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![]() On 1/6/2016 8:56 AM, Bob Whelan wrote: While I have no idea what manufacturers of round emergency 'chutes do these days, in the days when used and ex-military ones were common in the glider world (e.g '70's/'80's), an also-quite-common "four line release" modification was routinely offered/performed by master riggers. It allowed - post-inflation - the user to quickly release 2 risers on each rear side of the canopy, thereby providing some measure of continual air-venting and, reportedly, distinct forward motion along with some degree of steerability. During my military flying days we were issued a hook-blade knife which was carried in a flight suit pocket on the left leg just below the crotch. We called it the "peter pocket" for obvious reasons. It was attached to a grommet in the pocket's snap flap by about 5 or 6 feet of cord so it wouldn't be lost if dropped. All of the parachutes I wore also had a 4-line modification which allowed releasing the back center 4 suspension lines (two from each rear riser). I guess the knife was for the occasion that I had an unmodified chute or something about the modification failed. Release of the 4 lines would open a lobe at the rear of the canopy which allowed air to spill out at the rear of the chute both reducing oscillation under the canopy and imparting a small amount of forward motion. My old Pioneer Thin Pack round canopy emergency chute had a mesh panel at the rear which served the same function as a 4-line cut. For my personal safety, I retired that chute, mainly because no riggers these days seem to have the wherewithal to inspect it due to it's 40+ year age, and replaced it with a ram air canopy for which I took several training jumps. The advice to discard the rip cord is to "avoid it becoming tangled in the parachute". Frankly, I find this to be so unlikely as to be ridiculous but the $50 or so required to replace it seems to be small insurance against that unlikely event. Likewise, with my current chute, the pilot chute and deployment bag are sacrificial, i.e., they're not connected to the canopy and, after deploying the canopy, they're lost. The advice in that regard is to not try to catch them during your descent. Picture hitting a bridge or power line just as it comes within your reach! -- Dan, 5J |
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