CrazyL

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Everything posted by CrazyL

  1. The cutter check. I did similar test with the vigil cutter , argus cutter and cypres cutters. I tried to simulate the angles of the line as it passes from side to side through the grommets in the flaps. The vigil and argus cutters frayed the cypres loop line during my field test. I had 2 rigs that I serviced in the past that had the vigil cutter fray the closing loop. Could'nt see the fray or tell that the cutter did do the damage till after the rig was opened back up for service 120+days later. I understand the construction and design and assembly and inspection and packing bla bla bla of a H/C and canopies. I hardly know squat about the aads construction ,design. I'm supposed to. So in the past I ask reps from each aad. The most useful people to deal with were representing the cypres and vigil. The Argus guy put me off as some low life idiot. Totally disrespectful. So I really did'nt get a good education from that guy Carl about the Argus. And I was in the shop where the one fired in my hands and the cutter frayed the loop material. This was also the place that had 20+ Argus aads hanging in the balance pushing me to install such crap. I woulod'nt install any Argus after having one fire in my hand on the ground in a shop. Having been belittled by the Argus rep. Having found that with similar test to their cutter as other aads, and the Argus cutter failing, I choose not to install an Argus till I have a good understanding of it's design and construction, have good communication with the company. Otherwise what is your choice of aad and why, and why not the others?
  2. Yes and i've checked all my customers. All good here considering Airtecs recall. The Argus recall. The Vigil cutters. Yes and i'm just a little bit upset about aad's. Risk management. It's risky having one and it's risky not to have one. It's even more difficult as a rigger to take on the responsibility of installing such a questionable device. aad's have increasingly become a pain in the butt to deal with as a rigger as well. For what I make in money per aad service and install versus what I must keep up with concerning manuals/ updates/ recalls/ service bulletins and coordinating shipping and receiving for the customer along with having to 'trust' that aad's in the rigs that i service will perform properly. I lose on aad's. I trust the jumper and the H/C and the reserve canopy way more than an aad. I like the idea of an aad. So which is your aad of choice and why? why not the other aad's on the market?
  3. Thanks William. I have had issues with the Vigil as well. AAD's that fire prematurely, that cut loops prematurely and too easy are not part of my gear. I still havent got confidence in your product. I still do not do rigging for any jumper with an Argus or a Vigil in there rig. It's about confidence. As jumpers are replacing the original cypres these days and are shopping around for the next best thing why not choose cypres 2. As many jumpers seek my objective opinion and respect my suggestions on which AAD to replace the cypres 1 with, I still choose the cypres 2. I still choose to only install an aad that I have confidence in. Sorry yours still has not worked out, maybe in a couple of years, we shall see.
  4. I would like to add that this incident occured in April 2006 All these units (43) have immediately been recalled. Warm regards, William Was the incident of the argus firing in Texas on a student rig that was hanging on a rack part of the 43 recalled units? When did that happen? 2006 was only 2 years ago. Has a year or two of refinements on the Argus worked out ok? Is it everything you'd ever hoped for in an aad? Gotta go change my BOC and install my cypres still it's getting late.
  5. Yes. While at the dz talk with the packers and rw jumpers and freefliers about how tight their loop is on the pin. For my wingsuit flights I change the loop to a length good for rw. I get hooked on wingsuits occasionally and will do several in a row. When it's time to go fast i''ll have a 'freefly tight' loop. I typically do hop and pops at random. For the quick hop and pops i'll open my riser covers and main pin cover flap and flip my pin so it stands on edge with the eye of the pin facing the BOC because of the 'freefly tight' loop. If i'm gonna take a delay on a hop and pop over 5 seconds I leave everything closed and tight partly because i'll exit in a spin of some sort.
