irishrigger

i am a dealer for airtec and the rigger at the dz here.if you have a airtec dealer on your dz give it to him, he will return the unit to airtec for you or you can post it direct to airtec in germany. it normally takes about 7-10 before you have the unit back. i had a couple of cases like this,and airtec never charrged for the repair,but you might have to pay the shipping costs. your rigger who repacked your gear last should be able to pop the reserve and take your cypres out, there will be a small fee involved but if it where me a couple beers would do if you have any further question drop me a private mail here and i help you out. rodger

Many congrats on the 12 years noelle. Time does indeed fly. And here is to the next 12 years! rodger

Respect man, that looks indeed like and excellent job on a racer if you can get an old table and cover it with some sort of carpet, it might make it easier for you as it wont slip aroung to much. fair play at attempting in your situation. rodger

the only way to be 100% cartain is to try the rig on and have your instructor or rigger have a look at it. with 2" height difference is not a huge amount so you might be lucky. also it is possible to adjust the main lift web and make it shorter. but it would depend what rig it is. if you have hip and chest rings it will be a lot cheaper and quicker as you only need to replace a small part of the webbing. if you have no hip or chest rings then it probably needs the whole MLW replaced that will cost a few bucks.and to have the MLW you will need a master rigger to do it. ask your rigger or instructor at your dropzone,i am sure they will give you good advice. rodger

i agree with riggerrob regarding radios, however i do teach students about AAD and i get them to switch them on and off in the FJC. i also explain about the RSL and what it does. however i state that they are only back up devices and that they should follow the proper procedure for all thought during the course. i am all for any extra safety device that can help someone and not just for students. me personally i like the skyhook and i know there are big debates on here about them. and i can not see how a FJC should be thought differntly because of a skyhook. my 2cents rodger

hi there, i would advice very strongly against jumping it like that. the rsl is connected on the wrong side. it could possibly prevent a clean cut away. if you look at your pic try to imagine the 3 ring system releasing. they might not release evenly or the other side would release quicker as this side could be delayed. if you havent jumped the risers yet i would get back on to the people that sold them to you. i think ou mentioned mike at chuting star. i would think he would sort you out very quickly. or you could get a master rigger to do the mod for you. so its a question of cost and time. might cost you more to go to a rigger but he could do that in about an hrs work. if you get a new pair shipped it will take a day or two to get to you. rodger

hi crapfinger, dont worry about picking on someone, this thread is here for discussion,to learn and to get help on rigging matters. yes i was very lucky with my freebag, and yes it is a rare occurance that i could still use it. i never said that all freebags can be used after being missing a long period. the point i was making was there might be an exception,like my freebag. i have binned freebags and RPC that have been found 1-2-3 days after a cutaway! so this is not a thing i do everytime. it will depend on the condition when i inspect it. if i have any doubt i will bin it on the spot,by cutting the bridle if i deem it to be unairworthy. it all depends on the enviroment where it landed. mine was free of bugs and any chemicals etc etc, it was not even dirty, much to my suprise

Hi Serejumper, i like to say fair play that you are making a very big effort to get this sorted and if the rig does turn out to be stolen,that it gets returned to the owner. i wish everyone would go through so much hassle to help a fellow skydiver. just on a quick note since oyu havent found the owner. i think you mentioned" FC Spa". as far as i know that is a DZ in belgium. hope that helps rodger

hi Baronn, good to hear that you did a finer inspection of the RPC and found that damage.as you can see from the post above, there is a divided opinion on this. withthe pull test done at least you have a spare freebag. get the new spring and you have a spare. but i hope at the end of the day that you will not have another mal or loose a freebag again i know that is a real pain in the backside safe jumping rodger

Hi Shlomo, sorry i misspelled your name the first time. yes i consulted the manufacturer, and all that was said,if i was happy enough with the condition of it i could put it back in service. and i think it is perfectly airworthy! i have had 3 cutaways on this freebag now and have no issue with it. it works as good as a new one. (incase your wondering i did not pack any of those! darn packers i deemed it to be airworthy and i am happy with it. rest assured i am not risking my life just to save a few bucks. life is worth a lot more than that! you mentioned that it might cause a problem with a low cutaway,i will grant you that i havent had that yet. but my cutaways on this freebag and RPC i would have no hesitation in doing that if i had to. however i do always keep my eye open for traffic to avaoid a canopy collision close to the ground also i do have a skyhook incase that happens however i would like to hear what issues do you think would lead to a problem. do you think the material was weekend? the spring lost some of its power? rodger

hi Shlamo, i have used freebags that have been lost for some time. mine included after 4 months. it fell between some trees and had no exposure to sunlight.and it has worked 3 time since! i had no damage on mine there was no rust on the spring or any mould or damage on the bridle or freebag.it did get wet but after i dried it out is was as good as new and i was very happy to put it back in my rig. on another one i just replaced the grommets and free stow,every thing else was fine. and that also has worked since. now i havent seen or inspected this free bag that this guy has, thats why i said to give it to his rigger for inspection. he might well decide to bin it, all i am saying i would not throw it away until a rigger has a look at it. rodger

