Geoff, if the pannel should become so mashed up that the bottle carnt be shut off then all the gas can still be dumped out of the system via the dumpvalve. Which i have to agree with you, i dont like them being under the machine either as i said earlyer.

People argue about the position of the dump valve during arming up.. i dont care about that.. i close my dump valve when im waiting to be told to arm up, so i dont forget when im in a rush..its not a big safety danger.. Its diss-arming that worrys me.. id hate to go upto a heavyweight thats got gas in it, lift it onto its side then dump it. Id rather flick the valve and stand back while it vents. If we allow feathers to do somthing- its only fair that heavyweights can abide by the same rules.. in my opinion niether weight class should have the dump valves on the bottom of the machine.

Why is it so hard to have a pipe going to the valve accessable from the top of the machine?