Tow testing 2: March 7 2024

• Test location: Minute Man Airfield
• Configuration:
  • Parachute connected to the car, bag connected to a long line staked to the ground
  • Reefing line cutter wire activated by flight computer
• Run 1:
  • Original arrangement (cutter wire to its own rope free of the parachute lines)
  • Parachute came out of bag very tangled, did not inflate behind the car
    • We did not repack the parachute before this test and so the tangling was likely due to poor packing
  • Line cutters ignited and cut the reefing line but the parachute still did not inflate
  • After removing from the car the parachute was made to inflate by holding it in the wind
    • This makes us suspect that the car wake is affecting parachute inflation
  • Staked out line was limp and did not seem to have been pulled taut, seems like the parachute just fell out of the bag
• Run 2:
  • Attached the reefing cutter wire to a shroud line
  • Parachute still did not inflate in drogue or main configuration
  • Staked out line was limp again
  • Line cutters did not ignite but were ignited after the test, which seems like it was a connection to flight computer problem