angryelf

I would ask Adam. my solo 1 never got turned off b/t jumps and battery life was great. solo 2 didn't last long enough for me to see how it would do. Adam has both and I am trading up to a Visio. as I recall I got about 8 months out of a set of batteries... Need to come jump w you guys again!!! -Harry "Sometimes you eat the bar, and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

the whopping two jumps I have on my RDS (slider only), slider rings came down over the risers both times. I don't think there is any reason to leave them anywhere but at the bottom of the risers where they want to go anyway. -Harry "Sometimes you eat the bar, and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

At risk of adding more fuel to this blaze... My first jumps were on 360sq ft canopies with zero radio input, a giant wrist mount military altimeter that spun on your wrist and no audible. My class mates and I had a 45 min canopy flight class prior to our first jump. Out of 23 students, everyone figured out how to fly the pattern and do a flared landing with in the first 3 jumps. The one guy who did a down wind landing with no flare became one of our best canopy pilots-sometimes the best lessons come from a mouthful of dirt and some scrapes. That school continues to turn out jumpers with minimal canopy related problems (most of their injuries have been from instructors jumping smaller canopies). Since then- I've landed a few AFF students on radio (with mixed success) -witnessed multiple Cat A AFF's do an emergency bailout at 5,000ft and have standup landings 2mi from the DZ with no radio assistance -and personally jumped/coached/taught to pack a gentleman who showed up at our DZ with 135 BASE jumps and and one tandem b/c 4 DZ's had turned him away b/c he was deaf and "unable to be talked down on radio". Sometimes radios fail, sometimes instructors time the flare wrong and sometimes students choose to not listen to the radio. All of this boils down to these points: GOOD TRAINING is the most important step in safely landing a student. Picking appropriate SIZE/TYPE student canopies, keeping students ON THE GROUND when the weather is marginal are also critical. Based on what I've read and seen personally-most students get hurt under canopy when the weather conditions are clearly volatile or a series of events through the whole skydive leads to them wadding in. Skydiving is dangerous. Regardless of how much safety, rules, etc we throw at students-they will continue to get hurt. At the end of the day, the decision to leave the plane is theirs and they are responsible for the consequences. As instructors we are responsible to make the jump experience as safe and as educational as possible. I don't think adding audibles or multiple altimeters to the mix are a good idea for a lot of reasons: -An audible is a distraction. It is another piece of gear that the student and his/her instructors have to account for, turn on, etc. That means it will add more confusion if the student is rushing to get on the plane, get all his/her gear to the mockup, is listening for a beep on climb up instead of taking seat belt off at 1000', etc. -An audible introduced to a student will inevitably lead to dependance. The student will grow accustomed to having it and will A)Buy one ASAP (spending money for something unnecessary that could be better spent on more jumps), B) Be incredibly scared/uncomfortable, etc the first time he/she has to jump without it and C)requires batteries. When it fails-the student will spend time processing why he/she did not hear a beep when he/she thought he/she should have-which could be bad. -Audibles are pricey. Now the DZ has yet another expense that requires batteries and is sized perfectly to walk off. My DZ can't keep track of 10 wrist mount Altimeters. How the hell are we going to keep track of 10 even smaller pieces of gear? -Audibles have their place. I jump one for freefly, when I'm Instructing and when I'm flying camera. But-I am comfortable doing any type of jump without the device b/c I never learned to rely on it. An audible is a tool like a hook knife: it deserves a place in skydiving, but adds a lot for a student to think about. I think it is cool that you guys Down Under are trying new things. But I really have my doubts that the the devices are changing student progression. Could it be that your students are learning canopy control faster b/c they get more canopy flight instruction due to extra time spent training on the use of the audible? I like the radio when it works. But it has limitations, too. BOTTOM LINE: Teach the student to fly the canopy-have a plan to assist. At some point you have to decide whether or not the student has been A)properly trained (be honest), B) understood what he was taught and C)has any business doing AFF in the first place. Tandems exist for a reason... -Harry "Sometimes you eat the bar, and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

