Cross posting from DZ.com:

BASE 813 wrote:

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>I cant seem to log into BLiNC so am posting here until I try and create a new profile!!

>There was a discussion a couple of years ago on this

>http://www.blincmagazine.com/forum/d...ng_type=search

>and having recently seen a video of a tailgate hang up - (not particularly nice!) I am just interested if anyone has witnessed and further hang ups and what the config / jump was on these hang ups.

>The one i saw a video was a black band 3 wrap PCA. (Im unsure if this was larksheaded).

>I was normally of the general feeling that the forces invloved in opening would not cause a hangup - if it did it was an extrememly "RARE" thing - so just interested in how rare this actually is! I normally 3 wrap my tailgate and it has been suggested I tie this quite tightly - I have only had 1 PCA jump and most of my jumps are around the 1 second to 2 second delays - I have never had a noticable problem (both feeling and video). Will the canopy size and weight of the jumper have a large effect on the possiblity of of a hang up due to the low deployment speeds with PCA's and the tightness of the tailgate?

>Would be interested in peoples thoughts and experiences here.

>Thanks

>Michael

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I responded:

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>I have never seen a freefall tailgate hangup.

>I have seen four PCA or static line tailgate hangups.

>In my opinion, the biggest factor is the force of the opening. It seems like freefall will create a high enough opening force that tailgates are extremely unlikely to hang up.

>On a PCA, I'd be sure not to girth hitch (larkshead) the rubber band (I do that on all jumps, but I think it's most important on a PCA), and I'd use only two wraps.

>I also stopped using the BR black rubber bands because they seemed more prone to hang up (because they are tighter/stronger). Still, I haven't seen any real evidence that they are more likely to hang up (of the four hang ups I've seen, two were the black rubber bands, and two were standard rubber bands). They are more expensive, though, and if you aren't girth hitching, you'll lose them quite often.

>Some general feelings based on the hang ups I've witnessed:

>1) They all involved girth hitched rubber bands.
>2) Type of rubber band seemed irrelevant.
>3) 3 of 4 were with triple wrapped rubber bands. I'm not sure about the fourth.
>4) They occured with a wide variety of jumper weights and canopy sizes. I can't see any pattern to wingloading or canopy size.
>5) Packing didn't seem particularly relevant. I've seen hangups on super neat pack jobs by jumpers with over 500 jumps. I've also seen a hangup on a relatively sloppy student pack job.
>6) Hang ups occured on something like 1% of PCA's I've seen. I'm not sure how many of the total used girth hitched rubber bands or triple wraps, but I suspect that both of these are risk factors, and a far greater percentage of tailgates closed in this manner will hang up.

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Anyone else have any thoughts?

--Tom Aiello
tbaiello@mac.com