Help understanding AAD ad

[Bloomin0nion12 0]

Hi, I have always heard that aad's are not designed to save you in the case of a cut away. I need help understand the add in the newest parachutist magazine in april 14. on the back page and ad for aad shows canopy cut away. does this mean that it is advertising it will help out in this situation? the cut away looks kindof low too. any insight in this situation would be helpful to me. thanks.

[billvon 2,380]

>Hi, I have always heard that aad's are not designed to save you in the case of a cut away.

Correct. They might, but as experience has shown, they are not very reliable at that task. Specifically they have no way of knowing you cut away, so you have to re-accelerate to above activation speed (taking 4-5 seconds) THEN you have a chance of it firing. Of course, if you cut away at 1000 feet and you get a deployment at 300 feet that may not do you much good - as two people at Rantoul found out one year.

> I need help understand the add in the newest parachutist magazine in april 14.
>on the back page and ad for aad shows canopy cut away. does this mean that it
>is advertising it will help out in this situation?

Well, it's advertising, which should tell you all you need to know. That ad is intended to convince you to buy an AAD.

[mattjw916 2]

if you reach the activation parameters of the device, it will activate... doesn't matter how you got there really

if you cutaway low, don't expect to hit speeds sufficient enough to scare your AAD into firing and have enough time to make it through extraction, inflation, and deceleration before impact

never go in without all your handles pulled

NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

[councilman24 36]

If you have an AAD learn how to operate it, when to turn it on and off and to adjust the settings as needed. Then forget you have it. It is meant to perhaps save your life or your corpse in the last seconds (literally) if you haven't opened a parachute.

RSL's and MARD's are of more use in many/most cutaway situations. Understand how they work, how to choose one, when you might want to unhook it. Then forget you have it. Again, it is meant to help when you fail to function as you should. There is a recent thread on here with a youtube video of a guy testing a base canopy. Plays with it too long. Puts one hand on each cutaway and reserve RC. Pulls cutaway and hand leaves RC for several seconds as he 'swims' unstable. He does pull before AAD fire.

Generally advice above. Okay to ask about misleading ad. Fastest in test refers to 'lock time' in gun vernacular. Claim is that from deciding to activate to firing it is fastest. Not necessarily that it is going to fire sooner after a cutaway than any other. You still have to accelerate to firing speed, be below the firing altitude and NOT be below the deactivation altitude. Understandable confusion with combination of "fastest" text and photo of cutaway main.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[mjosparky 3]

Bloomin0nion12

Hi, I have always heard that aad's are not designed to save you in the case of a cut away. I need help understand the add in the newest parachutist magazine in april 14. on the back page and ad for aad shows canopy cut away. does this mean that it is advertising it will help out in this situation? the cut away looks kindof low too. any insight in this situation would be helpful to me. thanks.

An AAD is not designed to save you in the first place. It is designed to do one thing and that is cut the closing loop at a given altitude and speed.

Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[erdnarob 1]

An electronic modern AAD will cut the reserve closing loop at the altitude designed for a specific mode and therefore will initiate the opening sequence of your reserve canopy provided :

1) you have switched it on at that the DZ you are jumping
2) you understand the AAD manual and have chosen the proper mode
3) you are in a belly to earth position (if you are in a upright position, there will be not anymore a differential pressure between chest and back and the AAD will cut the reserve closing loop 260 ft higher than the chosen mode activation altitude, exception made for the Astra which has a pressure sensor in the front on the main lift web. If you are unstable and tumbling at the AAD activation altitude, no garantee of a proper reserve inflation
4) the size of your reserve is compatible with the size of the reserve container
5) your rigger follows the manufacturer manual to set up the pilot chute, the flaps and the bridle cord properly (some AAD have activated, the closing loop cut while the container has never opened)

As you can see, an AAD alone is not enough to garantee saving your life. You have to understand it and do the proper settings. You need also to have a rigger who will follow the rig manufacturer directives for packing the reserve and closing the reserve container.

Note : Choose a rig with a strong spring pilot chute. That will garantee that the pilot chute get thru the burble behind you in free fall. The pilot chutes on different rigs are far from being equal at jumping high enough behind the jumper's back.

Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.