Bungee Pilot Chute - good or bad?

[heftee 0]

I am very new to the sport and have recently bought my own rig. Although I had my senior rigger, the DZO, and several instructors inspect the rig - the one thing they didn't mention to me before buying was that this rig has a bungee pilot chute. I am used to a regular, plain old pilot chute.
The rigger said that I could notice a slight delay from pitch to deployment (which I did on only one jump so far). He recommended that I go ahead and change it out with a kill line.
What opinions/recommendations/suggestions do you have on this topic? Until now, I had only heard of two types of PCs, so this is very new to me.
Your thoughts are appreciated.

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"If you've never jumped out of a plane, the best way I can describe it is it feels as if you've just jumped out of a freakin' plane."
David Whitley (Orlando Sentinel)

[Samurai136 0]

Get a kill line PC.

If you transition to a smaller, faster, or elliptical canopy you'll definately want a kill-line. The bungee PC is acceptable but the PC will reinflate and cause more drag when you are under canopy. This is undesirable.

Also if you ever throw out sub-terminal, the pin may not be pulled until you reach terminal velocity with a bungee.

Ken

"Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian
Ken

[zyzko 0]

The bungee version won't work at very low sub-terminal speeds, so on hop'n'pops you will notice a slight delay which might feel like a pc hesitation. The bungee-will also lose it's elasticity in time, and it will start to lose it's ability to collapse, and the pc may re-iflate during radical manouvers. You will be fine with the bungee version - the only thing to remember is the delay on sub-terminal jumps - and wingsuit-jumps are not recommended.

Personally, I would change the pc to a kill-line version as soon as it starts to show any wear, but immediate change is not necessary if you feel comfortable with your gear - but if the thing bothers you, go ahead and change it - after all you got to have 100% faith in your gear.

-Kari

[SkydiveMonkey 0]

What canopy is it attached to?

____________________
Say no to subliminal messages

[heftee 0]

It is attached to a ZP 145.
Thanks for your thoughts - I appreciate it.

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"If you've never jumped out of a plane, the best way I can describe it is it feels as if you've just jumped out of a freakin' plane."
David Whitley (Orlando Sentinel)

[SkydiveMonkey 0]

Get a kill line pc.

____________________
Say no to subliminal messages

[phastasphuk 0]

I had a bungee to my PC for my first 300 jumps, only problems I encountered during those jumps was that the knot that held the bungee cord came lose once and made my PC act like a non-collapsible PC. If you have the bungee fixed with a knot that can be moved around, you can set the speed which the PC should inflate.
Obviously starting in the softest setting you can tighten it harder and harder until it wont inflate during your hardest front riser turns. I did this and had no problems doing hop 'n pops from 700 m after that, experiencing no x-tra delay other than the normal delay you get from sub terminal jumps.
Exit speed is normally for me (C-206 DZ) around 80 kn, far above what i could achieve with my canopies at that time. Canopies were Raider 220, BT-60 and Jonathan 170.
As long as you dont tight it too hard or jump ultra performance canopies no problem should be encountered other than mentioned.
If you do forget to cock the killine PC, thats a reserve ride, if you forget to check that your bungee is still there, or if it snaps, you simply wont gain the extra performance that a collapsible PC gives.

I jump i killine now simply cause the gear that i bought had it, and that i moving up in the performance envelope so i should get used to it

chris

[steve1 5]

I still jump a bungee collapsible pilot chute on my second rig. This canopy isn't too hot and it works fine. Expect a long delay on hop & pops though..... I have a friend with 6,000 jumps and he prefers bungee collapsible pilot chute because he can't forget to cock it. He uses this on a stilletto canopy. He might lose some performance though.....I have a cocking pilot chute on my other rig and really like it. If I had to choose between the two, or if I was going to buy a new one I'd go with the cocking type. Steve1

[maretus 0]

Also if you plan to do wingsuit flying in future, then the bungee pilot chute is a big no-no. Get a collapsible PC.

http://www.ufufreefly.com

[bobsoutar 0]

If you can afford it, get a kill line straight away for lots of good reasons already mentioned.
If you get into the habit of packing a bungee (ie don't need to cock it) you may forget to cock the kill line type when you get one. This happened to one of our jumpers a couple of weeks ago and was fortunately noticed before she boarded the aircraft - she missed the load (and a pilot chute in tow).

[nacmacfeegle 0]

Bungee PCs can be a little scary if you have to do hop and pops, or have to get out early due to an A/C emergency.

But like the man said, do a search and find out all the pros and cons.

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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

[riggerrob 643]

A bungee pilotchute is fine in the short run. It will give you a small performance increase without complicating packing.
Just remember - when doing hop and pops - that your shortest delay will be 6 seconds. If you toss your pilotchute any earlier, you will have to wait until the sixth second before anything happens.
Icarus recommends installing a kill-line pilotchute when wing loadings exceed 1.36 pounds per square foot, so wait until then to replace your pilotchute.
I have a kill-line on my primary rig (wing-loading 1.6) but still have a bungee-cord pilotchute on my second rig (wing-loading 1.4). Both work great, but I plan to build two new kill-line pilotchutes this winter.

[lazerq3 0]

I jumped with a bungee for like 70 jumps and had NO problems what so ever...even with HOPNPOPS remeber when you leave the plane your traveling about 80mph...however I did get a Kill with my new canopy and I could tella slight difference in deployment....so I'd say jump the bungee but maybe put away a little to save for a kill!!!
just my .02

jason

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