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From: curl@wjvax.UUCP (Jim Curl)
Newsgroups: net.rec.skydive
Subject: wierd canopies
Message-ID: <650@wjvax.wjvax.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 4-Feb-86 19:35:09 EST
Article-I.D.: wjvax.650
Posted: Tue Feb  4 19:35:09 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 7-Feb-86 10:11:17 EST
Organization: Watkins Johnson Co., San Jose Ca. USA
Lines: 41

About a week ago I posted an article about my concern over a good canopy
going bad on the ride down.  I was assured by response postings that this
was a very unlikely occurance provided I did not intentionally stall my
canopy at a low altitude.  I ran across the following incident report in
"Parachutist" which has rekindled my fears somewhat:

Age: 28   Sex: F
Number of jumps: 452
Time in sport: 5 years
System: Annex Mirage
Main: Performance Designs PD-170
Reserve: Pioneer K-XX
Type of injury: concussion, fractured cheek, deep laceration of eye
Description of incident:
     The jumper was making her approach to the landing area when at about
     30 feet the top skin of her canopy "rippled" and the right side rolled
     underneath, pivoting the jumper into the ground.  Jumper was unconscious
     for 10 minutes with breathing stopped for about two minutes until CPR was
     administered.  Surface winds were reported at 0-3 mph, and no turbulance
     had been experienced by others.  The injured jumper had made one previous
     jump that day, and had about 100 jumps on this canopy.
Conclusions:
     The reporter stated that there was little in the area to create
     turbulance that may have contributed to this accident, and that the
     jumper was not in a turn when this mishap occurred.  There were no
     listed canopy defects, and although a statement by the reporter
     indicates he felt this to be a factor, a conclusion cannot be drawn
     without submission of more data.  It should be mentioned here also,
     that turbulence may occur without apparent cause; it may have begun
     some distance away.  Also, more data on microbursts and wind shear
     becomes available as more funds are provided for research; eventually
     we my all learn more about why our canopies "weird out" from time
     to time.

If this can happen so easily (albeit rarely) to an experienced jumper,
familiar with his/her rig, should I not be concerned as I am a beginner
using rented gear (often a slightly different rig for each jump)?  Or
maybe that's just life in the fast lane...

                                           -- Jim Curl
                                           -- San Jose