Russian skydiving gear?

[petur 0]

Anyone here heard of a canopy called Flamingo, made in russa?

Anyone heard of a container called Golf?

Are these common?

---
P.
"It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes -
But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."

[Remster 30]

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Anyone heard of a container called Golf?

Please tell me Golf means something else in Russian!

Remster

[FeFe 0]

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Please tell me Golf means something else in Russian!

and you won't believe what 'flamingo' means...
Flamingo - ZP (there was a variant of ZP-top/f111 bottom skin), slightly eliptical trailing edge, comes in two sizes (130 and 160)
Container - see pix attach.
I've never jumped neither of them.
Won't be my gear of choice anyway .
Why do you ask?

[Remster 30]

That Golf doesnt look bad actually.... quite Wings-ish / Vortex-ish...

Remster

[phoenixlpr 0]

The usual problem with those russian stuff is the quality and the lack of TSO cert.

Ive asked my instructor about a Hungarian gear. He answered:"fine if you dont jump more than 50 yearly, otherwise it will cost more in the long run than other "

Safe landings

[councilman24 37]

I think I've seen a Golf in person. The pilot chute cap is somewhat smaller than a Javelin or Wings. Anyway it looked alot like this rig. The rig I saw in 2000 didn't look bad from a distance. But when you got up close things were pretty iffy. Quality of stitching, metal components, "fit and finish", ripcords, housings, etc all added up to a rig I wouldn't jump. The Brit who had it lived in Saudi and had bought the rig for $2000 complete with a ZP stilletto clone main and the same canopy for the reserve.

I saw another Russian rig at PIA in January. I looked at it with a FAA inspector/skydiver at their booth. They were getting close but we both walked away shaking our heads and saying they had a long way to go.

Think twice for now.

Terry

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[Remster 30]

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with a ZP stilletto clone main and the same canopy for the reserve

Thats interesting to say the least!

The more I look at the pic, the more I find the rig actually had more of the Vector proportions with a 1/2 exposed pop top...

Remster

[fergs 0]

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The Brit who had it lived in Saudi and had bought the rig for $2000 complete with a ZP stilletto clone main and the same canopy for the reserve.

Yes, it's Graham in Saudi who owns it. The main is a cross braced little number which is really just a knock-off copy of an Icarus Extreme, I believe. Graham calls it his pocket-rocket. It flies fast but landings aren't consistantly easy - at least that's what Graham's experience is.

The container is a little shabby. After a malfunction during a competition in Jeddah last year, I had a chance to look into the reserve container / flap configeration. It was pretty complex, with an additional locking feature that seemed to spell Murphy Factor to me.

Incidentally, the reserve was a conventional 7cell reserve - poor old Graham thought he'd bought a reserve identical to his main (not sure the wisdom of that?), but after the malfunction, was surprised to see a "normal" reserve above him. He landed softly in the pit under his reserve, whilst his main ended up in the ocean.

But $2000 for a full system, ready to jump - including 2 new canopies - who could complain?!!! But I don't think I'd be waiting in line to get one ....

But Graham is still delighted with his gear - and is always ready to sing its' praises to all who enquire.

fergbird

[councilman24 37]

I'd forgot that it was crossbraced. Is this the all green canopy? And I wonder if Graham had the reserve changed at some point with or without knowing it. I was pretty sure he had a reserve ride at the WFFC just after he got it and it was the same as the main. Actually, I don't think I ever saw it. Maybe Graham still thought it was the same. He was pretty excited.

If I rememeber right (but I seem not to be) there were some welded rings on the harness some where.



Terry

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[fergs 0]

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I'd forgot that it was crossbraced. Is this the all green canopy? And I wonder if Graham had the reserve changed at some point with or without knowing it. I was pretty sure he had a reserve ride at the WFFC just after he got it and it was the same as the main. Actually, I don't think I ever saw it. Maybe Graham still thought it was the same. He was pretty excited.

If I rememeber right (but I seem not to be) there were some welded rings on the harness some where.



Terry

Terry, yep, it's the green canopy. Reserve was also green. He said after his Jeddah malfunction that he thinks the reserve had been "switched" at some time by the russian dealer he'd bought it from. Ah well, who knows.

But in jeddah I refused to re-pack it - his free bag and pilot chute were lost in the Red Sea - he only had a spare freebag with him, no reserve pilot chute. I wasn't prepared to put a non-original PC into it.

He was also very excitited at his malfunction in Jeddah. I'd just landed - he was on second pass of the twin rotor helicopter. He had a video on and post jump frame-by-frame study indicated a main bag-strip situation - probably too loose retainer bands. Anyhow it was a real mess from the instant it hit the air - wound up at a phenominal rate. So he did well to get off it before third revolution was even half way through.

