airtwardo

Quote

dont undercut me!

Prolly the wrong thread to use THAT term...

PM sent - I have a contact that lives there.

nocivus

Hello everyone,

I know this is a really old post, but i was wondering if anyone has any general safety tips for using smoke canisters, like mount type and material, distance from foot, protection, wingsuit specific considerations, how hot it gets in freefall, etc.

Thanks in advance,
Pedro

It depends somewhat on the type of smoke canister you intend on using.

Military smoke is heavier than the cardboard commercial types and the bracket needs to be a little stronger / better, to be sure you don't lose it in free fall.

Minimize the snag hazards associated with the smoke and the bracket, gaffers tape over protruding edges helps.

Have a quick way to get it off of you and know how to use that in all the possible situations you make encounter...in the aircraft, in free-fall and under canopy.

My brackets are steel and keep the smoke generator about an inch away from my boot...it can hold up to three bombs.

Wear it on your left foot as you deploy from the right side & make sure you are rock stable starting & through the deployment process.

Any specific questions?

tonybrogdon

sorry for your loss Jim. What a great mentor!!

http://wgil.com/v3/2015/02/02/wayne-john-w/


Thanks Tony, he was a heck of a guy. He was one of those people that pushed ya to be better in all things...

Took me on my first demo...I had 22 jumps and was on a Papilon, went into a baseball stadium wearing smoke.

His encouragement and help made it ~ and lots of what came after possible.

I remember John sitting down with my dad at the dropzone not long after I started jumping...he explained what the sport was all about. How I was progressing and said he'd keep an eye on me.

His kind don't come around very often...he'll be missed!

JohnMitchell

***
Well, Ivory has been called the most pure soap in bar form. Plus, it floats in water.

Gasoline dissolves soap. I don't think that will work to fix your leak. Sorry.

Don't know how it works..but it does.

Had an inch long gash in the bottom of the tank once a few years back, just wanted to get it home...did the bar of soap trick and it completely stopped the leak.

~ Ran it that way for a couple weeks until I could get another used fuel tank as a replacement.

rwieder

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this yet. There's only one thing I know of that will repair that gas leak, it sounds silly, but it's a simple bar of soap. Soap can be forced into the leaking areas, once the soap is applied into the affected area(s) it generally 5 mins or so before the leak will stop. It generally stays there once you repair it and won't leak anymore.

Yup!

Old school...it works!

One of my Skydiving mentors and a real life renaissance man passed yesterday...somewhat fitting on Superbowl Sunday.

From my first day at the dropzone I knew I would stay in the sport if there were people like John Wayne in it.

I remember practicing PLF's when a red '67 rag top Vette rolled up and that blue eyed, blond haired guy with a million dollar smile hopped out and welcomed us to Skydiving...He truly was larger than life.

When he was in High School a teacher use to give him a hard time about his name...one day he'd had enough, knocked the guy out with one punch - left school that day and joined the Army.

Special Forces in Vietnam was a walk in the park for John...heck everything the guy did was full bore wide open.

Highly skilled demo jumper that pushed me beyond what I thought I could do both in the sport and in life.

He was a pilot, he raced everything with wheels on it...a master rigger that without asking - paid for and replaced my shot and a halfs with R3's because they were safer and I was broke.

He was a commercial diver for the Army Corps of Engineers...he worked on dams under water all over the Midwest, he's go skydiving to relax & do something safe on the weekends!

John just released his 3rd or 4th book a month ago, just like the stories he told in person - simply captivating.

It's a small number of people I met through this sport and have kept close contact with for 40 years...funny, but I knew from that first day that we would be friends for life.

One of my favorite John Wayne quotes from back in the day was -
"The best RW jumper in the world wouldn't amount to a pimple on the ass of a DEMO JUMPER!"


Blue Skies my Brother - and like the bumper sticker in the back of "48 Bravo" said... God Bless John Wayne!

monkycndo

Forget trying to sew the shoulder straps. Find an old backpack with good shoulder straps. Cut the straps off and sew them into your gear bag.

A lot of bigger rolling gear bags have the shoulder straps in a zippered compartment on the bottom of the bag. I have never used them in the 10 years of jumping. But when I want some shoulder straps for a project, know right where to find a set.

As a sewing project, I am considering making a version of a rig sleeve to completely cover my rig while traveling by air. Having it as small as possible to fit under the airline seat is necessary. I have a huge roll of cordura, so material cost is minor.

I found it MUCH easier to just get a Monkey to carry everything FOR me!

mr.walczak

This summer I'll be riding my bike to the DZ I want to wear my rig and wa wondering if anyone has made a cover to protect the rig? I don't want a bulky rig bag just something maybe made of ripstop nylon that covers the BOC and Main/reserve tray. Seems pretty easy to make just seeing if anyone has done it already??

You probably don't don't actually want to wear the rig while riding...strap it to the bike.

No...not worried about it opening - if you have to get off at high speed, the rig will likely beat ya up pretty good rolling.

skyjumpenfool

Hmmm?

Dizzy.com has a great archive of "Am I ready to downsize" threads. Do some research....

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=search_results&search_forum=all&search_string=Downsizing&sb=score&mh=25

OP has made 1 post of the site under that name...any questions?

dthames

How does that Crossfire behave in the tunnel?

