Skydiving a flik 242

[CastleKingSide]

Hi guys, sorry for unburrowing this post but I have some questions about it. I wish to get a BASE canopy and use it as my main but I am a little afraid of this fast openings you are talking about. When I watch those terminal jumps on youtube, it doesn't seem like those jumpers are suffering from the opening, why would it be any different when skydiving? And does vents makes it even worse? I've seen a video of a guy jumping a vented canopy (4 cells I think ) in a 10 sec delay in lauterbrunnen and it looks like no harm was done, are vents suitable for terminal jumps? One last question, I am currently jumping a PD210 in a very comfortable wing load, is it ok to go for 245 or 266 flik/fox? I wish my canopy to be as big as possible but I don't want a student container to fit it in. I know my questions should be taken to a mentor, but I'm still just skydiving for a while and there are no BASE jumpers in my DZ.

Thanks

[CastleKingSide]

UP!
5 months old but still no aswer!

[freedrew]

hey,

i've skydived a flik 266 with 4 vents (terminal opening) and it worked great. you may be able to stuff a 244 in your existing container -- you just have to try it.

i used a borrowed container, sail slider (bought from apex), and used the d-bag/bridle/pilot chute from the skydiving container. i packed it like a skydiving canopy (when cacooning it i only went about 1/3rd the way down, otherwise it starts to mess with the lines)

you could also email/call apex with your question -- they should be very knowledgeable about their gear in different configurations

[M8tricks]

Hi guys, sorry for unburrowing this post but I have some questions about it. I wish to get a BASE canopy and use it as my main but I am a little afraid of this fast openings you are talking about. When I watch those terminal jumps on youtube, it doesn't seem like those jumpers are suffering from the opening, why would it be any different when skydiving? And does vents makes it even worse? I've seen a video of a guy jumping a vented canopy (4 cells I think ) in a 10 sec delay in lauterbrunnen and it looks like no harm was done, are vents suitable for terminal jumps? One last question, I am currently jumping a PD210 in a very comfortable wing load, is it ok to go for 245 or 266 flik/fox? I wish my canopy to be as big as possible but I don't want a student container to fit it in. I know my questions should be taken to a mentor, but I'm still just skydiving for a while and there are no BASE jumpers in my DZ.

Thanks

Sorry about the long post, Im at work and I dont have time to write a short answer.

There's a whole mess of things that happens during any canopy deployment - most of it is predictable and happens in a similar way each jump, snatch, snivel, inflation etc and it can be teased out to greater detail Most of the time this happens in a reliable order with each stage occurring in the same time frame so we get a nice safe opening. This consistency is what makes BASE possible to do repeatedly. Unfortunately, due to one of Murphy's laws, every now and then shit happens and the deployment happens either out of order, or at a different speed, or inconsistently across the entire canopy. Canopies can take longer to open, open faster, turn randomly, or just dont open at all  there is not always an easily identifiable reason for these differences. This shit happens factor is what makes BASE dangerous in the long term.

Most of us who've done loads of skydives have had hard openings and there are a few different causes, dumping in a track, packing with the slider not fully up, dumping from head down etc. These can be avoided. But every now and then, for no apparent reason, the relative wind catches the canopy in a way that makes the bottom skin catch air faster than it should and suddenly you've gone from terminal to 30knots in a second or two. That can do some damage to you and your gear. It happens on all types of canopies, I've seen snivelly canopies like Safire 2s spank open with a thunderclap you can hear from the ground.

Watch two identically packed BASE canopies deployed in the same conditions, with the same jumper and you will almost definitely see different opening durations between jumps. All else being the same, two PCA jumps from the bridge can give 50 feet difference in deployment height. And that is with all else identical. Throw in packing inconsistencies, deployment inconsistencies, and atmospheric inconsistencies and what will come out of that bag will be different every time. A skydiving canopy is generally designed so that this variation is absorbed into a very wide safe range, that and youre generally opening with hundreds of feet between you and anything else, those differences in opening durations heights are rarely noticeable. A BASE rig is designed with a much lower tolerance - because we want them to open reliably and fast. When a BASE deployment starts to drift outside safe levels it is much more likely to give you a reminder that they are designed to open quick.

Jumping a BASE canopy as a skydiving rig? For a few jumps, maybe even a few hundred jumps, a BASE canopy will open fine, you may never get a hard opening, you may even get a couple of freak snivelly openings, it happens. But then one day it'll open faster than you want and then it can cause you some serious damage. I've busted ribs and hurt my back from cracker openings on skydiving rigs  not fun.

And as for hard openings in BASE, they happen regularly in short and terminal jumps  you just dont hear people complaining about it cause BASE jumpers are tough - I have had mates complain about a sore back for weeks after taking a 2 sec delay on a vented Flik though  cant pick it. But I'd rather have a hard opening and walk away sore than snivel into the ground and never walk again.

Jump the BASE canopy every now and then, get current on it doing a few hop n pops from height if you have had some time away from it, but theres no real great reason to make it your main. One day itll bit you and then every pitch after that you will cross your fingers and wish you had a nice snivelly canopy instead.

[CastleKingSide]

Thanks for the long reply, just full of informations I was hunting. At first my idea was using a BASE canopy as my main, but you are right I don't want to get hurt in a lightspeed deployment, all I want is experience under canopy and I can get lots of it from hop'n'pops and some small delays. I'll do normal jumps on skydiving gear.
Thanks a lot!