nigel99

Could anyone please provide some more information with regards to above posted quote? I use rental gear that sometimes comes with an FXC and sometimes with a Cypres or Vigl. Would really like to know what possible dangers to look out for.. Thanks D There are a small number of incidents (2 or 3) where a Vigil has fired when the door has been opened at about 1000 feet. My understanding is that there is a sudden presssure increase that is perceived to be rapid descent. Please remember that whenever the door is opened, there is a chance that someone has a loose pin or something, so you should always be vigilant. I believe the vigil incidents happened in small planes. It is a good idea to not be wearing a parachute and seatbelt with the door open. Just before the door opens make sure your seatbelt is off. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Ha ha, wife just phoned me. She took the boys to the bank to open accounts for their birthday present. One of them was fidgeting and fiddling and pressed the silent panic alarm under the desk! The woman dealing with them didn't know, anyway they emptied the bank of customers (except my wife and kids) and cops arrived. One very red faced wife and son. I don't know why there was a discrete panic alarm accessible to customers but it is hilarious. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Very cool. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I am not that deep into this special matter as you are but it sounds plausible to me. Much more, it makes a lot of sense. I'd rather have an AAD that is not likely or at least very highly unlikely to misfire while I am under a perfectly good canopy. OTOH, the CYPRES save list shows it works. I don't know if there had been cases where CYPRES hasn't cut the loop when it was supposed to do so, but IIRC I saw a poster that stated that CYPRES has always done its job. I usually do not take part in AAD discussions as they tend to get heated. One argument I never really understand is "Bah, but Airtec has a monopoly and thus it [insert any negative remark you like]" Even if they still had the monopoly this doesn't mean anything in respect to the quality of their product. It's the way they produce - hand-craft I dare to say after visiting their premises - and monitor their production and development that explains the reliability and subsequently superiority of the product. You'll get no argument from me about cypres. As the leader and with the most product in the field, you would expect more not less reports of failure. They obviously have exceptional quality control. I don't believe in conspiracies and there is no way that a commercial company could suppress bad information. (I'm aware of a poster or two who firmly believe that all negative posts about Cypres are deleted) Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

You see that as a bad thing? Given the nature of the device, I would much rather have an AAD that would rather NOT fire, than one that is trigger-happy. I spend lots of time in aricraft with the door open, climbnig around outside aircraft in flight, and jumping in groups with other jumpers in close proximity, while I spend very little time above 78mph under 750 ft. If my AAD has any doubt that I'm actually down and dirty and need help, I would rather have to stand-down than fire and possibly make trouble of a situation that was fine in the first place. Within reason yes. Obviously the vigil is not like the older generations of aad that were highly unreliable. At present I am comfortable with the level of Vigil 'false positives' that have been reported. If the number of incidents grows I'll change my views. At present I am super vigilant when the door is opened, because that appears to be the.most vulnerable stage. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I've actually rethought my stance. I forgot about World Championships

Thanks that is very interesting. Are you including the service bulletins (e.g. cutters) in your 'problems'? I'm not saying those aren't problems, they are a real pain in the neck and cost a repack at the minimum. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

so I am 2 away from any skydiver in the world, as I know VirginBurner .. I think I actually know/knew/met in person around 90% of my Facebook "friends", the rest are mostly people I "know" via the interwebz He gets around. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Bear Gryls supposedly broke his back jumping in Zimbabwe, back when I was active there. No one else from Zim that I know can remember that happening. It could of course be a reader's digest misprint. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Im 2 away from him He may not jump outside of Africa but he has met people who do. Smartass. By the way talking of jumping, I'll be out on Saturday if we haven't been blown away. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I disagree if you are thinking globally and not just within the US. I don't know what it is though. I'll pick someone I know, who doesn't to my knowledge jump outside of Southern Africa - Rob Bishop (Head Honcho of Zimbabwean Parachute Association). Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Any facts that might put a solid base on your posting "nagging feelings"? Or might it be that years and years of development might have led Airtec to sufficient routines? See the pic attached. It's a different topic but not too far away. It is impossible for an algorithm to determine the firing conditions in100% of cases. The decision threshold is fixed based on parameters. When a good designer implements an algorithm they will choose what condition to use as fail 'safe'. In the case of an AAD it could be to either fire or not. In addition if your algorithm requires 20 parameters to be met (for example) and it will not fire if they are not met, then in some cases a real save will not happen as the algorithm waits for all conditions to be met. In systems I led we have had to publish the algorithm false positive rates and we were not allowed false negatives. (Counter terrorism alarm system) the cost of missing an event was deemed to be higher than having to be deploy a response. It is simply not possible to design these parameters out. As figures aren't published it is possible that cypres simply has a lower false positive than the competition. But we have also seen cases where people have died at reserve linestretch with an AAD. I don't know what brand of AAD, and I also realise there are 100's of other factors to consider. I hope that helps? Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Thanks for clarifying. It is tough because we all 'learn' to spot for our A license. But with big planes and GPS all you are really doing is popping your head out the door for a few seconds. At some point in the sport you should be required to do a non gps spot. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Cool. Me->pops->twardo->bush senior. That's a result. I've spent a fair amount of work time with a guy who is a retired airforce 1 captain. He had flown Clinton and at least 1 other president. Part of the fun of skydiving is who you meet. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

