gowlerk

Thank you. I'm glad to see that the level of the discourse around this issue has improved greatly. The main reason I posted in the first place was to let the group know that I had decided to send the unit to SSK for repair under warranty and that we would see what happened. I did not say that all these units are doorstops. I said that once it was decided to remove the unit from service until it's repaired mine may as well be. I'd rather have it sit in the SSK building than my desk. It won't get repaired here. I must confess that I do have enough FUD in me that I do not entirely trust that the unit can only misfire under the limited conditions stated. This partly grows out of the understanding that it is in Airtec's best interest that this be so, and I hope it's correct. But Airtec's best interest is not my best interest. FUD can be misused, but it is not a bad thing. We would not be here without it. I do not advocate that these units be pulled, only that in our case that is the decision we have come to. And I'm not wanting to rehash the AAD argument in general but I stand by the simple statement that only a small benefit is received in this case. I chose those words carefully. Do not read into them any more or less than they say. I am curious about the fix for this. I had assumed it would be replacing the component, but the FAQ states only that there is both a software and a hardware aspect to it, and that the original component is no longer available. I'm not sure why they need to be so murky about this, but I do feel there may be a reason they aren't more clear. As to seeing what will happen with the unit the UPS tracking indicates that they received it 7 days ago. They have not yet acknowledged that, or answered my request for warranty service. Under the circumstances I can understand that and I will give them another 7 days before I inquire about it. Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

Agreed, but the price was full retail. I'd like to trade it for a new one minus the one year of use it has. I fact I've asked Airtec to do that. But I know they won't. This one is tougher. We don't really know what the odds are. We do know that Airtec felt it was necessary to mention it in the SB, and that they would like to down play it. Since I don't know what the odds are why would I chance it? Any AAD could fire at any time, but these ones are known to have a component that have caused a misfire, and that the manufacturer feels needs to be replaced. There is a large difference there. The only reason they are not recalling the units is that it would be logistically difficult. An experienced skydiver with a proven record of handling EPs only gets a small benefit from using an AAD. I'm sure you don't need to be reminded of when no one used them. And why they didn't. I did notice that you stated you've made thousands of jumps with people using them, and not that you use one yourself. I will also continue to jump with people using them. Also my call. Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

I don't really care about the extra check or the fact that it may not fire. The only thing that matters to me is that the problem has been linked to a misfire. Misfires can have disastrous consequences. I'm not sure what FUD is, but I suspect it is another of the ways you like to use to ridicule other people. Like calling them "silly" or accusing them of having an "agenda." Your technical knowledge is impressive, but you do not have access to Airtec's data, so your analysis is meaningless. I do not agree with your definition of faulty. I use the word " faulty" because the unit contains a component that the manufacturer has determined must be replaced before the unit can be trusted to work as designed. I am not happy about the situation, but neither do I particularly blame Airtec, nor do I think they are lying. They do however have an agenda that is different from mine. That is just a fact of being a for profit business. I also am not discouraging others from using affected units. Just today I installed one in a customer's rig. I sat down with him and made sure he had read and understood the SB. I didn't tell him what my wife had decided about hers. He had already decided to just go along with Airtec's plan for now. It is a brand new unit DOM 11/12. Interestingly enough, I had thought that they had suspended production before this, but apparently not. As far as statistics go, I will paraphrase Samuel Clement. There are three kinds of lies. In order of severity they are lies, then damned lies, and then statistics. How well other components are tested is irrelevant to the subject at hand. I am aware that there have so far only been a small number of cases. I hope it stays that way. But it will not surprise me if it doesn't. Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

Not bad. I've got to say you've got guts to even attempt this and post the link here. Already some are attacking you and accusing you of advertising. My advice for what it's worth is to add a disclaimer to the intro at the top saying that this advice is only meant as a starting point and that newbs should consult their local riggers and instructors as well as getting good general ideas from your excellent article. That may help keep some noses from getting out of joint. Of course it also makes things muddier for them, but maybe that's appropriate. Ken Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

Thanks, but there is a 6 hour time limit for edits, so I can't. I wanted to try the inline attachment thing so I'm doing it again. Still is not working, but both times it did work when I previewed the post. Something buggy going on here. Ken [inline gopro.JPG] Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

Here's another dumb gopro setup. I asked him why he would take a relatively small and potentially safe camera and do his level best to make it as dangerous as he could. He's a good friend, but he refused to see anything wrong with it. No cutaway system either. It's worked so far, what could go wrong? Ken [inline 600_2544-001.JPG ] Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