give it to your rigger and have him inspect it. its hard to say without looking at it, but i have used a free bag that that was missing 2-3 months. so i keep my fingers crossed that you will have a spare one for the next time rodger

generally i would advise against a loose harness,as it is uncomfetable and could cause issues in freefall and on deployment.but it would depend how loose it is on you. what size are you? it might be possible to get it adjusted.make sure you talk to your instructor or preferably a rigger before you decide to buy it. rodger

i was lucky enough to meet ted on a few occcsions and the last time i talked to him was in Z-Hills when jerry bird got inducted to the hall of fame. he was a true gentleman,although i did have a couple arguments with him regarding tandem gear. i was working in new zealand at the time and i remember i wrote a strongly worded letter to him about a couple things i found. and fair play to him he replied immediatley gave me some great advice and send some parts free of charge. he was very honest and upfront and a true legend and pioneer for the sport. he will be missed. my deeepest sympathy to all of his friends and family RIP Ted rodger

i was lucky enough to meet ted on a few occcsions and the last time i talked to him was in Z-Hills when jerry bird got inducted to the hall of fame. he was a true gentleman,although i did have a couple arguments with him regarding tandem gear. i was working in new zealand at the time and i remember i wrote a strongly worded letter to him about a couple things i found. and fair play to him he replied immediatley gave me some great advice and send some parts free of charge. he was very honest and upfront and a true legend and pioneer for the sport. he will be missed. my deeepest sympathy to all of his friends and family RIP Ted rodger

if the date of manufacture is march 2007,it was due a service march 2011,not 2010. and airtec give you 6 months either side of that.so the latest date it could have bben used in sep 2011. if you try to switch it on now it will display due NOW for about 10 sec and then it should go to 0. i dont think you will have aproblem selling it,you just have to deduct the price for service to the new owner. rodger

argus aad's are banned in all rigs in ireland.

i am glad you asked the question on here,that why this forum is here for. there is some excellent advise from councilman-terry urban and jerry baumchen below. i dont know them personally but i have great respect for the 2 of them as they always make great posts on here. and i value there knowledge and judgement on matters. i been in the sport nearly 20 yrs now and a rigger for 14 of them.and i have seen some stuff that i would not like to ever seen again. so i always like to take a safer option like going for a 1 size bigger container. but at least you have some great info to make your decision rodger

i have a paratec ZR and i find mine excellent.i have excellent vision with it and its very comfetable with it. i have seen a couple visors crack,but it was due to the fault of the owner. i never had a problem with mine,but you do have to be a bit more careful with the visor. rodger

hiya, my advise would be to ask the manufacturer if they can change the order to a bigger container size. that way you can get the bigger reserve that is suitable for you. i find that a good few people want the smallest rig possible for looks only! and dont think of the consequences. look at the worst case scenario, you somehow get knocked out on a jump and will land like that. you would want the biggest reserve possible as you have a much better chance to get away with it. i have seen people try to land overloaded reserves that wa outside the scope and tehy did not have a nice landing, a couple even stalled.after seing that i looked into that and decided to stop those people from jumping that reserve again. and once a customer gave me a rig for a repack, this guy was 280 lbs and had a PD106 reserve. i refused to pack it for him. so my suggestion is make a safe choice and go for a bigger reserve,and hopefully the order with aerodyne has just been placed,so hopefully it will not be a problem to change it at this stage rodger

hiya, welcome to the sport.talk about opening a can of worms. i advice you to do a search on this forum regarding this question. it has been discussed on many occasions,and this will result in an heated discussion from both side,at the end of it you will get pro and against each unit. my personal choice is a cypres 2. regards rodger

it be a very bad idea indeed.as mentioned before UV light will have weakend the material already. that happens with every rig in the world. now some will get more damage that others. for example here in ireland where it rains nearly every fecking day it wouls take a long time to weaken. but lets say in arizona where there is sunshine almost 340 days of the year the damage will occur a lot quicker. and if you did tiedye the rig yourself, i am quiet sure that no rigger will certify the rig. i had a guy who did it here and i grounded the rig,send it back to sunpath for second opinion,and it came back with the tag cut off and do not jump written across it. if you want to change the colour of the harness give it to a master rigger or send it back to the factory and let them do it. and those are your 2 options in my opinion. and i am quiet sure it would void the TSO of the rig. someone like jerry baumchen or masterrigger1 who are on here know the law on that a lot better that i would. so bottom line i would not do anything with the harness. rodger

Got conformation from rick at wings. A 170 is definitley not a good idea in a w8. Thanjs for all the replies rodger

thanks for the info and help. sounds like it be a very tight fit,so maybe not the best option cheers

hi all, a quick question. can anyone tell me if a wings W8 can take a silhoutte 170 main? i had a look at the website but cant fing anyting about container sizeing. sunrise are not open for another few hours yet,so hence posting here for a quick answer. thanks all rodger