Crossfire

[Torild 0]

I sell parachutes for a living, and as a dealer for most of the manufactureres, I jump most of the canopies that comes on to the market.
I'm not calling myself an expert (like so many others do in this forum), but at least I have jumped most of the canopies out there.
I did about 200 jumps on my Crossfire 129, 100 of them after the re-call. I do hook-turns on about 95% of my jumps. Not once did I have a problem with this canopy.
For all the so called "experts" with their opinions out there, let us give Icarus some credit for making great parachutes. Let's have all the facts before making ourself judges.
Next time it could be your favorite parachute maker that gets slammed!

[LawnDart21 0]

I've read alot of threads/posts about Icarus and the problems with the Crossfire, and I'll be the first to say, I'm not an expert, I only have 430 jumps and I have no affiliation with any canopy company. I had a Crossfire 129 on order from Icarus around August of 2002, and cancelled the order because of all of the safety issues that were raised at that time. I did a ton of research before canelling my order, talking with multiple riggers, multiple 2000+ jump canopy swoopers, and even a jumper sponsored by Icarus that jumped a Crossfire himself. (Not a Team Extreme jumper, just a competive swooper that was a regional sponsor for Icarus). Anyways, long story short, was there any definite reasoning established to say either way "Yes the canopy is safe, or No the canopy is not safe"? No. Nothing concrete. What was concrete was that no one was sure about anything. And I think alot of jumpers, myself included felt that if they were going to spend $1900 on a canopy, they wanted to be supremely confident in the safety of the canopy, and at that time, in the fall of 2001, most people weren't confident in the canopy. So, while I agree with you that Icarus may be getting unfairly flamed over all of this, the bottom line is that people have a right to voice their opinions whether good or bad. I mean, no other company in any otehr industry is above consumer criticism, so why should Icarus be put above it? If people want to complain about Icarus or voice their concerns on a public forum, they are certainly entitled to do so. (As a footnote, I love the Icarus Saphire, and don't have any problems with the company, and wish them well and hope they pull through this).
"I live to EFS"
Tom

[LawnDart21 0]

Oops, almost forgot, I wanted to add, that I was under the impression that the problem with the Crossfire was considered an "anomily", in that most canopies flew fine, and it was only a small population of canopies that were affected. The initial consumer concern was that at the time, no one could give a definative reasoning behind the anomily, and that seemed to scare people away. If the problem was in fact a subtle anomily, as it was widely speculated, then it would make sense that you could possibly jump your canopy a zillion times and not see a problem if your canopy was not prone to the problem, but that same statement that your canopy flew fine, would not negate someone else experiencing the speculated anomily and experiencing any unsafe buffetting. If it were absolutely identifiable, it wouldn;t be an anomily. Anyways, not trying to be a flame, just offering an opposing view.
"I live to EFS"
Tom

[skycat 0]

Well my first crossfire was one of those "anomilies", it didn't occasionally have a problem, every time you pulled the front riser down the nose folded under. My rigger decided to take measurements of the ribs and such, and on the ribs that should have been the same length (airfoil thickness) they were anywhere from 1/2 inch to 1 inch off on a rib that was only 6 inches (or 7 inches depending on which measurement was right) long to begin with that is a big difference. He took some other measurements that had to do with the nose, but those really stick in my head. This was definately a quality control issue on that canopy. Icarus was great to me though, I told them where they could stick their line trim mod and 10 weeks later I had a new crossfire on my doorstep. This one is perfect the ribs that should be the same length are and she is very solid in front riser turns, Derek (hooknswoop) put it threw it's paces several times in no winds and in bumpy high winds, and she few beautifully.
From what I can tell the tolerances on the canopy were/are extremely tight, so if quality control lapsed, you had a problem. This could have happened at any of the manufacturing plants, it just seems that the US one had the most.
Stuff like that can happen on any canopy by any manufacturer, and sometimes the skydiving gods just say nope I don't like the color of that canopy and *poof* it just has issues.

[Torild 0]

Just for information: Yes, this canopy was part of the bulletin.