Technical Articles

Relationship of your bag, canopy and container

5/5/1998

As posted to Rec.Skydiving

Somebody wrote:

>well bill,  according to your estimate 1 out of 100 will/could result in an
>out of sequence deployment with the bag leaving your back as the
>pilot chute is in your hand.

I hope everyone realizes, that if the bag does leave the container while the
pilot chute is in your hand,  the assembly is defective. The test is this:
While wearing the rig pull the main pin, if the bag falls out of the
container the assembly is defective.

The container must be so designed as to hold the bag in place until positive
pilot chute tension is applied to the bridle, beginning the rotation process
of lifting the bag out of the container.

We size the container to the canopy and the bag to the container.

When people swap canopies they sometimes take everything from the risers
up and put it into the new container, This is a dangerous practice and
should be done only with consideration for the above requirements.

Packers sometimes jeopardize this function by not properly rotating the top
of the bag into position against the reserve and therefore leaving the
"ears" of the bag sticking out of the top sides of the main container.

Remember the bag is force fit into the two lower closed corners of the
container and must be rotated out from the top during extraction. The fit of
the rig to your body when worn assists is these retaining forces.

John
John B. Sherman