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AggieDave

Skyhook cutaway(s) at Aggieland

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This past weekend, at the AOTMB in Aggieland, RWS was on hand and brought one of their cutaway rigs with a Skyhook installed.

I was one of the people that jumped it and wanted to share my impression, since this is a fairly new device in the sport skydiving world.

Went out of the CASA at 13.5, built a 3-way round on our bellies, broke off and pulled at 6k. My "buddy" who packed the main packed about 10 linetwists in for some humor (It was a PD-210, F111 main).

Flew that around for a bit and chopped at 2k. I had really planned to put the main into a good spin before I chopped, but the spot was a bit long and that didn't happen...

I pulled the cutaway for the main and basically as I was saying "I don't think the skyhook fired" to myself, I was under a reserve canopy. The reserve was open in about 100ft from my cutaway (estimate from my analog alti and from the jumpers following me under canopy). It felt sort of like the trap door effect. Slight drop, slight excelleration, then snatch force.

Overall I was really impressed with the Skyhook system. The other jumpers that jumped the cutaway rig this weekend all had the same impression as I, as well.


Some interesting notes about the cutaway rig, it was setup as a normal rig with the "main" canopy on the bottom and 1st reserve on top, with the backup reserve on the belly. A little different then some of the cutaway rigs I've seen before, which had the "main" canopy on the belly. The belly reserve was basically the reserve part of a Vector3 container with the same 4 hooks used by RWS for their tandem harnesses (well, the top hooks were the old RWS hooks with the locking pin). Another interesting note, the belly reserve had a Cypres as well. The 1st reserve had the reserve handle in the same place as the reserve cutaway, just stacked on top of each other. The big difference is that the handles were outboard instead of in board on the MLW, since there was a belly mounted reserve. Not as high as on the RWS tandem systems, actually basically the same height as a sport rig's handles, but outboard.


Main: PD-210
Reserve: PDr-176
Belly Reserve: PDr-160

(RWS's own Egon was kind enough to let me jump the cutaway rig and was cool and forgiving when I landed and had to tell him that I had a serious brainfart and tossed the cutaway handle.:$).
--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

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i have jummed the skyhook also.. i used a pd sabre2 98. with a pd106 reserve and unstowed one toggle at 2200 ft and cut away at 1800 feet. and had a reserve over my head in aprox 75 feet. with out any line twists or anything.

it opens your reserve to full line extention soo fast that a high performace spinning mal, cutaway and reserve deployment wont even give you line twists...

i was spinning when i chopped but i was at about 45-70 deg angle i wasnt wrticle with the canopy///... but i was still spinning..

;preatty cool peice of eguipment.... and such a siple design

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When you say the reserve was open in 100 ft does that mean it was fully inflated or to line stretch?



the reserve is at full line streatch before you can get your right arm fully extended....

the reserve is at full deployment at usually about75-100 ft..

bill booth told me you could cut away at 100 ft from a high performance spinning mal and land under a fully inflated reserve....

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Pablito got to pack it a few times, which was good for him, since he's a new rigger, he got to see his packjobs being used and get the practice (never mind the $$).


Mark,

I mean it was open, fully open within about 100ft.

I can' think of a handful of incidents right off the top of my head where a Skyhook deployed reserve could have saved some lives.
--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

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Pablito got to pack it a few times, which was good for him, since he's a new rigger, he got to see his packjobs being used and get the practice (never mind the $$).


Mark,

I mean it was open, fully open within about 100ft.

I can' think of a handful of incidents right off the top of my head where a Skyhook deployed reserve could have saved some lives.



so will we start seeing this design in other rigs anytime soon?

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Well, since it effects the TSO, I doubt we'll see it for a while. Also, it is a patented device that RWS has, so I imagine that they'll offer it up in a few years, sort of like they did with the 3-rings. The problem they see (according to their rep) is that when they did that with the 3-rings, they saw some mods done, some ok, some really bad (mini-risers/rings w/o reinforcement for example).

So I guess what I'm saying is that we will see it on other rigs, just not soon.

I wish, since I can't afford a new rig and I would really really like to have a skyhook on my Wings.
--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

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bill booth told me you could cut away at 100 ft from a high performance spinning mal and land under a fully inflated reserve....


