dorbie

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Posts posted by dorbie


  1. Have a rigger look at your kill line length. They shrink with time. Decocked can also mean many things, if it's just slipping an inch out of the window it's an inconvenience not a hazard. The only time I've had a kill line uncock is when I roll pack because the attachment point at the apex is less than ideal and tends to pull on the line. It's no big deal to recock your pilot chute after bagging. Don't simply cock after bagging without cocking before, there's a chance the kill line will grab some fabric and offer some resistance if you do.

  2. DSE once maintained an incident list in a sticky thread in the Photography and Video forum. Its focus is on small form factor cameras. I think the reasoning is vidiots tend to slap one of these on their helmet without too much thought or training, often with no cutaway system and inadequate jump numbers. It seems a bit inactive now but how much repetition do you need to get the message?

    http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3894693

  3. Argus is not considered safe by many and the real reasons why are available online. Read the history.

    Aside from documented failures and dodgy excuses there is one massive underlying problem with original Argus AADs that highlights the problem with their approach to engineering, here it is:

    They took an off the shelf cutter intended for cargo parachute reefing lines and used it in a human life saving device. This sounds slightly troubling but it gets worse, the cutter they took was only supposed to be used in tandem with another cuter on the same reefing ring to reduce the chance of a catastrophic failure. So it wasn't even to be trusted for cargo deployment without a redundant backup. The cutter maker issued a prohibition when they found out how Argus was using it.

    After various failures and crises Argus put together a plan to address the issues and presented it to PIA, it did not alter their fate because it did not apparently contain the kind of rigorous engineering analysis and testing plan they thought could produce a suitable man rated system. In my opinion they were a bunch of enthusiastic folks who decided to make an AAD without fully grasping the gravity and level of engineering rigor involved in producing man rated life saving equipment as evidenced by the cargo cutter debacle.

    If you want to trust your life to this device despite its documented history of failures on the basis of whatever remedial work might have been performed go ahead.

    Whatever improvements they introduced before they went under I would not trust my life to the engineering practices of guys who put an unreliable cargo reefing line cutter in a life saving AAD.

    Personally I think it is fucking ridiculous that someone would recommend this. The only thing that can be said for it is it's better than nothing, unless the cutter traps your closing loop, then it's a lot worse than nothing.

  4. yvanpec



    You seem to be getting pissed for all the wrong reasons.

    They fulfilled your order and gave you a free pilot chutes.
    Not their fault your WS got stolen, everyone in line would have to wait a little bit longer to get your order out early.

    I like companies that treat everyone equally. Every freebie and rush order that high maintenance entitled people like you get, other jumpers have to pay for and wait for.

  5. bucketlistpilot

    A quick safety vid we made last month for end of day viewing to highlight some of the day's dodgy ws flights. The first clip is as close as I ever want to come to being hit. Guy trying to exit on his back hasn't seen me yet.

    http://vimeo.com/170911192



    That looks similar to the video I saw although the exit was not intentionally inverted in the other one. Those closing speeds right after exit can be very high in WS, I think because of the ability of the WS to suddenly deliver a lot of lift.

  6. dthames

    ***
    It was a group exit with typical small delays between those in the door and those diving, sorry for any confusion. There were more than two jumpers in the group. They all knew they were in a group and knew of each other, but they did not maintain visual contact with each other during exit, built significant vertical relative velocity after building vertical separation and ended up colliding hard. If anything (from memory) the later jumper's exit was poor and he "fell" onto the lower jumper. I will try to get the video to share.



    Wow, if indeed he "fell", that makes 3 serious such accidents this year. I have been trying to raise awareness of this risk around our DZ for the past few weeks. I think we need to look hard and long at our exit skills when we plan our jumps. This has always been a concern but not such a deadly one as lately.

    Lots of events are potentially serious, this did not have a serious outcome beyond a bruised arm. When I say he fell I'm talking about before the collision when he dropped onto the other jumper. You can be sure there are a great many more incidents similar to this if you have two LOC fatalities.

  7. kallend

    *********A buddy of mine got clobbered hard on a WS flock exit recently "saw stars".

    In a group not all are transitioning to full flight consistently. First exiting jumper transitions after a brief delay and reduces their vertical velocity, second jumper transitions to full flight lower than the first jumper so there's a collision with high difference in vertical component of velocity. In this case exit was a group exit. They did not see each other during exit.

