irishrigger

for pro packing there are a couple simple rules,and if you break them than more than likely you will have an interesting opening. 1.first make sure that when you pro pack that your risers are even. 2.do a line check to make sure the canopy is clear of twists. 3.keep all lines in the centre of the pack job,material to the outside. 4.make sure slider is set correctly. 5.dont disturb the lines as you bring the tail up and around. 6.dont push the nose all the way in,it only allows to slip the lines around to the front. 7.place gently on the ground! dont disturb all the good work you have done by slamming it on the ground. 8.make sure you do a nice fold into the bag,and close the bag as much as possible,dont have to much canopy outside. 9.have proper bungees,replace any worn or damaged ones immediatley 10.make sure you have a good secure line stowage.i always double bungee all of my lines. follow those 10,and you should be all good to go. break any of them,and you could look at a potentially interesting opening. rodger

i hope you keep that record

i would have thought that the no of reserve rides would have gone up since 20.especially witht he new extreme canopys and eliptical.normally if you have a line twist on those it results in a reserve ride and yes tandem i think also have a big percentage in that. i can give you some of my percentage, i have almost 3000 reserve packs and 235 documented saves that i know of. as for my self,i am rather embarresd by my jump/cutaway ratio. 7000 jumps,37 reserve rides,plus one cypres miss fire that open the reserve container and i managed to snag the rpc,before the reserve deployed. and incase if any one thinks i am very trigger happy,i hate cutting away,and i will keep fighting it until i have no other choice.most of them are on tandems 25+ 3 broken steering lines,3 canopys blown up,10line overs and the rest tension knots.and i never have packed the main in any of them!!! i get teh impression that the packers just dont like me. and here is to tempt fate,havent had a mal in 2.5 yrs and the last 1200 jumps

i had that happen to me once,if i remeber correctly it was on a wings container also.but i made the reserve lop to short and was over stretching it. i think this can happen if you a tool crank tool. rodger

if i had repacked that reserve last,it be no problem,just pull the reserve pin,extract the free bag carefully and remove or install the cypres then.most riggers would prob charge about $15-20 i guess for that. if the rig was repacked by a different rigger,it might become an issue,as you would be accepting the other riggers reserve repack. and i am not sure if you can do that in the states legally anyhow. here in ireland its slightly different,if i know and trust the rigger i wont repack the reserve,just install or remove the cypres and close the container back up and mark that on the card. best bet go back to the origional rigger if possible,that should be the easiest way for you

Sebastian, Your statements above are there for one reason only and that is to bash any other AAD than the one you are using yourself. Your comments in the past speak for themselves. Concerning Portugal: - It was not a misfire. - The unit (set in Novice mode) activated during a too fast descent because it hadn’t been switched off by the student’s instructors. - The display was blank because it was broken due to proven rough handling (cable torn out). - Because of the blank screen the instructors assumed the unit was off. This is wrong, the instructors should not have assumed but informed the pilot to make a calm approach as a student is onboard.* - This incident took place early September and you know that. You imply not to know if this is a replacement cutter that failed. You know it was not. It was a cutter that falls under the current preventive SB. - This incident is not even remotely similar to the fatality in Poland. There is more to this story that is currently under investigation. We are still waiting for a report from the DZ where the incident happened (we only received an email and the unit back) To investigate further I have requested to the DZ manager involved now four times for his report and additional information. So far no reply. All replaced cutters are tested upon return. We will inform the community about the outcome as soon as all tests have been completed. The testing is done by an independent laboratory. William Argus *(After switch on, all AADs work autonomously from their display. Blank screens are no guarantee an AAD is off) hi william, i can understand why the instructor thought the unit had switched off,the cable was torn out,fair enough.but why did the instructor not see this when he did a gear check on the groung before boarding? i heard that the dispaly was working on the ground before hand? so the display must have benn damaged in the airplane? so the instructor does a gear check prior to exit and sees the display blank,and he makes the right decision to bring the student back down. ok the unit fired because it was set on student mode and the plane decended to fast,that has happend with other units aswell,so i have no issue with that. so the unit fired as it was supposed to do!! so why did the loop not get cut and the reserve pilot chute launch in the airplane?? i have seen an add fire with the decent being to fast in the plane, the reserve pilotchute launched as it was supposed to. so why did that not happen in this case? fair enough that you are still trying to investigate this incident, but i think you said that you have the unit back already so you should have some prelimeray answers? thanks will rodger

i gladly give you one of my 38 chops that i had!!

