riggerrob

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Posts posted by riggerrob

  2. I have heard this argument a hundred times and I do not respect any of the people who bring it up because most of them do not know what they are talking about.

    Not all prior teaching experience is relevant to teaching skydiving. For example, the last person I want teaching me - how to jump - is the dean of graduate students at some pompous university. Graduate students are assumed to have plenty of prior knowledge related to their curriculum, rarely the case among skydiving students.
    Also remember that different age groups require different approaches. For example, if you treated me like an army recruit, er. kindergarten pupil, I would be so offended that few of your words would sink in.

    The hidden motive of forcing junior skydiving instructors to attend coach/BIC/Instructor A Courses is to get them all on the same sheet of music.
    There are few things more frustrating for a student than to have one instructor teach him method A for barrel rolls, a second instructor teach him method B and a third instructor say "forget everything those idiots told you and do it my way."

    The final reason for insisting that all junior instructors attend the same BIC/Coach/Instructor A/call-it-what-you-will course is to gain the respect of you rpeers. It's that old military attitude about "paying your dues." Other instructors will not respect you unless you have jumped through the same hoops as them. No-one else believes that you can do the job unless you have been as much misery as them.

    The bottom line is: if you are not willing to jump through the same hoops - as I did - to earn instructor ratings, then don't ask for a job at my DZ.

    Finally there is that whole bit about senior instructors sharing their knowledge about what works and what does not work when teaching skydiving. Isn't that what a BIC/coach course is all about?

    Rob Warner
    CSPA Instructor B/PFF
    CSPA Coach 2
    3 X tandem instructor
    USPA S/L and IAD Instructor
    Pompous Master Rigger

  3. quote:"

    Quote

    Are you saying that you pretty much fold the canopy in half (back over itself), put it in the bag, then stuff the top into the front of the bag, then stuff the bottom into the cleavage (hold back on the wise remarks;)) created by the first two steps?

    :"end quote.

    Uh, sort of.
    You are inventing new terminology far faster than I can learn it.

    Let's stick with PIA terminology, just so that pompous riggers - like me - will have clue what you are talking about.

    Once I have the canopy "cocooned" to about the same width as the bag, I kneel on the top corners of the orange warning label. Then I slide the d-bag between the canopy and the floor and lock it in place with my knees.
    Then it takes three steps to "bag" the canopy.

    Step 1: Fold the canopy in half and lay it on your knees. Stuff the center of the canopy (measured vertically) into the top of the d-bag.

    Step 2: Fold top of canopy away from your waist and stuff it into d-bag. Cock the bridle. Ensure that the bridle is clear of canopy fabric.

    Step 3: Lift knees off of canopy. Grab bottom of canopy and stuff into middle of d-bag, between he canopy folds that are already in d-bag.

    By breaking it down to a three step process, you are only struggling with some of the canopy at any one time.
    The other advantage to this method is that your knees prevent the d-bag form sliding all over the packing area. Also, If the canopy tries to squirt out of the d-bag after step one, it bumps into your knees and cannot go anywhere.

  4. Para-Flite is marketing a military HAHO canopy that looks like a para-glider. A few other manufacturers are probably selling similar canopies to military special forces types, but their customers are usually the quiet sort of guys who will knife you in the throat before you even know they exist and they prefer to preserve that advantage.

    There are two technical limitations on deploying high aspect ratio para-glider type canopies at high airspeeds.
    First of all, most para-gliding canopies do not have enough reinforcing tapes to survive opening shick.
    Secondly, it is difficult to get the end cells to inflate simultaneously. If one side of the canopy inflates significantly earlier, then it will fly just like a Spinetto on a bad day!

  5. If I remember correctly, the correct length for a static line (pin, d-bag, Velcro and all) is slightly shorter than the distance from the anchor to the elevator hinge.
    The last thing you want is a static line entangling with the controls and ruining the pilot's day.

  6. Forget about Karl Marx or Kaizer Whilhelm, it is Helmet Cloth who is going to take over the planet.
    He has already taken over most of the DZs in Germany and the USA, now he has taken over ALL of France!

    Which country is next?.

    Seriously, Mr. Cloth has done us a favor by reducing skydiving fatalities. About 90% of the reserves I pack these days contain AADs. It is only a matter of time before they become mandatory on all DZs.

  7. quote: "
    Quote

    I do not think that there is an high pressure gas container in the cutter. The piston is driven by gas just like a bullet in a gun. The gas comes from an explosion from the propellant.

    " end quote.

