Argus (mis?)-fire...

[brabzzz 0]

...down in the SE of England last weekend. What's the scoop...or is it BS?

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Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club
www.skydivebristoluni.com

[wonder2006 0]

From reports after he landed (and from people on the same jump as him), his Argus fired when he pulled his main. He pulled at between 3 and 3.5k (story was backed up by an instructor who was on the jump with him).

2 out with resereve freebag tangled up somewhere along the line - we thought it was a CRW jump at first as we could see what appeared to be 2 pilot chutes, but was in fact the freebag and reserve pilot chute trailing.

Jumper did a good job flying them and landing them safely. I THINK he is sub 100 jumps.

Note: I left shortly after the jumper landed and haven't heard what the riggers have had to say on the incident following inspecting gear, all this was the discussion just when the jumper landed.

Hopefully someone with more info will post.

[virgin-burner 1]

my mate was there and he told me about it, but no details, i can ask specifically if you'd like..

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[CrazyL 0]

Please give more info. Is this true, the Argus fired above 3,000ft agl? could he have set it at a different location than his intended landing area?

[virgin-burner 1]

from what i understood, the argus must of fired when he deployed his main, or shortly after that. AFAIK, he then landed with two canopies out.. (is that called downplane?)

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[wonder2006 0]

It was a biplane - with main canopy in front and reserve behind, and then freebag and reserve pilot chute tangled up.

I don't know for sure that he set it at the dz before jumping, but I have not heard anything to the contrary.

The unit has been sent to Argus to investigate. I don't know if their report will be made public though??

[brabzzz 0]

I got a PM from Argus stating they hoped to have a report available (for the BPA and the DZ) by last weekend.

We'll see if anything is released beyond what is leaked at the DZ / into the BPA minutes.

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Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club
www.skydivebristoluni.com

[wonder2006 0]

Any official response yet from Argus to explain what happened and the results of the investigation??

[brabzzz 0]

Not that i've heard of.

I imagine it will get reported in the BPA minutes at some point, maybe with a bit more info. Keep an eye on:

http://www.bpa.org.uk/council_matters.htm

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Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club
www.skydivebristoluni.com

[CrazyL 0]

Any news on the Argus report?

[brabzzz 0]

Not that i've heard of....you'd think they'd post one up to clear up any speculation....

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Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club
www.skydivebristoluni.com

[gjhdiver 0]

I got an email from Argus today. They have the unit at the facility and are testing it to replicate the failiure. Right now, signs point to a harware failiure, but they haven't finished testing yet. They will release the full findings when they have all the information to make a definitive statement on the misfire.

[CrazyL 0]

Looking forward to answers. I've had numerous jumpers ask my opinion on the Argus. I still cannot recommend the unit. I still recommend spending the money on the Cypres.

[koppel 4]

I understand people having reservations on new ideas. People were the same with the Skyhook. There is always reservations to change.

However as to only being able to recommend one unit, that I am not sure about. The fact is that even Cypres with all their time in the field still have issues. They also have units that will suddenly and without reason fail.

This is not an attack on Cypres or a defence of other brands. Simply a fact that when you take a piece of apparatus such as an AAD and use it at some point there is a liklihood of failure with so many units in the field. When this happens it is not because this model or that model are not safe. It is because it is inevitable.

The crux of the matter is in how the company deals with such.

Open and honest will get my vote any day over information being kept behind closed doors.

As this is in the Argus thread I will comment however that up until this point I am very happy with how they have dealt with providing information. I know that not all manufacturers of AAD's like to be as open in this area as they could be.

I like my canopy...


...it lets me down.

[CrazyL 0]

Not only reservations on new products, it's also having experienced technical issues with said device that I believe would have or should have been found during initial testing before the units were placed into the marketplace. The units were sold at a reduced cost in the beginning, some dealers bought into the plan of buying several units so they could make a decent income from the units as the cost would rise after a certain date. When units were recalled, dealer/s still wanted to sell device that was not yet ready.Wanting to for the money they would make in profit, lacking in what's already proven in the market, or good for the customer. Yes, good for the customer. I witnessed customers that were concerned way more about this argus device in their rig than those with cypres. Had Argus came out when Cypres did and they both shared trials and errors in the same time frame maybe argus would be the better deal. Like i've told some of my customers who's cypres is coming up on 12 yrs, and I qoute ' don't bring me an Argus, I have not and will not install one in any rig'. Give 2 years without issues and I will rethink the Argus. My customers don't need to be guinneepigs.

[wonder2006 0]

Anyone from Argus with a response to this? Been a while now and still nothing?