indyz

http://paraloft.com/ - DeWolf http://para-concepts.com/RiggingCourse/ - Chicago Tom Dolphin does / did one in Missouri but I can't find the information right now.

Camera girl, actually. It's called a spider slider. Just an X of webbing with rings or grommets at the end. It reduces drag and vibration compared to a mesh slider, and makes the opening faster.

The worst I ever managed to make airworthy was a nearly-new Softie back. It was originally assembled and packed with a square reserve at a well-known west coast loft. The connector links were installed in three of the four possible orientations, all of them incorrect. The pilot chute was from a Mirage (the manual recommends a 357 Magnum). It was clearly used and some damage to the fabric had been "repaired" with ripstop tape. The strap on the pilot chute was installed incorrectly. Inspecting the rig before opening it to pack, it was obvious that the closing loop was at least 1" too long. When I removed the loop from the rig, I found that at some point somebody had tried to shorten it by tying an overhand knot in the middle of it, meaning that the loop was actually 2"-3" too long and would have prevented deployment unless both pins were pulled. Finally, the gates on both B-12 snaps were bent, one so badly that it was impossible to open and the other wouldn't close once it was open.

If you are attending a course, you should talk to the person giving the course. Some courses require you to bring your own tools, and they should provide a list of what you need. Other courses (Dave DeWolf's comes to mind) provide tools as part of the course.

I only have 700-ish CRW jumps, so I'm not the most experienced CRW dog. I have been in my share of wraps and entanglements, including one entanglement where I used the "high guy cuts away" technique (actually, that's my only CRW cutaway). I can also talk CRW all day in person, but set me down in front of a keyboard and I can barely put a sentence together. I'm going to quote Mike Lewis' CRW emergency procedures: It seems counter-intuitive, but when the top jumper cuts away, they usually fall clear without any difficulty. If they do get stuck, they have taut lines to work with instead of a mess of spaghetti. It's a lot easier to sort out lines or use a hook knife on them is they have some tension. Additionally, the low jumper isn't in any more danger doing it this way. If the top jumper is unable to extricate himself, the low guy still has the option of cutting away. It isn't just theoretical, decades of experience has proven this approach.

Something I thought about addressing in my first post but decided to skip: Because there is no audio on the clip, it's impossible to tell if the jumpers communicated before anybody cut away. In a wrap or entanglement, if time allows, clear communication and deciding on a course of action is extremely important. It can be tough to tell exactly what is going on with the other guy, and unilaterally taking action can make things worse.

It's not always clear cut, but from :58 onward the jumper is substantially below the canopy and is definitely in the lines. I've been in wraps and entanglements, and I would call it an entanglement. Regardless of what we call it, I think they handled it correctly. If I was the guy with the green canopy, I wouldn't want the bottom guy to cut away first.

First, let me guess what caused the collision. It seems like the camera guy (orange canopy) caught burble off of the pink canopy, which caused part of his nose to roll under, followed by a right turn and the collision with the green canopy. As far as resolving the collision, I think they did everything right. Green canopy guy was through the orange canopy's lines. If the orange canopy had cut away first, his lines would have gone slack and recoiled up into the green canopy guy, potentially causing a worse entanglement. Of course, it would have been better to avoid the entanglement in the first place. The orange canopy should have been aware that getting burbled can cause a loss of control and worked to avoid the burble. After getting burbled, aggressive left toggle may have helped maintain heading. From the video it is tough to tell how much, if any, left input he gave. Finally, it takes two people to get into a collision. From the slo-mo it looks like the green canopy didn't start turning away until just before the collision happened.

As an S&TA, if I knew of a jumper that was regularly getting a fully open canopy at 1300ft, I would have a talk with him/her. They might not be breaking the letter of the rules, but they are setting themselves up for trouble. Of course, DZs can choose to have rules that are more restrictive than the BSRs, and the S&TA can (and should) help enforce those rules. I have jumped at several DZs that had a minimum "fully open" altitude.

I'm confused. 900# Dacron is available in red from Para-Gear.

