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spex

Timeline of Student Equipment: RSL, AAD, BOC

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I'm trying to get a general profile for when three pieces of gear started to become standard on student gear:
RSL - Reserve Static Line
AAD - Automatic Activation Device
BOC - Bottom of Container, pilot chute pitched manually

I'm sure you already knew the acronyms, just trying to be clear. The first AAD by Cypres came out in 1991, but beyond that I'm struggling to find information that lets me know when they started being used on student gear in the US. The same goes for RSLs and BOC systems.

Any ideas or clues?

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The first AADs were prolly KAP3's a Russian AAD from the 60's, a lot were fitted to the main rather than the reserve. On a time system you had to turn them off under canopy or they would fire regardless.

Then came the SSE Sentinel 2000, I had one when I first jumped in 1974. We also had a lanyard (RSL) to the reserve handle back then, with a front mounted centre pull reserve and a heavy duty power handle for the Sentinel you had to keep your head back when you chopped or risk a smack in the mouth and loss of teeth from it.

The FXC 8000 (?) and FXC 12000 replaced the Sentinels when Snyder stopped production.

BOC for student gear prolly dates from the mid to late 80's when student gear started to change to piggybacks and squares, although ripcords were still in use for a long time because they were easier to see and grab while maintaining a good arch.

I've prolly missed a few bits out, but there'll be another fossil out there who can prolly fill in the gaps.
My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

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Thank you for the information!

I also know that an RSL was at some point commonly called a Stevens Lanyard or Stevens Cutaway System thanks to inventor Perry Stevens D-51 (recently awarded the 2012 USPA Gold Medal for Meritorious Achievement). This was back in the 60s, but no idea as to when they started to become standard on student gear.

Neat to hear that an AAD and RSL was being used on student gear in '74 when you first jumped. Where was this?

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Neat to hear that an AAD and RSL was being used on student gear in '74 when you first jumped. Where was this?




New Zealand.

Once the SSE 2000 came out they became compulsory on student reserves in NZ, not quite sure when that was exactly, but prolly not long before I started. They also came into the picture when EP's changed from hand deploying reserves to cutting away and having reserves with a pilot chute on them.

I was the first student in NZ to do a first jump on a PC which prompted quite a lot of controversy, because at the time a PC was considered too hot to handle for a student, especially if it malled.

The hotshots on the DZ were very leery about AAD's, as students we were told in no uncertain terms to stay the hell out of their way.

My impression of the Sentinel and FXC's was that they were actuallly very good AAD's if used and maintained properly. I saw quite a few saves by them, and not one misfire.....
My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

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Hi Tim,

Quote

there'll be another fossil out there



Yup, here I am. B|

RSL) Perry Stevens invented/developed his RSL about 1964. PARACHUTIST magazine ran an article on how to build/use in about 1967; that is when it began to take off. But it 'took off' rather slowly, some dz's simply did not think it was best to have a student cutaway when faced with a malfunction. When piggybacks became the norm for students, probably around early to mid-80's is when the RSL as we know it became the standard.

AAD) I made my first jump in early 1964 and Snyder was building Sentinels at that time. I 'think' his first one was about 1963; but that is before my time.

BOC) Probably was not a real 'development' as to being more of a relocation. I think the BOC's were becoming the norm in the early 80's for experienced jumpers.

Just from a not-so-perfect memory. :o

JerryBaumchen

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I bought a Crossbow Yellow rig made in 1964 that had an RSL. It also had one-shots . It pulled the whole reserve housing off as it left. There was a heavy-duty elastic wrap on the left main lift web. The reserve flap had 4snaps.
I converted my Wonderhog to BOC myself in 1976 or 77 to accommodate my Eddie Mosher Swing -Wing jump suit. The belly band pass thru wouldn't work.

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Hang on -- with pilot chutes we need to distinguish more than just BOC's, which didn't exist for a long time.

For example, on my first jump in '88, a Canadian PFF, I hand deployed from a belly band. Experienced jumpers then and in the early 90s had however already changed over to "ROL" leg throw outs. Nobody would put a deployment handle some place you couldn't see, that would be crazy!

