erdnarob

A discussion with a rigger friend of mine prompted me to publish this post. As a rigger, we test the reserve pin minimum sliding force and it has to be between 5 and 22 lbs. However this test is done before installing the seal and safety tie. The safety tie red thread being rated at a MBS of 4.5 lbs, it seems that it adds 2 x 4.5 lbs = 9 lbs to the reserve pin minimum sliding force when installed since a safety tie is a loop with two strands. I would like to have a sincere discussion about the above affirmation being true or not. If it is true, in a case of the test showing 22 lbs, the additional force of 9 lbs would make a final force of 31 lbs (22 + 9 =31 lbs). Comments please. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

I had a Nimbus 225 from 1985 to 1993. Great canopy with one of the highest aspect ratio (2.85 to 1) ever built. The fact that it was span wise construction built was making that canopy very compact for packing. Unfortunately, after about 50 jumps, the low porosity of the F-111 fabric (permeability) was gone and the landings started to become harder. Mine had three colors span wise (at the bottom : from nose to tail, black, royal blue and white; on the top from nose to tail : royal blue, baby blue and silver light) see the 2 pictures. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Of course it is not possible to have a 100% safe AAD. Everything is relative just like as I said already, nobody can guarantee that your spare tire will not blow up when used. My philosophy is : switch on your AAD and forget. Don't rely on it. But according system analysis engineers from the National research council of Canada Ottawa, if a self checking system (on 3 points...cutter, electronics and batteries) is positive (OK) those three points are OK as long as the software is well designed. That means if for instance, the AAD tells that the batteries are OK, it is very unlikely to find the batteries dead. On the other hand, when the Vigil detects a failure in the cutter, it switched off automatically. The only thing a system cannot check is the quality of the explosive charge chemicals. Even a just "maintained" AAD can still fail since electronic components are unpredictable. But I think everybody should go and visit the following site just for info : https://viewer.zoho.com/docs/c6UCg Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Vigil 2 becomes more and more popular at the point that Canada et USA Champions (Evolution and Arizona Airspeed) chose it. Speaking for Canada, there is in Quebec and Ontario many DZ almost exclusively using Vigil. Why ? because they have overall less problem and they found way easier to manage Vigil 2 from a rig to another (Tandem, Pro, student). Could you imagine the pain in the neck to keep an eye on the date for servicing for the Vigil competitors AADs and found out in the middle of the jumping season that you have to send it back for a costly maintenance. None of that with Vigil, you decide when you want to get it checked just like you do with your car. There are parts of your car which are vital for safety and which have to be checked. And as far as the Vigil 2 tells you in clear language when you switch it on that the three checks (cutter, batteries and electronics) are OK, it is good. Also, Vigil seems to have the best energy saving software among AADs since its batteries are almost good for 10 years. And having the interface + disk, you can yourself download the last 16 minutes and get parameters and graphs from the jumps. Recently, in an very strange skydiving accident in Canada (where the jumper got separated from his rig), the jumper was equipped with a Vigil 2, one could be able to determine what has happened by checking the graphs indicating speeds, change of speeds, time, altitude....in an obvious way. IMO Vigil is way in advance with respect to the other competitor and this for many features it offers. But old habits are hard to give up. What you have been told for more than ten years that a part of your rig needs to be checked regularly while this part is self checking at the switch on, you can start to believe in it. My Vigil AAD has fired twice under normal firing conditions. It worked exactly as designed. What ever can be going better ! OTOH, do not rely on AAD too much, all of them have had mishaps. The AAD is just a back up device. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Send it back to Larsen and Brusgaard in Denmark, the manufacturers. You shouldn't be disappointed by the service. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Unfortunately, at this moment, I don't have any further informations. For sure the stainless steel hardware doesn't help in case of hard opening. But something surprised me recently : some manufacturers are providing their rigs without any stop at the end of the chest strap ???!!! I don't know if this was the case in this accident. I guess having no stop at the end of the chest strap is to make it easier for the jumper to undo it when he wants more wing for swooping. It seems the deceased was jumping alone. I heard also about some videos being shoot. The case is under Police investigation but so far, very strangely, the CSPA Technical & Safety committee has not been contacted. A trick to make webbing less slippery : apply bee wax on it. After a while the webbing strands are more and more compressed and become shiny and slippery. I want to offer my condolences to the family, close friends and DZ. A single fellow lost is already too much. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

