riggerrob

An FAA Parachute Rigger Examiner would be a long-term FAA employee (civil servant) who administers oral and practical examinations of potential riggers. While a number of FAA employees are riggers, few have the depth of knowledge to become Examiners. To fill this depth of knowledge, the FAA DESIGNATES well-respected civilian Master Parachute Riggers as EXAMINERS. These DPREs learn the finer points of FAA paperwork, then start examining potential riggers. DPREs operate semi-independently from FAA Flight Standards District Offices, setting their own hours and pay rates. However, the free market keeps fees similar across the board. DPRE travelling expenses are rarely an issue since it is difficult - bordering on impossible - for DPREs to gain approval to test outside their primary area (related to an FAA FSDO). Most DPREs do all their testing at a single - FAA approved - loft.

Yes, DPRE Jay Stokes and DPRE Bob Celaya said that it is difficult - bordering on impossible - to gain FAA approval for testing outside the USA. An FAA official inspecting the testing site (e.g. loft) is only part of the process. DPRE Mikey Morrill said - over the phone - that a letter of recommendation is no longer required. The FAA FSDO in Houston does not officially cover questions from Canada, but they pick up their phone more often than other FSDOs, so answer more questions. So a Canadian rigger applying for an FAA rigger rating must go through a similar process as a new American rigger: Form 8610-2, present logbooks to an FAA FSDO, "written" test and practical test. I did that whole process back in 1988 with the FSDO in Syracuse, New York and DPRE Dave DeWolf.

Folks, please remember that most of these recently-conscripted Russian soldiers already have a year or two or military training from back when they were conscripted as teenagers. Many European nations continued conscription of teenagers well into the 21st century. Some former conscripts have totally forgotten what was taught back, then while others may have longer military service. In any case, the latest batch of Russian conscripts still need some refresher training on the latest weapons and the latest Ukrainian tactics. The silly Ukrainian Army have discarded some Soviet tactics while simultaneously adopting a few NATO tactics.

Will someone please explain the logic of men who kill estranged ex-partners? I have been through a few "unpleasant" break-ups and the last thing I wanted was to see my "exs" for any reason. One "ex" used the courts to keep her hand in my wallet for 7 years after I left.

The problem is that the average BASE jumper does not understand the difference in risks between a sub-terminal deployment at 800 feet and a terminal deployment at 800 feet.

For many decades, CSPA, USPA and BPA avoided any involvement with BASE jumping because if its high fatality rate and the way the public could not tell the difference between skydiving and BASE. BASE gear may have become more reliable, but old skydivers do not understand the difference. CSPA has been through this whole "regulations versus recommendations" debate and now only recommends. The legal problem pokes up its ugly head when something is a "regulation" but is not rigidly enforced, putting CSPA at risk of a lawsuit for failing to rigidly enforce a regulation. Skydivers being skydivers means that they like to make their own decisions ... er ... hate being told what to do. Nothing good happens when lawyers get involved.

Does anyone have contact information for FAA DPRE Mikey Millor in Washington State? This relates to a question about FAA DPREs doing practical tests outside of the continental USA. Is that even an approved procedure? Rob Warner, FAA Master Rigger (back, seat and chest) CSPA Rigger Examiner Strong TIE

Back when I started jumping in 1977, we mainly used small Cessnas or World War 2 surplus military transports, all with piston engines. They took forever to climb to 7,000 feet. The beater Cessna 172 that I flew for a summer would top out at 5,000 feet during the hot and hazy days of August. Ergo. we rarely jumped from above 7,200 feet. That meant only a 30 second delay and no one wanted to waste altitude by pulling above - the USPA mandated - 2,000 feet. Back then CSPA put minimum opening altitude at 2,200 or 2,500 feet ... I forget which. The DZ safety Officer would "have words" with you if you failed to show a pilot-chute above 2,000 feet. Also consider that we started the 1970s with mainly military-surplus round parachutes and ended with Strato-Clouds which opened similar to the early square reserves. Come the early 1980s and Precision introduced the Raven series as both mains and reserves. With popular main canopies opening similar to reserves, you knew by 1,800 feet whether it was opening properly or not. Come the 1990s and tandem overwhelming the sport - turning it into an "industry" - DZs started flying more reliable turboprops (Caravan, Porter, Skyvan, Twin Otter, etc.) and it suddenly became practical and time-effective to consistently jump from above 12,000 feet. Altitude on the bottom end lost importance. Also consider that second and third generation zero-P canopies opened much slower and softer and tossing a pilot-chute an extra few hundred feet higher - at the bottom end - made more and more sense. Finally, the introduction of the first electronic Automatic Activation Devices (e.g. Cypres 1) in 1991 also encouraged people to raise their minimum opening altitude. Plenty complained about electronic AADs miss-firing, but the majority of those "miss-fires" occurred within the published envelope. USPA "upped" minimum opening altitudes around 2012 and CSPA followed a year or two later.

Russia detonating NBCW in Ukraine risks fall-out drifting over Russian farms and ruining their productivity.

If a parachute is even partly open in the plane, it creates a HUGE risk of inflating immediately outside the door and ripping the tail off of the airplane. That is why we keep the door closed. I have seen a few attempts at re-closing rigs in the airplane. Most were successful from a rigging point-of-view, but the user was too rattled to pull the correct handles in the correct sequence.