Don't remember welded rings, but my memory may also be weak. But the rings all seemed pretty flimsy and thin compared with what we all regard as normal. But it all seemed to work well.

Blue Skies, fergbird

[councilman24 37]

I think he's right about it being switched. At the WFFC now I'm pretty sure his reserve was the same as the main. He wasn't pretty nervous landing the main, let alone having to land the same thing as a reserve.

Tell him he need's to break down and buy some real gear. We gave a lot of grief over that rig. I'm surprised it's held up this long.

later

Terry

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[crapflinger2000 1]

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But $2000 for a full system, ready to jump - including 2 new canopies - who could complain?!!! But I don't think I'd be waiting in line to get one ....

I believe there is a similar setup that is TSOed in the States, stilleto clone main, 7 cell reserve for like $2K total (main, reserve, container). This is made by PISA I believe. Quality is fine. Can't recall what the rig resembled.

__________________________________________________
What would Vic Mackey do?

[diablopilot 2]

If we are talking about the same thing, it's no longer made.

I think you're talking about the NARO container, with the Tempo reserve, and maybe the Heatwave Main?

The whole package was pretty cheap, and while I jumped a Heatwave 120 back to back with my Stiletto 120 (very comparable) I didn't like the looks of the NARO. Construction was good, but was not a very modern engineered rig. IIRC the NARO still used Velcro riser covers.

----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[crapflinger2000 1]

Naw, i don't think it was a Naro.... this was a modern-looking thing, tuck tabs, clean, the works...

I have always wanted to look into it but never got around to it since I really don't need a second rig...

I'll do some poking around and see what I can find...

__________________________________________________
What would Vic Mackey do?

[crazycableguy 0]

does anyone have the rigging manual for the Retal-Golff container?

[mik 2]

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phoenixlpr

The usual problem with those russian stuff is the quality and the lack of TSO cert.

Ive asked my instructor about a Hungarian gear. He answered:"fine if you dont jump more than 50 yearly, otherwise it will cost more in the long run than other "

Safe landings

A non-Russian friend of mine who has a lot of skydiving experience (18,000+ jumps), who has spent several summers working as a coach at a DZ in Russia and has looked at some of the rigs in detail is fine with jumping with them. TSO is an issue. Quality did not seem to be. We spent time looking at a couple of the rigs and he was of the view that they were really pretty good. He also mentioned that he had been on the DZ where there must have been hundreds of thousands of jumps (more than 100 loads some days, each with 18 jumpers) and had never heard of an issue arising from the quality of a rig.

Not the same but the Ukranian Skylark jumps suits I bought a few years ago are fantastic, but I have heard the quality may have gone downhill in the last couple of years.

***********************************************
I'm NOT totally useless... I can be used as a bad example

[phoenixlpr 0]

mik

Quote

***The usual problem with those russian stuff is the quality and the lack of TSO cert.

Ive asked my instructor about a Hungarian gear. He answered:"fine if you dont jump more than 50 yearly, otherwise it will cost more in the long run than other "

Safe landings

A non-Russian friend of mine who has a lot of skydiving experience (18,000+ jumps), who has spent several summers working as a coach at a DZ in Russia and has looked at some of the rigs in detail is fine with jumping with them. TSO is an issue. Quality did not seem to be. We spent time looking at a couple of the rigs and he was of the view that they were really pretty good. He also mentioned that he had been on the DZ where there must have been hundreds of thousands of jumps (more than 100 loads some days, each with 18 jumpers) and had never heard of an issue arising from the quality of a rig.

Not the same but the Ukranian Skylark jumps suits I bought a few years ago are fantastic, but I have heard the quality may have gone downhill in the last couple of years.

Have you noticed that I posted that more than 12 years ago?

[RiggerLee 61]

As to the quality of Russian gear, any one have a link to the container that came apart at the upper main lift web junction? That was a few years ago and I don't think I ever heard about the actual history of that exact rig, but it did come apart bigger then shit.

Their is design. Their is quality of construction. And their is the whole subject of QC, materials tracking, vinders and suppliers etc. Those are three separate issues. You can fix two of them your self but the third, you are kind of at the mercy of the greater industrial environment that you are working in. If their were going to be problems any where, I'd sweat the third one the most.

Lee

Lee
lee@velocitysportswear.com
www.velocitysportswear.com

[alexey 6]

Reserve back risers were sewn only to 3-ring junction (about 7 cm).
4 point W pattern didt have upper horizont line.

There was AAD deployment, student was in back to earth position and head low.

Deployment destroyed W stitch, both back risers came free, and reserve collapsed. Vertical velocity was more then 10 m\s stright down, so he dont have any chance.

Lexa