There has been a very special fatal accident a week ago in Canada when a head down jumper who has left the airplane among the last jumpers from 13000 feet or so has died from impact with the ground. Beside loosing a friend the problem was that his body has been found at about half a mile away from his rig. Even though we didn't know the make of the rig it was said that the chest strap was completely undone while the leg straps were at their maximum slack. His Vigil reportedly has fired. The accident is under investigation however I tried already to figure out with the available infos what could have happened to this unfortunate fellow who had more than 1000 jumps. I have thought about several possible scenarios but I would like to hear about your comments and hypothesis from you Drop zone.com fellows. Thanks. That can be helpful to jumpers in general but particularly to the head down jumpers. We have to remember that the equipment we use is not intended to be deployed at high speed encountered in some freefly activities. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

You are idealizing the competitor of Argus and Vigil. I have been a reader of Skydiving Magazine for many years and according my reading, this competitor has had its share of problems in the nineties and still has. Remember their recall of more than a thousands units with a faulty pressure sensor. The problem was known for a while but the recall came quite "late". I am not going to explain and comment again all the issues encountered with this competitor and its mystery culture since many posts have been put on this forum for many years. On the other hand, don't put too much trust in a back up device, if it saves your life, good but it doesn't have to become psychological crutches. AAD are there to help us but can also create problems and the three main manufacturers are using about the same kind of components if not exactly the same for most of them. Argus will find a solution soon and Vigil and Cypres are doing well at the moment. Vigil is preparing the Vigil III which will offer some additional very interesting features to make it "think" about more unusual situations. It took thirty years to get the skydiving gear we have now. In 1976 I was jumping a StratoCloud canopy now I am on Katana. What a change ! It will take some years too for the AAD to "foresee" all possible situations, but they are back up devices. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

I cannot believe how far can go some gossip. First of all the question of the thread is a trap and one can see some people posting accordingly ie. make believe that only Vigil and Argus have problems. ALL ADD manufacturers have had their problems, all without any exception. Have you ever heard about statistics ? ALL products, all of them have a certain percentage of deficient units. The idea for safety products is to keep the defects at minimum. BUT it is impossible to guarantee the function of a product at 100% unless if it is made by GOD. Like nobody can guarantee that your spare tire will not blow up when you use it. I am sure Argus will fix the problem of its cutter. Remember that the Argus cutter is made by Nobel Scotland which is a specialist of explosives devices. An electronic device can be checked electronically, a cutter electrical wiring can be checked for electrical continuity but it is impossible to check if the explosive cartridge chemical is good without opening it. Then keep that in mind, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO GUARANTEE IF A CUTTER WILL FIRE OR WILL FIRE STRONG ENOUGH. Only a statistical quality control can be used but it will never guarantee the function at 100%. Now for the Vigil. I have had a Vigil I and now a Vigil II. My Vigil I has fired twice when it had to do it and at the exact altitude altitude it was designed for and under normal firing conditions. Now, with my Vigil II, just like the Vigil I, I have been in all kind of airplanes, Cessnas, at the door, helicopters going up and down, Twin Otters, near the door, PAC 750 XL near the door, Casas on the tail gate, doing linked exit up to 8 way, DC9 rear door...name it. I have been on the same aircrafts at any position you can imagine, rear floater, front floater, diving, free exit, linked exit........NO PROBLEM AT ALL. All AADs are good and well designed but think twice about that there cannot be any total absolute, 100% guarantee. Beside that, competition is good. Keep it, it is your best insurance to get better product. Why I am so often near the door...because most of my jumps are FS jumps (4 to 40+) therefore since FS big ways are first to exit, I am very often near the door.