Do me a favor and don't try that when I'm around, mmkay:)

I'm not trying to bag on the Skyhook, but I think that statement is pretty irresponsible.

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Anybody know if the Skyhook will ever be available for other type of rigs? I have a Talon 3 that is quite new, but I would love to have the skyhook. When it comes to the crunch this one could really make a difference....
---------------------------------------------------------
When people look like ants - pull. When ants look like people - pray.

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Anybody know if the Skyhook will ever be available for other type of rigs? I have a Talon 3 that is quite new, but I would love to have the skyhook. When it comes to the crunch this one could really make a difference....



check aggiedave's post a few above yours

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bill booth told me you could cut away at 100 ft from a high performance spinning mal and land under a fully inflated reserve....


Do me a favor and don't try that when I'm around, mmkay:)

I'm not trying to bag on the Skyhook, but I think that statement is pretty irresponsible.




ok say im loading a vx at 2.2 and for some dumb ass reason im spinning and i got that low...... do you not think im going to the hospital if i dont cut it away????.... if i had the skyhook i would take my chances........ but behond all else .... i will not be putting myself in that situation.....

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Right on Dave, good summary.

I too jumped the skyhook intentional cutaway rig at the AOTMB and it was really impressive. I was a little hesitant about chopping it at 2,000 but I had trust in the system and Pablo so I went for it.

The thing works like a champ. The reserve was out before I could look up and it was an awesome experience seeing how I have never had a cutaway before.

Big thanks to Egon and RWS.

Clint D-24352



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bill booth told me you could cut away at 100 ft from a high performance spinning mal and land under a fully inflated reserve....


Do me a favor and don't try that when I'm around, mmkay:)

I'm not trying to bag on the Skyhook, but I think that statement is pretty irresponsible.




ok say im loading a vx at 2.2 and for some dumb ass reason im spinning and i got that low...... do you not think im going to the hospital if i dont cut it away????.... if i had the skyhook i would take my chances........ but behond all else .... i will not be putting myself in that situation.....

ummm I think he means a cutaway on an odd numbered 3rd Tuesday of the month. Seriously, as a BASEr, though I´ve done some sub 100´rs, non freefall jumps ie S/L or PCA, These fixed objects had a fixed height that was unchanged by my level of stress. I really don´t think that one could say at which point one was AT or JUST ABOVE 100ft whilst in a Hiperf spin...This would be only an "afterfact" observation supported by video or other electronic means.
Being a BASE Instructor( Licensed even ), I have a student that AFAIK, holds the unofficial record for lowest freefalls, This was done via using horizontal speed build up prior to exit to inflate the canopy as exit was acheived. Note that these were all "slider off" jumps.. I think you possibly misunderstood BB or he was speaking of a certain set-up of reserve system.
Anyway, take care
space

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bill booth told me you could cut away at 100 ft from a high performance spinning mal and land under a fully inflated reserve....


Do me a favor and don't try that when I'm around, mmkay:)

I'm not trying to bag on the Skyhook, but I think that statement is pretty irresponsible.




ok say im loading a vx at 2.2 and for some dumb ass reason im spinning and i got that low...... do you not think im going to the hospital if i dont cut it away????.... if i had the skyhook i would take my chances........


Honestly? I think either way you're going to the morgue, and that's all I'm going to say, having at least a dozen Sorcerer cutaways with and without sliders.

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but behond all else .... i will not be putting myself in that situation


That's the best thing to do:)

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It´s not very good fotos but the tech details are there.



For anyone who reads German...:S



I´m not trying to sell anything, sooooo.... if one is really interested, there are actual websites that translate websites that one can use.. have fun,
take care,
space

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Rooster from RWS was at Sebastian this weekend letting people do it too. I have never seen anyone under a reserve that quick! It's an awesome chance to know what a cutaway is like if you've never had one. It's also a great chance to try and pack yourself a malfunction (it's harder than you think) I'd recommend it to everyone, very very cool. He said he'd be back in a couple of weeks with a bigger reserve, as all he had was a 106sqft, F-111 with 100+ jumps on it...not for the inexperienced.

-R

You be the king and I'll overthrow your government. --KRS-ONE

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