dpreguy

I also looked up Stylemaster and Starmaker in Deborah Blackman;s manuals. Same as the pc chapman post. Note that neither is a pop top. I have no Jerry bird packing info. Not in the D Blackman manuals.

I have Deborah Blacman's complete set of manuals .I assume the Starmaker will be in there somewhere. I can look for you. Bird reserve container: who would give a fuck about Jerry Birds's piece of shit reserve container. I had one in a junk pile and probably have thrown it away. ( may still have it. Not valued. ) Belongs in a garbage can. Huge Velcro closures 2 inches wide if I remember. Hard to open unless pulled open perfectly. Like some skydiver would want to be ripping Velcro etc in a particular sequence in an emergency. A one- off idea that was ridiculous to begin with. If it is a static historical display then just stuff some foam rubber in it and call it an oddity.

Can a r/c pin be "field polished" to remove scratches? (If so, how is this done?) If it can be; *SHOULD it be polished? ….Mfg comment on this polishing question? *Do mfg encourage or approve of polishing a r/c pin in the field - by riggers? Another topic: Question in my mind about this rigger's desire to harden pins with titanium product. Hardening the r/c pin is only half of the friction issue. The grommet is the other surface. Should the grommet be similarly coated with the titanium hardening product? Can it be? (grommet has to be somewhat ductile/bendable to be set) Or, am I just silly asking about hardening the grommet) Next question in my mind about the titanium suggestion. Can our present ripcord pins even be treated with the titanium hardening product? ( melting point issue - alloy issue etc) Or would the industry have to invent a whole new ripcord pin?

What is a "rig sleeve?"

What is afaik?

Agree. It is the new substitute for "Have a nice day". Which was never sincere anyway. Neither is "Hope this finds you well." Both are a waste of electrons.

Chutshack Yes I was skydiving in the 60's. D lic in 1964. Yes we only had 1.1 oz C-9's and 1.1 oz 24 foot reserves. (Until Para Commandos' taffeta) Yeah - I agree that the term lopo was sometimes loosely used to distinguish it from cheapo. 1.6 oz. was the first real improvement. Securities were not up to that standard. Calling it lopo now is an option, but not up to the pilot emergency canopy fabric used now - called lopo. Right now I wouldn't call the Security canopy fabric lopo. And yes I agree an L bar is stronger than most Rapides, until there is a side load on the screws. I also agree with you to retire these rigs. Some are close to 50 years old. Yes, ground them. I am one of those who would prefer the "single T " used by Security and others back then. Prefer single T to the 3 panel mods so popular today. But...they didn't ask me. Probably turns slower, but more bang for the buck for forward speed and descent rate is slower.

Also - why call them Lopos? The fabric is just the same as any other fabric in the 60's 70's 80's. Not really low porosity, (unless compared to the 1.1 oz military fabric used back then.)

The old Security 150's 250's and 350's (350 has the diaper) are dustbin items - probably 40 to 45 years old. Or older. No toggles, MA-1 pilot chutes that jump about 18 inches or less...etc... Harnesses that have "L" bars. Why expend the effort? Car covers.

I only had one "no pilot chute belly mount" reserve deployment. Round 28 foot C-9 'mally'. Held my hand on the pack, pulled the handle, grabbed the big lump of a 24 foot reserve in both hands and threw it down as I had been taught. No spin on the main. It inflated perfectly and I landed with both. No big deal. Uneventful actually.

I have heard the term "Godfrog" for years. What is a Godfrog? Is it someone's last name? I never figured out what the term meant. OK I know the French are sometimes referred to as " Frogs"... but that is about as close as I am to affixing a meaning to the term.

"5-6 Oct 19.." Which date is it?

On my first jump - they threw me out of the airplane with a silkworm and a sewing machine and told me to, "Get busy!". No this isn't a tall tale, that's how it actually happened - really honestly- I mean I wouldn't bullshit you. You should have seen me in freefall - boiling that silkworm and pulling the fibers out of it's ass. Then there was the weaving of the silk and the sewing... I mean, I was a fast learner. When I started jumping - we had to walk to altitude. When it was really windy, we put our canopies on backward, so we wouldn't land backwards. ( I actually had someone tell me this one) When I was bass fishing - I caught one so big it's shadow weighed 10 pounds! Honestly - I mean I wouldn't tell a tall tale. OK I know my post here is a waste of electrons. Truth is - we have all heard the "heroes from yesteryear" tell their baloney stories. Usually I just put on a false look of wonderment and say , "Really, that must have been something.", then walk away.