  6. Youre right. So how about the closing loop tension/ pin pressure? All gear does not have speed limitations, like my camera helmet or altimeter or shoes. Harness/ container and reserve canopies do have placard weight and speed derived from TSO tests. Many jumpers overspeed, some overweight and overspeed. Few pay the ultimate price for breaking the placard limits. Half a pilots body was broken for crossing into the realm of overweight/ overspeed. I get away with overspeeding the placard limits. I even do gnarly hookturns. Not sure which is most hazardous. Hookturns? cruising at over 200mph in freefall with gear not rated for such speeds? or jumping with a newbie that decides to sitfly with a loose closing loop wearing a demo rig with riser covers that just wont stay closed wearing a t-shirt and shorts jumping barefoot in the desert without a helmet? As I was trained at about jump 9 or 10 while in the static line program, I was taught how to 'track'. Was also taught how to 'flare' out of a 'track'. That training has paid off on pretty much every jump. Basically i'll slow down to a comfy speed for deployment whilst aiming my rig for the sky for deployment. Like in my quote in your post, ' I would'nt want incidental main deployment at any freefall speeds. My pin pressure is tight.' Gotta go change my BOC now, cycle and install my cypres, make sure my RSL is routed correctly, and when i pack my main i'll know it's tight enough when I make funny breathing sounds/ grunt a little.
  7. I assume your talking about the main closing loop. Read the manual and/or call the manufacturer. Learn how to make a closing loop, and know the type (name) of the line that the manufacturer recommends. Know how to tie the knot and install proper washer. Know when to replace the closing loop regardless of how many jumps are on it. The loop and the rubber bands are the 2 things that you (the end user) will be replacing from time to time without rigger supervision. Be good at it. If your freeflying, get a gear check by the highly experienced freefliers. Pin pressure should exceed the pressure it takes for the freefall wind speed to blow your bridle out from under the side flap and/or BOC and pull the pin. Scenario: Flying back to earth or butt down the pin cover flap blows open, bridle and pin get a heavy dose of 120mph+ wind beating. The wind whipping the bridle is what can pull the pin if the pin pressure is loose. You should have a curved pin on the main bridle, it'll pull in any direction. Brilliant innovation. On some rigs the bridle under the side flap is loose, the bridle is only sort of wedged up under the side flap anyway. You want the bridle that is tucked under the side flap to have pressure on it created from wedging the bridle up under the side flap till there is sufficient pressure (usually no higher than half the main container). So what if your pin was pulled while you're on your back arms and legs toward the sky and your pilot chute is still in the BOC? Gnarly horseshoe malfunction! Shorten the closing loop to be as tight as you can and still close the container, close the pin cover flap and do a pull test on the ground. There is much more to learn concerning loops, pins, bridle, boc, p/c, h/c, and aad choices for crw, rw, ff, cp, scr, scs,and zoo loads. Choose 'freefly friendly' gear. I took my Infinity to 246mph last month. Most gear is certified to go no faster than 150knots, close to 170mph. I would'nt want incidental main deployment at any freefall speeds. My pin pressure is tight.
  8. You did great, gear is cheap.
  9. If I ever need it, and it saves me...I'll love it... If it ever screws me...I'll hate it . aad is just one software upgrade or one new model away from having a problem. After gaining confidence in the Argus AAD I then began installation. As I got close to the container pop went the cutter. Cutter fired and I have yet to regain confidence in the Argus. referring to your post "if it screws with me..." Vigil cutter issues have been less rewarding to deal with. As a rigger I will service gear with/without a Cypres AAD only. Have had enough issues with aad's to make a choice. I choose Cypres.
  10. Like Bill Von mentioned, you can learn your gear very well if you go through the manual and do some things yourself. If you damage the gear...oops. As a rigger I prefer new parts to be ready to assemble from the manufacturer, and not fooled around with. In SoCal rates vary. $70 for inspection and packing of reserve, $20 each assembly, $25 main inspection, $15 scotchguard, $10 for main packing.
