chuckakers

Protected code? BWWWAAAHHHHH!!!! Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Didn't work for me. Their competition got my money. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

I also was quite cynical at first about this, but I didn't even have an AAD at that time. I now appreciate the wisdom of this policy, and do not believe it is a profit-driven decision. We all know that the accuracy of an AAD is very important. If it is off on the low side, then it is more likely to not be effective if needed. If it is off on the high side, then we risk it firing on a relatively low pull. I think one of the reasons that pull altitude is significantly higher than 20 years ago is the desire to avoid an activation from a 2k pull. Pulling at 2k used to be quite normal. I'm not advocating pulling at 2k, but if I do, I really want (need) an AAD to be very accurate. That accuracy cannot be checked by a power-on self test. A. How do you know the accuracy of the unit can't be determined during the self-test? B. You statements seem to imply that if a manufacturer chooses NOT to life limit their product based on an arbitrary number, they are risking people's lives because the unit could misfire. Using that logic, why not a 9 year life limit? Or maybe 6? If a 12 year old unit can kill me because it's not accurate, couldn't a 6 or 9 - or whatever - unit do it too? Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Hope Indian jumpsuits are better than Indian customer service from Hewlett-Packard! Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Actually I just read the words on the page. The key word is "expectancy". That - by definition - does not mandate a life limit. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Not so, according to the Vigil website. Note the word "expectancy". The Vigil® main components such as cutter and electronic components are designed to have a life expectancy of 20 years from the Date Of Manufacture. It is a third millenium safety device with no imposed maintenance schedule (can be compared to airbag electronics in high class car which will only need maintenance when a red flash indicates the abnormal status). Every time you switch on your Vigil®, it will start up by a complete check-up of the power pack, cutter and the electronic functions on which it needs to operate. If one of those factors is out of set specification, the Vigil® will not switch on and needs to be returned to your dealer for inspection. For your information we produce electronic systems used in industrial automations for more than 25 years and these are still in operation today. Don't see anything in there about a mandatory retirement. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

You do realize that electronics get old and their functionality cannot be guaranteed over a certain period of time. Airtec takes the safe approach and limits the lifetime of the Cypres. To guarantee the safe functionality of a Cypres after 12 years they would have to essentially give you new unit. Even the most sophisticated self test can not eliminate the possibility an error in the CPU. Aging electronics increase the risk of computational errors, increasing the chance of failure in whatever way. Yes, I do realize electronics get old. That's why AAD's self-test. Are you saying manufacturers that DON"T mandate a life limit are putting customers in danger? Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Airtec lost my loyalty when they instituted a mandatory life limit on the Cypres. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

If you think you might owe beer, you do. We don't agree often, but on this we do. Long live the ol' timers, Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

...but we (USPA) own the office so it's a good thing because that area of Alexandria is appreciating probably 20-30% per year. 1. Appreciation only matters if you sell, which wouldn't typically be in the plans for a museum. 2. Might wanna check the comps on that property now. Probably won't see anything close to those numbers. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Yo Beachbum - any word on contact with Maddy? Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Here's one...thanks going to Chuck Akers. Actually that (TeXXas Star) 20-way was co-organized with Bruce Crawford. Bruce is one hell of an organizer and knew the folks on the load, so he took the lead on a lot of the important stuff. Maybe we'll team up next year for some even bigger-ways! TeXXXXas 40-ways at The Farm?? Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

For starters, I'd say "never jump out of an airplane unless you understand your pull priorities". But that's just me... Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

I suppose you're talking about me. OK, I'm in. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

I don't think so. If memory serves me correctly, one of the dangers Joe encountered was when he "deployed the drogue too soon" and it wrapped around his neck because there wasn't enough air density to inflate it and pull it away from him. Then he started getting into some air with density and almost didn't get it off. I could be wrong, but I could swear I remember that. As for his contribution to skydiving, that jump itself does nothing but set a record. However, Joe was a test jumper and, in my opinion, any parachute R&D activity is good for the sport. The technologies developed on one end of the industry often end up benfitting the other end. I actually agree with others here that Joe probably should be in line behind a lot of skydiving greats. Hell, I haven't even heard anyone mention Tom Piras, Roger Nelson, or Ken Coleman and friends. They all certainly made significant contributions to skydiving, and they all actually jumped more than once in a while. However from a purely historical perspective, the dude with the highest jump kinda needs to be in there, don't ya think? Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

