Firebird issues

[schellekensP 0]

Hi

Last year, I got addicted to skydiving. I bought my very first rig (Light cayenne 170 main, second hand and fully inspected by firebird itself) and was pretty proud on it. Untill I pulled my pilot chute out. A hard opening.. The first of many. I packed it every way a parachute can be packed. I've let instructors pack him, even a guy who packs parachutes daily in the army. But nothing helped. The openings were some times a little bit slower, but still too hard. Then I had to get my first repack. "Ok, just pull it now" my rigger said. So -luckely- on the ground, i pulled my cutaway handle and got into a little mental shock. "Did you really pull already" he asked. Yes... that reserve parachute didn't came out by itself. It only did with help from my riggers hands. Sended a mail to firebird but didn't get any reaction. Sended it again, and now they started answering and they said ok, that's a human error.
Now last week i did two jumps on thuesday. The first one went open so hard.. really unbelievable. But i didn't had any pain anywhere so.. no problem i guessed. I went to my AFF instructor from last year and asked him to pack it, that it would open very, very, very slow. Gave him five bucks, he packed it pretty clean. next jump, I throw my PC out, it bangs open, could not even think about controlling my parachute, because i was just hanging there and cursing the pain away.
I am 22 years old, never had any health complaint, and now have to get a back scan, because I can't do shit anymore or my lower back hurts like hell..

After hearing other peoples stories about Firebird, I strongly recommand, when buying gear, don't think about buying cayennes. I am not buying any firebird again.

[Southern_Man 0]

Are the lines in trim?

Is the slider the right size?

"What if there were no hypothetical questions?"

[SEREJumper 1]

I'll bite. If this is a real story, I hope you get better soon.

Here are some take away points:

1. If the canopy you just bought opens hard no matter which way/who packs it for you, it's probably a good idea not to jump it anymore (for health reasons). Send it back to Firebird and have them do some test jumps on it to find out what is wrong with it. Also, a $5 for a pack job is pretty cheap, if you want the slow opener, you should have given him $6.

2. If your reserve container totals on the ground, you probably shouldn't pack it back up and go jump your hard opening canopy again. If your reserve container truely did fail to open, take some video of it and post it on YouTube, I'm sure you'll have more believers.

We're not fucking flying airplanes are we, no we're flying a glorified kite with no power and it should be flown like one! - Stratostar

[asphaltpussy 0]

Dear P,
you contacted us per facebook and we answered right away.
We asked you to send us the serial number of your canopy but you didn't. You didn't send us the canopy for inspection. For the reserve issue too, we asked you questions concerning the container type, the reserve type, etc and we did not get any answer. We asked you to send us pics or video but also here we did not get any answer. We take complaints that are related to any reserve very seriously, but every experienced rigger and jumper can tell you, that it is not possible to see what went wrong if you don't provide us details.
Before trying to bash companies that do try to help you resolve any existing problems you should answer to their questions. We do have a bunch of experienced people here in Eloy or in Germany able and willing to help you, but if you don't give them the opportunity, then don't go out and shout simply untrue facts over the roofs. Again, i can ask you to provide us with the info we need, but it's up to you to do so.
George, FBUSA

R&D Firebird USA
Skyventure Arizona Instructor
Eloy, AZ

[treiparinti 0]

Had one experience with firebird regarding a 2nd hand system listed on their website...didn't go as expected.
http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4394725;page=unread#unread

[jurgencamps 0]

I know several people who jump their year. They always react promptly.