chuteshack 4 #1 April 19, 2013 the first auto opener for skydiving was the Sentinel . designed and sold by Steve Snyder Enterprises in 1959. it was based on a canadian built altimeter an.d was basically just an altitude switch that was manually turned on at altitude before exit, and manually turned off after opening. electrical in nature, when the firing altitude of 1000 ft was reached , the altimeter needle would touch 2 contacts , mounted on the on/off quadrant . this would complete the circuit and fire a pyrotechnic cartridge mounted in the end of a barrel on the reserve ripcord.the gasses from the cartridge would expand and drive a piston , to which both reserve pins were attached, and withdraw them from the locking cones. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
propblast 0 #2 April 19, 2013 How about the KAP-3?Propblast Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
beets 0 #3 April 19, 2013 If you forgot to turn the unit off after opening, it'd cost you $4 for the reserve repack as an incentive. It was 1969, and I'd go home and tell everybody just how safe this sport was. Ignorance is bliss. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JerryBaumchen 1,048 #4 April 19, 2013 Hi beets, Quote If you forgot to turn the unit off after opening In the summer of '64 we had one dufus who was just about to board the plane when some kids started asking him some questions about his gear. They asked what that was ( his Sentinel ) and he told them. They then asked how did it work. He said you just turn it on like this. KABOOM - Time for a repack & new cartridge. JerryBaumchen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chuteshack 4 #5 April 19, 2013 i saw that scenario MANY times at the DZ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riggerrob 558 #6 April 21, 2013 Please don't tell that to Martin-Baker, the Royal Air Force, the United States Air Force, the Russian Air Force, etc. pilots who wore auto-openers in their ejection seats before 1959. Let's face it, the first generation of of skydiving AADs (e.g. FXC 8000) were developed from ejection seat technology. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JerryBaumchen 1,048 #7 April 22, 2013 Hi rob, Quotethe first generation of of skydiving AADs (e.g. FXC 8000) Nope, as stated the Sentinel was the very first skydiving-specific AAD. It was built solely for that purpose. JerryBaumchen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chuteshack 4 #8 April 23, 2013 rob, i said SPORT , not military Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
propblast 0 #9 April 23, 2013 Quoterob, i said SPORT , not military Thats why I asked. I was always under the impression that the KAP-3 started life as a sport AAD and then became a military one. I guess from what you are stating I am wrong. Cheers.Propblast Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
steve1 5 #10 April 23, 2013 I told this story at least once before, but maybe this would be a good place to tell it again. Yes, I'm a windy old fart. In 1970 we were seated in the Green Beret Parachute Club bar. We were supposed to be pulling a detail, but we all ghosted out to enjoy a cold one. Our sargent, in charge, was a cool dude. He had orders for Nam, and I guess he didn't care if he got in trouble or not. He was also a skydiver. I told him I might be interested in learning how to skydive. So, he tried to sell me his rig. He figured he wouldn't need it where he was going. He then proceeded to tell us one jump story after another. I was fascinated by all this. That bar had cool pictures on every wall. All of us were airborne qualified, but this sargent was the only one who skydived. Somebody brought up the question of automatic openners. So Sarge told us his experiences with that. I'm not sure which type it was. Maybe the year 1970 might help with that. At any rate, shortly after leaving the plane he was in the middle of a style routine. He was doing a back loop when his rig openned. His automatic openner had fired. He said when he got on the ground, he ripped this gizmo off his rig, and threw it as far as he could into the bushes.....Maybe the early ones weren't too dependable. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chuteshack 4 #11 April 23, 2013 could have been a HI TEK(forerunner to the FXC) they had lOTs of problems early on. The Sentinel Mk 2000 was introduced in 1971 so it wasnt one of those. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riggerrob 558 #12 April 24, 2013 QuoteQuoterob, i said SPORT , not military Thats why I asked. I was always under the impression that the KAP-3 started life as a sport AAD and then became a military one. I guess from what you are stating I am wrong. Cheers. .................................................................... Back during the 1930s the French and Russian Armies sponsored a variety of sport parachuting clubs and schools. The KAP-3 was developed - in Russia - for these para-pseudo military jump clubs. Both the Russians and the French were hoping to use sport parachuting clubs to recruit para-troopers for the coming World War. Well into the 1980s, the French Ministry of Sports and Youth still sponsored civilian sports parachutists in France. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
propblast 0 #13 April 25, 2013 Rob, Yep. Thats why I thought it was the first skydiving aad. I still think that. Cheers Propblast Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
