Airtec statement on Cypres and Freeflying The Parachute Association of Ireland is in the process of making AADs compulsory for all persons engaging in head down freeflying in Ireland. This will apply to all visiting jumpers. There is no plans at the moment to make AADs compulsory for skydiving in general.
Pondering if PAI will change their decision based on general "choice" arguments, Lucky Dave asked a few question on the rec.skydiving newsgroup which skyXtreme forwarded to the manufacturer of the CYPRES in Germany. Kai Koerner [AirtecKai@aol.com] from Airtec answered.
Dave: Has there been cases of AADs firing (correctly or incorrectly) while jumpers are at head down terminal speeds?
Kai: Yes, plenty. See for example the Airtec commercial (made by Tom Sanders/Arial Focus) on the 1999 "WFFC - the movie" video. Some weeks ago at our neighbour dropzone, a guy slammed headdown without any altitude awareness into the Cypres. He was at home for dinner. He was one from at least (estimated) 80+ freefly saves.
Dave: If so, did the reserve survive the opening?
Kai: We know of one case with 3 broken lines on the reserve canopy.
Dave: If so, did the jumper survive the opening?
Kai: So far, yes.
Dave: Is there any recommendations regarding the packing of reserves for freeflyers using AADs?
Kai: No, that doesn't make sense to me. Freeflyers also have normal malfunctions and need reserve canopies at low speeds.
Dave: Does Cypres have any official comment on the use of AADs for head down?
Kai: Switch it on!
Note from Kai: These answers are related to freeflying. Speed skydiving is a different thing. |
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