skydiving changes since 1982?

[jclalor 12]

I just returned to jumping after a brief 1/4 century break. I just had a few question about the changes.

I remember the pc was on my leg or belly, why and when did they go to the BOC?
I remember my first 10 or so jumps on a square(first 20 on a military round) back then and they would not let us flare landings, just half breaks. Do i remember this right?
I remember I did 5 or 6 SL'S and then what was called a "buddy jump" a 45 second freefall holding both hands of the instructor before I started the delay jumps. Was this the norm for 1982?
What is the difference in the AAD'S now compared to 82?
And when did rounds go obsolete for students?

[kimemerson 7]

BOCs showed up in about 1990-'91. At first people just had their rigs modified but soon enough they became standard, maybe by 1995 or so. Why? Well, the position creates a natural throw; With ROL you would have to pull the PC forward to get it out of the pocket, then toss it behind you a bit. BOC is all one, clean direction. You extract and release right where the PC belongs. (I'm not describing this well). Also, there's nothing to twist up. The pocket stays right where it belongs so there's no chance of locking up the PC or its pocket, like you could with the belly band. There's also no Velcro or exposed bridle.

[councilman24 37]

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I just returned to jumping after a brief 1/4 century break. I just had a few question about the changes.

I remember the pc was on my leg or belly, why and when did they go to the BOC?

I don't remember the BOC as early as 91 but it certainly became common, then standard in the 90's. How many twisted leg straps or belly bands did you hear about? It just became a natural location that simplified the gear. A lot of resistance to something you couldn't see from a lot of experienced jumpers. And I still pack a lot of rigs with that were originally ROL. In the 80's the curved pin for the throw outs came out too. Made them much more reliable.

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I remember my first 10 or so jumps on a square(first 20 on a military round) back then and they would not let us flare landings, just half breaks. Do i remember this right?

I never did that but it certainly was the default landing if you didn't think you could judge the flair. Wouldn't surprise me that was someones procedure.

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I remember I did 5 or 6 SL'S and then what was called a "buddy jump" a 45 second freefall holding both hands of the instructor before I started the delay jumps. Was this the norm for 1982?

No I don't think 'buddy' jumps like this were common. AFF was being invented right about then by Ken Coleman and Rocky Evans. (hmmm i think the USPA BOD presentation was in 80 or 81, just before Ken died. I think he died in 81.) But wasn't set up by 82 I don't think. There were certainly lots of folks doing lots of buddy jumps but wasn't sanctioned.

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What is the difference in the AAD'S now compared to 82?

ADD's (then called) were mechanical (FXC) or timed (KAP) or electro pyrotecnic (sentinal). And pulled the pins. And big, heavy, and unreliable. The Cypres, introduced in the U.S. in 1991 or 93, and later competitors area microprocessor controlled altitude and speed sensing units that use proprietary algorithams to 'determine' altitude and speed. Also now they are loop cutters. The use a pyrotechnic charge to drive a piston in a cylinder through which the reserve closing loop passes. Loop is cut opening the container. Go to http://www.sskinc.com/ for more information on the Cypres.

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And when did rounds go obsolete for students?

Rounds as mains went obsolete in the mid late 80's. I think our small DZ went to ram airs in about 84 or 85. Hmmmm, I may be wrong, it may have been later. Round reserves are still used by a few DZ's (I think, but one I knew of closed a couple of years ago). Most went in the late 80's early 90's to double square rigs.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[skyjumpsteve 0]

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I don't remember the BOC as early as 91

....yup. I started jumping in '91 and I started to see BOC either in '91 or '92. I remember thinking the concept of BOC was crazy but after a few jumps with it the deployment was indeed much much more natural and fluid.

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And I still pack a lot of rigs with that were originally ROL.

Yes indeed....you still see a lot of rigs that have a permanent velcro covering where the leg PC bridle used to be.

[councilman24 37]

I have one customer with a 95 or 96 Javelin that ordered it with both ROL and BOC. Took her a couple of years to switch to the BOC. Velcro cover tacked on.

Of course in 1980 I saw a Northern Lite with the PC stored between the main container and the back pad. Don't remember what the handle looked like. This was before curved pins and was just adding another oddity to an iffy deployment system. But solved lots of problems like the BOC did.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[lekstrom10k 0]

I had a BOC whatever year the "Swing-Wing jump suit came out, I had a "Wonder-Hog " that had the PC on a belly band. Moshers jump suit had you wearing your leg straps inside .I am guessing late 70,s. My son says 1977 was the first "Star-Wars" and Eddies ad had a jumper with a "Darth Vader " mask on. Does any one remember the Wonder-Hog" wiith the PC pouch that went on the front of the right leg strap, as the step in harness had the tensioner on the back side?

[mark 107]

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Does any one remember the Wonder-Hog" wiith the PC pouch that went on the front of the right leg strap, as the step in harness had the tensioner on the back side?

I owned one. The pilot chute set up was much better than belly band: harder to mis-rig. And, IMHO, a much more natural throw than the half-twist back-hand throw required for ROL or BOC.

Mark

[Niki1 1]

I remember the pc was on my leg or belly, why and when did they go to the BOC?




In the late 80's (maybe '88?) Bill Booth had a personal rig made and wanted the pilot chute to be in the same place as the drouge chute on his tandem rig. He actually jumped the tandem rig more often and didn't want different pilot chute locations. Some other people in DeLand saw it, liked it and retro fitting some rigs. I think the idea really caught on with the lawn dart crowd. The BOC seemed to be a lot less prone to accidental release.

Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done.
Louis D Brandeis

Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

[wmw999 2,545]

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Does any one remember the Wonder-Hog" wiith the PC pouch that went on the front of the right leg strap, as the step in harness had the tensioner on the back side?

