DualHawk

When I first came to work for Strong Enterprises, Ted's first suggestion was that I spend as much time as possible talking with Bill Morrissey about the history of tandem skydiving, and Bill's instrumental role in it's creation. Over the last year, Bill has recounted to me some of the coolest stories about the history of tandem skydiving from his personal perspective. I have pointed Bill to this thread and asked him to share some of his stories about the early days. It may be a few days or so, but either he or I will post his observations when he finishes writing them. If anyone would like to get intouch with him directly, just shoot me an email at tomnoonan@strongparachutes.com and I'll provide his contact info. Best Regards, Tom Noonan Tandem Director Strong Enterprises

Hi Tim, Chuck and I looked over the pictures, and we agree with replacing those lines. Some lines were definitely worse than others, but it's never a bad decision to replace a line your not comfortable with. One of the pictures showed the lines laid out on what looked to be a beige polypropylene surface. Just as a side bar to this issue, the Belgian Army Parachute School issued a letter at PIA in '99, that showed the results of some research they did on packing surfaces, and polypropylene was found to be a very abbrasive surface for packing. It was found to be just above packing on asphalt in terms of abbrasion factor. So, my 1st recommendation would be to pack the reserves on a carpet and see if you notice any change in the wear of the lines. While I'm here, I thought it might not be a bad idea to give some general background information on the Master 425 reserve: Anyone that has met or spent any time talking to Ted Strong about tandems knows that his philosophy and approach to tandem jumping is very conservative. When it came to building the Master 425, he wanted a canopy that would protect our instructors and passengers against all possible reserve ride scenarios, including the "no drogue" tandem terminal deployment, so the Master 425 was designed and built to handle the opening shock of a no drogue tandem terminal deployment. (The Master 425 was TSO drop tested at 600 lbs, at 210 kias.) The 1st defense against a tandem terminal deployment is the flat pack. This is to prevent the "instant canopy" result that a propacked reserve can generate at that high of a speed. Second line of defense is the bungee chokers for line stows, as they are designed to prevent line dump. The bungee chokers MUST be tightened on each line stow. Third line of defense is the 750lb kelvar lines with kevlar reinforcing tapes. Kevlar has a much lower friction coefficient than Dacron, meaning that in a high speed deployment, Kevlar lines are much less likely to cause burns to the canopy than Dacron. Kevlar lines, due to their slipperiness (if that is even a word...) , are also much less prone to tension knots than Dacron lines. The trade off of Kelvar lines is of course that they are more sensative to damage during normal handling, but we feel that it is a worthwhile trade off for all of the benefits that kevlar lines offer. If anyone has any specific questions, please feel free to call me at 407-859-9317 or email me at tomnoonan@strongparachutes.com. Best Regards, Tom Noonan Tandem Director Strong Enterprises

Hi Shlomo, The first Master 425 reserves with Kelvar lines were produced in 1984. Strong Enteprises has 23 years of data on this canopy, and we continue to be satisfied with our line choice. I understand that you do not agree with our decision to use Kelvar lines on the Master 425, suffice to say, we are comfortable to simply disagree with your statement regarding Kevlar lines versus Dacron lines. It was a pleasure to meet you at PIA in Reno this year. Ted Strong and I are planning to attend the PIA International Symposium in Barcelona in 2008, if you are able to attend, we'd look forward to seeing you at the Strong Enterprises booth. I'd be happy to bring some of the historical data that we have on the kevlar lines and the Master 425 for you. Best Regards, Tom Noonan Tandem Director Strong Enterprises

Hi Tomas, I've spoken to Chuck McHugh, our resident expert on the Master reserve here at Strong Enterprises in Orlando, regarding your post. The Master reserve has been produced since 1986, and Chuck has been inspecting and recertifying them here in Orlando since 1990. He said that over the last 16 years, he has seen very little damage to Kevlar lines on the reserves that he has inspected, so from our perspective, we wouldn't consider it a trend. That said, of course any time a rigger in the field finds any damage to a line, it would be prudent to have it inspected and replaced when necessary. Strong Enterprises is committed to maintaining the structural integrity of our tandem systems in the field, and that is why we require an 8 year and subsequent 5 year inspections of the Dual Hawk system for airworthyness recertifications. It allows us, (and our designated service reps around the world), to inspect and (when needed) repair gear before any wear poses any potential for critical wear. We believe that our recertification policy is another layer of safety for our instructors in the field. If you have any questions related to the Master reserve, or anything Dual Hawk tandem related, I would be happy to help. Please feel free to call me at 407-859-9317 or email me at tomnoonan@strongparachutes.com Best Regards, Tom Noonan Tandem Director Strong Enterprises

