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So, you joined 4 hours ago to bash Icon? Welcome to the forums and thanks for your valuable insight. Perhaps you shouldn't buy any rig - they've all had reserve issues. Skydiving is not for everyone.

Traveling so just catching up. My wife says that loud and/or smoky exhausts, and/or 120dB music from open vehicle windows are just an alternate way of having “MORON” in large letters written on your rear window.

I think the article was saying that they store energy for four to six hours before discharging back to the grid. In other words, due to their cost per kwhr, they are used to peak-shave rather than store power on sunny weekends for use during the week. This iron battery is being touted as so cheap that you can build gigawatt-hours of storage and store energy over days or weeks rather than hours. That being said, I've heard this song before. I started working with lithium ion batteries in 1995, and since then have tested and evaluated dozens of types of batteries, from advanced lead-acid to lithium sulfur to solid state lithium. And I've seen at least 100 breathless announcements of a new revolutionary battery technology that would solve the energy crisis, store power for weeks, be super cheap, and last for tens of thousands of cycles and tens of years. Aquion was one promising one - a "salt water" battery similar to this one touted for home storage. They actually made it into production before folding, and there are a few of them out there. They don't work well. There have been dozens of others. The lithium sulfur battery. That company (Ovonics) is out of business now. The molten salt battery. Flow batteries (which work but are big $$$ and have environmental problems.) Various sodium batteries. None have worked as well as existing batteries. In the 26 years I've been following these things I've seen exactly two that have proven out - silicon anode and solid state batteries for very small amounts of power storage (think motherboard clock batteries.) Maybe solid state will work out one of these days for high power/high energy storage, but I tend to doubt it based on the charge carrier mobility problem. Or maybe one of these new technologies will come along and prove itself. In the meantime, the two mature technologies out there (lithium ion and lithium iron phosphate) work fairly well.

It’s not about pro Trump and anti Trump. It’s about complicit vs not complicit. Jim Jordan is not just crazy, not just a proven liar on a wild scale, not just an enthusiastic pusher of wild election fraud fantasies, he was literally in the room where it happened when Trump and his team were formulating their ‘let’s get everyone riled up’ pre riot plans. It’s not even just about the bias - you can’t make an investigator out of someone who could easily be subpoenaed as a witness to the things being investigated, and everyone knows that. Putting him forward in the first place is pure Republican political theatre.

?? Not sure that makes sense. On a grand jury to decide on a tax fraud charge, should there be both law abiding people and tax cheats?

Hi Terry, Before that device came into being, I just would use a centerpunch & a ball peen hammer. The centerpunch to slightly spread the end of the rivet & then, ever so carefully, use the hammer to finish. If you take your time, you can make it as good as using that tool. Jerry Baumchen PS) Cash that check.

Do you honestly not understand that you are the hedgehog being talked about? You refuse to see any of these issues in anything but one big absolutist way.

Maybe I'll figure it out. Changing 1 1/2 shot capewells to New Old Stock R3's sometime soon when I get to it. Just got the rivets from Paragear. And yes I have the tool kit also NOS.

Nothing like a little drama to spice up a Friday morning. An AAD fire is not the same thing as a manual pin extraction. I don't know what your agenda is here, but baseless fear mongering is what you are doing.

Wind tunnel is most valuable after they have done a few (2 to 6) stable exits with IAD or static-line. It is generally a good habit to toss them in the tunnel before they start practice pulls. Ten minutes of practice pulls - in the tunnel - will eliminate most fumbles during real practice pulls. If students will progress to assisted freefall, then you toss them in the tunnel for a few minutes to practice the maneuvers they will do during their first assisted freefall. Be sure to toss an AFF Instructor in the tunnel to ensure that they practice correctly. Video is also a great way to debrief tunnel time. Tunnel time gets them over the sensory over-load experienced during their first few seconds of real freefall.

Thats a hesitation. A total is when nothing launches. Can't tell much since the video is from the front. From the side would be way more useful. A hesitation on the bench does not mean it will hesitate in freefall. Freefall is not static like laying on a bench is. If the jumper were to drop a shoulder should it happen in freefall (standard student training, yes?) the shifting of the container and additional airflow over the back will likely clear any hesitation. Just too many variables involved to be blaming the container without specifying exactly what caused the hesitation. Besides the fact that bench hesitations are not unusual on any container (per my master rigger husband with 6k repacks...). Is the closing loop the correct length? One that is too long could cause a hesitation. Are the canopies correctly sized for the container? Over or understuffing can create these sort of issues. More details and a video that actually shows something useful are needed if you are going to attempt to damn the container manufacturer for something that may not be a container issue. Especially on the internet... using a click bait title... in a forum frequented by noobs...

Hi Keith, I consider myself as someone who cares about his fellow man; I vote for most bond issues for police, fire, etc. However, I am with you; tell Hell with them. Jerry Baumchen PS) A week or so ago, the local news had a story about a 37-43 yr old guy who lives in a rather rural town about 35 miles from Portland. As you would expect, he wanted nothing to do with the vax. He got it, spent ~ 4 months in the hospital, got a double-lung transplant; and now believes in the vax. You simply cannot fix stupid; so why try?