Alberto Lanzarote ()
sends this picture of his new Skyline ZD FR harness which he characterizes as
very comfortable and very professional:





William Olive ()
writes:

Have always wanted a Skyline harness, and when Alisdair offered me
his, with a metamorphosi chute, I jumped at it. While Alsidair was checking the
harness, which has less than 20 hours use, he noticed that both shoulder strap
webbings had worn through at the buckles.





Al Daniels, Rick Duncan and Matt Olive all checked their Skyline harnesses and
Al's and Rick's were worn, Al's almost right through. Matt's was fine, the
buckle had a plastic protector and the webbing was intact.


If you own a Skyline harness it might be in your interest to have a look at the
shoulder harness webbing. It is under the neoprene gap cover so you won't see it
ordinarily. I still intend to buy the Skyline harness.

I checked my Skyline harness and found no wear what-so-ever.


Oliver Barthelmes writes:

We are really sorry, to hear that there are still harnesses with
worn out shoulder straps out there. After we found out there was a problem we
immediately released a safety warning to all pilots with a Skyline ZDR. It seems
that not everybody received the information, specially people buying harnesses
second hand. Affected are just harnesses built in 2002.


We solved the problem by shortening the back plate and moving the buckle forward
and covered the back plates sharp edges with a special webbing. After those
changes the problem has not occurred any more. However, we would like to ask
pilots with the same problem or difficulties any other kind of, to contact us
immediately so we can arrange repair or substitution.

In the interest of full disclosure I need to say that I traded
advertising space in the Oz Report for my Skyline ZDR harness (http://www.skyline-flightgear.de/english/hangglider/produkte_uebersicht.htm).
I also have a fully setup (previously owned by Dustin Martin and Kurt Warren)
Moyes Matrix harness (http://www.moyes.com.au/productdetail.asp?ID=47&Cat=Harnesses)
, which I also traded for ad space with Kenny Brown (see earlier articles on
that harness in the Oz Report). I currently fly with the Skyline harness because
lately I have had trouble zipping up my Matrix and have trouble getting it to
rotate as easily as I would like (Jonny Durand worked on it for me at one point,
but it is still not quite right). I hope to take my harness to Moyes in January
to get these issues addressed with me in the harness.


I put the Styrofoam boot that Dustin Martin made for his (my) Moyes Matrix
harness in the Skyline harness as the one that comes with it is too soft (in my
humble opinion). I'm not sure this is the right way to go as my feet get sore
after a while pushing on this Styrofoam boot (this is not the case when I use it
in my Matrix harness). I try to remember to relax my legs, which definitely
helps.


I have covered the boot ends of both harnesses with Shoe Goo. The boot end of
the Skyline ZDR is soft leather, which I don't understand. The boot end of the
Matrix has a sacrificial cover Velcroed on. I used that for a while that just
spread Shoe Goo over the boot itself. I'm thinking even more Shoe Goo.


Both harnesses have integral zippers, no Velcroed in zippers. This is to allow
the harnesses to be quite tight (which I like). But if the zipper blows, you
have to find someone to fix it. Which is one reason that I have two harnesses.


Both have carbon fiber back plates. The end piece of the Matrix back plate is
hinged, and the ZDR end piece slides over the forward piece. These designs allow
you to get upright on landing. Both work well.


I've noticed recently that a little food grade silicon spray help the slider on
the ZDR.


The ZDR uses a kick butt plate to change the angle of the dangle. It works fine
for me. The Matrix uses a cleat that is released when you arch your shoulders.
This is the mechanism that I will get checked at Moyes.


Both harnesses are quite comfortable (after making proper adjustments for the
shoulder straps) and I have had a 10 hour flight in the Moyes Matrix and 7.5
hour flight in the Skyline ZDR.