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Monsterchute

incidents/unsafe situations with non freefly friendly gear

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Can anybody tell me about incidents or unsafe situations that accured due to non freefly friendly gear? I have read a lot about freefly friendly gear and stuff, but barely anything about real incidents that happend.
What is the greates danger with non freefly friendly gear?

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Thing i was affraid of the most, when i jumped "non freefly friendly" rig, was horseshoe. some bridle was exposed and i was affraid that a container could open up when i'd be sit flying...
"George just lucky i guess!"

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you dont want any premature openings at thouse speeds freefly are done in.They will most likely ruin the canopi(main or reseve)and you. there fore you cover much as you can,in a way it dont make drag and in that way make a premature pull at eirther main or reserve. I have seen one who had a premature in sitly,he didnt jump for a week,and had to pay the doc a visit,and he were lucky..

Stay safe
Stefan Faber

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I had an older javelin rig, BOC pocket was a bit worn also. During a sit, I felt the bridle as it wrapped around my right arm. managed to get it clear and had a rather hard opening. Had BOC pouch replaced and a small piece of velcro added to bridle. Then. . . never used it for FF again!

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I allready did that. :)It is not freefly friendly, i got the bridle secured better, more modifications are not possible.:( Thats why i am stuck to rather slow sitflying, some people can even keep up to my sitspeed on their belly. I will be getting new gear anyway.
But it is not the answer i asked for, thanks for the tip anyway;)

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Does anyone know why every "new" rig on the market wouldn't be made freefly friendly? It seems like all the freefly mods are safer for bellyflyers as well. I'm my opinion, how could a container manufacturer not make a rig that was freefly friendly? It just seems like everyone would benefit from a more secure rig.

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It just seems like everyone would benefit from a more secure rig.

they should install it automatic,as seatbelth are in cars.i cant see any negative to a rw jumper,flying a safer rig..

Stay safe
Stefan Faber

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Can anybody tell me about incidents or unsafe situations that accured due to non freefly friendly gear? I have read a lot about freefly friendly gear and stuff, but barely anything about real incidents that happend.
What is the greates danger with non freefly friendly gear?



I've gotten my rig off and saw the reserve flap halfway open, twice. No idea how that happened, could've been lines on the ground, whatever. But both times I had been sitflying.
I have an older Atom which doesn't have the tuck in for the reserve flap. So I had my rigger sew a CRW flap on it, which besides preventing lines from snatching on the reserve flap while doing CRW (which I usually don't with this rig because the canopies won't fit), it also deflects air when head-up. Simple / cheap solution, never happened to me again.

ciel bleu,
Saskia

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I actually know of 2 real incidents.

One: Our very own IFlyMe experienced a premature deployment in a stand. He, and his gear were OK. (Lucky, I guess) It was found that a loose boc mouth was most likely the culprit.

Two: A skydiver with about 100 jumps was doing sitfly in a student rig and had a premature deployment. I don't know what kind of gear he was wearing, he just told me that it wasn't freefly friendly. (Most likely, there wasn't sufficient bridal protection.) The bridal wrapped around his arm and broke it badly. He was out of the sport for about a year I think.

As someone else said, talk to your rigger. Freefly friendly is good!

Gale
I'm drowning...so come inside
Welcome to my...dirty mind

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Thanks for mentioning the student gear aspect and freeflying. As flame retardant, let me first say the the gear I've seen varies from DZ to DZ.

However, at a couple of places I have asked newer jumpers with student gear if they were planning to sit-fly, partially for exit order and partially as a result of looking at their rig. In a couple of cases I advised that they flat-fly the jump, since in one case there was a marginal-looking Velcro main flap and in another a main cover that had trouble staying closed. I suggested that this rig may not be the best to jump, period. More recently, the place I jump has stuff that is in better shape to allow the user to free-fly if desired.

In a nutshell, some of this older gear needs attention. Just be watchful.
|
I don't drink during the day, so I don't know what it is about this airline. I keep falling out the door of the plane.

