sundevil777

It is not that hard. Label your risers and band them together and to the bag. No bid deal. If you doubt yourself later when you hook it up, then you can always repack, but you should have no trouble. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

42:18 People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

100% inspection (for the time period affected) is now required per the service bulletin. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

100% inspection is exactly what they are now requiring. It had better not damage the pins. edit - when the cable is swaged on, isn't it required to do a pull test? Why not do a bend test at that time also? I don't accept that it is unpractical or uneconomical. Of course it may not be done at Capewell, but it doesn't matter. If Capewell is not now inspecting all of them, how do they know the problem will not continue - just by whether more problems are reported? Remember, Capewell says they don't know what the problem is/was, just the symptom, so how do they know it is gone? People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

But so far they say they are not admitting to any specific material or manufacturing defect. To be able to know the time frame, but not admit to the nature of the deficiency does not seem right to me. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

The test load gets added to the load (quite variable) already placed by closing loop - test #1 is not a good idea, in my opinion. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

As far as we know, not all pins in a "batch" fail. Since they can't have gone back and tested all the pins in any batch, their limitation does not make sense. Of course now they can do 100% inspection, so even without knowledge of the root cause they can be confident. Unless they know more than they are letting on, I don't understand how they know when the problem started. Still doesn't make sense to me, am I missing something? People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

Affected by what? How could they know it started after a certain date without knowing the cause? People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

Given that they don't know the root cause of the trouble, how can they be telling us that pins manufactured before a certain date meet the standard? The only thing I can think of is if they stopped doing 100% inspection, or if they had some obvious change in the materials or process, and are not letting us in on their preliminary assesment of the cause. What do you think? People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

I think you've got it! Maybe if manufacturers only sold the stronger pin when used with some sort of new, hot looking-sexier handle, then it would be popular. Maybe the new pin should be designed so that it can only be swaged with a new type/diameter of cable that looks really cool? Maybe it is all in the marketing. I think taxpayers turning down new levies is a response to the perceived waste & fraud in government. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

It is more likely to clear the loop when you pull on it. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

I don't think I would have broken it down quite like that. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

Do you want to go to 13K in that big plane on your first jump back? Then do it! Don't be intimidated, you have your A license. They might make you do a recurrency jump with a coach, this would be an excellent way to get your "legs" back. After that, just make sure you talk to the load organizers so that you get in a proper position in the exit order for what you do on each jump. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

Visualize a good exit and have more confidence than is justified. Don't freak out if you go past vertical at first, you are still only in a slight track relative to the wind. The tendency/mistake is to give up and do a roll. When diving out, put your arms out at first, and put your feet on your butt, or even pull your knees in slightly for just a split second. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

I am very suprised and disappointed that there is so little demand for improvement, and so much acceptance of, what to me, is an obviously inadequate design. I think we should be able to lean back hard against the interior of the plane, or push up against the top frame of an otter door, without the slightest thought of our reserve pin bending or breaking. Currently, this is not the case. I think the ability to bend a reserve pin should not be the limiting factor that prevents a reserve from being packed into too small of a container. I think the pin for our main is now stronger than our reserve, and it is OK if it gets bent more. We get stainless or nickel plated hardware for appearance reasons, but wonder if it might cost too much to develop or manufacture a stronger reserve pin. Give me a break. Whether it is 8, 11, or 15 pounds at whatever moment arm, this seems obviously wimpy to me. I hope the industry has more sense to improve the pin than the apparent customer demand would warrant. Rob, what was the deal with Hank Ascuito's pin design? People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

Did you all know that the Concorde suffered some incidents where fragments of a blown tire ripped through the lower and upper wing skin? The crash was caused by an aluminum rub strip left on the runway from a previous plane. That's what such a high stall speed will get you (it doesn't even have flaps). Plus the engines were at a great place to injest tire fragments. After the crash, there was a lot of stuff to be learned by reading the Aviation Week & Space Technology website, one of the only good places to go for quality info on aviation incidents. They were caught in a corner where they could not get more lift without stalling, could not get more speed without going down. I'm sure it would be cool to fly in, but I they were also very fortunate to never suffer a decompression at ~55K feet. You might not just get the bends, you might boil! I would not want to fly in an airplane that old at that altitude. One of the best decisions Boeing ever made was to drop their supersonic transport and make the 747 instead. Kingbunky, nice quote from Douglas Adam's Guide to the Galaxy. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