Hey guys I was at the 2011 PIA symposium at Reno Nevada about a month ago and I have seen something quite unusual, a reserve rodeo contest. This was the most spectacular event of the symposium. The reserve rodeo is a contest where the competitors, two by two, had to pack a similar reserve from a complete deployed canopy to the last flap pin closure and doing it as fast as possible. The event was held from 8th final to final held at 5 PM every day in the Reno exhibition hall. I have only seen the final contest between Margaret Vermeulen and Mike Gruwell. Mike was barely first after 10 minutes but when using a rod thru the pilot chute to catch the pull cord, he missed it twice. Margaret using only her arm to thread the pull cord thru the pilot chute top grommet had no problem at all. Margaret Vermeulen won the rodeo with an incredible time of 11 minutes and 32 seconds. Unbelievable. Thanks to Sandy Reid from Rigging Innovations to have provided the necessary equipment for this rodeo. BTW, at the Thursday night banquet, I had the chance to speak and shake hands with colonel Kittinger who has, in the 60's, made the highest altitude jump at about 122 000 ft. His record is still unbeaten. Colonel Kittinger was the honor guest at the symposium banquet. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Well if people would only read their owner's manual and understand the text, they would have less problems and probably you would like Vigils. The reason a Vigil II stays on is that the owner didn't switch it off after the jumping day and went home at a place located 150 feet or more above or below the DZ (plus or minus 150 feet is the Vigil arming altitude, Cypres such altitude is 1400 feet). The Vigil then "thinks" it is still airborne and faithfully, is ready to do its job. It is the AAD user's responsibility to know his device just like a pilot has to know his instruments. DZ have the responsibility too to organize seminars about AAD knowledge, at the safety day for instance. In other word, the Vigil is ready to protect you as soon as you reach +/- 150 feet above the place where you switched it on. If you are living in a flat area like in Florida (not if you are in a penthouse in a high rise building) the Vigil will turn off automatically after 14 hours if not switched off. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Few precautions could be taken to avoid that kind of problem. 1) just after landing : stay where you are for few seconds, if lines are all around you, grab the risers just above the three rings and get them on one side including the lines and fabric. That way everything will be clear from you. You can now do the brakes. Avoid absolutely to walk with lines around you. Ask help if necessary. Then do large line stows around your neck or daisy chain them and gather the fabric. 2) after landing : if the canopy stays behind you, turn around like doing a standing half barrel roll to face the canopy. To do so, one riser has to go above your head. Do the brakes and gather you canopy orderly. If you are fast enough do like pro, after landing immediately do that standing half barrel roll while the canopy is still in the air and now you face the canopy. 3) when you bring your canopy to the packing area, put the canopy as much as possible orderly on the ground : pilot chute, fabric, lines, risers and undo the harness while making sure to put it face down top forward. Do do so, while your unbuckled container is still on your shoulders, hold the harness/container by the main lift web using your arms, slide it down and using one foot, push the bottom of the container rearward. Note: doing like indicated above will prepare your canopy to be packed. But in any way, you should be able to spot the entanglement or step through problem when doing your lines check. When doing it first make sure the three rings and container shoulders are well flat on the ground with toggles on the top riser. Good luck and be careful. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Basically there shouldn't be any difference the way to flare whatever the wind conditions are. Why, because you are landing using the relative wind on your canopy just like an airplane landing. Of course, landing with a relatively high wind means that the ground speed is reduced (provided you are facing it) and this is why the landing will look softer. The reduced ground speed also gives you more time to adjust to what you see (the ground coming to you). Now, when starting flaring ? You should start flaring at about 15-20 feet, in a very progressive way and adjusting the toggles according what you see when the ground seems to come to you. Your toggles should be at hip level when being at one foot above the ground when the winds are calm. With high winds, your toggles should be at waist-chest level at one foot above the ground. Now how to evaluate the distance from you to the ground. Here is several tricks 1) start flaring when you see the grass leaves individually if your DZ is grassy 2) look at about 45 degrees in front of you, and start flaring at a distance of 15-20 feet. To get used to evaluate that distance, on the ground get on a location above the ground, ladder or truck... and look at what a distance of 20 feet from you to the ground appears (measured before with a tape) and get used to that distance. Note: Don't worry too much, we all have had to do this kind of stuff. Some people are just learning faster than others then whatever the time it will take, keep on trying Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

