erdnarob

I have checked with manufacturers and you are right concerning the altitude correction for AAD. I never had the chance to use an altitude correction and always thought that the setting was similar to the analog altimeter. Even if the pamphlets about altimeter and AAD setting for altitude corrections ask to read the AAD user's manual, I think it is important to point out that this setting is the reverse of what we do for an analog altimeter. Very disturbing indeed and you can make sure I will speak about it at the next safety day. I am sure that a lot of people ignore that fact which is rarely discussed. On the license exam, there is some questions about the analog altimeter altitude corrections but I never heard people discussing the same subject for AAD. Thanks a lot. We learn more every day. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Read again carefully my post about analog altimeter setting. We are saying the same thing. For analog altimeter: I said airport lower than DZ is a MINUS correction when set up at the airport. You said DZ lower than airport is a PLUS correction when set up at the airport This is the same Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Thanks for catching my attention to the altitude correction issue. On an altimeter, when the landing zone is 400 ft higher ASL than the runway where you take off, you set up your altimeter at minus 400 ft where you take off (set up the needle at -400 ft). That way when you will land on the landing zone your altimeter will indicate zero, are you with me ? Now for an AAD. I read what is written on the Cypres manual and you are right. That means if the DZ is 300 ft above the airfield (where you take off), a + 300 ft correction will make the device to be zero at the DZ. The only way I understand this one is that when setting up your Cypres at + 300, you actually tell the AAD that you want it to operate like being 300 ft higher than where it calibrates (the take off area). This is the contrary of what we do for an altimeter (very confusing) indeed. I will come back on that. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Being used to machine shops and machining (lathe, milling machine...etc), I can tell that having an original solid bloc of aluminum is meaningless for sturdiness if you drill holes which just leave a tiny wall between the outside surface and the inside of the holes. I think the main reason to use a solid block of aluminum is very simple, it's cheaper than molded aluminum. Again the high pressure molded aluminum Vigil uses makes a box more sturdy. And this is possibly the reason why the Vigil has a weight higher than its two competitors (batteries lasting way longer) is another factor for more weight while the volume is still very small. Now on some posts, it is said that the plastic boxes breaks sometimes. Whatever are the circumstances if the heart of an expensive and delicate electronic device get broken, it's not a very good sign. And I never heard about skydivers throwing their AAD on a hard ground. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

By setting the altitude I guess you mean changing the modes (student, Pro or tandem) you can do it on an Argus but the Vigil has the same features and on both those devices your choice stays on the display while switched on. If you are speaking about altitude corrections (when jumping at DZ of different elevation (ASL) than the runway), all AAD's have that feature and you can do it yourself for any brand but be careful to do it properly. Always figure out that the place you land is the zero ground reference since your altimeter has to indicate zero when you land. Therefore for instance if the runway is lower by 400 ft than the landing site, have a setting of minus 400 ft. Same for your altimeter; when the airplane will reach the landing site altitude, your altimeter will indicate zero, it that makes sense ? If the runway is higher than the landing site by 400 ft, the setting will be, +400 ft. Always think in order to have your altimeter reading zero when landing, same for the AAD. Now, the AAD champion of energy saving is certainly the Vigil II. Its batteries last 2000 jumps or 5-7 years. And with the Vigil II YOU decide when sending it back for maintenance if needed. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

I made almost 400 jumps on a Sabre 2 between 2003 and 2008 and I can tell you that it's a great canopy. Nice flying, and super powerful flare with long toggle range. Now for opening, you get used to it. Generally it doesn't give you an on heading opening but after one second or less, it is calm. The opening is fast but yet comfortable (average on 10 jumps is 340 ft of vertical distance). I got 2 medium line twists out of 400 jumps which is just OK. I was not rolling and creasing the 4 cell noses on each side toward the middle but just putting the cell noses very slightly toward the middle. If you want to improve your heading : after throwing away the pilot chute, resume your box position and look at the horizon (don't look at your pilot chute going up). As far as I know, The Sabre 2 is still the most popular canopy in the world and it deserves that position. People don't like the way it opens but for me, sacrificing one second at the opening to get 3-4 minutes of very good performance is well worth the little inconvenient. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

