billbooth

1. I'm curious. Does anyone know of a case where a main riser actually snagged a camera, while the riser was leaving, after a breakaway? 2. Anyone who says it's a good idea for a camera flyer, especially if he is wearing camera "wings", to pull perfectly stable, has never seen the dance a reserve pilot chute and bridle does in a "stable" burble. I can't think of a worse snag hazard for a camera flyer than a burbling pilot chute at the end of a 15 foot bridle. 3. "Getting Stable" after breaking away from a spinning malfunction takes a lot longer than you might think. You can easily eat up 500 feet before you even begin to look for you reserve handle. Then another 500 feet finding, and pulling, one of those pud reserve handles that are becoming so popular. If you have gloves and a full face helmet, it can take even longer. This is why I developed the Skyhook RSL. An all but guaranteed stable reserve deployment, in under 100 feet, with no chance of a pilot chute burbling around. Please figure the Skyhook's design features before you make a blanket decision not to use an RSL.

I am not a camera flyer, but it seems to me that if you have a main malfunction, and even suspect a riser (or two) is entangled with your camera helmet, you would release you helmet BEFORE cutting away your main. Otherwise you might end up hanging (and I do mean hanging) from your helmet. This would lead to rapid unconsciousness, if it did not break your neck in the first place. Question: How well do camera helmet releases work with 2 or 3 times your body weight on them during a spinning malfunction. Following this line of thinking, what difference would an RSL make? If you had an entanglement, your pre-released helmet would simply leave with your malfunction, the RSL would function normally, and not cause any problem.

A Skyhook RSL, which is a $175 option on a Vector, greatly decreases the chance that you will lose your reserve freebag and pilot chute, which costs $195. Not only do you get the fastest (yet softest) reserve deployment possible, you might actually save money in the process. Kinda looks like I shot myself in the foot, doesn't it?

Derek; That's the best 3-ring problem summary I've ever seen. Thanks, Bill Booth

Call Relative Workshop. We're having a sale on FACTORY SECONDS...All guaranteed "Good 'til the last drop."

While the Skyhook is truly simple to operate, it is not that simple to properly install. For instance, sewing it on the bridle "backwards" would total your reserve in certain circumstances. For the first year or two, it is very important that everything be done correctly, so that the Skyhook does not get a bad reputation because someone who didn't know better sewed it on backwards, or made some other installation mistake. I did not license the three ring at first for the same reason. So later, when other people made it wrong ( i.e. improper dimensions, short loopssoft housings, incorrect housing endings, incorrect cutaway cable material, and on and on) at least jumpers realized that there was nothing wrong with the device itself, problems only came when people made it incorrectly. The Skyhook is just a baby, and I want to give it every chance for a long and productive life.

It sounds like the wrong fitting was used as a housing ending. If it is fraying the white loop, it must be replace with the correct fitting, or the entire housing must be replaced. The white loop is many times stronger than it needs to be, but at some point the fraying will get so bad that you should not jump the rig any more without repair.

I put about 350 jumps on a Delta II. Overall, I loved it. It opened and landed softer than my PC, and glided almost 2 to 1. But what I really liked, was that it was exotic, and eveybody though I was crazy for jumping it. They thought the same thing when I got my first Paraplane (the first commercial ram-air) a year later. In 1972, at the first RW nationals, I had to fight to be allowed to jump a ram-air, because everyone knew that you couldn't to RW with a ram air, because they opened too hard and "surged" on opening, taking up too much sky. I ended up being the only guy jumping a ram-air in a piggy back container (also a no-no) in the 10 way "speed" event. There were no sliders yet, and I WAS knocked unconscious in the last round, but I somehow lived through, it and proved them wrong. The Delta II did have one glitch, though. It had separate "flaps" located underneath and near the center of the canopy, and if you pulled on the right toggle too hard from full flight, the damn thing would do a snap turn to the LEFT, and vice-versa...not a good thing at low altitude.

The hole in the housing ending (#4 AMP, if the correct fitting was used) isn't oval, it's just a bit larger than the #"0" grommet which is set in it. It appears that either the wrong AMP fitting was used, or the grommet simply wasn't set well. (You have to modify the standard tool to set grommets well in the AMP fitting.) Anyway, I have never heard of the problem you described cutting the white loop. However, if the wrong tool was used to set the grommet, and a very sharp edge resulted, then you could have a problem, and should keep a close watch for any signs of the white loop fraying.