On the Eastern Front, both sides were brutal on Prisoners of War during World War 2. Hitler intended to clear Eastern Europe of Slavic untermensch to make way for good, upstanding German farmers. To that end, Nazis executed thousands of P.O.W.s especially leaders: professors, politicians, journalists, army officers, writers, poet, play-wrights, etc. in Poland. Meanwhile, the USSR starved thousands of P.O.W.s or let them freeze to death. They also deported huge numbers to labor camps in Siberia and kept them there for a decade after the war ended. Only a handful survived. Far more bled to death on the Eastern Front that while fighting in Western Europe (WALLIES included Americans, Brazilians, Brits, Canadians, Indians, Free French, Free Poles, etc.

LR-288 was originally built to compete for a West German Army contract. WEA wanted to be able to jump into East Germany and make messes if the Cold War ever went hot. They also wanted to be able to jump at night with rucksack, rifle, snowshoes, demolition charges, etc. ... well maybe not snowshoes. Kind of by accident, they found that increasing the aspect ratio of LR-288 - and the similar Manta 288, 9-cell - that they flattened the glide ratio and students were more likely to slide out poor landings than collapse like the sack of potatoes that they resembled under round parachutes. I believe that it was the change in ANGLE of landing that did the most to reduce student injuries (e.g. sprained ankle) during the 1980s.

I will take male anti-abortionists seriously when they post a $300.000 every time they prevent an abortion. Recent surveys show that it costs roughly $300,000 to raise a North American child until they are old enough to support themselves (18 ish years old).

If you had time to pull down on rear risers - to reduce descent rate - you also had enough time to do a rear riser stall. If you quickly release the rear riser stall, half the tension knots will fall out. I have used this technique to clear dozens of tension knots on tandems. If the student is heavy enough to stiffen risers into iron crow bars, I use toggles to pull the canopy into a deep stall, then let my hands up quickly. The canopy dives forward, lines go slack and most of the tension knots drop out. Please note that this technique does not work well on tiny canopies loaded more than 1:1 as the dive may be asymmetrical and throw you into line twists. The only way out of - tiny canopy - line twists is to cutaway. Whereas lightly-loaded student canopies just fly off on their merry way.

In the occupied territories of Donyetsk and Luhansk, Ukrainian partisans have been shooting at puppet mayors - appointed by Russia - and blowing up their cars.

A couple of free-lancers also offered to spray tired canopies with porosity-reducing sealants. I have only ever seen a single 8-cell canopy, it had about 240 square feet. It was made by APS. I only did one jump on it, but stomped the disc.

The Royal Family are still the largest land-owners in the British Isles. They can live comfortably on just the income from their numerous estates.

The Calgary Chief of Police used to buy one-way bus tickets to Vancouver and force Calgary's winos to migrate to a warmer city with better shelters for homeless people.

The biggest difference will be in your waist measurement. The precisely compensate for a smaller waist, you will need to get a Master Rigger - or the factory - to shorten your lateral straps. You may be able to cheat by adding an after-market belly-band to tighten loose laterals. Other than than, smaller thighs will require shorter leg pads. The better local riggers can modify leg pads or the factory will cheerfully sell you replacement leg pads. Look at the 2piece, sliding leg pads often installed on student rigs.

Also consider that it might be easier to replace batteries if they are storing in under-belly baggage panniers ... with external doors.

Halleluyah! A mere 12 years after I suggested removing it, that ugly, eye sore of an airplane wreck has finally disappearred from Pitt Meadows Airport. This is after I suggested removing it a decade ago. I wrote letters to the owner, airport management, Pitt Meadows Town Council, Pitt Meadows Fire Department, Maple Ridge City Council, Transport Canada, Workmens' Compensation Board, etc. I even offered to buy a box of blades for PMFD's crash rescue saw. This is a recurring theme in my life: I identify a problem and suggest a solution. Authorities tell me to "Shut the F' up! Because we are never going to do that." Then a few months or years later, my solution is implemented." Why do they waste time denying my suggestions????????????????????

Wise words.

How many other world leaders have jumped? Retired U.S. President George Walker Bush did a few jumps, but his first was the most spectacular: from a flaming Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bomber. It seems that he had been bombing Japanese positions, but the Japs replied with AAA. Circa 1997, Pres. Bush was the keynote speaker at a PIA Symposium and expressed an urge to do an AFF jump. All the various PIA members tumbled over each other to donate equipment: Airtec donated a Cypres, Precision donated a reserve, Flight concepts donated a couple of mains and Rigging Innovations donated a Telesis I harness/container. Since I was working at R.I. I got to assemble and pack the system, then sent it off to Yuma, Arizona where Mr. Bush jumped it onto the front pages of newspapers.

Sometimes Canada benefits from still having a monarch (Queen or King), though it is usually the Governor General who knocks heads together. Sometimes we need an aloof statesman to convince elected politicians of the best path. For example" during the last exciting federal election, neither major party (Liberals or Conservatives) gained a clear majority. Incumbent Conservative P.M. Harper might have tried to stay on, but the Governor General called him and Liberal J. Trudeau to to the G.G.'s official residence and helped them hammer out a deal that saw a Liberal-NDP coalition take control. The GG's heavy-handed methods are infinitely preferable to the American policy of rioting on Capital Hill. Yes, Canadian politics can be boring and we like it that way. The Queen or King or Governor General adds a bit to the boredom.

How generous of the Russian Army to Lend-Lease AFVs to the Ukrainians. This reminds us of how Finland started WW2 with mostly Western-pattern weapons, but by war's end was mostly equipped with Soviet-pattern weapons. As the Finnish Air Force wore out their Western-made airplane engines, they replaced them with (Soviet-made) Shevnetsov and Klimov engines salvaged from battlefields.