Gotta agree with DBCOOPER on this. Unless you have money to burn-used is the way to go. You will want to down size, you will want different things in your rig in 200-500 jumps from where you are now. Buy used *with the help of a qualified rigger, good common sense and solid judgement*. I waited until I had 500+ jumps before I bought my first "brand new, custom rig from UPT". Was 700 jumps before I bought my first "brand new main". and I'm still jumping my old 1993 PD 160 Reserve that I bought in my very first rig 6 yrs ago for $1000. -Harry "Sometimes you eat the bar, and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

Some booties (mine for example) don't require zippers or snaps. You can do it on the plane, take them off under canopy too. Pros: booties last the lifetime of the suit, no stiff and bulky shoe glue required. Cons: Can be tough to get them on in a crowded plane. Adds a step to post opening procedures. -Harry "Sometimes you eat the bar, and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

Talk with you instructors, first off. RW booties can be a hazard to lower time jumpers (16-35 jump range, this I say from personal experience) and need to be used with some coaching. They are more expensive, and you probably will not get a lot of benefit from them very early on (IMO). If however, your goal is to do a lot of Belly RW-get a suit with some. You can always roll the booties inside and tape them if they are not needed. On another topic-MIlitary Static LIne jumps do provide you with some things that help in skydiving (Aircraft procedures, comfort in the door, canopy control skills [only if you are doing SL Squares] and maybe some overkilled PLF training. Military Freefall jumps do translate a lot more, but are still much different. -Harry "Sometimes you eat the bar, and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

I picked up a good bit of road rash using a round to pull me across the tarmac on a winded out day in NM... It was working really great until I realized I needed to stop before I hit the hangar, dropped a riser, ran the canopy over with the skateboard, wheels caught in the lines and I biffed it. The best part was when the club president got mad at me for wrecking the canopy... (I don't know how he thought I was going to bring it back in one piece considering I walked up to him asking for a banged up, "non airworthy" round while wearing a Protec and carrying a skate board :) "Sometimes you eat the bar, and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

what machines do you have and for how much? "Sometimes you eat the bar, and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

I don't have a reason to skydive with a cat-but I've been known to threaten my girlfriend's cat with being thrown off a high object under a 48" PC... She usually stops sharpening her claws in my couch when I elaborate on the details of becoming a base-test-kittie :) "Sometimes you eat the bar, and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

I disagree about the LTD lenses. I've got a pair, have worn them through a deployment and on over 70 skyjumps, 40 base jumps, use them everyday. They are great!!! First pair of sunglasses I can't seem to scratch the lenses on-and believe me, I'm pretty hard on glasses. The lenses are a tad slow to transition-but they are the only eyepro I've had I could wear day or night, with or with out NVG's and not have to deal with constantly losing interchangeable lenses. The only complaint I have with them is that the (Player) model isn't really narrow enough for my face, so I had to bend them to the point where the lenses don't want to stay in. I fixed that by gluing them in. They are good to go now. The only other issue is the price... "Sometimes you eat the bar, and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

Have an older Consew 98 combination zigzag/straight stitch machine. Sews just fine in straight stitch mode, but starts dropping stitches when shifted over to zigzag. I've already played with adjusting tension of the presser foot, thread on top and ensured there was no lint in the bobbin keeper and adjusted the stitches per inch settings. Any suggestions? Also-I would like to find a manual for it if anyone knows where to look. Thanks! -Harry "Sometimes you eat the bar, and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

done 2. they were ok. "Sometimes you eat the bar, and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

skydiving gear: 1,200 ft. Never heard my dytter, tracked way too long from a freefly jump. Was pretty dumb. Opened fast under the old PD 9Cell... Done a couple of hop n pops from 1,500 ft. Don't recommend it-if anything goes wrong with the main it gets ugly fast. SL square: 1,250 ft exit, fully inflated canopy reaching for toggles at 1,000 ft after a slow as... opening. SL round: 800ft exit, canopy fully open less than 50' later. Base Freefall: exit at 250', threw PC as I stepped. Longest opening of my life :) Base SL: exit somewhere b/t 150-170 ft. 4-5 sec canopy flight, and there are plenty of people who have been lower. Docile canopies with good opening characteristics can open very, very low. It's good to know, not smart to test it. I like pulling around 3,500ft when I skydive. Way more room for error that way. -Harry "Sometimes you eat the bar, and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

