Skydiving without AAD's

[Trae 1]

Would you skydive without an AAD ?

[cmchristian 0]

Been there done that, got the T-shirt. :-)

Chris
--------
"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body; but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting 'Holy s#$* what a ride!'"

[NWFlyer 2]

I would and I have. I prefer to jump with one, but while dealing with some issues with mine recently, I chose to jump without it for about a week (8 jumps or so, I think).

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[Frenchy68 0]

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Would you skydive without an AAD ?

Yes I would.

"For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

[Scrumpot 1]

Sure! Does somebody somehow think that you CAN'T without one??

Guess I don't even understand the question.
Or maybe you meant instead to start a poll (so as to make your answers somehow "meaningful")?

Blue Skies,
-Grant

coitus non circum - Moab Stone

[Scrumpot 1]

And were you "scared" (maybe nervous is a better word?) any more than normal in any way Krisanne, or did you do ANYTHING at all any differently during any of those jumps due to this?

Seriously. Just wondering.

Blues,
-Grant

coitus non circum - Moab Stone

[billvon 2,989]

Heck, I've been known to jump without a reserve!

[BigSky 2]

Granted Im a newbe but the answer is NO. It just dosent make sense to me not to have one. Why not make the sport as safe as you can. Then again I also put on my seat belt in the car, can you drive without one........sure.

“Sometimes when I reflect back on all the beer I drink I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and their hopes and dreams. If I didn’t drink this beer, th

[RhondaLea 4]

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Heck, I've been known to jump without a reserve!

No, you've been known to jump with only a reserve.

Imprecision does not become you, bill.

rl

P.S. re the original question, I did more than a few jumps w/o my CYPRES turned on.

If you don't know where you're going, you should know where you came from. Gullah Proverb

[wmw999 2,439]

Have, a bunch. Did when it was being serviced, when I borrowed gear after a cutaway at a bigway camp, etc. etc. etc.

I always wear my seatbelt. Would I ride in a car that didn't have one? Sure. Would I buy a car that didn't have one? Well, I have a motorcycle -- does that count?

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[Frenchy68 0]

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Granted Im a newbe but the answer is NO. It just dosent make sense to me not to have one. Why not make the sport as safe as you can. Then again I also put on my seat belt in the car, can you drive without one........sure.

How many airbags in your car? Side reinforcements?

"For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

[NWFlyer 2]

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And were you "scared" (maybe nervous is a better word?) any more than normal in any way Krisanne, or did you do ANYTHING at all any differently during any of those jumps due to this?

Seriously. Just wondering.

Honestly, no. Except for that slight change in my gear check process (looking in the AAD window and realizing "oh yeah, it's not there"), nothing changed about how I jumped. Or how I felt when I was jumping. It was a nice validation of how I hoped I would feel when "jumping without an AAD" was just a theoretical possibility, not an actual fact.
When my rigger (who was also one of my instructors and is still a mentor) called me up to tell me he'd identified problems with my AAD during the repack and asked "Do you want me to close it up, anyway?" I hestiated for a second and he said something along the lines of "You know your job. You know how to make good decisions about what jumps to do and who to jump with." I realized he was right and whether or not I had an AAD, that was true.

[EvilLurker 2]

Yes, but I prefer to have one when doing RW or night jumps. Solo jumps or hop n' pops, it's not a concern. I'd actually prefer it wasn't on during the climb to altitude, but that's not an option.

[dgskydive 0]

Over 1400 times now.

Dom

[JohnRich 4]

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Would you skydive without an AAD ?

4,700 jumps without one. I'm still here. Must be some kind of frickin' miracle, eh?

[Scrumpot 1]

Ahhhh... I see from whence you come now, my friend: Click HERE

Carry on.

-Grant

coitus non circum - Moab Stone

[Malev 0]

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Would you skydive without an AAD ?

To me, it would make more sense to ask "Would you skydive if AADs were not available?".

I wouldn't jump without an AAD at present, as I believe these minimise my risk (and risk management plays a large factor in the sport). Thats my personal choice.

Would I jump without an AAD if tomorrow they were deemed un-airworthy? Definetly. But thats a different question altogether.

[Scrumpot 1]

Un-Fricken' believable, actually!

-Grant

coitus non circum - Moab Stone

[kelpdiver 2]

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When my rigger (who was also one of my instructors and is still a mentor) called me up to tell me he'd identified problems with my AAD during the repack and asked "Do you want me to close it up, anyway?" I hestiated for a second and he said something along the lines of "You know your job. You know how to make good decisions about what jumps to do and who to jump with." I realized he was right and whether or not I had an AAD, that was true.

Pardon the tangent, but if you send off the unit for its 4 year and jump the rest of the month without it, do you have the reserve repacked when it comes back, or wait till the next 120 day cycle?

[hookitt 1]

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Heck, I've been known to jump without a reserve!

I've been known to jump without a main.

At least that's how I look at it.

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[Scrumpot 1]

Up to you, wouldn't you say? Nothing (that I know of) says you HAVE TO re-open your "fresh" reserve pack job "early" to replace the returning/serviced Cypres.

What would YOU do, and why?
(There's no "wrong" answer there ...really)

-Grant

coitus non circum - Moab Stone

[pilotdave 0]

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Pardon the tangent, but if you send off the unit for its 4 year and jump the rest of the month without it, do you have the reserve repacked when it comes back, or wait till the next 120 day cycle?

Mine was in for the 4-year just a few weeks ago. My rigger reinstalls the cypres when it comes back for free, so I had him put it right back in.

I continued to jump without it while it was gone. It was actually kinda nice...one less thing to check/worry about on my gear. Aside from that, I didn't think about it.

I definitely prefer to have one and wouldn't like jumping for an extended period without one, but a few jumps doesn't bother me.

Dave

[nate_1979 9]

Quote

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Would you skydive without an AAD ?

To me, it would make more sense to ask "Would you skydive if AADs were not available?".

I wouldn't jump without an AAD at present, as I believe these minimise my risk (and risk management plays a large factor in the sport). Thats my personal choice.

Would I jump without an AAD if tomorrow they were deemed un-airworthy? Definetly. But thats a different question altogether.

Thats my answer too

FGF #???
I miss the sky...
There are 10 types of people in the world... those who understand binary and those who don't.

[NWFlyer 2]

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Pardon the tangent, but if you send off the unit for its 4 year and jump the rest of the month without it, do you have the reserve repacked when it comes back, or wait till the next 120 day cycle?

I have a Vigil. No scheduled maintenance.

But, of course, I needed unscheduled maintenance on the unit. I chose to have him close it up and reopen it to put the Vigil back in when the replacement part came in. I did not have the reserve repacked at that time (only a week later) nor did it even occur to me to do so. Same rigger; all he did was note on my reserve data card that he'd reinstalled the Vigil on that date.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[mdrejhon 8]

Yes, although my preference is to jump with one.

However, an AAD away for a 4-year check is not going to stop me from jumping, but I may avoid those 2200 (CSPA minimum) feet hop-and-pop forced by low cloud cielings, or doing RW with somebody I don't know...

Actually, scratch that. right now, my lowest hop-n-pop altitude would be 2500 if the pilot said clouds were too low and said we had to choose between jump or ride down. Although I definitely prefer 3500. Then again, there's the danger of 2-out situations, versus the chance of banging your head on the Cessna as you exit...