Very small passenger: Yes, or no?

[grue 1]

I work with a girl who is 4'9", about perhaps 85-90lbs, and was asking me about doing a tandem jump. Could she safely fit into a tandem harness?

cavete terrae.

[shermanator 4]

strange. i was planning on askig the same thing soon. my friend is 4'9. a lil over 100lb. and, has one semi bad leg. *cerebral paulsy* but very mild.

CLICK HERE! new blog posted 9/21/08
CSA #720

[Danne 0]

It depends on the type of harness and body type. For example, a Sigma student harness usually fits someone around 140cm with a normal body type. OTOH if the torso is short (long legs) it might be a problem. Check with your local TI.

With Strong harnesses I have no idea.

/D

[Liemberg 0]

Quote

With Strong harnesses I have no idea

We did a bunch with even smaller passengers on the 'classical' Strong harness. Usually we have 2 pull up cords to prevent the upper chest strap from moving down (TI's shoulders are wider than those of the kid/small female in front - this tends to move the chest strap down). Caution however - you don't want to strangle them with the chest strap on opening.
When the leg straps were "at their smallest" and still wouldn't stay in place since the upper leg was too skinny, we have jumped with maximum extended legstraps, twice around the leg.

They don't arch very good then - but they are small to begin with...

Final notes: You often have to "outfly their legs" since you can't get a hold of them with your legs if they are somewhere you don't want them. Your opening will be slooowwwww and will require the slider to be pumped down ... and you better be very critical about high wind and turbulence since your wingload is a lot less than you are used to.

Of course, it is always @ the discretion of the local TI

"Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci
A thousand words...

[slotperfect 7]

My wife's cousin is 4' 9.5" and about 100 lbs. I took her on a tandem with a Sigma and the harness fit just fine. All of the extra webbing and padding folded and stowed on the leg straps made her have to waddle to the sircraft, but that was the only issue.

Arrive Safely

John

[steveorino 7]

This girl was 4' 10" and 95 pounds.

With the new harnesses, it should be no problem. I would NOT use an older harnes (w/o belly & back bqnd) though. There is a lot of strap stowed away though.

steveOrino

[Miami 0]

I took a girl who was 4'9 or 10"/84lbs a month or two ago, harness (new sigma) fit her fine, although it wouldn't go much smaller. Me being 6'4"/200lbs it hardly seemed like there was anyone there!

Miami

[riggerrob 643]

Older Strong harnesses fit better - on students with small shoulders - than newer, ringed harnesses.

[marks2065 0]

i've ha a 4ft8in 85 lb girl in an old strong harness with no problem - with all the adjustments at the end there is not to many areas that anyone could fall out of

[mfrese 0]

Seems like the answers are pretty clear, but just one more...

I recently took a friend's daughter who was 4'11" and 92 pounds, we had absolutely no problems using a Sigma harness. Just to make sure I had the chest strap adjusted right, I actually hung her in the harness to see where it ended up when she was upright, no problem. Your friend should be fine...

Doctor I ain't gonna die,
Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash

[tetra316 0]

Quote

Older Strong harnesses fit better - on students with small shoulders - than newer, ringed harnesses.

I always thought so too but another tm swears the newer stong harnesses can be tighted down more.

[marks2065 0]

i never used the new strong harness since i haven't done tandems in a couple years but i haven't heard good things about it - the older ti's say the friction adapters slip ocaisionally and i personaly don't like the articulated harness because it lets the leg strap move down the leg towards the knee and we have seen the results from that if the student has issues like to fat or lack of muscle control in the legs - remember nobody ever fell out of the old style harnesses

[OnYourBack 0]

"remember nobody ever fell out of the old style harnesses "

Remember that no heavy has fallen out of the new harnesses when adjusted properly and no physically challenged person has fallen out with the legs bound as is recommended.

[efs4ever 3]

Quote

I work with a girl who is 4'9", about perhaps 85-90lbs, and was asking me about doing a tandem jump. Could she safely fit into a tandem harness?

I took a 70 pound woman one time. Her nine year old son weighed 20 pounds more than she did.
She fit fine. Leg straps were a tad loose, but diags and all other adjustment points kept her well contained.

I don't think she touched the ground on landing.

Russell M. Webb D 7014
Attorney at Law
713 385 5676
https://www.tdcparole.com

[livendive 8]

I haven't done one quite that small with a Sigma harness, but I've done a few with older Vector harnesses with no problems. I'd have to see how a new harness fit before giving an absolute answer, but I doubt it would be a problem.

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[marks2065 0]

on the handicapped jump with a sigma harness the leg strap was at the knee on exit - i found on sport rigs that only happens on articulated harnesses - that is why the free flyers bungie the leg straps - probably not a good idea for tandems (just my opinion)

[OnYourBack 0]

The Sigma harness isn't articulated. In your original post you made the comment that nobody had fallen out of an old harness. My point was that nobody had fallen out of a properly used new harness either. Exiting with the leg strap at the knee is not proper use and, had the legs been bound, they still would not have fallen out. No gear is safe if used improperly, the witch hunt shouldn't be to burn the new harnesses it should be to teach proper use. Sorry about the thread drift.

[cloudsilk 0]

In Oz the legal minimum age for a tandem student is 14 years old. While it is not overly common for kids to jump, they do and they are, as you'd imagine pretty petite.

Sigma is the most commony used rig here, and I've not heard of anyone having any troubles with these harnesses.

Skydive Siapan take mostly small Japaneese students also..

If you are unsure of your harness adjustments having not taken many petite people, might pay to just test it out. Hang them up in a harness have them wriggle around, see if they can get out of it easily, pull on the harness see if it slips, what ever you can think of to simulate the pressures of opening etc ..

Might give a better idea of what your in for and if the gear your using is suitable for the job..

FYI : It is pretty cool to see kids this age go jumping. They are always so stoked! Usually the wildest thing they've ever done and they've been hanging out to turn 14 so they can do it. Amazes me how fearless kids can be at times..

[shawnstarr 0]

this guy had a fun time!!!

it felt like doing a solo for the vector rating.

------------------------------------------------
'I refuse to tiptoe quitely through life
only to arrive safely at death' Anon

[flipper 0]

Done a few that size, used the older Strong harness

No problem

Flipper

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

Smallest I ever took was a four-foot-eight girl that weighed under 100 pounds. Size-wise, the harness was snug and I was confident.

[Laszloimage 0]

I took girl about 3'8" on the Sigma with no problem at all. But at least she had the "thickness" to make the harness perfectly tide and safe.
She was just standing at the door of the OTTER while I was kneeling behind her at the exit...
-Laszlo-

[AndyBoyd 0]

I took a "little person"/vertically challenged/midget (insert whatever the current PC term is these days) on a tandem back in 1996. He was maybe 4 feet tall, as I remember, and seemed to be around 100 pounds or so (he had some muscle on him). The old Strong harness fit easily, but there was a lot of excess leg strap to stow. The jump went fine, including the cutaway. (The landing was a bit rough. The whole "legs up for landing" thing doesn't work that great with a little person:)). He had a good time, and came back for another jump.