I emailed Aerodyne a few weeks ago asking to demo a canopy. (Sensei 121). The response I got back was that they were re-building their entire Sensei demo fleet out of regular ZP b/c the "ZPX canopies were not performing as they thought they should" and that they would get in touch with me once they had the new demo fleet back up. I'm not sure if they are ceasing to use ZPX on Sensei canopies only, Smaller canopies only or if they are stopping production of all canopies made of ZPX until further notice. "Sometimes you eat the bar, and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

Cool. I still wouldn't want to jump one for fun... "Sometimes you eat the bar, and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

I did send it in. Which is why I'm waiting for it to get back so I can put it in my rig ;). "Sometimes you eat the bar, and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

I have the graphs that AAD charted for the last two jumps. (actually three as the unit recorded the time between canopy deployment and activation as a new jump). The company was very upfront about their findings and cool about the cost of cutter replacement. There is zero chance that I accidentally put the unit in Student Mode with an altitude correction. As I said in the previous post-I will be jumping the unit again soon, may even take it on a skydive in my pocket before I reinstall it in my rig. Cheers... "Sometimes you eat the bar, and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

Use the good toggle to steer, Use your rears to land. Won't get as much tail deflection, have more chance to stall the canopy. But-You can ensure the inputs will be more symmetrical. Hopefully you get a chance to find the riser stall point before you land... Might be a different story if I were jumping a smaller reserve than I am, too. "Sometimes you eat the bar, and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

I turned the rig off and back on early in the morning as the rigger who had done the same did it the night before, the unit turns itself off 14 hours after it is turned on and I did not want it to turn off during the day. Rdutch was under canopy himself and ESTIMATED I was at 1100 ft. I was in the rig for the fire. The unit activated where it was supposed to for the mode/offset (1150ft), but I did not notice until line stretch of the reserve at around 850ft. (keep in mind the difference between activation and closing loop cutting, factor in burble, Reserve PC hesitation and other factors and the Reserve deployment alt checks out). I doubt very, very seriously that anyone on the DZ has an axe to grind with me. In 6 years of jumping I have never seen someone mess with someone else's gear, mine included. Furthermore, I hadn't been at the DZ in the 5 months prior to that weekend which kind of rules out any emotionally driven attacks. Lastly, I've been in the same very monogamous relationship for 5 years and haven't been involved in any trysts that would warrant someone trying to sabotage my gear. I only noted that this was one of Vigil's suggestions as to how the unit in question was put into the wrong mode. As there are 200 rigs or so hanging around the DZ on a normal weekend-some one using my rig as an example for a student is extremely unlikely; but plausible. As to checking the system before every jump-I had developed the habit of turning the AAD on, watching the unit zero down prior to the first jump of the day, then checking only the reserve pin prior to each jump (Reason being to reduce wear and tear on reserve flap side tuck tabs-V3's reserve pin flap is tight, so I usually only lifted the bottom tab-checked the pin and continued my prejump checks). Call me complacent for this check if you like-but my pre jump gear checks have gotten me this far safely, are much more in depth than those of a lot of folks I've jumped with at over 60 DZ's in 2 different countries and a US territory. As to there being a lot of unanswered questions-I agree. Candace @ Vigil USA has been very helpful over the phone and in email correspondence. I have never thought at any time that I was being misled by the company and she seemed as puzzled as everyone else as to how the unit wound up in the wrong mode(s). Even though I am assured that there is no way for the unit to change modes on it's own-I don't know enough about AAD software to completely rule out that the device couldn't have possibly glitched and done it's own thing. Hopefully if this was indeed the case-I will catch it in a gear check in the future and then the unit will go back to AAD for further evaluation. If it does go back into Student mode for some reason and I experience another 2 out malfunction I'm very current on how to deal with it ;). I will have the unit with a new cutter installed in a few days and intend to put it back in my rig. Make no mistake-I'll be a bit paranoid about it for several hundred jumps, but if Vigil says the unit checks out then I'm going to reinstall it. Obviously I will send it back if I see "S-150" (for STUDENT, MINUS 150ft) show up on the control screen during a gear check for no reason. If anyone has any further questions-please feel free to PM me. -Harry "Sometimes you eat the bar, and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

