Pilot chute in tow – The Monkey Fist. Jhonathan Florez shows us his pilot chute packing method

The video shows a real ‘Monkey Fist’ malfunction in action, where the bridle closes round the pilot chute like the fist of a monkey. Jhonathan Florez, the fastest wingsuiter in the world, demos how to pack the pilot chute to avoid this scenario.

Pilot Chute

Make sure you have a good condition pilot chute. Wear and tear can affect its ability to leave your back and lift your bag, ie, it can cause a pilot chute in tow malfunction. Wear on the pilot chute can also affect the deployment quality.

As kill-line pilot chutes age, the kill-line itself will shrink and prevent these centre line tapes from fully extending on inflation. Plus the hem can become uneven, and the material itself wears with time. Thus the pilot chute will be less effective by not catching as much air. You can test this by wafting the pilot chute around, it should easily fill with air. If it does not, it’s probably time for a new one.

BOC Pouches

BOC (Bottom of Container) pouches lose elasticity with time, and may no longer retain your pilot chute safely. Always double check the condition of your BOC if you decide to go freeflying rather than belly flying; the extra speed will put more strain on the elastic, and could cause a premature deployment.

Packing the Pilot Chute

A very experienced skydiver with thousands of jumps experienced a total malfunction as she could not get the pilot chute out of the BOC. This was caused by poor technique of packing the pilot chute. If the bulk of the pilot chute is mistakenly placed to the outside it can be hard to remove as the bulk can act against the pull.

When packing the pilot chute into the BOC, be aware to pack the bulk of the pilot chute between the toggle and the rig, not on the other side of the toggle. This can cause a hard pull or a total malfunction, especially if the BOC elastic is new.

Packing the Pilot Chute 2

To add balance, below are canopy designer and coach Brain Germain’s thoughts on pilot chute packing. Like anything in skydiving, there is no perfect right answer, you have to look at a range of informed opinion and see what works for you.

Brian Germain about packing pilot chute at Nurmsi DZ in Estonia. Brian demonstrates his method.