Hi Steve, Okay, here is what I got: USPA is putting together a matrix of situations, including like the one your in, for the Board to consider. They will then come up with a process for getting the USPA Tandem Instructor rating issued. The guidelines should be posted soon by USPA, so members have as much time as possible to wrap up any additional requirements. I trust that the people working on this at USPA are going to do their best to make sure the conversion process is as streamlined as possible. Hope that helps. Best Regards, Tom Noonan Tandem Director Strong Enterprises

Flips out the door increase the potential for a side spin, or an unstable drogue deployment. Head down tandems, sit flying tandems and pommel horse type tandems place additional unnecessary stresses on the gear, and increase the likelyhood that a premature deployment of either the main or reserve would produce catastrophic results. Best Regards, Tom Noonan Tandem Director Strong Enterprises

Hi JP, I agree with you that there is not a singular cause for the issues that have led to the current state of the tandem industry. But I, and alot of others, would disagree that carnival ride tandems aren't creating dangerous situations. Are there other factors? Yes, I would say there are, and we're definitely trying to investigate and correct them all. I can't speak on the probationary period that you mentioned, as I only have a Strong Tandem Rating. I can say though, that our course, as it was created by Bill Morrissey many years ago, is a complete course of tandem instruction, and that when our instructors graduate the course, they are ready to take the tandem public on skydives. That hasn't changed since Bill wrote the syllabus. The issue you bring up, and I would agree that it is a very good one, is how do we help our instructors maintain focus long after the courses are over? I would hope that anyone that has spoken to me about tandems while I was on their DZ, or talked with me on the phone, or emailed me with tandem questions, has been able to see how genuinely interested I am in helping create a safer tomorrow for our future tandem students. I know I don't have all the answers, but I do know that being able to work with great people like Jay, Kip, Jim (Crouch) and Nancy, that together we will be able to effect (affect?) a positive change for the tandem industry. And if that wasn't enough, I'm proud to say that I was able to bring Bill Morrissey out of retirement...lol He will be back at Strong Enterprises this Fall helping us address all these issues. If anyone has any suggestions or ideas on how to help, by all means, please email me at tomnoonan@strongparachutes.com or call me (after Aug 2nd) at 407-859-9317. I am all ears, the more people we get together, the more ideas we can pass around. Best Regards, Tom Noonan Tandem Director Strong Enterprises

Hi Steve, I don't want to speak on behalf of USPA, but I think it's fair to say that Jim Crouch is working incredibly hard to formulate a plan that will make this transition as painless as possible. Your situation, having already earned an Instructor rating in another discipline is a scenario that I imagine is pretty common and will affect alot of people. I'm confident that USPA will devise a plan to account for that in their decision making process. I will be back in Orlando on August 2nd, I will call Jim when I get back and see if he can address your speciific situation. I will let you know as soon as I hear back. Best Regards, Tom Noonan Tandem Director Strong Enterprises

