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Hey Guys,

I was at the dropzone the other day and ran into a vintage square pilot chute. The design was really interesting and it looked like air got in from all sides equally.

Something else that caught my attention was that it was quite large and I was told that they collapse automatically (no kill line) on canopy opening.

Maybe Nick D could answer this but others, feel free to chime in as well....were these ever used in BASE?

I got nothing . . .

NickD

Looks like a bad idea. Originally designed for the Government.
http://www.google.com/...mp;ct=result#PPA3,M1
Dont know if this is the same kind. Doesn't look like it would work too good for BASE, feel free to try it out. Only one way to test gear.

interesting find but I don't believe that to be what I saw the other day. Any "experienced guys" (read: old timers) have any insight?

 
I thought that design might be worth a try when I saw the movie where they built and flew Da Vinci's parachute (a 500+ year old design, square pyramidal). It was more stable than parachutes built maybe 50 years ago. Haven't seen one tested yet though, and I'm not a rigger.

I went back and looked through some old photos I had on another computer and found this one.



But I've never heard of something like this being used for BASE.

The only other square PC I've seen in real life was on an old Russian ejection seat I repacked for this rich guy. It was not only square it had a metal internal framework with spines that automatically opened the pilot chute on launch. But it looked like a death sandwich to me.

NickD

Nick that looks very similar to the one I saw at the DZ. It was a bunch of old timers and they were like "you're never gonna see this again in your life". Apparently the guy who was making that particular series of square PC's only made 11/12 and the jumpers I talked to were quite fond of their performance in skydiving.

Why they never stuck around, or were ever tried in the BASE environment, I'm not sure.

The way it inflated it looks like air gets in really damn clean into the PC from all sides and when I asked about oscillations these guys seemed to think the thing was bullet-proof.

i've bought a square pc that came with a round reserve i bought at a military store. i think a tee-shirt would have more drag.

a master rigger friend of mine built a ram air square pilot chute several years ago. it too sucked compared to the traditional round pilot chute.

My guess is if it was worth keeping they would have kept making the...stick with what works I say...if it aint broke don't fix it!!!

Here is a pic of something like you are talking about I posted up a while ago

http://www.basejumper.com/...post=2879598#2879598

Yes, the whole thing was a bit bigger but that's exactly what it looked like . . .

I'd have went down with the plane.

NickD