skytribe

There are many designs if straps, the ones i use everyone had a means to cutaway, everyone has at least 2 knives and we dont bring it down low and are briefed on how to transition back to side by side as well. The first thing we do when fanned out into downplane is make sure cutaways are accessible. The straps allow us to hold it for long periods which having to physically hold formation together and allows quicker / easier transitioN ps we use crw canopies only so no microlines.

Take a look at the pack volume https://www.pia.com/wp-content/uploads/TS-104CanopyVolume.pdf the tempo packed up pretty small to start with so if that was tight you may be out of luck.

Sounds like a rigger who is trying to plan for the future with the container with a canopy suited to you needs now. While a good concept, however if the manufacturer says it wont fit, they know better. Even if it did miraculously squeeze in it will look like crap and cause problems for many riggers. Overstuffed containers never look good. Whats the benefit ? A marginally smaller container which causes a whole host of issues for riggers designed for what you may downsize in the future. This may not even happen as the reality is that life causes many to leave the sport before this happens. Listen to the manufacturer….

Anyone have an recent numbers on what current PD production wait time is ?

So heres a thought. Get your shoulder fixed. swapping the BOC over to the other side can be done but I tend to discourage this. If you do that and somehow get pilot chute caught around you hand. Both the main activation and reserve activation hand is now compromised. If someone was to borrow your rig and not notice or give it much thought then they may not find the handle reverting to normal muscle memory. Ive had a jumper with a bum shoulder that reverted to a SOS system. Not cool or normal but allowed for cutaway/reserve activation with one arm. If the other had a problem. So the general thought is the modification is relatively simple but the ramifications need to be considered more fully. Address the real issue, the shoulder with physio/surgery or whatever is required to fix the issue.

https://www.pia.com/event/2021-pia-symposium/ Looks like they have rescheduled the next symposium. I'm not sure they could have chosen a worse time to reschedule to as it is in the middle of summer. I guess that will mean that many professionals in the industry will have to chose between taking time off work at a busy time of year to attend or just skipping it altogether.

The instructors who have helped you back, ask them to watch a few of your landings and give you some advice on gear that may be suitable. Good used gear is a cheaper approach and allows you to gain experience before committing bigger bucks to more long term gear. This gear can often be sold on to fellow newer jumpers looking for 1st gear when your ready to downsize. Dont be in a rush to downsize.

Astra AAD is obselete - FXC wont or dont have any batteries to replace and on emailing them told me it was expired. So no value on that one.

The mere fact that CRW jumpers fly biplane configurations all the time and fly with toggles, should be a good indication that flying with toggles is not a bad decision. Flying gently the front canopy and no big inputs is also a good strategy. Leaving the rear canopy set in brakes result in a slower canopy with less force being put on the brake lines of the front canopy. Sometimes canopies just dont like flying together if their performance characteristics are very dissimilar. You don't see big inputs from CRW stack pilots when flying formations. They steer and all the canopies below them follow with no input from the jumpers. They tend to fly similar canopies though - at least these days even if they may be different sizes they are on similar wing loadings/glide ratio's (example lightning and 1.3 lbs/sq foot loading) But that isnt always the case and certainly in the past wasnt. As for steering using rear risers - IMHO it creates a different set of problems. Flying a huge tandem canopy with rear risers is difficult at best and results in very small movements (which may not be a issue). Some small tandem jumpers may have trouble pulling enough to make a 360 sq foot canopy turn. Flying a Ultra high performance canopy may result in more radical control input with little input. People are happier flying with toggles and it gives a better degree of control than trying to grip rear risers and provide a precise degree of control. I think the best advice is to do all you can to avoid the problem in the first place.

I always prefer both toggles are pulled on strong wind days. Pull both until the tandem collapses. I don't care if the cascades on the brake lines are pulled to the point they are near the guide rings on the risers. No chance of really reinflating. I will literally hand the toggles on landing to the catcher. If there are 2 catchers each can grab a toggle. When someone pulls one only - sure it turns the canopy into the ground but one side is still pretty much inflated. A gust of wind and I'm pulled over (It doesn't take much when you still hooked up to a passenger with a big canopy). What you do on your own gear when your by yourself is different from what you do when you have someone on the front of you. Ever try turning and walk/run around the canopy when you have a 230 lbs unfit person who's wobbly legs from the parachute ride strapped to the front of you while getting dragged to the floor by a gust on a partially inflated tandem canopy. Very different scenarios.

