When I started flying in the Forbes Flatlands I was putting my
gliders bags in the wrong place. This was causing me to be unable to get the
slider all the way back and to work the butt plate on my Skyline harness.
Previously I have flown with all my bags in the d-cells of the ATOS VR, so I
wasn't familiar with where I should place my bags in the Skyline harness. Also
on my Moyes Matrix harness, which I also have here and which I have recently
fixed after it was incorrectly re-assembled at the factory, I could place the
bags all along the back plate without causing a problem. This is not true of
harnesses with butt plates (the Matrix uses a different system).


Vicki at Moyes supplied me with really light weight cross country bag for
Gerolf's glider, so I figured that it would be possible to put it behind my back
over the butt plate and have the butt plate work. Not true. I worked with Olli
Barthelmes when we all went over our harnesses after Andreas Orgler's death, and
he showed me that I had to put my bags in the bottom third of the harness
below/behind the chute pouch.


This did not leave enough room for the glider bag and the other bags that come
with the glider. But, I could stuff the glider bag in the boot around the bullet
shaped foam piece that I push on to straighten the harness and pull the slider
back. Adding the glider bag to the foam solved another problem.


I put food grade silicon spray on the slider so that it would slide as easily as
possible. I also shortened the paraglider type lines that go from the slider to
a sewn in tab near the boot that pulls the slider back when I push on the foam
piece. The glider bag around the foam piece and these other changes, allowed me
to push on the harness, straightening it out. It also allowed me to get the
slider all the way back.


With the slider all the way back and with positive access to the butt plate I
was now able to get my head down and the harness looking streamlined.


Dustin Martin made my foam foot rest for my Moyes Matrix harness (when it was
his). I put it in the Skyline harness as the normal foot piece for that harness
was way too soft to be useful. I've seen that recent versions of the Skyline
Race harness use a fiberglass boot that allows for room to pack you bags and is
stiff, so you can push on it and get the harness straight.