Bigfalls

Wow, I read the whole thing, quite interesting.

When I started skydiving, I had a MK2000 AAD on my chest mounted reserve. It was an electro-mechanical device with an altitude sensor and rate of descent sensor with contacts wired in series. It was calibrated before each jump and was designed to fire at 1000 feet if the rate of descent was too high. I had a test chamber and tested it and a few others yearly. They were remarkably accurate for their design. At that time, the opening altitude for C and D license holders was 2000 feet. I was at the symposium when AirTec introduced the Cypress. When Helmut stated that the activation altitude was 750 feet, my first thought was, that is too low, it should be 1000. 750 feet is cutting it pretty close, if there is a hesitation or slow opening, there is little time to steer to a safe landing area. As for raising the opening altitude, parachutes in general seem to be taking longer to open and an extra 500 feet is just a little safety margin. It appears to me that most jumpers are opening higher than they did years ago anyway. I will be at the PIA Symposium in Dallas.

Skydiver Emeritis