There's not really a "more deserving" to it. The museum can induct as many people as they want. Why not Joe for his contribution to SKYDIVING? Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Actually he deployed the drogue from FREEFALL!!!!! If you leave an aircraft and freefall before deplying whatever it is you deploy, you have performed a SKYDIVE. You can say everything AFTER the deployment of the drogue was "droguefall", but I still contend that everything BEFORE that (which was more than the few seconds typical for a tandem) was a skydive. Look, I get that this was a military operation for a specific purpose, but the fact that Joe jumped without the assistance of a static line makes his record-breaking jump a skydive, plain and simple. What do you want to do, have a hall of fame that DOESN"T recognize the longest, highest, and fastest skydive IN HISTORY and the man who did it??? Splittin' hairs on verbage, aren't we??? Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Skydiving is a sport, but freefall jumps done for reasons other than sport are also skydives. It doesn't matter WHY Joe was up there, he was certainly skydiving. What exactly do you want to call a jump from an aircraft in which the participant performs a freefall delay before manually deploying a parachute? Sure sounds like a skydive to me. From the dictionary.... sky·dive [ sk dv ] (past sky·dived or sky·dove, past participle sky·dived or sky·dove [ sk dv ], present participle sky·div·ing, 3rd person present singular sky·dives) Definition: jump from airplane with parachute: to jump from an airplane and descend in free fall, sometimes performing acrobatic maneuvers, before pulling the ripcord of a parachute Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Quote Yong skydivers - realizing that they had no hope of competing with the likes of professional 4-way sequential teams - like Arizona Airspeed - switched to freeflying en mass. Freefliers adopted open face helmets from Australian surfers. Free-fly-friendly helmets are the exact opposite offering almost no facial protection and precious little cranial protection, but they are COOOOL!. Pretty big assumption on your part to say young skydivers started freeflying because they they had no hope of competing with pro teams. I guess you don't remember how a "young" guy named Olav inspired a new generation to stand on their heads. A few years later, improvements in canopy technology allowed pro pond swoopers to jump smaller and smaller and faster and faster canopies and they felt the need to hear how fast they are going, so open ear, half-shell helmets fell into fashion. The fact that many pro pond swoopers die from getting the front of their skulls crushed in has not dampened to fashion of half-shell helmets (adopted from the insignificant, "peanut shell" worn by rich, posers riding Harley-Davidson motorcycles). Hey ol' timer, let's be careful what we're putting into people's minds here. I don't know a single swooper who chose his or her headgear based on wanting to hear how fast they are going. And I'm not sure what fatality report you are reading, but I haven't seen one that reports a pattern of swoopers killing themselves by crushing the front of their skulls. These days helmet fashions are dictated by the perceived risk of getting whacked in the head. Young, bullet-proof, free-fliers only wear helmets to support electronic gadgets that cost more than their parachutes. Also not true. Freeflyers are as aware as everyone else that they can take a hit to the head. Meanwhile, professional tandem instructors wear hard-shell helmets to protect thier skulls from door frames or getting crushed between main risers. Depending upon how many times they have been head-butted, some TIs even wear full-face helmets to protect their jaws. Of the very, very few TI's I know that ever wear a fullface helmet, none do so to avoid a "jaw strike". You know, the original poster wanted some simple advise on helmet choices. The least we can do is give him accurate information. Opinions are welcomed, but you penned your words as though they are facts - which they clearly are not. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Maybe you missed the part where the K-man SKYDIVED from more than 102,000 feet. Other than THAT, you're right. His jump had NOTHING to do with skydiving. Nope - nothing at all. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Not sure that's worth anything at all. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

As I understand it, Precision used to measure their canopies differently so they could claim a pack volume to canopy size ratio advantage. Not sure if that's still the case, but it was when I had a pair of Raven III's in my first rig. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

You may want to reconsider after you see how fast a 50 jump wonder can go with booties. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Truman rules. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX