16 years ago
Yesterday was a nice day for me. I was practicing helicos, and it went very well in the begining. I was also able to do a dynimac fullstall to helico :) Then I climbed up again, and went for an other helico which didn't work well, so I lead out... but it was too fast, and shoot in front of me, and below. In the next moment I was in the lines, so I throw to rescue immediatly.
The rescue went out, inner container separetad from the cannopy, but somehow it didn't inflated. My glider was still above me, rotating, so I think my vertical speed wasn't enough for the inflation. I was going down like this for a short time, and after I collapsed the glider to help the rescue opening. It opened smoothly, but not perfetly. I go like 10 twists on the rescue lines, which was impossible to twist out. I think these twists happend while the rescue was out, but not inflated.
It was impossible to steer the rescue with these many twist, the canopy slowly turned into backwind, and I gain big horizontal speed. I was flying backwards under the rescue, and hit the side of the mountain. Everyone said it was a big impact, but I walked away unhurt.
I learn from my expreince. One thing is that I have to control the surge of my glider, and the other is that rogallos are good rescue systems, but if they have too many twists it's uncontrolable.
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Hi Urs!
Thanks for your comment and detailed explanation! It is always nice to read about the experiences of an expert.
I think after a several twists it is getting hard to pull the brake, but what is bigger problem is that if you pull it, it might stuck and will not slide back up, so you keep on turning. I think the brakeline should run inside a stronger plastic tube or whatever, that protects and provides free travel of the line up and down, even while twisted. We changed one of our rescues like this, it is just waiting for the test :-) (but I think the tube material that we use it is not strong enough to keep the shape under pressure).
What do you think?
Pal
Hi Lupus
Gosh, 10 twists are a lot…
Did you really tried hard to pull down a break line? During conceptional work, sometimes I had several twists but was always able stear.
The problem has got to do with two different things: connection between the main risers & conception of the cannopy (line length, riser length, pressure on the sail). By the way, the Papillon canopy has got exactly the same canopy surface and cut as the beamer, just more pannels.
What I found out during my over 200 beamer openings above ground and at least as many openings from weekend fliers during my safety clinics:
Long risers are quit important:
- in order to prevent entanglings with the pilot
- seat board rescue storage bags with shoulder strap connections
Short connection between the main risers (+ pos. / - neg.):
+ the cannopy will always stay symetrical, no matter what happens with its risers (after a real good twist on you glider weight shifting a lot before or in a up side down position). We had several cases with asymetrical Pilot positions and the beamer still works excellent. We also had a Swiss Instructor who opend his beamer above ground and forgot to hook in one riser on his front mount connection. It worked!
+ in most of the cases, the canopy still stays stearable even if the PG is getting “wild”.
+ a lot faster reaction on break inputs.
- twists are more often.
Long connection between the main risers:
+ less twists (as I mentioned above, this is not the only reason).
- slower reaction on break inputs (especially when the PG stays connected).
- tendency to spiral down or not beeing steerable anymore after a asymetrical Pilot position (Twist after a lot of weight shift, Pilot up side down, entangling with some extremities of the pilot or it’s gear, hooked in only on one side…)
Since the last few years we are working on this type of deal and so far I did not find a real compromise which works for all different cases.
stay high,
Urs
Yes, I destroyed the paraglider, and collected all the cannopy after opening (as it's visible on the photos)
..Rogallo not equal Rogallo! Pal and Gabor use the papillon. But check out this video: http://www.conceptsafety.com/redesign/video/evest_new_3.wmv looks similar to the Beamer ;-) The wide connection it's not a solution for every twist problem!!! After the change; you must first destroy the Paraglider, then you can twist out and after you can piloting the rogallo.
I also check some videos from Gabor and Pal, and their rogallos also have wide connection between the main risers. I will make mine also wider! Thanks for your comments!
..but this is a conceptional question. If you have to many twists, the side drag is not enough for a self spin out!
http://www.high-adventure.ch/3_produkte/images/beamdet2.gif
http://www.sky-cz.com/new/galerie_vyrobky/delta01_300.jpg
when i had the twists the connection between the risers weren't even stretched! i think a few twists are not a problem, because then you are still able to steer the rescue. i wrote to HA, i hope they can tell me a good solution!
..Exact, the connection is to short. The older version of the beamer has a strap connection (~30cm) and the newer a spliced line between the raisers. Replace this with a strong line, I spliced in a ~60cm 6mm Liros Dynemma (break strength >6000kg ;-). If you are not absolutely sure, contact the manufacturer HA. I had the same problems during different tests. There is no chance to spin out. http://flightschool.nogravity.ch/content/view/52/27/ my trials to spin out are on the last video.
BR Dani
Yes, it is a HA Beamer.
Thanks for the comments, but I can't connect this rescue to my main carabiners. I have and Ava Acro 2 harness, the resuces are under my ass. So no front conatanier, and no possibility to attach the raisers there. Is it helps if I only make the connection longer between the main risers!?
Hi
The rogallo look’s like a beamer. With the access points on the shoulders the beamers don’t twist out self! The connection between the both main raiser is with about 30cm to short. The idea behind this is that the raiser twists are always at the covered part of the steering lines. With front container and access at the main karabiner it works fine, but with shoulder attachment it’s bull shit!
I have replace the connection with a 60cm Dyneema (Liros 6mm). Ask the manufacturer, at the meantime he have probably a standard solution of this problem. Except this, the beamer works very well and has not a tendency for line over like other rogallo systems.
Always happy swoop
Dani