    You are correct. However, terrorists have been so effective and security personelle are so paranoid that we are no longer allowed to tell the truth. So we tell half-truths about "high pressure" gases and politely forget to tell them what generates those gases.

    The chances of high pressure/high temperature gases escaping from a Cypres cutter are about the same as your chances of being killed by an elephant in Fairbanks, Alaska.

  9. Hey Scratch,
    I'll see you in Florida next week.
    Stop whining about getting up in the middle of the night to catch a plane when I have to sit around Pearson International Airport (Toronto) from midnight until 6 am.

    As for which discipline I prefer? I have been rigging and doing tandems and PFF for so long that I have forgotten how to spell pfunn, er. phun, er whatever! jumps anymore.
    Though last fall I dispatched a bunch of IAD students and that was fun.

    I am right up there with sister bytch on the freeflailing.

    As for the word "discipline" ... I hate that word. It reminds me of the bunch of ignorant, power-tripping NCOs who were always in my face when I was in the military. Few of them had a clue what was going on, but dammit, they wanted to be in charge of whatever was going on! Hah! Hehe! followed by hysterical laughter!

  10. Sister Bytch,
    Congratulations on the sobriety.
    I have been sober for the last 6 years.

    As for the celibacy, don't rush it.
    That whole English convent thing is another issue, especially the bloody English weather.
    Why do you think so many million English lads joined the Royal Navy and royal Army to risk life and limb at the hands of blood-thirsty heathen savages and risk contracting strange and exotic diseases that English doctors did not even have names for?

    Because facing blood-thirsty heathens was better than facing English weather.

  11. Sure, I have jumped with hundreds of tandem students who are taller than me, and I am only six feet all.
    Y0our tall friend just has to agree to help his instructor on this skydive (kicking his instructor in the ass, that sort of thing.)
    Usually the big guys listen much better and are much more helpful/cooperative.
    Hint take your tall buddy to a DZ that has a large door, like a Caravan or Twin Otter and call ahead to ensure that their instructors are experienced with large students.

  12. I often dream that I am a bird flying between trees.

    Maybe I was a bird or pterodactyl in a previous life.

    Probably I was a Blue Heron in my last life, but was a naughty Blue Heron, so my spirit returned as a human and my lesson in this life is to re-learn how to fly the hard way. You know, with a big, noisy, smelly airplane around me.

  13. 30 days, 60 days, 120 days, 180 days, once year, when the airplane gets a 100 hour inspection, ... those are all educated guesses at when wear problems start to get dangerous.
    Unfortunately everybody's gear wears at a different rate.
    Heck! I believe it is unwise to let student or rental gear go beyond 100 days.
    The FAA/CSPA/BPA, etc. had to set a standard somewhere and most of them settled on 120 days. CSPA was forced by CAPS to shift to a 180 day repack cycle, but now that CAPS is defunct, does that mean that CSPA will revert to a 120 day repack cycle? Not likely, considering that it is a struggle convincing Canadian skydivers to get their gear inspected once a year!

    Remember folks, the inspection is the most important part of "inspect and repack." The number of days a reserve has been packed rarely changes the speed of inflation.

    As far as main inspections go ... When I inspect and repack a reserve, I check the main risers, d-bag and pilotchute for common wear points, then re-connect the main risers. If a customer wants a more thorough main inspection, he can pay me for an extra hour of my time.

  14. When the tax refund arrives, my significant other and I are going to have rousing debate over how to use the money.

    We will debate whether to invest the money for retirement (it looks like I am going to have to work a lot harder and smarter for the next 20 years if I am going to be able to afford retirement), invest it in flying lessons (I am within $5000 of a commercial pilot license), buy a used video camera, etc.
    The big question here is whether the camera will pay for itself in the short run. Even better would be for the camera to pay well enough to complete the commercial pilot's license, and pay for the instrument rating next winter and pay for the multi-engine rating the winter after that, etc.
    The toughest part will be convincing my boss that the new camera mount is worth it. It looks like I will have to invest the money in the camera and then allow the students to nag him into paying me for using the camera. He he!

  15. I have been doing a variation on this pack job for the last four years.
    The biggest difference is that initially I only worry about getting the middle of the canopy into the d-bag.
    Then I stuff some of th top into the d-bag, cock the pilotchute and finish stuffing the top into the d-bag. Yes, It looks messy, but I figure that the top skin is the last to feel the air, so I don't worry about it.

    My final step is grabbing the bottom of the canopy - checking that the slider is still hard up against the stops - and shoving the bottom of the canopy into the middle of the d-bag.

