Thank you for choosing the Flow rescue system, AURA. AURA is a pulled down apex conical emergency parachute designed for paragliding use only. AURA represents the maximum in safety, functionality and quality. Fast opening times, slow descent rate and stability are some of the main characteristics of this reserve. The materials have been chosen carefully to achieve a rescue system that is light but still robust and durable. In order to ensure that you get the maximum passive safety out of your reserve parachute we recommend that you take time to read this manual and thus become familiar with the functioning, the maintenance and the packing intervals. Happy flights and safe landings, The Flow team 2 P a g e
DISCLAIMER By purchasing our equipment you take full responsibility for being a certified paraglider pilot and you accept all risks inherent with paragliding, motor paragliding or speed flying activities including injury and death. Improper use or misuse of Flow equipment greatly increases these risks. Neither Flow PTY LTD nor the seller of this equipment shall be held liable for personal or third party injuries or damages under any circumstances. If any aspect of the use of our equipment remains unclear, please contact your local Flow reseller or importer in your country. COMPONENTS AURA is delivered with: A parachute properly packed in a deployment bag A deployment bag (pod) with central and lateral anchor A 25 cm bridle User s manual Please check the condition of the parachute and the deployment bag, making sure there are no abnormalities. USE This rescue parachute is designed for paragliding activity only. It must not be used nor deployed in velocities reaching over 32 m/s (115km/h). It is explicitly forbidden and cannot be used in free-fall. The maximum load for each side of the parachute is established according to the certification requirements. The total weight (payload) includes: person, clothing, accessories, glider, harness and parachute. CERTIFICATION The AURA has European EN and LTF certification EN 12491 2001 and LTF NFL II 91/09 http://www.paratest.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1994&itemid=49 3 P a g e
TECHINCAL DATA SIZE M L AREA (m2) 31.15 38.95 WEIGHT (g) 1450 1805 MAX LOAD (kg) 100 125 NO. OF GORES 16 18 NO. OF LINES 18 20 CONTAINER VOLUME (cm3) 5000 6800 CERTIFICATION EN 1249-1/ LTF EN 1249-1/ LTF MATERIALS Cloth: MJ Tex Rescue 20D (Meyong Jin Korea) Lines: 10150-0450 (Liros, Germany) Riser: Nylon 6.6 LINE LENGHTS AURA M AURA L Suspension lines: 4800mm Double Apex Lines: 5570mm Suspension lines: 5500mm Double Apex Lines: 6380mm 4 P a g e
COMPONENTS WARNING This parachute has been solely designed for use as an emergency rescue system for paragliders. Do not under any circumstances use this parachute for free fall parachuting, BASE jumping or with any other type of aircraft. Any equipment alteration will result in the respective homologation annulment. The use of this equipment is at your own risk. Every pilot is responsible for the maintenance and evaluation of the usage of his/her equipment. 5 P a g e
MAINTENANCE Keep your harness and reserve parachute in your rucksack when not in use. Keep your parachute free from exposure to UV, moisture, dirt, dust and any other contaminates. Always store all of your flying equipment in a cool dry room and protect it from direct heat such as radiators or sunlight. Aura is not to be left in the boot of a hot car for long periods as temperature. Moisture, heat and humidity are the worst elements for damaging your parachute. AURA should be re-packed preferably by a qualified packer every 6 months. The more often the reserve is repacked the better the chances of it opening quickly. Line lengths should be checked annually by a qualified checker, or after anytime the parachute has been exposed to excessive moisture or has become wet after a water landing. If you land in salt water, you must clean it with fresh water first before drying. Dry your parachute preferably out of direct sunlight. Your parachute must be completely dry before being repacked. IMPORTANT Always measure the lines after a water landing, if lines get wet they might stretch, which could cause undesired effect of behavior or instability of the rescue. It is advised to measure both the Suspension lines and Double Apex lines after a water landing. LIFE SPAN The life span of the AURA reserve parachute is not to exceed 10 years. If past that period, the product MUST BE disposed and not to be used again. INSPECTION AND PRE-PACKING PROCEDURES Prior to packing your reserve it is recommended you do a careful check on the following: CANOPY FABRIC Inspect for rips, tears, dampness, debris, broken or loose stitching, and marred and illegible marks. APEX LINES 6 P a g e
