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gjhdiver

Paradactyl landing

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I found someone to sell me a Volplane too, until he realized I was actually going to jump it, not put it in a museum. Then he bailed on me.


That's just silly. I'd sell you mine (when I get it back) but Beatnik has first dibs. I'd jump it, too, but I don't have access to any container big enough and with Capewells.
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I'm still looking for a Barish Sailwing or a Vortex Ring canopy.


Good luck on that. Very few Sailwings were made. I expect to see Lee Guilfoyle (D-50) next month and will ask him if he knows of any; he made a lot of the early jumps on it for David Barish at Lakewood. Even in the late '60s, only a few years after the initial jumps, there was only one floating around PI/Orange, and I only saw it get chopped, never landed. I'll also see Dan Poynter -- he put some jumps on one too.
I think the Vortex ring (at least of the sort Nate Pond jumped -- pictures in several books and web sites) was kind of one-off, but I'll also see him and ask him. His jump was into water.

HW

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I had the OSI on my Delta II, but I cut it down, as all sane people did eventually.



Everyone keeps telling me I am insane for jumping this old gear so, I guess I will have to keep it original.:S

The Sailwing is the unicorn of canopies. I would love to just see one in flight with my own eyes. I think that it would be easier to do like that guy over seas did and build one. Might not be original but I think it would be one of the only ways to have one.

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I got a delta II on its way, ...

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Shipped Monday, so it should arrive at the downtown Winnipeg Greyhound bus depot late this week.

Sorry, but I could not remember your family name or phone number, so you had best check with Greyhound on Friday.

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I had the OSI on my Delta II, but I cut it down, as all sane people did eventually.



Everyone keeps telling me I am insane for jumping this old gear so, I guess I will have to keep it original.:S

Hi Beat

I don't think the problem is the old gear. it's kind of like computer programs. the first/ second generation releases had a few bugs in them.

Maybe someone can help me with this:) if I'm wrong:o

When the delta 2 first came out the suspension lines were all white and had the OSI strap. Due to a unexpected number of mals due to "packing error's"

The manufacture decided to make packing the canopy easier for jumpers that couldn't follow the packing instuctions and came out with different line groups identified by different colored suspension lines. The OSI was also marked with matching colors so the green lines went to the area marked in green etc.

There was still a higher number of Mals than anticapated in the general skydicving community. Some people I think made the OSI work for them.

When the slider came along, I think the people that still had the canopy and wanted to jump them swithched over & % of mals dropped significantly.B|

Soo you wanna jump a Delta 2 with the OSI OK:)You want to jump a Delta 2 and land it:ph34r: use the slider.

Maybe you need two of em one for collecting, one for jumping and landing.:D

FWIW We were supposed to jump the delta 2 with the colored OSI on the "next load" the owner had a high success rate of openings.:)

But he already had the rig on when it came time to jump so we jumped our PC , opened up next to each other and while sitting in the saddle of our round watchesd the delta 2 get very very small before my friend cut it away:S

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The manufacture decided to make packing the canopy easier for jumpers that couldn't follow the packing instuctions and came out with different line groups identified by different colored suspension lines. The OSI was also marked with matching colors so the green lines went to the area marked in green etc.



Well, I cut mine down. not off. I literally halved it's length.

The trick with the colored lines was like you said. You placed them in the wrap at the colored intervals that matched the color of the lines. However, the last set in were blue, and they all had to go in the wrap except just one. The blue line with the wrap opener on it ! If you put that in the wrap too, it wouldn't unwind and you got a streamer.

Also fun was the fact that if you overcontrolled it, and a steering flap got flipped under, you had to cross control it all the way to the ground.

I sold mine to David Layne at Skydive Mobile some years back. I saw the container on eBay a year or so back, so he may still have it there somewhere. I kept the Dac because I can throw it in a sport rig. It's a way to give newer jumpers an idea of what people used to go through to jump on weekends without having to strap them into a rig with pins and cones, capewells, and a nice Talisman reserve on the back of the head. ;)

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Ahhh, Zing and his multi-colored 'Dactyl! That was quite a sight at Ghoulidge.

Had two of them myself. A black one, then a white one. Split the nose slider, too. Used a double stow. During my early "testing the openings" phase, I kept increasing the stows until I reached 6 stows and the canopy streamered. Duh.

My first one, which I got new from Handbury for $190 in June of '77 left me with the main slider at various points of descent. Rarely would it slide all the way down to the links. Most of the time it would stop halfway. I tried splitting it. One half would stop at mid-point of the lines and the other half lower. So I cut the slider in four. Yup.... each part would stop at various points. Made for stressful descents. Finally I took the whole slider off and freepacked the canopy.....no slider, no bag, no line stows. Worked great for the first 24 openings. On the 25th it opened "yesterday," snapped my neck and gave me a "red out."

Soon after got the white Dactyl which had larger grommets on the slider. End of that problem. Super fast, smooth, and for me (lightweight), easy openings. Great canopy.

Photos attached..... Slider at midpoint, no slider, and the white canopy.