  11. I learned similarly. could'nt get a on a 4 way. Sucked at RW. Was good at pulling my main and landing the parachute. At 60 jumps I was fortunate enough to go to a RW seminar that included 3-7 jumps for 3 days with Guy Manos and his buddies. Had a big turbine , a caravan going to 13,000ft.!!! Did 7 on one day, that was a helluva lot of jumping in a day for me back then. My rw skills boomed. Two things were different than the cessna dz. 1. Extra altitude, extra people. 2. paid some people to coach me to fly. Seemed to work. Next thing I new I was the new 'natural' flyer and was doing 4 way for a while, then hookturns, freestyle, then skysurf, crw, 8 way out of 2 cessnas was a great time, chasing clouds, no-lift dives, then coaching others, then video, competition, BASE jumping, and packed mains from year 1- present. Packed reserves the past 11 years. Banned in 4 states for doing hookturns, grounded in 5. I suggest not doing hookturns, hookturns are the deadliest game in skydiving.
  12. Main canopy and it's attached parts get more repair than the reserve or container. I like to have the main packed and jumper there when I get a rig for service. Jumper and I assess the gear and visit about their plan for various malfunction scenarios. Sometimes the jumper will/or has pull the handles. About the main: I like to only accept gear with the main packed. I can easily see issues with flaps , boc, loop tension, how well the bridle tucks under the side flap, etc. with the main packed. Main gets inspected every other pack cycle and packed every time i pack the reserve. With the main packed I take responsibility for the entire parachute system. Like to make certain the whole system is airworthy. More than that, when I service parachute equipment I like to know the condition of the entire system and that the jumper is prepared. I like the people I rig for. Regardless if I pack a main or a reserve, I still have a jumpers life in my hands. I always disconnect the main prior to reserve inspection. Do 3 ring maintenance each time I disconnect and connect main risers, just a habit. Don't care if the risers get twisted when the main is released because prior to reconnecting the main, the main gets a brake line check, 3 rings attached, then a full line check, every line. It's just easier. I can do a full line check faster than most jumpers can do a 4 line check. Full line check gives me a feeling of being thorough and complete. Like to inspect PD mains. It's real easy to go onto their website and print off a trim chart to do the main inspection with. They get me line kits faster than other manufacturers too. When I get done packing a reserve and a main, the rig gets shaped to perfection, gets one last gear check and is ready for service.
  13. How does letting go of the toggles create the mal? Isn't letting go of the toggles the same configuration the canopy would have if you had it in full flight? I don't see how this would cause the mal. Maybe I'm just reading this wrong! I had a mal by letting go of the toggles. Flying the Sabre 120. unstowed the brakes at 1,000ft, my finger was tied to the right line somehow by the line near the toggle. I shook it off and let go of both toggles quickly while in close to half brakes. Both toggles had zipped right up to the guiderings but the right toggle slung up over the slider ( slider was left at the top of the risers at the time) and around the line group. The toggle made like a T between the lines. Appeared easy enough to in-air rig it then I looked to the right and left and below and at the handles real quick. Cutaway clean and pulled the reserve. Was open above 500'. Landed just about 2 feet shy of the peas. So my answer is yes, letting go of toggles in flight could cause a mal. Got 4 buddies who were in a gnarly crw wrap due to a toggle. That's another story.
  14. " oh shit " P/C in tow! Had one of those back in April. Once I got it free'd up and chunked the bridle and bag out to the right side into clean air, next came a hard riser smack against the side of my helmet. Helmet tried to come off but could'nt. Then came a nice on heading sniveller, open above 2,000ft. Was mentally prepared to begin reserve pull at 2,000ft if I had'nt cleared the p/c in tow. Glad I did'nt have to. Was a helluva fight to get the main out. For you: "oh shit", line twists and diving spiralling! Is Canola like corn? beans? grass? Sometimes the shit hits the fan over and over, then suddenly the ride is over and you walk away with a helluva experience. How did you get your main out? or did you?
