RiggerLee

There was a PC drag test done by Sunpath I think in connection with a university of there reserve PC. Saw the video and numbers at one of the PIA meetings. Well done. They couldn't quite meet the speeds in the tunnel and they used a visual measurement of the inflated diameter for their area rather then a real measurement on some part of the PC. I say this because you have to keep in mind where the numbers come from to understand what they mean. For instance it gave them a CD over 2 and it's not fair to compare that number to a test done using the flat area of the PC, think a number more like 1. In the end they got good usable data that could be extrapolated to free fall speeds. So their really is good work being done out there. And a lot of it is being done quite responsible by the manufacturers them selves. Lee Lee [email protected] www.velocitysportswear.com

I just saw a picture of this. http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/08/29/north-koreas-antique-airplane-could-be-its-most-dangerous-weapon-yet.html Looks like some kind of PDA? What are they jumping? Lee Lee [email protected] www.velocitysportswear.com

I'm not sure if we're referring to the same thing but I recall changes to the secondary main riser cover flaps on the reserve tray. I'm not sure exactly how they went about making the changes. Changes in cut, sewing, stiffeners, etc but the early v3's had wrinkle problems in those covers. Over time do to changes in unknown iterations they solved that problem and it has gone away. the early ones were ugly. Early rigs tended to be long, thin and narrow. Later they added a wider range of pattern sets with their microns. I think the patters were better shaped over the shoulder, not as much a board on your back. Those changes were later expanded to the other patterns as well. So early v-3's were ugly and uncomfortable. They've over come some of those issues over the years. Lee Lee [email protected] www.velocitysportswear.com

And here's a thought. Any master rigger out there want to apply for approval for an alteration. Replacement of the wings PC with a javelin? I think there are deeper problems with the cut and sewing of the upper corners of the reserve tray but this would be a good stop gap measure to you know... stop any one from dying over this. Lee Lee [email protected] www.velocitysportswear.com

Is that PIA's job? It seems to me that that's a FAA thing. As I understand it, the proper procedure, if there is a question about an approved part, is to write a letter to... an office in the FAA reporting the problem. I was talking to Gene Bland once about some thing and he was telling me that there is a reporting procedure. Sorry, it was a long time ago and I don't recall the details. The point is that any one can do it, a rigger for instance. Any one that has a copy of that video. It's not a job that requires the PIA to take some kind of stand. You don't need to draw a line in the sand and declare war. You, any of you, send in a report. It starts a file. Then some one sends in another report from the next indecent and so on, and the file gets thicker, until it reaches critical mass and action occurs. Maybe a review of their TSO application. Right now there have been several incidents, with good video I might add. Enough to put some serious weight in that file. Lee Lee [email protected] www.velocitysportswear.com

I can almost guaranty that your not going to like it. There were several canopies in the cloud family. Very old school. If it's a "Cloud" cloud then it's like the first. It was a big deal when it came out because it flew better then a round. It had more forward speed. And the landings were not much worse. If it's a "Cloud". I hope it has a slider on it. Big lines? I think I know exactly what you've got. I've jumped it. Really don't want to go there. The only way you want to jump an original cloud is on a lark or a dare or if it's a bet there had better be enough money to cover the deductible on your insurance. This was one of the first squares. Lot of evolution in it just from people tinkering with it. No slider. Ropes and rings. Pods. Two PC's. Super long lines. 1000 lb cored nylon line. Stretched on opening, never flew straight. Retrimmed the canopy between jumps. They cut the lines down to like 75% the original length in the field. I can land it. Shoot for the peas, better make it. You can so do better. Lee Lee [email protected] www.velocitysportswear.com

I'm old school. Never owned a servo. I'm perfectly happy with and ordinary motor and a good clutch. If it's old you may have to replace the pads. Or if you're a newbe, buy a new 1/2 speed motor and put a small pulley on it. That's what I did for all my employees when I built up machines for them. I just like, and am perfectly happy with, the power of a real motor. More Power, raah, raah, raah. Lee Lee [email protected] www.velocitysportswear.com

Under the right, or wrong, circumstances it can be a problem. Lee Lee [email protected] www.velocitysportswear.com

This football helmet might be good for multiple impacts. What I was suggesting, what is common in most high end helmets is that they are retired after one good hit. The outer surface cracks like an egg crushing in. The whole helmet is sacrificial. To the point of, don't drop it. If the foam was more like the old liners just on the out side, or the polyethylene version of Styrofoam, then it might be more resilient. Lee Lee [email protected] www.velocitysportswear.com

