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QuoteSo.....when the bags come back to us during inspection, we don't stitch pick them and unsew them. It's not a safely issue. It's just a packing function that was designed a decade ago that still works great and does the job it's supposed to do (better bulk distribution).
I've worked for a number of DZ's who's owners are such tight asses that they won't / can't seem to afford to stock the rigging loft with the needed "basic repairs" items such as velcro and E thread. let alone pay a rigger for the service to maintain the rigs. So what happens is the packers get tired of the old worn out velcro not holding the bag shut time & time again, as well as not being able to get the repair done by a rigger or get paid to do such work if a rigger, that the bags get sewn shut and forgot about.
I've packed a lot with both kinds, I like the new bags with fresh velcro, I can also deal with the sewn shut ones, however I think changing out the velcro and keep up on your gear is a better answer to the problem.
you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo
Sorry for the delay in response, just found this thread.
As mentioned by others on this thread, the ALS flap is designed to prevent line dump (referred to as "Line Slump" a decade or so ago here at the factory, hence the ALS flap and not the ALD flap (Anti Line Slump versus Anti Line Dump). As I think Rob mentioned, most, if not all tandem manufacturers have some mechanism in place intended to stage the opening of the main and prevent line dump. That's what our ALS bag is designed to do. The reason we use the flap instead of collapsing the drogue prior to the canopy coming out of the bag, is that we never wanted to give up any of the drag that the drogue creates prior to extracting the canopy, it greatly reduces the likelyhood of a baglock having all that extra drag, and in that unlikley event you do have a bag lock, the inflated drogue has the necessary drag to clear the risers from the system without having to manually assist them. If your jumping a DHT without the ALS flap, your asking for harder openings. Please contact me at tnoonan@strongparachutes.com and I can arrange to help you swap out the bags for ones with the ALS flap.
On to the open bag being sewn shut. When our systems come back for their required 8 year and 13 year inspections, we do find that quite a large number of the bags in the field are sewn shut.
The background on the velcro bag is that back in the early-mid 1990s, when the SET 400 first came out, it was alot of Zero P fabric intended to get into a relatively small bag. The open bag allowed for the packer to actually wrap the bag around the canopy, which, believe it or not, at that point in time, seemed to make it easier to get into the bag. The real benefit of the open velcro bag is that it gives you much better bulk distribution, the corners of the bag fill better, which puts less stress on the canopy in the container or during deployment.
To illustrate, we have all packed a sport main where we coned the canopy shorter in width than the bag and when you S fold it and put in the bag, the majority of the bulk is in the center of the bag, and the corners are loose, if not empty. Same thing on the tandem bag, just a little larger and more pronounced. That excess tension in the center of the bag isn't a safety issue, but it can increase the wear and tear factor on the canopy and line sets.
So.....when the bags come back to us during inspection, we don't stitch pick them and unsew them. It's not a safely issue. It's just a packing function that was designed a decade ago that still works great and does the job it's supposed to do (better bulk distribution).
If anyone has any specific questions, feel free to shoot me an email: tnoonan@strongparachutes.com
Best regards,
Tom Noonan
Tandem Director
Strong Enterprises
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