erdnarob

Congrats for your Vigil II, you just have the most advanced AAD available on the market. But I think you have maybe wasted your time and money by changing the Cypres pocket already installed in your Wings system. Cypres pocket like the Vigil one is made of Spandex material and both AAD will fit any pocket Vigil or Cypres. But speaking about a Vigil II, do you have the Vigil washer ? The Vigil washer is more easy for the rigger to use when changing the reserve closing loop. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Hello Megatron. Round parachute are not as safe as most of the people think they are at least relatively to a ram air parachute. Round parachute when they are at line stretch, have their lower lateral band staying narrow. Some air rushes inside and start to inflate the top of the canopy first making the shape looking like an inverted pear. Bernoulli's principle then apply like an airfoil and pressure is higher inside than outside where the curve is then the whole canopy keeps on inflating. If by any chance some tiny thread get around the lower lateral band there could be no inflation at all since there is almost no pressure to inflate the canopy at that level. Ram air canopies don't have that problem, Also, in case of hard opening, the apex of a round parachute can bounce back toward the bottom and pass under the lower lateral band and then you have an inverted canopy or a big mess. Ram air canopies well packed have a rate of malfunction way lower than well packed round canopies. I hope what I am writing is clear otherwise see the Poyntr manual at "Round canopy inflation". Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

If the canopy traffic was allowing what you have done then congrats. You proved you were a real pilot planing his descent. Always have a good look around at the traffic. You certainly don't want to have a canopy collision for the sake of a landing into the wind. On the other hand you have to be able to land say at 45 degrees with respect to the wind if necessary. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

AS PD people mentioned it, there are not really any elliptical canopies but we should rather use the expression "tapered" because this is what they are. Then there is several types: 1) half tapered: generally the front of the canopy (starting at the 2nd cell from the edge) becomes tapered or has the chord decreasing while the tail stays straight (ex. the Sabre 2) 2) fully tapered: the front and the rear of the canopy are tapered (starting from the 2nd cell from the edge) ex. the Katana, the Nitro, the Nitron... NOTE. 1) Some canopy are slightly tapered which mean the difference between the chord at the end cell and the middle cell is not important (3-5 inches).Highly tapered canopies have a more important difference (1-3 feet) 2) Some fully tapered canopies are more tapered at the front than at the rear while other are more tapered at the rear than at the front. 3) the Sabre 2 has some material covering the nose but the Crossfire has more material covering the nose The taper or "ellipticality" of a canopy has nothing to do with the amount of material covering the nose but has to do with its geometrical shape only Have a look at the 2 drawings included in attachment (sorry but the text is in French) this is the shape and attachment points (line junctions) of the Nitro 150 and the Katana 170. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Hi awagnon, it was a very interesting thread indeed and a legitimate question from Megatron. Just FYI I was at DeLand with the SOS a month ago and at one time, the guy on my left on the same zipper (hooked to the base) was 78. Then your are far away from being done with skydiving. Stay in shape, mentally and physically and have a good skydiving season. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Thanks awagnon, sorry for being late but I didn't forget the problem. I have been quite busy recently, new contracts... As I promised I gave the problem to professional statisticians and here is 2 solutions yielding to the same results. Pchapman on this forum gave the right answer but he did it by first considering the chance of staying alive. I have been trying to solve the problem using the chance to be killed as the original problem was. I would rather be playing calculus!!! Problem : If there is 1 jumper killed per 100 000 jumps then what is the probabilitye for an individual to get killed after making n jumps SOLUTION 1) using 1 minus the probability to stay alive: probability to get killed for n jump = 1 - (0,99999)EXP n (EXP means exponant) similar to Peter's solution then for 1000 jumps the probability to get killed is 0.00995 or 0.995% for 100 000 jumps the probability to get killed is 0.6321 or 63.21% SOLUTION 2) since there is one chance to get killed then the random variable X represents the first "success" and is distributed according a geometrical law with p as the parameter. p being the probability to get killed for any typical jump. For this solution you need to use EXCEL or a program doing the SUM of p(k) NOTE: SUM (sigma mathematical symbol) a) probability to get killed at jump #k is : p(k) = P(X=k) = p times (1-p) exp (k-1) b) Probability to get killed for a career of n jumps is : P(X < or = n) = SUM of p(k) (from k=1 to k=n) or to make it clear P(n) = p(1) + p(2) + p(3) +...+ p(n-1) + p(n) That gives the following results for n = 1000 jumps: P(1000) = 0.00995 or 0.995% But all of this makes me think about the safety. Make sure to attend to the SAFETY DAY at your DZ before the jumping season starts again. I hope megatron will be happy with those results. But lets all make the statistics lie. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