I am suprised that nobody has raised the question of whether the existing design is adequate. We've have had the opportunity to see the test procedure (15 lb applied a short distance from the loop) and I think pins should be able to withstand a LOT more than this. I have read and heard of many instances where riggers admit they can bend a pin with too much tension on a closing loop. Years ago I noticed a bent pin during a friends gear check. In my opinion this should simply NOT be possible for a rigger to do this, or for you to do it to yourself by leaning back on something. We should not have to rely on a reserve pull force limit to control excessive tension and resultant bent pins. Maybe all such incidents were examples of defective pins. I don't think so. The strength could be increased in many ways. A slight increase in the diameter would help greatly (does moment of inertia increase by the radius/diameter ^3 for a circular cross-sec?). If a rig manufacturer offered a rig with a much stronger pin, I believe it would be very popular. In an earlier post I stated my opinion on the inadequacy of ripcord pins, nobody had any comment on the subject, so I bring it up again. What do you think? People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

I think the AS8015 test uses a lower (8 lb instead of 15 lb) pull test because the moment arm/distance to the "pivot" is different. Kelly F. brought this up in a different post. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

Thanks Kelly. It sounded as though the AS8015 test was the test recommended by Capewell. I understand now, the Capewell procedure is pretty simple. It will be very interesting to see how many fail. Please forgive me for speculating, but I would have figured some testing of a small quantity of pins from each "lot" would have been the normal inspection process and would have found the problem right away. I know the root cause has not been determined, but one might speculate that the manufacturing processes are subject to variation in ways they did not realize, effectively meaning the "lot" size should have been considered to be much smaller. I have read and heard of many instances where riggers admit they can bend a pin with too much tension on a closing loop. Years ago I noticed a bent pin during a friends gear check. In my opinion this should NOT be possible. In my opinion, pins should be changed so that the loop tension needed to bend a pin should be MUCH higher than what is currently needed to bend a "good" pin. Maybe with this problem affecting so many people, it will result in a much stronger pin design/material alternative. Figures, right after I order a spare ripcord. This type of failure mode is a good reason to not use a pin-puller type of AAD such as the FXC or Sentinel. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

Kelly, I'm confused. Which test are you then recommending? Please describe it again so that I can follow up with my rigger. I'd much take your recommendation to my rigger than let them do what they think is right. Thanks, Cliff People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

Infinity, the secondary "reserve side flap" riser covers are great, and no exposed pilot chute appearance issues. Javelin, Wings, Racer, Reflex - they all suffer from this. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

Night RW is so cool! Turning points on the hill is so different because you don't even realize you are on the hill. Night Jump anxiety sure can be exciting. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

I sure hope he never has or will in the future sell a rig so easily identifiable. Or maybe now he never will be able to sell a rig of his! You'd have to get a new mudflap installed. Just picking out the stiching would not be enough to keep people from attacking you. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

Know what I would like to read more about? Stories about thieving bastards who get caught with the stolen gear! If stories of this type are common, then it will serve as a deterrent. Of course this is dependent on how often the bastards get caught, but every instance should be publicized GREATLY. I can only remember hearing about one instance in 23 years of someone getting busted. Surely there must be happening more often? USPA and other organizations/websites devote time/space/resources to publicizing the thefts. It is high time to see the same devoted to making potential thieves think twice before doing it! For every successful bust, riggers everywhere will also be more likely to check gear against the stolen databases, therefore success will feed upon itself. Let's get our national organizations to push this! Come on everyone, what do you think? People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

If it is true, it is not because of the crossbracing itself, it would only be true because the overall design is more aggressive. Crossbracing makes it possible to have a more efficient wing. What else is done with the design is what might make it more "dangerous". People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am