Apologies for getting the origins wrong for G-PIGY, (Dragartist won't believe this) but I'm not a spotter.
Strake mentions hang-ups and this reminds me of the story of the first HUPRA test from the Skyvan.
Being a responsible trials organisation Boscombe Down use a dummy to test HUPRA rather than a PJI. The HUPRA dummy is an earlier model Crash Test dummy and wears all the appropriate equipment its just that the mouth of the parachute bag is tied together with a cord that is far stronger than usual.
Anyway, for the trial the dummy is despatched along with all the other static lines and bags of a full stick. These are then towed around the sky whilst the HUPRA dummy is filmed from the Harvard. The HUPRA is connected and once over the DZ the anchor cable is cut and dummy lands under a functioning HUPRA canopy. That's the idea anyway, the trouble with the Skyvan trial was the anchor cable, which is less than half the diameter of that used on a Hercules, and so when the dummy left the Skyvan the shock of the hang-up snapped the anchor cable and the dummy missed the DZ.
Later around the coffee bar the Heavy Drop trials officer who had recently been dropping the Heavy Stressed Platform was talking to the designers from Irvins, and he said "they want to use Ply Tear Webbing like the HSP does to absorb the shock". The result was the SLES which is still used on the Skyvan and its slim anchor cable.
I wish I'd filed for a patent before opening my mouth.