They show up on here every once in awhile... You might also check a DRMO auction. If you get it at an auction you will probably have to get it relined as the military likes to cut the lines of canopies they auction off. That being said-I'm pretty sure MC-5's do not have a TSO, and aren't really "legal" for civilian skydives. Having quite a bit of experience jumping them-they aren't very much fun to jump, the canopies suck to fly, the containers have horrible pin protection, etc. Do a search, Lou Diamond has a very good post with a lot of great reasons why jumping an MC5 in the skydiving world is less than optimal. If you are looking for a collector's item-disregard. -Harry "Sometimes you eat the bar, and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

***Update*** Finally got word back from Vigil USA and AAD... They determined that the AAD fired because it was in Student mode and had a -150ft offset programmed in. As the Rigger who repacked the reserve and I both turned the Vigil on and off and ensured it was in "PRO" mode (I did it at 8am the morning of the fire)=the only conclusion is that someone at the DZ hates me, programmed my Vigil in Student mode with an altitude adjustment. OR The Vigil decided to go into Student mode all by itself-which Vigil USA assures me is impossible. So-check your AAD before every jump and make sure your buddies haven't set your Vigil to Clown mode as a joke. I know I'll be checking mine with my reserve pin every time now... -Harry "Sometimes you eat the bar, and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

Nah... But I will have to get some jumps in with you this weekend :) "Sometimes you eat the bar, and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

All, In order to keep this from turning into a thread full of wild speculation and buffoonery: The AAD in question was built in 04, I have owned it since 06. It is a Vigil1 w/ a Vigil 2 type 3 cutter. It was in PRO mode, the reserve had been repacked less than 24 hrs previous to the activation and the unit was vetted thoroughly at that time to ensure it was not listed on any recalls, etc. I pulled at 3000 ft following a tandem video jump and had an uneventful canopy descent. The only variable that makes any sense at this time is that a big storm front was passing through that changed the pressure noticeably, although no other AAD's on the DZ appeared to have been affected. I will not be posting the s/n or adding more fuel to the fire until Vigil responds to the email I sent them yesterday and they get a chance to look at the unit. I hope that they will be honest about their findings as to why it happened and use the data they glean from examining the device to ensure it doesn't happen again. I would appreciate it if we could keep company bashing and/or speculation out of the discussion until word comes back from the company as to what caused the fire. I'm very happy I was able to land safely and want to leave it at that for now. Thanks! -Harry "Sometimes you eat the bar, and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

to borrow from a way more experienced jumper/tm/mentor> "Jumping has 4 phases: 1) The ride up, 2) Exit/Freefall, 3) Canopy Deployment/Descent and 4)LANDING. We can screw up the first 3 pretty badly and be ok-we've only got one shot at the landing, and it ain't optional." Landing is where you have the most likelyhood of twisting your customer's ankle, mangling them or ending the jump smoothly and professionally. Some factors are out of your control, but you can: decide NOT to jump in winds that are too high, do practice landings on every jump, NEVER do low turns to "build speed", ensure you are jumping an appropriate main/reserve and only take passengers you are 100% certain you can land safely. Stay safe out there! -Harry "Sometimes you eat the bar, and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

PD used to ship Slinks with black covers (they look like little "hats") made out of binding tape. They were built with the idea that you were not planning on pulling your slider over your risers and keep the grommets on the lines. If you're using somebody else's product or your Slinks didn't come with them, you could probably call them and order some or have your rigger make you a set. www.performancedesigns.com In checking their website and checking at paragear it doesn't look like they send them as a course of habit anymore. I would see if your rigger can get/build them. "Sometimes you eat the bar, and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."