    Something strategy that mitigates the proximity or relative vertical speeds, or helps with visibility & avoidance of fellow flockers is needed.



    As was discovered in RW and vRW a number of years ago, vertical separation cannot be relied upon to avoid collisions. I see no reason that WS is any different.

    Vertical component relative velocity is not vertical separation. I'm talking about group that exits together, in fact lack of vertical separation is desirable in this situation as it takes vertical separation to build the vertical component of relative velocity.

    If they exit together how come there's a "first jumper" and a "second jumper" who don't see each other?

    It was a group exit with typical small delays between those in the door and those diving, sorry for any confusion. There were more than two jumpers in the group. They all knew they were in a group and knew of each other, but they did not maintain visual contact with each other during exit, built significant vertical relative velocity after building vertical separation and ended up colliding hard. If anything (from memory) the later jumper's exit was poor and he "fell" onto the lower jumper. I will try to get the video to share.

  8. kallend

    ***A buddy of mine got clobbered hard on a WS flock exit recently "saw stars".

    In a group not all are transitioning to full flight consistently. First exiting jumper transitions after a brief delay and reduces their vertical velocity, second jumper transitions to full flight lower than the first jumper so there's a collision with high difference in vertical component of velocity. In this case exit was a group exit. They did not see each other during exit.

    Something strategy that mitigates the proximity or relative vertical speeds, or helps with visibility & avoidance of fellow flockers is needed.



    As was discovered in RW and vRW a number of years ago, vertical separation cannot be relied upon to avoid collisions. I see no reason that WS is any different.

    Vertical component relative velocity is not vertical separation. I'm talking about group that exits together, in fact lack of vertical separation is desirable in this situation as it takes vertical separation to build the vertical component of relative velocity.

  9. A buddy of mine got clobbered hard on a WS flock exit recently "saw stars".

    In a group not all are transitioning to full flight consistently. First exiting jumper transitions after a brief delay and reduces their vertical velocity, second jumper transitions to full flight lower than the first jumper so there's a collision with high difference in vertical component of velocity. In this case exit was a group exit. They did not see each other during exit.

    Something strategy that mitigates the proximity or relative vertical speeds, or helps with visibility & avoidance of fellow flockers is needed.

  10. BrianM

    ***Well, for people in the UK, or rather BPA members, the decision from the manufacturers of the Cypres has been over-ruled by the BPA, and it is still considered a MANDATORY service at each of 4 and 8 years.

    http://www.bpa.org.uk/assets/Stay-safe/Safety-informtion-bulletins/108.-Bulletin-2-16-06-06-16-Mandatory-Cypres-AAD-Maintenance.pdf



    Interesting. I guess the BPA knows better than the manufacturer... :S

    Does the BPA also mandate that Vigil's and M2's be sent for maintenance every 4 years, even though the manufacturers don't require it? (That's mostly a rhetorical question).

    SILENCE, the BPA riggers subcommittee has spoken and they know a thing or two about safety critical electronic engi.... oh shit, nevermind.

    Hey they "felt" this, and that should be reason enough for anyone.

  11. keithbar

    Just an fyi. I was at the Fitzgerald boogie recently. There was a w/s manufacturer there. I tried on one of their demo suits. It fit like a glove. BUT. Once I attached it up to my rig. It was a no go. Couldn't even come close to zipping it up. My 2 cents fwiw



    I have had a similar experience and after several suits I realized that the rig I was trying with the suit had short laterals. If you're overweight and/or you have short laterals this has a more dramatic effect on wingsuit fit. Switching to my rig with longer laterals made a significant difference to the fit.

  12. bodypilot90

    most I know of only a few, but here in Florida we jump 12 months a year.



    Same here in California. I'm just going by what the most popular local rigger told me of his customers. There is a third cadre who'll jump until the AAD comes back from service and get the rig opened up to put it back in so not the full 180 days, and perhaps those dominate the numbers. That turns that 11% into a smaller number, probably closer to 2% but still a significant downside to mandated service.

    I've been offered a rental AAD in the past by a rigger, not sure if that's still a thing, it's been a while since i sent one in.

