Any ideas where to find an Astra cutter?

[faulknerwn 38]

We are trying to put together a rig for a young jumper here and he has an Astra which works and is good for his AAD - but the cutter is timed out and the factory doesn't have any. (And he can't afford a brand new AAD).

Anyone have any clues as to who might have one sitting on a shelf somewhere?

W

[mrbiceps 0]

para gear has them.

[thedude325 0]

Quote

We are trying to put together a rig for a young jumper here and he has an Astra which works and is good for his AAD - but the cutter is timed out and the factory doesn't have any. (And he can't afford a brand new AAD).

Anyone have any clues as to who might have one sitting on a shelf somewhere?

W

That sucks...

[pchapman 279]

This is a bit of an aside, but how is the cutter "timed out"?

The manual says nothing about it (at least the one I read from a few years back). Those are the company's official instructions.

I have found a FAQ online that says the "shelf life" of the cutter is 10 years, in a question about the "mandated service life".

And that's on a page with news that hasn't been updated since 1997.


Now this is rules lawyering but:

a) Is something a mandatory instruction from the manufacturers, in the eyes of the FAA, if it is not supplied with the product, or an official bulletin, but just happens to be on their web site? How is a user to know that something not in the manual or an official bulletin is "official"?


b) The FAQ question ASKS about "mandatory life" but ANSWERS with "shelf life". One reasonable interpretation is that there is no mandatory life except for the shelf life of the cutter and battery.

The definitions of shelf life out there tend to say it is how long the product stays 'packaged on the shelf' before it is opened and placed in service, not the time in service. I've seen technology companies use that definition. I don't know what the US military does (a customer FXC must be very familiar with), but I thought they also had limits for service life versus shelf life.


So it may be reasonable to want to replace an old cutter, but one can argue that the shelf life rule was likely not broken, and that the rule is not official anyway, not being in the official manual on how to use the product.


Edit: The factory has no cutters? Is their plan to just let the product fade away? Or it it an unforseen and temporary supply issue?

[faulknerwn 38]

Paragear doesn't have them. The comments on shelf life are interesting tho

[Neoslim22 0]

I have a spare one for sale if you still need one.

[mrbiceps 0]

astra cutter from paragear
part number i12090
$195

http://www.paragear.com/templates/base_template.asp?group=141#I12090

2nd from the bottom

[faulknerwn 38]

We called them and they said they didn't have any.

[chutebuilder 0]

i have an old SSE sentinal/altimaster(the old manual turn me on ,turn me off)

[faulknerwn 38]

Not sure we're that desperate