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u/dblan9 5d ago
I don't know why Gary's chute didn't slow his descent, I tested it like 30 times before we jumped!
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u/999blob 5d ago
I know right, I even tested another 30 times just to make sure it works
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u/FatSilverFox 5d ago
You guys tested it too?!
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u/Playfair99999 5d ago
Wait a sec, How many of us checked the chute?
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u/PappyODamnyou 5d ago
Including the raccoons?
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u/OrpheusNYC 5d ago
That’s what that was? Shit, I thought Logan had just been thorough when he passed it to me…
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u/farcasticsuck 5d ago
Sure seems like that’s a one and done test.
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u/blueavole 5d ago
I’m assuming they test each color. Different colors have different UV resistance.
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u/ad4d 5d ago
This feels like the old witch test. If she floats she is a witch, if she drowns she is innocent.
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u/LicenciadoPena 4d ago edited 4d ago
That's completely unnecessary. Just put her on a scale and if she weighs the same as a duck, then you know she's a witch.
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u/LungHeadZ 4d ago
Yes maybe but if one colour is ruined then the rest of it is. Structural integrity is compromised.
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u/imagicnation-station 5d ago
Scenario 1:
"Alright, let's test it."
"Ok, it ripped really bad. It failed. Throw it out."
Scenario 2:
"Alright, let's test it."
"Ok, nice, it passed. Throw it out."
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u/Spraynpray89 5d ago
Witch test vibes
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u/dman2316 5d ago
I mean, i can't fault that logic. Something that was sorely lacking during the enchantress tribunal.
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u/----X88B88---- 5d ago
"If she floats, then she's a witch!"
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u/leopardsilly 5d ago
Your comment reminds me of crash testing a car:
"Let's see how safe this car is if we smash it against a wall."
test happens
"Looks like I would have been safe. Guess I'll get a new car."
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u/Jeremzz 5d ago
It’s a pass / fail test. I have three paragliders & watched the rip test, they put the needle in the center of an intersection of the ripstop fabric, & pull it at a predetermined force with that tool
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u/Hermes_04 5d ago
So they test the grid pattern fibers, and if they hold then there won’t be a rip in the fabric?
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u/Mister-Stagger-Lee 5d ago
Is that a specific test area of the fabric or will he stitch it afterwards?
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u/dev_all_the_ops 5d ago edited 5d ago
If it rips then it doesn’t matter because you won’t be flying with it.
Technically that is the leading edge on a paraglider. There are patches that you can glue on if your paraglider gets a hole in it.
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u/Jeremzz 5d ago
The needle is poked into the center of an intersection of the rip/stop fabric. The top of the paraglider is tested because it degrades faster from sunlight / abrasion. The top & bottom fabric is also tested in multiple spots for porosity that doesn’t involve sharp objects. I have three paragliders, ask me questions
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u/Mister-Stagger-Lee 5d ago
Thanks. Makes sense on would test the top. “Sharp” enough to rip UV deteriorated fabric, but not “sharp” enough to rip through fabric that is strong enough.
Are other wear factors of consideration? Such as impact force on the fabric once the chute is deployed or is that negligible (or caught in the above rip test?).
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u/masternommer 5d ago
Paragliders typically start fully inflated so there is not much impact on the fabric unless you are doing acro moves. 2 other big factors are the wear of the porosity of your sail and they do some testing on the strengt of your cables that connect to your harness.
I've had a D-riser cable snap mid flight before which was mildly annoying.
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u/nobodyfucksmebutlife 5d ago
But he does the test poorly right? Because in the first time he tried ripping with the fabric and the second time, where it seemed stronger, he pulled in an 45° angle, so normally you always make that test with the same pull direction?
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u/persau67 5d ago
Depending on the results, it may be worth replacing the edge patches being tested, but in general you would be better off burning the example shown in the video. You can't stitch it back together and then expect it to support a human body in freefall. It COULD but you just...don't do that.
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u/-LsDmThC- 5d ago
“We tested the parachute and found it would have been perfectly functional if we didnt poke so many holes in it”
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u/Jeremzz 5d ago
Paraglider inspections are quite extensive. They test the life of the fabric with a porosity test, rip test, & visual inspections. I have three paragliders
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u/saskwatzch 5d ago
how about some humility? there’s starving kids in africa that presumably only have one paraglider and you’re bragging about three
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u/JebusDuck 5d ago
I'm sick of the government donating paragliders to children in other countries when there are children in our country without any paragliders.
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u/T3mporaryGold 5d ago
That's cool, I have four paragliders
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u/berrschkob 5d ago
I have four paragliders in my first garage ALONE dude
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u/JakBos23 5d ago
My 2nd garage is made of paragliders
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u/gladeyes 5d ago
Source for more information? Please. All I’ve seen is the punch test for aircraft fabric.
