Advance Impress 3 reserve container issues
Subject: IMPRESS 3: Service Bulletin
As a result of new information the IMPRESS 3 reserve inner container has been remodelled and the permissible reserve volumes for the S and M size harnesses adjusted. The new container can be obtained free of charge from our dealers.
In recent weeks it has come to our notice that a few IMPRESS 3 pilots have had difficulties releasing their reserve parachute. Of course we take this seriously and have carried out and assessed hundreds of releases with various pilots and dealers. After detailed analysis, and after talking to the harness certification authorities we have come to the satisfactory conclusion that the current system works without problem, so long as the instructions in the manual are followed and the technical requirements adhered to.
It is clear that, independent of model, there are configurations (and always will be) that don’t work properly. These can be avoided by a proper compatibility check - always required for every reserve installation.
Having carried out all these tests we found that the formula for calculating the volume of a reserve (weight in kg x 2.7 = volume in litres) results in only a gross approximation: so from now on we will be specifying the maximum volume for each harness size. The IMPRESS 3 L remains at 7 litres, the M becomes 6.5 litres and the S has a maximum volume of 6 litres.
This large testing programme has certainly been of value to us. On the one side we can say with a clear conscience that the system is ok, on the other we were able, using the experience gained, to modify the inner container so that even more combinations will work flawlessly.
So that present as well as future IMPRESS 3 pilots can benefit from this improvement we have decided to give all IMPRESS 3 owners this new container. Progressively from March 21st we will be delivering our official dealers the appropriate number of inner containers so that you can supply this new pod free of charge for all the harnesses you sold already.
This new pod also replaces the version delivered from January, 2012 which brought an improvement for the reserves to the superior limit of the volume.
Team ADVANCE