I didn't know if I should post it here or in skydiving. Right now it's more on the horizon then a product and there have been some similar threads here in rigging. http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/08/08/revolutionary-new-zero1-football-helmet-may-help-nfl-players-reduce-concussions.html I always said we would be better off if we put the Styrofoam "padding" of the helmet on the out side and the hard "shell" on the end side next to your head. I think this is the first case of any one actually doing that. Lee Lee [email protected] www.velocitysportswear.com

"Direct Supervision" and it's still rather flexible. It's more a statement of responsibility stating that the task of supervision can not be delegated but leaving the degree of supervision open to interpretation. Lee Lee [email protected] www.velocitysportswear.com

That is the question. If you call it a repair then only a rigger can do it. If you call it a major repair then only a master rigger can sign it off but there is no paper work so there is no where for him to sign. And then what about the people that are, not years ago, but today, building their own main canopies. The manufacturer can do any thing. You don't have to be a rigger to be a manufacturer. If you are building it your self then you are god. What if you say that you are building a new canopy from sub components. There are presidents for that. Aerodyne and others payed PISA to sew their canopies and then just did the line sets here for a long time. But Aerodyne was the manufacturer not PISA. Vertigo payed PD to make their canopies but then finished the assimbaly by sewing on the tail pocket and side panels with the logo. Vertigo was the official manufacturer not PD. It's all bullshit so that we can do what needs to be done any way. The world would come to a crashing halt if every one who was not a master rigger suddenly refused to do relines. I think back to how many I and others did over the years. The master riggers in the area could not have kept up with the work. And forget the manufacturers. They would have been swamped. Why do you think PD sells line sets to any one with $200. Hell the last time I needed a line set, admittedly it was for a big cargo canopy, the manufacturer could not do it. They were swamped. It was going to be months. I wound up buying 1,300 yards of line, it's a big line set, from CSR and building the thing. You do what you have to do. Lee Lee [email protected] www.velocitysportswear.com

So that your standard of inspection. I think that's a good standard. Show me where it's written down in the FAR's. Be nice if it was. I wouldn't mind another set of eyes looking over my work to find my mistakes. But generally they just yell at me asking why I'm not done yet. Lee Lee [email protected] www.velocitysportswear.com

If you want a more convoluted argument... A major repair is one that can affect the AIRWORTHINESS of the equipment. That brings up a question of the definition of airworthiness. Not standard for mains. No testing to that standard. No certification. No approval. That being the case how can you define it or any thing you do alter it. So maybe you throw out the statement of it being safe. Again no definition. Well you just grounded every fucking main straight from the factory. Want me to start listing the mains that I've watched collapse? I not sure I have the time to list all of them. Want to talk about safe decent speeds or total speeds. Student canopies would pass, yours probable wont. Or you could say that you are the manufacturer. You are re manufacturing a canopy from sub components. If you signed or stamped it I think you could say you built it. I can provide presidents for this. It's actually very common. There have been other arguments made in the past talking circles around the issue. In the end it just comes down to the reality of what is necessary in the sport. This is what day to day reality dictates. I think the FAA should just give up on non approved gear but until then we play word games. Lee Lee [email protected] www.velocitysportswear.com

In a technical since I'd say that it's a master rigger job. Major repair. However the reality is that things like this are dome by senior riggers all the time. I should point out that a master rigger can supervise the work. That brings up the question of what constitutes "supervision". Some people would say available for consolation. So in theory if there was a master rigger on site at the dropzone that would count. It's a bit of a stretch but that's the kind of argument that they've used for packers working on the floor. Maybe one of them is a rigger and is there for available. If he comes over and inspects it when they are done, I think that should count. Generally this consist of him yelling from across the room, "Are you done yet?" If he's satisfied with that as an inspection I say it's on him. Some would say that he's supposed to be standing over your shoulder at all times. That's BS. Never happens. Even in training scenarios they check in only periodically at stages in the work. Around here you can't throw a rock with out hitting a rigger. One at least is generally a master. That's why I never bothered getting mine. In this case since there is no paper work who's to say how closely he was supervising people. Maybe that should change. It's different in Europe and other places. But the reality is that work on mains is often done by senior riggers or even just by the owner. Since there is no paper trail... no proof no foul. Don't give that answer in your test. Just take it to heart. Lee Lee [email protected] www.velocitysportswear.com

