This safety notice only applies to the first LIGHTNESS 3s which were delivered in 2018. If your LIGHTNESS 3 has a white label which says "LIGHTNESS 3" on the base of the reserve handle your harness is not affected by this announcement. To check this you only have to carefully ease the handle base a little way out of its pocket on the harness.
Advance: "The new XC light harness has attracted a lot of interest and we have already received much positive feedback. One flying school, however, has informed us that during reserve release tests in a harness hanger they found a configuration in which release is difficult – considerable effort is required. Even though we never encountered this configuration during development, with its extensive testing and countless simulations including in the G-force trainer, we have decided to make a precautionary update to the reserve handle, so that it will even function with this rather unusual circumstance. All LIGHTNESS 3s delivered from the beginning of 2019 already have the modified reserve handle on the inner container. If your reserve handle does not have the white label, as shown on the picture, it should be exchanged. In this case please contact your dealer. He will install a new inner container with the new handle.
Please accept our apologies for this inconvenience."
IMPORTANT: Releasing a reserve from a harness can be a very complex topic. Many individual factors such as reserve volume, G-loading, pilot physical conformation (arm length), pull direction, pulling technique etc. can affect the process of a successful reserve throwing – from easy to difficult. Despite the fact that we devote a lot of time to this very subject when developing a new harness, and also make many thorough tests in the G-Force Trainer on every new development, it can be, as now with the LIGHTNESS 3, that a particular combination of circumstances can make a reserve release difficult. In every case we recommend that pilots, after installing their reserve in a harness for the first time (irrespective of brand or model), carry out their own test release. This is an essential part of the compatibility test.
Flybubble note: compatibility testing is a usual part of our harness fitting service, included for free when you buy a new harness from us.
Find out more on Harness MATCH
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