Well, there always were the small proportion of people who used pull-outs, but one always seemed to hear tales of one of those types going in with a floating pud.

BOC throwouts didn't start appearing until the 1990s. My '91 Paragear seems to show no BOC's, but by the '93 catalogue, a couple companies had them, while most were still ROL.

Student gear can of course often be quite a few years old, so the latest innovations aren't always seen at most DZ's for quite a while.

I'm not really familiar with US training methods, but in Canada IAD was around at some DZ's in the 80s onwards, which allowed for using "more normal" rigs for student training than if one used static line. In a similar vein, Canadian PFF used normal style rigs, while in the US, AFF jumps had to be done with spring loaded main pilot chutes. Allowing possibly tumbling students to use a hand deployed pilot chute was considered far too dangerous to allow, I suppose.

When did US AFF change from using spring loaded pilot chutes and allowing hand deploy?

(The '93 Paragear shows only student rigs with spring loaded pilot chutes, being advertised for AFF use.)

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pchapman

Hang on -- with pilot chutes we need to distinguish more than just BOC's, which didn't exist for a long time.



That's exactly why I specified. Great to hear about all the other manual throw methods and their timeline. Thank you!

pchapman

Student gear can of course often be quite a few years old, so the latest innovations aren't always seen at most DZ's for quite a while.



Agreed, which is exactly why I specified. It's much easier to pin down dates for when the gear was first used, but when it started being used for students is harder.

Thank you so much for your information and questions! Here's hoping we can find some answers.

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FXC had a predecessor AAD that was available in the 1970's; I think it was called the 1200. And, in addition to bellyband and ROL, there were also FOL throw-outs for people who had reverse hardware (thread-throughs on the back of the leg instead of the front).

Stevens cutaway was endemic in Houston in 1975. But I only had a Sentinel for my first couple of freefalls; not everyone thought static line students needed them.

Wendy P.
There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

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Hi spex

Interesting topic.

During the time period your talking about a lot of gear was regional,

when did a cypress start being used in the US?

Of course someone was the first, but if your asking when the cypress became std on student gear I think the realistic answer would be when they became required by USPA.

If your looking for some additional topics try and figure out when and why:

POBs were eliminated from student gear
The increase in wingloading of student sqs over time
Collapseable PC
Step in harnesses

R

R
One Jump Wonder

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" there were also FOL throw-outs for people who had reverse hardware (thread-throughs on the back of the leg instead of the front leg



What was the purpose of relocking the thread thru in the rear?

Maybe to reduce the snag hazard to the FOLPC.
Interesting never saw that in missouri:S
One Jump Wonder

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faulknerwn

Cypres'es started becoming available in the early 90's, but well into the late 90's early 2000's I was still seeing FXCs and Sentinals on student gear. I really think that FXCs started fading out about the same time that round reserves mostly went away.


I had a Fxc on my student gear in 2001.
Propblast

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Krip

Quote

" there were also FOL throw-outs for people who had reverse hardware



What was the purpose of relocking the thread thru in the rear?



I don't know if others used it, but I did see the "rear" leg hardware a couple times on style & accuracy gear. Then it makes sense, as a way to get the metal lumps away from the crotch-to-leg intersection, for people using a tight style tuck.

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BOC is a very recent innovation on student gear.
Back in the good old days, students started on military-surplus static-lines, then progressed to military-surplus 4-pin ripcords.
USPA stubbornly clung to main ripcords for students for DECADES.
Actuaaly, the first student jump with a hand-deploy pilot-chute was done circa 1975 ... a few eeeks after hand-deploy pilot-chutes were invented. The jump was done with the instructor hanging onto the pilot-chute as the student dropped away from the airplane. This jump was documented in PARACHUTIST magazine, circaq 1975. However, hand-deployed pilot-chutes were ignored in the USA for a couple more decades.
Instructor-Assisted-Deployment is a separate debate, for a later post.