Harry, FB #4143

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Can anybody tell me about incidents or unsafe situations that accured due to non freefly friendly gear?




A few jumps ago I was trying to sitfly. After fumbling all over the sky I tracked away from my coach and reached back to throw out and felt quite a bit of bridle flapping around. Fortunately, there were no problems and I had a normal deployment, but that was my first, and last scare. No sitflying in it since. My rig is an older Racer. I'd rather stay on my belly until I can afford a new container then face a horseshoe mal.

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Ok pop quiz regarding the freefly mods commonly used on a vector II:
I have addon bridle pocket, new (under a year old) ubertight boc, tight riser cover velcro, main tuck tab retainer elastic across the back of the flap and the old somewhat cracked pin cover stiffener has been reinforced. Been freeflying this for some time now, seems to work great, zero problems. The question: anybody out there freeflying a v2 with mods have any problems with it attributable to its origins as non-freefly friendly? If so, what happened?
edit: I just saw the in response to thread appear and read it. The v2's described sounded like factory stock. I mean any case where the mods failed to do their job...
Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

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I have sewn "bridle hider flaps" onto several older Vectors, Mirages, Javelins and Sidewinders. The extra flap is sewn onto the bottom flap and resembles the current production standard for Javelins.
Al MacDonald has seen my mods an incorporated a couple of them on new Sidewinders.

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I have been in a sit on level with and about four feet away from someone with freefly friendly gear when I suddenly saw a burst of color. About the time I realized it was a pilot chute, they were gone. It is a freaky thing to have happen.

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www.jumpelvis.com

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This is not to do with "non freefly freindly gear" specifically ... it's to do with maintaining gear. I had a premature deployment when I was in a stand. Fortunately, I was not injured. As it turns out, the mouth of my BOC was too loose, and my p/c slipped out in the airstream. Needles to say, I had my rigger tighten it up immediately!



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Hey, Phree -

For some reason my PC has horrible problems with AVI files - it plays the sound but no video on about half the ones I try, and it just refuses to try to play about another quarter. About 25% of the time they play fine. I am using the Windows Media Player, which I keep updated. Can you suggest a different (free) player?

Brent

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www.jumpelvis.com

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I had a premature 2 jumps ago at around 8k with some rented student gear, even though I made sure that the pilot chute was secure enough, I guess it wasn't...

Lesson learned:. don't freefly with student gear...

I forgot to add that the premature was hard enough that it ripped the pilot chute along with the bag from the top of the canopy.

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Be proud of your slow sit speed and get some belly flyer to do a hybrid dive with you! My sit averages about 124 or so. I've been having a blast doing a hybrid with a very good belly flyer. He docks on my knees, we part, turn 360, redock, laughing our asses off all the way to separation/track altitude!! Yeehaw!
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Attitude is everything!

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My Javelin J3 was originally purchased for a 190 sqft main. A previous owner had a 150sqft in... during a sit had a premature deployment.

After this, Velcro was added to the bridle and bottom of the container. AND, an elastic strap was sewn on the bottom flap to help secure tuck tab from the top flap. I am told this was a mfgr recommended mod.

With the 170 sqft main that was in it when I purchased it I noticed a few hesitations after tossing out, but nothing serious. By this time the elastic strap was quite worn and stretchy.

One day, I had a Pilot Chute in tow. I cleared it by pulling the bridle. This ripped the elastic strap in half. I had the elastic replaced. The new elastic held too well. The second jump with it was another pilot chute in tow and could not be cleared. It ended up being two canopies out, main bridle/freebag entanglement, then a sweet landing under reserve. The next morning was when we finally figured out the elastic strap mod was actually causing the PIT.

I now jump it without the elastic strap, but with the Velcro securing the bridle. I have had no issues sit flying. (open flaps or loose bridle) AND, I will now always cut away if the PC and Bridle are not in the BOC.

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