Stratos policy change: rocket replacement required with chute repack

[Gfeldman]

Gents,

I have owned my Phoenix since I bought it new in 2016. I sent  Dennis Carly at Stratos in Fla my chute for repacking and got a loaner for use during this process. My chute has been repacked and now Dennis has told me that Stratos requires a rocket change at the same time the chute is repacked. In order to replace the rocket it is necessary to know the length of the activation line and the length and quantities of bridles used on the Phoenix. Do any of you have any idea what these measurements are?

Any help is appreciated,

George Feldman N33GF

 

[Jim Lee]

All I can do is laugh at this question from Dennis and Stratos 07.  Because as I have told Dennis, Josef Straka at Stratos 07 has produced every parachute system for every Phoenix in North and South America.  So his company knows the answer to line lengths.

When I would order a Phoenix, I would pay Josef directly and he would ship the parachute to Phoenix Air, and I would use a rocket from my explosive cache, along with the trigger hardware.

The parachute, handle and cable, and the empty rocket canister would be installed by Phoenix Air in Czech, and I would install the rocket in the USA, due to shipping problems with a rocket onboard.

The deployment handle, cable, and trigger are installed by Phoenix Air.  The cable runs through the channel at your left shoulder, along with wires to the panel.  A new trigger-cable-handle cannot be replaced without cutting out the old cable, running a new cable, and attaching the trigger and handle.  Owners cannot do this.  There is no reason for this to be replaced.  It doesn't go bad.

As to rocket life, Josef sent this to me:

 "But good news is that we made many tests with the rockets. We found very interesting results. Our rockets are not as BRS rockets. Our rockets power, thrust does not decrease with age, conversely the thrust (power) grows with the age.

So we extends temporarily the lifetime of some rocket engines from 6 to 12 years for the rocket engines Magnum 450, Magnum 600, Magnum 1000 Magnum 1500 with effect from 1.5.2015 until further notice.

The customer is therefore obliged to submit only the parachute and other components of the Rescue System for checking up after 5 or 6 years, while keeping the rocket engine saved.

All the process of transport and revision is really easier than. But it is required to send beforehand a photo of the engine to our company with the information, in which environment the rocket engine has been operated and on how it has been maintained. If everything is all right, we can proceed the revision just for parachute. (And also for the Kevlar/aramid  lines, that you use for Phoenix). And the customer can keep the rocket."

I guess "until further notice" has now arrived and Josef has changed his tune for some reason.

I know this doesn't help answer George's question, it is just here fyi.  So the next time someone removes the parachute from the plane, please measure the bridle length so that we can tell Stratos 07 how to manufacture their product since their own records are incomplete.