hi ian well that sounds like a big step in the right direction!! i am sure there is tousands of skydivers that are keeping ther fingers crossed for him,that he will continue to improve!!! and all the best to the rest of the team, i am sure it is also a very difficult time for yous also. rodger

that is a very interesting idea and thought with the riser covers.i will say the footage i have on the 2 incidents did not have magnetic riser covers,and in both cases the tandem master where spun on there back. still very interesting scenario though. rodger

hi, first of all i would advise that you always do the correct emergency procedures,it might stop you having a nasty suprise one day. as for the skyhook,it is pretty easy to assemble,did you put the seal thread on it as per instructions? but more than likely you did pack it correctly.remember the sky hook is designed t odisconnet and let the RPC do its job.that can happen if you an unsymetrical opening,like on your back for example.the reserve riser could be flapping around your back and so the skyhook can and should disconnect at this stage,as the RPC would be doing its job then. so i do not think that you had a skyhook mal,i think it did excatly what it was supposed to do.as for the slower reserve opening and line twist,i think that came from being on your back,but what else can you do about that? and i think you compared this opening to the last with skyhook.i would think that you had a reserve inflating over your head in less than 2 sec,which is normal.instead of the .5sec with a skyhook. i had this happen to me on a tandem and i think i have the same footage as you. rodger

that is terrible news,i hope he makes a full recovery.he is one of the best guys i have ever met. i hope that everyting turns out alright

i come across 3 death rigs in my time,and quiet a few other issues,that could have resulted in a nasty outcome. one was a reserve bridle that was tacked down after the reserve was packed.i have 2 photo attached,pic2-3.i normally get the owner to pop the reserve infront of me so that they can practise there reserve drills and also gives me a chance to have a look at the launch of the rpc.she pulls the handle,pop and rpc comes out a 1 foot and stays there.i thought that was a bit unusual and had a look and found teh bridle tacked down.the lady owner was in shock,as she had jumped the previous day and nearly chopped because she had severe line twists.i havent seen her since. another one was incorrect assembly and hook up of reserve slinks.they would have seperated on opening if the reserve was used.showed it to the owner who went white as a ghost.it was a new rig,only just previously assembled.he asked me to install a cypres,so when i lifted the freebag out i discoverd that fuck up. another was misrouted reserve bridle on a tear drop,that clamped the reserve tray shut.i never actually managed to figure out,how the previous rigger managed to do that. the reserve loop not going through a cypres cutter.would not have been an issue unless the owner was knocked out and depended on his cypres. another one,was a reline done at a factory,pic attached.it was a main canopy,and i inspected after the owner got it back.he send it back to the factory initially,because he didnt think i could do the work,and never asked me.his face was priceless when i showed him the result.and he bought me a few beers i did a gear check on a guy who was just boarding a plane,and when i checked his reserve loop it was hanging on by threads.he was severly pissed off when i binned them of the load,after i did the jump i brought him up the loft,i gave the side of the container a riggers punch and the reserve loop broke when i did that.he had to buy a few beers when he admitted to checking the reserve loop himself when he put the rig on,and said the famous last words, ahh it be alright for one more jump!!!! and one other crazy incident that i witnessed was when i was visiting a DZ in florida.a guy had a mal but no cutaway,i went out on the DZ truck to pick him up.i asked what had happend,and he said he had a bag lock.i thought that was strange as the main was cleary still in the container.upon closer inspection,it was found that a cable-tie was looped around the main pin.asked how that came about,he sheeplishy said that he had done it himself,as he checked the rig in through an airline and was worried that securtiy might pop the main by accident.yet he manage to board the plane,with a gear check and no one copt it. needless to say a lot of beer had to be bought for that stupid mistake. by the pic 1 that i posted was just a very sloppy reserve packjob that i found.one of the suspension lines was wraped arond the cutter.it was a javelin container,and it probably would have slipped of if the reserve was deployed. cherrio rodger

i take my hat of to you for posting this,as bill m said,not many people would put there hands up to this one! i think it is an excellent reminder to all tandem masters out there,that maybe a 2.5 sec gear check is not enough! i also think some tandem masters are very complacent and trust there packers to much! i recently did a spot check on our tandem masters,i asked a tandem master to inspect his gear and the answer i got was that it was up to the packer to make sure he packed it correctly. needless to say that did not go down well,and that person was read the riot act,and retrained again! so what i have implemented over here is a 3 month check for gear and malfunction procedures. i put numerous gear gigs on a tandem and ask each tandem master to inspect the gear and make it ready for jumping,these gear gigs are what happend in real life. lets just say it was an eye opener for a lot of tandem masters.by the way we use sigma's here. i think every dz and tandem examiner should do this.it might sharpen people up,and hopefully the mistake will be spotted on the ground and not in the air.as one can imagine a lot of fatalitys could have been prevented by a proper gear check on the ground. so lets all use this as a great learning incident,so that this does not happen again. and by the way good job in dealing with it.glad your still with us cherrio rodger

my apologies, that is just the irish slang kicking in of course.i pronounce it like that.