  15. Poor old Tommy and the Heartbreakers are having to go out on tour to make a buck. Was just working with some of ol' Tommy's tour gear today, duplicating parts of his set. Getting him set up for 2 back to back shows. Shows are so close together and so far apart, he's going big! Tommy's working hard for his money. I could send him a message to see if he's ready to do some 'freefall'n' on his day off and see what music he'd choose for a tandem video! Think he'd choose 'freefalln' performed by yours truly, or 'jump' by Van Halen? Check out his tour dates and go give him some support! 12 tour stops left! Irvine show on the 22nd of August. Soon
  16. Universal swearing for messed up chute = 'oh shit'. Chest strap stays snug? don't loosen your chest strap?
  17. Thanks for trying the test with your gear. I agree with you on most things here. Especially watching the reserve handle as you cutaway if a hand is'nt on it to see where it goes. Try the test with several rigs if you will. It amazes me the differences in gear. Maybe try a rig that the MLW is a little long for you but would still jump it. Let's say 2". And about cutaway from hard spiral, done it too, no big deal. Happened during deployment, line twists and spiraling. Did'nt make it to the loosening the chest strap part before I made it to the cutaway then reserve. Both pulls seemed easy enough. All was well. I've been prepared to have a hard cutaway and use two hands to cutaway and have yet to resort to that. If I do need to use two hands to cutaway i'll be looking at the reserve handle as I pull the cutaway. Hopefully my chest strap will be tight. Like you, wearing my custom nice fitting harness, it is a bit difficult to get the shoulder harness to go down to my elbows. When it does it pins my arm a bit. I figured out that I can get the reserve handle with my left hand and pull towards my knee to get it to pull. Pulling the handle straight out from my chest would not pull the ripcord enough, but down toward my knee it worked pretty good. How scary would it be to straighten your arm out toward your knee with that side shoulder harness already at your elbow?
  18. You can download it free here: http://www.uspa.org/publications/manuals.htm How much too big is the yoke on your harness? My chest strap doesn't hold my rig on my shoulders. The shape of the harness does. I do appreciate that you are trying to eliminate risk but your condemning the practice of loosening chest straps is the same as others condemning your "hook turns" or others that don't approve of CRW. To each his own. Welcome back into the sky. Be safe and have fun. My harness yokes fit me properly on my Infinity and Mirage and Racer and Vector 3s, and the vector 2 is a little wide. Not so sure about Shindigs yoke or MLW. Seeing a pic of him from a sort of front side view flying his canopy, it looks like his shoulder harness is 2-3 inches up off his shoulders and harness spread so wide you can see the front of his shoulders. Hey, did you try my test or what? You answered with more questions and ridicule. But no real answer. U hooked me up with a SIM, but did not have answers. Helping out here or what? Thanks for welcoming me back to the sky. So far so good.
  19. Never. I like to have the control over as many factors as possible for the sake of consistency. If I do have an issue with an opening it'll be easier for me to isolate and learn from the issue if I pack my parachutes. Knowing my gear and it's devices and what went on with the packing is essential for me. I've had wierd situations happen when i've used a packer. Openings are always different than mine when i've used a packer on just standard sport gear. So i'd never ever allow anyone else to pack an RDS system.
  20. I do not have an RSL hooked up. Should life go to hell, I would really like to get rid of that helmet, should it be snagged in any way, and the main canopy. Then I'll deploy my reserve. I do not wish to have an RSL do it's job when I really don't want it to. Don't get me wrong. They have saved countless lives and have a great purpose in this sport. This is just my personal choice, and for my own reasons. I do have a nice Cyp2. Love that thing. I have had 2 reserve rides to date. No RSL on either one. No Cyp either. I had some bad dreams and went shopping. 1st was a high speed spinner, 2nd was a total with a camera. Old digital 8. Rather painfull, but a good rigger rules. Faster really is better. I think the only reason for an AAD is should you be 'unavailable at pull time'...Be that due to whatever situation has come into play. As for the harness being snug? OK, once again, my personal thing. I'm a girl, and we are rather flexible. I can do 145+ in freefall, or suck it up and fall with the slowest. Being flexible has it's advantages. I don't need to loosen the chest strap for anything. My camera suit was made for someone a bit larger than I am. I can put a big sweatshirt and weights under it, or I can tuck it back behind the main lift web and just fly. One of my favorite video and still things to do is to crank some really hard turns, look up, and shoot vid and stills. You get the ground, sky, ground, (giggle) etc. I actually replaced the wings. The original ones were winglets. (?) Not sure on that spelling. That was what caused my total. I had to back out of a Kingair and pulled the pud off of my rig. I have since gone to a throw out. No need to discuss this... The new wings are really large. I made sure I could reach everything I needed to should I not be able to release them. I can float with the TM that weighs 150 lbs and a 90lb girl, or I can fall with the TM that goes 250 and that BIG student that can't get out of the door of the Cessna. I have 4 kids. They have all jumped, and one is a licensed jumper. I try to stack the odds in my favor on every jump. I have no need to push certain things. I can do my job very well without doing so. Just MY opinion... BS, Sue Wow, 4 kids that jump too! Liv'n the dream. You got alot of good reason to be good and prepared in this sport. Revisiting the RSL debate. I realize some of the pro's and con's that could affect me by wearing an RSL vs. no RSL. Frankly, both ways scare me equally. I've taken my chances without an RSL for thousands of jumps. I'm gonna wear it for a while now, i'm not afraid. Just a little bit scared. I can be better prepared for certain malfunctions by using an RSL while it can also cause other types of problems. Sucks to be in-between on such a controversial device.
