dpreguy

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Posts posted by dpreguy


  1. I don't have a vk slider, but...I submit: If you have to jump for any slider, maybe look into 16 inch risers. I have them. Even though I have 'plenty long' arms I was having to reach high on every jump before I switched to the shorter risers. No regrets on my choice.

  2. Good movie.
    Lots'o questions - sex is only one of them.

    So, it prompted me to watch Blade Runner again,. When her batteries start losing power, does she start losing her appeal? Etc.
    (I guess she could have a 100 year battery or something..
    or use nuclear power and never go out) Musing here.
    Anyway, good movie!

  3. C 123 (Fairchild "Provider" I think) is sooo loud it'll make a Short Brothers Skyvan sound quiet. A Caribou is damn loud too. I think they have the same engines?
    Static line jumped out of a C 123 over Pisgah mountains in North Carolina at night with a full load, rifle and all, in SF training at 750 feet. (Carried a skydiving altimeter and did the math from a topo when I got back to Ft Bragg.) Rode around for over two hours or more before jumping. I think all of us were so deaf from the noise that it was minutes after we landed that we could even talk to each other.

  4. The Cobalt, once opened, was one of the nicest canopies I've jumped.
    I put 5 jumps on a Cobalt 170. But... no wonder they went out of business. Had one "normal" a bit slow, opening. Two so-called openings- (seemed I went thousands and thousands of feet vertical without the outer cells opening. Yes I'm exaggerating), although I did have had my hands on the handles on one of them; and two 'out and out' hard slammers. The Cobalt I jumped just wouldn't open normally. Streamer or slammer.

    I'm a Stilletto guy and compare the two canopies as about the same once open. I might even prefer the Cobalt. But not the openings.
    Has anyone tried to add crossports into a Cobalt to see if it would open like a normal canopy?

  5. The fact is: Trains at crossings and in general, airplanes, back up OSHA dingers on construction tractors, loudspeakers at car dealerships, highway traffic with cars and semis, farm tractors, drag strips, outdoor bars and dozens of other examples are the sounds of commerce. The commerce cannot exist with the sounds that are part of it. All of these are annoying, but exist because they are necessary parts of the world of business and commerce.

    In my opinion, the problem here is that skydiving is pretty much considered to be unnecessary and therefore in their minds, an expendable business because it is (my opinion) considered to be unworthy of the same respect. It's a "tough sell" for us skydivers to convince the general public otherwise.

    I think the general public would tolerate a lot of constant noise because most would agree that business and commerce is a good thing and would just live with the constant sound. I attended and none of the plaintiffs or witnesses for them objected to airplanes that were admittedly much much noisier. So, the decibels, even though pretty low, are not the problem. They all objected to the "constant drone" etc of the morning to night operations which consisted of the Otter(s) Super King Airs every 20 minutes or so all day all weekend.

    In my opinion, they wouldn't object, to the point of filing a lawsuit, and donating money if they considered the noise intrusion to be a legitimate business activity. Because they don't, the constant noise is an irritation that is not bearable because they don't consider skydiving a legitimate or necessary activity.

  6. This is obviously an art project or silly project?

    Dropping fluffy pilot chutes from a crane no more evaluates their performance under actual conditions than would rolling unmounted tires down a hill. So, if it is just a silly "doing this for fun" exercise, why even dignify it with mathematical calculations, etc... If it is just waste of time, why do it? The imprimaturs of "scientists or engineers" or "NASA", are as phony as having a guy on television with a lab coat saying that "leading experts agree" that this pill will make you lose weight" or something like that.

    I will admit that watching it was a very cute moment.

  7. It's like they said: "Let's design a canopy as fast as the stiletto that only creates half the lift". They succeeded.

    It's a baby that never should have been born. It excels at nothing.
    • Like 1

  8. tb182
    I put three jumps on a 170 and in my opinion, it is a dud.
    Yes, it has a nice long runout, but when you want the last lift from it, it just isn't there. Any canopy will land great on a windy day. It's when there is no wind that you test it. It was a complete DUD! My Stilletto has the same runout and has a LOT left at the end to lift you when you need it. A couple of the reviewers said that too. The Pulse??? Sorry. Nothing there. Just makes you run 10 to 15 mph and NO LIFT no matter how far you punch it. 180 lbs, 170 sq feet.

    And, it doesn't loiter up high like a Stilletto, Sabre 2 or Crossfire or Atair. Just comes down. It is fast, but has nothing on the flare end to help you lift up for landing.

    My summary: Opens slow and lands way too fast on a no wind day. Geez, thought you were supposed to trade speed for lift on a ram air canopy. You trade your speed in all right, but don't get much lift in return. Bad canopy overall because it opens slow, no loitering high if you want to cover ground, very long toggle stroke-too long, and the landings are just "track star runners" on a no wind day.

  9. Quite a bit, in my opinion. What I am saying here are my statements of what I think was told to me. Not a company position or anything.

    . At the Mirage booth, the "TRAP" system was displayed. the Spectra loop trapping a thick (folded over portion) of the bridle. Works like any MARD and looked just fine on the booth table. Check w/Mirage for avail. I think it is avail now.