I had one starting about 1979; I loved it; no more bruising from the hardware.

I also had the pilot chute stuffed between the back pad and the rig on my previous rig, a Starlite. It worked like a charm, but it sure wouldn't pass muster these days. I do think I at least put some velcro (of course -- everything cool was velcro) to keep the bridle from flopping around too much.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[zoobrothertom 5]

. And, IMHO, a much more natural throw than the half-twist back-hand throw required for ROL or BOC.

Mark

[jclalor 12]

I have another stupid and slightly embarrassing question. After returning to jumping after 25 years and last using a leg band, during my first few AFF jumps at pull time my hand went right to my leg. no matter how many practice touches I did. It's hard to believe muscle memory could last that long. Has anyone heard of this as a problem?

[DavidB 0]

Haven't heard of it, but fully expect to suffer from it in the next month or so, & it's only been 14 years since my last.

When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

[lekstrom10k 0]

We had a frail old POPS Meet jumper in Sandusky Michigan. His wife over tightened his leg atrap for him and actually had the pouch trapped in the hardware. He whistled real low and finally fired hie reserve.A friend was on the jump as a team member caught him upside down as it was the only way he could fly. His spine curvature was so bad it was that was his only position. Louie turned him over and thought he might have dislocated his shoulders. He watched him struggle in freefall until his reserve time

[kingbunky 3]

[reply<--snip--> Round reserves are still used by a few DZ's (I think, but one I knew of closed a couple of years ago). Most went in the late 80's early 90's to double square rigs.

[RogerRamjet 0]

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. And, IMHO, a much more natural throw than the half-twist back-hand throw required for ROL or BOC.

Mark

I have to agree with you there. It was a more natural throw. Considering the slightly longer velcroed bridle, it did leave a little more bridle to blow up between your arm and body. Not often, but it did happen. You just rotated out of it.

On the upside, if you survived the belly band, a belly band forced you (well, not forced. you only had to wrap your hand a few times to decide it was the smart thing to do) to learn how to rotate slightly to your left side and twist your wrist to avoid a pilot chute in tow off your hand. This technique also cleared the burble on your back as well.

When I switched to a ROL, I used the same left leaning knuckles forward outward twisting throw. The advantage, like a deploying a belly band, was that you could watch your pilot chute go to bridle stretch as you rotated back face to earth. The only hand wrap I ever had was a very, very lazy throw that took me until 1400 ft to clear from 2.5

Since I don't yet do head down. My only complaint about the BOC is that it takes longer to deploy. However, with today's slow opening canopies and higher pullers, it's not usually a problem. On the other hand, a low pull scare usually has the jumper doing the muscle memory pull. I figure it's about 70~100 feet slower than a leg strap memory muscle pull.

Oh, remember Look, Reach, Pull? It's now Reach, Feel Around, Pull.

A forward or rear leg strap and a belly band were (are) a single smooth motion at pull time even with a wrist twist. A BOC is a 2 motion pull like the old Racer pull out. But, I have to admit, a BOC probably has less hand wrap potential than the others.

Any thoughts?

When we came up with the hand-deploy pilot chute, nearly all the custom piggyback rigs of the time had belly bands, Wonderhog included. We already had a single closure point with a bight of the bridle since the Wonderhog had an external pilot chute at the time. The belly band just seemed like a natural place to put the pouch and without altering the rig, was the only place with enough room.

I never had any problem with the bridle on my arm, but I can tell you as the first to jump a hand-deploy, the hardest part was letting go of the handle after extension

Booth moved from the belly band location after a couple of twisted belly band PIT events.

After leaving Booth's shop, I went to work for Buchmann and on his rig, we put the pouch on the attachment webbing from the container to the harness. Even though the orientation looked as though it would be a pull forward and then out, it seemed to be just out when you actually jumped it.

Haven't jumped a BOC, but I'm sure I'll have to think about it when the time comes...

-----------------------
Roger "Ramjet" Clark
FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

[Niki1 1]

When we came up with the hand-deploy pilot chute, nearly all the custom piggyback rigs of the time had belly bands, Wonderhog included. We already had a single closure point with a bight of the bridle since the Wonderhog had an external pilot chute at the time. The belly band just seemed like a natural place to put the pouch and without altering the rig, was the only place with enough room.

I never had any problem with the bridle on my arm, but I can tell you as the first to jump a hand-deploy, the hardest part was letting go of the handle after extension

Booth moved from the belly band location after a couple of twisted belly band PIT events.

After leaving Booth's shop, I went to work for Buchmann and on his rig, we put the pouch on the attachment webbing from the container to the harness. Even though the orientation looked as though it would be a pull forward and then out, it seemed to be just out when you actually jumped it.

Haven't jumped a BOC, but I'm sure I'll have to think about it when the time comes...

At the Z-Hills meet just after Bill started putting throw-out pilot chutes on his rigs, some one had a relly nice "toss blanket". It was pack cloth maybe 10 or 12 feet sqare with Type VIII hancles all around. Being the show off that I was, I got on and did some somersault and twists. When I got off, Bill asked me to demonstrate the throw-out. Never missing a chance to show off, I said, "Sure!." I put the rig on, got back on the blanket and got tossed WAY up there. I really should have done a practice pull on the ground before I got on the blanket. I fumbled all the way down and didn't get it out. (I really hate being embarassed) But on the next toss, I threw it out at the top and by the time I got down, the pilot chute was inflated and loading the closing loop. Every one seemed to be pretty empressed. With the pilot chute, not with me. It let's me think that I had a little bit to do with popularizing the throw-out.

Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done.
Louis D Brandeis

Where are we going and why are we in this basket?