  16. Quote

    Quote

    Static Line/IAD is best at teaching canopy control



    I dont hold that to be true anymore. A properly done ISP (tandem progression), will teach some seriously good canopy control from the first jump on, since that first jump has an instructor holding a canopy class with his/her student at 4,000ft. Showing them first hand how to properly fly and land a parachute.

    "end quote.

    I stand corrected.
    Aggie Dave has a valid point here.
    Tandem does provide the best hanging harness for teaching canopy control. Tandem allows the instructor to show a student the perfect approach. Once the student has the mental picture of the perfect approach, he can repeat that picture on solo jumps.
    Tandem also allows the instructor to emphasis what he is looking at during various aspects of the skydive. For example, with first jump tandem students, I encourage them to look up at the canopy right after opening (canopy check), then we watch the first few solos landing (landing direction), then we look at the other tandems at our level (avoiding traffic), then we look at the wind sock (meterology), etc.

    Unfortunately I have also seen tandems fail miserably at teaching emergency procedures. Some students flatly refuse to touch dummy cutaway and reserve handles, no matter how many times you go over it on the ground and no matter how badly a canopy is spinning over their heads.
    I have also seen the same scary phenomenon on the ground, when skydivers flatly refuse to pull their own reserve ripcord handles when their gear is due for repack. I seriously doubt if these people will pull enough handles when they have a malfunction overhead.
    Sorry about the tangent.

  18. Consider yourself lectured on down-sizing.

    Your main question is about generations. First generation Sabres are "unforgiving of sloppy packing," Whereas all the later generation Spectres, Sabres IIs, Safires, Hornets, etc. are designed to open softly with all but the worst pack jobs.

  20. The Teardrop Superfly is a great design, the easiest of all Pop Top reserves to pack.
    I have packed a variety of Teardrops - both one and two pin - built by Thomas Sports Equipment.
    All those Teardrops were well built, but I would only pay for the Superfly version.
    Since PISA has a better reputation for quality control, we should see some pretty pretty PISA Superflies next week in Jacksonville.

  23. Killing is always killing.
    Skymama's red neck neighbor - with too many bumper stickers - should make up his mind. I doubt if the braggard has the courage to go toe-to-toe with an Al Queda fanatic.

    On the one hand, abortion is a question of chosing the lesser of two evils.

    On the other hand, terrorists have already chosen to live by the sword, ergo, terrorists have also chosen to die by the sword. But let's leave killing terrorists to other people who have also chosen to live by the sword, ie. soldiers.

    I could never respect military chaplains because they claimed to spread Jesus' teachings about forgiveness, etc, but on the other hand encouraged young men to go out and kill. I could never wrap my mind around that hypocrisy.

  24. Sure!
    Go ahead!
    Feel free to pencil pack.
    Just remember that every time my name appears on your card, you owe me CAN$55.
    Also remember that I am off the hook 181 days after I signed the repack in MY rigger's logbook (121 days in the USA).
    Oh and I usually catch small wear problems on the 120 - 180 day repack cycle. Half the times I fix those problems for free because the paperwork takes longer than the repair.
    If you let a problem develop for a year or two then you pay me CAN$45 per hour for repairs.
    If you left it way too long, then you can sit on the ground while you pay for shipping to and from the factory and you get to pay the factory to replace panels, etc..
    Pencil packing is a great way to save money in the short run, but it costs more in the long run.

  25. He he!
    This reminds me of the private pilot who got lost while practicing for his night endorsement. He flight planned: Pitt Meadows, Victoria, Abbotsford and return to Pitt Meadows.
    The poor fellow took off from Pitt Meadows and flew to Victoria. Departing Victoria, ATC gave him several vectors which confused him. He landed at Bellingham, Washington, USA after the tower closed and was surprised when they insisted on calling out a US Customs officer.
    On his way home he had to clear Canada Customs at Boundary Bay. He finally returned to Pitt Meadows 3 hours late and $200 poorer for customs fees.
    Why he did not notice Puget Sound off the end of Bellingham's runway is a mystery to all of us.
    In comparison: Abbotsford is well inland and surrounded by farms on three sides.

    We should be careful about criticising this poor fellow too harshly. We all make mistakes in the pilot's seat. The trick is keeping those mistakes small.
    Oh, and next month I have to repeat his flight to Victoria, Abbotsford, etc.

    My final point is that if I am having a bad day in the pilot's seat and I see a large military runway under me, I am landing on it and the legalities be damned!