riggerrob

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Posts posted by riggerrob

  3. Over the last 20 years I have taught students how to pull: chest-mounted ripcord, hip-mounted ripcord, BOC-mounted ripcord, belly-band mounted pilotchute, hip-mounted pilotchute and BOC-mounted pilotchute.

    Nowadays I only teach with BOC-mounted pilotchute.

    There are basically two types of deployment systems: BOC-mounted pilotchute and antiquated junk!

  5. Everyone chooses what to spend money on. For some, training (i.e. AFF jumps, coach jumps, canopy training) may be a wiser choice than an AAD.

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    Interesting concept Bill.

    For some people limited funds would be safer spent on coach dives ...

    ... replacing a worn-out main ...

    ... replacing an un-reliable altimeter ...

    ... replacing scratched goggles, so they can read their altimeter ...

  6. USPA, CSPA, BPA, etc have such high recommended cutaway altitudes because malfunctioning parachutes descend far faster than skydivers' brains. The result is people - under malfunctions - believe they are far higher than they really are. There is also the time lag between glancing at an altimeter and the numbers registering on the brain.

    That is why I prefer to rely on the Mark I eyeball when things get scary. Over the years (4,000 skydives) I have developed mental pictures of what the ground looks like from 5,000, 3,000, 2,000 and 1,000 feet.

  7. Quote

    I got my sportrx goggles over the weekend and I was wearing them around the yard and the depth perception makes the ground seem closer than it actually is. It's going to take some getting used to. Now if I can stop staring at the ground when I'm getting ready to flare, I'll be ok.



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    You might want to practice a bit with your new googles before jumping with them. Try running down stairs, grassy knolls, snowy hillsides a few times to accustom yourself to the different depth perception.

  8. I've seen footage from one DZ that incorporates both handicam and outside and when edited together the result is OUTSTANDING:)BUT it take some setting up and a bit of time to edit.



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    The Golden Knights VIP Tandem Team has one of my hand-mounts for trials. Since they already use two outside videographers on most jumps, they plan to dub in the new footage (from hand-mounted camera).
    I suppose if you are jumping with rock stars, you can devote the extra time to dubbing.

  • Enjoy skydiving while stationed in Germany.
    I did while stationed at Canadian Forces Base Baden-Solingen in 1995-97. I enjoyed it so much that I flew, rigged and instructed for the Black Forest Parachute Club on the base. Too bad that base closed a few years ago.
    Fortunately there are plenty of civilian DZs in that part of Germany.
    The Karlsruhe Parachute Club used to jump from a turbine 206 at Schweighoffen. Did I tell you about the time I missed the country? ... landed in a French swamp.
    .. heard about a civilian DZ near Rotweil. ... tried visiting the home town of the big dogs, but it rained too heavily that day.
    There are civilian skydiving clubs or centers near every major German city, and there even used to be a quasi-US military jump club near Stuttgart.
    ... attended some great boogies near Leutkirch ., Ampfing ...

    The key to enjoying European skydiving is recognising differences and ACCEPTING them. Sure European jump tickets are more expensive than North American jump tickets, but let's face it: North American up-jumpers have not paid fair market value for decades.
    It is equally important to learn some of the local language, first as a mark of respect for locals and secondly to fit in. The ultimate revenge is telling a French border guard - in French - how his own bureaucracy works! Hah! Hah!
    When I first arrived in Germany, I signed up for a night school class to learn German. Less than a year later I Skydive Kangaroo offered me a job dealing with German-speaking tandem students.
    European weather may not be perfect for skydiving, but fortunately there is always some sort of castle or museum or beer garden or volks march nearby to fill in the rainy days.

  • For the last 2,000 jumps I have worn racketball glasses or basketball glasses (slightly bigger).
    These heavy-duty sports specs provide exactly the same vision as my regular glasses and plenty of facial protection when my loving students slam my head into the door frame!
    I also find racketball glasses to be a decent compromise between wind protection and fogging up. The only time they allow enough wind in to make me cry is when I lean my head sideways out fo the Cessna to spot.

  • Quote

    it`s a vector 1 or 2 not really sure :o

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    Easy to tell: if it has Velcro in the reserve pin cover, then it is a Vector 1.

    Sewing a pillow into the main container is best done while the reserve container is empty, like when it is repacked.

  • I wouldn't criticize the PAC 750XL,s horizontal tail location too loudly.
    We have seen tail strikes on DC-3s, King Airs and most of the Cessnas.
    Most of those problems were caused by human error (sloppy rigging, slamming rig against door frame or exiting before airplane was levelled off).
    On the other hand, we can fly the same airplane thousands of hours trouble-free, provided everyone does their job properly.
    So let's make a New Year's resolution to do our jobs properly.

  • I think I'd go and design a Twin Otter. Dropping jumpers WAS one of the original design aspects of that plane. They even designed a slick flolding door that was electrically actuated. It could be closed again inflight. Pretty slick.



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    The prototype Twin Otter may have had an electrically-operated door, but by the time it got into service with Canadian Armed Forces SAR Squadrons, the bi-fold aluminum door was strictly hand-draulic.

  • B) is an argument invented after the fact.

    I prefer Hank Asquito's explanation. The last time I jumped with Hank was 3 years ago in California City. Hank was doing video and I was doing a tandem.
    Hank is still advancing parachute design. Weekdays, Hank was working at the Lockheed Skunk Works, putting the finishing touches on the ejection seat in their Joint Strike Fighter prototype.
    Hint, Lockheed won that fly-off.

  • 5 major points to any pack job

    1. lines straight
    2. brakes set
    3. slider up
    4. rubber bands tight around lines
    5. bridle routed straight from pin to handle

    Everything else is a minor point.

    My pet peeve is people who devote a half hour to flaking the bottom skin (minor point), but lose control of the slider (major point) while bagging the canopy.

  • Quote

    I don't, but I've been known to be proven wrong.
    I do look forward to when we have memory-chips big enough to hold digital video, then cameras will be able to get rid of their tape transport mechanism, and they'll get rediculously small. This is where i think video is going.... Tiny self contained cameras in one piece, bought off the shelf.

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    Memory chip cameras are already sold by MUSTEK and a few other manufacturers, Too bad their image Quality is not up to SONY standards. They are already ridiculously tiny and ridiculously cheap!
    At $300 I could not go wrong with the Mustek DV2000 and have been using it to video family etc. Even sewed up a hand-mount for the DV2000 and took it on a tandem dive.
    The biggest limitation on Musteks is the difficulty in attaching after-market lenses.
    I would buy a Mustek DV4000 if I could figure out how to attach one of Max Cohn's 0.3 Diamond wide-angle lenses.
    In conclusion, resolution on video cameras with memory-chips is not up to miniDV standards, but will be in another 2 or 3 years.

  • Dailailama,
    Thanks for the slider dimensions.
    However we were hoping that you could give riggers a more practical dimension like: "pack with tail X number of inches above A line attachment points."
    Please?

  • The first argument has been around as long as Pop-Top reserves have been in production (about 30 years) and the second argument has been circulating since adjustable closing loops were introduced 20 years ago.
    Yada, yada ...
    However, we rarely hear of accidents attributed to Pop-Tops.
    This is largely an academic argument or justification after the decision has already been made.
    I suspect that most of the arguments/scare stories are invented by people who work for manufacturers other than Jump Shack, Fliteline and Thomas Sports Equipment.

    I CHALLENGE THE CRITICS TO FIND USPA ACCIDENT REPORTS WHERE POP-TOPS WERE A FACTOR.

    And no, we are not interested in third-hand: "my ex-girlfriend's whuffo brother-n-law knew a guy..."