Prolly 'bout like your wingsuit!

http://youtu.be/5aObTGLTfuk

Better one...sure doesn't LOOK like 28,000' Check out the head-down...

ryoder

Where is this from?
A new movie or something?

"Kingsman"

skymama

I'm not a fan of the Horny Gorilla name because I wouldn't want to have to explain that term to any kids who might be hanging around. (We're big family people, there always seems to be kids running around!) If you don't like Free Fly, how about "Head down"? Besides being a freefly term, it's also a play on words along the "bottoms up" that people say while drinking.

Or, you could just name one after your favorite dz.com Moderator.

'Keepdown Slap" may not be the best marketing name for a beverage....just sayin'

Bent pin pilsner

ryoder

***I
Swoop the Pond Saison - Made with yeast collected at the DZ

And how is this...nevermind, I don't want to know.



Kinda makes ya wanna lose your turn huh?

RiggerLee

The paint could be challenging to say the least. In silk screening T-shirts we use a PVC. It's actually a plastic that gets into the fibers and hardens under heat. That's why it stays. You basically can't do that with nylon. It will melt and it doesn't stick well. There is also a dye sublimation that works very well on nylon and other synthetics. But it can't do light on dark. You could actually print the blue but I can't imagine doing some thing that big. To silk screen on synthetics or smooth surfaces like the cheep corrugated plastic signs you can use an epoxy paint. It's much harder to work with then the PVC. There is a working time and clean of the screens is a bitch but it's not like you're going to be doing this all day. It's just fifty stars. I'd try a good course screen about 100 count or less. You want the epoxy paint they use to print white numbers on jerseys for foot ball. Put a thin spacer. 1/8 or 1/4 inch wood around the base of the screen to give you the stand off. Swipe with a squeegee. Done. You have a star. The more I think about this the better it sounds. And the white is WHITE. It's good and opaic. I'll bet I could print one side in about two hours. Come back and do the other side the next day. Try to get LoPo or HiPo fabric or some actual flag fabric rather then F-111. I think you'll have better luck with a more porrus non slick surface. I think this is the way to go. All you need is to order one screen, the paint, and a squeegee. You can get it all from any silk screen supply shop.

Lee

Doing the single star screen thing is a pain on a fabric field that big...the spacing and angles can begin to drive ya nuts.

I found it's faster to make up the six star template...do the 5 rows of six stars first - then chop off a star and do the 4 rows of 5 stars...save the choppy offy guy as a spot touch up guide for later on when the flag shows wear.

A good quality epoxy looks & works fine for the 'jumping' type of application...photos are (usually) from a distance so spacing is more important than tee shirt quality (fine) edges...so to speak.

Remember to use a leading edge weight not a swinging headache ball at the bottom.

Also - on a flag that size, you may find it wants to 'bow-tie' on deployment...if you have that problem, I can show you a tried & true way of packing huge flags that prevents it.

Pond skimmer stout

Wuffo - Pale Ale

Remster

***Love it!!!! Especially - The Long Spot!!!!
totally agree about crew. That stuff freaks me out! The Dark Side, very nice.

Our label designer is going to have some fun with these.

I demand free beer for life is my name(s) make it.


What a week?

Streamer Stout

Hard Deck Dunkel

Wind Hold Lager

Old Otter

Beech Blonde Ale

Make a flat beer & call it Frap.

Quote

- Occasionally F-18's operate out of there, (no idea why).

Cuz they CAN!

ryoder

***One mans Noise
is another mans Music..
I LOVE the sound of aircraft...
BUT such a sound 24/7,,, and inescapable... might get tedious.....
... and SO that's why i wouldn't BUY a house adjacent to an airport, But might stop and park my car nearby to a runway.... to take in " a song or two "....If people Don't investigate the proximity to ANYthing they'd consider "a disturbance" , prior to BUYING a Home,,,,,,then they only have Themselves to Blame AND maybe the real estate agent,,,,,,who SHOULD KNOW BETTER !!

One more time: Kim Gibbs does not live near the airport.
She live six miles away.
She thinks that *any* a/c, *anywhere* in the sky, that she can hear is an intrusion.


When we first moved to Texas we bought a home 12 miles from Bush Intercontinental...the noise was there but not intrusive or overwhelming.

Then they decided to build another runway which greatly increased traffic over the top of the house...

We moved.

The only aircraft noise now is every Saturday the neighbor buzzes his house with a Pitts...like music to MY ears!

base935

I'm in the final stages of building a ~1100sqft (~24'x48') USA flag, and have put the most difficult until the end. The blue field will be roughly 2.5 bolts tall, 12' or so, 18' long. The diameter of the stars will be 17" (4/5 stripe height), but looking for advice on how to best sew the white stars so that they will be visible from both sides.

Sew the stars on with edges seamed, then cut the blue out with 1/2"ish allowance, then fold that back over? x50

Meticulous, repetitive, frustrating, etc.

Ya want the low cost, low bulk quickie method?

Paint them on...or silk screen, but that's a pain.


Yeah - I'm serious...make a poster board template with several in a row, measure and mark the field then use a laser level for alignment...goes fast, especially the 'back' side - keep a single star template and touch up when needed.

Two hours vs. two weeks!