Freepacked opening

Photo by Mike Sizemore over Tahlequah, back in the day.

HW

Now that is frickin' scary!

Quote

Photo by Mike Sizemore over Tahlequah, back in the day.

HW

I used to freepack... well actually flat pack then S fold my Parafoil into my Green Star. I got really tired of the 1800' opening "snivel" with the wierd sleeve thingie it had plus the spider slider that has a bridal attached to the X shaped webbing with the large grommets, and the bridal went up and connected to pilot chute, which was supposed to slow down the opening after the whole mess came out of the"sleve"

AT least with the sleeve gone.... the opening was a bit more positive... so positive in fact I broke the steering lines off of the damn thing about every 10 to 15 jumps.

I did get really good at rear riser landings though

Funny, but the Russian PZ_81 reserve is certified with that slider/bridle/pilot-chute configuration.

I wonder how hard PZ-81 opens?

Quote

Funny, but the Russian PZ_81 reserve is certified with that slider/bridle/pilot-chute configuration.

I wonder how hard PZ-81 opens?

I don't know.. but I sure as hell never want to jump one of those things at terminal again. It's probably one of the reasons why I have some pretty painful arthritis in my back now. That friggin thing used to give me nosebleeds every few jumps.

But ya know.... at the time.. it seemed like a good idea...hell who expected to live past 30 anyway

The PZ-81 opens fine and flies even better. It is by far the best parawing I have flown. But it is not the most exciting one. Nothing can beat the paradactyl for that.

Update on Mike. He's doing well with his real estate business and now lives Lake Hudson in Oklahoma. He throws an old-timer's skydiving party every so often and we jump in over the lake. Bill Mitchell left Tulsa for awhile in his news anchor career, but is now back.

Quote

Quote

Funny, but the Russian PZ_81 reserve is certified with that slider/bridle/pilot-chute configuration.

I wonder how hard PZ-81 opens?

I don't know.. but I sure as hell never want to jump one of those things at terminal again. It's probably one of the reasons why I have some pretty painful arthritis in my back now. That friggin thing used to give me nosebleeds every few jumps.

But ya know.... at the time.. it seemed like a good idea...hell who expected to live past 30 anyway

My one and only freepack deployment at terminal was a round reserve ride in 1977. Left me with purple thighs and nutsack. Once was enough for me, thanks.

Quote

Geebus! What were the next two seconds like?

Next two seconds were probably open flying canopy. I have many hundreds of freepack openings on StratoFlyers with no complaints...

Many jumps using a freepacked heavy cloud in an SST. Never had any problems but I didn't have to look at the deployment either.

I remember a few experiments with a system that entailed grabbing a handle that had been sewn onto the nose or top leading edge of the canopy. This would pull a pin and you'd extract the top/center cell which would then inflate and extract the canopy. THAT was a REAL mess to see.

jon

Dunno who Bill Mitchell is, but according to my notes, the jumper is Chris Crittenden.

HW

Quote

I remember a few experiments with a system that entailed grabbing a handle that had been sewn onto the nose or top leading edge of the canopy. This would pull a pin and you'd extract the top/center cell which would then inflate and extract the canopy. THAT was a REAL mess to see.

jon

Hi Jon,
'Remember back in the day at old Elsinore a bunch of us were watchin out the door of the DC-3 as Nick Lucas uncorked a flyer in the config. you describe!! quite a sight!! Freepakin' was "the thing" for a while till a couple of people got susp. lines 1/2-hitched around their main side flaps!!!

odd that you should mention this today.Ray Kirst, former para flite test jumper, died on march 12 1978 trying the nose deployment method.it streamered, he played with it trying to get it open and he lost altitude awareness . pulled his round reserve (without cutaway)at approx 200 ft which entangled.it appears that he may have fought even after the entanglement as one of his R3"s was released

For those who haven't seen one.....

HW

Quote

Dunno who Bill Mitchell is, but according to my notes, the jumper is Chris Crittenden.

Sorry, didn't mean to imply Bill was the skydiver in the picture. Bill was the local news affiliate anchor for Wide World of SPorts and was jumping with Mike considerably in those days and thought per chance you might know him.

Quote

Quote

I remember a few experiments with a system that entailed grabbing a handle that had been sewn onto the nose or top leading edge of the canopy. This would pull a pin and you'd extract the top/center cell which would then inflate and extract the canopy. THAT was a REAL mess to see.

jon

Hi Jon,
'Remember back in the day at old Elsinore a bunch of us were watchin out the door of the DC-3 as Nick Lucas uncorked a flyer in the config. you describe!! quite a sight!! Freepakin' was "the thing" for a while till a couple of people got susp. lines 1/2-hitched around their main side flaps!!![/reply]

After about 3 or 4 hundred free pack jumps I was one of the guys who had that happen. I played with it until about 1000 feet and fired a diapered reserve into it. Scared the crap out of me. It was a CruisAir.

Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

• Quote

I like my picture better

Quote

Funny, but the Russian PZ_81 reserve is certified with that slider/bridle/pilot-chute configuration.

I wonder how hard PZ-81 opens?

I have one terminal reserve opening on PZ-81 (Delta). It was my first and only reserve ride. I was happy to be alive, and did not pay attention to opening shock . I quess I was in opening "SHOCK" .

Anybody know where I could view Mike Sizemore's work or possibly get some reprints??

My first rig was an SST and a heavy Cloud that was freepacked. Glad I never saw my deployments from that angle.

OMG....we were screwing around with freepacking.  My FIRST square jump, on a brand new rig...freepacked 7-cell Unit.  Turned into my first malfunction, first cutaway, and first reserve ride.  Immedeately put the bag back on it, no issues after that.