irishrigger

closing loop was way to long.

The main was the correct size for the container.

glad to see you corrected your statement, having a skyhook is irrelevant, the rig i posted pics of is also has a skyhook. The issue is when you have a total or an aad fire,with the main container and riser covers closed,then you could have a serious issue.

Given the rigged mal, I'd say it was a very necessary reserve ride. Another way to look at it i suppose

Way to much over 2".

i did not pick the rig up slowly of the floor,i gave it a good pull.

it is a Javelin NJK, reserve is a optimum 143 and main is a Vel96.I believe sunpath recommend optimum126 as max. I did assemble the rig again after washing the container 3 years ago. at that time i was worried because it was tight in there. i did the pull test that time, but the big difference, i did it WITHOUT the main in there and the riser covers were not closed. after reading about a couple fatalities recently and reading John Sherman Excellent article i talked to the owner and mentioned my concern. he wanted some work done on the container,so before dissasembling it i did the check. after taking these pics, i got a friend to get into the rig and then used the Scales to measure. I do believe John Sherman has made a very valid point in his article. so the question is should every rigger check this from now on?

amazingly this person was checked out twice and the jumper himself check this! another unneccessary reserve ride! there has been many incidents like this around, so amazed that it still happens

it was after i read John Shermans post that i started doing this test.

I have been reading and listning about aad fires and the reserve not inflating in time, then i came across this rig and it has really opened my eyes! the scale i have measures 35lbs and it was not enough to extract this freebag with the main inside and riser cover closed.i do not believe that this reserve would have inflated in time, had the person had to rely on his AAD to save him. I have advised the owner to get a smaller reserve, at the moment it is an Optimum 143. my question is should every rigger test a rig like this for every repack? I do not believe that every rigger checks this,so should it be made compulsary?

most of my tandems reseserve rides i have loaded it to the max. because i am 6'5 tall and 290 lbs , never had an issue with steering or flaring.a few years ago i took a 250lbs guy, although i was lot lighter then nill winds still managed to do a stand up,which even suprised me! I have beem under Strong,Precision,Paratec and P.d France reserve and the VR-360 is my favorite and prefered option.

Not another one! What can we learn from this, in my opinion it is very simple, very close proximity flying is dangeous, and people are pushing the limits to much. i have seen lots of video's on youtube about close proximity flying, does it look great and fantastic, yes it does, BUT to me it is not wortht he risk, you cannot make a mistake or it is over. i mean some of these guys get with in 2-3 feet of obstacles and traveling at 150mph it does not take much to hit the obstacle instead of missing it. The way things are going i can see that a lot of countrys will ban base and wingsuit flying, as there is to many fatalaties with them now, i think that is 12-13 in the last couple months alone. this is the same as people jumping the wrong canopys and turning to low,under there small parachutes, everyone knows what the problem is, but yet people still do it. and as long as they do, there will be continious post like this on the this forum. My 2 cents Rodger

i am a bit confused,a VR-360 is a tandem reserve,so I am not sure why you asking the question. Do you use it a s a main canopy by any chance? Personally i have had many many reserve rides on that canopy, and i am very happy with it,It has gotten my big fat arse on the ground safely on many occasions. a reserve is designed to get you down onto the ground safely after a cutaway, it is not designed to have fun after a cutaway.the VR-360 does a great job of doing that. what performance or what are you looking for under a new canopy? me personally i like the VR-360 and i would not change it. Rodger

I would highly recommend that you contact Geoff Mundy in Taupo. you will learn a hell of a lot from him. he has huge amount of expirience with AFF and all of his students are always a cut above everyone else. that be my recommendation. Rodger

just seen on facebook, he made it! a crazy but fantastic achievement! glad everything went well

Hmm correct me if i am wrong, but does a Manufacture rating not suffice or Foreign equivilant? I remember i brought a couple AFF student with me to a DZ, i had my USPA AFF rating at the time but NOT Tandem. and i was also allowed to take up my students and a girl friend of one of my students. It was not an issue then. however i also dont know why the origonal question, would this person have a tandem Rating from somewhere else? if he has no rating at all i will completly agree with what chuckakers says. Rodger

Well first of all nice Job by the student, i would pass him on that level . on a level 3(Cat-C,Release Dive)and once i am one to one with student(Level 4-7 this side of the atlantic) i teach as long as the student is stable!, in control! and alti aware! continue with the skydive until planned deployment height, then pull! As for the camera Guy, i think he did a good job, he reminded the student to check alti and gave the pull signal! i have no issues with that what so ever even if not a AFF-I. AS for the instructor,well that is a bit embarresing and def a case of beer is in order! something simular happen to my AFF partner once on a Level 1. I was outside we had good eye contact with my buddy, exited and next thing poof, my buddy is gone. he did not forget to take of his Seatbelt, but his Shoe Lace somehow got wrapped around a screw that secures the bench in a porter. after jumping we tried to reinact that and could not do it, it was such a freak. however my buddy badly twisted his ankle halfway out the door and was hanging outside. as we were first out, the other guys onboard managed to pull him back in. and my student for that did a great job and passed his level 1. Rodger

if the rig was just droped off in my loft and i did not get to see the guy, i would have repacked it. if he told me he intended to sell it, i would have repacked it. but since he told me he intended to jump it, that was a different situation! But if i see a serious safety concern in my opinion well then i have the right to refuse a service if i so wish.

100% agree with that.