And you may get to use a reserve on your next jump. Id not seen or repacked a firebird reserve so i dont know much about them and that is the rub. PD is the brand leader, great track record, great quality. AAD’s - they are sophisticated devices which self check on startup and can be sent for testing/software updates at any time. Id have no problem buying used AAD from the 3 major brands Airtec, AAD or Mars

Id agree there are better containers than a wings but also why a firebird rush. Its a real off brand reserve and i would say any subsequent resale value on it would be low compared with the more established names like PD, Icarus, Aerodyne reserves.

Yes its called LOR 2. But was only found on the parachute de france containers.

I just look at the video and honestly most of the people pulling really were lame half hearted pulls. They did eventually pull. Most were pulling at 90 degrees to housing increasing pull force. Notice the big gap between cutting away and pulling the reserve and stopping when it got a little tough. Eventually using a bit of effort and pulling it. In my opinion the issue was the jumpers effort rather than the equipment. Pull it like you life depends upon it. Im sure scratches are an issue but i don't believe it to be the prime factor. I pull hundreds of reserves a year and don't experience hard pulls but i am pulling in the right direction. Correct training and emergency procedure execution are a bigger issue. Ive seen similar occurrences when people pull their reserves. Pulling once every 6 months does little to address the issue. I have no problem with people pulling their reserves. I dont doubt some containers are too tight as ive seen bent stuffeners and watched rigger struggle to close even using a torque device. Sometimes it is technique and other times its realizing when the closure loop is too short.

Spoke with them this week and they are in process of transitioning to new factory and hence not taking new orders. They are making new parts and dealers have contact details of Chris. They are definitely still in business and just transitioning at the moment.

I found it more of a hindrance when closing a CRW canopy in the container. A normal boxed container keeps the slippery canopy somewhat contained when closing the flaps. The dynamic corners just allowed it to slide around more. For wingsuits - the direction that the bag is pulled is different from other disciplines and there is a benefit. For CRW I see no benefit.

Likewise I had two vigils that were 12 years old and had been installed/repacked despite a SB stating that they needed to be replaced at 10 years. Repacked by riggers in both Canada and Eloy. Dont blame the M2 because a rigger doesnt check for SB’s and ensure compliance.

Perhaps watching a video like this will make you see the issue. Ive also had rigs that I've had brought to me that exhibited lack of maintenance and similar behaviour. So in low drag situations this can occur and a set in the risers has occurred. Not wishing to start a flame war but lack of maintenance is common.

How about lack of 3 ring maintenance and low drag scenario. Ie bag lock or pilot chute in tow. People seem shocked that they have some maintenance to do on their rigs and even when they know most simply chose to ignore. Take a look at the dirty cables as a sign of lack of maintenance. The twisting of the risers at the 3 rings avoids them taking a set and this should be done fairly regularly.

Id say that was questionable. I have canopies i maintain that don't have round crossports to start with and canopies that have 2000 jumps with the cross-ports still looking circular and no fraying. As far as fraying, I've typically seen this more on the non load bearing ribs that most fraying occurs. These are the ribs that dont have line attachments on them. I would guess the loading of the rib doesn't allow it to flutter as much which causes the fraying to occur more quickly but thats just a guess after inspecting many canopies every year and seeing the progression.

We get out bands direct from keener http://www.keenerrubber.com/index.htm

As to a good knife as against a crappy one. The following is a thread in the CRWDogs about knives. The likelyhood of using a knife is greatly increased when doing CRW but the same reasoning applies in that when you need a knife its good to know it will work. https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/crwdogs/RkCMRzmrC1c/6jMFW8aYra4J After this many of the CRW dogs switched knives and the Benchmade knives seem to be the most popular now (at least in the US CRW community).

And this is why I am constantly advising jumpers who have missing hook knives or the crappy plastic ones to get a decent knife on your rig - if the manufacturer installed a hook knife pocket with a snap then the least you can do is replace it if you lose it. You never know when you might need it.

Can people point me to some studies to back up strength loss over time. I have seen studies reflecting strength.loss of nylon due to uv exposure and other chemical actions but how much has been done on age deterioration only.

Originally i believed it was experimental because it didnt meet faa rules. As each jumper didnt have a harness, main and reserve but i believe that this was addressed in later regulations. So is it still operating on experimental status.