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u/Bhenny_5 5d ago
Are the test areas then repaired? Or is this one done?
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u/rogerrei1 4d ago
It failed inspection, so no need to be repaired. Throw it out.
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u/Bhenny_5 4d ago
I suppose I get that with this one but more generally, assuming the fabric doesn’t rip I guess it’s good to go and the process doesn’t damage it?
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u/haberdasher42 4d ago
He's also holding a roll of tape :)
Paraglider repairs are fairly common but mostly due to landing and having the wing collapse onto bushes or a fence or other dumb thing. They may even survive being pulled out of a tree if things really go sideways.
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u/kirkpomidor 5d ago
If you look closely, the fabric was ripped in several places before the test. Apparently, that wasn’t enough for the results.
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u/SnooMacarons229 5d ago
That's a paragliding wing, not a parachute.
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u/Caged_in_a_rage 5d ago
Is there less tolerance for a parachute or something?
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u/SteveDaPirate 5d ago
Very different design goals.
A parachute is designed to be opened by someone in freefall up to ~120 mph and deploy slowly so it doesn't injure the jumper with rapid deceleration. Then slow descent so the jumper can land safely.
A paraglider is almost the opposite because it's designed to go up.
Paragliders are much larger than parachutes, are inflated on the ground, and are made to glide very efficiently. This allows a pilot to ride a rising column of air called a thermal up to the clouds, then glide for miles until they can find another thermal and climb again.
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u/CuntNamedBL1NDX3N0N 5d ago
paragliders are inflated?
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u/masternommer 5d ago
The cells fill with air from the force of the wind during take-off and stay full/ refill (if needed) during flight
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u/skydiveguy 4d ago
so are modern parachutes.
Air is forced into the parachute cells to make them into a rigid wing.
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u/black-metal-Nick 4d ago
A mate of mine used to paraglide off mount Maunganui Tauranga New Zealand. He got blown back into the cliff one-day and some dude yelled out "hey man it looks like you need a beer!" And he yelled back "all good brother I have one here!" And pulled a beer (Waikato draught) out of his back pack and drank it on the side of the cliff. In the end he managed to find a way down but jeez I'd never paraglide stuff that.
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u/Drunken_Begger88 4d ago
Id love to see me drunk and in a shop trying to say that name Waikato and give me more. Fuck sober I wouldn't get very far I'd be told I had to much just saying that name.
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u/black-metal-Nick 4d ago edited 4d ago
Pronounced why ka toe (Māori word) it means flowing water in english. The nickname for Waikato beer is swamp water 😂 jeez I sound like a bot it's also the name of a sacred river and a awesome rugby union team .. and that's enough education for today 😁 and has absolutely nothing to do with holes in paragliders
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u/Jeremzz 5d ago
Those of us in the paragliding world get triggered when someone calls us parachutes or parasails :p
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u/Caged_in_a_rage 5d ago
Oh I’ll keep that in mind from now on.
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u/psychologyFanatic 5d ago
Makes me think of a scene from the Netflix show Disjointed, he's a parasailer and a character says "oh that's cool like the people who jump off mountains and stuff" And the dude gets pissed and goes "that's paragliding, it's for pussies and paraplegics. Parasailing is just you, the open water, and the guy driving the boat" lmao, yes he is a dick and dies an episode later.
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u/brads005 5d ago
A panel of experts in both skydiving and aeronautical research came to the overwhelming consensus that a rip in the parachute is not good.
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u/series-hybrid 5d ago
Bah!...it's got at least one more jump in it.
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u/Phatriik 5d ago
Every parachute always has one more jump in it if you're brave enough
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u/FrontSalad3002 5d ago
Parachutes have expiration dates??
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u/_Piratical_ 5d ago
Not hard and fast dates, but yes. This is a paraglider and it’s made to be flown for long distances in ways that skydiving parachutes are not. Because they are subject to a lot more sunlight while they are being used they degrade over time.
Modern fabrics are very well built to resist UV breakdown but they all need inspection at specific intervals. While I have never seen the test that this glider is undergoing, another type of test called a porosity test is also good at figuring out how much life is left in a paraglider. Once it doesn’t pass the test, it’s likely only good for playing with on the ground.
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u/persau67 5d ago
I don't want to believe people are this stupid, so to anyone taking the joke comments seriously...we know poking holes in the fabric is bad. The test is applying pressure to a rip and seeing how much is required for critical failure. The whole thing would turn into confetti if it's degraded enough.
This is testing a device to literally save your life. Destructive testing isn't a joke, it's a demonstration of how close you were to dying.
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u/DJSnafu 4d ago
is there any chance the test itself would make the next jump unsafe? Say it had ust enough pressure to withstand the test but after the pressure from the test is now at critical point?
