Skybear

I did a few of my 200+ wingsuit jumps on a Sabre 2 and from my experience I can say it is okay. There are a few canopies which I recommend more, but there is nothing really wrong about a Sabre 2.

I do not know anything about USPA regulations concerning full face helmets, but from my point of view there is no sense in putting a jump number limit for the use of full face helmets. I recommend the Cookie G2, because of the super-secure locking mechanism, the large visor and the possibility to wear glasses comfortably. It is a expensive helmet but it is worth the money.

What does all this have to do with the question of the thread opener? Obviously Vigil gives a military discount while Cypres and Argus don't. The pros and cons of the different AADs have already been discussed extensively.

A clear statement, but it does not answer my question. Why did you choose so? What were the facts that supported you in making this decision? I am not asking for a full explanation, just for some key facts which give a better answer than "What we have seen and known..." Thanks! Sebastian

William, I am concerned about people not changing faulty cutters before their next jump. As you stated yourself the cutter in Portugal was from that faulty production batch. Why does the SB say that the cutters have to be replaced at the next repack or at latest 31st Dec. 2010? Why not immediately? Obviously they are prone to jamming loops and that can kill people. If it happened with any other AAD you could just replace the brand name in my postings, even if it was a Cypres. Once more: My concern is the SAFETY of the skydiving community.

1.) It must have fired sometime between switching the unit on and the student being double-checked during climb to altitude. That 's all that can be said. 2.) Yes I did. It might have been bent from the reserve-pc putting pressure on the pin after the loop being not fully cut. The cutter was checked because the reserve container looked "strange" when the student was back on the ground. 3.) All the pictures I saw are of bad quality, but I have one more from the cutter which is a bit better. See attachment. I do not know whether this cutters were already replaced before the incident, however: Please make sure that all cutters which are concerned by the SB are replaced!

All Argus-users please make sure that you have the cutters replaced. There was another misfire in Portugal where the loop was jammed in the cutter. Luckily it happened before the instructor was checking the student, and he realized that the Argus display was blank. The student landed with the plane and after the landing the rig was inspected. What they found seemed to be exactly the same what has happened in Poland.

with a pilot chute in tow, i never understood why one would cutaway then pull reserve. with a pillt chut in tow, the main is stuck in the bag, nothing to cutaway. I feel this guy did the right thing, PIT dump reserve and HOPE it clears. If not (like in this situation) at least you have 2 chances of getting fabric over your head. let it be said, ask an isntructor! but had this guy chopped before going to reserve, there is a good chance he would have died (his main is what eventually opened) When I had my PC-in-tow I did cut away and this maybe saved my life. When the reserve opened it released the pressure from the main container a bit, just enough so that the main pilot chute was able to pull the pin. Not cutting away would have resulted in a two-out situation.

I suppose nothing, I just know what I learned on a factory visit. The battery pack has the capacity to work for at least four years, no matter how often you switch it on or off and no matter how many jumps you do and whether you do them in tropic temperaturs near the equator or somewhere in northern Greenland where it is fu...ing cold. My dytter works with standard batteries and they don't do this job in the way a Cypres or Vigil battery does. So, let's stop the brand war and talk seriously. What was the status of the battery? If it was low it is worth asking what unwanted side effects this can cause. Just for the other users to learn from it possibly.

One thing that always concerns me a bit about the Argus is the fact that the user is responsible for changing the battery, and that the battery is some standard off-the-shelf. Insufficient power supply may trigger any electronic sensor device to false readings. And with a standard battery there is less reliability when it comes to rapid temperature changes like in a skydive. Can you provide any info about the status of the battery in the Argus which was used here?

Why the f..k are you turning this thread into a brand war? Why must it always sound like: My wingsuit brand is the best ever and all the others are stupid idiots with no service and crappy suits? Thanks to Jari and Robert for engineering and selling a wingsuit that is suitable for the average skydiver. Birdman made history in skydiving. As much as I appreciate Roberts and Tonys business I hope that Jari will be back after relaxing for a while.

Wasn't there for the training, only for funjumps. It is definitely the worst dropzone ever. Only crappy small airplanes and a low number of it. You have to wait at least ten minutes for the next load and then you are sitting on a uncomfortable wooden bench in a Twin Otter. And then the weather! Warm blue skies all the day, what a mess! No, serious: Go there! It is a perfect place to learn skydiving, do funjumps, meet old friends and make new friends. You will enjoy for sure!

