nitrochute

tampa bay parachute ranch was run by mac macgraw.i remember seeing the story about the landing gear falling off in flite in parachutist circa 1978.also mac was the only survivor from a 1966 jump plane crash at united p.c. in pennsylvania.he was jumpmastering a load of novices for the first Mid Eastern Parachute Association (MEPA)meet of the year.it was a pilot who was just starting to fly jumpers in the Howard DGA 15(this was his first day). shortly after takeoff ,around 500 feet a.g.l.,the aircraft entered a dynamic stall,and went over onto its back.mac was in the jumpmaster seat with his reserve off on the floor. ( the right seat had been turned around so he was facing the rear of the aircraft) .as the aircraft went over he reportedly shouted "follow me" and actually left the aircraft with the door strait up.his para commander(PC) barely had time to open.only one other person made it out but deployed his main canopy and impacted on line stretch.the air craft with 4 on board (and full fuel) exploded and burned on impact.at the time, mac reported that when he left the pilot had the yolk in his gut and full right rudder.

i think too, now. those nylon ripcords would freak people out

woolite IS pretty good.ive been cleaning rigs with it for 40 years. i also use it on my funny car drag chutes.its amazing how much clutch dust you can get out of those things.

it depends. if the turn is the result of material bias,then no it cant be .check the rest of the lines,left side against right side.should be within1/4'' or so .a line that is just 1/8''out side to side can actually induce a turn.

the stretchiness of the thread is more than likely the issue.if the canopy fabric stretches during inflation but the thread does not,then the thread will actually wear through(cut) the fabric .

someone once brought me a reserve for a repack that had a hot knife dropped into it during its previous pack job.the seal was intact,and there was no damage to the container , so it couldn't have happened after the previous pack job. yes ,the owner became aware of the problem after he watched me inspect and then condemn the canopy(damage was extensive and would not have been survivable if deployed).the really sad part is after a reprimand from the faa , that rigger is still in N.J. packing

actually in the beginning(around1968) lots of people referred to them as "flying mattresses"

the reason for deployment brakes is very simple.as a ram air canopy inflates it starts to plane forward through the air.when it does , the front,unpressurized portions of the canopy will tuck under (i.e. the canopy is trying to run itself over),causing a malfunction.steve snyder(founder of para flite inc)discovered the problem in 1967 when he first started working wth ram airs.he designed and patented deployment brakes.

try bally ribbon mils.they may have samples thay can send you.

as i read these posts, am reminded of my experiences in the parachute equipment manufacturing business.one place i worked at ,was making power ripcord assemblies for the old mk2000 sentinel.the pins and piston assemblies were all manufactured by wasley who at the time was pretty much the only game in town when it came to ripcord components.the ripcords were assembled and never tested to the faa specs because the manufacturer was supposed to do it(wasley),and so it was assumed to meet the spec.but obviusly the manufacturers DO NOT do the testing because if they did some of the crap that comes back to haunt us as users would not occur. also i once rejected a whole batch of sst ripcords that wasley had made.it was right after tammy odonell s problem with ahomemade ripcord.everyone started lookin alittle closer at things.this entire bath of some 300 ripcords had been swaged using too much pressure(there were broken strands of cable sticking out of the ball swage on th cable side of the swage.)in addition the ball swages(about 80% of them) were cracked.these were ripcords that supposedly had been tested.

i met larry while he was visitng new jersey in the late 1970s.interesting guy.he was at that time using a paradactyl in his reserve.the late dick morgan of para flite did too while he was in the golden knights except it was one of those irvin para wings.interesting thing,before steve snyder started working with the para wing in1967, irvin was trying to address the hard opening problem.one of their fixes was a really really tight deployment sleeve.our local parawing ownerhad just installed it and packed up for a demo jump at an show.we had very low ceiling and against better judgment,we were making the jump at something like 1300 feet.this guy made his jump and put on a really good show as he bacame the cutaway act!the sleeve was just too damn tight and wouldnt come off the canopy.he cutaway at about 900 feet.was hanging in the saddle around500 .

they buried him yesterday in palmdale.story in the antelope valley press(www.avpress.com)also of note,rutans spaceship one entry in the xprize contest made its first foray into space,also yesterday.

i understand he used to jump at california city,ca.a friend of mine was stationed at edwards afb in the late 1970s and remembers him being there.the plane to plane stunt was done around 1978 at california city, for a tv special hosted by lee marvin.there was also a tv special hosted by chuck norris about dar,and as i recall that one of his trade marks was the fact that he never got hurt doing a stunt. his death in dec 1986 came on the set of a movie he was filming in arizona.he was not actually doing a stunt at the time but just playing around on a motorcycle.ran into a cactus(?) and died of his injuries before he could be airlifted to a hospital.

im trying to find out about martha huddleston who i believe was from texas. i met her in 1966 when the us parachute team was training at steve snyders drop zone in new jersey.i had heard some time ago that she was no longer with us.anyone have any info? also, any other members of the 1966 team still around?