I am not sure what YOUR agenda is. But I want to assure you that nothing ANYONE has said in this forum has in anyway influenced our decision to remove this unit from service and return it under warranty to have it's defect corrected. We decided this after reading the SB. The unit can not be trusted to perform is intended function, and the defect has been linked to a misfire. My wife has been in a two out situation before, due to a p/c in tow, and no, there was not an AAD firing involved. She escaped that uninjured, but does not want to chance another one. If she wanted to be "statistically" safe, she would stop jumping. She wants a non-defective AAD, that's what she paid for. You don't seem to be capable of understanding any viewpoint but your own. Go ahead and jump your faulty CYPRES, (or do you even have one?) If it was really OK to continue using these why did Airtec stop production? How many lives will be lost due to unavailability of AADs? I'm not willing to wait 3 years and then pay them to correct the problem. Let them spend some of the money they use for advertising to fix this flaw. This company likes to take shots at their competition in their ads, it's about time they ate a nice slice of humble pie. And it's about time you learn to respect view points different from your own. You are correct that no one here has a clue what's going on, but you fail to see that includes you. Airtec carefully chooses what information to release, and when to release it. And even if they shared everything it would be highly technical. The armchair engineers here would immediately start misinterpreting it. The bottom line for me is that the unit is faulty and needs repair. How simple is that? Do you work for or have any connection to Airtec? Is your unit affected? Ken Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

Silly? I resent that. But if it makes you feel better my wife who owns it does not consider it a paperweight. She considers it a door stop. It does not do what was advertised to do. Would you buy an affected one with your money? Now THAT would be silly. Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

Talk about "ESD" and where and when it can occur and what the effects may be is just techno mumbo jumbo to me. The bottom line is that these units contain a component that have caused a misfire and therefore need to be replaced. Experienced jumpers with proven ability to perform EPs under real world conditions only receive a small benefit from using an AAD. Any risk of a misfire outweighs that benefit in my estimation. And that of my wife, who actually owns one of these. (04/12 DOM, same as the reported firing on the mat) Accordingly I have removed it from her rig as she requested. This means it is nothing but an expensive paper weight until it is repaired. So I have sent it to SSK with a request that it be repaired under the terms of their warranty. I anticipate that she will be jumping without an AAD for the whole season here in Canada. I don't like it very much, but I can't say that I am angry with Airtec. They are between a rock and a hard place here. They could ground them all until repaired, or let people use them until repairs can be scheduled. They seem to have made the calculation that the potential good of having an AAD is greater than the potential risk of a catastrophe caused by a misfire. I sincerely hope they are correct. Ken Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

It will be interesting to see the reaction to this in the "Nanny" states with National organizations that like to ground things in a hurry. EU countries and Australia come to mind. Some of them were pretty quick to jump on the Argus. I'm glad the CSPA T&S committee has not been able to ram through a mandatory AAD rule yet. Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

I disagree with attempting to defraud customs with a false claim. Not because I'm too honest to cheat the tax man. But because you can't expect the seller to be truthful with you and at the same time be willing act as a party to fraud. You can't have it both ways. An honest seller won't do that and yet you are looking for just that. Ken When shipping internationally a signed and sworn to be truthful declaration is required. Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

Absolutely. If it can fail before you board why can't it fail after you board? Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

Interesting indeed. My wife bought a brand new one last year. DOM 04/12. Does this mean that for her $1600 she has to worry about this for 4 years? Ken Edited to add that I've just sent a message to both Airtec and SSK to let them know that the proposed solution to the problem is not acceptable here. We'll see what they say. Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

That website shows that UPT has approved it. But no USA dealers are listed. What good is it if you can't buy it? Ken Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

I buy used stuff from the US often. In addition to the hints already given I would add that it's much cheaper to use the Post Office than UPS. Due to international conventions they do not rip you of with broker fees. Canada Customs will process the shipment and decide if you need to pay GST/PST/HST or not. The decision seems to be somewhat random, I can't figure out how they decide, but generally shipments valued under about $200 are not taxed. Over that value and it becomes a crap shoot, sometimes they charge, sometimes not. If they do charge the PO will add a $5 charge, not the $35 that UPS will charge you. In addition, if you are not home to receive the package you can just go to the local PO where it will be waiting for you. Some shippers don't like the PO, they will say that shipments get lost. I have never had the PO lose a shipment. Hundreds coming and going, none lost or damaged. If a seller won't take Paypal find another seller. Unless you are dealing with an established business you can trust. Don't allow a seller to talk you into sending a Paypal payment as a gift. If you do so the seller will not have to pay a fee, but you will have no recourse through Paypal, the money will be gone. Generally the fee the seller pays is 2.9%, some sellers will ask you to cover it. It is worth the fee, if you don't receive the package Paypal will reimburse you and go after the seller themselves. They are very good at this. I hope this helps you, Ken Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

I just noticed that the lenses you are considering are all designed for full sized sensors. They will work on your D3100, but are larger than you need. You should look at lenses designed for DX sensors. Also a D3100 will not meter at all with manual lenses, or auto focus with non AF-s type lenses. Ken Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

