The Ace Canopy

[Tom Aiello]

"Direct Control" means putting a rubber band around a center line attachment (customarily the center C opposite the tailgate) and taking a bight of the slider into it. This "directly" controls the slider, holding it up in the pack job until the canopy reaches line stretch and begins to inflate (when the expansion of the bottom skin pulls the rubber band off the slider/slider out of the rubber band), at which time the slider begins sliding down the lines.

"Indirect Control" refers to using the locking stow at the bottom of the tail pocket to keep the slider up in the pack job. It's called "indirect" because the rubber band doesn't touch the slider "directly".

I've found that taking a large fold of the slider, or using a tight direct control rubber band, can yield very slow Ace/BJ openings. I hypothesize that this has something to do with the longer line length (which would result in less outward pressure way up there at line stretch), but that's pure speculation on my part.

A while back, several of us with Ace/BJ's tried to sort this out at one of the Petronas events (so, shortish subterminal slider openings) and we generally found that removing the direct control altogether helped us quite a bit. You might want to give that a shot and see if it helps you.

[460]

Your canopy looks like it was packed with an attention to detail...

Briefly, in my experience, the following issues are relevant to heading problems:

1) Is your container very small? Ideally, the container should conform to the pack job.
2) Are you sure your pilot chute is not orbiting after its toss? Is the bridle twisted a lot after you land? Is it apex vented? Is it attached symmetrically? Is the pilot chute staging properly after the toss?
3) I fold the stabilizers and have had nothing but great heading results doing this. The logic has always been that exposed stabilizers allow air to enter the canopy - almost always asymmetrically - before it reaches line stretch. The goal is to stage the opening and limit each stage to a single predominant variable that can be experimented with as needed.
4) I usually don't expose the nose so much. Some people feel this is fine and have some good results to show for it. My feeling is that it provides a location to torque the canopy (causing a rotation or turn in the packed canopy) on the way to line stretch. Usually I leave the center cell exposed only about 4 inches wide.
5) Inhibiting the slider by stowing it with a rubber band can have a dramatic effect, and this can be very canopy dependent.
6) The ACE from what I recall uses a low permeability para-glider type fabric (less permeable than F111). This may be a factor.
7) Do you have any ZP on the top skin? ZP is notorious for affecting the heading performance.
8) Are your lines DACRON or something different? Stretchy dacron lines are the best for reducing sensitivity to asymmetry in the opening process.

[Twoply2]

To address both Tom's and 460 advice at once,

Tom, when you say that removing direct control has helped you out, I'm assuming you mean helping out with offheadings. Remembering back to some guys who had a rubberband on their sliders, I think I may have seen something related and not known it. But I've never seen a rubberband wrapped opposite the tailgate location and secured a bite of the slider. Makes sense. I can see how that would slow down an opening, but would that help with an offheading? I know that one opening characteristic is going to alter another but don't know how speed of pressurization is factored in there. While packing, I move the slider into place, fold the canopy material between the A's B's and C's, cocoon, then do the primary stow before figure eighting the lines. Long story short is I've never used a direct control method.

460,
1) The container seems to fit snug and secure. No sloppiness or streching really.
2) Pilot chute is apex vented, 42", symetrically atttached that usually doesn't have more than a twist or two after landing. I've checked that right after landing a severe offheading. Not to say it didn't straighten itself out during canopy ride. As for after tossing, that I don't know if it stages itself immediatly. I'm usually the last one to go. Guess I should bathe more.
3) I fold the stabs one half fold and I agree with your point.
4) I will experiment with the mose settings more.
5) When you say dramatic effect I assume you mean positive with offheadings too?
6) Didn't know that about my own canopy.
7) No zp.
8) Black dacron lines. I believe I was told that the black dacron was a small bit thicker than the regular dacron. Factor? Truth?

Thanks for the help!

[Tom Aiello]

I can see how that would slow down an opening, but would that help with an offheading?

In general, I think they're related. Slower openings seem more prone to offheadings. But, I guess that's not a factor here.

[baseninja]

Are you using a 42" for longer slider-up delays? Maybe a center-cell strip issue?

[460]

You've got just about stumped TwoPly.

Some thoughts though:
1) yes, your dacron lines are fine.
2) you might want to try packing your pilot chute so you get a slightly slower pilot chute opening/pilot chute deployment. Ideally, you want the pilot chute inflating just above you and not to the side. If it inflates from the side, it can start orbiting somewhat. Have you thought about experimenting with going stowed to eliminate a factor related to shoulder lowering from going stowed. As you know, it can be easy to twist your body enough to affect you opening.
3) do two or three light rolls on the outer cells (which I think you do) and expose the center cell only about 4 inches wide.
4) i don't have any suggestions regarding the container since you're using a velcro rig. pin rigs on the other hand require a little care to ensure the canopy stays symmetric upon closing the container.
5) dramatic effect on stowing the slider: noticably slower opening, bad heading, sometimes line twist(s). Stowing the slider has to be done with CARE.

Hope this provides some food for thought...

[Twoply2]

With all the help I've received from the base community, I've made some decisions about the course of action I'm gonna take.
First, I did a hardcore inspection of my gear. I noticed that my velcro on my tailpocket is indeed showing need for replacement. And with a newer tailpocket design, that should help with line dump. I'm going to switch over to a small mesh slider. This was suggested because they are larger than a large mesh slider that came stock with my canopy. I believe that presenting more canopy to the wind, after line stretch, should curb some offheading. I'm also going to a 38 inch pc for 4-5 sec delays instead of my trusty 42", pretty obvious one there. I'm going to try the direct control on some jumps and give that a whirl. Also I'll give more care to stow the slider properly. When it comes to the nose, I will try a few small rolls instead of the folds I usually do.
I'm going to log the changes and see what happens over the next bunch of jumps.

So thanks for all the suggestions and helping me learn about my own gear.

Mike

[Crater Nate]

Mr. TwoPly,
Lets go do some test jumps.
Uh, I forget the rest but your mother is a whore.