erdnarob

The first 3 ring release was developed by Bill Booth and is the world standard now. Why not magnetic riser covers after all ? They work superbly and the magnets hold the cover well in place and even most of the time close back after opening. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

No cause for panic. This forum is to exchange each other views about a subject. Lets put it that way ; you have a family and you want to make a living as a full time rigger independent from a DZ. You will have probably to buy or to rent a loft, to heat it, to pay for electricity. Make a business plan and go at the bank for a loan and you will see if the price you ask for a reserve packing is realistic. This is the real life. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Jerry, I know a ripcord has to be TSOed when made by a rigger or a company. I know most of the riggers don't have the equipment to make rip cord but that can change if the steel cable is going to be replaced by a 1000 lbs Spectra line by the FAA since swaging ball and pin could be replaced by finger trapping and bar tacking. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Funny but the reality. As a doctor you know you have a good protection (insurance and association) and you pay a lot for it. As a rigger your protection is weak. Another reality is that the pilots are underpaid too. One is used to see them as people who are in love with what they do then think they don't have to paid too much or not at all. Forget conventions and habits and take an absolute look about what a rigger does and think about it. Think also about why as a doctor you are soo well paid with respect to other persons having a Ph D. If you would be a doctor in Sweden for instance, it would be quite different. Really, if a reserve packing is not worth the cost of 3 jumps, well riggers are not well treated. I know there is a question of demand and offer. OTOH packing a reserve is packing a reserve, whatever the number of jumps which has been made on the rig, 3 or 1000, the packing and responsibilities are still the same. Imagine the riggers having a union and decide to go in strike... Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

If you have 7 jumps or so, don't buy too soon your own equipment. Keep on jumping student parachutes and say at 15 jumps ask your instructor to let you try a 230 with the proper training and review. A new equipment is expensive and it's better for you to have some experience and knowledge about canopies before thinking buying one. In the meantime you will know better what kind of parachute you prefer to fly (F111 fabric or ZP fabric), 7 cells or 9 cells, loading at 1 or 1.2 lbs/square foot. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Your trouble can come from the pilot chute size. If you have a 36" diameter pilot chute (in F111 generally) then Brian Germain method is not adequate for that size. If it's your case, try to use a method which keeps the folded pilot chute longer like: fold it in half and say the round part is located at the bottom, then fold the 2 corners toward the center to make them overlap, then fold the the round part upward (2-3"), S fold the bridle in the middle (upward) and make a sideway roll with the whole thing. That method will make the final result longer therefore thinner. Your folded pilot chute should be stowed on the whole length of the spandex pocket. Try it then put it on your back with all straps attached and pull the PC and tell us if that works. Brian Germain method is the one I used but my PC is 27" in diameter and made of ZP fabric. It then packs smaller. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

I understand what you say but not quite agree with you. That question was raised at the last PIA Reno symposium and Bill Booth politely answered than when he tests a rig he does it with about half a dozen of different manufacturers reserves and assume that other reserves which fit well in the container and do not interfere with the normal function of the container are OK. That should be the same idea with a pocket in Spandex which obviously can contain a Cypres, a Vigil, an Argus or an Astra which all have about the same kind of volume. To illustrate a bit more this thread here is something which happened few year ago. When the Cypres II came out (2002), the British Parachute Association (BPA) forbided the installation of the Cypres II in a Cypres I pocket since the shape and size were different. Immediately Airtec (Cypres maker) published a waiver for UK only saying that installtion is OK. Have you seen a very different pocket for Cypres I or Cypres II ? Not at all and it is still the same and working well. Nothing can make us not able to use our common sense and this pocket issue is a problem which in fact doesn't exist. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

A very good idea indeed to adopt magnetic riser covers. That should become a standard on all rigs. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