What you need is just a very simple sort of harness with dummy ripcord and cut away handle. Any master rigger can make it. I used it as an FJC instructor. But to be more realistic, nothing better than the rig to be used in a suspended harness. Here is the way to do it: 1) have a pair of old risers 2) attach them to a frame (wood or metal tubing) 3) remove the reserve handle from its pocket and tuck it behind the main lift web attached with masking tape (therefore you don't have to open the reserve) 4) use a spare reserve handle (with cable or not) and put it in the pocket and use several turns of masking tape around the main lift web to make the pull harder 5) use the cutaway handle and cable with the spare risers 6) have to student doning the rig and simulate an activation of the main followed by a imaginary malfunction requiring cut away or not (let the student decide what to do and brief him accordingly) Note: The student doesn't have necessarily to be lifted in the air but can stand up and lean forward with feet behind him. That way he will fall on his belly in a mattress placed in front of him. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Going from 18 to 30 fatalities is a 67% increase which is rather alarming. On the other hand according Skydiving Magazine if I am right there is a significative decrease in fatalities involving general aviation. Safety is a touchy matter among skydivers since a majority of us think that they are knowledgeable enough, nothing can happen, equipment is OK... At the beginning of each season it's always a pain in the neck to convince jumpers to show up at the safety day. There are so many details to cover in different areas. Jumpers participating to that safety day are generally the ones who know the most while those who should come are absent. Any idea to make the jumpers more responsible toward their own safety ? Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Confortable for what ? Just like you would prefer your old pair of slippers !!!???? Come on, we are dealing here with high tech technology. For many reasons alredy explained in this forum I consider the Vigil II as being the most advanced AAD available right now. Moreover this device offers you features that his main competitor doesn't offer like 3 modes you can choose from and do the setting, data downloading capability, and last but not least non scheduled costly maintenance. You have a maintenance when you decide to do it. And as Hackish said after 12 years if it still does its 3 explicit self testings, it's still good. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Few days ago I got as usual my January issue of Skydiving Magazine. A friend of mine who is a subscriber as well told me that he had seen sad news about the Magazine. Now I can see that it's really true that things are not with us forever, especially the good ones. I am a subscriber and a contributor to Skydiving Magazine for many years. What I liked the best with it is that there was no politic (or at least a very minimum) as you can find in official Association magazines like The Parachutist and (in Canada) Canpara which have to reflect the approach and policy of their Association (USPA and CSPA). We can say that Skydiving magazine was a very broadminded magazine which have dealt with all facets of our sport even the most controversial like some sort of BASE jumping or even more daring stuff. In Skydiving Magazine there was content for all skydivers: belly, head down, BASE, canopy pilots, accuracy and style, all countries, competitors, old timers, newbies, riggers, aviators, manufacturers... name it and well illustrated with high quality pictures. Mike Truffer's editorial was always (and I told him once), right on the target. I had the chance last year to meet Sue and Mike and I have thanked them personally for their good work. Then that's it. It's over. I will really miss that Magazine because it was unique and complete. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Many thanks Shlomo. As ususal your post provides a lot of details on these modifications. But for the readers benefit, tapes and loops are already cut to specifications. The master rigger has to do the assembly following the instructions provided with the mod kits, one for the staging loop (bungee cord) and one for the Collins lanyard yellow loop to be added. UPT Vector web site shows detailed instructions as well. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Hi Mike, yes it takes a master rigger to do the retrofit since that invloves using a sewing machine. Your pictures concerning the addition of a yellow loop for the Collins lanyard are for the Sigma system only. The only difference for the sport Vector retrofit loop is that the yellow loop is more narrow than the one for the Sigma in order to match the existing RSL. I was at UPT Vector this past Thursday and got both the retrofits for the Sigma and the sport Vector. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Go on Performance Designs site and read the quite complete and interesting article about the Katana. I had the same hesitation than you about that canopy but after I have demoed it at Skydive Chicago Summerfest I knew it will be my next canopy. I have now almost 100 jumps on it and love it. Keep in mind that when flying a square canopy especially an elliptical one like the Katana, you are like a pilot and when you are on short final you fly it straight like an airplane in order to get a good landing. BTW before my Katana I had a Sabre 2 for about 400 jumps. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Do you mean the routing of the chest strap was wrong thru the buckle and therefore the moving part was not playing as a brake when tension was applied or what ? Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

