SDR-Hammer

I’ve been reading the skydiving threads for a few months now because I would like to get one sometime. I just read a statistic from Ken Solomon where he said, “I found even with a good pilot chute the odds with free fall set-ups were around 50/50.”

This surprised me, I understand malfunctions happen but didn’t realize the occurrence rate was that high. So I thought polling all R/C skydivers to see if this is the norm success/failure rate.

Ogriv

What is failing? If the odds are 50/50, there must be something consistantly not working.
Is the chute deployment failing, or does the chute just fail to open after a successful deployment?

Mike B.

SDR-Hammer

Mike, I do not know? My interpretation of failing would be not getting a full canopy regardless of where the hang up is. Anybody that votes can breakdown in a post at what point the failures are occurring.

Also if somebody has vastly improved their success rate, how?

crazy_azz_mat

i would think a fail would include any unsuccessfull opening of the chute....so a tangle....anything

R/C Skydiver

My Feedback: (3)

A failure to me is the chute not deploying fully regardless of the reason. Just made 18 R/C Skydiver jumps at Top Gun. All were free falls until the pilot opened the chute by radio.[8D] Had one not deploy at all (switch not turned on), one had a streamer because the main left shoulder shroud line pulled loose from the jumper [&o]and had 16 successful full deployments. You can figure the success % rate. I usually have about 98% success with the parachute deployment system I use.

broodwa

Is this poll still active? I recently started rc skydiving and now have 30 jumps with current skydiver. I only had 3 failures[&o]: two was partial deployments from lines twists due to sloppy packing[:@] and one was the pilpot chute wrapping around the head of the sydiver.[&:]
This would give me a sucsess rate of 90%

edge_pilot

My Feedback: (73)

Hello. I think one person haveing a 50% jump rate should not scare you out of the hobby. Almost all dirtdives comes from the pack not even coming open during freefall. The release pin and release bracket are usually to blame. Great care and perfection need to be taken in this area. I'm jumping about as close to 100% as possible with mine. i try new things alot with one jumper so I have alittle worse rate with him. But when I go to jump and have fun I do it 99.9% of the time.

khodges

My Feedback: (1)

If at first you don't succeed, so much for sky-diving

edge_pilot

My Feedback: (73)

Thats the good thing about radio control, even the worst dirt dive you just pick him up get the glue out and your back in business!!!!!

invertedvigor

I am a military rigger that works at the military halo school in yuma arizona and I am currently working on a newer RC parachute for a friend of mine to test. It should have a 99% opening rate, more forward speed and a slightly higher performance. Will keep you guys updated..... Mike

harri

*Off topic*

invertedvigor, have you ever calculated the wing loading of a RC skydiver? As a rigger you know how important factor the wing loading is at full scale skydiving. How about in RC world? I suppose things will not scale straight forward when you change the scale.

Does anyone have the measurements of the chute and the weight of the jumper and the chute together?

-Harri-

GaryV

My Feedback: (1)

invertedvigor,

quote from your post:
[It should have a 99% opening rate, more forward speed and a slightly higher performance.]

Compared to what? Paramax, RC Skydive USA, Solomon.....

Just curious as what you are comparing your predicted improved performance to.

GaryV

fly103-RCU

My Feedback: (6)

Hi, As Wil put it, our goal is to build the sport of R/C Skydiving. Below is a few more of the guys making R/C Jumpers so check them out and if you have any questions feel free to ask and we will all try to help.

www.rcdropzone.com
www.rcskydiveusa.com
www.solomonrc.com
www.mindspring.com/~sanyo1
www.rcskydiving.com

broodwa

Can one of you guys give the dimensions on the MIKE chutes, the standard parafoil, I want to compare it to the dimensions of a full scale chute of one skydiving club members.

fly103-RCU

My Feedback: (6)

Hi, Ours are 50"span x 26"cord and the Mike's are 60"span x 28"cord.

harri

How about the exit weight?

broodwa

thanks for the dimensions Ken I'll see how it measures up and will report back.

harri

broodwa, I don't know how much you are into full scale skydiving, but there is a lot more factors than just the size of the chute. By dividing the skydivers exit weight (all things on, ready to jump from the door) with the size of the chute, one'll get the wing load (lbs/sqft). It varies from 0.8 to 2.5 (beginner...pro). So, a heavier jumper needs a bigger chute if wanted a moderatelly flying one. And in the other hand, if you want to use a high performance chute, you'll need some wing loading to keep it flying. Also the shape of the chute makes difference (rectangle/tapered/elliptical). There is also some more factors: material, line trim, etc.

Anyways, if someone would kindly weigh a jumper (set) (Ken's or Mike, since we've got the chute size), I would really appreciate.

-Harri-

skydiver

Hi,

The Parafoil-96 canopy is 60" span and approx. 28" chord, depending on how you measure it.

The total weight of the MIKE jumper and canopy is 3.68 pounds (3lbs 11oz) That's 1.67KG which is under the German maximum weight of 1.7KG. There are lead weights in the jumper body to bring it up close to the max weight.

happy to answer any questions.

Paul

broodwa

Thanks Hari and Paul for the info. I'm struggeling with some wind penetration on moderate wind days. If I compare my skydiver (own construction full fibre glass kit) it is very light compared to the Mike, my divers weight is 920 gram (0.92KG) 2.02 pounds. My original chute was one I ordered from RC skydive USA but I'm busy developing my own line of chutes with someone that designs and builds full scale paragliders. RC skydiving is a very unknown and new in my country and I appreciate all the help you guys have given in all the forums. My goal is to start selling my divers here in my country because of our weak currency (the Rand) it is very exspensive to import divers from the USA let alone Europe home of MIKE. The Rand/Dollar ratio is 6.5 : 1 on a good day and the Rand /Euro is 8.2 : 1 on a very good day!!! So again thanks for all your help and comments.

Fanie

fly103-RCU

My Feedback: (6)

Hi,
The best performance with our chute has been 2 1/2 lbs to 2 3/4 lbs. Tried cutting back to 2lbs and lost all penatration. Ive been working them like my gliders. On Windy days I've added ballast up to 3 1/4 lbs and found good forward flight and penatration into the wind.
Talk to you soon!!! Ken

wjones

Fanie, do you have pic of your man! Im working on a full fiberglass man, or maybe a fiberglass molded man mix. Right now i have some new molded arms. working on the legs right now. The next big thing will be the chute! I like the chute that I have but Im looking for better. Im working on a chute that works as good as the parafoil 96. I think this (hands down) to be the best chute out there. The only thing is 1.67kg for weight on the man, and the 260.00$ to get it to USA.

Thx, wil
rcdropzone.com

broodwa

Here are the pics of my fibreglass moulded man, I hope they upload, don't know if I figured out the posting of the pics yet but we'll see. Prototype 1 was the first diver I built and protype 2 looks like it will be my production model. I made complete new moulds for the body and legs, it is only the head mould that remained the same. Hope you enjoy the pics[8D]

Fanie

fly103-RCU

My Feedback: (6)

Hi Fanie, Looks Great!!!! Keep us updated and send some pictures of your flying field or dropzone so i can post them on our website to show everyone what its like in Africa. ( Send pics and info to [email protected] ) Talk to you soon!!!

SciFiFlyer

My Feedback: (1)

A lot of BASE jump malfs came from too-short pilot chute lines, a situation we can appreciate due to our relatively slow airspeed. BASE rigs are very different from freefall stuff, as BASE jumpers don't have the luxury of 400' opening drops.