If you know Colin Thompson (you're in Spain right?) - then I know Colin, So it would be You -> Colin -> Me -> Squeak -> Gonzo -> Twardo

I know Gonzo, and he knows Twardo

I think anyone that has done any sort of travel would be able to link it down to 2-3 easily. Ok so the challenge is to link to GW Bush senior. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Completely agree - if not less. I thought after I posted it would be cool to see the link to GW Bush Senior

Not quite sure how to make this entertaining, but I'll give it a shot. Let's see how we can link people through friends of friends. Only two rules I can think of, the people involved must have met in person (online doesn't count) secondly you aren't allowed to be from the same dz. Example: john Mitchell knows squeak, who I know. Who can link me to twardo? Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Negative ghostrider. WDIs were of use in the days of round canopies when drift could mean the difference between landing on the DZ or not. With a very narrow window of manuverablity, a round canopy needs to be spotted accurately to get the students home. Squares, on the other hand, can get home from a wide swath of sky, and if you can drop the jumpers anywhere in that area, they can make it back to the DZ. The precision you can gain with a WDI is far more than is needed for modern, steerable canopies. Consider than an average Otter load might cover a mile or more between the first and last exits, and it's rare for anyone to land off these days. If you want to jump a round, pull out a WDI and give it a shot. Otherwise, when jumping a square, simply look at the wind speed and direction, make your best guess, and then pilot yourself back to the DZ. Dave I understand why on a turbine it is a pain and that is why few modern jumpers learn to properly spot. But doesn't the lack of skill end up with incidents like Lake Tahoe? Also it seems to me that as a D license holder it would be a good skill to have. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Some DZs still use WDIs. I got a chance to jump at one of them and observe. Dropped the WDI right over the field at the height the tethered SL students would exit. Then saw the offset of where it landed, and made the offset to the jump run so the students would drift right to the landing area. Low tech, but effective. I've never done it myself, but would love to give it a nshot (wdi). It should be a prerequisite to C or D license. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

As I get to meet more people I think many of these stories are largely down to luck of the draw and dz politics. My personal experience of Hinton has been 3 visits over the years, on 2 visits there were fatalities. It's no less safe than any other dz and I was just unlucky. My first visit to my new home dz, I hated the place. Now I've been out a couple of times my views have changed. Unless a place is well known for being unsafe I would go and give it a shot. And unsafe would require specific data (eg Lodi with FAA fines) not some rumour on the net. Seems every dz has their local twat, some are in a position of power and others aren't. Just keep away from them. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I know someone who did AFF there and was very happy. Also have a friend who recently got back into the sport who jumps there and likes it. No direct experience though. I suspect with most dz's people will defend sand promote their home dz. I doubt you would get an unsafe dz in the UK. Headcorn is supposed to be friendly from the 2 people I know. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Germany has some pretty bad accidents. About 2 years ago there was an accident in fog on the autobahn and people just drove into the fog at high speed. There were lots of cars involved. I don't trust speed. I learnt my lesson on the R6 cruising at 100+ mph and having a foreign truck start pulling into my lane. The engine hadn't even started to wind down and I we past him. After that I stopped speeding,it was entirely luck that I got past before he was in my way. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Most skydivers are crazy bastards. Maybe you're just not crazy enough? It is funny, I think of myself as a fearful person, and then I hear so many stories of people who had to go and puke before jumping (never done that, but know a number of people who did). If you like it and want to stick through with it - try and ride out the fear. Wear your lucky underpants, do whatever it takes to help yourself out the door. Conquering the fear feels great, the only downside is that being terrified makes you less safe. If you like a common sense, mixed in with a bit of mumbo jumbo read Brian Germains book on fear (can't remember the title). Good luck whatever you choose to do. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.