Quote OK, so Freddy from Taupo Tandem Skydiving has 15,000 tandem skydives. Anyone has more?: I worked for TTS and i know freddy quiet well.i will vouch that he has 15000 tandems.he calls himself the "soulrider" everytime he does a tandem he does a soulride.he is a great guy to have o your tandem.he is a cool and funny guy,even though he is german! as for geoff,who i consider to be one of my best friends. i worked with him in empuria,taupo and christchurch.he is an awesome aff instructor and ran the diploma course in christchurch for 3 years.i would say he has about 20000 jumps.about 8000 tandems and 10000 aff jumps,but that is a guess on my part. as for the most tandems i believe there is a guy who has done about 38000 tandems,he is always in the uspa mag witht he most jumps,his name escapes me at the moment,think its don k something???? rodger

hi all, I was given a Teardrop container for repack couple days ago.it was lying up for a couple years,supposedly in a dry room. it was left in my rigging room by the customer. when i saw the rig initially i noticed that there was a lot of mould on the outside of the container.when i pulled the reserve handle i immediatley noticed that the reserve pilot shute did not launch at all,just the spring extended.i have never seen a poor launch like that before,i put the container on the ground and tried to open the flaps by hand and i noticed that the reserve bridle and the freebag was absolutley stuck and mated to the reserve tray i have come across a couple of atoms in my time where the inside of the freebag beacme sticky and there was a bulletin out about that. but i have never come across the actual inside of the reserve tray and flaps being sticky. i had a good look at the container,and i cant see any obvious signs of anything being spilled onto the rig.so i am a little bit baffled by this.there is mould also on the harness itself. and i was wondering if anyone came across something like this? the container was manufactured in 1998. i was going to give the container a wash to see if that would change anything. so if you have any other ideas or advise it be appreciated. thanks rodger

i am a tandem examiner for the governing body in ireland and also for UPT. i charge €250 per head for the rating.the club will cover the cost of slots at no charge to the person.i get the person to pack the tandem chute himself after the jumps. and i will continue and keep an eye on the person well after he has finished his rating and is in the early days of his tandem career. so i think that is a fair price to charge. rodger

hi, looking at the video and pics,i also think that it was a step through,i have seen it before. cause i would say without a doubt was packing.i be very suprised if the step through wasnt spoted when doing a 4 line check.my suspicion would be after teh canopy was packed one line somehow went around a line causing this. bummer that you lost your freebag and pc. i would say,that the packer owes you a few beers! rodger

hi, i am trying to track down a reserve packing manual for a MOYES hand glider.it has a 26 LOPO round reserve in it. i found the moyes website but i find the manual a bit unclear as to the packing instructions.so does any have a manual with a couple of pics,or can anyone can point me in the right direction,it be very much appreciated. cherrio and blue skies rodger

i have been under both reserves a few times to many to admit too,but rest assured i am expirienced under reserves! the tempo was build by PISA-Parachute industry south afica.and i agree they havent build in a few years,i think the are called Chuteshop now. i have been under both reserves a few times to many to admit too,but rest assured i am expirienced under reserves! both reserves got me to the ground safely,although the PD reserve performance and flare was a hell of a lot better.in my opinion you cant really load the tempo reserve that much,the more you load it the poorer the performance flight.you can def load the PD reserve more and not loose the performance.not that i am suggestion that you load the reserve of course!! I have a PD143 reserve with a wingloading of 2.4! yeah i know i got a huge big fat backside i am awaiting for the bigger optimum reserves to come out.i think the PD reserves are by far the best quality reserves out there.Paratec speed reserves are ok too,i place them ahead of the tempo and smart reserves.and the optimum 143 will pack a lot smaller than a tempo 150. my two cents,i would go with the PD reserve,they are the best reserve on the market today! although all of the reserve mention,will get you to the ground,Pd reserve will set you down gently all of the time! see if you can jump a demo PD somewhere,and tehn make up your mind. but bottom line,i hope you dont have the see the reserve out too often! cherrio rodger

its hard to see from the pic,but i also think it might possibly be a packing issue.what way do you pack the risers into the rig? are they straight down the side or do you tuck them around the reserve tray by any chance? its a good suggestion to open it up on the ground like lou suggested,it might clear this mystery up for you.i have seen damage like this before and it came down to packing and the grommets on the slider.but as your rigger has ruled that out,i think it might be a packing issue. do you use a packing weight to pack? or tie the risers together by any chance? hope you get it figured out soon blue skies rodger

Did anybody figure out why yours didn't work properly? we had a simular situation here couple months ago,what i found when i got the free bag back,was that the seal tread that is supposed to keep the skyhook lanyard secure attached was very loose,and the landyard was able to slip off with out breaking the seal thread,so thats a possible scenario. rodger

actually, diablopilot, in that case that you described,with the weight of the reserve bag pulling on the cutaway cable,could that mean that if a person has a total malfunction,that it also would cutaway the left riser?would that be the same scenario? i did a few unofficial drop tests after the incident here,we have over 30 rigs here with skyhook. i wanted to have a closer look,if i could recreate an unintensional cutaway.and i never once suceeded.the skyhook always disconnected before it released the left riser. which leads me to believe that something else happend on that fatal jump that we dont know about. rodger

QuoteIf everybody knew as much about their gear as their rigger, we wouldn't need riggers. The skyhook adds complexity to packing the reserve, not to operating rig. Dave i have to say that i dont find it one bit complex to pack a reserve with skyhook,i think it is straight forward and easy,even if you have to read the manual.it is extremly simple in my eyes.however then again,you be amazed what some riggers can do. rodger

If not the bagged reserve falling out and through the SkyHook pulling on the Collins lanyard (only found on SkyHook equiped rigs) what are you supposing caused the one side riser to release? sorry i can see your point know,i misread your origonal post. rodger