The problem here is one of fabric control. I lay flat on my stomach on my cocooned canopy and do the three S folds while I keep on laying on it. Here is the way : 1) I fold one third of the length (the top) under the middle third 2) I fold the second third (middle) + the top part (which is under) together above the last third near the lines (note that the first third of the top is now above) 3) I have now the three folds, I start putting the folded canopy in one corner of the Dbag then the other corner and finally I clean the middle of the folded canopy into the Dbag. And for this step I am still laying on the folded canopy 4) I finally get on my knees while keeping pressure on the middle of the mouth of the Dbag. Now the Dbag mouth is up and I make a little S fold with the part of the canopy near the lines and stuff it in the Dbag Note 1: comb the lines up at step 4) to make sure the slider grommets are still against their stoppers. note 2: All the time, I stay laying on the fabric and between each step I clean the fabric with hands on the sides in order to get nice folds. Of course, I have to backup my body at each step. This is the way I teach beginners to do it. It's a very good way to keep the folds in good order. If you get tired just relax the time needed. The folded fabric is held in place with your own weight. Later on with experience the packer will find his own tricks.

Here is some tricks you can try in order to evaluate when starting your flare. 1) do not look down, it's not where you are going, but look forward down at 45 degrees. 2) if your DZ is grassy, start flaring when you can see the grass leaves individually, at about 15-20 feet ahead of you. 3) start flaring at about 15-20 feet about the ground, relatively early but very slowly and : a) if the ground comes slow to you, keep on pulling more toggles slowly b) if the ground comes fast to you, pull down the toggles faster, according what you see. 4) your toggles should be at hip level only when you are at one foot above the ground. Note: If you have started your flare too high, slowly put the toggles up to recover some speed then apply do your flare again. Be ready for a good PLF. Good luck and give us some feedback. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Just one in 2010. A friend of mine lent his rig without briefing the borrower, a beginner, about the brake release. The result was a one side lock of the extra length of steering line with a knot around the upper keeper channel when the guy released the brakes. He did a cut away followed by a nice reserve ride. The rig was a Mirage. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

I have a Vector 348 including a Katana 170 and a PD 160 reserve. It is tight. You can fit a 190 in yours providing it's made of F111. But a Sabre ZP 190 is a bit too much. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Jumping above say 21 000 ft can causes very serious safety problems. This is why for such jumps at or near 30 000 ft, you should get a high altitude seminar with pro (at the WFFC such seminars were offered at 350.00$, the duration was three hours on evening and the jump was scheduled very early the following morning). That wouldn't guarantee the jump for you had to show a blood saturation of 97% or more at altitude or you couldn't jump. Seminars were dealing with related topics like hypoxia signs, physiological changes in case of hypoxia and how to recognize them, oxygen on board and bottle management, oxygen mask...etc, not a fluke at all. Remember that you lose 3.6 degrees F for each 1000 ft with respect to the ground temperature. At 30 000 ft the temperature will be 108 degrees F less than the one at the ground in ordinary weather conditions. Check with some DZ offering this kind of services Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

It is very possible that your injury from playing rugby has kept the shoulder ligaments loose. Get a MRI scan and ask the advise from an orthopedist doctor. You will have maybe to get a surgery in case of loose ligament if you want to safely kept on jumping. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

If you like RW jumping go for a RW jumpsuit with booties. Freefly jumpsuits do not have booties. Being a girl makes you a light person in the air. Then with any RW jumpsuit, your margin of vertical speeds will be relatively wide (ie. from 110 to 120 MPH), to go faster and match heavy guys you will have to put some weight belt. What I would suggest for now is that you try other girls jumpsuit to see which kind of jumpsuit fits your freefall rate the best. ie. Tight slippery nylon jumpsuit (fast) or slightly slack polycotton (slower) jump suit. All depends on your weight and height. But I understand you want a X-Mas gift. Ask your father for a coupon of 500$ value. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