You have to buy a rig AND reserve canopy that is TSO'ed in category "B" or "D". Only the stuff TSO'ed under "C" are weight limited to 254 lbs. Gear in "B" is "unlimited", and gear in "D" may have any specific limit the manufacturer chooses. Vectors and Microns are TSO'ed in "B".

Yes, but the force necessary to untwist the housing would be added to your cutaway force. This might not matter, but why take a risk you don't have to take?

Get it fixed. At the very least it effectively shortens the white loop, and might therefore increase cutaway force in a high load situation. It could also mean that the AMP fitting is loose, and this could cause a premature cutaway of one side.

My favorite is "Sherman's Still Trying", manufactured by the "Junk Shack". Then again, I've heard the Relative Workshop called "Relatively Worthless, Rigging Innovations called "Rigging Imitations", Strong Enterprises called "Strange Enterprises", and for all you old timers, I used to jump a "Para-Pain Clout", by Para-Fright.

You're both wrong!

Please remember, if you do an intentional cutaway with a rig that does not permit you to also breakaway from your ram air reserve, and said reserve malfunctions, you are most likely dead. Your belly mount reserve is probably not going to do you much good. Please think about it before you take such an unnecessary risk.

A Vector 4 is news to me. Has anyone got a picture of it? Might save me some time when it actually comes to designing it.

Since no one is ever likely to use the "Crystal Ball" on those rigs, it really doesn't matter very much does it? However, just for uniformity, the balls should be removed. In other words, castrate those rig, please, would yah'?

Should I be flattered or pissed?

The Wings, Mirage, and now even Voodoo main pin protector flaps are simply copies of the Vector III / Micron flap. Don't worry. It was designed that way.

You're right. I am pretty confused by this post. It should be obvious that pilot chute material should be packed (or rolled) up as close to the pilot chute cap as possible, especially on narrow rigs. As our rigs got narrower, we added secondary riser covers so that the primary riser covers could be cut back a little..specifically so that they would not trap the pilot chute in case of a (main) total malfunction launch. If you look at the narrow Vectors and Microns, you will see that the area which is not covered by closed main flaps or closed riser covers did not get much smaller, even as our rigs got tiny. I do a lot of testing with every new size rig to be sure that a closed main will not trap a reserve pilot chute. The result is that I have never heard of a reserve total malfunction on any of my rigs. That is not to say it is impossible...as I love the say, the idiots are ingenious at times.

The "crystal ball" right hand reserve handle was originally put on Vector tandem systems when we were using the red, outward facing, PILLOW reserve handle on the left side. Now Vectors and Sigmas come with a forward facing red loop reserve handle on the left side, which you can pull with your right hand if need be. It isn't particularly easy, but neither was the "crystal ball". So, you really don't have to make a choice between the Skyhook and the Crystal Ball. Besides, does anyone know of a Tandem Instructor who actually used the Crystal Ball to save his life?

The reason I have removed the right hand reserve ripcord (crystal ball) from Sigma tandem systems with the Skyhook, is that if you pull the "Crystal Ball", you pull the RSL, which pulls the Skyhook hardware, which pulls a bight of freebag bridle out of the container just under your right ear. While this will not stop the Skyhook from releasing during bridle stretch, it just might put your reserve bridle in a position to entangle with your helmet. I know this is far fetched, and we can't make it happen on the ground, but I'm not willing to take the chance. Everything is a trade-off, and after 15 years, the right hand reserve ripcord has not proven to be necessary...especially now that everyone has an automatic opener on tandem reserves. You may have also noticed that I have removed the RSL guide ring from the top reserve flap. This to stop some idiot from someday running the Skyhook lanyard through the ring along with the ripcord lanyard. The guide ring was never really necessary. I just put it there because it was easier than explaining to a lot of people why. I did a lot of "brain games" with the Skyhook design before I put it out, to try to be sure that the idiots weren't going to be smarter than me this time.

Hi Pop!

The RWS has no specific recommendation about the number of tandem jumps a Tandem Instructor should be allowed to do in one day. There are simply too many variables. Is it hot? Is he packing too? Is she a marathon runner? You should simply stop jumping when you get too tired to do the job safely.

Dave; What happened to you is not the same as the "riser slap" most posters have been talking about. Deploying on your side will of course cause your head to come in contact with a riser. But this will most likely not cause injury, as a real riser slap can and often does. You CAN have a riser slap on a Vector or Sigma, if you drogue fails to deflate quickly, as designed. But this rapid deployment is a malfunction...not something that occurs on every jump.