  21. Feeling my 'procedure after main deployment had an absurd defect in it, I refined some of my ways to survive. I jumped 3 times on the 4th of July. My first jumps back since the Saturday Shindig went in. First jumps back after revisiting my EP's, basic skydiving procedures, and safety features. 3 things changed. Added Cypres , RSL, and changed my 'Procedure after main deployment' to : Collapse and position slider, release brakes so I know if I have a good canopy or not prior to loosening the harness. I can easily loosen my chest strap with toggles in my hands. I also did crw on a jump after loosening my chest strap after releasing the brakes. I consciously have retrained myself to tighten the chest strap prior to flying close to other canopies this past week, my retraining worked, I remembered on that jump and retightened and stowed the excess chest strap prior to swooping in for a 2 stack with the skysurfer. On the night jump my chest strap was tight till after landing. Made me feel ready to survive a collision in the dark. Got that warm fuzzy prepared feeling when my harness was snug. Felt less prepared when chest strap was loose. After breaking down the 2 stack into a choreographed spiral we waved off and parted. I then loosened my chest strap and prepared for my favorite part of the skydive, the part that I lust for: 'the final 30 seconds' doing a 'Big Fat Hookturn' with resulting 'swoop' if time and space allows me. My actions as a skydiver put me into the position of performing a hookturn , or not. I've learned how to survive the gnarly 'hookturns' and 'swoops' that I perform. Thanks to Shindig I took an in depth look at the pro's and cons of hung toggle, clip/unclip camera wings, flying with loose harness, 'procedure after main deployment, aad, rsl, leaving camera on, and decisions concerning EP's. I also learned how selfish as jumpers we are. I learned more about the negative effects of arrogance. I've now been banned in 4 states for doing hookturns. Sorry, if I skydive, I do hookturns, my game. Gonna learn and continue to survive if I have my way. You probably know the seven P's. Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. I try.
  22. Sorry you feel so horrible about the poll I created. My intentions are to learn even more about 'how to survive' the wicked circumstances us skydivers can get ourselves into. To share. The unclipped wing could have easily been a factor in getting the reserve handle pulled in time. Feel free to help others learn about the pros and cons of camera wings, velcro, ep's canopy flight, premature brake release,etc.. I urge you to for learning sake. I don't have extra time right now to do that. Can you tell me if in the latest SIM manual it mentions anything about the procedures after main deployment? Does it state in the SIM to release brakes after loosening the chest strap? Sorry I do not have a current SIM. I question the procedure that is very common these days #1, . Seems to be the new school way . Old school way , the harness would be snug till after landing. I urge you to test you and your equipment on the ground for having to cutaway and pull reserve while having a loosened chest strap, swooper style. Here's how: Gear up fully. camera suit, cameras, and all gadgets too. Tighten all straps. Empty main container. Loosen chest strap fully as far as you do when you jump. Pull the shoulder harness down to your elbows then figure out how to get to and pull the handles with each hand having to reach across as well. Try one side shoulder harness at your elbow at a time. Continue to dirt dive figuring out the several complications 'your' loose harness can cause 'you'. Along with the loose harness have a buddy hold your camera wing in the way and flop it around. Among other things, 3 things happen visually 1 flopping chest strap gets in the way of seeing handles. 2 wing gets into the visual like you know and understand. 3 the harness can rotate if you go for reaching across to pull reserve handle with right hand, along with the possibility of coming partially out of the harness putting the reserve handle up as high as your shoulder and back and under your arm pit. Shindig's shoulder harness appears to be 2-3 inch gap off his shoulder as he flies his canopy. See the pic from his service, you'll notice his handles are already up to his arm pits in normal flight. If you feel like it. Loosen your legstraps to simulate how Shindigs gear fit him and do the test again. Let me know if you learned anything from your test. Let me know if it was a waist of time for you, once you've done the test. Unashamedly faulting? Shindigs gear had the top part of the reserve handle peeled.