Hi Steve, There were a few topics covered in some posts that I wanted to elaborate on, so I thought I'd reply to yours and do a "catch all post", hopefully it will help explain some things better. As Jan mentioned in her post, the catalyst of this meeting was the carnival ride tandem jump and how it's affecting the overall safety of the tandem industry. There were many converations in Reno at PIA about it during USPA S&T meetings as well as at seminars and such. The problem was that all these necessary conversations were occuring in small groups sporatically around the Symposium, and this meeting in Deland was an attempt to get everyone in the same room to have a singular conversation. The goal of that meeting was simply to answer the question "How can we make the tandem industry safer?" A big part of that answer lies in the tandem exemption ending. Prior to the exemption ending, manufacturers had full authority to enforce tandem instructor accountablity for unsafe jumping. Once the exemption was lifted, that enforcement authority became a grey area of sorts, and a primary goal of this meeting was to ask USPA to "step up to the plate" (Bill Morrissey quote) and fill in the gaps on policing tandems that the exemption ending created. The other major goal of the meeting was to ask USPA to use it's national resources to help provde continuing education information to tandem instructors. As it currently stands, if you want continuing education of gear updates, tandem training techniques and SOPs, your only option is to receive that information from us, the manufacturers. We (the manufacturers) all do our best by updating websites and posting here online, but we felt that there is no such thing as too much tandem education and training information, so we asked USPA to help get that information out using their resources, to which they have agreed. This is truly an exciting time to be part of the tandem industry, there are alot of good people out there working hard to make sure that every tandem skydive that is made is done as safely as possible, we owe it to our passengers to give them our best on every jump, and this whole process is simply a more unified way to get there. We spent 8 hours in a conference room at UPT that day to formulate a collective plan for a future of tandem skydiving that embraced safety and training. I for one, left that meeting feeling as though we accomplished alot that day to that end. We will all get through this transition together, that I am sure of. Why you ask? Because for the 1st time everyone is on the same page. Only good things can come of that. If i can answer any questions, please feel free to email me at tomnoonan@strongparachutes.com. I am on the road until August 2nd, and will try to check my email every day. Or you can call me at the factory August 3rd at 407-859-9317. Best Regards, Tom Noonan Tandem Director Strong Enterprises

My intention here is not to reply to any one person specifically on this thread, but simply to offer a manufacturer perspective on the issue of backflying video under tandems. Whether filming tandems while on one's back, belly, or any axis/orientation, it is imperative that the videographer never drift directly under or directly above the tandem pair on exit, in freefall, or during deployment, whether by accident or on purpose. If it occurs by accident, then the videographer must recognize that they are not ready to film tandems from that axis, and must take the personal responsibility to go off and practice on non tandem skydives until they are able to remain out of the danger zones above and below the tandem pair during the entire tandem jump. Tandem jumps are not the place to practice such flying. If a videographer is drifting under or above a tandem pair on purpose, then I would recommend that videographer review the history of incident reports relating to tandem video. Whether they think it's no big deal flying under tandems, or worse, they are able to comprehend it's risks and do it anyways, they are needlessly placing their tandem pair in potentially catastrophic danger by choosing to fly that way. No one can outfly Mr. Murphy (Murphy's Law). Why not fly directly above the tandem? Premature tandem deployments (by accident or on purpose) can and do happen periodicaly. We can never know exactly when. We must assume it will occur on every tandem skydive. Why not fly directly below the tandem? Again, premature deployments of the videographer's gear can and do happen periodically. Videographer's containers can go through 10-20 loads a day, often packed quickly to make turn around loads. All it takes is a "I can get through the day with this worn closing loop and change it when were done" mentality, and the chances of a premature container opening increases ten fold. Aside from premature openings of either the tandem container or the videographer container, another critical control measure is fall rate. A videographer directly under a tandem can easily cork up in the tandem with catastrophic results. And a tandem pair can also accelerate during a normal deployment as they fall away from the drogue they are releasing from. Both scenarios increase the likelyhood of a mid-air collision. As an industry, I believe that we must collectively recognize that every tandem jump that we make, as either instructor or videographer, carries with it an awesome responsibility. We are %100 responsible for the safety of our passengers and must do everything within our power to ensure that every tandem skydive is conducted in the safest manner possible for the student. I'd be happy to discuss any of this offline if anyone has any questions or comments, feel free to call me at the factory (407) 859-9317 or email me at tomnoonan@strongparachutes.com. Best Regards, Tom Noonan Tandem Director Strong Enterprises

