riggerrob

Military laboratories in more than a dozen nations keep small amounts of banned biological weapons (e.g. anthrax) for research purposes like developing vaccines and other counter-measures. Even Canadian federal labs keep small amounts of anthrax, etc. despite Canada having never publically admitted to holding NBCW. Those labs are usually under three or four levels of restrictions to reduce the risk of nasty germs escaping. If you want to know the finer points of operating a Canadian federal lab, ask my brother-in-law who monitors insects, etc. trying to sneak into Canada,

The sad thing is that the definition of "A well regulated militia ... " has changed over the years. During the American Revolutionary it meant part-time soldiers (e.g. Minutemen) who reported up a chain of command to the state governor. Today, many nations (e.g. Canada) still have formal "militias." In Canada, the term "militia" is slang for the Army Reserve, Navy Reserve and Air Force Reserve who all report up a chain of command to National Defense Headquarters, Parliament and the Prime Minister. Canadian "militiamen" wear the same uniforms as the Regular Army, carry the same weapons, drive the same vehicles and frequently attend the same courses, to the extent that when Canada sends troops overseas (Afghanistan or United Nations missions) almost half their contingent might be reservists on short-term (e.g. one year) contracts. Sadly, the popular American definition of "militia" has been so badly distorted over the last few d3ecades, that few Americans know what the term means any more. P.S. I am so old that I frequently get in trouble for using the dictionary definition of words. Hah! Hah!

The key word is "guidance." In a country with too many ambulance-chasing lawyers, if USPA "orders" - but does not rigidly enforce - wing-loading limits, then they leave USPA open to lawsuits launched by wounded skydivers who exceeded USPA's orders. Those frivolous lawsuits can cost tens of thousands of dollars to defend or result in multi-million dollar judgements against a well-meaning USPA. It is awkward the way that ambulance-chasing lawyers make policies so vague that they increase risks for junior jumpers.

Just messing with Gerry Baumchen .... What if the rigger is working in a country (e.g. most of the European Union) where parachutes have a nationally mandated "life" of 20 years? Yes, I know that the law primarily applies to pilot emergency parachutes, but skydivers generally follow the same standard. It does not matter what the manufacturer or FAA say, riggers in those countries are forbidden to return to service a parachute more than 20 years old. Does local law trump an American law? Then it gets really complicated when a rigger like skydiverek (see banner ad at the top of the page) buys up 20 year old reserves in Europe and re-sells them to North Americans. As an aside, it is difficult to give away 20 plus year old parachutes in North America. So the North American market has decided that 20 plus year old parachutes are devalued below zero.

Canadian prosecutors have ways of keeping the most violent criminals in prison for life. They just "stay" some accusations, meaning that when the criminal applies for parole, Crown prosecutors just offer try him for more crimes. At which time, the parole board declines to prosecute him, but also decline to release him. This tactic is especially convenient when the public does not want to hear the whole truth. For example, it was clear to most of us that Willy Picton was just a fall-guy for the many other people involved in murdering drug-addled prostitutes at his pig farm in Port Coquitlam, near Vancouver, British Columbia. He not the brightest member of the Picton family, but he provided a convenient public face to the dozens of other family members, friends, bikers, police, etc. who knew what was going on, but hid evidence. Vancouver police had a rough idea o what was going on, but they were just glad that one group of criminals was killing off another group of criminals. The fact that many of the prostitutes were native women (lowest class in Canadian society) just made it easier for racist police to look the other way. Nobody wants to talk publically about all the snuff-films that were made at the pig farm. Crown prosecutors (federal) tried Willy Picton for a few murders for which they had the best evidence. Then they "stayed" charges on another dozen murders for which they had less evidence.

Not beating on you own "gender identity group" is a lame legal defense. Sure, his defense lawyers are required to throw out all possible alibis, but few judges or juries will take this claim seriously. Funny how some of the most ardent "fag bashers" are later revealed to be closeted homosexuals themselves. In a similar vein, some of the most out-spoken Evangelical preachers have been caught committing adultery or child molestation. Though to be honest, most accusations of child molestation involved teenaged girls ... but those girls were less than the age of majority.

Dear Slim King, You are the first o mention bio labs in Ukraine. Do you know something that the mainstream media do not?????????

