Fledgling

That's a brave statement considering your harness is yet to be subjected to the creative abuse of the masses.

I have personally witnessed a 2 Senseis exhibiting excessive wear in 400 jumps. The wear was apparent in the usual locations but of an ammount you would expect on a much older canopy. Aerodyne replaced said canopy for the customer and the new canopy faired only slightly better showing much of the same wear again inside of 400 jumps. Jumps were in a cool climate, on a grass landing area with indoor packing. No experience with the Pilot but it seems like a pretty popular canopy so if there is a problem with ZPX Pilots you should be able to get an answer either way.

I think it is important to refrain from calling this a drogue MAL as instructors need to understand and focus on the fact that this problem is caused by instructor error not gear failure. This scenario is easily avoided by simply paying a little more attention while deploying the drogue. We all hear the saying don't use the drogue to get stable, but instructors seem to take that to mean get belly down and throw the drogue but then never really pay much more attention to it than that(set and forget). Pay more attention while deploying the drogue and you will end up with a better understanding of how the drogue behaves while being deployed with the tandem pair at different orientations to the relative wind.

Not good enough. Flame on haters!!! And no one has even bothered to mentioned Tonysuits yet either ;-)

Sounds like a pretty crappy video to me. A good video should show the TI enjoying taking his passenger skydiving. I agree with all the comments about making fun of the customer. It wouldn't be accepted in any other industry. Joking with the passenger fine, making fun of them on a video that they are paying big bucks for not so cool.

Didn't this already cause a tandem fatality?

Must be a conspiracy

So I guess the point I am trying to make is that the Y-Mod does nothing to fix the problem, it only reduces the possible consequences. I would much rather see a concerted effort to raise the general awareness on this issue. Identify and assist any instructors that need to be retrained/rebriefed to bring them up to a higher level of safety. And failing that, isolate the problem and remove it. The Y-Mod doesn't fix the problem it only hides it and I think it's about time that we start holding instructors/DZs accountable for the passengers safety.

I answered your original question of "Why wouldn't people use the Y-Mod unless they were trying to save a few bucks?"The true answer is that when a harness is adjusted correctly there is simply no need for the existence of a Y-Mod. From that point on you have been trying to twist the argument with your questions to "Why would you refuse to use the Y-Mod" and "Don't you care about customer safety" and the like. Neither of which are my actual point of view and I resent the fact that you are repeatedly trying to steer the conversation in that direction. Again I have never said people shouldn't use the Y-Mod. My real concern is that every DZ adds the Y-Mod to their harnesses and skips right over the root cause of the problem all together. Miss something like totally forgetting to tighten up your passenger harness? As it has been made mandatory on Strong already I would say I have made several thousand tandem jumps with the Y-Mod. As it is not mandatory on Sigmas I will continue to jump the Sigma that i personally own without a Y-Mod, comfortable in the knowledge that for competent instructors it simply isn't necessary. If you are so adamant that the Y-Mod is necessary then I suggest you take a serious look at the skill level of the instructors that require it to make their harnesses idiot proof. If an instructor can't be trusted to adjust the harness properly then a) Why the hell is the DZ allowing them to do tandems? and b) What other things is that instructor doing in a sloppy half arsed fashion?

I am against bandaids. What's next? Harnesses that compensate for instructors who forget their top hooks? So you would rather see tandem students put at risk than see use of the y-mod? Sparky Don't try putting words in my mouth. What I am saying is that we need to deal with the root cause of the problem. Not apply bandaids and continue to allow sloppy instructors to continue with their sloppy bad habits.

That's not a growing trend. Idiots have been doing that for years.

I am against bandaids. What's next? Harnesses that compensate for instructors who forget their top hooks?

You may have me there. That is definitely happening too. But whether they were taught badly or just got bad later on the result is the same and I personally believe that for the greater majority Instructor skill levels are pretty low. I have absolutely no problem saying that at all. I have had the opportunity to travel quite extensively, working at many DZs in a number of countries and can honestly say that I have seen some pretty horrific Instructor Examiners.

Because it is not necessary. If the instructor adjusts the harness properly it is simply not necessary. The Y-mods only purpose is to keep passengers safe from shit instructors. I personally feel that the Y-mod no Y-mod debate has over shadowed the fact that there is a lot of poorly trained instructors out there. So what is a bigger concern to you. People that jump with out the Y-mod or people that need the Y-mod to jump safely?

Please correct me if I am wrong but unless I missed something this hasn't even happened anywhere near an airplane. Atleast with an aargus