BlindBrick

When I started jumping, my vision was like 20:100 ish in my left eye and 20:80 ish in my right eye and the state was trying to take my liscense, so arguably the drive was the most dangeorus part for me.

Interesting. My experience is limited, but the DPRE I used to work for was assigned a range of 10 symbols at a time, and then was allowed to give them to those canidates he graduated. I guess not every DPRE does this? IIRC, what happened was that our DPRE was supposed to be assigned a block but hadn't recieved it by the time of our exams. Though we didn't realize it, this was a hint of the bureaucratic nightmare to come. I've come to understand that it's never a good thing when the FAA classifies your file as "in reconstruction". -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Don't know about dead chickens but I do know that everything else being equal(including full-up slider), rolling the entire nose of my Manta past the A lines was the difference between a soft opening and swackers so bad that I occasionally gashed open my arms on the rig. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I've never been offeneded by gear checks and suggestions from other jumpers. I once snagged my cutaway pillow and didn't think to check the 3 ring afterwards. As we were walking to the plane a buddy of my pointed out that my 3 ring on the RSL was hanging loose. That saved me from a really, really nasty mal. The worst that's ever come from someone's unsolicited gear check was when I was jumping some gutter gear at the first Rantoul. A guy began adjusting my rig on a ride up, telling me "don't worry, I'm a rigger". I was too embarrased to tell him that I was one too.

I don't know the particular person beign discussed, but as has been mentioned before, the FAA can take a long, long time to get the paperwork done. They royaly screwed mine and it was 51 weeks and two temp certificates before I got my card. Was a lot of hassle as some places didn't want to honor my repacks as I didn't have a symbol. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

For those of you who are looking for a good pair of gloves cheap, check out the Mechanix brand sold at autoparts stores. Failry Cheap, ($20 US IIRC), very good dexterity and pretty decent in cold weather if you use a little expoy to seal the small vent holes on the fingers. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

The best way to do it is to find a friend with access to a lathe and then invest in a higher quality of steel than used for the commercial ones. I've bent more than a few on really tight pack jobs but had a friend make me one out of a tougher metal(don't know the type) and it has worked jsut fine. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

For me one of the hardest parts was where you had to flip the nearly packed rig over to get at the backpad to finish closing it. Found me an old wooden table that was pretty sturdy. I then cut a hole near the center of the table and sanded the edges down smooth. Now when it comes to that part, I can just reach under instead of having to wrestle the whole rig. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

If you're jumping with less than a 1:1 wingloading, the drag reduction really isn't noticable. Given that, having a non-collapsible PC is just one less thing you have to worry about. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Oh yeah? Try the looks on their faces when they realize that you're not a crewdog. Used to jump a Telesis made to hold 250's, with a d-bag sized for a 230 and with 288's crammed in both main and reserve. Plus busted riser flaps, ripcord, and two FXC 12000's, 1 as an AAD and one as an AOD on the main. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Reminds me of a news item I saw back in the '90's. Seems some state's lotto machien picked the exact same numbers two days in a row. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

In NW Arkansas it's $10 for tandems and $5 for everything else. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Back when I was just off student status, I got a tension knot that I tried to fix. I wasn't a real trusting soul back then so I really didn't want to cutaway on the off chance that my reserve would mal. OTOH, a couple of months earlier I had landed a canopy with only a few left side lines intact and the left steering line attached at only one point above the cascade. The landing was less than stellar, but luckily my face broke my fall. Anyway, I fight this thing as long as I can. I totally forget about the 1800 harddeck in the BSR's and just remember something about not chopping below 1000. So about 1050 agl it becomes apperant that it's not coming loose, so I chop. I'm sure that it was only a few seconds before I had a fully inflated reserve, but it seemed like forever between pulling that red pillow and having that beautiful orange reserve over my head. I had a friend get invoved in a nasty canopy wrap that he couldn't get clear of until about 500 feet. He was under a reserve by about 150 ft. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

At my home DZ, we use Telesis rigs for both static line and student freefalls. Since we have far more "one timers" than progressing student jumpers, our default repack on the Telesis's is as a static line. We had a guy named Stan that was just off his student progression but still renting gear. One day he was in a hurry to catch a load, and just grabed a Telesis but didn't bother to do a gear check. On that day, the legend of "Static Line Stan" was born. That was actually my second save, but I relish it more than my first one.

No need to get risk yourself like that. Just have the pilot dip the wing on the student's side and then quickly back the other way, works every time. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

This one is not directly related to your question, but it's still related and often overlooked. Never forget you can always run downwind. If there's even a chance that you might back into a unsafe landing area look downwind and see if you can find a large open area there. Better a hike of a few miles than taking the chance of backing into something nasty liek a powerline, building, fence. Besides, I never seen anyone have trouble hitching a ride back after an off-field landing. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I've got 2 reserve rides and about 20 main jumps on Ravens IV's. The only trouble I ever had witht he flare on a Raven was that it was so powerful that it took me by suprise. I was on a reserve ride and flared a lot harder than I usually do. I had a nice little surf about five-six feet above the ground which meant I got a little skinned at the end but no biggie. I've packed several different types of reserves and while some pack easier than others, I've never seen a brand that I could say was worse than another. Unitl recently, I couldn't say that any one was superior than the other; however, I recently purchased a R-Max 282 for my new rig and wow. That's got to be the most over-engineered canopy I've ever seen. Nothing's ever guaranteed but I definatley like the thoguht of having that R-Max as my reserve. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Couldn't you say that you were taking the diver up to instruct him on what to do if your instructee panics and bails overboard? You could say that the best way to observe the shift in weight and balence would be by observing it from outside the aircraft thus mandating the person you are instructing to jump. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I've had several sit flyers tell me that it helps you to feel the sit better. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Most but not all. The Raven -MZ came with a ZP topskin and I've packed more than a few 9 cell reserves(the LAser 9 comes to mind). -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

That depends. If you mean why did I purchase somethign with so many missing parts, the answer is that the description didn't mention that it wasn't complete. If you mean why did I purchase a mil rig for sport use, the answer is 275 lbs with twenty pounds of canopies, ~10 pounds of clothing/misc. gear, and an elevation of 6600 msl. I needed something that was cheap, grossly overengineered, and capable of holding 300 sf canopies. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Ah, the joys of Ebay. I recently recieved my MT-1X and found it to be sans bags, PC's, handles, and front risers. Paraflite refuses to sell to me since I am a civilian so I am at an impasse. I was wondering if anyone knows where I can find parts for the MT? -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Most upholstery supply houses carry E thread but don't recognize it as that or as #69. You just got to get them to read the spool ticket to find the #69 on it. These places also have a few major advantages over parachute supply houses. 1. Their stuff is usually slightly cheaper. 2. They carry small spools which saves you significant money vs. buying a full spool of an odd color that you're only likely to use once or twice. 3. Most mid-sized cities ahve at least one supply house which means that you can go in persona nd get what you need right now and not have to pay shipping on it. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

No, I totally understand and don't consider any of you to be taking shots at me personally. Believe me, I would much rather not jump the MT-1X, but seem to have little choice as the DZ rental rigs don't fit and my normal gear is way too small to be jumping at these altitudes. Ah, how I miss the good ole days when my only troubles were the odd looks I generated when I wore that old busted-ass Telesis fitted with an AOD on the main. That, and having to keep people from sticking me near the door thinking I was a CReW dog.

I was under the impression that I couldn't legally repack any reserve without the instructions, but I definatley want the manual for some thing I am not familiar with. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."