when one should be learning to pack. When I took AFP, I needed to report to the S & TA that I had spent my requisite session with a packer, where I go through it a few times under supervision and am critiqued.

While worry about doing a safe pack with limited experience may be understandable, here and there we also find those who have the extra money for a packer and see that chance to get on another fun organized load at their level slipping away if they can't get packed up in time like the more experienced ones. Newbies are notably slow packers, mostly.
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I don't drink during the day, so I don't know what it is about this airline. I keep falling out the door of the plane.

Harry, FB #4143

[Swanee 0]

Seem to have solved my line twist problem(touch wood) by leaving more line unstowed when stowing the lines on the bag. Worth considering as well.

[Tasadin 0]

I have been analysisng my cutaway in ma bbrain that i had a few weeks back. Tha was through about 6-8 line twist i couldnt undo by my hard deck height 2k. I think I may have still had too much forward speed out fo the track when i deployed and the bag was spinning as a result. Dunno if that helps.

"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough."

[nacmacfeegle 0]

"I think I may have still had too much forward speed out fo the track when i deployed and the bag was spinning as a result."
I doubt it Tas, I suspect you may have dropped a shoulder, its easy to do without noticing. I used to dump in a track regularly and although I took a few harder openings frequency of spinning was more or less the same.

--------------------

He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

[dbattman 0]

I'll throw a few things out there:

1- not enough slack between your risers and the first stow. If it's too short the risers get pulled along the bottom of the reserve container, possibly bumping it on deployment and causing a spin.

2- too much twist in the brake lines. Start at the canopy and work it out.

3- I've noticed a difference between 'throwing' my pilot chute and 'pulling' my pilot chute. Try a few deployments on the ground and see if your 'throwing' technique causes a spin on the pilot chute.

[f1freak 0]

I dump in a track on all jumps, and have never had a problem with twisting up because of that, it's always be bad body position....

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