I agree with you that generally a rigger has to do a lot of other odd jobs as you have illustrated. Here they are : changing a loop, changing a grommet, put a stitch here and there, lubricating cables, sealing a reserve, registering the packing, put a seal on the reserve, testing the pull force, testing the reserve fabric with a scale and modified vise grip type pliers, make appropriate entry on the technician log book and packing card, putting a patch, changing the reserve shock cord, making a reserve shock cord...) and has possibly to buy some tools either like: positive leverage device (50$), a die for grommets (a #8 stainless steel die (600.00$), a press for rip cord ball and pin (800$), a testing machine for rip cord (300$), a spool of closing loop cord with loop washers (20$) and so on and so on... There is a difference between a drop zone rigger and a rigger working for a parachute equipment company. While one is working on a very variable demand of service the other one is doing a job on a regular basis. But 120 or 180 days repack cycle, as I have said in a post on this forum months ago, riggers should be paid according their responsabilities ie. packing a reserve which is the last chance to stay alive when everything goes bad with the main parachute. Doctors have less responsabilities than riggers and their insurance company or association have very good lawyers and a lot of money in case you want to sue them. Riggers will not be sued by a guy/girl who dies because of a reserve problem but will likely get sued by his/her family. Riggers should be paid the equivalent of the average cost of 3-4 jumps at 13500' per reserve packing and this for their responsabilities. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Carbon fiber like all metals is also an electricity conductor but will not be seen by a metal detector. Diamond is pure carbon but is not an electricity conductor while graphite (pure carbon too) is. The reason is that their crystallography is different. Of course in a certain way all substances are more or less electricity conductor and that changes with temperature but only metals (ferrous or not) (including mercury), monoatomic hydrogen (which has the same electronic configuration than a metal) and carbon graphite are considered as conductor. Other are dielectric which means not good electricity conductor. For instance the "lead" of a pencil is not anymore made of lead but is made of carbon graphite and is a good conductor. Never let a child play with a pencil and a electrical outlet. You choose physics, good. I teach it. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Yes, or a Vigil II but it all depends on his budget. There is a big difference between 350$ and 1199$ plus taxes + shipping. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

The Rax system has (like the Skyhook) 2 modes. Here is a simplified explanation of those 2 modes Mode 1 : If you have a malfunction and you decide to cut away the main parachute : Right after the cut away the main parachute is used as a giant pilot chute which pulls a small line (the Reserve Static Line or RSL) which is attached to the right main riser (generally) by a shackle. This line has some velcro and goes along the yoke. The line divides in 2 secondary lines. One is terminated by a metal ring which pulls the reserve cable and therefore the reserve pin. The other secondary line goes under the reserve pin cover (now open) to pull the reserve bridle cord. Since the cut away main parachute is gone for a while, pulling directly the reserve bridle and get the reserve inflated is faster that way than relying on the reserve pilot chute. Faster means also shorter distance which can make the difference between life and death. According the video the RAX get the reserve inflated within 75 feet like the Skyhook instead of 150-200 feet when the reserve is inflated by the reserve pilot chute. Mode 2 : If you have a total malfunction, there is nothing to cut away therefore you pull your reserve handle. This time the reserve pilot chute is in charge of the reserve deployment (no choice here) but your reserve bridle is still attached to the RSL which is still connected to the right main riser still in place. The ingenuousness is to design the device in order to have the reserve bridle release from the RSL. This is what the RAX and the Skyhook are doing. As Jerry explained it, the RAX doesn't comprise a Collins system unlike the Skyhook. The Collins system makes sure to first pull out the left riser yellow cable and therefore makes sure the left riser is released (in case the right riser breaks or releases) avoiding that way to have a reserve deployed and still be connected to the main by the left riser. Right riser breaks or releases are rare but it has happened. I hope that description will help but to completely understand ask to be with a rigger packing a Skyhook equiped reserve and/or a RAX equiped reserve in the near future and ask questions. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

