Rigging The Reflex

[gofastrlbrown 0]

I was wandering if there is a problem getting someone to repack the reserve on a REFLEX or is it like other pop tops. I am new to the sport and need help. The rig has 200 jumps and is excellent shape. No reserve rides yet. You met this somewhere else. I am sorry, but I am still confused about the Catapult system. I have heard about part of the cloth hanging out of the cap made him get out of the plane and fix the pack. Is this all irrevelent.
GOFAST

It is strange, the more I practice, the better I get!

[stratostar 5]

Hello,

We have talked about this before in another thread and for some reason you still feel the need to ask again. No harm in doing so!

For some reason I get the feeling you have been told some of the bogus bullshit going around the industry after a couple people bounced in reflex rigs. Most of what you hear is just that, bullshit!

Like any rig on the market today, the reflex is subject to the abuse and wear and tear of use and it needs to be inspected for damage. Some riggers don't want to pack them, just like racers, those of us who do pack them find that silly, but to each their own under their ticket.

If your finding a hassle of owning a reflex and getting packed where you jump, then deal with it or move on to another dz. You can also make the drive to the farm and have your rigging done @ www.chutingstar.com and I'm sure Mike will be happy to pack your reflex with or without the catapult installed on it.

Don'tlisten to the hype and if you really want to get the inside scoop do a search for "riggermick" while he don;t post much anymore, he might answer your PM. But you will find his post and his view if you seek them out, he would know, he built and tested them.

you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

[rapter 0]

I did know someone who bounced on a new reflex because of a small problem with the closing flap grommet, some of the grommets weren't installed right. There were other manufacturing issues that caused the end of there production early on. It's not the dangerous, they just have a "funk" about them.

Only the good die young, so I have found immortality,

[ZigZagMarquis 8]

Quote

I did know someone who bounced on a new reflex because of a small problem with the closing flap grommet, some of the grommets weren't installed right. There were other manufacturing issues that caused the end of there production early on. It's not the dangerous, they just have a "funk" about them.

An improperly set grommet can happen on any rig.

What are these other "manufacturing issues" you speak of.

OBTW, I'm not a fan of the Reflex either, but will admit that's mostly because of the bad-rap it carries... but but, we're not talking a Green Star Express... reserve risers seperate on deployment here either.

Just trying to figure out what you mean by "other" mfgr issues?

[gjhdiver 0]

Quote

I was wandering if there is a problem getting someone to repack the reserve on a REFLEX or is it like other pop tops. I am new to the sport and need help. The rig has 200 jumps and is excellent shape. No reserve rides yet. You met this somewhere else. I am sorry, but I am still confused about the Catapult system. I have heard about part of the cloth hanging out of the cap made him get out of the plane and fix the pack. Is this all irrevelent.
GOFAST

Well, shoot a PM to riggermick He's the guy that designed the Reflex and owned the company. He posts here regularly.

I had two of them. You can install the reserve with or without the catapult system. The pop top is not like a Racer in that it has one pin and a different quick loop, and there's a trick to snugging it all down nicely. Also, have a rigger check the seating of all grommets on the rig and for general wear.

If it's all good to go, there's nothing wrong with them at all.

[NickDG 23]

Unless you come across a Reflex that went into storage prior to James Martin's death in the year 2000 I'd say they've probably all been checked for grommet issues by now. They were fairly new on the market when James went in.

However the real lesson here, and one most people miss, is it wasn't so much a badly set grommet that killed James. It was that the grommet was set into a thin flap, like in a lot of other rigs of the time, and it snagged the new super thin Vectran suspension lines, that had just become available, and that James had on his main.

Up until then there were plenty of different rigs without perfectly seated (or truly flush) grommets that didn't catch lines because the only available suspension lines were either too fat, or their individual fibers too weak, to get caught on or under a grommet.

So the lesson here is wanting the latest and greatest gear, like James certainly did, may not always be the best strategy. Sometimes it takes time for something brand new in the field to reveal unconsidered incompatibility issues.

I was at James' impact site and while it was obvious he'd had a main/reserve entanglement, it wasn't until someone gently moved some of the lines aside that we saw the Vectran line caught under the grommet.

What we didn't know was there was going to be a second victim in this tragedy. And it was the rigger who inspected the rig and packed the reserve in that Reflex. In my opinion the drag of the two malfunctioning canopies put enough force on the grommet to even further deform it. In its original state I think a lot of riggers, including myself, would have passed it. But the rigger in question went through a hell on earth ordeal both emotionally and financially as a consequence. And it wasn't lost on all the local riggers that there by the grace of god . . .

The true fix wasn't so much to just further pound down on the grommets like some people did right after the accident. It was manufacturers adding some foam into the flaps so the grommets gained a countersunk appearance. If you are now jumping any type of older rig without countersunk grommets and you have super thin suspension lines you are at risk.

This was a very sad affair all around. And the only way it could be any worse is if the lesson - we don't know it all, and we never will - is lost on us . . .

NickD

[riggerrob 561]

Well said Nick!

[Rover 9]

Done 1200 jumps on a Reflex with 1 reserve ride - catapult mode - and had zero problems with it. Reserve is easier to close than a Racer as the Reflex has 1 pin instead of 2.

2 wrongs don't make a right - but 3 lefts do.