| An important, and rather simple part of packing a parachute is stowing the steering toggle so it retains the excess steering line, which will release when the skydiver pulls down the toggle after the parachute is open and after line twists have been dealt with. However, I've seen enough mis-stowed steering toggles toggles that I thought I should post this set of properly and improperly stowed toggles in hopes of saving someone from being injured and ruining a perfectly good parachute. See also Parts of a Parachute. |
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The right way to
stow a parachute steering toggle:
RIGHT WAY RIGHT WAY RIGHT WAY RIGHT WAY RIGHT WAY
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Wrong ways to stow a toggle: Mis-stowed steering lines can lead to very hard openings, injuries, significant damage to the parachute canopy and toggle keepers, inoperable steering lines and an uncontrollable parachute. |
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WRONG WAY WRONG WAY WRONG WAY WRONG WAY Orientation of the finger trapped parachute steering line loop relative to the steel guide ring is important. The fabric retaining loop, if so equipped, is not meant to carry the force exerted by the steering line on opening. See also:
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| Please HELP ME IMPROVE THIS PAGE - If you know of a page that explains this better, please email me a link to it! |
What do we mean by a finger trapped loop, anyway?
| Fortunately, the fine folks at this finger trapping website have a great webpage explaining what we are talking about. The steering line retaining loops for the toggles, however, consist of a separate piece of line finger trapped both above and below the loop it creates in the line. Pretty clever, huh? Wish I could say I invented it... |
Parachute steering system parts-
Riser
Elastic Keeper
End of steering Toggle
Steering Line guide ring
Finger Trapped Loop
Steering line (AKA Brake line)
Purpose of stowing end of toggle through the finger trapped loop
"stowing the brakes" is
to hold the steering line down about 14" - 20" for a
softer opening. Failure to stow the brakes will lead to very hard
openings. Never put the end of the toggle through the steel guide
ring or
else the steering line will slip through the loop on opening as if
it was never stowed, defeating the purpose of the finger
trapped loop. The
resulting hard opening would hurt both the jumper and parachute
canopy real bad.
Various schemes are used to hold the steering toggle to the riser
until it is used:
Velcro, Straight Steel pins or Folded fabric sections that slide up into channels added to the riser.
Another fabric keeper so there is one both above and below the toggle on each side
Steering Toggle Keeper refers to a fabric webbing pocket to stow the free end of the steering toggle. Some keepers consist of a very tiny long channel to accommodate a straight stainless steel pin that slides into it instead of putting the free end of the toggle through it.
One potential problem arises if the toggle is mistakenly stowed in a manner where the force of the steering line exerted by the trailing edge of the parachute on opening is borne by the toggle keeper instead of they the sturdy small steel ring.
Not all parachute risers even HAVE keepers; some old ones just let the free end of the toggle kid of sit there loose. Here is a correctly stowed steering toggle:
