relyon

Hmmm. I honestly can't believe you're blowing off TMI and Chernobyl, comparing nuclear plant accidents to a coal mine fire, insisting coal power generation is deadly yet nuclear power has killed no one, and blaming people's fears and the media for it all. Whatever. Tell you what, I'll camp outside the Centralia mine entrance for as long as you're willing to chill next to the Chernobyl "Mausoleum". Before you get the idea I'm some flaming anti-nuke, I'll assure you nothing is farther from the truth. I'm actually quite a nuclear power proponent, but given current technology, human nature, and world events being what they are, I think we're far from a safe and secure nuclear powered future. Frankly, I'd rather have this kind of stuff in my back yard before I'd move next to a nuke: http://www.ga.com/atg/sp/space.html I'm cuttin' away from this entanglement Bob

TMI was a bad accident that could have been far worse; Chernobyl is an example of a really bad accident that may get even worse. How many coal plant or gas line fire sites are that dangerous that many years later? Bob

True, but coal plant output is dispersed and the TMI discharge was not. Coal plants don't meltdown either. Bob (I grew up in York, PA - 15 miles from TMI)

This has not been my experience at all. The majority of helicopter pilots I know had little or no fixed wing experience prior to their helicopter ratings. Most helicopter instructors are leery of students that have any fixed wing time and would prefer complete whuffos to rated fixed wing pilots. Bob

Interesting thread. A pilot gets lost, lands at an airport (albeit a USAF base), and gets lamblasted for being a moron. From the replies here, it sounds like folks are saying "What an idot. There's no way I would get lost." Bull. Perhaps it would have been better if he'd just flown until the tanks were dry, auto'd into some residential neighborhood, and maybe taken out a few bystanders in the process. Then we could all take pot shots wondering why he hadn't landed at Andrews... Bob (commercial helicopter, private airplane)

Actually, U-238 isn't that bad because the reaction can be controlled. RTG's are nasty because they're hot all the time. They have to be shielded because there's no way to shut them off. RTG's have historically been chosen for deep space missions because of their simplicity, in spite of their inefficiency, handling, and environmental concerns. Bob

You are quite correct. I'm not at Perris (got home last night) and work SUCKS! Bob

preface: ... a good CRW dive goes bad... high: Uh oh, there's gonna be a cutaway low: I'm the one that needs to chop! Bob

0:9:0 No beer, but I had reserve ride #7 on the second jump Friday (a little mixup with Mike Muscat & Brett Clark ). As I'm walking in there's Chris W. (the rigger that did my last I&R) jumping up and down saying how much he's going to enjoy the bottle. He also offers to get me repacked by morning - cool! So I buy him a bottle of Gentleman Jack and head over to his hotel room later Friday evening. While Chris is in the hall tending to my reserve he says "Hey, don't wait for me - go ahead and crack that open". I don't usually have to be told twice, so his roomies and I start drinking Jack & Cokes ... until midnight when the Jack is gone ... then he finishes my reserve. Thanks again Chris! All in all another wonderfull weekend in Perris ... now back to the 40 days / 40 nights thing here in Seattle ... Bob

This is a picture of the Wild Humans - a CRW rotation team (silver medal in 2001 WAG). This is the type of windowed flap I referred to in another thread. No need to open the flap to pin check. Bob

I hope I never have a reserve lineover, regardless of what the reserve is. If I have on I'll attempt to find the line and cut it. If I don't, you'll be reading about it in Incidents. Bob

Ok, me too. Bob

There is an excellent paper by J. LeBlanc on the effects of wingloading on canopy characteristics: http://www.performancedesigns.com/docs/wingload.pdf Highly recommended reading for all skydivers. Bob

Yeah, it's a little different, but the concept is exactly the same as a CRW freestow bag. The kind I've used has a single rubber band closing stow with a velcro closed pounch for the remaining stows. Bob

Correct. My understanding is that in the beginning there was one trim only. Competition rotation teams worked with PD to develop a steeper trim for doing rotations with the idea it would give them more drive. The result was rotation trim, necessitating a name for the single trim, which became sequential. Over time it was found that the steeper trim doesn't work as well for rotation but it may be beneficial for sequential dives. Thus the confusion. At present, the overwhelming majority of Lightnings in use have sequential trim, and that's what you want (mixed trims don't always work well together). Bob Lyon PS - say hi to Vern Bates for me.

Let me [free]pack you a competition CRW opening. It ain't called a "Lightning" for nothing. Bob

Ouch! Great question though, regardless of who packs the main. Mine is usually packed by the rig manufacturer or the guy who actually built the rig. Bob

Ok, that's it. I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, but now I'm adding Bend, OR to my List of Places Not To Go, right after Tennessee.

Looks pretty textbook to me. Good awareness. Bob

Why no on these? I'd think that you'd want the extra nose at least. The Lightning has quite a bit of reinforcement and doesn't need the extra. The wide nose reinforcement kills a lot of lift. The topskin panels aren't really necessary either. Careful packing and clearing the attachment rings is all that's necessary to avoid deployment line burns/snags. It's not that either is bad, it's just that they increase the cost and pack volume and aren't really necessary. In addition, each of these options has an adverse effect on overall canopy performance, making them less compatible with the majority of Lightnings in use. Bob

Used 143s and 160s are the hardest to find. All Lightnings are custom built on demand (ie. there are no stock Lightnings). The lead tie is about 6-10 weeks. I have no idea why your DZOs order would be stalled that long. Here's a few parameters to think about (and my recommendations): - line trim (sequential) - line length (143 is 9'; 160 is 9.5') - slider (slide color = "MESH") - nose reinforcement (no) - topskin reinforcement (no) The PD rep for Lightnings is Rusty Vest ([email protected]). I'm sure Rusty will be more than happy to get answers to your order questions. Bob

Wallet? Dog? I'm a skydiver ... and I do CRW ... making me a skydiving CRW dog ... I've seen Deliverance ... I can just imagine what would happen to me. I know they're watching me! Bob

skyboyblue and AndyMan - I'll agree with that for freefall. You'd be surprised how many times the strict interpretation of the law enters in while doing CRW at Kapowsin in March. Bob

It can be more complicated than that. At Kapowsin we exit in high Class E (> 10000 MSL, 1000 below, 1000 above, 1 mile horizontal), fall through Class B (Clear of clouds), reenter low Class E (< 10000 MSL, 500 below, 1000 above, 2000 horizontal), and land in Class G (Clear of clouds). By comparison, the cloud briefing I got in Finland was "If you see a cloud avoid it, and if you find yourself in a cloud try to get out." Bob

I've added to Tennessee to my List of Places Not To Go. Bob