strife

Courtesy of NSA and http://web.archive.org/web/20060710140457/http://www.afn.org/skydive/sta/dta/knives.txt From: Bryan Burke, D&TA at SkyAZ Since the subject of hook knives came up, I thought I would put in my .02 along with a couple instructive stories... A hook knife only costs a few bucks. Buy the small kind, except made of metal instead of plastic. The cheap plastic ones have a reputation for not being very sturdy. The big ones that look fierce and capable actually suck in my experience because the plastic flexes enough that the blades can split around a line, leaving you with a worthless knife stuck in the trash you were trying to get rid of. Put the knife on your gear where it is easy to reach with either hand - chest strap or mud flap (on the shoulder.) Now for the stories... Story one: an experienced four way was climbing out of a C-182 to launch a formation. One guy was in the v of the strut, back towards the prop. His container opened, and the main fell out in front of the strut, still in the bag. There were two skydivers out on the step. They figured their best contribution to the situation was to leave the plane, leaving the guy with the d-bag out tied to the plane, the diver in the door still with the plane, and the pilot, also still with the plane. The main began to deploy after the lines and stuff had all come off the bag. The guy whose rig it was cut away, pulled the pilot chute, and when the stuff didn't leave the plane, he jumped and pulled his reserve. At this point the plane was nosing over and the canopy was partially inflated. The fourth skydiver, a very heads up guy (and to give him full credit, he is also one of the world's best videomen now - say hi to Gus Wing if you know him!) Anyway, Gus whipped out his five dollar plastic knife and cut all the trash off the plane. He confirmed that lines under tension part instantly when touched with a hook knife. The plane landed safely with no damage. But for Gus' presence of mind and possession of a knife, it could have been a very different story. The canopy was recovered and sent in to be relined, not to participate in another adventure until it was inadvertantly cut away on exit because he had a couple inches of cable exposed between the end of the cable housing and the pillow, but that's another story. Story two: even better! Woman gets off student status, gets her own gear. Buys a hook knife because someone on the dz says they are good to have. Is scoffed at by someone who says, "You don't do CRW. What did you buy a hook knife for?" She goes up to try her knew stuff out, solo from a D-18 at 12,000. Climbing out, the reserve opens and goes over the tail. She is now in tow, by her reserve, behind an airplane. She pulls out the hook knife she just bought, cuts free from the reserve, falls clear, and pulls her main. The pilot landed safely. Way to go! The person who witnessed this and relayed it to me said the woman had about 20 jumps. Very heads up, I am proud of her and hope she is still around. Of course, she made a mistake somewhere along the line because the reserve deployed, but the point is she had the technology to fix the mistake. Again, it was one of the plastic cheapo knives. In summary, I know of three people who have cut their own or someone else's parachute off an airplane. (The third was almost exactly like story number one) I only know a few people who have used a knife to cut away from a CRW problem, although these stories certainly indicate that you should have a knife!\ Also, hook knives are great for making new closing loops (so you won't have to cut yourself off an airplane) and for removing jumpsuits when you don't have a handy pair of trauma shears. I figure they might be handy in a crash, too, if you wanted to cut seat belts to get someone out. Final suggestion. Pull the knife out of the pocket a couple times while you are still on the ground. Some of the little snap close ones are almost impossible to get out! I like to run a piece of suspension line through mine to make a loop about three inches long, and use a piece of velcro over the loop to secure it. I carry two hook knives, but then I also have two altimeters, a dytter, and a CYPRES. Call me cautious, I guess. If you are too cheap to buy one, check the lost and found box at your dz. They are pretty common items there.

If your up for some camo have a look at camorigs.com

Im interested to see how the Squirrel Epicene goes for pack vol, i think i prefer the extra length of the containers on the vc1 and 3 over the 2

we have a Vc3 with 168zpx and he packs pretty neat and is relatively soft not sure its 50ci soft however

I have always used the [email protected] with good success

have a look at Brian's videos his common landing errors one has helped me heaps http://www.adventurewisdom.com/

when its good it looks spectacular.

+1 Likelihood Almost Certain. We had an AFF student recently with a compression fracture of a vertebrae on a hard butt landing

yes agree with the sizing, the Forcefield has a reasonably low profile but I have measured for container with back protector on

for some BASE jumps I wear ForceField Airo Vest Has a good low profile removable chest armour etc http://www.forcefieldbodyarmour.com/product/airo-vest/2427

thanks and its a smashing rig

pretty sure I know what that smell was off the door

any clues on the supplier for the same black hardware for home grown projects ? Im going to get me a curv so I will ask if they can buy an extra set of hardware.

I had a similar issue and sent an email off to L&B who said to return it and they replaced it.

So 98 % of the worlds atms still run xp ms making lots of millions in CSAs

http://vimeo.com/29954873

Our Air Movements team at RAAF Laverton back in the early 90s did a mocked up a F117 out of cardboard, guys in ATC where chums with the Channel 10 news chopper and did a scoop live from as they "rushed" to conceal it in the hanger, had the base security team on board keeping people back from the fenceline. Was great, wish i could find the news archive, they had people stopping on the freeway trying to get pics

this is confirmed to by CNN https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bj1mk9qCEAAwHQY.jpg

caught months after the jump. warrants and videos \ seal team 6

at the moment just that it took the southern corridor and confirmed plane came down in Southern Indian Ocean, plane is lost and no one has survived. Nothing about debris finds

Looks like they are going to fly the relatives to Australia, looks like they may have found it.

yes we had more reports on local news about RAAF Orion spotting two objects and HMAS Success is on the scene trying to recover them

latest update is the french satellite surrendered to the unidentified object. maybe there isnt much particular interesting to keep an eye on in the southern Indian

To be fair, nothing out of Tony Abbott's mouth is really credible, he's basically the GWB or Obama of the southern hemisphere. That said, I'm biased because part of me never wants the plane to be found so we can have a good mystery to talk about for decades. A dingo took MH-370?

great stuff.