New gear of the future??

[swoopfly 5]

heyall

i was just curious, i know skydiving gear has came a long way since the first sport rigs, and there has been many changes such as the three ring and hand deploy pilot chute. I was just wondering is there and new gear designs? Something different or on the verge of changing our current skydiving gear?? Is all the inventions that have been made up to this point going to be what is used in the next forty years? or is there any new studies to change any aspect of our gear from what it is today? just curious if anyone knows of any new ideas being put to test that are different than our rigs of today!!! or is the setup we have about as good as its going to get? (not that its bad)

[c10edges 0]

Canopies that pack really really small

[hcsvader 1]

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Canopies that pack really really small

And pack themselves!

Have you seen my pants?
it"s a rough life, Livin' the dream
>:)

[Jbag 0]

already happening, i saw it on star trek :)

IHYD

[JohnRich 4]

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2821904;

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3748665;

[bigway 4]

Gopro three ring cover mounts. Wingsuit pockets for Gopro camera mounts.
Gopro is the camera way of the future.

There is a tsod base jumping rig that can be uses for skydiving.
Soon their will be shoes with air powered blasters for tracking and wingsuits.

Also a elevator to 16000 feet for jumping ;)

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
.

[shropshire 0]

Transparent canopy

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[riggerrob 558]

As long as petroleum remains cheap, we will see more and more manufacturing exported to third world countries like Honduras and China.
Then, when the cost of petroleum rises enough to affect shipping costs, sporting equipment manufacturers will find new marketing methods to make "made in the USA" more fashionable, albeit more expensive.
As manufacturing returns "stateside" we will see more mechanization = more standardization = less customization.
Your only choice will be between blue logos and yellow logos!
Hah!
Hah!
What?

This means that labour-intensive parts - like pin covers - - will be injection-molded from some exotic plastic that has not even been invented yet. Corporate logos will be "embossed" during the molding process.

Sure Parachutes de France has been doing that for a decade or so, but the Americans will catch on any day now1
Hah!
Hah!

"You want your expensive "custom" new rig without logos?
I am not sure if the factory can do that.
It will probably cost you extra.
Didn't you know that the logos are woven in at the start of the thread extrusion process ... a year before rigs hit the showroom floor?"

[riggerrob 558]

The next generation of AADs will include "pull by wire" meaning that reserve ripcords (as we know them) will disappear.
Instead, there will only be a slender, rubber insulated, electrical wire conecting the reserve ripcord handle with the reserve container.
Only riggers with Masters' degrees in electrical engineering will be able to inspect reserves and the price of reserve repacks will go up accordingly.
Hah!
Hah!
Mind you, with triple-redundant GPS, radar altimeters, inertial dampers, etc. the vast majority of reserve deployments will keep humans out of the loop and reserve will only need to be stretched out once every five years.
The disadvantage is that legal arguments about whether the ADD fired at the "correct" altitude will provide employment for an entire generation of otherwise un-employed lawyers.
The few riggers - who remain in business - will follow Ralph Hately's example of hiring a pair of Rottweillers to guard their loft doors.

[JerryBaumchen 1,046]

Hi Rob,

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pair of Rottweillers to guard their loft doors.

So you enjoyed your first visit to HatleyVille!!!

When I was about 10 yrs old I was attacked by a German Shepherd; everytime that I go out to Ralph's those dogs make me nervous.

JerryBaumchen

[DocPop 1]

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Transparent canopy

Is it there?
Is it square?

.....Fuck knows

"The ground does not care who you are. It will always be tougher than the human behind the controls."

~ CanuckInUSA

[shropshire 0]

Quote

Quote

Transparent canopy

Is it there?
Is it square?

.....Fuck knows

Am I flying?
Descending slowly.... flying straight
Can I control it?
That'll do


Use the Force Luke

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[lilchief 0]

I had a talk with a Aerodyne rep this summer about the new ZPX material, and other low bulk fabrics. Now that we get smaller pack volume on reserves and mains, the rigs are simply getting to big for some sizes. I started thinking on how that problem could be addressed.

IMO, the solution would be to keep the same aspect ratio on the rig, to allow the hackey to be at the same place where your arm may reach it. But then we could instead make it slim(height wise) so that it would not be any loose fit and tension would remain constant. If we were to design something that would be narrower sideways and having it at approx the same height, we might end up struggling to reach the PC.

The next step in canopy design as I can see it, would be what Deadlaus is doing now, and reducing the height on the canopy. Other then that, we'll probably need nano-tech materials that will reveal exiting new features.

I've just started on my degree in product development, and it's super exiting to find new solutions. =)

"Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you long to return." - Da Vinci
www.lilchief.no

[Cheach 0]

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already happening, i saw it on star trek :)

THAT made me super happy

I woke up next to a blowup doll Ash....so what do you think?

[kingbunky 3]

maybe one of these with instruments for skydiving? build in a feed from you camera, no more ringsights. altitude and speed display would be cool for almost any discipline. gps feed to show you where you are in relation to the dz would be handy as well.

lay in a 3-d track for an optimal swoop and... never mind, more people would come to rely on it without the proper skill set. one day it stops working and they'd forget to flare.