An interesting question. In a way, grommets are like tires: those when they are soft they have the best adherence but wear faster and when they are harder they last more but they are slippery. The only material I would see is carbon fiber to make the grommets. At home I have a rod of carbon fiber the size of a cigaret for the diameter and 2 and half foot long. Its tensile strength is way more than steel and can hold if I remember 26000 lbs max. For a ring/grommet made of that material it will have to be resistant to flexibility and tensile strength together. It believe that carbon fiber will resist quite well to abrasion since that material is relatively hard. We haven't seen everything yet with material usable for parachute. There is still things to be discovered. BTW carbon fiber is more expensive but lighter than metal. Titanium which is a metal is very strong and light but a 1 inch diameter rod of 3 foot long costs 400$. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Hi Jerry, I thought I would be one of the first to see the RAX testing DVD video you sent me. It should be delivered in my mail box very soon. But it's OK. Communications first and I am glad you expose your RAX system to the whole world. For the readers: I have had the chance that Jerry was confident to me since he sent me a demo kit of his RAX system more than a month ago. I have showed it to several rigger friends and we all discussed and appreciated this nice invention made of: ordinary pin, zero size grommet, 1 inch tape ... just ordinary components. But don't get me wrong, the RAX system is clever but not so easy to understand until you have seen it closely at work and that is why I have aprreciated a lot the RAX demo kit. Thanks Jerry. I see the RAX as another option to the Skyhook. Since nothing is foolproof, those systems (and AAD as well) are intended to make skydiving safer but they will not (and never will) be the solution for all possible problems. The perfect system would involve (just like the Space Shuttle) several computers which check each other and go ahead only when all of them agree. Until somebody will forget to switch the system on.... Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Hi Jerry, I thought I would be one of the first to see the RAX testing DVD video you sent me. It should be delivered in my mail box very soon. But it's OK. Communications first and I am glad you expose your RAX system to the whole world. For the readers: I have had the chance that Jerry was confident to me since he sent me a demo kit of his RAX system more than a month ago. I have showed it to several rigger friends and we all discussed and appreciated this nice invention made of: ordinary pin, zero size grommet, 1 inch tape ... just ordinary components. But don't get me wrong, the RAX system is clever but not so easy to understand until you have seen it closely at work and that is why I have aprreciated a lot the RAX demo kit. Thanks Jerry. I see the RAX as another option to the Skyhook. Since nothing is foolproof, those systems (and AAD as well) are intended to make skydiving safer but they will not (and never will) be the solution for all possible problems. The perfect system would involve (just like the Space Shuttle) several computers which check each other and go ahead only when all of them agree. Until somebody will forget to switch the system on.... Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

A very touchy subject of comparing military versus civilian training. While we owe a lot to the military which provided surplus equipment and methods in the 60s and 70s, things changed a lot in the 80s and after both for equipmentt and methods used to prepare somebody for the free fall, the last method being the use of the wind tunnel. What the military brought to skydiving is now almost reversed. You see more and more military using equipment which are the same equipement than civilian but modified for their own specific use. Same for the methods, military people are usind wind tunnel and in some countries (like Canada) they use sometimes civilian instructors and even civilian airplanes for training. For instance in USA, the US Navy Seals are partially trained at San Diego DZ (Otay Lake) with a civilian Twin Otter in a civilian DZ. The trainings for a military and for a civilian are designed for different purposes. Military people have to wear heavy equipment and weapons as well, not the civilians. On the other hand being an instructor is not natural for everybody. There are good and lousy instructors. I would say that a good one is an instructor who first can make the student relax and who is able to spend time with him. Unfortunately nowadays time is money and instructors are less and less available and that is why the retention rate among students is quite low. A student has to feel accepted and part of the family. Skydiving first is a social sport, the rest is skil and knowledge. In your case you seemingly got a not too good instructor. About the duration of the training: It is obvious that you don't need dozen of days to learn how too freefall. This is possible to make it shorter for the AFF program because students are supervised individually and that requires less time but as I said in other posts, AFF is maybe not for everybody. Instructor Assisted Deployment (IAD) method or even the good old Static Line method provides a more progressive way to learn about the free fall with the possibility for the student to think and review about his jump on a longer period of time and that way the chance of getting more "mature". Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

If your exit weigth is 235 lbs, at 40 jumps and provided your instructor gives you the green light, you should be able to go on a 280 F111 PD canopy or on a 230 Zero Porosity Sabre 2 as well. It's not only the weigth which matters here but also your fitness especially the legs and very much your skill for flaring. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

