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rhys

Thomas sports equipment risers, faulty?

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With the recent mandatory 3 ring inspection imposed in australia by the APF we found all 3 of the teardrop containers (risers) at our dropzone to be manufactured incorrectly.

thay have been grounded and destroyed now.

What was peculiar is athat all of the teardrp risers were made the same wit the same faults.

The loop for the cutaway cable too short and the loop for the middle ring (large ring in the riser) too long.

No metal to metal contact in the rings and all with exactly the same problem.

I suggest that all teardrop owners have their risers inspected asap
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

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As a British rigger I can advise that TSE have superb customer service ; and just as with any skydiving gear, the manufacturer is a great first point of contact for any matters of concern.

If you haven't already, then please speak to Sally or Chris - contacts on http://www.thomas-sports.com/ - I'm sure they will help you and would like to hear more.

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Quote

IMO, you should have kept at least one riser to return to the mfr so that they could examine it & see exactly what you were concerned about.

This possibility is no longer available,

JerryBaumchen



That is not actually the case, the risers were cut above the ring attachment points and one of the guys is sending his back to se if they will replace them.

All 6 risers of the 3 sets made by TSE were identically manufactured incorrectly.
I have published this publicly so that owners of this equipment can be aware of a potential problem that 'could' present a safety problem.

2 sets of Talon risers and 3 sets of TSE risers have been grounded out of about 50 rigs (mostly strong tandems) of most of the popular manufacturers. at our DZ alone.
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

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Interesting.

Actually thats a "Safety Notice", not a "Service Bulletin".

This is the Service Bulletin
http://www.apf.asn.au/documents/pdf/Service_Bulletins/thomas-sports-equip/tse197.jpg

Makes no mention of the "Three bloke test"

C.

Brother Wayward's rule of the day...
"Never ever ever go skydiving without going parachuting immediately afterwards."
100% PURE ADRENALENS

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1. Actually, Rob mentioned a Service Bulletin, then Craig quoted a Safety Notice. Two different things, with different likelyhoods of being passed on to skydivers overseas.

2. The Service Bulletin posted earlier is a different one entirely.

;)

C.


Brother Wayward's rule of the day...
"Never ever ever go skydiving without going parachuting immediately afterwards."
100% PURE ADRENALENS

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Hmm, interesting.
I have an old Teardrop container manufactured 1990, which I have since grounded myself as I did not feel comfortable jumping it.
Was told by several people that the risers had "stretched" and this is why there was no metal on metal contact, but after reading this maybe it was always like that? (Bought the rig second hand).

Thanks for the info.

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I doubt if your risers "stretched" so badly that rings no longer align.
More likely they were sewn in the wrong place.
Remember that tolerances are very tight on mini risers (one inch wide Type 17 webbing) and even an eighth of an inch misalignment can drastically change ring alignment and pull forces.

Again, the best answers are found in that Service Bulletin, Technical Notice, whatever the heck you call it issued by Thomas Sports Equipment.

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more than likely the riser grommets and hard housing grommets were not aligned when the inspection was carried out causing you to think a servicable riser was not metal to metal.
look at the diagram from the apf service buletin it has to be in that config to get metal to metal.

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