billbooth

The burble behind a fully inflated wing suit is gigantic. I'm sure you've seen the video of an entire deploying main canopy, at line stretch, literally sucked back all the way to the jumper. Wingsuits were tried in the 30's and 50's, but almost everyone died. The reason was everyone was jumping spring loaded pilot chutes. It wasn't until the introduction of the hand deployed pilot chute, that modern wing suiting became possible. So, in answer to your question: Deploying a spring loaded pilot chute of any description, behind a wing suit, in certain flight modes, is very likely to produce a terrible pilot chute hesitation. If you're depending on an AAD set at normal settings (below 1,000 ft.), you're probably going to die if you ever need it. The Skyhook has nothing to do with it. PS. I've often thought that what wingsuiters really need is a rig with a hand deploy reserve. You couldn't have an AAD, but for the above stated reason, even if an AAD fires at its set altitude, you do not have a not very good chance of an "in-time" deployment anyway.

Thank you Edgar. It's hard to believe, but the Skyhook is now 16 years old, and had been put on over 30,000 rigs. It has been used 10"s of thousands of times, and has had far fewer problems than any of my other inventions, including the hand deployed pilot chute and three ring release.

Any chance of adding the equipment manufacturers and USPA to the law? The DZ's can't operate for long if all the manufacturers and USPA are sued out of existence. No matter what, this is a step in the right direction. Ski operators in Colorado and equestrian operations in Florida already have such protections.

As I remember, the full name for them was "Anti-Wind Blast Handle", and they came off ejection seats where wind blast was a serious problem.

Line twists happen all the time on MAIN deployments, and the jumper was usually quite stable when he threw the pilot chute. A lot of things cause line twists, but the Skyhook is not one of them. As I've said many times before: The speed of Skyhook deployment lessens, not increases the chance of line twists. The Skyhook has been out there for more than a decade now, and I don't know of anyone who has gone in because of reserve line twists. However I can think of a lot of people who have gone in because of low cutaways without a MARD.

Looks like the best argument for a Skyhook I've seen in a long time. He rode the malfunction for over 20 seconds, and then didn't saddle out on the reserve for nearly 6 seconds after cutaway! Glad he pulled high in the first place, because the malfunction ride, plus time between breakaway and reserve opening probably exceeded 2,500 ft.

It's been years since I checked the statistics, because I thought this was settled long ago, but if I remember correctly: In actual use, pull outs have a 5 times higher total malfunction rate than throw outs. Plus, almost no one advocated pull outs for students. The mean a transition to pull out must occur sometime after student status...and we all know transitions form anything to anything can cause problems. These are the main two reasons most people jump throw outs.

Do you really want to jump without an AAD?

There are a lot of problems with such a rig. However, the major one that disqualifies it is pretty obvious. I have yet to see an AAD that could throw a springless pilot chute. In my youthful foolishness, I designed the original Vector with a hand deployed reserve pilot chute, back before anyone but students were using AAD's. I believe it was BJ Worth that talked me out of it. I'm glad he did. AAD's for everybody turned out to be a much better idea.

In all of my 52 years skydiving, I never met anyone quite like him. Little Known Fact: Scotty Carbone bought the FIRST hand deploy pilot chute rig I ever sold. I'll miss you Scotty! Bill Booth

They were part of the "Rings and Ropes" reefing system on early ParaFlite canopies. When the slider came in, the rings and ropes went away, but the "tabs" they were attached to stuck around.

As long as the "clear" coating is Lolon (a form of 6/6 Nylon that is very flexible, has low surface friction, and does not crack easily) , the cable is OK. The real danger is that it is vinyl, which yields too much friction for an easy pull. I color coated my Lolon cable yellow simply for easy identification, because otherwise,it is hard to tell.

We jump from 30,000 and opened at about 16,000 for a landing at 13,000. The short freefall time is due to the high freefall velocity at 30,000. Uppers were 88 knots and temp was -60. Being in freefall at that altitude with mountains whizzing by is quite a sensation, and the view under canopy is amazing. Jumped a PD 260 and it felt like a 160. The aircraft was a porter. Some of our jumpers landed above 17,000 last year near base camp.

