mattjw916

You know, with the cronyism of some of these posts, it's no wonder USPA membership is down _every_ year. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

Anyone want to go if for some more block time? I'm doing my best to try and make JP earn his paycheck every week. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

I think every Safire 2 I have ever seen packed was pro-packed. I had a Safire 1 (that they also recommended a psycho pack for) and always pro-packed it without any problems. If I wanted it to open a bit quicker I'd just push the middle of the slider into the packjob a bit more than usual and not pull as much material in front of the nose. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

"Popping back up" is not due to flaring too early, but rather hitting the brakes too deeply/abruptly when you still have significant forward drive. I found this article useful when I was just starting out. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/safety/detail_page.cgi?ID=37 NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

Technora is not available on Safires unless something changed recently. I personally love Technora and will likely own canopies lined with it for some time... The Fusion, Nitro, Nitron, Blade, and some x-braces all have HMA lines of varying types. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

OMGF!!! Don't tell 'em you are a skydiver... esp with as many jumps as you have... lol. As for your HALO school, get video... and post it... I wanna see you "first jump" with your "instructor", lol. Good luck, have fun! Hooah!!! NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

I waited until I had about 300 or so. My only other _suggestion_ is make sure you are totally competant under canopy too before you add expensive stuff to your head. You have to be able to land basically perfectly everytime or you risk breaking your cool toys. I've seen it happen, it's not pretty, and it hurts the wallet significantly. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

Big thanks to JP for coaching this morning and getting me off my back and working on a little sitflying. SVCO is sweet! NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

Another vote for Vectran, soft links, collapseable slider, etc... NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

Urban legends are usually based on some modicum of truth. I never said it didn't happen. But once again, if people read and adhere to the manual (which from several incidents and even some deaths, it is apparent that many people don't) we wouldn't have a lot of these stories. I've heard a lot of sketchy FXC 12000 stories, but also saves too. I'd never heard that particular Cypres story though but since it was a student model, I'm not surprised. Oh well, I turn everything off before I head home anyway. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

Just go jump dude... when the weather gets bad, I travel to someplace I can jump, plain and simple. You'll meet new people, gain a new perspective on jumping, and see that there's more to skydiving than the local dz. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

I used to leave my AAD and audible on when I left the DZ for the day, but once when I was driving across New Mexico from Arizona I heard my Pro-Dytter warning alarm go off while I was cruising on the freeway. Now, I always shut my dytter and AAD off. There is no reason to leave them on except laziness. An AAD firing because you slam the trunk sounds like an urban legend in the making. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

People with nothing to hide usually have nothing to lose... The only thing more annoying than the profile-police are the grammar-police. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

I have been to more than 15 DZs and seen a LOT of up-jumpers that land like crap. In fact I know of several people with well over a 1000 jumps that can't stand up a landing to save their life, a couple with multiple broken bones over the years, etc, etc. I really don't think hydro's comments were out of line at all. Maybe not politically correct or sensitive, but not far from the truth that jump numbers don't necessarily equal skill. Hell, even Bryan Burke said something similar in a conversation we had once. "What does thousands of jumps _really_ mean? Well, you know how to pull." After the 100-something-way x-country load at the last holiday boogie Craig Girard even commented how almost everyone was pounding into the main landing area. I personally witnessed an impact with a tree, someone skidding across the concrete taxiway, someone land in with the farm animals behind Larry Hill's house, etc, etc. Across the board, canopy skills are lacking, hence the USPA's campaign. While it's fashionable to shake an angry finger at swoopers, "safe" people under big canopies get hurt equally as often. In fact, most of the injuries I have witnessed (lots) were "experienced" jumpers. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

I'm not sure which incidents you are even specifically referring to now. The only other Vigil fires I can recall were attributed to static electricity and were units built prior to April 2004. All Vigils built after April 1, 2004 have additional static shielding to prevent that from happening again and I have not heard of any further occurences since that particular upgrade was made. I don't think your feelings regarding Vigils and pressurized planes are particularly rational and splitting hairs over a statistic that isn't even collected does nothing to enhance your position. I've jumped from about 20 different types of aircraft, been to most of the major boogies, and have yet to see any of them spontaneously pressurize and fire any AADs. Faulting the AAD manufacturer because people can't RTFM and adhere to the warnings contained therein is ludicrous. That's akin to faulting a reserve manufacturer for a canopy blowing up after overloading it and deploying it while headdown. With the sheer volume of jumps that teams like AZ Airspeed and Deland Majik make with Vigils, if there were real tangible problems with them, don't you think they would have manifested by now? There are in excess of 5000 Vigils in use and 27 saves to-date. Has a properly used Vigil ever failed to save anyone? Have they killed anyone due to failure? Not that I know of. That seems like a pretty good track record to me. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

