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Ok so these guys have done a bucket load of jumps using the vigil in real world conditions when it didn't fire when it shouldn't have. My question is how many jumps have they done under conditions where it should fire. The cypress has probably done thousands of real world jumps where it should have fired and it has. I don't think the same can be said for the vigil. The fact is no matter how much testing is done things can always go wrong when something is released. Just look at the display glitch on the cypress 2. I'm sure they tested the hell out of it in the lab but it still caused problems in the field. There are plenty of people (me included) in this sport that prefer to wait until something new has been around a few year before trying it.

As HeatherB suggested I've sent Wings an email. It would also be interesting to know how likely the main risers are to cause it to jam if they are incorrectly routed. From what I remember of the post to uk.rec.skydiving only one of the riser covers jammed (probably making the jumpers life a bit more interesting ). I would play around I bit myself but I don't own a wings container.

OK lets start again. As I already stated the riser covers can jam if the main risers are placed UNDER the protection flaps. This is a label on the flap reminding you to place the main risers on top of that flap. My question is if the riser cover can jam if opening force comes from below the protection flap what happens if your main risers are on top of the flap (as per instructions) but you have a total mal and your reserve deploys with the riser covers still closed??? Then the opening force will come from below the protection flap

I remember reading somewhere (uk.rec.skydiveing??) of a case where someone had routed the main risers under the protection flaps on a wings container instead of over them (see attached pics). The result was that one of the covers jammed. Presumably this was because the force applied to the tuck flap is evenly distributed across it instead of pealing it from one end???? So what happens if you have a total mal on your main (when its packed correctly). When your reserve is deploying the riser covers are still closed and the reserve risers are by design under the protection flaps. Is there as chance of them jamming in the same way? I'm sure this has been thought off and tested a lot. Just curious to know what the answer is??

Congrats!!!!! Reading your story made me remember the fear and turmoil I went through during my AFF jumps, On so many jumps I really wanted to be back on the ground, so I kept saying to myself "The quickest way down is out". Worked for me I almost miss the paralysing fear I had as a student, it certainly made me feel alive!!! Keep it up, and let us know how the rest of your jumps go

I agree it should be the case, but some instructors don't bother. On one of my AFF jumps I spent ages trying to find my instructor to get a debrief off him, turns out he had jumped in the car and gone home as soon as he had landed. As a student you place a LOT of trust in your instructors, Having them make a bit more effort to help you relax into the DZ scene can help a lot.

I thought that if you set the dive type to "SLO" then it changed the speed thresholds so it will still log a hop and pop??

I've heard some nasty stories about normal insurance cover. One in particular springs to mind where someone chopped and then they saw someone on the ground drive up in a car and nick there main. Apparently the insurance company said they wouldn't cover it because they had "abandoned" it. Don't know how true this story is but I asked my insurance company and they said it would not be covered under these kind of circumstances because its classed as sports equipment in use. The only company I know of that does cover the kit when you are using it is:- http://www.hbinsurance.co.uk/index.html I haven't got one of there policies but a few of my friends have and they seam happy with it.

Well my record was 10 rejumps (4 x level 3, 4 x level 4, 4 x level 5, 1 x level 8). It started off with me getting into a spins (over and over again). It all started to get better when I managed to relax. I'd had a really bad weekend and it was my last jump on the sunday. I basically decided to give up trying to stop the spins and have one jump just looking at the view (trying to salvage at least something good from the weekend). And before I knew what was happening I was falling down the tube with both instructors released. I had a similar experience with my level 4 and 5's. For me there was a lot to be said for not trying to hard It's the easiest thing to say but the hardest thing to do (well at least it was for me). But just relax and its easy!

That what I was hopping, but I wasn't sure if there could be damage to the stitching due to the abnormal loads on the canopy when I was hanging from it. Ya we did. But even when I was hanging off the front risers I was still going backwards VERY quickly (apparently the ground winds were ok but the uppers were really bad). All but one person on my load landed off. That and the fact that it was my first jump at that DZ made for an interesting night. No kidding!!! I thought it was a goner for sure

I did a night jump at the weekend that didn't quite go to plan and I ended up landing in a pine forest. Just saw the trees in time to flare. I ended up being suspended about 30 foot up for about half an hour. After getting it down in the morning I was completely amazed to find no apparent damage (We checked both the bottom and top surfaces and all the line connection points). It rained a lot during the night but its completely dried out now. I've had one of the reserve packers on the DZ have a look at it and he said to jump it. After giving it another good check I'm thinking of jumping it this weekend, probably a hop and pop to start with and if thats ok will go for a terminal opening. questions:- 1) Am I right in assuming that if its going to fail it will do it during deployment and not at some random time (like when I'm coming into land). 2) what other checks should I do to the canopy. 3) Some of the lines are now have green/brown stains on them. Any way to clean them without causing damage. 4) the toggles also need cleaning, I was thinking of taking them off and putting them through the washing machine. Is this ok????

Both time we did it we launched a 3 way star, only the hanger is already holding our chest straps on exit and the 2 flats have got the grips on his arms. Once it had settled down the 2 flats grip switched so they are just holding each others arm grips leaving the hanger in flat on the side just holding the chest straps. Then he just goes into stand. Now got some realy good video of it

We tried it last weekend, worked like a charm. The only problem was that our cameraman got nicked at the last minute to film a tandem We are planning to do it again this weekend, but its almost guaranteed to go pair shaped if we have someone filming it

I'm thinking of doing a hybrid jump with 2 people flat flying pinned facing each other, and a 3rd person in stand hanging down from the chest straps. I have seen several pictures of this type of jump, but I don't know the best way to get into this position without it turning into a tumbling mess . Are there any additional safety considerations with this type of jump. thanks tom