HI Pchapman, The reserve in question was a 115.dont get me wrong I did feel bad for the customer. but i was not satisfied with the response i got from them and they never replied back.i went by the warning label that was on the canopy and that was the max weight . i do not like to go by recommendations, i go by what was clearly stated on the warning label. I am certain the guy would have been ok under that reserve. but when i pack gear for some one i want to be 100% sure i did my job correctly. I was worried that the canopy might collapse with the extra weight. i mean it would have been close to 30kg over the limit. i was not happy and uncertain if he could land it safely, plus the guy only had about 400 jumps at the time.i did consult with the CCI at the time and voiced my concerns and he agreed with me. If there was an accident under that reserve it would could have opened a complete set of worms in my opinion, and i was not willing to take that chance and sign my name to it. also i did not ground the gear or the reserve canopy, yes it was legal if the guys weight was within the limit i would have gladly assebled it for him. but he was grateful after he got a PD106 instead at the same price. I had a simular situation in NZ i was given a rig for repack from a guy, so as usual i asked him to pull the handles etc, after having a chat with him, i discovered that he only had 260 jumps and had not jumped in 8 years. he had an accident on landing and broke himself up on landing and wanted to get back into the sport. and lets me say those year were not kind to him, he nearly doubled his weight. meaning he would have had a wingloading of 2.3 on the reserve. so i refused to pack the reserve for him. would the gear have been legal? yes indeed, javelin container and PD reserve, but i was not happy for him to jump that gear,even the main was to small for him in my opinion. i also talked to the CCI at the time and he did not care one and thought i should pack it for him! Did i do the right thing? maybe not but i was able to sleep peacefully at night. Rodger

Hi, the manual is correct 65kg-143lbs max. all of the PDF Techno reseves have very low max weight.I have advised many people not to get them for that reason. I had a customer who asked me to assemble his new gear with a techno reserve. he bought it without asking for advise from anyone. as i did the inspection after i took it out of the box, i noticed the low max weight. i spoke to customer and weighed him and he was 20kg over the limit without the rig. I contacted PDF at the time and some guy from PDF wrote me an email. Like I already confirm you there is no probleme with the weight of your customer. For your information we did the test with all reserve Canopy exept Techno 98 with 110 KG weight. Thanks to let me know if you need more information. Feel free to contact me. Sincerely AERAZUR AEROSAFETY SYSTEMS & TECHNOLOGY I did reply to him and asked if the gear was tested to that standard, why is it not on the Manufactures Label or manual. i never got a reply to that question. So,i refused to assembled the rig for my customer, and he was extremly pissed about it at the time. I told him he could get a second opinion from another rigger,but he would not be allowed to jump it at our DZ if it was assembled with the Techno in it. Rodger

Landing down wind is more dangerous indeed, simply because of speed at which you come in at. imagine stepping off a moving car at 30mph, what do you think will happen to you? rest assured you wont be laughing after it. however it can be done but you are no way near the expirience to able to judge that. I am not sure what caused you to land downwind in the first place, could you give us a reason? misread windsock? winds changed? or just for the hell of it and to piss of your instructor or jumpmaster? or was it because you wanted to try something different and did not know better? but always remember the Golden Rules for Landing 1.WINGS LEVEL 2. Into CLEAR AREA with out OBSTACLES. 3. FLARE EVENLY 4. Preferably into WIND. 5. FEET+KNEES together and be ready for PLF Rodger

Hi Keleetz, In everyone opinion i read so far everyone agrees you took the correct decision. and as a long time AFF-i let me say very Well done on making the correct decision!!!! please do not doubt yourself for one min regarding this, you made the correct and right Decision in your circumstance. you will need expirience to determine if the canopy was save to land, obviously with 2 broked Steering lines it be very hard for you to decide that, especially after a hard opening, you do not know what extra damage could have been done to the canopy itself.I teach my student the very same thing, if they are unable to do a canopy control check,due to something being broken, take the safe option and do your EP. my Golden rule is if in doubt feck it out! i have unfortunatley a few cutaways due to broken steering lines, however they were on Tandems. however if i was given your situation on my current canopy a Vel 120 with a high wing loading, i would still cut away even though i shave plenty of swoop expierience and close to 7000 jumps. I would still cut away. Also be careful on who gives you advise regarding this and what they would have done. there is a lot of skygods on dropzone that know everything and do every thing different. listen to your instructors. and if they say you could have stayed with it ask them why you were not thought rear risers control lessons in your jumps before that? remember you never stop learning! In mu opinion a lot of student slip through the crack after they have finished AFF and are left to their own devices. With my students i brief them and get them to exercises riser turns and flares on rear risers after they have finished AFF and have started there consolidation Jumps. and it is not just 1 jump i get them to do it on. i make them do several by the time they are ready for the A Licence. bottom line, given your situation and with no expierience at all on riser turns, your decision is 100% correct and i applaud you for making it. and on a final note, being a master rigger myself, make sure you buy your rigger a beer or 2! Happy jumping! Rodger

Oh My another one of these! hope this will again wake a few people up. people dont seem to realise how much alti they burn through a spinner like that. (looks like a velocity to me). also he seemed to spend a lot of time getting stable after the cutaway. if he went in the report would have say, a RSL (or Skyhook) or an aad could have prevented this fatality. glad he walked away from that.

In my opinion, the pull heights should be the same as a Live AFF student on AFF certification Course. 5.5 wave off + pull. between 4.5-5.5 is the main side. 3.5-4.5 reserve side. that should leave enought ime to track away if needed and everyone to open at a Save height.