We have updated our website www.strongparachutes.com with a Quasar II Service Bulletin #26 Progress Report, including serial numbers of modified container (we are attempting to update that list weekly), post-modification packing procedures, and some video and pictures of Mr. Strong making live evaluation jumps on the modified reserve tray system. I am also attaching here a picture of the old (left) reserve pilot chute and new (right) reserve pilot chute for comparison purposes (it was asked for from an earlier post). While I'm posting here, I just wanted to take a moment and say thank you to everyone that has offered their support to Strong Enterprises during this Quasar II Service Bulletin #26 recall for modification. We have received all of your calls and emails offering us your support and understanding, and every one of them has really made a difference for us here at the factory. All of your support and best wishes have been (and continue to be) very much appreciated. Best Regards, Tom Noonan Tandem Director Strong Enterprises

Hi, Hopefully I can address the issue that you described. Since 1995, the rear (toggle) reserve risers for the Dual Hawk have had a piece of Type 1 webbing sewn across the riser, just below the L-bar to prevent the reserve steering line brake loops from possibly creating the scenario you have described. It was considered a possibility pre-1995, hence the addition of the Type 1 webbing. Strong Enterprises has not received any incident report regarding this issue. The Dual Hawk manual (page 7), under "Layout and Assembly", references the need to pass the brake lines through the Type 1 webbing. Page 8 has a picture of it as well. (I attached a picture here as well to this post.) To answer the question, if it has happened to anyone else, we have no record of it here at the factory. Our database goes back to 1988 for tandem incidents. If you have any specific questions or if you have access to the incident report and would like to forward it to me for our files, please feel free to call me (407) 859-9317 or email me at tomnoonan@strongparachutes.com. Best Regards, Tom Noonan Tandem Director Strong Enterprises

My 1st skydive was as a tandem passenger on a Strong Dual Hawk tandem system. My 1000th skydive was as a tandem instructor at the same dropzone, that (completely unplanned) I ended up using the exact same Dual Hawk container system that I had made my 1st jump on. I then moved to Orlando this past year to go to work for Strong Enterprises, and as I was approaching my 2000th jump, I thought, it would be most appropriate for it to be a tandem, but also wanted it to be something I'd look back on and remember, so I sent Mr. Strong an email and asked him if he would be interested in taking me on a tandem for my 2000th skydive. The reply I got back: "LET'S DO IT!", and a week or so later, we were headed down to the Florida Skydiving Center to make the jump. I was at 1998 jumps, so we decided that I would take him on a tandem for my 1999th jump and we would switch roles for my 2000th, and he would take me. So that's my 2000th jump story: Ted Strong took me on a tandem. Technically a "work jump" in our "office in the sky"....lol. but definitely still a fun jump. Best Regards, Tom Noonan Tandem Director Strong Enterprises

Hey Tim, No worries, that's what were here for. I just got back to Orlando, but will make sure I get that picture online for you here tomorrow of the 2 different reserve pilot chutes. As for closing the container, the kicker flap goes on top of the reserve free bag (the first soft flap became the kicker flap), and it is closed in the same manner as before, (PC compressed on top of kicker flap). The other thing to note is that the Quasar II manual (page 30) states to "add 1/4" to closing loop lengths for Flinger equipped Quasar IIs. With the removal of the Flinger, the closing loop lengths for these containers will need to be shortened by that "1/4" inch. All loop lengths and the "1/4" for Flinger and AADs is noted on the same page. Any questions about loop length, just give us a call here at the factory. The turn around on the containers has been really amazing. The entire factory is working together to ensure that we get the containers turned right around. Airtwardo posted a link above I believe (I'm not that good at clicky links), to our website www.strongparchutes.com, which has an online running total of rigs received, serviced and shipped. We received over 100 back already, and over half of those are already on thier way back to their owners. As for modification verification (great question by the way), we are inserting a card with the packing data card verifying that the mod has been done on that specific container's serial #. We are also in the process of creating an online database on our website, it will be there indefinitely, that will list all Quasar II's that have been serviced in cronological order by serial #, so that any rigger, DZO, or skydiver can go online and verify if a specific container has been modified. We should have the list up within a few days, and updated weekly. We also welcome any rigger/DZO or skydiver to call us as well if they don't see thier serial number online to get a confirmation. (407) 859-9317. Thank you for your continued support, it is very much appreciated. Best Regards, Tom Noonan Tandem Director Strong Enterprises

