No disrespect to master riggers, most of them know a lot more about the gear than I do, but:
"Master Rigger" is a skydiving rating not a BASE rating. Not to mention that from what I've read of the books, a lot of what you have to know to get the rating has fu(k all to do with modern skydiving gear, let alone BASE specific gear.
My point? Don't assume that the other guy knows what to look for.
-Josh
:+
The rigger in question who inspected the gear at the bridge was (I am told) Jimmy Pouchert. If you know his skills and experience, you would not put a post out that taints his knowledge. If Jimmy told me a rig was good to jump, I would jump it.
The other riggers (many, and these are the people who build gear for a living) found the same thing Jimmy did, nothing wrong. You cannot be implying that Jimmy would have hooked it up wrong the second time, just aint gonna happen.
What if the housing for the cutaway cable was built in such a way that opening shock may somehow pinch the cable and pull it through the loop at harness loading. I can't make any sense of this, it is very strange indeed.
Point taken though on the fact that "master riggers" are not BASE related.
Why the hell am I sounding like Jimmy's fan club?
RK
My point exactly, Ive got second hand br stuff, im trying to know what to look for. BR's got good stuff but it sounds like their doing damage control. They didnt address the original story if its factual. They pinned it on motorjoe as jumper ##### up, when the story goes that after the first release, Jimmy inspected and reassembled the gear, and If I were Motorjoe Id be inspecting it closely at that point, too. Then the rig releases again. BR seems to have missed that point in implicating motorjoe and clearing themselves. Br is saying "how many idiots does it take to assemble a rig wrong". Apparently, BR is saying the answer is "two" if the original story is factual. Im not getting this at all.....
RK:
My comment was a general one, and not intended to imply anything about this particular incident or the people involved.
The title "master rigger" in and of itself just doesn't mean that much.
As for this incident I'm as baffled as anyone, but I don't believe that this problem isn't solvable.
Which side released?
How much excess cable is there on each side on a comparable rig?
Is the cutaway housing continuous or is it possible to misroute it inside the mudflap or back?
Was the cutway handle intact on landing?
Was there anything on the jumpers clothing that could've snagged one of the cutaway cables either between the handle and the bottom of the mudflap or up by the shoulder near the 3 ring?
I could see a snap or zipper catching one cable and pulling it down on opening shock, but I get a little skeptical when it happens twice in a row.
Those of you who have comparable rigs, try to reproduce the problem on a rainy day and get back to us.
-Josh
Some people like Tom have a clue, you have the responsibility to know your gear before you jump it, Ideally, you should be a knowledgeable rigger. if you are not, take the spankins. It all comes down to responsibility. When you jump, you are taking responsibility for every stitch. when I was working at one of Europe´s biggest rigging shops, I saw, read about, FU from every manufacture I think.
of course we get down now to the jumper. Have you ever declined to jump a set up because you thought the retaining loop was a few mm too long/short? Do you even know the dynamics of a 3ring? how it works? The manufacturers of base and skydiving gear are doing their best to make stuff good, mistakes are possible from every angle, from jumper to Manu to Murphy...You are responsible for what you do.
take care
space
Hi Karen:
Can you tell us what type of Basic Research rig this was?
Was it a newer or older model?
--Tom Aiello
tbaiello@ucdavis.edu
I thought it was pretty clear that BR was unable to conduct a complete examination because the rig was disassembled when it arrived in their shop.
I trust Jimmy's evaluation, and I also trust Todd's and Bill's. If you think BR is covering something up, you should remember that the problem occured a second time after Jimmy inspected and re-assembled it. So whatever it is, Jimmy missed it too.
I think what we have here is a subtle problem that had a great effect. If we can figure out what it was, we'll all be a little safer. Pointing fingers isn't going to speed the process.
If Jimmy, Todd, and Bill missed the error, so could I. I'm a rigger, and I take pretty good care of my gear, but I think I know just enough to realize how big the gap in my knowledge is, and that subtle problems which I might not even have thought of could cause me a major headache. That's a risk I take every time my feet leave the edge.
Michael
The rig in question was a Reactor 3.
I'd also like to make clear the fact that we are not placing blame or avoiding blame in this situation. If there had been something out of spec with this system, we would have reported that. We did fully report our findings that there was nothing wrong with the gear itself. I almost would prefer to have found a short cutaway cable or something else to explain what happened. Not having an explanation is quite unsettling, to put it mildly! Additionally, we all here at BR completely respect Jimmy Pouchert and his skills as a rigger. Jimmy inspected the gear and found nothing wrong, we trust his judgement and our inspection confirms his assessment. We sure wish we had received the gear as it was immediately after the second incident. There would have been more evidence to look at if the gear had been left AS IS, but we didn't get this benefit. To get to the point, we certainly didn't intend any slur against Jimmy or his skills. He is awesome.
And finally, Thank the Goddess Motor Joe was over the river.
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