You got a lot of good advices here. The fact is that all depends where and in what conditions you are packing. I guess you want to pack inside your home or apartment. The cheapest way to hold your harness is to attach it with a line to an anchor like : a hook screwed low and horizontally inside the wall skirting, a little piece of wood or else placed behind a door with a line around it passing under the door, the leg of a sofa or the leg of any piece of furniture even if you have to move it a little bit temporarily. You have plenty of choice. But unless you are a rigger I wouldn't bother to get shot bags or whatever. If your floor is slippery like wood, an anchor is still the best and will provide you with a good tension when needing it (ie. setting the brakes, checking the lines, at the flaking...). Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Congratulations but keep on being alert and stick with the basics : lines at the center, brakes carefully done, collapsible pilot chute cocked, bridle routing OK, slider OK...etc Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

You can always draw on your jumpsuit (abeam of your cut away handle) with a permanent marker an arrow with the inscription "O SHIT". Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Wendy and Gary...On UPT reserve risers, you don't have to separate the 2 parts of the Velcro in order to release the brakes and provided the 2 Velcro parts are well matched (by the rigger) the lines will never come in contact with the hook part. I agree strongly that Velcro (well maintained) is still the safest way to stow the extra of steering line even if that can appeared being a out of date concept. BTW we still often have Velcro on : the cut away handle, the reserve handle pocket, the Cypres pocket, the RSL routing near the yoke, the bridle just above the pin and sometimes after the pin, on the Skyhook to keep the reserve pin in position and allow it to swivel...well... it seems we re not alredy done with the Velcro. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Do it for yourself first but unless you work for a big container manufacturer like Strong, UPT, Sunpath, Mirage...etc, a canopy maker or a big DZ, don't expect to get good wages from it. People will pay 40$/1/2 hour for guitar lessons but the same people will find too expensive a bill of 80$ for a 2 hour highly specialized job of packing a reserve. OTOH you will make many friends (or girlfriends) by being a rigger. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Put it in your suitcase and fill it up with T-shirts, socks, pants or whatever. Make sure it is surrounded in the suitcase with other pieces of cloth. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

There is no ideal system for skydiving progression. It depends on the individual's way to learn. Some people prefer what you call RAPS which is seemingly equivalent here in Canada to Static line and/or Instructor Assisted Deployment (IAD). This approach is a bit slower but give you more time to: integrate better the content, having review, letting you ask questions, exchanging with pairs...making you getting more mature skydivingly speaking. Other people would be proficient with an AFF course which will be heavier on your bank account. Studies demonstrate that after 20-30 jumps or so, any system leads to the same kind of results. The wind tunnel is a way to start with a good freefall position but it is costly as well. The most important for you is to find a system you are confortable with and which is affordable. The wind tunnel is especially good for 2D work and position. The tunnel will not train you to dive from an airplane (3D), nor approaching a formation along a radial, nor tracking away along the same radial. Talk to people and make up your mind about what you feel the best for you despite of the fashion or trend. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

What do you call RAPS ? And how many jumps have you made so far ? Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

As you contemplate the idea to get an used gear showing your concern about money spending there is 3 things you should consider: 1) you don't need 2-3 years to go from a 190 ZP canopy to a 170 unless you only make 5 jumps a year. 2) choosing a Vigil II will give you more for your money (no scheduled costly maintenance and batteries good for 7 years or 1000 jumps +) 3) A Sabre 2 is the best you can get (check with canopies review here on dropzone.com) Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Just for comparison purpose the batteries life for a Cypres II is 4 years and more than 7 years (1000 jumps+) for the Vigil II. At the cost of lithium batteries (it takes two for an Argus) and their limited life to 7-12 months, I still see that the Vigil II (with no compulsory maintenance and batteries costing 85$) is a very competitive product. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Katana's have soft openings all the time. Mine uses 600 feet to be deployed (average on 10 jumps). Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.