I agree with you and as as far as I know, any sewing machine work has to be done by a FAA Master rigger or a rigger B in Canada who is the master rigger equivalent. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

I guess you mean the fabric pull test from PD. Should be made according those specifications: 1) using a pair of special visegrip type pliers with 1" x 1" pads (covered with 1/8" synthetic rubber) clamped on the canopy fabric (see Paragear Catalog page 235 item no.S7989). I made mine from Visegrip pliers and adapting a aluminum pad of 1" x 1" attached to the pliers plate using machine screws. The pads are covered with 1/8" synthetic white rubber used for pipe connection seals. 2) the pliers have to be at a minimum of 3" apart (3-5" is OK) on the fabric 3) the pliers have to pull the fabric along the weft or warp of the fabric (no diagonal pull) 4) the zone of the tested fabric has to be at a minimum of 3" from any stitching or seam. 5) the test can be done now with a force of 30 lbs for 3 seconds using a scale attached to one plier 6) test has to be done at 3 different locations. It is recommended to do it near the tail (avoid areas of high pressure during opening like near the nose of the canopy). Note. Pressure on the Visegrip type pliers can be adjusted to be set at minimum before it starts slipping. A lot of riggers do not like the idea to pull with 30 lbs on a canopy fabric. I did it for many years on a reserve canopy with no problem at all and PD had the chance to perform a porosity test which was successful. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Any chemical including water will weaken the strength of a canopy fabric. As somebody told you, jump it. Nothing better than fresh air to remove any odor and your parachute will like it. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

A good friend of mine dislocated his shoulder in free fall without having been slammed in the door or whatever. Just the pressure of the air on his arm was enough to make that happen. Fortunately at opening the shoulder came back in place. How he managed to pull the main, well, I have to ask him again. I think he was just able to barely pull the main pilot chute out of its pocket. Since that happened several times, he has consulted a shoulder specialist who told him that he was born with too long or too loose ligaments in the shoulders. Maybe he should have seen another specialist since with the proper surgery they are making almost "miracles" with the shoulders now. Unfortunately my friend quitted skydiving after seeing one single specialist. Back to your problem. If you cannot reach the main activation handle because your right shoulder is dislocated, you still have your reserve which could be pulled with the left arm. If your left shoulder has the problem, you can pull the main and, if needed, pull the reserve handle with the right arm. In any case you still have to maintain a minimum of stability if that kind of problem occurs Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

That could be worst. At least according that picture, the airplane seems able to be flown. I have heard a case where the side of the door and the tail were ripped off making the aircraft not able to fly anymore. Could be with a Pilatus Porter diving after the last jumper out (in Germany some years ago) when the accompanying passenger wearing a student parachute got his reserve AAD deployed and pilot chute going thru the open door. The result was a crash killing pilot and passenger. See older Skydiving Magazines. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Well, not that fishy. A good design needs to have all components having the same quality or sturdiness. AAD's are not an exception. You cannot have a good design by having a strong control box and weak cables or strong cables and a weak box like the broken box you mention. The quality of your design is equal to the quality of the weakest component and in AAD case the cables are of paramount importance. Vigil has both features, strong box (and ergonomic because slightly curved) and Kevlar reinforced cables (both) able to hold 100 lbs. Reports are that AAD's broken cables are not extremely rare especially with tiny ones. A manufacturer has to do his design strong enough not only for normal handling but for unusual handling and resistant to high forces acting on a parachute container at deployment time (we call that the safety factor). As far as parachute equipment is involved, strict standards like aviation ones should be observed. The problem is that for AAD's there is still no standards at all but the manufacturer's ones. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

