riggermick

QuoteThis is one of the rings off of the release. It is only frayed on one side, and only on one riser. I say frayed, but Does it HAVE to be replaced or is ok?[/reply Buy new risers dude and have your base (Harness) rings checked for burrs and abrasive points. Mick.

It's older tech but bullet proof, it'll save you when you need it. Opens very fast too, kevlar reinforced. I've used one, lands just fine. Mick.

Nope......Never.ever ever ever. The human body is THE weak piont. fly with confidence. Mick.

For the Reflex I chose a 1" differential for the RSL side VS the non RSL side. Mick.

The're all different due to yoke lengths, container width's and handle location. Any rigger with access to a Nicropress swedger can build a custom handle for you. The trick is how skilled in the "dark art"s the rigger is when it comes to finishing the cable ends. That Lolon is tricky stuff to master when finishing cables. Mick.

Um.....thanks. By having "salt" I assume you mean experience? If so, then yes I do have some experience with the subject. Mick. For some strange reason the last part of the message I was trying to quote didn't appear. Mick.

Um.....thanks. By having "salt" I assume you mean experience? If so, then yes I do have some experience with the subject. Mick.

Properly consructed chest straps,either type 7, type 8 or type 17 will hold up just fine. Type 17 (2500 lbs) is the "weakest" material comonly used in chest construction, it's still way stronger you will ever need. The true "weak spot" on the chest strap is the hardware. the MS 70101-1 quick fit adapter (for 1 3/4" webbing) is only rated at 500 lbs, which is still more than you need. The reason for this is that the horizontal load component of the harness is farily low when compared to the vertical one. Webbing will generally be cut and shredded by the chest strap hardware before the sliding bar will yeld and pop out. But generaly only this happens during opening shock on very very hard openings with very very tight (read difficulty breathing)chest straps. It's a geometry thing and it's extremly rare. So unless someone gets a limb caught in a harness of another jumper (a whole other story)I think you'll be ok. Mick.

Shoud I find a Reflex with the catapult system based on your 'two are better than one' theory? What the eff is that supposed to mean? The Catapult works just fine and hasn't killed anyone, in fact it's saved a few people. Please explain. Mick. (Catapult inventor/ designer).

QuotePersonally, I think the issue has far more to do with wear than with strength, and wear has a lot more to do with harness design (velcro mate locations, chafing strips, hardware geometry) than type of material. I haven't heard of harness webbing failing in a long, long time. Bills right on both counts. Harness design is a blend of function and style. A harness needs to be strong enough to withstand the riggors of it's application without exessive wear or failure. It also needs to be comfortable if the manufacturer want's it to be consumer friendly. A third point is it needs to be functional in terms of how it interacts with the other components installed on the system, such as the location and mounting of handles. All three of these considerations must be taken into account when designing/ building a harness, if any one is overlooked the outcome could, at worst be fatal and at best a comercial flop. As previously pointed out the "weak spot" on a harness is the hardware(provided the harness is geometricly sound and is not suffering from catastrophic design weak spot that has been overlooked). There is however another weak spot that has so far not been mentioned. The weak spot on harness webbing is the point at which the stitch pattern stops (usually a three or four point pattern). Needle holes at the tips of the stitch pattern points create a "perferation line" across the webbing. Not to worry though, a human being would be sliced and diced through the leg straps long before the "tear on the dotted line" action happened. So in summation; (assuming the correct hardware is present),wheather it's type eight, type seven, type thirteen or any combination of them, what really counts is how well the harness is stressed for any given load path(s) it will encounter and are the correct minimum number of stitches present to hold it together? After that it's just style, comfort and ease of use. Just my .02c worth. Mick.

QuoteJust purchased a stiletto manufactured in Feb. of '02. Less than 100 jumps on canopy...should the line trim still be okay? Time doesn't factor into shrinking? Anything else besides use factor into trim changes? Please advise...[:) 100 jumps should be just fine and no time is of no consiquence in shrinkage. Have fun be saffe. Mick.

What is the original (generic) thread color then?

Not enough infomation. Users left, or observerss left? And what specficaly was causing the riser not to dis-enage? Housings, ring placement, or outside factors? More details please. Mick.

Try adjusting the deployment brake settings, make them about 2" shorter. This will serve to allow the canopy cells to fill more slowly as the forward speed is diminished somwhat and the canopy will stay in a "scoop" configuration longer. The bang occurs when the canopy is rapidly pressureized. Ask a local rigger to show you how to half hitch and daisy chain your lower control lines so that you can experiment with different settings. A few years ago some ram airs were built with out a finger trap loop for the toggle, just a black mark on the line to indicate the brake setting. it was modeled after the 4 line release lanyards. But I emphasize use caution when experimenting with your control settings. Always make minor adjustments to the deployment settings not major ones (4-6") as you may not like the results (read: it could be dangerous to your body). Good luck. Mick.