Inspect for holes, cuts, frays, tears, burns, loose or broken fibers. SKIRT/ LATERAL BAND Inspect for dampness, dirt, foreign materials, holes, cuts, tears, frays, burns, loose or broken stitching, marred or illegible marks GORES SECTIONS Inspect for loose or broken stitching, frays, tears, burns, and cuts. SUSPENSION LINES Inspect line continuity and lengths. Inspect for zigzag on suspension lines. RUBBER AND ELASTIC Inspect for burns, cuts, holes, tears, weak spots, loss of elasticity and deterioration, replace if necessary. AIRING Before packing, the canopy should be aired, and ideally hung by its apex from the ceiling for 6-24 hours in a cool, dry room. PREPARATION The packing area must be spacious, clean, smooth and dry. LAYOUT Affix the risers to a solid point using carabineers or rapid links. 7 P a g e
PACKING PROCEDURE Stretch the reserve parachute out to its full length. Check the suspension lines for damage and tangles. All lines should be located inside, there are 2 apex lines (red webbing) and 16 suspension lines (gold webbing) BE CAREFUL: the apex lines must be inside the canopy. Take two consecutive lines on the canopy and be sure they are free for the entire length. If two consecutive lines are free, all the others will be too. If they are not free the bridle went through the suspension lines and you will have to untangle them: pull two consecutive lines sideways to guess where the bridle is tangled. Thread the long string through all the loops that are approximately at the top half the top of the canopy. Take care to do it consecutively counting gore by gore to avoid missing one. 8 P a g e Make a knot on the line to hold all the loops together.
After securing apex loops are anchored or a helper is pulling the apex loops. Grasp all the suspension lines with one hand and check if all the knots are at the same height. Position the apex inside the canopy by gently pulling the Double Apex line. Open the canopy by flaking the gores consecutively while counting them one by one. After flaking all the gores, the canopy should be as shown. Count the number of gores, there are 16 gores. 8 on each side. 9 P a g e
Flake half of the gores to the other side as shown. Check that the number of gores per side are the same. Take one of the top gores (left or right doesn t matter) and open it to make the wind channel, as shown in the picture. After this operation the canopy looks like the picture. To increase reliability fold the sides at 45. This will slightly delay the opening of the corners, thus forcing the inflation through the wind channel. The leading edge fold should be in line with the wind channel but not overlapped. 10 P a g e
Fold the outside edges onto the wind channel as shown, but do not overlap them otherwise you will increase the bulk. Fold the canopy in half along the central axis and open the mouth of the wind channel. To do this properly you have to fold the canopy and open the mouth at the same time. After this operation the canopy looks as in this picture. Note the leading edge of the wind channel is in line with the side of the canopy. 11 P a g e
Undo the knot and remove the string from the loops. It's very important to use a long string so it s never forgotten. Fold over the top 20 cm (8") of the canopy as shown in the picture. Carefully fold it again so that the fabric remains evenly arranged inside the fold as shown in the picture. Make the first "S" fold. Make another "S" fold getting the forward edges in line with the leading edge and all the back edges aligned to make a rectangle. If it is not perfect, repeat the operation by unfolding and beginning again at the top of the canopy. Lay the deployment bag on the floor, fold the length of the parachute in an accordion style with reference to your deployment bag. Check the condition of the rubber bands attached to the deployment bag and replace if necessary. 12 P a g e
Stow the lower suspension lines in a figure 8 pattern, securing each loop end with a rubber band twisted in a figure 8. Keep the suspension lines with the same length and equal tension. deployment bag. Close your deployment bag around the folded parachute, neaten around the edges to ensure that the parachute is contained completely within. Use the remaining free line to secure the main loop of the Thread the closing loop attached to the deployment bag through the last two flaps eyelets, numbers 3 and 4. Make a 3 cm loop with the bunched lines, pushing it through the elasticated retainer pod loop. The last 30-50cm of lines are left free. Make sure for each bite (loop) of lines to be completely unobstructed to prevent any possible entanglement and/or malfunction during the opening sequence 13 P a g e