On this June 5th, I remember Jim Dishroon, WWII Paratrooper, my friend, fellow skydiver who died several years ago. He was one of those brave paratroopers who jumped behind enemy lines on the night before D Day. I think when I knew Jim he weighed about 100 lbs, if that. I don't know his story of what he did after jumping out of the C-47 Dakota, but a friend of mine said Jim once said the "Germans were shooting at us while we were coming down under parachute." Or words to that effect. I jumped a bit with Jim (he didn't jump too often). Jim drove an old Volkswagon (Hmmnn.. never asked him about that), chain smoked, pretty salty guy. He got his JOE (Jumpers Over Eighty) patch and I sewed all of his patches on his parachute container. Sides - flap- everywhere. After he died his son gave me his old helmet, gloves, dirt alert, goggles, etc. He was the real deal. I still have the stuff. Here's to Jim Dishroon. The real deal.

Mike Furry was a good guy. Sent the aluminum back plate for free when I needed it to pack a Dolphin. Jumpwally - I also jumped the Dragonfly 9 cell for while. Great canopy.

massis. What is a CTL? So, at your dropzone, there is someone standing next to the arrow all day, every day, manually moving the arrow and holding it in the desired direction?

ThighMan. A big problem with "F111 type" material (Harris mills no longer makes actual F-111), is that the darkest red they sell is pale. It looks pretty good on the packing table, but when the sun shines thru - it looks like anemic pink. Also, make sure the blue is very very dark blue. Whatever you have it made of, do yourself a favor and get samples before you have it made to make sure the colors are dark enough to make it look like a real flag - not a wimpy pastel colored one. I would actually suggest NOT making it of that thin material, as the sun shining thru really thin fabric really wimps out the color. If you PM me I can suggest a fabric that is better. A bit heavier, yes, but more opaque for the color presentation. Also, I doubt anyone can embroider the stars that big - and certainly not on material that thin. Usually have to have a heavy adhesive backing to embroider thin stuff. If you want to keep it light, skip the embroidery stars and have white stars by some other means. Please PM me. I might make one for you. Appx 15 x 25 to 16 x 28 range (have to calc the proper proportions) will give you the square footage you want. Skydiving demo flags that are towed are proportioned to be longer than flags flown over buildings. Flags flown over buildings- retrofitted to skydiving - usually look too rectangular. Also, a shorter leading edge is obviously to the skydivers advantage. Small American flags that are retrofitted for skydiver use "casket sized" 5 x 9 dimensions, and not the usual "front porch" flags size of 6 x 8. The 6 x 8's look too rectangular when towed. I have made and flown my own 12 x 24 flag in many demos with "F111 type" (thin nylon cloth for the red and white stripes) for many years. For the 12 foot leading edge It could (should) be longer. If I had it to do over I would change the dimensions and the fabric. PM me if you would like to discuss.

Timski - you need shorter toggles. Having to lunge up to get them, when time is of the essence, is a tell.

Yeah - the sleeve could have been secured by Velcro.

Yes, I saw one. (Rodriguez rig without hardware for chest and leg straps). It had (pretty sure), flat pieces of smooth aluminum, pretty long, (not plastic) that slid inside of the leg and chest straps. You slid the aluminum insert along until the strap fit you, then folded it back and secured the insert by laying it flat and "locked" it in place with a fabric sleeve of some type, and the sleeve was secured by elastic or friction or something.. (this was 40 years ago) Pretty cool idea - actually. Never saw it jumped, and don't know whether it would have held; but that guy was a thinker and an innovator.

Buy a Mohoc camera. Maybe it's called Mohawk - whatever. t's called - it's about as snag proof as can be mfg.

What guilt trip?

"…while state law largely trumps federal law in most contexts..." . Nope. Bad info.

I don't like it at all. Go back to the previous format.

Who is going? One group of attendees are riggers seeking the "Continuing Rigger Education" certificate for attending the required number of hours of rigging related seminars. For starters. Also, riggers who dislike knowledge stagnation in this technological endeavor - known as rigging- who like to keep up with the latest innovations in equipment and who benefit from the knowledge in the seminars.