I own a new D600 (Nikon full frame) It's smaller and lighter than a D300, but I don't want to strap it to my head either. I use a D5000 for that. I almost always use the kit 18-55, and I usually have it set at about 22mm. It's cheap and light and works great. If I wanted an ultra wide I would definitely pick up a used 10.5 fisheye from ebay and use software to stretch out the image if needed. But an 18mm lens is pretty wide even on the DX size sensor. How close do you need to get to your subject? And who cares how fast it is? We are shooting outside in the daylight with wide lenses. The DOF is going to be huge no matter, and you are always going to be stopped down anyway. Fast lenses are for slow film indoors. Don't let the marketers sell you yesterday's equipment. The 10-20 Sigma would probably work pretty well. They sell for 300-350 used on ebay. I used to have the Nikon 10-24, it was a very good lens, but I sold it because it was also bigger and heavier than I wanted for jumping. Ken Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

You are an SM addict. Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

Like all light garment sewing machines, E or 69, or TEX 70 nylon bonded thread is at the outside of the range for the system. But within the range. Most people with this type of machine use a 20u. Which any competent mechanic will tell you is not designed for E thread either. However, if set up properly it will be fine. If it will take a size 18 needle, it will sew E thread. Mechs don't like this because in their normal work, that size of thread is usually called upholstery thread and is mostly used in heavier walking foot machines. But even Jerry pulls E thread in his domestic Singer 401. I have sold dozens of small domestic sewing machines. I have yet to see one that won't sew E thread. That Pfaff is a good machine, but sell it if you must. How much? Ken Edited to say that I see you are a long way from me. (Canada- Norway) I don't think I'll be buying your Pfaff! Since you were asking for model options for a combo straight stitch and ZZ machine. Many people start with one of the Singer or other brand 20U machines. I like mine, but it's a compromise. It's a lot like a Pfaff 118! Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

It should be able to handle E thread. Even light duty domestic machines can. What size needle are you using? If it won't sew E thread it's set up wrong. Try getting the tension right and at least a size 18 needle. (although 16s will work in very light applications) Ken Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

If you have access to and experience with a Pfaff 118 machine and you find you need better, more even feed, then an alternating presser feed machine is the way to go. That is if it is for feeding multiple layers of heavier material and getting nicely spaced consistent stitches. You should be able to sew patches into canopies with just bottom feed. If you can't then you need more practice. (like me). Like Jerry says, a domestic type machine can do this. I use a Singer 201, but the 500 or 401 like his is good as well. The military trained riggers to patch with a 31-15 for decades. When choosing this type of machine consider how wide the feed dogs and foot are. Much of this stuff can be done on several types of machine, but you need to learn how to use and set them up for different jobs. A large loft will have many machines, some of the same type but set up differently. The challenge for us is learning to do many jobs with one or two machines. I don't know about you, but I only have so much room for sewing machines, and still have a place to pack. One of mine is on wheels to help make room. Ken Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

Technically, compound feed is simply more than one feed method. There are several types of feed combinations used, especially in manufacturing. And their names will often confuse the issue. Practically for rigging work there are only three common types. Bottom feed, which is the simplest. It uses feed dogs and a presser foot only. You know this type. Second is needle feed, where the needle bar moves in time with the feed dogs to pull the material along. Almost always used as an addition to bottom feed. Ebay sellers will call this "combination" feed, which it is, hoping you will confuse this with alternating presser feed. Which is the proper name for "walking foot" You can tell an alternating presser foot machine by it's inner and outer foot. The inner foot stays down and moves in time with the feed dog and the needle bar to move the material while the outer foot raises up till the end of the cycle then lowers to hold it in place while the needle bar returns for the next stitch. Is that clear as mud? Ken Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

I wouldn't go betting against the US dollar as a business strategy. It may decline in the long run against already too low Chinese and other emerging currencies, but the competition is selling in Euros, and I wouldn't want to be holding these now. No one has ever made money betting against the US economy long term. And it's just getting in gear for an energy boom that is going to radically alter the current picture. The US remains as the most vibrant, diverse, and leading economy in the world. I would love to see more AAD competition. I've been waiting two years now for the M2 here in North America. But yes, the development costs for such a small market item must be very challenging. Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

My personal take on it is that Airtec is making such a good product that you could only succeed by giving people a reason to switch. Their weakness in the marketplace is price, the need for service, and life limit. You need to beat them on at least two of those points, plus be nearly completely reliable to compete. I am a Canadian, but I'd say you would have as much success by attempting flag waving as GM and Ford do. If you have a good product at a good price and a well run reputable organization, there will be a place for you. The nature of your questions seem to indicate that you are wondering if being US made would give you an advantage. The answer is no. Ken Gowler Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

Two weeks and no answer from Ralph. I interpret this as " if you phone me, I'll tell you it's a PD 210, even though it is not. But if you want me to write it down, I'll just ignore you." Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.