In 1979, Tom MaCarthy introduced new student contaienrs to his school in Gananoque, Ontario. The new containers resembled Wonderhogs and had their hand-deployed pilot-chutes mounted n pockets on their belly-bands. Tom taught all his freefal students to toss their own pilot-chutes.
Over the 1980s, most Canadian schools converted to piggyback containers with throw-out pilot-chutes.
On early rigs, those pilot-chutes were mounted on belly-bands.
Later rigs mounted pilot-chutes on the back of leg-straps, following the change in fashion for fun jumpers.

The next major change was instigated by (American ) Roger Nelson (circa 1995) when he explained how it was easier for freefall students to deploy stable (maintian their arch) if they pulled from the bottom of the container.

In 1997, Rigging Innovations introduced the Telesis 2 student container with a (standard) BOC pouch.

Then USPA schools tripped over each other in their haste to convert to BOC hand-deployed pilot-chutes.
It wa samusing for a Canadian to watch!
Hah!
Hah!

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putting the hardware on the rear made me less likely to bruise; the most common options were either B12 or quick release snap buckles, so thread-throughs were an improvement already, and moving them to the rear of the legstraps made them even more comfortable and less likely to bruise.

Wendy P.
There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

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wmw999

putting the hardware on the rear made me less likely to bruise; the most common options were either B12 or quick release snap buckles, so thread-throughs were an improvement already, and moving them to the rear of the legstraps made them even more comfortable and less likely to bruise.

Wendy P.



Thank you,

I think your explanation makes more sense than the hard tuck to turn style.

With bruise, s in the area your talking about:$

If the drs saw those bruises someone could get in trouble. :ph34r:

R
One Jump Wonder

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Krip

I think your explanation makes more sense than the hard tuck to turn style.



Although the intent may have been for general comfort for any jumper, Style was still a driving factor in some cases: the couple times I saw the reversed leg hardware, it was on gear specifically for Style & Accuracy, by Rigging Innovations.

For example, using archive.org, back at the end of the '90s, R.I. did have the Reverse Thread Through option for their Classic Pro rig, but not for their other rigs like the Talon 2. It was thus not seen as something that most jumpers wanted.

Perhaps Wendy P. enjoyed having reversed hardware on a regular rig from another company?

All this reminds me, there's another reason about why the BOC was put into regular production. When the first hip rings appeared, it would be pretty awkward to run a line of velcro across the ring from the pack to the leg strap. Hence the need to 'invent' the BOC.

(There were rigs with rings at webbing joints even back in WWII, but I guess Rigging Innovations Flexon was first in skydiving, and they got a patent for it.)

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pchapman

Perhaps Wendy P. enjoyed having reversed hardware on a regular rig from another company [than RI]?



I had reverse step-ins on my Wonderhog Sprint. I liked that the pilot chute throw from the front of the leg strap was a much more natural motion than the half-twist an ROL requires.

Mark

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That's what I had as well. Went back to "regular" step-throughs on my Mirage, however, and I'm not sure why -- it might not have been an option.

Wendy P.
There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

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Getting this thread back on track, the RSL was not needed on student equipment until they jumped canopies that needed cutting away. The Crossbow and PC canopies were the first of that ilk, but in 1964 these were the hot canopies and for very experienced jumpers only. Maybe even to the experienced jumper the notion of cutting away and having everything on their back - reserve and main - was enough to make Security include the Steven's lanyard on the Crossbow rig?

When did students first have to consider cutting away? Or was it that any jumper transitioning to piggyback gear with PC type canopies that needed to be cutaway were the ones getting into trouble in the air and needing the assistance (security?) of a Lanyard?

As for AADs I guess these were fitted at the DZOs discretion. There was probably a huge case for an AAD for a free-fall student in any era.

I have an FXC8000 on my Mini System's reserve in my vintage collection but this was for a PC as main and belonged to an experienced jumper.


In the UK RSLs became standard on student and transition gear from about 1990,
AADs depended on the DZ ; most DZ's had FXC12000s on early free-fall student gear from the mid 1980s onwards on the chest mounted reserves.
AADs on piggyback student gear again became more and more prevalent from 1990 onwards

With the introduction of AFF (early to mid 80s?) and Ram Air Static line (early to mid 1990s) in the UK, AADs and RSLs were pretty much mandatory on these rigs.

Manual BOC deployment appeared early 2000s in the UK if my memory serves me well.

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