"Hang on a sec, the young'uns are throwin' beer cans at a golf cart."
MB4252 TDS699
killing threads since 2001

[LouDiamond 1]

Quote

maybe one of these with instruments for skydiving? build in a feed from you camera, no more ringsights. altitude and speed display would be cool for almost any discipline. gps feed to show you where you are in relation to the dz would be handy as well.

lay in a 3-d track for an optimal swoop and... never mind, more people would come to rely on it without the proper skill set. one day it stops working and they'd forget to flare.

It looks promising but they won't have a demo they are estimating until Oct of next year.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[airtwardo 6]

High top 'heel-wheel' sandals with headlights for night swoopin'

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[shropshire 0]

Charcoal impregnated under garments ... to catch a few um ..... escaping vapour odors

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[SansSuit 1]

How about a way of closing the rig without the need for a pull up cord. I'm thinking something like this. The end of the closing loop that is currently fixed becomes longer and only becomes fixed after the rig is closed. To close the rig, you put the pin through the loop THEN tighten the flaps and when tight, the loose end of the closing loop is secured somehow.

I realize that having to carry a pull up is not the end of the world but we are always looking for ways to make our life easier.

Peace,
-Dawson.
http://www.SansSuit.com
The Society for the Advancement of Naked Skydiving

[billvon 2,379]

>Mind you, with triple-redundant GPS, radar altimeters, inertial dampers, etc.

Inertial dampers? I think I saw a Star Trek episode that used them - made the crew feel less acceleration/deceleration. Would be a cool way to tame hard openings.

(Of course, if they work well, they could also make that 120 to 0mph deceleration you feel when you hit the ground a lot more comfortable . . .)

[kuai43 7]

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IMO, the solution would be to keep the same aspect ratio on the rig, to allow the hackey to be at the same place where your arm may reach it. But then we could instead make it slim(height wise) so that it would not be any loose fit and tension would remain constant. If we were to design something that would be narrower sideways and having it at approx the same height, we might end up struggling to reach the PC.

You've got to be kidding - if you have difficulties reaching the small of your back, you've got more problems than wearing a large rig.

Every fight is a food fight if you're a cannibal

Goodness is something to be chosen. When a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man. - Anthony Burgess

[riggerrob 558]

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How about a way of closing the rig without the need for a pull up cord. I'm thinking something like this. The end of the closing loop that is currently fixed becomes longer and only becomes fixed after the rig is closed. To close the rig, you put the pin through the loop THEN tighten the flaps and when tight, the loose end of the closing loop is secured somehow.

I realize that having to carry a pull up is not the end of the world but we are always looking for ways to make our life easier.

...................................................................................................

RD Sports did that back in the 1970s with their Skinny-Pig container. The only problem was that some skydivers reefed so hard on the closing loop adjustment strap that they caused themselves pilot-chutes-in-tow!
Hah!
Hah!

Jim Wallace invented another solution twenty-plus years ago, when he was trying to do fifty-ish jumps in a day and all his own packing.
To sped packing, he tied the (Talon 1) main side flaps out of the way and only used the top and bottom flaps to close the main container. Then he finger-trapped an extra length of suspension line to his closing loop so that his pull-up cord remained with the rig, even when he jumped it. That configuration worked well with only two flaps.
The challenge is to figure out how to make the permanent pull-up cord work with ham-fisted sport jumpers.

May be we should follow Parafun/Advance's lead and make main containers with only two flaps?
Parafun seems to have learned how to make two-flap reserve containers close gracefully.
Maybe Parafun's idea will work better with magnets on main containers????

I have drawn lots of sketches, but have not figured out how to idiot-proof a two-flap main container????
Suggestions????

[riggerrob 558]

Changing handle locations is a bad ieda because it takes hundreds r thousands of repetitions to retrain skydivers.

Accident rates have dropped dramatically since we standardized handle locations circa 1990.

Forget about re-training POPS!
Hah!
Hah!

We should try to retain existing handle locations while making containers ever smaller. That may mean tiny containers with the BOC displaced onto the horizontal back strap, so it FEELS the same even if the corner of the container has shrunk too far from the right hip.

[JohnRich 4]

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May be we should follow Parafun/Advance's lead and make main containers with only two flaps?

I think there was just a tandem fatality incident, outside the U.S., where a side flap opened prematurely, allowing the bag to slip out sideways, dragging the risers from one side through with it. The result was a partially open canopy with a violent spin.

This sounds like a really bad idea to me. I don't want open sides, which allow my bag to slip out unexpectedly.

[davelepka 4]

That was on a tandem rig with, I believe, a smaller canopy than the rig was designed for. Of course, the bigger factor was that the rig was not designed to be operated without side flaps.

On a purpose built rig, canopy/d-bag sizing would be more critical than on current rigs, and if the container was built with only two flaps in mind, other things could be changed to suit. Maybe the sides of the rig would be built up like riser covers, and the the bottom corners would be built into the bottom flap, and designed to stand-up/wrap around when the rig is closed.

Of course, with only two flaps we'd have to figure out another way to stow the excess bridle. On the upside, maybe you could pay less for a two-flap pack job than a regular pack job.