irishrigger

i just got an email from vector and this bulletin. http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=755ifsbab&v=001-Z4x8hfwYW8qQAWxVPtDQcpycd0iSm3kPGseHZmKinbm6YbsH3LSjgTXQ_GB5cMnY3sn21EpfD3_CMnJUkrCd2A5TjjFrHoS_Ww7XTAfeCPI40wSt8bg-oCiTtyb6bE_AAngOfTAFMp0TxJEtkW0nssnv9AgSSwKWkqlZpePEr0oDo_LPcDklmIPKGhjWhOPMhvi2oxpSgCwu9Rv1iw8Bw%3D%3D

yep i have to agree, Rick is the one of the best, if not THEE Best customer service guy i ever had the pleasure of dealing with!!!

Hiya Jerry Baumchen, I might be wrong on this it was just a tought, but i thought the "Thick" part should have been the other way around to stop it moving and slipping around. when i get home form work i have to look at my own rig as i have the same hardware i believe. Still cant really see why the MLW would still slip. thanks for your input Jerry Rodger

Maybe I need glasses aswell, but that the smaller of the 2 metal be turned around 180 degrees?

whats your current wingloading? i would def do some demo jumps if possible. i am a big fan of the stiletto so maybe a stilletto 107 could be a good choice. i find the katana is a bit more ground hungey so to speak. if your seriously thinking of going into swooping, maybe a vel111, but make sure you have enough expirience for that level. at the end of the day make sure you get something that you repect other wise it can bite you very badly! talk to other swoopers around you on your DZ. i think someone mentioned you jump at perris, i am sure there is a few swoopers there that could advise you. rodger

I am not a big fan of hanging rigs of a rack. i have seen some rigs where the palstic in the riser covers gets bend out of shape. in my rigging room i have lots of shelves where i can lay down the rigs flat and also buy a plastic storage bin that would fit your rig, i find that the best way to store a rig. rodger

Hi Wharewaka, you def do not have agood situation there with the MLW slipping. its going to be hard to troubleshoot without seing any pics of it, but are you sure the webbing is routed correctly? did you inspect the metal hardware to see if there is any damage or wear on it. i would recommend that you dont jump it until you got to the bottom of this,what if it slips more than 2" the next time? i am not sure what washing it in warm water would achieve? is there any rigger on your DZ that can have a look? I would also email UPT about this straight away and get there input. send them all the details you can as to rig no and date of manufacture, how many jumps are on it ETC. if you could post a couple pics of the MLW and hardware you might get a solution to this. i had a leg strap that had a tendancy to slip, when it was eventually brought to my attention i noticed the teeth on the hard ware was worn away to nothing and had to be immediatley replaced. hope you get it sorted out soon dude rodger

if it is manufactured oct 2000 as you say, the unit will expire the last day in january 2013. and the last cypres 1 units where manufactured in 2003 Rodger

i find the best way to clean a rig is, strip everything out the system and container. the soak it i very luke warm water with a couple drops of washing up liquid. leave it soak for a couple hrs, then get a nail brush and start scrubbing with a few drops of washing up liquid again. rinse completely, repeat if you missed a couple spots. then let it drip dry but not near a hot heat source or expose to sunlight. work wonders for me and rigs come out like new. My 2 Cent

I would say the old PD canopys were F-111 material hence they had a max load of the size of the canopy. the wingloading you describe i would suggest is for a ZP material canopy, the tend to fly a bit better with a smaller wing loading. if you considering buying a main, i would strongly suggest that you get a ZP canopy to start with. ZP do last longer than the F-111 material Rodger

yep i would agree with the sequence the other guy mentioned A1B1A2B2A3B3A4B4 as for the rears it be the same sequence C1D1C2D2C3D3 and C4. just make sure that if you are using a slink or french link that you dont accidently put an unintentional 1/2 twist onto the riser when you connect them to the riser. also make sure you dont forget the slider also! i seen that before where a guy hooked up a main and forgot the slider! . also make sure you thread the brake line coorectly also. if in any doubt get a rigger to double check your work. rodger

It may have cut the loop...but where? since the Reserve pilot chute was trailing it seems to me that the AAD that was in the rig did its job and cut the loop cleanly as it was supposed to! the only thing one might learn from the AAD is the data that it recorderd as to height and speed. Is that what you are refering too with the above question?

this can happen on the odd occasion and also on other rigs like the old style 2-pin teardrop or chaser. and i agree with davelepka, its a simple fix that takes a min or so. although it does look like the RPC could be tighten down a bit, but hard to say if there is any other issue with it without seing the whole picture. rodger