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Courious what the loading was on that?

And you said "reserve". Was the Paradactyl a TSO'd reserve? If so I didn't know that.:S



I thought at one time that Perris was using Paradactyl main and reserve rigs for static line students. Mabye that was something else I misunderstood after a "safety meeting".:SB|

Hi uta & zzm,
It wasn't PVA's training program, they used gutter gear and then Cheapo's packed in these red "Maxi-Piglet" type rigs that hank made. The Dactyl's at Perris were being used by "New Dimensions Flite School"(Honchoed by Bob Buhrer and Jerry Swovelin) in the trailer next to the fence on the North side of the Pool back in '82-'84. New D was one of the first AFF programs after Mike Johnston and Jack Gregory went around the country doing the first USPA AFF Certification courses. Me, Bob Buhrer, Jerry and Pat Swovelin, Ross Steer and others were Instructors with the school. And Yes we did use "Double keel Dactyls!!" Had a few mals but as I recall no serious injuries. Landings were "easy!" If anyone recalls "Visions" 8-way team one year used double keel dactyls and I watched them land powder puff with hands off the toggles!! Also 3 stacks easy on!! 'Hope this tidbit of Skydiving history perks up a few more "Safety Meetings!!" Consider that a lot of the Skydivers reading this weren't even born yet when these events occurred!!!!!;)
SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

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<<< Even in the late '60s, only a few years after the initial jumps, there was only one floating around PI/Orange, and I only saw it get chopped, never landed. >>>




Speaking of Barish Sailwings..... back at the Z-Hills Turkey Meet of '77 or '78, Scotty Carbone pulled out his and jumped it around 10 times. Cutaway 6 or 7 of them. But..... he flew and landed a bi-plane at sunset on the last day. I got what may be the only Barish wing bi-plane pixes.

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I love Dactyl drivers. They all prove that all my crazy + scary times were just a warm up to what we called "Dactyl Death Days" ... They'd just fold up at ~70 feet.

But, Hey! Small and Light! The double keel flavor suck less.

Tim, jump another rig or will me your motorcycle. OK? Deal??
Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

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Double keels sure do suck a lot less.

Jerry Swovelin has mentioned how the Double Keels can go into a stable backwards flight mode. It is rare but can happen on opening. I've been told it was confusing before the phenomenon was really recognized, especially if it happened to a student who started drifting off into the distance with control inputs seemingly reversed.

In any case, this is an excuse to post a couple pics that I may not have used yet:

pic 1 Me flying Murray Stevens' Dactyl backwards. Landed it with a backwards roll and no flare. Oops, I got the risers switched when hooking it up. The line configuration is a little weird when laid out to flat pack.
(The photo is quite steady, considering that when Beatnik took it from under his Double Dactyl, he was laughing his ass off at my predicament.)

pic 2 My Sensor, a licensed almost-copy of a Double Dactyl by Ross Witte of Elsinore.


Nice Sailwing CRW pic, 33zulu! Very rare.

[edit]
As for dqpacker's vid of Bart Stonestreet: That shows a single keel jumped, with a very sudden stall during the landing flare. Ouch. Don't pull those toggles very far! The one I jump stalls with toggles not much below the shoulders.

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Double keels sure do suck a lot less.

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I've said this before but I didn't see it in this thread.
"The main difference in a Delta II and a Dactyl is that the Delta II will cover the whole car." :)

Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done.
Louis D Brandeis

Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

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Hi bill,

Re:Bob Buhrer

Isn't he the guy who built the ripcord testers. I got mine in a 'trade' deal with Ray Ferrell many years ago.

Just curious,

JerryBaumchen


Hi Jerry,
'Not Sure?? Bob and Mike Quinn had a metal fabrication shop in South El Monte and there is that probability about him making some kinda Rip Cord Testers. Don't know where Bob is these daze but Jerry or Pat Swovelin should know. BTW, Glad ta' hear from ya'!!:)
SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

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I remember the Double Dactyl rigs. They were being manufactured in Elsinore by someone, Handbury maybe, in the late 70s. Or was it Guardian?

The poor Paradactyl shared the same fate as the medieval crossbow (the weapon, not the canopy.) Crossbows were better than any other stand off weapon of the time like the Dactyl was better than any round of the time. But the crossbow was invented just prior to gun powder and the Dactyl came around just prior to the squares becoming popular.

NickD :)

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I remember the Double Dactyl rigs. They were being manufactured in Elsinore by someone, Handbury maybe, in the late 70s. Or was it Guardian?

The poor Paradactyl shared the same fate as the medieval crossbow (the weapon, not the canopy.) Crossbows were better than any other stand off weapon of the time like the Dactyl was better than any round of the time. But the crossbow was invented just prior to gun powder and the Dactyl came around just prior to the squares becoming popular.

NickD :)



Just prior??? The cross bow was invented around the 4th or 5th century BC. Gunpowder was invented around 8th centruy AD. I think the cross bow had a pretty good run as the preferred stand off weapon there...

-----------------------
Roger "Ramjet" Clark
FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

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