I really don't want to discourage you but maybe you are prone for easy shoulder dislocation when doing unusual move. The fact that your dislocation happened while doing a back loop means your shoulder is sensitive to an effort or force applied upward when your arm is extended (your body being horizontal belly toward the Earth). However all I say is highly speculative. You have to find out with a physiatrist or/and physiotherapist. A friend of mine had to quit skydiving after his shoulder dislocated twice in freefall even when he was wearing an elastic shoulder support. He was told later on that he was prone to shoulder dislocation because he was born with loose ligaments. Personally, I dislocated a shoulder when at landing I fell forward and tried to protect myself presenting my elbow (the worst mistake to do). Not only my shoulder popped out but at the MRI scan imagery they discovered I had 3 ligaments torn off and another one out of its grove. Doctors put back my shoulder in place (I was under morphine) then two months later I had a two hours surgery under total anaesthesia. That was followed by six months of physiotherapy. My goal was just to be able to reach for my toggles. I was back to jumping soon enough, and now everything seems OK. All of this to say that surgeons can make miracles but you have to believe in the technique. Physiotherapy plays an important role as well to recover, flexibility and amplitude and as much as possible force in the corresponding arm. Take it seriously and deal only with specialists. I wish you good luck. Tell us how you will be recovering.

I am following the compulsory AAD issues for a while. I made about 1700 jumps without AAD then at 60, I decided to buy one. But as ever, I am still against the decision of any entities: DZ, Association or states... to make AAD's compulsory. I am for the free choice but those entities can advertise, suggest, print posters and encourage the licensed jumpers to wear an AAD when they jump but not force the people to have it. Legally, I think that if an AAD is responsible for the death of somebody, those entities which makes it compulsory could be in big trouble. OTOH I think it is good to have the AAD's mandatory for students since they are not already aware or experienced. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

I agree with you completely. Always show a beginner something without short cut. Be very conservative. But in the reality, buddies who are good willing people are not always aware or knowledgeable. If you are one of those you should be humble enough to refer your friend beginner to some recognized, current, competent and knowledgeable instructor concerning basic safety. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Here is some topics : 1) Location of the AAD cutter (bottom of the reserve bag, above the reserve, above the pilot chute) leaving a short or a long closing loop remainder when cut. 2) pilot chute spring strength or/and its launching height reached (is higher, better ?) 3) Tuck tab versus Velcro and magnet for riser covers 4) hardware/webbing sliding (or shinny stainless steel hardware versus nickel plated hardware and the matching webbing) 5) Small and large reserve handle (or fashion versus function) 6) standards for canopies packing volume and size 7) TSO or equivalent (standards) for AAD's 8) reserve opening and closing in order to change AAD batteries or install another AAD (when the rigger who packed the reserve is not available), who can seal it without a repack ? 9) trim angle of canopies to be indicated on their tag (ie. 13 degrees, 15.5 degrees or 18 degrees...) (angle between the chord and the horizontal with toggles up) 10) main brake release and steering line knotting problems (any brake standards...?) 11) actual force to be applied on a cutaway handle with respect to the 3 ring size and suspended weight including G force involved in a high spinning malfunction 12) rigging tools (old and new) and tricks Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

An old say is that you are always victim of your habits. Unseen danger is the most dangerous. And routine is one of them. For example: I personally put myself in a suspended harness at the beginning of each season to refresh my actual cut away procedures by experiencing an actual fall in a mattress. This very simple suspended harness is installed permanently in my basement. And better yet, I don't have to open my reserve or put a temporary pin. I even don't remove the main. I just disconnect the risers and fold them back under the riser cover. I use a dummy rip cord handle secured with several turns of masking tape. I recommend that to everybody but there is few people people around me doing it. That being said, routine is a potential killer and this killer takes it easy while you are unaware of it. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.