In a capitalist society (e.g. USA), you can be sued for doing anything ... even following the letter of the law. It is all about who has the most dollars. OTOH in a more authoritarian society (e.g. UK) if a licensed technician (e.g. rigger) "Xes" out your data panel, you are finished and there is no point to whining after the fact.

Dear Slim King, Most of us agree with you that a negotiated cease fire would be the best possible outcome. The problem is that Russians have a bad habit of not keeping their promises.

NATO attaches strings because the last thing they want is to fuel Russian propaganda about NATO wanting to expand all the way to the Ural mountains. France learned that invading Russia was impossible back during the days of Napoleon (circa 1800). During the First World War, Germany learned that they could at best fight Russia to a stand-still. Furing the Second World War Germany learned that it was impossible to HOLD Russian territory, no matter how easy it might have been to conquer. Long supply lines and "General Mud" made it impossible to re-supply German soldiers too many thousand kilometers/miles from German farms and factories. Bottom line is that NATO knows that invading Russia is a fool's game.

After viewing the video clip I have concluded that it was a high-performance round, but not a Thunderbow. A high-performance round is fitting for the 1970s filming date, but it was not a Thunderbow. Perhaps it was a Piglet?????? The container looks like another Security product, a Crossbow. Crossbow was the first piggyback container made for skydiving. The Crossbow container sold well and was widely copied.

Hello Gerry, Now we get into a lengthy debate about whether a lowly rigger should follow the second or third edition of the manual. Most of the time, I follow the latest edition of the manual, unless I know about some part that does not apply to older versions of that parachute. For example, when packing Javelins, I fold pilot chutes in accordance with the third or fourth version of the manual because it does a better job of concealing the F-111 fabric.

Execution was a quick and easy way for nomadic tribes to get rid of their most troublesome tribe members. Consider that nomadic tribes were not wealthy enough to feed and house an idle member. Execution had the secondary benefit of providing emotional "closure" for victims' families. Nowadays, wealthy nations can afford the $30,000. to $50,000. per cost of lifetime imprisonment. There are a few criminals too violent to ever be allowed back out in main stream society.

Dear pchapman, Following manufacturers' instructions is a great way to shut up ambulance-chasing lawyers. Lawyer "Why did you pack it this way?" Rigger "I packed it in accordance with page 19 in the container manual." L. "Why did you install it this way?" R. "Page 17 in the Cypres manual." L. Why did you install the connector links this way?" R. "Page 18 in the reserve manual." Then the lawyer wanders off to sue the manufacturers for big bucks. Lawyers only care about the big bucks.

Thanks Wendy. Please repeat that loudly within earshot of my boss.

1986 Earlier that summer, skydivers gathered at Pitt Meadows, near Vancouver, Canada to try and build a hundred-way. Their jumps were part of the festivities surrounding the EXPO 86 World's Fair. After building a series of 99-ways, they gave up. A month-or-so later, most of them gathered at a Freak Brothers Convention to attempt more hundred-ways. After building a series of 99-ways, they adjourned to the USPA Nationals in Muskogee where they succeeded.

Who skiied off a cliff and deployed a Thunderbow (high performance round) for a James Bond movie?

If your Softie is clean and has minimal wear, you MIGHT convince a local rigger to repack it. Faded harness webbing is often half as strong as when it was new. It all depends upon condition. When I worked at Para-Phernalia (aka. Softie factory) we refused to repack most pilot emergency parachutes more than 20 years old. After 20 years of regular usage, they were usually faded, frayed and filthy. There was also the matter of the earliest Softies being rather crude and subtle improvements had been added over the years. If you rSoftie is only 24 years old, it was made in 1998 after all the major bugs had been worked out of the original patterns. As an aside, I also quit repacking round parachute canopies that were manufactured during the 1980s because to the acid-mesh hassles. Yes, I am familiar with the FAA-approved process (bromocreasol green and tensile testing) for returning them to service, but after testing a thousand or so, I lost interest in the process. When I worked for Butler, we rarely repacked PEPs more than 20 years old because the Southern California desert was harsh on PEPs. National and Pioneer also published retrospective notices telling riggers to not return to service their products more than 15 years old, but that was mainly to ground round canopies suspected of suffering from acid-mesh. When I worked for Square One at Perris Valley, California, loft policy dictated that we not repack parachutes more than 25 years old.

