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Just curious if anyone has experienced any sort of major or unusual off headings on a static line jump. My impression is that if you aren't doing something funky packing, then you shouldn't be experiencing any off headings that would lead to an object strike. I'm also assuming you aren't jumping a B into an alley .

I get that there is always the chance, but I'd rather hear of actual incidents and experiences.

Sorry if this is a repeat post but my search didn't show anything related to this exact question from the past few years.

I once witnessed my buddy get pretty bad line twists on a static line jump. We were jumping an antenna with about 10mph tail wind, we think he just got unlucky - there's no way the pack job was turned twice around! Weird, but he was just finishing kicking out of them when he had to flare. Not a static line, but PCA - another person in my area - had a 180 cliff strike. Pilot chutes, bridle length and attachment location and wind all enter into heading performance. Gotta always be ready for anything! At least static line openings are in plenty of "slow-mo", too bad you don't have much altitude.

Personally nothing worse that a 45º or so in 200+ SL/PCA jumps but i have seen 90º from PCA/SL on a few occasions.

I think the biggest contributing factor is position of jumper in relation to PCAer/SL tie off. Make sure you are not stood to one side or the other of the PC. ideally the jumper should be directly in front of the PCAer/SL tie off point.

It is very simple and reliable if done correctly.

check this clip at 3:12

http://youtu.be/gIbBSgBzIwM?t=3m12s

i quess this shows how consistent headings on pca's are...

I could not have found a better video to highlight exactly what I was saying.

FF opens on heading in relation to Nicks body/container.
1st PCA jumps further out than Stig's arm can reach, you can clearly see the bridle is at 40º+/- to the bridge rail, this is pulling the canopy to the side on extraction in relation to the jumper/container.
The final jumper is doing a full floater and the canopy bounces up his back/helmet and off his arm whilst getting dragged forward in relation to the jumpers body. Oh and it also looks like he is very left shoulder low as he reaches line stretch, but the video is not the best quality so is a little hard to tell.

I am not at all surprised they opened off heading in relation to the jumpers body.
The only surprising part of the whole jump is that people expected the SL to open on heading.

Laters,

Static line in zero wind has the most reliable opening heading of any jump, in my experience.

I've still seen full 180's twice in those conditions though. It's quite rare (I'd estimate something like 1 in 1000), but off headings can still happen.

I can definitely second that. The only major (talking about >45deg here) offheadings I´ve seen on SL´s or PCA´s have all been in cases where the tie off point or the PCA´r has not been directly behind the jumper.

It actually would be interesting to test on a suitable object (namely a span) how consistent off headings you could produce by jumping (for example) 2m´s to left/right from the tie off point. And what would the correlation of the offheading and the distance to the tie off point be (if any).

I'm sure they would be more constant if the person giving the PCA was directly behind or in line with the jumpers pins. You can tell he is not in line because he is off to the side of the jumper. More or less the person giving the pca is forcing the risers to load asymmetrically causing the off heading. (looks also like there was a side wind to then further his poor heading performance)

i have a shit ton of pcas for other people and almost always stand on the right side of the jumper, i have not seen any off headings in 200+ pcas. it just depends on how you pca.

Are you dropping the pilot chute? Or holding the bridle tight?

I've done quite a few PCA's and I'm firmly convinced that PCAing to one side will load the risers unevenly and generate off headings.

If you drop the PCA before the jumper reaches line stretch, you can avoid this, but that kind of defeats the purpose of the PCA.

I pop the pins with the bridle, then toss the pc right at linestretch. I hold the bridle in my left hand, pc in right, my left hand is off to the right of the jumpers pins by a couple inches. I've never seen anything more than a 10-15 degree offheading, and that is easily attributed to poor body position.

Oh, ok.

That should help the off heading rate, basically creating a free fall deployment, which has better heading than a PCA from the side. You're putting the jumper a lot lower than you have to though.

Personally, I wouldn't recommend that technique, just because it seems like it doesn't play to the advantages of the PCA (you're open lower, and you have worse heading than a good PCA).

I'm not talking about Jeremy,(roost) but its amazing how many shitty pca's I've witnessed.

I won't take one from just anyone anymore.

Thanks for the replies and messages. That is basically what I expected to hear, and I definitely understand that there is always a possibility for an off heading.

99% of all PCA's and Static Lines I have
watched, helped, or jumped myself have
been on heading, however I did see a
perfect 180 with good wind and body
position, the canopy never turned but
the guy landed at the base of the tower
so either he packed it accidentally back
ass wards or just a freak random thing.

As for "here dude, hold my bridle"
I have seen both extremes, from a
death grip that ends with a torn
pilot chute and a hand that has
been burnt to the point of bleeding
to the guy throwing the PC past
the jumper, ha ha ha. I like Dan
Darby's practice of occasionally
letting random tourists on the S
in Idaho to PCA him

I've seen extraction from the PC result in both broken fingers and damaged PC's. It's a technique that I'm not personally a fan of. I definitely prefer extracting with a firm grip on the bridle.

The major issue with releasing prematurely (before line stretch) is that if you get the canopy off the jumpers back before release, you can rebound slack into the lines, increasing the malfunction rate. Obviously you can avoid this by releasing at or just before container opening, but at that point you might as well do a free fall jump, because you'll be open at almost the same altitude anyway.

 

Which would make sense because ultimately you would be loading the right riser before the left to a certain degree.

Did one of those jumpers almost destroy themselves on some bleachers, and perhaps was one of those jumpers you?

My canopy hit an american flag on opening

I really don't think the pcas I have done are any lower than anyone elses pcas, just smoother. A couple guys here that have already posted have seen quite a few of my pcas and have never commented on someone got back into freefall. I'll see if I can dig up a Video.

It's a good time for all involved! and even on those jumps, although the opening altitude may have differed, my heading performance was quite consistent.

If you watch the video it looks like the canopy is turned way before line stretch. It almost looks like the arm was in front of the bridle right before the pins pop. The nose is clearly the wrong way a foot out of the pack tray.

Yeah, that was my Wife. She was still a full noob and my dickbag ex-buddy was PCAing her standing to her right on the same ledge?!! Your "buddy" PCAing you or your staticline should be DIRECTLY behind the jumper.

I know - as soon as I heard the report through the grape vine, I figured that was how it happened - I had jumped there just prior and did a SL - no way to PCA safely there. I wouldn't call him a dickbag but it wasn't my wife who got hurt. We're all complacent sometime, forget about the reaper and he'll come looking for you!
When are you going to come out for a trip to your hole? I still haven't made it over there - was worried about road conditions through the winter.