Unstable

That is 3 votes for the Firebolt. Call Parachute labs and get a demo. They're good people. Incredible power in all stages of the flare.

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What rig is that, with the pins in the backpad?

Brand new 2017 Racer 2K3 -

(Please please please please viewers let's not hijack this thread. I answered the question).

How about that Vigil Cuatro, eh?

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Nope this isn't a joke. I decided to share after I argued with some 50 jump wonder today on facebook who was sold on all the virtues of the product.

This has to be a joke. I can think of many reasons to do a good pin check and this would solve none of them. Besides - the whole marketing approach of "Who has time for a pin check?" drives a wildly unsafe set of behaviors. I will not support this product.

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try a firebolt at the lower end of wing loading. nancy at jumpshack would help you out. we have a very large one one at my dz and have packed for the owner from new. easy to pack from day one since it is hybrid. and sets him down nicely every time.

I second this motion. I went from a Sabre2-150 to Firebolt 164 and that was a significant reduction in pack volume due to the hybrid construction. It is a fully elliptical wing and it tends to fly 'big'. Check out the Reviews here - It is an absolutely fantastic canopy.

Zoomed in on the high res image - you can see the pin behind the cable, loop over the pin, the bend start and stop of the top of the pin itself, and even the loop through the AAD Cutter.

You Can't see my hand below the frame lifting the rig slightly for a better angle -

Good eyes, hope you feel better -

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Is it my imagination or do I only see 1 Closing Pin. is the second loop on the reserve Cable????

HA No that is your imagination and the camera angle. There are 2 pins for sure. The rig is tilted towards the camera and so it looks like the cable is laying on top of the pin, but it is above and to the left. Just happens to be at the exact angle that the cable looks like it completely covers the pin.

Just had a customer buy a brand new rig and Vigil 2+ and in came a Vigil Cuatro. The box included a Vigil 2+ instruction manual and promotional material. Looks like a handsome unit. The control unit has a much larger and more secure cable junction - which has been a complaint of mine on the Vigil 1 in particular.

Attached is an image of the Cuatro head.

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Skysurfing did not die. All the skysurfers did.

My skysurfing buddy knocked up his girlfriend and now he's married in an Oklahoma suburb somewhere doing Church stuff for his wife on Sunday and Gardening on Saturday. He didn't die on the outside, but he never was the same...

I've been watching this thread with one question - has anybody thought to call the manufacturer and ask about the apparent design change in the reserve PC? I see design changes on rigs year to year - do they have any data on this and would they be willing to share how they classified the scope of this change?

While I understand the principle of holding a manufacturer accountable - asking for the data would make more sense than armchair quarterbacking.

I rigged at a Wings-dominant DZ for 7 years and sometimes I still struggle to seat the cap tight on very small containers. If anybody is perfect at that then I'll buy them a happy meal and a little paper crown so they can feel special. We had 8 W28 containers (I still have one for my accuracy rig). My only complaints we were successfully able to work through by working with the manufacturer. Again, these issues were addressed early 2000s, so this history.

a. Our DZ at the time used spring loaded main PCs. The student wings had very large stiffeners in the top and bottom main flap, and any slack in the main closing loop would result in a total malfunction. We were some of the first/only DZs to use spring loaded student wings, and that was a consequence of taking a sport rig, doubling the size and calling it a student rig. A student had an eventful 15 second (and then some) delay before we grounded our rigs after replicating the failure mode on the ground.

b. We also used Single side cutaway/reserve handles - staging and timing between RSL side, nonRSL side, and reserve ripcord was problematic. A DZ is Australia had the same issues. Sunrise converted all our rigs to 2-handle and we modernized our training methods.

We had a skysurfer at our DZ until 2007(ish). Haven't seen one since.

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They are great to look at, one of the worst to pack, and the only H/C that has had multiple reserve pilot chute in tow incidents

Yup, I believe you are spot on there.

From a design standpoint, do you think this could be alleviated by opening up the lower corners off the reserve container an inch or so more? Thoughts?