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u/Atmos56 3d ago
So if the glider is fine, then it cannot be used again because you degraded it during testing. What is the point of the test if it destroys the fabric.
You might as well throw away suspect gliders and get a new one without this test.
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u/Dantaliens 5d ago
Didn't know parachutes can expire, you learn something new everyday.
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u/philwee 5d ago
All the shit I have to worry about and now I gotta worry if the parachute is expired or not. Fuck that
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u/wobbly-cheese 5d ago
wouldn't a best before date work? if it wasn't ripped before it is now.
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u/Syntox- 5d ago
My uneducated guess would be that you don't know what it was exposed to in its lifetime. Mechanical stress, chemical fumes, or exposure to sunlight. I also guess that you have to check it regularly and that those tiny holes are patchable.
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u/persau67 5d ago
Not necessarily patchable, but replaceable is a better frame of mind. If the exterior is sacrificial and still withstands a substantial amount of pressure, it can be assumed that the inner layers haven't been exposed in a way that's life threatening. You'd discard the ripped/torn/destroyed pieces and replace them if they held up to destructive testing. This example did not.
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u/Jeremzz 5d ago
Paraglider fabric degrades from abrasion, sunlight, & poor storage. Flying from sand / desert will ruin the fabric much faster than flying from grass. Flying mid day will result in more uv damage. Storing the glider tight with sharp creases in the fabric or storing it wet will degrade it quicker too. I have three paragliders, ask me questions.
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u/LiquidImp 5d ago
How many paragliders do you have?
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u/Jeremzz 5d ago
Not enough.
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u/Double_Distribution8 5d ago
When you go to the paraglider store do you grab one off the rack and then your mom says to put it back because you already have 3 at home?
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u/blueavole 5d ago
The fabric weakens not because of time, but because of conditions: how often it’s used, how it is stored, how exposed it is to the elements.
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u/Drunken_Begger88 4d ago
Well I can't tell you if it's expired before the video or not all I know is I'll no be using it after this guy pokes holes in it.
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u/MattnMattsthoughts 4d ago
Is this guy available to give seminars to parachute riggers in the Army? Asking for a few thousand friends
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u/I_Miss_Lenny 4d ago
Man, people really can't resist making the exact same 3 comments like 100 times a thread, can they
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u/TheySayIAmTheCutest 5d ago
Brazil is such a funny Country, in a dangerous way.
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u/Jeremzz 5d ago
There are a handful of paraglider inspection companies in the USA too. They all do this rip test. I’ve seen it. I have three paragliders.
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u/temperamentalfish 5d ago edited 5d ago
You are an extremely ignorant person. You insult an entire country, get told by multiple people that this test is safe and performed outside of Brazil, and still, in your arrogance, you think obviously you know better than people with actual training and qualification.
Edit: makes a xenophobic comment, gets mad when called out, replies with more petty insults, and then blocks me. You're pathetic.
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u/-Redstoneboi- 5d ago
can they test it by just pushing/pulling against it at a specific force instead of poking a hole at it
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u/JustAnotherDude1990 4d ago
Doesn’t matter in this case. If it fails that stress test it’s done. A tiny hole won’t do much.
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u/Ill_Mousse_4240 5d ago
Best way = don’t trust your life to a piece of fabric! Call me a coward if you want to
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u/Tnemmokon 5d ago
Just like at the Dentist! Pokes metal rod into the flesh. It seems to be bleeding... Do you floss enough?
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u/Aftomat55 4d ago
In skydiving if it's a reserve we do a pull test, pulling fabric to a certain lbs to see if it tears, of it doesn't we are good. If it's a main we just jump it till it explodes.
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u/avlmtnman10 4d ago
Ive jumped worse in the old days. Wonder if the newer zero porosity materials test the same.
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u/Fakedduckjump 4d ago
So if it rips, you have to buy a new one and if it doesn't rip, it's predamaged at this spot after this test and you have to buy a new one.
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u/xpiation 1d ago
This will probably remain buried, but what he's testing is called 'rip-stop'.
The grids you can see are the 'rip-stop' and the material is called rip-stop nylon.
Most likely he's doing this on a rig which has reached a number of descents which the manufacturer/engineers who created the system have stipulated that specific testing and maintenance needs to be performed.
You can also see that the tool he's using measures how much force he is applying, so to pass that test and continue to be functional the rip-stop nylon needs to be tested to check that it functions as intended.
If the jumper were to experience a malfunction where the rig had a hole it could go from a minor malfunction where the main can still be flown to experiencing a major malfunction or having to cut away their main and deploying their reserve.
The reserve is your life saving device so it should be your last resort, thus you want the rip-stop nylon to work.
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