If you call Aerodyne they will give you the lengths for the non-cascaded A and B lines. Any master rigger should be able to build and install them.

Wow, hard to believe it's been 5 years since I started this thread. I ended up buying that 20U and got a lot of use out of it before moving on to better machines. Anyway, to answer your question, I just fold up a piece of scrap material to match the thickness of what I'm sewing. The important thing is that the foot is level when you start sewing. If the back of the foot is significantly lower than the front, the feed dogs won't be able to pull the work piece through.

The plane is an Aero Vodochody L-39 Albatros, a Czech fighter-trainer. The handle probably overrides the seat's built-in sequencer and releases the harness and deploys the parachute.

I'm looking for a line trim chart for a Hybrid Triathlon 99. The chart on Aerodyne's website only has the baseline and differentials for the cascaded lines, I need the lengths for the non-cascaded center A and B lines.

Too many TIs, the examiners who train them, and the DZOs who employ then are ignorant of a major part of FAR 105.45: "(a) No person may conduct a parachute operation using a tandem parachute system, and no pilot in command of an aircraft may allow any person to conduct a parachute operation from that aircraft using a tandem parachute system, unless... (2) The person acting as parachutist in command... (i) Has briefed the passenger parachutist before boarding the aircraft. The briefing must include the procedures to be used in case of an emergency with the aircraft or after exiting the aircraft, while preparing to exit and exiting the aircraft, freefall, operating the parachute after freefall, landing approach, and landing."

On pre-4.0 canopies, the outermost brake line on each side is attached to the outside edge of the end cell (the corner of the parachute). On a 4.0 lineset, the brake lines are all moved a half cell toward the center and the innermost line is longer than the others. If that doesn't make sense, I have attached a diagram that Aerodyne sent me.

Double-needle zigzag machines exist but are rare. I've never seen one in person, or even seen one advertised for sale. Your best bet would be to get a single-needle zigzag machine that can handle canopy work and "bartacks", like a Singer 20U or Bernina 217N, as well as a double needle machine like a Singer 112 or 212. It might even be possible to set up the table so that you only need one table and swap the heads. If you only have room for one machine, then skip the double needle. Most things you might want to do can be handled with two passes of single-needle.

I got my start in the sport in UIUC's skydiving club, the Falling Illini. It's been a long time, but based on their website it looks like the club is still active. http://www.fallingillini.org/

The Cypres will be at or near the end of its service life. The rubber bands on the main bag probably need to be replaced. Assuming the rig was stored properly, everything else is probably fine.

Dave DeWolf is in Elizabethtown, PA. It's a couple hours away, but he's a DPRE and runs an extremely popular rigging course (senior and master) every year.

It's impossible to say for sure what caused you to faint, but most of the time when somebody passes out on a tandem it is caused by the tandem harness cutting off the passenger's circulation. It can usually be solved with better adjustment of the passenger harness. It is less likely to happen on a solo jump but can't be ruled out completely. Before attempting a solo jump, I would advise you to do another tandem and make sure the instructor knows what happened the first time and does the best possible fitting of the harness. Also, nausea isn't uncommon on the front of a tandem. I have 1000 tandems as an instructor and I avoid riding on the front because it makes me queasy. I have never had an issue on the back or on a solo jump.

I love my 217N. If it fits under the foot, it sews.

230 is a common upper limit. Most tandem systems are rated for something like 500 lbs. The parachute and miscellaneous equipment can be 65 lbs, plus a 200 lb instructor, leaves 235 lbs for the student. Some lighter instructors are willing to take heavier students. The elevation of the landing area, the air temperature, the type of parachute used, the experience and judgement of the instructor, and the weight that the airplane is capable of carrying can all result in the dropzone choosing a maximum weight lower than the limits of the equipment. Most dropzones won't take minors, but at least a few do. The ones I've heard of don't advertise it.

If the webbing is light weight enough, you might be able to use an awl to separate the weave without cutting anything.

Zute Sutes is gone. Jenny Martin, the owner, passed away last summer.