I have pulled a couple Reserves like that and even might have my hand ont he top flap, but the pilot chute still launched out no matter what, or what rig! and looking at the pics i would def expect the RPC to clear those flaps even at that stage. I would disagree with nigel, i would also have grounded all rigs immediatley.call me old fashioned but better safe than sorry in my opinion. I dont know the expierience level of the rigger involved, but in my opinion he made the right call. he was unsure of what happend and asked for help with this matter and got the right people involved. however my main concern is that the launch of a RPC could greatly be reduced if the incorrect lenght loop is used. there has been several discussion on here about that with different rigs,end result the reserve container flaps not opening or severly restricted and slowed down. the report says this loop was 7/8 to long, which to me,is not really that excessive! i have packed some rigs using a 3.5-4" loop. and after 6 months that this loop had stretched out. so in my opinion this is the real safety issue that needs to be looked at and addressed immediatley. manufactures and the industry should come together to see what can be done about it. if a loop that is slightly to long can reduce dramaticly the effectiveness of a RPC surely that is a MAJOR Problem??? the longest loop i have replaced was when i inspect a vector rig from an arriving visitor. i immediatley noticed that the RPC was def not seated correctly and i could compress it a huge amount. i explained it to the jumper and replaced the reserve closing loop for him which was a staggering 8.5" it had a seal on it but i was unable to identify the rigger involved. however the RPC on the vector still did its job.( it was a big boy RIG)

I had the privilege of meeting dave on a couple of occasions when i visited the wanaka DZ a few years ago. I had a good chat with him and he was very warm and welcoming. My hearth goes out to Jools and the kids. RIP Dave

i am a firm believer of quatering the slider myself. i cant see any advantage the way shown in the pics. but i have seen this before but by a couple of base jumpers.

we had a huge problem with tension knots also. even on newly replaced line sets. the issue was with the brakelines especially, i emailed UPT at the time and there was a fix that you could do. you have 2 brake lines, the primary and secondary breaks. the fingertrap where the brake lines cascades where the excact same lenght making a lot of bulk there. if you adjust that fingertrap on the secondary brake line, IE make it shorter so that they are off set from the primary lines, that will help matters considerably. although a new lineset should have that correction already built into them.as someone else mentioned make sure the line twist are taking out on the brakelines every couple repacks. i know its a pain in the bud but it does help and reduces cutaways. we had something like 25-30 of them in a year. but we have knocked that right down these days. hope that helps rodger

hiya, canopys are made out of different types of material and this one sounds like an F111 canopy. its the same material that the reserve is made out of. 170 jumps on a 17yr old canopy is very little and providing the canopy was taken care off in the past it still might be in very good condition. however,the more sunlight and jumps this type of canopy gets, the material will weaken. it will get you back on the ground but landing will become harder and sometimes unpleasant i would very strongly recommend to you to get a ZP coverd canopy. it will be stronger and longer lasting than an F111 canopy, also it be able to carry more weight and land better in that situation. i also highly recommend that you get a rigger to have a look at the gear before you decide to purchase it second hand, if no rigger available ask your instructor. all the best in getting your canopy sorted rodger

terry and onlyski, thanks very much for the reply and the great info.

hi all, i was asked a question today that kind of stumped me. is there a minmum no of stiches that need to go into that bartack? does every bartack mashine have a different amount of stiches???i gave my dan poytners manuals out on loan so cant look it up there. i know i can adjust the size of the stiches but i never counted how many are actually there. lets say i want to bartack a line that i have replaced,does there have to be a minmum no of stiches that have to be there? so any help would be appreciated cheers rodger

sorry,but knowing rick personally, something tells me that we are not getting the full story here. i never would have imagined that rick would hang up on a customer no matter what. all i can say is i been dealing with Rick Moetle for many many years and he is one of the best customer service guys that i have ever met!!! i dealt with him in sunpath and with wings and he always gave me excellent service and got things done for me in a hurry if i needed it. rodger

personally i start the wave off at 5.5k i want to make sure that the video person is backing away from me for a couple of seconds, before i pull the drogue release and then pull at 5k. i explain to all camera people that jump with me, when i wave off i want them to move away (backslide) from me no matter what. anything at 4k or below i would consider extremly dangerous if the video is still very near to me. i also keep checking the spot, if i judge to be too deep i will wave of a bit early to give the camera guy a chance to make it back. i think you will find that is the general consencous. my 2 cents blue and safe skies rodger

You forgot "Sleep with your riggers woman" yea i could see how things could go very wrong with that

hi there, I am an Tandem Examiner for UPT and i have seen a few cases like this around. from the pics its clear that something was not adjusted correctly. my first advice would be to make sure that the legstraps are in the correct position and properly adjusted. if you leave them to loose it allows the passanger to slip on opening.after i put the harness on its the first thing i adjust and tighten. they way i check it the buckle should be correct place and you should be able to just about to slip your fingers in behind the legstrap. but of course when doing that becareful in doing that especially with a female. also the back diagonal on the pic looks not be adjusted incorrectly. depending on the aircraft you use, if they are sitting down before you hook them up i always tighten them up before hooking them up. you be suprised how much slack there is on them even if it looks ok when you put them on. also make sure that the chest strap is in teh correct position in the first place. also its important that one checks the harness before you board the plane. a quick way to check it is to try to lift the passenger up on the ground by the top attachment points. i am fairly luck that i am 6'5 tall and have plenty of strenght to do that. if you dont have the strenght put your rig on and clip on the top snaps and take the passangers weight for a few seconds, that will give you a very good idea if the harness slides up to much on opening. if it does check all the adjustments again and correct accordingly. fair play for asking, its definetley something that needs to be sorted out immediatley. as you might be aware there is a nasty video clip on youtube of a grandmother nearly falling out of her harness just after exit. the reason was because her haress was barely adjusted at all. hope you get it sorted out. Rodger

can you send me an application form please?