Basejumper.com - archive

I cant seem to log into BLiNC so am posting here until I try and create a new profile!!

There was a discussion a couple of years ago on this

http://www.blincmagazine.com/...;listing_type=search

and having recently seen a video of a tailgate hang up - (not particularly nice!) I am just interested if anyone has witnessed and further hang ups and what the config / jump was on these hang ups.

The one i saw a video was a black band 3 wrap PCA. (Im unsure if this was larksheaded).

I was normally of the general feeling that the forces invloved in opening would not cause a hangup - if it did it was an extrememly "RARE" thing - so just interested in how rare this actually is! I normally 3 wrap my tailgate and it has been suggested I tie this quite tightly - I have only had 1 PCA jump and most of my jumps are around the 1 second to 2 second delays - I have never had a noticable problem (both feeling and video). Will the canopy size and weight of the jumper have a large effect on the possiblity of of a hang up due to the low deployment speeds with PCA's and the tightness of the tailgate?

Would be interested in peoples thoughts and experiences here.

Thanks

Michael

:+

I have never seen a freefall tailgate hangup.

I have seen four PCA or static line tailgate hangups.

In my opinion, the biggest factor is the force of the opening. It seems like freefall will create a high enough opening force that tailgates are extremely unlikely to hang up.

On a PCA, I'd be sure not to girth hitch (larkshead) the rubber band (I do that on all jumps, but I think it's most important on a PCA), and I'd use only two wraps.

I also stopped using the BR black rubber bands because they seemed more prone to hang up (because they are tighter/stronger). Still, I haven't seen any real evidence that they are more likely to hang up (of the four hang ups I've seen, two were the black rubber bands, and two were standard rubber bands). They are more expensive, though, and if you aren't girth hitching, you'll lose them quite often.

Some general feelings based on the hang ups I've witnessed:

1) They all involved girth hitched rubber bands.
2) Type of rubber band seemed irrelevant.
3) 3 of 4 were with triple wrapped rubber bands. I'm not sure about the fourth.
4) They occured with a wide variety of jumper weights and canopy sizes. I can't see any pattern to wingloading or canopy size.
5) Packing didn't seem particularly relevant. I've seen hangups on super neat pack jobs by jumpers with over 500 jumps. I've also seen a hangup on a relatively sloppy student pack job.
6) Hang ups occured on something like 1% of PCA's I've seen. I'm not sure how many of the total used girth hitched rubber bands or triple wraps, but I suspect that both of these are risk factors, and a far greater percentage of tailgates closed in this manner will hang up.

edit: I have crossposted this to BLiNC.

Cheers Tom!!!

dont understand why I cant log in!!

I have a new password and will pick it up tomo!!

cheers!!! Appreciate it! - but thinking it was coz i was trying to post to the technical forum - is there a problem there as there has not been any posts there for a while!

As I understand it, the technical forum is "protected". This means that when you post, the post gets routed to a moderator for approval. Once the moderator approves your post, it gets posted. I've had this process take as long as a few weeks, or be as fast as a day or two. I suspect that the speed with which things are approved depends mostly on Mick's workload in his real life. Unfortunately, these delays often make it difficult to carry on a discussion, as thoughts get disjointed by the time lag.

edit: I just tried posting a test to the technical forum. Here's the message I get in response:

it seems to me that this causes an unsymetrical way to tie a tailgate and with the additional bulk on one side would only cause more problems then it solves - the only reason I could see that this is done is that it stops littering on well jumped sites - and also stops you loosing it if your too tight to buy more!! heheheh - I have heard some really jumped sites have an unacceptable amount of bands at the bottom - but is there any technical reason to larkshead? - I dont think that there is. Maybe I am wrong?!?

I've also noticed that technical threads periodically get swept over into the technical forum once they die down. You might just want to post into the regular BASE board, then once the discussion is done, I bet Mick or Avery will move the whole thread over into the technical forum for safekeeping.

I don't think there is either. I believe the original reason was to prevent loss of rubber bands (and stop people carrying around a pound of rubber bands cut in half--which is exactly what I do).

PM'd you

Any one have data on opening force/delay/canopy size concerning control lines? Following Consolidated Rigging manuals advice I cut a micro line band in two length wise and wrap it three times around the tail gate with C,D and control lines. Interestingly these bands are hardy (ever try breaking one in your hands?) and if the first and second wrap are unequal in tension then you could possibly create a tailgate hang up. Question is; will the band break or will the lines stay inside the tailgate after opening? Appreciate your opinion.