I do agree with the spirit of what you are saying but this part: Can be miscontrued by people that don't understand that the problems encountered were a result of a set of circumstances that are not generally applicable to 99% of all skydives made. If anyone wants to sell their Vigil at a large discount as a result of this, I will happily take it off their hands. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

Exactly, If an AAD reaches activation parameters, it should fire, whether in a plane or not. An AAD can't differentiate between freefall or a plane that is pressurizing rapidly. The use of the word "mis-fire" is a red herring here as it has been in the past. Adrian Nichols' Cypres didn't "mis-fire", it "fired". Andy H's Vigil didn't "mis-fire" either, it "fired". Both those AADs achieved the necessary conditions to trigger their cutters. One with fatal results. I don't want my AAD firing in a plane or under canopy either, but if it does as a result of pressurization problems, hypoxic people poking the button on the plane without understanding the status messages, or building too much speed whilst swooping I can hardly see how the AAD is at fault. The result of all this will hopefully be even better AADs in the future. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

get your rigger's ticket... it'll keep you busy and increase your knowledge NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

You aren't listening. Without seeing the result of a Vigil's logging feature all we know is that they "fired". A "MIS-fire" implies that they fired at a time outside of their activation parameters. We simply have no way to know that yet. Technically the statements you have made would be considered libel. If you want to know what the manual says, go download and read it. I did. The information about the circumstances regarding the AAD fires is sketchy at best. Instead of blamestorming how about we all STFU and chill the f&$% out until we get official word. 95% of this thread is an utter waste. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

It amazes me that so many people are quick to condemn the Vigil without even first seeing the graph of the "skydive" that it experienced. Without that data all this "my AAD's algorithm is better than yours" BS serves no purpose whatsoever. To make an assumption that it did not function as designed without any actual facts is assinine. The fact that so many people rush to pat themselves on the back for buying a Cypres 2 is equally lame. Wait for the info. If you want to feel good about having AAD "X" in your rig, fine... but don't speculate, draw half-assed conclusions from said speculation, and purport them to be factual. Fact: The manual states in no uncertain terms the actions to take when the Vigil is in use in a pressurized aircraft. Failing to adhere to them, or cycling your Vigil off and on again whilst climbing or descending in a plane, pressurized or not, is not within the operating specs of the AAD. It's no wonder we have to have labels on things like hairspray that say "keep away from flame" to prevent liability lawsuits because people can't use common sense when dealing with complicated and not-so-complicated items. P.S. I have nothing vested in this argument either way. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

Dye-sub printers are definately a professional's tool. In a past-life when I did more desktop publishing work we used mad-expensive dye-sub printers to "proof" the work done by the pre-press department in order to obtain customer approval to proceed. While I haven't looked at the technology recently dye-sub printers are traditionally much higher quality than any inkjet-style printer. IIRC they are also "archival quality" prints unlike the average inkjet prints (which usually require special inks and papers to achieve the same results). I'm sure if you google it there will be much more up-to-date info out there than I gave. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

http://www.drivercleaner.net/ http://windv.mourek.cz/ Google for the win!!! NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

Well said. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

Being able to set off a dytter under canopy isn't really hard. I've done it under my Safire and my Nitron with toggle and front riser turns. It surprised me the first time but it's not a big deal because that is way over activation altitudes of an AAD. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

Seriously dude, you can make sooo much more money as a civilian than you _ever_ will as a soldier/sailor/marine, etc. The day I left the military I got a 350% pay-raise. There's nothing like getting paid what you and your skills are worth rather than just what some little chart that DFAS puts out says. Of course, I didn't spend my time in the military partying it up and blowing my money. I got tons of training and technical certifications plus a bunch of college and planned my transition for a couple years in advance of actually ETSing. Have a plan, pay down your debts, get educated in whatever it is you want to do (or at least get started), and execute it. That is the best advice I can give to someone that wants to break free after relying on the stability of always knowing when your next paycheck is coming. Now many years later I skydive totally guilt free and don't have to worry about money much. That is until they sack me and I have to look for a new job. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080