Forced to get an AAD

[birddog 0]

i own a rig that itis impossible to fit any cypress or vigil to, does that mean i cant jump at a dz that requires these even if i cant fit one???
Guess i wont be going to jump in Alaska any time soon!.

Deal with it

[kkeenan 14]

I decided to put an AAD on my CRW rig following the tail strike accident that killed Brad Foster. I use a CYPRES on my CRW rig, as I feel it's the best.

As Plastic said, if you're passing 750 ft. at 76 mph, you have problems that probably would only be improved by more nylon.

Kevin K.

_____________________________________
Dude, you are so awesome...
Can I be on your ash jump ?

[dragon2 2]

Agreed 100%.

I have done a few jumps without AAD, mostly CRW jump, but I strongly prefer to have one in my rig also for CRW.

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[jetcrw 0]

I have a cypress on my CRW rig. I have not had any problems with it on CRW jumps. I also use the rig for other jumps. Jeni

V1. Rotate. V2

[boinky 0]

If you're considering a Vigil, let me mention this...

A dz I know of had a Vigil in one of their student rigs. Recently, it fired on its own, while hanging on the hook on the wall. I don't know any of the particulars as far as weather, heat, prior use, etc.


Just giving my 2¢....

Nina

Are we called "DAWGs" because we stick our noses up people's butts? (RIP Buzz)
Yep, you're a postwhore-billyvance

[lkealey 0]

I love CRW and have 2 AAD's, a vigil and a cypress, one on each rig. Personally, I like the vigil, when you are not doing crw, you can pull last free fall time and velocity off it, you can also get an interface for it and download last 20 jumps...and since that first iteration they had, they appear to be "as good as required". Also, I think the Pro setting on the Vigil is 840 ft as opposed to 1000 on the cypress - like someone said, just turn it off when you are doing a downplane...

The vigil is also cheaper...

also, just putting the display in your rig without properly attaching it is a FAR violation and any rigger who does it for you could lose his ticket...and hence his livelyhood - I wouldn't even ask any riggers I know to do that...

[selbbub78 0]

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also, just putting the display in your rig without properly attaching it is a FAR violation and any rigger who does it for you could lose his ticket...and hence his livelyhood - I wouldn't even ask any riggers I know to do that...

nor would I

CReW Skies,
bubbles

"Women fake orgasms - men fake whole relationships" – Sharon Stone
"The world is my dropzone" (wise crewdog quote)
"The light dims, until full darkness pierces into the world."-KDM

[DJL 235]

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So in your CRW AAD experience which do you like? As my originial post stated? Please feel free to enlighten me

I had one (Cypres) in my rig and turned on through a season of team training and through nationals. Not sure why anyone is worried about a misfire. It's less unheard of than people stumbling in the door, hitting their head on something, having a collision on agressive exits, or striking another jumper after a cut-away. I've either seen all of those happen or almost saw it happen if it didn't happen to me. I'm happy to do CRW with an AAD but I usually don't just because it costs too much to have one in every rig.

"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

[tbrown 26]

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Hey Bubbles,

I'm just curious, what are the DZ's reasons for requiring an AAD? I've always been a little skeptical about mandatory AADs on licensed jumpers (especially after that young lady went in at Perris a couple of years ago).

Since you bring up the Perris fatality, I think it's necessary to review the facts of this incident, so that this discussion doesn't go off in the wrong direction about AAD reliability.

Michele Spray lived in Huntington Beach, a sea level community on the coast. She apparently was in the habit of turning on her Cypres in the morning before leaving home, as Airtech's examination of the Cypres showed it had been turned on at 30 ft MSL. The dropzone at Perris is 1450 ft MSL. So at the point of impact, her Cypres was still - "correctly" - reading her altitude as 1420 ft and still above firing altitude.

Secondly, Michele had a history of hard pulls with her pilot chute. She used to post at dropzone.com as "The Michey One" and once posted a thread a year or two previously about going unstable with a hard pull. That time she gave up on the p/c and pulled her reserve at a lower than acceptable altitude, but claimed to have learned from the experience. Unfortunately it seems she did not. An eyewitness to her death, from several hundred yards away saw a flash of yellow just before impact. Her reserve p/c was yellow and she was found with the ripcord completely out of the housing and the freebag some 6 ft from her body, suggesting that she pulled at the last moment, rather than the reserve being deployed by force of impact.

Finally, her worst mistake was loss of altitude awareness and failure to pull silver until she was hopelessly low. That's the final mistake that really cost this lovely young woman her life.

This was a terrible accident to happen and it killed a young woman who was well liked at the dropzone. But she obviously didn't understand how her AAD worked or how to correctly and safely use it. Since her death, a standard question Perris LO's ask is how many people are wearing AADs, "Did they turn them on today, and did they turn them on HERE at the dropzone?".

We have also had a Cypres save of an experienced jumper who was accidently kicked around his shoulders in such a way that he could not use his arms, they were temporarily paralyzed and would not obey his urgent desire to pull. And last year in Florida, no less a great skydiver than Al Kreuger himself was saved by an AAD (FXC Astra) after a door injury prevented him from pulling with either of his arms. (Al was seriously injured, as he was unable to prevent his reserve from flying into power lines and dropping him some 30 ft to the ground below, but without the AAD he would have certainly died.) We've also had a number of "knucklehead" AAD deployments at Perris, where the jumper just wasn't paying attention, but jumpers are immediately grounded for thirty days unless they can demonstrate a physical injury that prevented a pull.

I'm not sure if I'd want to use an AAD for CRW either, but maybe a "Swooper's" model Cypres, that can be turned off after the main is deployed might be a good compromise.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !