Control Your Deployment

Pete Allum describes the complete sequence from break-off to a controlled, safe deployment. 

Follow it every jump and you should notice your openings becoming more consistent, whatever parachute you jump and however you pack...

There are three main factors causing hard openings; packing, parachute design and body position on opening. Packing or the parachute are most frequently blamed, but in fact, the most frequent cause of severe opening shock is your own body position.

Whilst you are jumping large, docile canopies, they open pretty consistently without much operator input but as you progress onto smaller, faster canopies you will need to be more responsible for your opening. Packing is the first and most sensible area in which to make immediate improvements, but you also have direct control of your opening through your body position during the pull sequence.

Every so often, especially if you jump a zero porosity canopy, you can get a ballistic opening, one that leaves you gasping and wondering if you have broken anything. Even if your pack job was rushed and you didn't take the care you should have, there is still hope for a decent opening if you pay attention to your track, flare, pull and recovery.

1. Track  First of all, get an efficient, de-arched track to ensure decent separation. Most experienced jumpers get very lazy about this important part of the skydive.

2. Flare Out  Flare out efficiently to wash off speed.

3. De-arch  Emphasise the de-arch against the relative wind and sit up slightly, by no more than 45 degrees. It doesn't matter if you still have some residual forward motion, by sitting up you prepare your body for the opening force as you won't get whipped from the horizontal to the vertical plane quite so quickly, as well as efficiently slowing you down.

4. Pull  Keep your shoulders level with the horizon to ensure even loading on the risers and pull, maintaining the de-arched position. Notice how in this picture, the shoulders are uneven and the riser slightly off the shoulder due to the arm position during pull, this is not a problem if you do a good recovery.

 

5. Recovery  Return to a symmetrical and level position during the pilot chute throw. Look straight in front as opposed to looking over your shoulders and watching the pilot chute go. (If you do look, you will distort your shoulders and load the risers unevenly, causing twists or an out of sequence, hard deployment. Your body is also more vulnerable to damage if you are asymmetric.) Keep the de-arch through the entire sequence.

6. Sit up during deployment  As the lines pay out and the bag is opening you can sit up even more, this readies you for the opening transition from horizontal to vertical. If you are sitting relative to the ground, your body seems to act as a slider and retard the deployment even more, this is more noticeable on canopies which have slower opening characteristics, like the Stiletto.

7. Control your opening, still sitting up, as canopy finally deploys  Ideally, you should keep your hips absolutely square with the horizon (like a sit flying position), as the harness is being loaded at the leg straps during the later stages of deployment. With smaller, faster canopies you can control the heading on deployment and reduce line twists by how you load your harness.  As your awareness picks up and you become more experienced you may feel the canopy twist as it is deploying. If you feel it twisting to the left, then gently lean to the right to maintain heading (and vice-versa). You should also be ready to leap onto your rear risers and control your heading as your canopy deploys, by steering opposite to the turn. This is vital because you can do a great track but find yourself charging back towards your friends with an off-heading opening on a fast canopy.

In summary:
Keep yourself square to the horizon, de-arch and be looking around you as you open, instead of watching your canopy deploy.

Words by Pete Allum
Pete_allum@compuserve.com

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Photos by Brian Rogers

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