MC 4 HALO rig

[txjumpjm 0]

Has anyone ever installed an AAD into a MC 4 HALO rig? The only AAD that the rig accepts without mods is the Military Cypress. Any input would be much appreciated!

[ripcord4 0]

I have two different mods for installing a CYPRES. Both require a bit of work on the container. Let me know if interested.

[txjumpjm 0]

I am VERY interested. Please enlighten me. Do you currently jump an MC 4 as well?

[ripcord4 0]

E-mail sent with two mods for MC4 CYPRESS installation.

[ianyapxw 0]

I'm curious, but are people (sport jumpers) jumping the MC-4? I don't see why someone would wanna jump something so lightly loaded, or are they just doing it for like just a fun jump, to say they've used military equipment.

[excaza 1]

Who says they're lightly loaded? The rig weighs around 60 pounds so even slick there are bigger jumpers who can load it up well enough.

[ianyapxw 0]

But this site shows that it is 370 sq ft. http://www.parachuteshop.com/mc4_military_parachute_system.htm

Even with 60 pounds of equipment, and 200 pounds of weight, that's still pretty lightly loaded. Or is it used for tandems?

[monkycndo 0]

There have been posts by big guys weighing in at well over 250 wanting to jump. Most reserves are only TSO'd to 254. Without a big boy rig, they will have a hard time finding gear to use as students.

50 donations so far. Give it a try.

You know you want to spank it
Jump an Infinity

[GGGGIO 0]

I understand the "big boy" rationale that makes some people go down the decommissioned military RAM AIR avenue as, in their mind, it makes up for the lack of civilian reserves with TSO to suit their weight.

Unfortunately that logic exposes a huge hole in the system as well as misinformation and misunderstanding on how these canopies were intended to be used.

Specifically, the hole in the system is caused by the rules having been written when the round parachute was presumably the only game in town and, pretty much, the only available equipment that could be used for sports parachuting. Somehow the regulations were never updated to address the decline of rounds as reserves and allowed squares to fall under the same category as rounds.

As a result sport parachutists, because the regulations say it's ok to use decommissioned military equipment for sport use, even if it does not have a TSO certificate, feel it's safe to use such equipment under sport conditions.

That's how one could end up using an MC-4, MC-5 or any of the MT-1 series parachutes or decommissioned RAM-AIR parachute systems that were designed to safely open at full weight, at 25,000ft and 130KIAS, without blowing up, thinking that the reserve will be of any use if deployed at low altitude, say for argument sake after deploying the main at 2,000ft and experiencing a malfunction, scenario that's possible and legal if a D licence holder.

Further, many of these canopies have no history when purchased on eBay and likely to have been decommissioned for exceeding their serviceability requirements: why would one think that's an ok canopy to use as a reserve?

My point is simply to state that:
1. there's a gap in the system that allows some canopies to be used as reserves that should never be utilized so
2. many people are unaware that they should never use those canopies as reserves and/or why

...just saying