Sounds like the original poster raised his rear risers or toggles too quickly. The key to recovering from stalls is to GENTLY raise your toggles or rear risers. I teach junior jumpers to practice stalls by slowly pulling toggles down to their hips until they feel the canopy rock backwards. To recover, I teach them to raise toggles to belt level and pause for a few seconds until the canopy is definitely flying forward, then raise toggles all the way.

Do the tandem. Over the last 40 years, I have taught with all the popular methods: static-line, IAD, tandem and accompanied freefall. But I can only count on one hand the number of first-jump students that I have done AFF with. Few Canadian schools offer first-jump AFF. Instead, they offer a mixture of tandem, IAD, tunnel and accompanied freefall. Tandem is "best" at helping students over all the emotions of a first jump. IAD or static-line is "best" at teaching canopy control. Tunnels are "best" at teaching the basics of stable freefall. AFF combines all those skills. No single method is "best." Rather, each method is "best" during one phase of training. I even worked a few days at a skydiving school in Ontario where they offered first-jump AFF, but they slipped a "free" tandem jump into the program.Typically students spent the morning in the classroom. At lunchtime, they did their "free" tandem, then practical ground school exercises (rehearsals) all afternoon followed by an AFF jump in the evening. I also worked at an American skydiving school that offered first-jump AFF, but Saturday's ground school always ran late, so they had to come back Sunday morning to jump. Most of those AFF students said - after landing - that they were borderline overwhelmed and wished that they had started with a tandem. Your emotions are perfectly normal. Even the brightest and bravest students (think US NAVY SEALS) are often emotionally overwhelmed as they approach the door. A simpler dive with help you get over that emotional hurdle with less risk.

Remember that few of those Ukrainian female soldiers were first-line shooters. The bulk of these October-released Ukrainian female soldiers were medics, truck drivers, mechanics, signallers, blanket-stackers, etc. Modern, mechanized armies have very long tooth-to-tail ratios with up to 4 support soldiers for every shooter. For comparison, during World War 2 (Great Patriotic War) the Soviet Army suffered such heavy casualties, that by the time the captured Berlin, their ranks were 25 female.

"Time for you to head home now." Anyone who mixed alcohol with brandishing a gun would get the bums' rush from my apartment. I would take the police approach. When mature police officers host parties, they insist on everyone leaving their car keys with the host and locking up guns. At the end of the evening, the host decides who is sober enough to drive home. If they think far enough ahead, they leave guns at home. These days, few Canadian police officers carry guns while off duty. Many just lock their guns at the police station at the end of their shift. It is almost impossible for a Canadian civilian to obtain a concealed-carry permit.

That reminds me of an old Wonderhog that showed up at Perris Valley, California circa 200. Since manifest always sent visiting jumpers to Square One's loft, I (as the rigger on duty that day) did a quick external inspection along with confirming that the packing data card was in date, etc. The rig was from out of state. It had no AAD and still contained a round reserve, but scariest thing was its military-surplus, anti-wind, blast handle. Because of hard pulls - when pulling at the wrong angle - both CSPA and USPA had banned those metal reserve ripcord handles long before I earned my first rigging certificate in 1984. USPA had banned blast handles for many years, but eventually dropped that BSR (?) after they disappeared from most American DZs. USPA dropped the BSR to avoid cluttering their BSRs with trivia about obsolete equipment. Anyways, this visiting jumper adamantly insisted that it was his god-given right to jump a blast handle. After a half-hour of debate (including the visiting jumper, an instructor from PV Skydiving School and myself) he still insisted that he wanted to jump with his blast handle. I even offered to install a more modern D-handle ripcord for free and he still refused. Eventually, the instructor and I quit in frustration. The visiting jumper reminded me of modern "sovereign citizens" who insist long and loud about their god-given right to operate differently than the rest of society. GRRRRRRRR!

Ihave worked with both roll-up and slide-up doors on Cessna U206. I found the roll-up nylon door to be awkward to operate with only one hand. Think of a tandem instructor who has finished tightening all of his student's straps. OTOH slide-up, clear Lexan doors are much easier to operate with only one hand.