darkwing

Easy to try on the ground before you jump. Either pull them up on your helmet, or below your chin. One will probably be suitable.

Don't make it a priority after you open. Make sure everything else is fine first.

Talk to your instructor about it before you do anything.

I'm not a military rigger, but it was a combination of a trip down memory lane and interesting new stuff. I didn't know anything about rigging loads.

I noticed the different neatness standard between packing the personnel parachute and the cargo model, which was more like how we stuffed rags in bags in the old days (1970s).

In places with grass runways it can be related to how wet the ground is, but I've jumped in the northern tier and we jumped all the year, although some harsh months were pretty slow.

Since the vast majority of people who die skydiving wear altimeters, maybe he drew a cause-effect conclusion and decided it was safer to not wear one?

Many old timers (me) jumped without altimeters. I made about 500 jumps without one, and no audible either. It certainly helps that others you jump with do wear them, but it also has the affect of making you pay a lot more attention to the ground. It was a challenge to go to another dropzone though, because you don't have all the visual cues dialed in.

In this case I'll withhold judgement, because I don't know enough about the guy and his jumping. I certainly don't automatically condemn it though.

Some years ago in Boise we had an emergency military rig that had been sealed for 50+ years. We put it on a test drop dummy and threw it out of a c-182 and it opened fine. Silk canopy, cotton harness. I'm not saying it was strong, but it was undamaged on that opening. I think this was about 1997.

Please tell me it is some confused joke.

Someone looking to buy a new canopy? Thinking color patterns?

Sewing would give a much better result than washing, which might do anything from nothing, to complete ruination.

A few years ago a former student with a fresh PhD asked my advice on this issue. She was interviewing for a job. I said it depends on the context, and how you have sized up your interviewer. Anyway, after the interview she told me she spoke about her skydiving (she is very active) during the interview.

A couple of weeks later she called to say that she got the job. One of the reasons they told her that they picked her was they perceived her as a risk taker, in the positive sense, due to the skydiving.

I am a rigger, and I will reinforce what Andy said.

Have I mentioned that I hate Facebook? Obviously you don't, as is your prerogative. I'll hope for another venue.

If the wires were intact wouldn't we expect it to still function normally? If they were broken wouldn't we expect it to fail self-test?

I bet Tim Florea was the best one on the load. He always makes everyone look good. He was the secret to my success.

I want to clarify my statement above in light of a couple of subsequent responses. My intention in the "Most people..." sentence was to assert that many naysayers have no experience with them and are judging B-12s unfairly, based mostly on issues such as "they weigh more," or, "they are ugly or uncool...". I apologize to anyone who thought I was dismissing their substantive opinion. I'm only dismissing the opinions of the ignorant, which, unfortunately, represent a great many opinions one gets around a DZ.

B-12's have their advantages. You can tack down the leg straps and the fit is perfect, without having to adjust again.

Mostly people who criticize are those who don't know what they are talking about, so their opinions are rarely worth anything. People who have experience with B-12's, which largely means old guys, have no problem with the notion.

and here they are as a pdf, for the rest of the world.

The value of this is in reminding or educating that it can be difficult or impossible to get out of a plane that is doing bad stuff. Do whatever you can to prevent the bad stuff. Pay attention to cg issues, and be sensitive to precursor behavior of the a/c.

In the old days it was a bad thing if the tail on our twin beech started shaking.

I much prefer the Pilot to the Sabre2, but haven't jumped the Safire2. The reasons are as articulated by Jurn, above.

Congrats! Welcome to skydiving. This was perhaps the best write-up of this genre. As in some other endeavors, you never forget your first one.

How quaint. It uses flash, so I can't see it.

They don't want me anyway.

I spent about a week there some years ago, and enjoyed the scenery and vibe very much. Have fun.

I flew in and sailed out. I hope the "airport" has been improved a bit since then. It will do though, even if it hasn't.

I was in a 3-way once with me flat and two sit-flyers.

I think that puts me in first place so far.

Another issue is it takes less training to use a round than a square. Under the circumstances of mass combat drops I'd surely prefer a round.

I disagree with the notion that opening quicker is a characteristic that favors rounds. It is far easier to design a square that will open so fast it will kill you than a round that will.

Mine was in 1974. I doubt it was the first. It was a 10-way competition dive, although my team was the only naked one.

Or you could sew the pad into the container.