PC in Tow
photo by Brian Piper
Following an uneventful 2-way head-down skydive, a jumper experienced a pilot-chute-in-tow malfunction and a subsequent uneventful reserve deployment. She had recently installed a canopy that had the same square footage as her previous canopy but that had a larger pack volume. The new canopy also had a retractable pilot chute, a design common on canopy formation skydiving canopies.
Because the new canopy would not fit properly in the container, a closing loop longer than the manufacturer specified was used to close the main-container flaps. When the jumper tried to deploy her main parachute, the main closing pin wedged itself on top of the bridle, locking the container closed. This unusual malfunction was likely the result of combining the longer closing loop with a retractable bridle, which allowed the pin and bridle to lock together. Jumpers should follow manufacturer guidelines to make sure that a canopy and its components match properly with the container size.