Confidential Reports - Rigging

Testing of some student rigs recently identified a situation where the AAD power cable had been positioned too close to the first pin to allow full pin extraction. The particular equipment involved was the FXC 12000 and the Racer SST Trainer. The situation was identified during a routine field test for AAD calibration. It emphasised the importance of testing units in a mounted configuration and the practice of regular calibration tests. Check your student rigs.

This report was written by the Australian Parachute Federation

Upon deploying his main parachute, a jumper looked up to check his canopy and saw his reserve parachute deploying at the same time. The jumper cutaway and landed on his reserve. This was the first jump that he had done since he had a new RSL installed. The RSL installation was not one that was approved or recognised by the manufacturer.

Conclusions

The rigger who installed the RSL did a retrofit of the javelin RSL system onto a Talon container. Even though this method was not approved by the container manufacturer, it wasn't the design that caused the problem. The rigger had made the RSL too small which would have been a problem on any container including the Javelin. When the risers deployed the RSL was so short that the RSL then pulled the reserve pin which caused the problem.

Recommendations

Under the rules and regulations of the BPA, the rigger was qualified to install the RSL and use the method he choose .However, there is an argument to use only the manufacturers modification or upgrade instructions. The container would then have been approved by the manufacturer as well as the association. The issue here was the price difference; the Javelin RSL method was a lot cheaper to have installed than the Talon method. The real problem was that the rigger did a modification without testing his work. When upgrading or modifying any part of a parachute system it's vitally important to test the functionality of the finished product. It always comes down to the same old questions "why do you blindly trust your rigger" Do some research, find out what your rigger is qualified to do and what experience he has on the type of work that he's about to do. What is his reputation? If it's a modification then don't be afraid to ask how he tested it.

This report was written by Allan Hewitt

During packing a jumper noticed that his pilot chute netting was torn and took it to a rigger to have it repaired. The rigger refused to repair it because he didn't recognise the type of netting and while inspecting it noticed how easily it was to tear it.

Conclusions

The jumper returned the pilot chute to the rigger who recently made it for him and after telling him the problem, the rigger checked the other pilot chutes that he had made and found that the netting failed with as little as 5 lb of pull force. The source of the netting was never established.

Recommendations

Riggers have the same duty as a manufacturer; they must know the source of the material supplier and the specification of the material. Riggers, however, do not have the same quality control procedures in place as a manufacturer so the risk of faulty material is greater. Materials may look the same but have very different strengths. Once again, it's a question of" how good is your rigger and do you trust him/her. The majority of riggers do not have a material test facility, therefore it's common sense for a rigger to buy his materials from a company that does so they can guarantee the quality of the materials.

Manufacturers usually demand a certificate of conformity from their material suppliers and they batch test the materials they receive. If a rigger buys material from a company who hasn't done the above then it's his or her responsibility to test the material to confirm it's suitable before using it on parachute systems.

This report was written by Allan Hewitt