darkwing

In many cases it is easy and cheap to cut a jumpsuit down to accommodate weight loss. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

An appalling length of time and opportunity to fix the problem went by. It is interesting for me to reflect on the number of similarly bad decisions that have been made by pilots when I have been in the aircraft. It can be fun if you live through it, although it isn't always. One pilot I said I'd never fly with again, and I didn't. Another I should have told the same thing, but didn't. He's dead now, and took some with him. Nobody was surprised. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

What do you do with the nose of the canopy when you pack? I'm a little unclear on your description. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Note to newbies-- NEVER try to grap a cutaway canopy or free bag. There is a significant chance things will go very badly for you. Of course a good teammate often would chase a cutaway, but not into danger. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Only slightly off topic... I think I recall back in the 70s at Pope Valley DZ they had a bunch of mock rigs for the "Aqua Beech". The rigs were just military surplus backpacks. They had a mock door at the edge of the swimming pool for exit practice, especially 10-way. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Interesting. I owned a blast handle rig in the old days, and was never aware of the knob guide. By the way, I liked the blast handle at the time and even now don't think they are a bad way to do it. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I wish I did. That was some great film. I watched it many times. I'm pretty sure when I saw it it was either BJ's copy or Rande Deluca's. I don't think there were many copies. Possibly only one. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Can you be more specific? My experiences seem to be overwhelmingly contrary to yours. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I built, from scratch, quite a few canopies, starting in the mid 1970's. That seems close to the design time frame you are in. My initial strategy was to copy an existing canopy. It was a 189 square foot foil, a very under appreciated canopy. It flew great. My teammates liked them too. Building a copy gives you a big advantage when you first jump a canopy you built. Later, after I was confident in my construction methods and skills, I started doing my own designs. There are some minor and major tricks to it, some of which have been mentioned above. I'll be glad to share with you. PM or email me and we can talk on the phone or Skype. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Send it to me and I will analyze it in my electron microscope. Really. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

It isn't wind speed that can collapse a canopy, it is turbulence. Your instructors can tell you more. Don't worry. Jump. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

A long time ago I made a canopy with only a single riser on each side. So the slider only had two grommets and was shaped like a pointy ellipse. It was also domed. It worked fine, but I didn't really see any advantage, although maybe these days we could save lives if there weren't front and rear risers to do tricks with. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Historically it has often very difficult or impossible to protect the evidence or have qualified people inspect it. There are lots of cases where crucial information has been lost because the police took it, and refused to take advice on handling. I suspect these days things are often better, but there are still problems. Perhaps the most likely scenario is at a smaller, isolated dz which hasn't had a fatality before. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Back in the 70's in my loft we had a pattern to make a c-9 into a parasail. The D-rings on this pretty much make it look like that is what this one is. Still, it is probably jumpable as a main. If you put steering lines on it. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

And lawsuits. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the drownings of naked jumpers who went through a cloud. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Glass would work, but I wouldn't recommend it for other reasons. When I built canopies I used a sharpie and could very quickly trace around a template made on almost anything that was fairly stiff. Then I would remove the template and cut with the hot knife. I think I had some templates made from tempered masonite (not transparent) and could cut those without tracing. I am a little curious why you need transparency? Pretty much any thing transparent is some version of plastic or glass. I don't know anything about high temperature transparent plastics. Part of the issue is how heavy your hand is with the hot knife against the template material. Cutting canopy fabric you can use a very light hand, but cordura and such require a heavier hand. Then there is the alternative of using a rotary cutter, much more expensive, but not hot at least. Generally used for stack-cutting. For one-off cutting I think a hot-knifed edge is better though. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I have jumped 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9-cell canopies. Some were add-on extensions to smaller canopies, and some were built that way. I seem to recall that I did some work for others that involved adding two cells to 5-cell canopies. It generally worked quite well. It wasn't hard to do, and generally was much cheaper than a new canopy. It could also be un-done if desired. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Stop reading. Go jump. Then read. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

For me this was a pleasant trip down memory lane. For younger jumpers it might be terrifying. I loved the casual toss of the reserve, and its leisurely inflation. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Thanks! Lots of nice memories and reminders there. I think lots of current jumpers could take some exit lessons from a couple of the exits that are shown. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

They don't re-dye them though. That is never done. The mfr doesn't do the original dyeing, which is done before the fabric is woven. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

In 50 years your logbooks will be one of your most prized possessions. Not so for your protract. Log every jump. Each jump is a story. Tell it. Write down tail numbers from aircraft. Google them a few years later. It is very unlikely you will regret writing too much. Very likely you will regret writing too little. I have logged every jump since my first one, in 1973. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Brian, I think you and I have different version of what a rodeo is. How can two people with the surface area of one person fall that slow? -- Jeff My Skydiving History

A note on soft opening canopies--ANY canopy can open very hard. I feel confident in saying that there isn't a modern canopy that hasn't hammered someone. I have a few hundred spectre jumps, and one was a crusher. I hung in the saddle a while after opening. After landing I just sat there a while. I recommend a Pilot as a solid performer, with very consistent, soft openings. Again, no canopy is immune. -- Jeff My Skydiving History