    Opinions on the advisability of that mandated service might depend on whether you include the AADless jumps of the 2% and 11% cohorts in your consideration

  13. dpreguy

    yawn...renew your poll/post in 2020...yawn



    Good point, and consider that when that day rolls around some will be faced with jumping with no AAD for 180 days (a repack cycle) to send theirs in for maintenance, (maybe less if they want to spend extra or have a good relationship with their rigger). That might change the equation when they weigh that reality in the balance.

    All other things being equal, mandatory maintenance for *some* who kept jumping for a full repack cycle represented an 11% lack of AAD coverage. That's a piss poor mandated failure rate in pursuit of a perfect save rate.

    When the medicine is worse than the disease it's time to stop taking it.

    Yes I know I'm conflating failure to save with yanking an AAD out and shipping it off, but from a statistics perspective it is no different if you keep jumping the same. How many people have gone in while their AAD was in for maintenance? I have no idea. But mandatory maintenance is not the safest option when you factor in human behavior and skydivers jumping without AADs for a few weeks or even a full a repack cycle when maintenance rolls around. This recognizes that and it's a positive development.

  14. skyline.xxl

    my experience with squirrel:

    ordered my funk2 on march 7th.
    delivered on april 13th (incl. shipping with fedex to germany)



    My Squirrel WS order was placed 10 days after yours, it is due to be delivered 33-38 days after yours based on their email estimates, should I assume their lead times jumped 25 days over a 10 day period or that I was unlucky with the materials I chose?

  15. zcohen13

    I'm a newer jumper (only 12 jumps) and want to go over the list of malfunctions again and what to do in those situations to possibly fix it before cutting away. Does anybody have a link to somewhere I can find this?



    FJCs happen all the time, it shouldn't be a problem for you to sit in on one as a refresher.

  16. kallend


    Bust, baby, bust.



    You'd be forgiven for forming the impression that this never happened:

    http://static1.squarespace.com/static/52abb9b9e4b0cb06a591754d/t/54f4acb6e4b02ef942b92446/1425321160700/

    This business helped keep the price of oil down, GDP up and the trade deficit lower while creating millions of jobs. The flip side of its recent decline and the reason it is in decline is that oil prices are much lower, so every other business sector in the USA benefits as domestic producers struggle. The reason the crunch is so hard is the higher extraction costs mean their margin is erased when oil prices fall unlike other sources, but everyone in the oil business is suffering due to tighter margins as we benefit at the pump.

    I'd rather take some satisfaction from the trouble this creates for Putin and his ambitions than the trouble it causes US businessmen and their employees.

  17. Ploy


    I'd like some advice on how to approach trying to change her mind.



    The best cure for this is to take her to a busy dropzone for a few weekends as an observer. You don't need to jump, just let her meet the great people there, watch the landings etc. The likely outcome is she sees about a hundred loads go up and 2000 skydives go off without a hitch then explain that she's seen a lifetime of skydives conducted safely. When she actually sees it happen repeatedly and safely by all sorts of people it might change her perception.

    Mere words will probably not work.

  18. No mention of quartering the slider or making sure it is deep in the pack job (or unstowed), no mention of slider grommets up against the canopy. This reefing is one of the most critical parts of the pack job.

    Your risers are also uneven when you wrap the tail, this shows up again when you're done with your stows and wagging your finger while saying nothing is not enough.

    You rely too much on the band to close the bag.

    There are other issues but you say it's not about flaking etc.

    My 2c, because you asked.

  19. Pick a reputable suit maker, find a good dealer, send them your measurements, pick your colors and options pay your money and wait.

    A good dealer can help you with options. Probably grippers everywhere and booties with zippers.

    Sizing, fabric and layering options for your body type is important so your height and weight will be used to determine what type of suit you need for a good middle of the road fall rate. This is where getting a good experienced dealer helps. There's nothing worse than starting out fighting your suit to get the right fall rate and going low or floating on groups. Hurts your rep too.

  20. Oh, I see the new account humangenomeplus has bumped this thread from 4 years ago so he can spam the forum with links to his spammy youtube videos.

    Business must be slow.

    Lol, a little poking and I find these guys are pushing an "elixir of life" or "elixir of youth" citing bluebeard's alchemy, Gilgamesh and Soviet era medical claims.