Soft reserve pillow on Javelin

[conoro 0]

Oh no! Not this soft pillow vs D ring again! Well no. Not really. I bought a second hand J1 Javelin, C16 ringed harness. My rigger took one look at the dark green cutaway pillow and bright red reserve soft pillow and strongly suggested that I at least change the colours. That's fine with me.
But he'd also like me to have a reserve silver metal handle instead of a pillow. I'd like to comply (well, maybe not - I have a cypress and an RSL - but that's a different argument) but there isn't space on the webbing to sew in a pouch. Is it possible to get a separate pouch that would "wrap around" mate onto the existing velcro. I've seen this on Talon2s - the advantage is of course that you can swap to a soft pillow whenever you want to.
Thanks!
Conor.
(there - I changed ordered to "strongly suggested". Heh heh)

[nacmacfeegle 0]

'Ordered' you???? WTF, thats like a car mechanic 'ordering' you to change something. Would you put up with that.
Exercise your right as a consumer and tell him to GTF.....
I can live with 'suggest', but if a rigger 'orders' me to do something, I would probably take my business elsewhere.
What colour jumpsuit do you have? The handle may be 'camoflaged' sp?...That's about the only reason I can think of to change handle colours, and it would prolly be cheaper if you simply sew a patch of contrasting material where the handles are....
I don't know about the rigging issues here so can't advise on the wrap around......
But I'd deffo speak to another rigger first.....
Cya
D

[Hooknswoop 19]

The reserve handles are inter-changable. The only thing you should do is cover up the extra piece of velcro that isn't used when the pillow handle is installed.
Hook

[conoro 0]

Yeah. I guess my use of the word "ordered" was too strong. "Suggested strongly" is more how he expressed it.
I kind of munged the sentiments expressed by the DZO and the rigger together cause they said pretty much the same thing. Sorry.
I have more than one jumpsuit, but my freefly suit is...lemme see now... Dark green. Oooh. That's not good .
The reason for concern is that I was, like most skydivers these days, trained on red cutaway and silver handle. Look! Reach! Pull! etc. When I cutaway my main on the ground last weekend to check the cables, I found myself looking at the red. I know it would be different if I had been wearing the gear at the time but still - training makes me look for red even as I'm reaching to my right side.

[conoro 0]

I already have the reserve pillow on the rig. I was trying to convert to the silver metal handle. That's the tricky bit.
I've been reading dropzone.com a bit and there are now two options in my mind - make up a pouch from type 12 webbing as suggested by Sunpath or get a loop type pillow reserve handle. I've never seen these before however. Haven't even seen them for sale.

[jdhill 0]

I still don't understand why you want to change it to a handle vs. the pillow, is it based on their feelings or your's? I can see changing colors with your jump suit colors and still relying on the route memorization of your emergency procedures...
http://www.aerialfusion.com

[conoro 0]

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I still don't understand why you want to change it to a handle vs. the pillow, is it based on their feelings or your's?

Primarily? Theirs. However I was reading arguments for and against soft pillows on this forum (here) and there are good arguments for a low timer like me using a D handle.
On the other hand, I have both an RSL and a Cypress and I found no problem in pulling the pillow on the ground. I'm just trying to keep my DZO happy I guess myself happy shouldn't I - nacmacfeegle is right. Sheesh

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[Hooknswoop 19]

The silver handle should go right in the pocket where the reserve pillow was.
Hook

[slotperfect 7]

I am a US Army Rigger and an FAA Master Rigger. I have personal preferences about gear. I have professional opinions about gear as well. Like the analogy in the earlier reply, I am in a manner of speaking a parachute mechanic. I also have the choice of accepting a rig to work on or not. If I have a fundamental belief that handles should be a certain material and a certain color, I can choose not to work on the gear if it shows up that way.
I choose here to share my professional opinion and my personal preference about your newly acquired Javelin, then I have a suggestion for you. (Notice I did not say "order") :)
My personal preference for cutaway handle color is red. If I ordered a brand new rig, I would order it that way. My personal preference for reserve handle material is steel. I see definite advantages to having a soft pillow, but my skydiving activity doesn't bring those advantages into play.
My professional opinion about the rig you bought (assuking complete airworthiness sight unseen) is that the handle color is just fine if you are comfortable with it, and can train yourself to execture proper emergency procedures in every situation. The soft reserve pillow is also fine if you are comfortable with its use. Be aware that it does require something that the steel handle doesn't - a GRIP. You can hook a broken hand into a d-handle reserve ripcord and pull 22 lbs to deploy your reserve. You would have difficulty doing that with a pillow.
Now for the suggestion: call Aggie at Sun Path (813) 782-9242. Tell him about the situation with your rig, and ask his recommendation. He is a FANTASTIC guy, and is super helpful in answering questions. Also, if you give him the rig's serial number, he can research whether your handles were deliverd with the rig in those colors, or if someone changed them later. Nice to know, maybe?
After you have gone to the "mountain" of Javelin knowledge to seek counsel from the guru, then you can explain to your Rigger what your decision is. If he chooses not to work on the rig, then just find another Rigger who'll work on it!
The Tandem Vector I jump has a green cutaway pillow and a red reserve handle by the way . . . and I accept the reason behind the manufacturer's design choice. I am completely comfortable with its use, because I have pulled both handles multiple times in a suspended harness.
Respectfully,
SP

[GrumpySmurf 0]

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I should be keeping myself happy shouldn't I

Yup, it's your life, not thiers. They might have the best of intentions, but regardless, they don't have the live with the direct consequence of your gear choice. Do what you are most confortable with.

[conoro 0]

Thanks John. I wasn't comfortable with the colours and so I changed them - red cutaway and yellow reserve pads, which I'm far happier with. I feel comfortable using the pillow for a reserve handle, backed up as it is by both an RSL and a Cypress.
I did email Aggie and ask him - the pillow was the original reserve deploy method; it wasn't changed from steel. Actually Sunpath were pretty fast at responding to my questions which was nice.

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I am completely comfortable with its use, because I have pulled both handles multiple times in a suspended harness.

Good plan! This is a great idea and I'll do this - I'll take the pillows, hook them to the suspended harness at the DZ and run through emergency procedures again. I can see how much "grip" is a factor then. If I'm happy with the setup and train with that setup, I should be safe with that setup.
Cheers, Conor.