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Since the Vigil misfire on the ground at Atlanta Skydiving Center in March 2004, followed by two in Gap, France, Advanced Aerospace Designs has recalled all of its units. The Belgium company has admitted to a problem with static electricity and is replacing all the units sold to skydivers since September 2003.

The problems with the Vigil are absolutely not acceptable in a field that already has a product now universally trusted: the Cypres. Yet the company has shown an early resilience to critics and a determination to see its product succeed.

Last month, AAD released a status report detailing the static electricity problem.

“Both the French and US misfires in March happened during the repack of the main on the ground,” the report stated. “After this experience, we tested with a 17 KV probe and found that this very high voltage could in some cases trigger the cutter. Previously, we tested our units with static electricity up to 5KV without any incident.”

“We have also found in a few cases that an electrostatic discharge can affect the contrast of the LCD display, causing it to fade,” the report continued. “This problem is only with the display’s contrast and not with the Vigil’s functionality. To alleviate the possibility of future ground misfires or fading displays, we decided to modify the Vigil’s main printed circuit board (P.C.B.) to neutralize the effects of electrostatic discharges. This will avoid future ground activations, even with very high levels of static electricity (up to 20KV).”

“Out of respect to our customers, we have decided to replace ALL Vigils currently in the field with a completely new unit,” the company announced in the report. “These units will have the new P.C.B. already installed.”

Furthermore, U.S. sales rep Kim Griffin announced in a May 17 e-mail that a video will soon be available for download off the Vigil web site showing “what a Vigil (and one of its competitors) looks like being shocked with 25KV of static electricity. (The new Vigil does not fire, as it should, but you may be surprised by what else takes place.)” That video has not shown up as of yet.

Immediately after the ground misfire, Atlanta Skydiving Center decided to replace all of its Vigil units with Cypres II units, and has done so. We have since recommended Cypres units over the Vigil. But we haven’t given up on the Vigil. We just ordered and received a new Vigil with the new P.C.B.

If the static electricity problems ends up being the worst of Vigil’s problems, than the skydiving world will now have a legitimate alternative to the Cypres.

Anyone who has yet to see a Vigil, browse through the manual or scroll through its menu of options is welcome to stop by Atlanta Skydiving Center to check out the one we have in stock at Skydivegear.com. Whether a Vigil is the right choice for an automatic opener for your reserve container is up to you, but we can show you the respective features of both the Vigil and Cypres II while talking about the benefits and drawbacks of each unit when you are ready for a new AAD.