Bridle routing....

[Clownburner 0]

Ok, first the disclaimer: I'm a 50-jump wonder. I'm repeating what I was told, in hopes of soliciting the opinons of those wiser than I.

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I was talking with a rigger the other day and noticed he had an unusual way of routing the bridle for his pilot chute, and I was wondering if this was a good idea or not. Forgive the lame drawing please.

His claim was that in some circumstances, the first example (conventional) could hang the bridle up on the flap or gromet, causing the pin to not be pulled. He said he had a CReW friend who had this happen, and that this 'new' bridle routing prevented that from happening.

It kind of made sense to me but I'm not experienced enough to know; and this particular rigger has the word 'crazy' in his nickname, so I thought I'd check with the peanut gallery before changing the way I pack.

Thanks all...

7CP#1 | BTR#2 | Payaso en fuego Rodriguez
"I want hot chicks in my boobies!"- McBeth

[AggieDave 6]

He's right, it "could" hang up. That's why there's those "idiot tabs" of velcro on the bridle and on the #2 flap for the bridle to tack down to.

Which way is the best way? Well, which way is recommended by your container manufacture?

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[gus 1]

I think my old Atom Classic closed like that..

Gus

OutpatientsOnline.com

[PhillyKev 0]

Looking at that I'd be afraid that the bridle between the pin and pc could get caught up in the bridle between the pin and the side flap. Neither way is a 100% fool proof, you'll never have a problem, method. Who do you trust more? Container manufacturer or that rigger?

[riggerrob 643]

Sketch number one describes the method in the Vector and Javelin packing manuals.
Sketch number two describes the method in the Sidewinder manual.
Both methods work well as long as you remember to leave an inch or two of slack between the pin and where the bridle disappears under the side flap.

When in doubt, pack according to the method recommended by the company that manufactured your container.

[SkydiveMonkey 0]

I've closed a few rigs like that - old style teardrops, atoms ......

____________________
Say no to subliminal messages

[jurgencamps 0]

Methode 2 = vector tandem.

[riddler 0]

First time I packed my Voodoo, I did the same, only ended up with bridle on both sides of the closing pin above the #3 (right) flap. I figured I would check it on the ground by pulling it out from the PC.

Result: bag lock

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[hookitt 1]

>Result: bag lock

Do you mean a "Total", as in Container lock?

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[RevJim 0]

Quote

>Result: bag lock

Do you mean a "Total", as in Container lock?

I'd say pilot chute in tow.

It's your life, live it!
Karma
RB#684 "Corcho", ASK#60, Muff#3520, NCB#398, NHDZ#4, C-33989, DG#1

[hookitt 1]

Oops.. that's what I meant...

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[base283 0]

Yo, If it is such a cool placement of the bridle, a. then why doesn´t the Manu do it this way? b. If it is such a cool placement of the bridle, why doesn´t he work for the Manu? c. Why does he not follow the rules of his riggership?
Just starting crap but if things are significantly safer doing it another way then what is the hold up?
take care,
space

[steve1 5]

I know of another experienced jumper who routes his bridal similiar to the new method you have drawn. When I noticed this I asked him what in the hell he was doing and I was sure I had spotted a no no. But that is how he packs, and it works fine for him. I'm no expert, but bridal routing is important. I had an old Talon container that might have malfunctioned if I tucked the bridal an inch or two too far inside. The bridal would catch behind the stiff corner of a closing flap. I mean you could yank and yank on the bridal and it wouldn't come free and I'm sure this could cause problems at opening time. I doubt that this was in the manual, but common sense told me to be careful here. Neither my Javelin or Vector containers have this problem. I know when you are starting out you may not be aware of what can happen, so I would ask as many experienced people as possible and then go with their general consensus as to what is safest.

At one time I was a big fan of gear checks before boarding or even in flight gear checks. Slot Perfect mentioned that he didn't like the idea of anyone messing with his bridal during a gear check. I now understand his point. Some folks have a habit of shoving the bridal further up there when they do a pin check. This might be fine for their container, but not yours.....Steve1

[riddler 0]

Quote

Oops.. that's what I meant...

And that's what I meant

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[billbooth 10]

On the original hand deployed rig, the Wonderhog, the main pin protector flap was sewn to one side flap and velcroed shut to the other. This meant that even after the curved in was pulled, the main container was still held shut by the velcro. I chose bridle routing #1 to peel (instead of rip) open the velcro, thus making it last longer. I have stuck with bridle routing #1 on all my solo rigs simply for the sake of consistency. On the tandem Vector, we use a variation of bridle routing #2, because the curved pin is attached to a short lanyard instead of to the drogue bridle itself, basically because a drogue bridle is too thick to use routing # 1.

Either routing works, but if you use #2 on your solo rig, people who pin check you will ask, "Is your bridle supposed to be routed this way?" to which you'll probably answer "yes", even if you've accidentally packed a pilot chute in tow...because you won't be quite sure what "routed this way" means, will you?