Not only does it cost $20,000, but you have to hike uphill for a week just to get to the DZ. However, it is more than worth it. One of the best experiences of my life.

In 1965, after 27 jumps on 1.1's, I got my first PC. For the next 41 jumps I continued to use my 28' belly wart with NO pilot chute. Then I visited DeLand for the first time. Talking to Gary Dupuis at the bar one night, convinced me to add a pilot chute. The next day he put an MA-1 in my reserve container, hung me up in a suspended harness, and taught me how to cutaway. On my very next jump, my 69th, I experience a bad spinning malfunction and got to practice my newly learned emergency procedures in real life. If I had tried a non-breakaway, pull and punch reserve deployment, I believe I would have died, and skydiving gear might look a lot different today. Thank you Gary.

Two of the reasons UPT never offered this system are; 1. The double ended 3-ring loop drastically increases the chance that the 3-ring will not release when the handle is pulled, for several reasons. We learned this from malfunctions on double ended loops on 3-ring drogue releases. This was one of the main reasons the Sigma Tandem System was developed. 2. If the 3-ring system jams up for any reason, you can't pull your reserve ripcord can you? (Unless of course you add a second reserve ripcord, and students have enough trouble with just one handle.) Even if it is not a total jam up, your reserve pull will be harder because you are pulling 3 cables through 3 housings, instead of just one, as with a normal ripcord system. There are others, but these two should do.

I found two other movie "Mister Bill" jumps in the movies. One was in a Dick Tracy serial, and the other in a Shirley Temple movie. Once again Hollywood anticipated something that would not happen for real for another 40 years.

I've heard that rumor too. Not true. Mark is a very smart guy, but his Sorcerer base rig RSL system is very different from the Skyhook. It relies on a hand deployed RESERVE pilot chute being pulled by the jumper to release the main/reserve connection. It will NOT automatically release in case of a reserve first deployment, as the Skyhook does, and therefore will not work with the spring loaded pilot chute reserve system we all use. I had been working on MARD systems for years before I met Mark. Mark DID sell the Sorcerer system for BASE jumpers before I put out the Skyhook, because I hadn't yet worked out all the bugs, so my Skyhook was not yet ready for prime time. If you read my patent application, I clearly reference Mark's design, and state why the Skyhook is a different concept. I'm glad you jump an AAD...Everyone should. However, if you jumped a Sorcerer-style MARD, and had a total malfunction, followed by an AAD fire, you would probably die, because your reserve pilot chute would remain securely attached to your main riser.

Wow! I'll take 100!

At the moment, there are more old canopies than people willing to jump them. How does a Double Keeled Paradactyl or Volplane sound? Remember the old adage that got us through these "transitional" canopies in the first place:"If you're going to be stupid, you gotta be tough." You'll have to sign the waiver TWICE to jump these babies!

Of course. Even if you don't jump a Vector. I'm getting soft in my old age.

Niki; I wouldn't be where I am today (chuckle) without all those test jumps you did on stuff no one else would jump.

I have no desire to jump that old stuff either, but...other people seem willing. So far we have 2 PC's (one in the first rig I ever made), a Delta II Parawing, a "baby Paraplane with rings and ropes, and believe it or not...a VolPlane with hydraulic reefing. Hope to get a really brave person to jump a 1:1 flat circular.

On February 21, 1965 I made my first jump. 50 years later, on February 21, 2015, I want to celebrate by forming a "50" formation over Skydive Deland. We are also going to jump some old PC's we have. So, if you have an old canopy (1:1, LO-PO, PC, Delta II, Paradacyl, Para-Plane or Strato Star, and want to get on the old folks load (it's FREE), call UPT (386) 736-7589 and let us know. Bar-be-que and old PROJECTED Carl Boenish movies are also in the mix.

On February 21, 1965 I made my first jump. 50 years later, on February 21, 2015, I want to celebrate by forming a "50" formation over Skydive Deland. We are also going to jump some old PC's we have. So, if you have an old canopy (1:1, LO-PO, PC, Delta II, Paradacyl, Para-Plane or Strato Star, and want to get on the old folks load (it's FREE), call UPT (386) 736-7589 and let us know. Bar-be-que and old PROJECTED Carl Boenish movies are also in the mix.