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But I've seen a lot of very shitty pack jobs on these rigs out there and I'm sure the rigger thought they looked just fine.

On a teeny wings where the reserve PC cap has the same diameter as the width of the reserve tray - a small wrinkle in one of the ears would hardly be considered a shitty pack job. I think the problem is when the reserve PC rises up and exposes the Pc material or coils. Just last month a customer of mine bought a brand new Wings and AF114 reserve - looked beautiful going out but he came back 3 weeks later with a significant gap that had developed. I ended up taking 10mm off the closing loop and putting more bulk in the ears. This weekend I'll get a picture of it after the adjustment and post it here for fun and see how it is settling in.

These discussions are always circular largely because 'easy' and 'hard' are opinions. I find Small wings challenging but a certain 2-pin pop top (no names, I don't want to hijack this thread) about the 'easiest' thing in skydiving to pack.

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I don't know why the Pilot isn't on your list.

A quick count of the listings in the Gear section shows 185 different canopies (granted, some are reserves) out there. If the dude is interested in a Volt Vs Spectre, then he (or she) is interested in a Volt Vs Spectre and 'what about' opinions don't help much.

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PM 'masterrigger1' about wings and report back.

I'm guessing he has an opinion on them.

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That is a really big increase! What do they need all of this excess money for?

If they need extra money, I certainly hope it is used to actively advocate for airport access -

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The U.S. Parachute Association has a quarter-million dollars sitting in their Airport Access Defense fund, and nothing to do with it. I wonder if the board could make an allocation to help out a small foreign parachute association?

Good luck. Here in the US (or at least in the Mid-West) we are seeing airport access issues, one right after another, with little to no help from USPA.

You mean like this? [Not here to start a fight (this time), I promise. I'm just showing an example of spacer foam backpad].


*Edited because I forgot the image

A good friend of mine had this specially done by North American Aero on his Parafoil 282. He is an experienced civilian and military rigger with design experience at a manufacturer. The system entailed a pouch on thre bottom skin, an extra line left out of a slider grommet, and a secondary line to unzip a daisy chain once the flag was pulled out of the pouch. It resulted in 2 cutaways in a 1 month period plus crashing into an army parade during a demo, ending the careers of 2 army band members.

I vote you do what Councilguy said.

Hey riggerlee we didn't argue about something! Sweet thread. Imma buy you a beer if I ever meet you.

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Located in US. Putting together rig for very small gal. Ripcord pocket mounted closer to container. I have many ripcords that are two inches too long.

I think I speak for everyone when I say talk to the manufacturer. They will help you get the right ripcord, usually just by giving them the SN of the rig itself. Mixing and matching what you may have on the shelf vs. what may 'fit' will just be an opportunity to make a mistake.

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She's supposedly returning to the skies no later than September.

The Perris Facebook page has been putting teasers out off and on of the jet flying again.

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It's got that fucking molar bag in there that is a fact not an opinion.

"The Mirage G4 uses a Molar bag" = Fact
"Molar Bag is not as good/nice/useful as the previous design" = Opinion

I agree with you, I prefer the design of the G3 over the G4, but I'd be willing to bet that the designers of the system feel differently. I'm just saying let's not confuse facts of a system with our opinions of those facts.

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Although I do like using fewer tools (no locking pullup cord, woot!), I find that molar bags kinda suck when the pilot chute has a large base, like the Mirage PC does. So I like the G3 freebag better in spite of the extra hassle.

+1. I agree with this 100%. The G4 Molar bag design also tends to warp and distort the #2 PC Kicker flap - the bag design of the G3 allows a flat surface for the reserve PC to sit without the tendency for the collapsed or semi-collapsed PC Kicker flap to allow the reserve PC to sit at an aggressive angle. It only takes 1 sloppy packjob of a G4 to distort this flap.

This is fun. I agree with you, but........

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It's more then an opinion, it's a fact.

Everything you listed is an opinion. A good opinion, but not fact.

Wow this is a really really old thread