TENSION TEST Lifting the riser, check the force required to allow the lines to free themselves from the pod s closing elasticated loop. This force should be around 200g and may be verified with digital scale, if available. ATTACHING THE RESCUE DEPLYOYMENT BAG TO THE HARNESS DEPLOYMENT HANDLE Attach the reserve handle to one of the loops on the deployment bag using a small maillon or a larks foot knot. Please refer to your harness manual to ensure the correct orientation. ATTACHING THE RESCUE BRIDLE TO THE HARNESS WEBBING A suitable screw gate connector should be used, for example a 7mm, square, stainless steel maillon, but in any case the connector must have a minimum strength of at least 9 times of the total suspended weight. The maillon should be held in place with rubber bands, tape or plastic heat sealed tube. 14 P a g e
Webbing to webbing connections are not recommended, due to the danger of getting the knot the wrong way round, which significantly weakens it. Attach the main bridle to the harness bridles using a maillon, and cover it with the neoprene connector, as shown. If your harness has no bridles already installed, the Y bridle option should be used. These attach directly to the shoulder points using suitable maillons with rubber bands or neoprene connectors to secure the bridles so that they do not become twisted on the maillon. Ensure that the maillons are closed very tightly. IMPORTANT: you MUST not attach the Y parachute bridle to existing harness bridle(s), if this is the case, you must use the short bridle option. Only attach the Y bridle to the loops located on top of the shoulder straps which have been specifically designed for mounting the rescue system. The Aura is now ready to be installed into the deployment system of your harness. For detailed instructions of fitting the Aura into the deployment system please consult your harness manual. If you have ANY doubts please consult a professional. 15 P a g e
RESCUE DEPLOYMENT It advised periodically to guide your hand towards the rescue handle and feel its location in flight. Memorizing the gesture to the point of becoming second nature will become an asset in case of an emergency. In the event of an emergency, the pilot must quickly evaluate the AGL (Altitude above Ground Level) and decide whether or not to deploy the emergency parachute. Deploying the rescue when the glider is recoverable may increase the risk of injury. If there is sufficient elevation (AGL), you have sufficient height and the glider is in a flat spin, it is preferable to try first to stop the spin (e.g. full stall), due to the risk of entanglement. On the other hand, a second hesitation in deploying the reserve could prove costly if there is insufficient height. DEPLOYMENT PROCEDURE If you need to throw your reserve then do so with conviction: Look Reach Pull - Throw Look at the handle, grab it and rip it off the Velcro end extend your arm to pull out the deployment bag, throw the bag and handle away from you into clear space, not towards your wing, as hard as you can and LET GO of the handle. Aim to throw with the direction of airflow to aid a fast opening and against the direction of rotation. The most important thing after the reserve is deployed and it is open, is to remember to completely disable the wing so that it does not act against the parachute and cause a down-plane. Whichever method you choose do so symmetrically, you do not want the paraglider to start rotating, this could cause the paraglider to fly into and effectively disable the parachute. REPACKING INTERVALS AURA should be repacked at least every 6 months, as detailed in the packing instructions. We always recommend that this rescue parachute is inspected and repacked by a trained professional repacker. Additional inspections should be performed if there is any suspicion of damage or water landing (which all lines should be re-measured). After a deployment, the rescue should be checked by the distributor or manufacturer. Always seek professional advice whenever in doubt. The materials used in the FLOW rescue have been carefully selected for maximum durability. Nevertheless, maintaining your rescue following the guidelines below will extend its lifetime. It is recommended that a rescue is replaced after 10 years, even if it has never been used. 16 P a g e
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information in this manual is correct, but please remember that it has been produced for guidance only. This owner's manual is subject to changes without prior notice. Please check our website for the latest information regarding the AURA rescue parachute and FLOW PARAGLIDERS products. 17 P a g e
RE-PACKING HISTORY DATE SIGNATURE 18 P a g e
19 P a g e Last revision: 06/01/2016