In the event of loosing parts after a cutaway

[scrublink 0]

Next time I talk to him, I will ask him about how this happens.

[Tonto 1]

Other.

I have 17 or 18 cutaways. I've lost one handle - on a Tandem reserve malfunction when I really needed my hands.

If I lost parts, I'd use my other rig till I got them replaced.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[AndyMan 7]

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If I lost parts, I'd use my other rig till I got them replaced.

Ditto. I don't carry spare parts. Of my one cuttaway, I've kept all parts. Stocking parts for an unlikely loss seems like a waste of money. If I do find myself with lost parts, I'll dig my old container out of the closet.

Even before I had second container I still didn't stock parts, though. I just don't plan on loosing any.

_Am

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[sundevil777 102]

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I bought spares when I bought my rig.

Did you get a discount for ordering with your rig?

It would be nice if mfgrs would offer a discount if you order them at the same time.

I have spare cutaway and reserve handles, but only because I decided to change to a loop cutaway and low profile D-handle reserve after getting my rig. I did have a spare freebag for my old rig, but that was because it was a very special order that would not be so easy to repeat (not originally intended for a square reserve).

People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

[scrublink 0]

I got a very good package price when I purchased. I bought everything from a friend of mine who is also a mfg of components for container mfgs.

In response to some people who don't keep spares because they would just go with another rig: If I had another rig then I probably wouldn't keep a set of spares either. This is my most cost effective way to get back in the air in a relatively quick way.

[pchapman 279]

If one does loose a freebag, be careful when ordering:

A friend ordered a freebag from a major manufacturer, and got just that -- the freebag, without the reserve pilot chute.

The order taker must have been thinking in rigging terms, not in real life skydiving terms, and didn't help the customer get what they really wanted!

(The freebag bridle normally is attached to the PC with a lark's head knot.)

[FrenchyDiver 0]

Indeed!! Now, that's a very helpful piece of advise. Thanks a lot for sharing.

Hispas Brothers President
HISPA #2,

[Eule 0]

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***When I compared the old spring to the new spring there was a one to three inch difference in height.

Instead of height difference, I wonder what the difference was in terms of strength, or 'kick' if you will...a fish scale pull test to see the difference in compression required.


Car engine valve springs operate under wildly different conditions and far more often than a pilot
chute, but that is about how you're supposed to check them when rebuilding the engine. The three
shop manuals I have to hand ('73 Dodge pickup, '79 VW van, '98 Ford pickup) all give spring specs as
something like "it should take a load of 90-110 pounds to compress the spring to between 1.1 and 1.2
inches" or similar. There are test jigs that allow you to apply various forces and measure the resulting
spring length. Some of the manuals give a free length, but don't specify a test for it. I suspect the free
llength criterion is a first filter: if the free length is listed as 1.5 inches and the spring you have is 0.75
or 3 inches, you pretty much know it's hosed without further testing.

In a few minutes of digging around on the Web, I couldn't find similar specifications for spring pilot
chutes. That definitely doesn't mean they don't exist, only that I can't find them quickly.

Eule

[Erroll 80]

[replyIn a few minutes of digging around on the Web, I couldn't find similar specifications for spring pilot
chutes. That definitely doesn't mean they don't exist, only that I can't find them quickly.

Eule

[JerryBaumchen 1,363]

This reply is in that "I think" category. You are referring to a Vector 1 pilit chute that used a MA-1 spring (again - I think). The Vector 2 & Vector 3 use a spring that is rated at 37 lbs out of the box ( I think - I cannot speak for Bill Booth).
And I really do think that it should be easy to find out info on just what is a good pilot chute and a failed pilot chute. Contact the Mfr?

[riggerrob 643]

Circa 1990, Rigging Innovations gave out hundreds of spring testing kits for their suspect Skyhook pilot chutes. The kits were basically two aluminum plates connected by a rod. You put one plate on either end ofthe pilot chute spring, then used a fish scale to pull on the rod the determine how much tension was required to compress the spring to within one inch short of "solid."
Rigging Innovations replaced hundreds of wimpy springs for free. Towards the end of the program, I (Customer Service Manager) quit testing springs when they arrived and immediately sent replacement pilot chutes by. Most of those replacements were re-sprung Skyhooks.

Hint: Talon/Telesis pilot chutes with silver springs are obsolete. Their springs should be powder-coated with black paint.
The stealth pilot chutes used on Flexon, Voodoo, Talon 2, Talon FS, Genera, Telesis 2 and Aviator have red powder-coating on their springs.


A simpler test is to lay a 20 pound weight on a pilot chute and see if the spring can hold support the weight.

[bob.dino 1]

No spares. Distance from rig manufacturer's plant to my home DZ: 20min drive.

I should sort some stuff out, but since I've currently got two rigs, it's not a big deal.

[DanglesOZQld 0]

Have lost TWO freebags on personal gear to the ocean in around four years, and there have been more tandem sames in the similar period of time.

Maybe SOMEONE should invent a REPLACEABLE HOOD for the reserve spring especially meant for jumping containing material that when it becomes wet expands and becomes bouyant and makes the freebag float instead of the freebag/spring/bridle becoming a dolphin playtoy!?

And when recovered the hood part of the spring can be replaced during packing by another that is screwed onto the top side of the reserve spring?

I suppose gear manufacturers would see this as something they would NOT like as to replace the whole thing costs us jumpers a lot more than a replacement "Bouyancy reserve spring pop top."

BSBD!! -Mark.

"A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"