You are right, the yellow loop only has to be used to pull the left side yellow cable. The modification has been made about a year ago. Before the modification, the black loop at the end of the RSL was doing 3 jobs: pulling the yellow cable, pulling the pin and pulling the Skyhook. Now with the new modification, the black loop does two jobs : pin and Skyhook leaving to the yellow loop the task to pull the yellow cable. This was a precaution to make sure that a hanging bagged reserve will not pull at the yellow cable. BTW I made test on a Vector III and found out that when having a hanging packed reserve, it pulls on the RSL Velcro as well and that prevents any release of the yellow cable. By doing so I stopped pulling downward on the reserve when my scale reached 45 pounds out of a maximum of 50 pounds since the Velcro (on a shearing mode) did not let go at that angle. I decided so far not do the modification. The modification was compulsory only on Tandem and student rig which have very heavy reserves but they also have wider Velcro on the RSL. The older set up you have at the moment can be "corrected" at the next packing since you have a sport rig. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

What I know is that mechanical altimeters doesn't have necessarily a linear "curve" of what is indicated with respect to the pressure. When they calibrate your mechanical altimeter in a pressure chamber (ie. Alti 2), they compare its reading with a master altimeter at 0, 3000, 6000, 9000 and 12000 feet generally. The altimeters can agree at 5000 feet and yours can indicate 12500 while the master altimeter shows 13000 feet. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Well Billvon, not an issue if the AAD is calibrated for the DZ local gravity pull just like ordinary AAD's have to be switched on/calibrated at the DZ to zero them. But what about an AAD relying on a radar or GPS ?. BTW I made a jump at Otay Lake (Telegraph Canyon road), very nice place to be. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

As a female you generally have less strength in the arms and shoulders as you said but your weight is also less than a man (generally). OTOH males are used to do more sports or physical activities. Therefore get an elastic tubing with handles in a sport shop, attach it to a hook high enough and practice pulling the two handles down just like you would do when flaring a parachute. Make sure to have a good resistance. Also, when you will buy a parachute, make sure to get one with the suspended weight more directed forward. That makes the pressure toggles lighter. This is the case for the Pulse from Performance Designs. I jumped it and could almost fly it with my little fingers. Note: soon or later you should have enough strength in your arms to support the weight of your body when flaring. If you do so, you will have super soft landing by pulling the toggle at maximum arm length. Later on, tell us how you are doing with this issue. Practice and more practice... Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

I don't know why the Vigil arms itself even at -150 feet. Maybe they thought about the countries with mountains when after take off the landing site is way lower than the runway ???? For what happened in the DC9, it was a pilot mistake since when you have pressure sensitive devices in the cabin, you don't pressurize or you do it carefully (slowly). The pilot just had to keep a door (the one at the rear on the DC9 cabin side since the outside door was removed) slightly open. Anyway due to this mistake, Perris Valley DC9 owners 1) gave us back our ticket 2) give us an extra 99$ value ticket for free 3) gave us 70$ for the reserve repack 4) paid for the cutter replacement. When my Vigil fired, I wasn't happy because I was going to miss my jump from the DC9 but after half an hour and the extra free ticket, I was all smile. I managed anyway to do 5 jumps that day...not bad at all. It was the 23rd of July 2006. Finally I did 2 DC9 jumps for the price of one. And my Vigil firing never put my life in danger. On the other hand, when having an AAD which arms itself after 1500 ft like the Cypres (I mentioned 1700 ft, my mistake) if you bailout at 1400 ft and get knocked out at the door, your AAD will not protect you. Now we are dealing here with the chances of being in an airplane on the ground which get pressurized by mistake and the chances to bailout and being unconscious below the altitude where the AAD arms itself. In the first scenario I am till alive. Manufacturers have choices to do. They should choose the least dangerous set up and according me this is what Vigil did. Out of the 2 scenarios I really prefer to have my Vigil firing in the airplane on the ground and be alive. Vigil prefers to have their devices ready to fire as soon as possible after take off and I find this approach more cautious. Solution to this: Having an AAD which "feels" the gravity changes near the surface of the Earth and not the atmospheric pressure. ie. At the top of a mountain the gravity pull is very slightly less than what it is in the valley, more you go up more the gravity pull decreases but at a very slightly rate (at the altitude where the space shuttle goes, the gravity pull is about 80-85% of what it is a sea level). If a manufacturer can make such a device which will transfer the gravity pull into altitude, accurately... I will be the first to buy it if the price is affordable. I invite the physicists and engineers to comments on that. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