Not really. Everytime when a Cypres 2 is shipped in for service is gets a software and hardware update. Airtec does continous research and improved the Cypres 2 in all the years. Gimmicks like the flight counter were implemented, but also serious changes in hardware and software algorithms werde done. If you bought a Cypres 2 in 2004 you now have a 2008-Cypres 2, provided it was in for service. Maybe it is a completely new unit, without letting you know. Cypres 2 checks at least one item at every second during the count-down. If one item fails to be tested okay it shuts down immediately. Every Cypres 2 can be switched between modes in the factory or at SSK. For free. So feel free to buy a Tandem Cypres 2 and let the mnode be changed to Expert Cypres 2. Rumours say that Airtec...no sorry, I am not entitled to tell something about this. I like to be protected as safe as possible. I doubt that it is safer to leave a disabled airplane in 500 feet than staying inside. But that's just my personal opinion. You better not forget that you have a VIGIL in your rig. As you have written the biggest problems come from users who do not read the manual of their AADs. Do not forget to check your Vigil 2 once a year by comparing its pressure readings with those from a calibrated altimeter. The sensors slowly loose their calibration, about 1hPa per year. That means only 8m(30ft) per year, but after 5 years it is already 40m(150ft). Do not forget to check the Mode before each jump. As a physics teacher you surely know something about the atmospheric pressure variation and its specifics in mountaineous areas. With a correction range greater than 3000 feet the readings tend to be to unprecise for an exact calculation that is needed for a reliable AAD, especially within the complex local wind and pressure systems within mountains like the alps. Yes. That surprises me. Have you been offered a factory tour by AAD? Me not, and even some other people than me. When I was asking for some specific information for an article for a german website, I only the got the blahblah frome the website (most reliable and modern AAD). No single answer to one of my questions. I am a nobody in skydiving, but some of my friends are well-known and are skydiving for more than 30 years now. None of their friendly queries for a factory tour was ever responded. I had a tour at Airtec and that 's one of the strongest reasons why I really trust and believe in them. I was shown every stage of the production and testing process, as well as the maintenance. Their quality control is superb and I have nothing bad to say about transparency. Give them a call when you come to Europe and I am sure that they will welcome you and offer the tour.

The manufacturer writes absolutely another. Thanks for the hint, the homepage says it different. I will forward this to Airtec and post their reply here. http://www.cypres.cc/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=82&Itemid=103&lang=en I talked to Airtec today about this discrepancy. The statement on the homepage is correct, it is a full 12,5-year warranty. No exceptions. The manuals will be changed in the near future.

The manufacturer writes absolutely another. Thanks for the hint, the homepage says it different. I will forward this to Airtec and post their reply here. http://www.cypres.cc/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=82&Itemid=103&lang=en

No loop lock, no faulty design. Oh and by the way no SB either. William Aviacom/ Argus Are you serious? The SB was released on Sep. 5th and you want to tell us that you weren't aware of it on August 28th?

About wingsuits: No difference between all AADs, electronic or mechanical ones. You can outfly them and die, but it is hard to do so. If you are knocked out they will save your life. I know a wingsuiter in person who was knocked out and saved by his Cypres 2. About the brands: All do what they are supposed to do: Saving your ass when it is time to do so. Reliability and customer service are the most important points for me, followed by value for money. The Cypres 2 comes with a 12,5-year full warranty from Airtec (lifetime). Every competitor offers only a 1-year warranty and different life expectancys (not guaranteed). So, if want to be really sure about your investment go for Cypres 2, if you are willing to gamble a bit you might consider other AADs. As far as I know their customer service is okay, but they are not committed to it in the way Airtec is. The committment for reliability is of course way stronger when you are giving a full warranty for lifetime instead of talking about life expectancy.

The Expert Cypres 2 has no purpose other than to deploy the skydiver's reserve chute No to that one. The purpose is to cut the loop of the reserve container. What happens thereafter is related to many other factors. Do we have an incident report available here? This posting leaves some open questions to me: -was the Cypres switched on at the dropzone, not somewhere else? -was the Cypres serviced within the last four years? -was the reserve packed properly, and was the reserve pilot chute in good working order? -which kind of rig was used?

Meybe you should consider the ultimate switch. I had several issues with broken bite switches. Mostly the wire-plug-connection was worn out after a while. Now I am using the ultimate switch for a long time and it still works perfect.

I don't know how it is in Australia, but here in Germany Cypres 2, Vigil 2 and Argus are about the same price. The Cypres 2 maintenance is done at a fixed price of 200 Euros (including the rigging stuff) but nobody knows how much the Argus maintenance will be. And Cypres 2 comes with a full 12,5-year warranty which would justify a higher price than the competitors, which only have a 1-year warranty. Therefore Cypres 2 is my choice.

You can send it directly to the factory in Slovenia, but as you are from the US I would ask Tonysuits if they can do this repair, to let it be done quicker and with less shipping expenses. If you need contacts for the factory here in Europe let me know.

Yeah, nobody would order colours like these today. But I guess it was all you had then

A few weeks ago I went to Hassfurt, a small dropzone in northern Bavaria. I met some nice people there, did RW and Birdman with them. One of the guys I did RW with told me that he has a old Birdman Classic in his locker. He wanted to give it away to someone who could use it, since he doesn't fly it anymore. I was quite happy when he offered the suit to me, because I love the Classics for first fliers. But when I realized what I was holding in my hands it was absolutely clear that no first-flier will ever jump this suit. What I got was the Birdman Prototype #1, the first ever Birdman-suit. Though we all know that there were many different wingsuit designs in the air before Birdman was founded, I think that this is a very special suit. This suit made wingsuiting fun and safe, and it made it available to the average skydiver out there. The Prototype will be kept as a unique piece in my collection, and it will still be jumped from time to time by me, or anybody else who is interested and has proven to be a experienced and reliable wingsuit pilot.

Where 's the cost advantage if you send it back for maintenance?

By the way, this is one of the major differences between Cypres and Vigil. If Cypresses are flawed in some way they will be fixed with the next service, or by recalling them immediately if it is a urgent matter. And it 's all done without additional charges, because the lifetime is guaranteed and not only promised. If you weren't happy with your Vigil 1 you are invited to buy a Vigil 2. If you are not happy with your Vigil 2 you are invited to buy a Vigil 3.