It's a 1-2 hours job but the modification for the installation has to be made by a master rigger or a rigger B in Canada. I would say 40-60$ for that modification. Note: the launching metal plate with screws and collar plus the bracket and screws for the installation of the pressure sensor and calibration knot on the main lift web are included in the FXC 12000 kit. For the control box pocket in the reserve container, I don't know. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Cypres ready means it will accept a Cypres but between you and me and a lot of people, it will accept a Vigil I or II and an Argus as well since the AAD pocket in the reserve container is made of Spandex. That means also that the fabric channels both for the display window and the cutter are installed. The display window and the cutter are very similar for Cypres, Vigil and Argus. However Airtec (Cypres manufacturer) pretends that you must put a Cypres in a Cypres pocket but nobody (with a head on the shoulders) believes that. Why it is like that? For many years Cypres was virtually alone on the market and Airtec was providing AAD reserve pockets free to manufacturers who put the tag "Cypres ready" on their rigs. 5 years ago came the Vigil which was installed in Cypres pocket at the beginning. Now Vigil has its own pocket, washer and closing loop cord. I haven't seen any Argus pockets so far but I am pretty sure they exist. I believe the Astra can fit too in a "Cypres ready" rig but it will require additional installation on the right main lift web for the pressure sensor and switch box. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Nothing wrong with the FXC 12000 especially if recently serviced. But your rig will need some modifications to instal it: First a sort of launching metal plate pad on the second last reserve flap (where the pin is) to anchor the end of the cable housing, then you will need a special pocket to be installed on the right main lift web for the pressure sensor and calibration knob and finally an installation of a pocket for the control box inside the reserve container. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

I agree that you can have a sinus problem. If your nose blood vessels are fragile, it's easy to have some of them ruptured when under stress. The nose is connected to the throat and therefore you can "taste" your blood. For the internal ear pressure equalization, there is a "tube" (Eustachian trump) connecting the back of your throat and the inside of your ear (behind your eardrum). That tube can easily get blocked up especially when having a cold. It is a common problem for beginner in scubadiving too. What I was told by a doctor is the following. Put some eucaliptus oil in a cup of boiled water still very warm and breath it for 5 minutes (to be repeated if needed). You can also put some special oil in your ear but ask your pharmacist. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Safety in skydiving is a whole program. Here are some topics which can be developed: 1) the 3 ring system for cut away (one single action releasing both risers) instead of releasing both sides separately. 2) the RSL or Reserve Static Line which activates the reserve automatically if one cuts away 3) AAD's or Automatic Activation Device which activates your reserve when passing at a certain low altitude at high speed 4) Audible altimeter which beeps at a preset altitudes to remind you there is something to do 5) Altimeter which tells you how high you are with respect to the ground 6) the use of square parachute which has a rate of malfunction lower than the round parachute, allows softer landing (with proper technique) and bringing you back to the landing zone more often than a round parachute 7) square reserve which allows you to choose a safe landing area 8) possibility to order a custom size rig for a better fit therefore more ergonomic and safer As you can see there is a lot of choice. Good luck Cari and tell us about your assignment marks. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Even with the inscription MAILLON RAPIDE the original link needs the incription MADE IN FRANCE. There is no limit at copies. Even Champagne from France, Perfumes... are copied in the far East countries. Here is 2 pictures of the same actual MAILLON RAPIDE made in FRANCE (I put some black ink on the inscriptions and treated the pictures with iPHOTO).You can even see the "SWL 280 kg N 5" inscription of it. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

I am pretty sure that the hard opening on the PILOT canopy is not related with the canopy itself since there are many factors contributing to the forces involved during a deployment. Here is a excerpt of my post on TRAINING AND SAFETY which can be found on this forum: And now I can add: when bagging your 3 folds canopy, make sure with your fist around the lines near the attachment points to push toward the canopy to make sure the slider is still against its grommets. It could have moved when doing the 3 folds and any gap between slider and its grommets almost garantees you a slammer. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

We can be happy everybody walked away from that incident and that the aircraft was saved but I agree that fuel starvation concerning an airplane is a major issue. The cause of the starvation has to be determined. The cause can come from an improper or not approved componant like a gas filter for instance, from a lack of maintenance, from gas contamination, or from the pilot miscalculation. Anyway consequences could have been worst if it would have happened at take off. The tasks for a pilot are numerous: loading the aircraft, flying the machine, navigate, communicate and last but not the least monitoring the gas consumption. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.