indyz

On my 20U, I could only get a decent straight stitch on lighter materials by switching to the straight stitch throat plate, feed dogs, and foot. It only takes a few minutes and a screwdriver to swap the parts, but it gets annoying. Heavier material like cordura or webbing worked fine with either set of feet. On my 217, I just set the stitch width to zero and go. Having owned both, the 217 is by far the better machine. The only downside is that parts can be extremely expensive.

Binding 101 90 degree inside corner

"Foam laminated parapack". Supposedly ParaGear used to sell it but I've only been able to get it from container manufacturers. There are different weights / thicknesses used by different manufacturers, so your best bet is to just call around and see what you can find.

AC 105-2E section 14a(4) says that "the rigger is only certifying that [the reserve parachute] meets all safety requirements on the day it is packed" and instructs the rigger to note AAD maintenance due dates on the data card so that the user can make sure the rig is legal to use. Section 14a(5) allows opening and resealing the reserve for scheduled or unscheduled AAD maintenance. That isn't the FARs, but it is guidance from the FAA and presumably takes the FAA's intepretation of the FARs into account. Absent a regulation that directly contradicts the AC, I am comfortable with the legality of packing a rig with an AAD that will require maintenance within the repack cycle.

"Extracteur" is one way to say pilot chute in French, and the poster is from Quebec.

The Infinity hardware is made by CWH. I tried to get VSE to sell me a couple of black RW8 rings and they wouldn't do it. Maybe RI will be more helpful.

Maybe he's a bad instructor who shouldn't ever teach the first jump course. Maybe he's normally a great instructor but his wife left him the night before and he was just trying to get through the day. Either way, you handled the situation correctly. Hopefully the experience won't turn you off from making your first jump. Ask the dropzone to schedule you in a class with a different instructor or go to a different dropzone.

The TCs come stock with a tail pocket, dacron lines, and pilot chute retract system. I can't speak to the qualities of the freefall Storm or the differences between versions, I only have one jump on a TF 135 and that was years ago.

We use TC 120s at about a 1.8:1 wing loading for 2-way. We found the canopy to be too snivelly for our purposes with the mesh slider so we switched to a spider slider. It speeds up the openings, helps a bit with heading, and once under canopy reduces noise and vibration while also helping with upwards visibility. Do you plan on deploying at terminal? We normally only do about a 3 second delay and have never gone past 5 seconds.

Are you joking? A surprising number of "coaches" use a camera as a substitute for the ability to observe and remember what happened on the skydive. The camera is a great tool, but if the coach can't remember what happened on the jump without watching the video they just shot, then they aren't qualified to be a coach. That's a separate subject and not altogether true either. I don't know a single instructor (let alone coach) that sees everything on every jump or even everything on most jumps, and a jump with video debrief is as effective for the student as several without. Let's not forget that a coach rating is an entry level rating. They can't and shouldn't be expected to see or recall everything that occurs. A coach should have a fairly good recall of his/her jumps but any rating holder's debrief will be more accurate and detailed after video review and a student's learning curve will almost always be steeper with the use of it. Besides, the coach had to demonstrate some ability to recall details to get the rating in the first place. If a coach doesn't have at least adequate recall then the problem isn't with the coach, it's with the trainer that approved the person to hold the ticket. If we have a consistent problem with unqualified coaches we need to take a serious look at the ratings process. I agree with everything in your last post. I agree that cameras are an extremely valuable instruction tool and encourage their use. I don't expect every coach (or instructor, or 20k jump world champion, or whoever) to see and remember every tiny detail of every skydive. The thing I disagreed with was where you said "are you joking" in response to "if you need a camera to debrief, maybe coaching is not for you." I expect a coach to be able to give their student their money's worth in the debrief even if the camera failed. There are coaches (and instructors) who can't do that.

Are you joking? A surprising number of "coaches" use a camera as a substitute for the ability to observe and remember what happened on the skydive. The camera is a great tool, but if the coach can't remember what happened on the jump without watching the video they just shot, then they aren't qualified to be a coach.

You'll probably have more luck on the crwdogs mailing list. You can search/sign up here: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/crwdogs This thread has some discussion of nubless toggles and a video of what can happen if a regular toggle gets hung up: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/crwdogs/nubless/crwdogs/wzxTpDs0P0k/ZMGm5GaDnqsJ

It depends on the dropzone. If I was in charge of getting you back in the air, I would probably have you sit through the first jump course (or do a very thorough one-on-one "mini-FJC" with an instructor) and then do a level 2. Some places will have you start over from scratch.

How many jumps a year are you planning on making? If your 34 jumps in 2 years is the pace you plan on maintaining, you might be better off renting. Do the math on the annual cost of ownership of a rig. I haven't run the numbers in a while, but the last time I looked into it using our local prices, it took about 25 jumps / year to make owning cheaper than renting. Obviously you shouldn't ignore non-monetary factors like not having to wait if all of the DZ's gear is being rented, the warm and fuzzy that comes from using the same rig on every jump, etc.

Could be low top thread tension, could be high bottom thread tension. Have you tried a fresh bobbin and re-threading the top thread?

For what it's worth, I emailed my renewal paperwork to USPA on the 5th of this month, got a confirmation email on the 11th, and received my new card in the mail today.

That depends on where you jump. Several times I've had a spotter in an aircraft give me directions to a canopy that I couldn't see until I was practically standing on it.

I've seen a couple of canopies jumped with the steering lines outside of the slider. Without the steering lines helping push the slider down, the openings were very slow. With the right canopy/slider combination, it might be possible that the slider would never come down. Not a great thing in a low cutaway or AAD fire situation.

Correct

It's not even right for a base rig.

You can use sheets of masonite as a cutting surface. It's not ideal, and will wear out pretty quickly, but sheets are so cheap it doesn't really matter. Masonite is also nice for making patterns.

I've been told they are the same motors off of the same assembly line, with different manufacturer logos added later. I have the same motor with no manufacturer info whatsoever. It's been on my 217N for over a year and works great.

Performance Designs sells scrap by the pound for very reasonable prices.

One of the unexpected side effects of holding a 3rd class medical for the last 6 years is that I actually take less care of my health. That persistent mild sinus discomfort? If I get it checked out and need surgery, there goes my medical. Feel tired a lot? Better not go to the doctor, if he tells me I have a sleep disorder I'm done. Feel a little blue sometimes? Can't talk to a professional, might end up being diagnosed with depression. Give blood? They might find something that would disqualify me. Annual check-up with my physician? Hope I don't have high blood pressure or high cholesterol or...

The FAA TSO database is here. It looks like Paratec holds a TSO for the Next and the Speed 2000.