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steve1

What's a Death Rig look like?

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What we would have given for a modern day pilot chute, that will jump clear across the room when you pull the rip cord.



Part of the problem back then was they were still using a 36” bridle. The pilot chute would pop up hit the end of the bridle and ricochet back on the jumper. When they went to a 5 or 6 foot bridle most problems went away.

Sparky
My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

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What we would have given for a modern day pilot chute, that will jump clear across the room when you pull the rip cord.



Part of the problem back then was they were still using a 36” bridle. The pilot chute would pop up hit the end of the bridle and ricochet back on the jumper. When they went to a 5 or 6 foot bridle most problems went away.

Sparky



Easy fix, just put TWO of 'em in there, that way they can pull AGAINST each other! ;)










~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

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What we would have given for a modern day pilot chute, that will jump clear across the room when you pull the rip cord.



Part of the problem back then was they were still using a 36” bridle. The pilot chute would pop up hit the end of the bridle and ricochet back on the jumper. When they went to a 5 or 6 foot bridle most problems went away.

Sparky



Easy fix, just put TWO of 'em in there, that way they can pull AGAINST each other! ;)


Every time! :S

Sparky
My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

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All this talk about cape wells, got me thinking....

You young "Whipper Snappers" may not know what a death rig is....

In the early seventies a few brave souls jumped gear that scared your average jumper. Some of it was perfectly legal, but you had to be a "manly" man to jump it.

We had a couple guys in our club who jumped rigs like that. I used to get scared just looking at them. I think both of those guys, are now both deceased. Jeez, I wonder why?[:/]

There was no messing around with these guys. I think their motto in life, was "No guts, no glory"!

In my mind's eye, a death rig, might have been a pig rig, with one shot cape wells. Complete with Jesus cord, and blast handle. Inside might have been a para-plane. A 24 foot-round-reserve might have topped off their back pack.

I seem to remember a photo of of Airtwardo wearing a rig just like that.....Like I said, if you were really really good, you could survive jumping a death rig, on a regular basis.;)



I had a crossbow container with the main container cut down so it could just contain a Mk1 PC. It had Quick-ejector snaps, blast handles on both the main and the reserve and the top cone had a tendancy to hang-up on pulling if I didn't sit up on opening. The only thing that was ever a problem was that damn top cone. The smaller Thunderbow piggyback had the same issue, made worse by the tall, rotating cone that was on the top flap.

Gary Hattenschwiller, the rigger who supervised me in modifying the main container, solved the cone problem by using a very short cone that I remember as being from a Navy chest pack. Once this was done I never had any problems with pack closures.

My capewells were 1-1/2-shots and the blast handle on the main NEVER gave me any problems (I never had the occasion to pull the reserve on that rig). The reserve ripcord handle had the center post drilled out and both had a metal sleeve that the military used attached to the end of the housing. I don't recall seeing those on any other sport rig with blast handles.

I frankly liked the blast handles. They were always where you expected them to be and were less likely to snag on things.

D-3017

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I'm not a whippersnapper, but I was told a "death rig" was one that someone had gone in on. Supposedly, there were some still being used (not sure why anyone would want to) :o, way back when.

I never knew anyone who admitted to jumping one. It was alway someone who knew someone who.... might be the DZ equivalent to urban myth, though I doubt it.

I'm sure though, that someone somewhere, was jumping pre-bounced gear.



I don't know how common it is, but I do know of one individual who jumped the rig of a friend who had bounced (on April Fool's Day, no less). In fact, it became his primary rig. He is still in the sport, has 20,000+ jumps and runs his own Jump School. I don't know what eventually became of the rig, but I doubt he has it any more (the incident occured nearly 40 years ago).

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I'm not a whippersnapper, but I was told a "death rig" was one that someone had gone in on. Supposedly, there were some still being used (not sure why anyone would want to) :o, way back when.

I never knew anyone who admitted to jumping one. It was alway someone who knew someone who.... might be the DZ equivalent to urban myth, though I doubt it.

I'm sure though, that someone somewhere, was jumping pre-bounced gear.



I don't know how common it is, but I do know of one individual who jumped the rig of a friend who had bounced (on April Fool's Day, no less). In fact, it became his primary rig. He is still in the sport, has 20,000+ jumps and runs his own Jump School. I don't know what eventually became of the rig, but I doubt he has it any more (the incident occured nearly 40 years ago).


Was the dead guy’s last name Fogel**** and the jumper might be JW?

Sparky
My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

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There was a guy sitting in front of me wearing a Green Star rig. I pointed out to him the problem and he said no problem this is not a Trac II.



The Green Star Express is the rig that everyone knows about. They confuse it a lot with the Trac II. There is nothing wrong with a Trac II. It is built the same way a modern rig is built like with respect to the reserve risers. If there is a problem with it I would like know what it is cause I can't pick it out and inevitably I have many other rigs built like that.

I will gladly take photos of any part of the rig and post them to find out this flaw in it. My understanding the rig that had the real problems was the Green Star Express and that was only because of people picking stitches and moving pads. I have never seen a Green Star Express so I don't know of the exact details. But I really would like to know if there is an issue with the Trac II as I can't see anything that is an issue or different construction wise to a modern rig. One thing I should add is that I am not the original owner of the rig so it may have been modified.

Please let me know what the problem is and I will post photos of areas of interest.

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Mine had a tri-con in it, WITH the reinforcing bands...speakin' of 'bands', couple of rubber-bands on the ripcord was quite a help...wouldn't lose it in a function.



A guy I jumped with went in with a spinning partial mal on his Tri-Con.:o He got a broken arm and tailbone out of it.

The last guy I knew still carrying a Tri-Con on his back was using it as a main, in a custom made main container only ~2" thick. He was using a front-mounted pop-top reserve with it.
"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

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