It's always pleasant to see some people who agree with me. I suspect that most of you are rigger and that's why you know exactly what I am talking about concerning reserve packing. Thanks guys. Now, of course it's better to switch off the AAD at the end of the day especially if you are driving your car on an up and down travel back home since the AAD can "think" you are back in the air and will stay switched on. If you forget it and if the way back home is flat, the AAD will switch off after 14 hours starting from the last switch on time. For Jerôme, sorry, I whish I would have all the rigs available to test them especially reserve popping. Hope to see you at Skydive Expo in March. Now, I would like to hear more about the decision making tree being affected because of an AAD. One case I can see is when bailing out at 2000 feet and having a slow deployment canopy. Comments appreciated. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

*Complete inspection of a new reserve = 60-90 minutes (all stitches top and bottom surface, line attachments points, lines, a look inside each half cell, brakes set up, steering line set up (if not done), connectors links...) *Complete inspection of the container system = 15-30 minutes (all stitches, all grommets, binding tape, making of closing loop for reserve, AAD installation... ) * inspection of the main = 25-35 minutes (all lines, all stitches top and bottom surface, look inside each half cells, line attachments points, brake and steering line set up, connector links, risers...) * reserve packing + packing card + registration + verify the data...)= 2 hours * main packing = 15 minutes TOTAL = minimum of 235 minutes or almost 4 hours. And most of the riggers don't dare asking a little 20$/hour for that. Though your dentist will ask you 200 $ for 40 minutes, same for the plumber or the electrician. Now, you speak about Cypres or Argus, why not buying a Vigil II, less expensive than a Cypres and no compulsory maintenance. You send it back for a check when you want (ie. at the end of the skydiving season). How would you like to have all electronics you buy to be submitted to expensive compulsory checks at a specific time (could be in the middle of the skydiving season, what a bummer!) especially when the device tells you what it is checking (BATteries, CUTter and CoNtRoL) OK or switch it off. Now you speak about your life depending on the AAD. Wrong approach! Any AAD is a back up device, you switch it on at the DZ when you arrive and forget it ie. You MUST perform your emergency procedures (if needed) as taught in your first jump course ALWAYS. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Thanks for the precision. I knew it but with the figures I mentioned, Vigil is quite conservative. Now for PIISFISH, the Vigil cutters type III are made in USA, more exactely in Wisconsin by a manufacturer specialized in caps and explosive devices for the US Army for many years. They are made of very hard stainless steel and required special machinery to make them. OK Vigil has had few issues with cutters because of one previous cutter manufacturer stopped making the cutters with the required quality. A lot of bad politics from France did the rest. Vigil now has a solid cutter manufacturer. Anybody can be hit by a substandard product made by a sub contractor. Look at the Cypres and their pressure sensor 2 years ago, look at Toyota right now with the accelerator pedal. Vigil will exchange for free any type II cutter and will exchange for 50 Euros any type I cutter (the one with a plastic sleeve to protect the closing loop). Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

With a cut away and having a Skyhook it will take 75-100 feet (see UPT Vector demo video). If you have a reserve with a strong pilot chute jumping at 5 feet or more, you have less chance to get a pilot chute hesitation due to the burble behind you in free fall in case of a total malfunction. Now what rig has both the Skyhook and a strong pilot chute jumping at 5 feet or more : ie the Vector III. I made a comparative study of pilot chute launch when the reserve handle is pulled and so far 2 rigs have their pilot chute jumping at more than 5 feet (vertically), the Vector III and the Quasar II. I have tried about half a dozen of rigs. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

First for FYI there is nothing such as a SABRE 2 -200. Their size is either 190 or 210. If your instructor tells you to go on a Sabre 2-170 you should at least to give it a try. You might be surprised to find out a more powerful flare with the Sabre 2-170 with respect to the Sabre 2-190 because of the speed. At your weight 145 + 25 = 170 lbs of exit weight you will be in a very conservative mode with a Sabre 2-170 with a wing loading of 1.00 lbs/square feet Remember to behave like a pilot, fly it straight forward in short final after having planed your approach from at least 1500 feet. Make sure to have plenty of space ahead of you at landing. And tell us how it was. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