  23. Hmmm. Have I got a good reason to loosen chest strap before popping the brakes? Not in the past 10 and a half days and nights. Have I got a good reason to unstow my brakes shortly after main deployment prior to loosening my chest strap? Yes. Do I have a good reason to have a tight chest strap while doing any kind of Canopy Relative Work, even flying close under canopy? Yes. In heavy traffic? yes. Maybe i'll get to be old some day if I can just continue to survive each helluva experience. I've over 6,400 helluva experiences, many more to come. If I could just quit getting banned from dz's my skydiving experience would be even greater. I'm up to 3 now.
  24. Your ways are working for you. Releasing the brakes within 15 seconds of collapsing and positioning your slider sounds great prior to loosening the chest strap. The part about seeing and doing in air detailed inspection of your brake line prior to unstowing the brakes sounds a bit excessive. Sure, I 'see' my toggles and excess brake line, but i'm not going to be able to see the line looped around the guide ring between the guide ring and riser. I'd be looking for traffic and my position with the dz and wind while your still checking out your excess brake line. The root of the problem was the steering problem and yes i'd like for that to be addressed as well. Feel free to start another thread or poll and help us out. This poll has mostly to do with ' Canopy Pilots: What is your procedure right after main deployment'. I felt that i'm already prepared for a steering problem on main or reserve. I needed answers from the Elsinore fatality to make me realize the hazard in flying with a wide open chest strap. Now I have answers, now i'm better prepared to survive such a circumstance. I like some of what you do and will be adopting some of your ways, and I will be paying attention when I rig on my gear and the others gear, you betcha. Blue Ones.
  25. Thanks for voting and being a part of my skydiving education. Glad you were able to learn the lesson with firing the brakes at 1500'. I had one and only one, it happened at 1,000ft. I had been a low puller for a little while and was BASE jumping then too. I figured I could handle my decision altitude at 1,000ft. for slow speed mals. So I had pulled low and kept brakes stowed till decision altitude buddies flew up beside and a little behind, I unstowed the brakes to have an issue on the right. I looked at to each side seeing my buddies were clear as my hands were on the handles and soon as I got my head facing ahead I cutaway and pulled the reserve. was open 2-300ft below my chopped main. Thought I was the man. Nowadays after having a baglock type of mal (was a trailing toggle that wrapped the bridle on deployment went up with the bag) and figuring I spent 2,000 ft to get slowed down to a survivable speed. Was a mess, one thing after another ,camera helmet and lines were an issue to deal with on that one. I knew for sure during that mal that the rig I was jumping did not have a cypres. To get back to the topic, I think a debate should be ' release brakes, loosen chest' vs. 'loosen chest strap, release brakes' . Another good debate would be Large wings vs. small wings. If you need a clip on type wing maybe a better understanding of your speed range and how to perform within it could reduce wing size and the clips too. I have a few reasons why i'd be letting go of my toggles. hell I might even cut the brake lines with my handy hooknife. I have velcro toggles so i can place them on the riser and they stay put. Bonus is that they unstow much the same as my reserve toggles except i'll have to try a bit harder to get toggles on my reserve as they are smashed flat. I don't count on them being nice loops.