Hey Patrick, That sounds like a great idea for a video, thank you. We have been flooded with rigs since Monday, so it may be a week or so before I can get to the video, but I will most certainly make one and post it on here for you. Thank you for your continued support, it is very much appreciated. Best Regards, Tom Noonan Tandem Director Strong Enterprises

Hi Alex, I totally understand your frustration. As both a skydiver and Strong Enterprises employee, I will try to help as best I can. I think the most important issue to address is your concern regarding For what it's worth, I can tell you, as an eye witness in freefall, that the reserve tray modifications to the Quasar II are absolutely functional. It was test jumped in the closed main container scenario identical to Terry's video. The test jumper? Mr. Strong. I mentioned in an earlier post about Strong Enterprises commitment to our customers, and I think this is a great example of it. Despite a factory full of skydivers/test jumpers 100% willing to do the test jumps for the mod, Mr. Strong insisted that he be the one to test the new mod. I think I can help address/answer your other questions as well, but I don't have too much time left at the moment, and I want to address them fully, rather than give you an abridged version here online. I will be back in Orlando Friday, give me a call if you can 407-859-9317, or shoot me an email at tomnoonan@strongparachutes.com, and I will answer all your other questions. Best Regards, Tom Noonan Strong Enterprises

Hi Tim, I'm still on the road at the moment, but got a few minutes to go online, and wanted to repy to your post. It's a kicker flap, not a kicker plate. & The new PC has a smaller bottom diameter. I will be back in Orlando by Friday, feel free to give me a call at the factory, 407-859-9317, I'd be happy to discuss any other questions you may have with you. (You can also shoot me an email at tomnoonan@strongparachutes.com) Best Regards, Tom Noonan Tandem Dirtector Strong Enteprises

My apologies, I am now out of the factory headed out on a trip, I will be back late next week. Unfortunately, I was not the person that picked up the container in MOAB, so I can't answer your question, but I will check when I return. Best Regards, Tom Noonan Tandem Director Strong Enterprises

Forgive me if I am answering these posts out of order, I'm doing my best to get through them and answer the emails and cails today. Original tests on the Quasar II and Quasar II with Flinger were successful. Basically as we have seen in our recent testing which lead to the Service Bulletin/temporary grounding: We tested it as pack closure, main tray closed, riser covers closed, and we got 3 consistent results. 1) Hang up like we were informed of by Terry; 2) Weak reserve pilot chute launches like we saw in that video that is posted on this thread; and 3) clean strong pilot chute launches. Enough of each 3 were seen to confirm that there was as issue in this configuration. We also tested in a main out scenario, open container, open riser covers. We saw consist clean strong reserve pilot chute launches in this configuration again and again. Obviously, we want both scenarios to provide the same consistent clean strong reserve pilot chute deployments, hence the SB & recall. Best Regards, Tom Noonan Strong Enterprises

Hi Derek, Yes, there was a Quasar II that one of our employees picked up last year, I believe at MOAB, and brought it back to the factory for testing. The background is that our rep never actually saw the reserve pilot chute hang up, but it was explained to him by the customer that he pulled the reserve handle before a repack off the dropzone, and experience a similar scenario to what is currently occuring. We only had the information given to us by the customer to go on, not having actually seen the reserve pull. We brought it back to the factory, packed it, pulled it, packed it, pulled it, over and over again, 20 times, and all tests that we performed showed a clean, strong reserve launch. We sent it back to him saying that we tested it and tested it, and were unable to duplicate the issue that he described. We never took an attitude of "19 out of 20 is okay". When we sent it back to him we firmly believed that the rig was in correct working order. As I mentioned in the Press Release, we are active skydivers here at the factory, including Mr. Strong, and we jump our Quasar IIs all over the world. We value our lives and the lives of our customers more than to simply say "19 out of 20" is an acceptible risk. If we had any sincere belief that there was an issue with the Quasar II prior to this issue arising, we would not have kept jumping our own gear all this time or allowing our customers to do so. Strong Enterprises considers our customers part of our extended family, and anyone that has ever stopped to talk with any of us on a dropzone or stopped by the factory for a tour knows how much we value each and every customer that we have. I will continue to try my best to answer as many questions possible here online. I can also be reached at tomnoonan@strongparachutes.com and at (407) 859-9317. We truly regret that this situation has occured and are doing everything within our power to make sure that our customers are back in the air with their Quasar IIs as soon as possible. Best Regards, Tom Noonan Strong Enterprises