This could be an interesting opportunity for a Darwinism study. Think about it. We've had some pretty good gear for a while now. Cypreses have saved countless lives of people who should have died and removed them selves from our sport. We are growing week from a lack of natural selection. If it were not for high performance canopies I think that we would have degenerated into... bowlers by now. This could be just the thing to thin the herd and remove the incompetent. I think it should be sold in every gear store. I even think it should be offered as an option on every rig. It's an intelligence test. Do you want the curved pin or this thing? If they chose the nail then they bounce and eliminate them selves from the sport and the gene pool. It's GENIUS! Lee Lee [email protected] www.velocitysportswear.com

Wow. So much conversation over some thing that is obviously a bad idea. We must really be board. Some one needs to start a better thread to entertain us. Lee Lee [email protected] www.velocitysportswear.com

Found this as well, it was at the bottom of his pm. Simon [email protected] Lee [email protected] www.velocitysportswear.com

So this was a conversation that was going on a while back in several threads on base jumper. There was a lot of interest and testing done following a couple of very public accidents where people ether towed PC or had hesitations. There were a lot of issues explored including flap design, bridal design, and pins. The guy in Europe is named Lucifer, his screen name on basejumper. You can contact him there. I have some of his early pins. They are almost exactly like the prototypes I was playing with. He was farther along and I just dropped it as there was no point in duplicating the investment in the stamping tool. It was going to cost about $7,000 to set up. And I'd rather buy them from him then to try to pay off the investment. Samples I got from him are NICE. Every bit as good as the standard pins we use here in the US in the new, non locking design. Here is one of the threads: http://www.basejumper.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=2985577;page=1;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;mh=25; There were several other threads where connected issues were discussed and some really interesting testing was done. And a lot of conversation was in PM. I'm surprised you haven't heard or seen any thing about this. I think it's a noticeable improvement with relatively few down sides. Not that he's set up to stamp and tumble polish the new pins There's no reason why people and manufacturers can't start to switch over to them. It's just that there are tens of thousands of the old pins setting out there on the shelf right now. People order them by the thousand and then just use them for years till they finely have to reorder. Hell I think I still have 500 or so of the old pins in a drawer down stares in the shop. So it may be a while before you see them in wide use but there is a better mouse trap out there for any one that wants it. Lee Lee [email protected] www.velocitysportswear.com

Time will tell. I don't see it but let Darwin decide. By the way, there actually is a guy in Europe building a better closing pin. It came out of some base jumping incidents involving PC's in tow. I was working on almost exactly the same thing but he was farther along in the tooling. He'd already payed for the stamping dies to produce them. I think it's a good design. I told him to run with it. Lee Lee [email protected] www.velocitysportswear.com

Sounds a little too low down to be a temp pin issue. Knifeing between two grommets of grommet and cutter. Do you have an AAD? If so what type? And where is it located, by that I mean which flap is it on? If you tell us the container that might answer that question. I hate to say this but it's the price of the very thin loops that we are using these days. It's a result of the transition to sub flap cutters on AAD's. This is why my closing loop is made from 750 lb spectra. Que the hecklers. In the past I've also known riggers to make there loops from 500 lb spectra. Note these are non AAD equipped rigs. Stiffness is far less of an issue with out an AAD. Having said that I may some day die from a bent pin. An impact that would break a cypers loop. might on my rig just bend the fuck out of my pin and lock it closed. It's a chance I've chosen to take as a trade off for the security of a real loop. Lee Lee [email protected] www.velocitysportswear.com

If the wings is going to be on the agenda could you also raise the real issue of their pattern sets. It would be annoying to retrofit but there is no reason for them to continue forward with a flawed design. Lee Lee [email protected] www.velocitysportswear.com

The wings is a bit more open at the bottom. And as the wings is a bit more draggy then the vector, and the vector three does not total, clearly the cupped corners at the top of the side flaps of the reserve tray that lock the top of the bag into the container are clearly the problem. QED Lee Lee [email protected] www.velocitysportswear.com

Who uses the Vector 1 any more? Not saying that it would be a bad thing if they went back to some thing like that. But that's history at this point. Vector 3's manage to open. And they are a crappy PC. They don't have a big cup at the top of the side flap... Lee Lee [email protected] www.velocitysportswear.com

I think vector is the worst in terms of drag. I think it would be addiquite if the upper corners were more open. Lee Lee [email protected] www.velocitysportswear.com