PetethePilot 0 #1 September 16, 2015 A friend of mine is doing a PhD. on skydiving safety, and has asked me for help on some historical stuff. I've contributed what I remember, but it would be helpful to have some actual datasheets. If anyone has any such docs on old gear, like Paradactyls, Thunderbows and similar stuff, would you be willing to send me scanned copies of it? Weight, pack volume, limitations - anything like that. I realize lots of these things were not built by companies with bureaucracies and the resulting paper trails, but most of the manufacturers at least sent a few photocopied pages of recommendations when you bought one of their items. Email is [email protected] Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pchapman 261 #2 September 16, 2015 Check rigging documents sites? People (including myself) have uploaded manuals for some old canopies there. parachutemanuals.com http://www.ukskydiver.co.uk/cms/index.php?/files/ Poyters vol 1 is another obvious source for brief info on canopies. Of course there's always more to what a canopy is like than what is in the manual.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PetethePilot 0 #3 September 16, 2015 pchapmanCheck rigging documents sites? People (including myself) have uploaded manuals for some old canopies there. parachutemanuals.com http://www.ukskydiver.co.uk/cms/index.php?/files/ Poyters vol 1 is another obvious source for brief info on canopies. Of course there's always more to what a canopy is like than what is in the manual.... Great tip, thanks - didn't know about that site. Yes, there is always stuff that isn't in the books, but I'm not looking to jump or service any of these things, just some historical info to cite. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Absolut 0 #4 September 16, 2015 You might find some stuff here: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?forum=21;. Hope this helps Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Socrates 0 #5 September 17, 2015 And have him look up the TSO testing specs for certification, both the current ones and old versions. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riggerrob 558 #6 September 18, 2015 Warn your buddy that more early specifications were written by marketers than engineers. Quick riddle: what is the difference between a marketeer and a compulsive liar? Hah! Hah! On a more serious note, I have published my half-page rant about different canopy measuring methods a few times on dz.com. You might want to read my rant (in Canpara magazine circa 1983) about wing-loading. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