Yes, it looked the same to us. In our testing not every Quasar II experienced the same hang up of the reserve pilot chute in the total malfunction scenario (Main still in the tray, riser covers closed). Some cleared the container (as in the video posted) and others didn't. Even one pilot chute hang up is still too many though, hence we tested every possible configuration/size to ensure we had all the data we could gather. As for the weak launch that did clear the tray in the video, would it have worked? I would say, yes most likely, but we want to ensure that all configuration result in the same powerful launch that the 1st launch (no main, risers open) showed in the above video. That is what this grounding, recall and modification is meant to ensure. Best Regards, Tom Noonan Tandem Director Strong Enterprises

Terry is correct, all Quasar IIs are temporarily grounded. Both a press release as well as a Service Bulletin will be posted on www.strongparachutes.com tomorrow morning. Best Regards, Tom Noonan Tandem Director Strong Enterprises

Yes, as Terry posted, effective immediately, the Quasar II is temporarily grounded, it includes all Quasar IIs, pre-Flinger as well, requiring a modification of the reserve tray. Attached is a copy of both our Press Release and the Service Bulletin (#26) that address both the problem, and the solution. I have sent Sangiro copies of both asking that they be placed on the front page of www.dropzone.com to reach as wide an audience as possible. Please feel free to contact Strong Enterprises with any questions via email at: sales@strongparachutes.com or calling the factory (407) 859-9317, Monday through Friday 8;30am-4:30pm. Best Regards, Tom Noonan Tandem Director Strong Enterprises

Structurally, the strength of the Y-Mod is that it is fully integrated into the passenger harness. It's not just sewn to the edge of the back pad and the edge of the leg straps. It is Type-8 webbing that runs from the rear of the shoulder webbing (inside the back pad), exiting the bottom of the pad, and is then sewn through the leg strap webbing. I (6'0" tall, 190lbs) have approximately 100 jumps as passenger with the Y-Mod and have never had an uncomfortable canopy deployment or canopy ride with it. We did a tremendous amount of field testing during the summer/fall of 2006 before releasing our press release on it, including all shapes and sizes of passengers, and we received back unanimous positive feedback from our instructors and passengers alike. If anyone is interested in what it looks like, we have pictures on our website at: www.strongparachutes.com just click on "PRESS RELEASE DHT Y-MOD" With a properly fitted harness, the Y-Mod has no job to do. It exists to prevent an improperly fitted harness from posing a safety risk to our future passengers. if I can answer any specific questions, please feel free to email me at tandem@strongparachutes.com or call me at 407-859-9317. Regards, Tom Noonan Tandem Director Strong Enterprises

Hi Rhys, My original post was solely intended to provide our latest newsletter to a global audience, as (with Sangiro's approval) I felt that it had some universal safety info that went beyond manufacturer rating cards. You took an enthusiastic exception to my secondary comment regarding "evolutions" of the Dual Hawk, to which, I believe I was able to answer for you. As I mentioned before, there have been a number of updates (mostly internal) to the Dual Hawk, that you may not be aware of, and I'd be glad to discuss any of them with you. I offered my email and phone contact info for you to address any other issues, but have not heard from you, except for rereading this thread. I am not online all the time, so if you sincerely have a question that you would like answered, I would ask that you email or call me directly. You are then welcome to post any reply that I make on these forums. As for this thread however, it was never intended to be a gear review, it was intended as a safety/education post, so I can't debate the different rigs out there with you here, as I don't feel it would be appropriate. I will be in NZ later this year and would be happy to arrange for you to see the latest version of the Dual Hawk and it's canopies. We can take the rig apart, and I can show you all the updates from the inside out. Regarding the passenger harness, to be fair, i spend alot of time in it these days.....lol, and I find it extremely comfortable. Same goes for the instructor harness, I can spend all day in it and be perfectly comfortable. I will be out of the country until Feb 19th, and will respond to any email/calls I get when I return. Regards, Tom Noonan Tandem Director Strong Enterprises