Really bad gear ideas

[deadwood 0]

And speaking of bad ideas, my friend Mike didn't like the "reliability" of the part of the OSI that had the velcro OSI closure strap pulled off by the nose inflation. He attached the velcro strap to a separate line that went down to his main riser. After the canopy "opened" he would pull the strap and release the OSI to complete the opening sequence.
Alas, this didn't work very well either.
I still jump my Delta II Parawing (AKA Dildo II Paranoid) once a year. I just don't use the OSI and do a "pop and hop".
Its a very interesting canopy.

He who hesitates shall inherit the earth.

Deadwood
Skydive New Mexico Motorcycle Club, Touring Division

[masher 1]

Whats a blast handle?

--
Arching is overrated - Marlies

[mjosparky 3]

Quote

Whats a blast handle?

It was a style of ripcord handle used in military jets. It was shaped like a T and snapped over the end of the ripcord housing. It had to be pulled straight down or it would not come free of the housing. It was designed to withstand the "blast" of ejection and not deploy. It was latter adapted to sports use. Unless the center was drilled out it sometimes would hang up and eventually was banned by USPA. I have always wondered how USPA could ban something that was TSO'ed and approved by the FAA.
Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[indyz 1]

Quote

Whats a blast handle?

A blast handle is a handle that is designed to take a large wind blast without activating. Basically it's a T-handle with a ripcord attached at the base of the T with that is slid into a metal housing. From PPM Vol I: "The aluminum plug center post surrouding the cable and protruding into the housing makes all but straight out pulls very difficult... In 1968, the USPA banned blast handles because of hard pulls."

PPM Vol I also has a great picture in section 6.15.1, if somebody wants to scan it.

[Tonto 1]

Last hope rope? We called that a "Chicken string" here. When I bought my 1st rig, I went on a Jumpmasters course and they mentioned 15 things which had killed people. My rig still had 5 of them at the time...

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[markbaur 0]

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...15 things which had killed people. My rig still had 5 of them.

What were they?

Mark

[Tonto 1]

Fuck! It was 18 years ago...

Bellyband... plastic reserve handle... chicken string.... Acid mesh maybe - the DOM and serial number had been cut out of my reserve... and a home hade pin for the throwout which had the chrome peeling off from the braize, which had hooked up a few closure loops before.

The others were more accademic, things from the past which never concerned me at the time.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[tbrown 26]

Unfortunately, if you dropped the ripcord, it would sometimes entangle with the reserve.

[NickD 1]

The year is 1979 and I’d just blown up my Tri-Conical reserve after a total (happily landing in the water of Lake Elsinore). I later find myself in Dean Westguard’s gear van looking for another reserve canopy. I had $200 in cash and a 31-15 Singer sewing machine head to trade.

"Here's what you need," Dean said, "it's a brand new reserve from Pioneer."

It's all white and made of the flimsiest material I ever felt on a parachute.

"Gee, Dean, you can see right through this stuff. And the lines don't even go through the canopy. I mean look, they are just sewn to the skirt!"

"That material is called F-one-eleven,” Dean said, “and mark my words all canopies some day will be made of it."

"Haven't you got an old Navy Conical or something in there . . .?"

But Dean was right, the canopy was a Super-22, and I carried that reserve around on my back for many years and even used it once or twice.

Nick
D-8906

[tbrown 26]

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Much cheaper and eaiser is to freepack a canopy witha tailpocket and attach a pud handle to the leading edge of the canopy (NOT RECOMMENDED AT ALL!)

In the late seventies, there were a few jumpers who actually did that. Nick Lucas from the Exitus team was one. You could spot them because there was no pilot chute anywhere and a pud handle dangling down from the center cell on the leading edge. I think a couple people got cocooned in their canopies and the fad died out pretty quick.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[format 0]

Well, this was good read.

What goes around, comes later.

[dpreguy 14]

1 line stow and stack the lines. "Coil of Death". Lotta jumps on that idea

[hcsvader 1]

This a great thread!
Really cool to see how some of the ideas on removable deployment systems and sliders people thought were bad 11 years ago have become common today.

Have you seen my pants?
it"s a rough life, Livin' the dream
>:)

[wmw999 2,122]

Thanks for resurrecting this thread -- it was a fun thread, wasn't it?

To me, the super-hard, super-tiny rig, particularly with boxed-in corners, strikes me as a really bad gear idea. Yeah, it looks cool, but if you ever tried to get a styrofoam box out of the cardboard box encasing it, you can understand why it might not be a perfect idea.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[erdnarob 1]

In late 70s I have seen a friend of mine jump a modified C8 round parachute (cheepo) equiped with an inverted apex like a ParaCommander. They just put two ½" tubular nylon tapes from the apex to the front riser links. The performance was quite better and landings OK.

Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

[jumpwally 0]

isn't the new Vector ripcord kind of like that ? or does it come all the way out of the housing ?

smile, be nice, enjoy life
FB # - 1083