Assuming that the infrastructure is all set up, the correct materials are present, the technician (s) are highly experienced and the rig is a non exotic (plain) design, it would take about 10 hours with two people. Add a third person to build the peripherials (bag's, risers, pilotchutes etc) and you would be able to ship the rig at the end of the next day. That's two full business days assuming nothing goes wrong, like accedently setting the almost finished rig down on a hot knife ( yes, I've done it. But only once). The fastest I've ever been able to build a rig (no peripherials)on my own (with no breaks) is 9 hours start to finish. Now bear in mind I've made a lot of rigs and knew exactly what I was doing, but it still is a lot of work, so maybe we all should cut the manufacturers a little slack. Hope this helps. Mick.

Modified Strato star (from ropes and rings to slider)in 1978. My next canopy was not much better some say even worse, a Strato Flyer AKA: the nylon hammer. But I was young and stupid in those days, now I'm just, well..... you know. Mick.

Keep an open mind. You'll live longer... Ain't that the truth. Mick.

Oldest parachute TSO on the books, two catarogies, low speed up to 150 MPH and Standard catagory over 150 MPH, superceeds NAS 804 from the 1940's. No weight limits, wide latatude to make all sorts of changes due to ambiguos language. Mick.

Most secondary riser covers are resin stiffened Ballistic Cloth. Any plastic on a rig is generally MDS (molibdimum (sp?) disulfide nylon) under the brand name Nylatron. It comes in a variety of thickneses. Mick.

You're welcome, And, as always I'm here to answer all of your Reflex related questions and queries. After all this is (was) my baby. Mick.

This is cross posted from the incidents forums so that any interested parties won't miss it. Mick. To say the least there was some concern about the incident and in particular the fact that the reserve didn't deploy. I wasn't real concerned about it until Brew brought up the canopy transfer scenario, which is in my emergency playbook, that got my attention. We found the reserve D-bag to be held in place by the closed corners of the reserve tray created by the reserve side flaps and material coming up from the main side flaps. The force on the ground seemed minimal to extract the d-bag. The reserve deployment system worked exactly as designed. The reserve container flap design (shape) and configuration (how they interact with one another) was deliberately designed to prevent the reserve canopy from deploying in just this type of scenario. This type of engineering is called "friction staging". Had a breakaway been performed the drag on the pilot chute would have increased in a second or two as free fall speed was increasing. Just as in a normal cutaway situation the reserve would be extracted in the same time frame from a standing start, the reserve pilot chute(s) being already out would make for a faster deployment than an RSL. Had this container not been equipped with friction staging you would have had a two canopy out situation and some much harder decisions to make. The container worked exactly as it was designed to. I'm glad you're ok. All this led to much speculation and debate and we all decide to investigate and compare findings. My first point of contact was to talk with Ray Ferrell (hope I got the spelling correct) who currently handles tech issues and parts for the Reflex H/C. He was very helpful and gave me much the same info as you have given here, thanks to both of you for your help. I'm completely satisfied with the explanations given here and by others as to the reasons why the reserve didn't deploy and will continue to use my Reflex. My cypres did its job, my Reserve system functioned as designed and I will not be so stupid in the future. Mick Cottle Reflex designer.

To say the least there was some concern about the incident and in particular the fact that the reserve didn't deploy. I wasn't real concerned about it until Brew brought up the canopy transfer scenario, which is in my emergency playbook, that got my attention. We found the reserve D-bag to be held in place by the closed corners of the reserve tray created by the reserve side flaps and material coming up from the main side flaps. The force on the ground seemed minimal to extract the d-bag. The reserve deployment system worked exactly as designed. The reserve container flap design (shape) and configuration (how they interact with one another) was deliberately designed to prevent the reserve canopy from deploying in just this type of scenario. This type of engineering is called "friction staging". Had a breakaway been performed the drag on the pilot chute would have increased in a second or two as free fall speed was increasing. Just as in a normal cutaway situation the reserve would be extracted in the same time frame from a standing start, the reserve pilot chute(s) being already out would make for a faster deployment than an RSL. Had this container not been equipped with friction staging you would have had a two canopy out situation and some much harder decisions to make. The container worked exactly as it was designed to. I'm glad you're ok. All this led to much speculation and debate and we all decide to investigate and compare findings. My first point of contact was to talk with Ray Ferrell (hope I got the spelling correct) who currently handles tech issues and parts for the Reflex H/C. He was very helpful and gave me much the same info as you have given here, thanks to both of you for your help. I'm completely satisfied with the explanations given here and by others as to the reasons why the reserve didn't deploy and will continue to use my Reflex. My cypres did its job, my Reserve system functioned as designed and I will not be so stupid in the future. Mick Cottle Reflex designer.