At 86 jumps you are ready for both canopies provided you have a size well adapted to your level of performance. Now, I can tell you that I had a SABRE 2-170 for almost 400 jumps and I enjoyed it a lot. Not too many parachutes match its powerful flare and it has long range toggles. For me it was the best canopy to be prepared to jump the Katana 170 I have now. Same powerful flare, same long range toggles. If you pack the Sabre 2 properly, it will open relatively fast but still comfortable (you get used to it anyway). The average (out of 10 jumps) vertical opening distance on the Sabre 2-170 was 340 feet. If you load it a lot you will get a hot machine but if you load it lightly that canopy will gives you very comfortable rides and landings. The range of performance of the Sabre 2 is very wide and is depending on the loading and experience. Good luck and tell us what you have decided. Go at the manufacturers website and read about them. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

That has been explained in several posts already but for you I will do it again. When you pressurize an airplane, you increase the pressure in the cabin. What that "tells" to the AAD ? It tells that the pressure increases which is equivalent to a descent or going down. When the descent (or increase of pressure equivalent) reach 150 feet (not a big pressure difference) the Vigil is armed. Now if the rate of change of pressure (change of pressure/time which is equivalent to change of vertical distance/time or speed) is such that it matches 78 MPH or more, the Vigil fires as it is designed to do so. It is Vigil's approach to have his device armed (ready for firing) very soon after take off (+ or - 150 feet). While the Argus is armed when reaching 1400 feet, the Cypres is armed at 1700 feet if my memory is OK. In case of bailout at 1500 feet they will not fire if they have to. There is posts on the pro and the con of the different approaches. Important thing to remember. Altimeter, AAD's, beepers...they all measure the atmospheric pressure of where you are and the display transfers that to vertical distance or altitude and speed by using the internal clock. Note on the Vigil II : right now the Vigil II has the best energy saving design with its new batteries. Those are good for 5 years (very conservative) or 2000 jumps. And don't worry, the display will tell you when the batteries are weak and have to be changed. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

A lot of subjectivity in most of the posts. What you need is first to read the manufacturer's presentation on his products (go at Advanced Aerospace Designs (Vigil) website, go at Airtec and at Argus and read the specifications. And after that ask to a person who knows well the history of those AAD's. Now, you have to know that AAD's are tricky to built since all manufacturers deal with electronic components they are are not making themselves. FYI about electronic components: 1) Argus uses TEXAS Instruments 2) Vigil uses Texas Instruments 3) Cypres uses Motorola They are all good and the pressure sensor is probably made by the same manufacturer for the 3 of them. Now what makes the difference: It is: The maintenance conditions, the structural strength, the strength of the cables, the design of the software, the design of the control box, the design of the cutter the design of the display console. Considering all those aspects I can say that I prefer the Vigil II since it offers the following features: 1) Kevlar reinforced cable (100 lbs +) 2) a sturdy molded aluminum electronics box 3) an ergonomic electronics box flat and slightly curved to harmonize with the reserve volume (rigger friendly) 4) Availability of 3 modes which makes it easy for gear management in a DZ or easier to sell (can be changed easily for tandem or student) 5) at the switch on, tell you clearly what the device is checking (CUT OK, BTT OK, CTRL OK) 6) when the device is switched on the mode stays on the display all the time 7) No scheduled maintenance (it takes 3 days to get your device after the manufacturer received it) and you decide when to have a maintenance. 8) if something is wrong the device switches off 9) Display giving you all info on your last jump and possibility to download the data of the last 16 minutes or 16 jumps provide you have the interface and disk Well this is what I like with the Vigil II. My Vigil 1 was fired 2 times when it had to do it. 1rst time at Perris Valley (#17 on Vigil savings or low pull) and in the DC9 at Rantoul when the pilot mistakenly pressurized the airplane). Not too many people can say that. Now, you have to know that all AAD's manufacturers have had their share of problems which has been proportional to the number of units in the field. The main problem is that the AAD's manufacturers can check the component quality but they cannot check their durability. If some people answering your thread think Cypres has solved everything then check the attachment on my post. At least now you have a more solid ground to decide what to buy. Have fun and be careful