    Most mfg's were displaying or at least talking about one of the three MARD ideas=(Trap, Skyhook and Boost) SunPath has the UPT Skyhook on license, and came up with a really nifty and uncomplicated lanyard/rig arrangement that is on the front of the right shoulder, as distinguished from behind. Eliminates the "double" lanyard /yellow add on that came out these last several months. Lanyard is nice and hides neatly. I was told it will be standard on new student rigs and I think it is avail on new Odysseys. There are other rig mfg's that offer the licensed Skyhook too.
    . Wings Tandem is the successor of the Plexus and I was told there were many reserve and main canopies already approved for use by them. He gave me a list of the most popular already approved. And he said they "have the door open" for a quick turnaround testing for any other main or reserve canopies you want to propose to them emphasizing they are a system mfg, not a canopy mfg. "BOOST" MARD system as before. No changes in how it looked in the Parachutist magazine pictures.
    . RI had a (my term) "rubber grip" rectangular addition on it's display of the main cutaway handle. It is a industrial textured grip surface which makes the main cutaway pillow nice and "grippy".
    . Kiss helmets had a big display and has two (my term again) lever arms to clamp it on your head. When I put it on the view was nice.
    . Cookie is now in Utah and had an even bigger display and some new helmets for students and they had their whole line for the attendees to put on and size up.
    . Both UPT and SunPath techs (gotta be carful here) said they were "looking at or considering" doing something about the exposed hook Velcro on the reserve freebags. I hope they do. Not expressing company positions, just dangling the possibility they will figure out something to keep the reserve lines from being grabbed by the hook Velcro.
    . New to me: Louie, UPT packing demo finger trapped (looked like the blue 1000 lb) his Spectra closing loop so when he packed only one line went thru the grommets. When he was done, he "finger picked" the finger trap loose, and only had a couple of inches of closing loop to extract from the closed loop with the closing pin in.

    . UPT di say use of the staging bungee/loop was at the discretion of the user and rigger.

    That's all I can remember now.

  10. When you get the new needle bar see if you can get the new "squid" needle bar. It has buttons on the side which allows you to raise each needle up into a non sewing position. It is great for turning a 90 degree corner.
    Steps:
    . You sew up to the corner and sink both needles into the work
    . You raise the left needle and spin the work 90 degrees.
    . Hand crank the needle bar to the up position, pause, then lower the left needle, so it will sew again

    It produces a perfect 90 degree corner

    With a regular needle bar, you have to turn the work with the needles up =no pivot point. The "squid" needle bar invention is pretty cool and worth the money.

  11. 'OP linked.'? I have no idea what that is, nor do I care.
    The opposition group in our injunctive relief hearing in 3 weeks needs to discredit skydiving in general, and Colorado skydiving in particular. A post that states that Colorado skydiving plane(s) are used by drug runners has already been picked up by them, due to the erroneous title posted. They are monitoring DZ.com
    A cutesy belated corrective link, which doesn't even appear here, doesn't cut it. Change the title; as it is erroneous, and will continue to do damage here. Seems simple.

    And...name calling is kinda cheap.

  12. Incorrect title. Please clean up the title. One of our DZ's is about to go to a injunctive relief court hearing. Innuendo in the form of a skydiving post is not welcome and yes, the litigants read DZ .com and would love to add anything they can to their cause.

    "Colorado Skydiving Planes" was never mentioned.
    "Skydiving planes" - yes that was stated.

    Change the title to your post.

  13. Baumchen
    I agree with you.
    FYI I won't pack any "SAC" Security Air Conical stuff, and won't pack any of the Securities. About 5 yrs ago made that decision.
    Old-yes, no toggles is a strike against them, and mfg (at least in US) is no longer available, so they are all orphaned.

    A nice Softie or Butler etc that is 21 yrs old? Probably would for a year or two. Condition of course. The mfgs, by putting a retro service life, (even though it is not allowed by faa) are putting a huge share of liability, heck, maybe all of it on the field rigger.

    I doubt any of them will refrain from the "weasel wording". It seems to be working for them.

  14. Yes they could use it as a marketing tool, and some pilots tell me they believe that is why they are doing it. Especially as you intelligently noted, it isn't based on anything but general comments like "nylon deteriorates with age" and stuff like that.

    If they say "our products are not airworthy after 20 years", and state a reason, that probably would end it.

    This is actually my point. Most are airworthy and some are not, but age isn't usually the reason. Putting out a vague and undefined service life notice, knowing it can't be made retro, isn't a credible way to go.

  15. Would you jump a 5 cell 175 sq ft parachute at 220 lbs? No you wouldn't. Bad idea. Why are you even considering this? 5 cell parachutes went out, what...30 years ago? Or longer? Not to mention no one will pack it. (OK almost no one).
    What difference is it that it is free? None.
    Make sleeping bags out of it. Yes, the cells on 5 cells were that big!

  16. Your interpretation is correct about their ability to retro.
    But, a Service Bulletin, "unsafe due to age" would end the whole question. I think they should put up or shut up.

  17. I get that: A mfg imposes a "service life" on a rig they sold in 1994 and it appears the rigger is going to be legally correct in doing an I&R, but it could be argued the company wants to say the rigger shouldn't. Now, if you ask any mfg that has imposed one of these service life pronouncements on one of their rigs that is over 20 years old: "What do you mean by the term "service life"? You will get a bunch of garbled waffling, wordsmithing, and doublespeak. If they would put out a letter or statement in their manual that says: "Any assembly we have manufactured that exceeds 20 years is unsafe for use and no rigger should pack it."; I'd totally be cool with that. It would amount to issuing a Service Bulletin and would end this whole discussion. Every rigger would show the customer this letter/Service Bulletin and that would be the end of all discussions.
    Why won't they do that? Would it be an admission of sorts, that their rigs are unsafe the day after 20years?
    If they would make this pronouncement, that would be totally OK with me. Instead, they absolutely refuse to define the term, "Service Life" except in vague baloney wording. (See National's explanation of the term, for example). They are cowards, and more than willing to continue not to define the term. Think I'm kidding? Just ask one of them at PIA to explain what they mean by "Service Life". Get ready for words of obfuscation and
    qualified opinion speak.

    Dang it. Just say the 20+ rig is unsafe and shouldn't be packed: and that would end it.