riggerrob

That extra flap was originally designed for a canopy formation team. I think they also built a few Reflexes with a similar flap protecting the bottom edge of the pilot-chute cap.

A scary thing is that 2 of my colleagues (bus drivers) are loud anti-vaxxers. One said good things about Trump during last year's election. The other anti-vaxxer has been told (by a union rep.) that if he persists, he will get fired. Other anti-vax employees have been warned that if they are not vaccinated by the end of November, they will be laid off without pay. Meanwhile, 90 plus percent of my co-workers (Amharic, Arab, Australian, British, Chinese, Columbian, Croat, Dutch, El Salvadorian, French, German, Hindu, Iraqi, Italian, Jamaican, Japanese, Nigerian, Phillipino, Polish, Scottish, Serb, Sikh, Venezualan, Xhosa, etc.) have already been double-vaccinated. As for anti-vaxxers also being anti-immigrant ... I fear those extreme right-wing groups: les berets blanc, KKK, Proud Boys, Sons of Odin, etc. An amusing observation about les berets blanc is that they chased large numbers of anglophones out of Quebec, but the last time I visited my home town, I saw large numbers of Afghans, Serbs, Somalis, Syrians, Vietnamese, etc. Many of those dark-haired women wore head scarves. Yup! Les berets blancs did a great job of chasing out all those hated Protestant Christians. Hah! Hah!

Sounds like Russia has West3ern Europe by the "short and curlies" by restricting the flow of natural gas. A couple of years back, some Canadian tree-huggers were trying to prevent a new natural gas pipeline from reaching the Pacific Ocean. part of their rational was low prices caused by a surplus of NG. Where is that projected surplus now??????

A narcisist's accusations are really confessions

Dear BIGUN, Thanks for the recommendation ... but it has been more than a decade since I sewed a replacement cosmetic cap for a Reflex. Actually, it is more than a cosmetic cap because it protects the Cypres loop. I started by laying a tape measure over the fiberglass cap, then adding a little (0.12 or 0.5 inches) for the binding tape. I forget how many layers of fabric are in a Reflex cap: Cordura, foam, ballistic and ? I would need to look at an original to confirm the number of layers. I sewed them together around the circumference, but allowed thread tension to shrink the perimeter. Then I sewed on the channel for the elastic cord. Then I bound the edge and finished binding with the same trick as Javelin pilot chute caps: diagonal end .... The last step was installing the bungee cord (cloth wrapped around rubber for North Americans). I used the same style of bungee cord as is used in free-bags. My first bungee cord was too long and it blew off in freefall, so I made the second cap with an even shorter bungee cord. The second cap lasted a few years.

Jerry, I vaguely remember a German BASE rig being certified with an optional chest-mounted reserve.

No. I have never seen any9one injured by an Aerodyne Pilot's opening-shock.

Dear Bludhow, I stand by my original statement. I have only done two BASE jumps. They were both from the same 600 foot bridge and they were done during the mid-1980s, before specialized BASE gear was readily available. Since then I have done repairs (FAA Master rigger) for dozens of young BASE jumpers. I am so old that I started skydiving when military-surplus parachutes were still fashionable. I jumped (6,000 plus jumps) for total of 40 years, the last 30 years most (4,000 plus) of my jumps were tandems. I earned a couple of USPA instructor ratings and all the CSPA instructor ratings, jump-pilot, two sets of military jump wings and a long list of rigger ratings. I still maintain that the vast majority of young BASE jumpers do not understand the physics or risks involved.

Yes Dear Wolfriverjoe. The pilot was a cadet at the US Air Force Academy and he was discharged from the Air Force. He may have been flying a civilian airplane (Cessna 208 Caravan) that day (on his civilian pilot license) but the last thing the Air Force wants is young pilots doing stupid things with multi-million dollar military airplanes.

My employer: Coast Mountain Bus Company just announced that all employees must be vaccinated by the end of November. Better than 90 percent are already double-vaccinated. If employees are not double-vaccinated by the dead-line, they will be suspended without pay. Similar announcements have been made about gov't and medical employees. The British Columbia provincial gov't has told doctors not to issue vaccination-waivers except for rare cases of pre-existing medical problems.

That is correctly spelled "The right to BARE arms ..." in preparation for vaccination.

Apparently space travel cures COVID, because none of the astronauts or recovery crew wore masks. Hah! Hah!

Everyone deserves at least one day of rest per week. Whether you sleep late in your bed or on a church pew is your decision.

An old Scottish farmer was on his death bed, his liver ruined by the drink, his lungs blackened with smoke, his knees worn out form walking too many miles. As he lay in his bed gasping, he smelled the sweet odor of his favorite scones wafting up from the kitchen. He tosses the blankets aside and pauses to catch his breath then he swings his legs over the side of the bed and pauses to catch his breath, then he struggles to stand up and pauses to catch his breath, then he shuffles towards the stairs and pauses at the top to catch his breath. Leaning heavily on the bannister, he descends one step and pauses to catch his breath ..... he shuffles into the kitchen and grabs a hot scone. His wife wraps him on the knuckles and chastises him: "Those are for the wake."

Do you understand that your car, truck, airplane, etc. will run just fine on the next higher octane gasoline?

I still give students a "complete" score if they pull the dummy handle during line-stretch. I emphasis that the goal is pulling the handle DESPITE distractions like deployment.

It is amazing how the term "hack" has changed over the years. Initially it simply meant to cut with an axe. Then it transofrmed to a sloppy cut with a dull axe. Then it changed to any job done sloppily. But more recently, computer "hackers" have adopted the term to describe their ability to "hack" into computer systems. Many computer "hackers" are malicious, but a newer generation has modified the term to mean clever improvements to computers and a wide variety of other equipment. Say "hacking" an old delivery van into an apartment on wheels. Now these entrepreneurs often use the term "hack" in the same sentence as "make."

Term limits help to officially retire judges before they turn senile.

First, keep your hands and toggles close to your chest, where they are stornger. Secondly, practice flaring with both hands on both toggles. Do a series of practice flares up high before you try to land with this new method. This will eliminate most asymmetry. Thirdly, ask a friend to video some of your landings, then ask a local coach to criitque your technique on video.

Is Europe suffering from shortages of gasoline, diesel, natural gas, electricity, etc.?

Brent, That difference explains the population gap between first-world and third-world birth rates. Since first-world nations have good health care and public sanitation, infant mortality rates are low and most families are confident that both their children will grow to adulthood. Since 2 children is less than the replacement rate (2.2 children per woman) populations are declining in first-world nations. This also means fewer working-age people to support ever-larger numbers of retirees. Meanwhile, many third-world nations have poor public sanitation, few medical clinics and high infant mortality rates. Hence most families have 6 or more children in hopes that a couple will survive long enough to support their parents when the parents are too old to work full-time. Most of these countries are also too poor to educate even half their children through elementary school, hence the Taliban bans girls studying in public schools. With better health care, more children survive in third-world nations, but they have difficulty finding work in stagnant economies. Hence they try to emmigrate to second or first-world countries where they can find work. These immigrants take menial labor jobs that native-born first-worlders are too arrogant to do. Immigration is the only way that first-world nations can keep up the numbers in their labor force.

I freely admit to understanding very little about quantum physics. I have a pretty good grasp of Newtonian physics. I have also read many articles about quantum physics, but when quantum physics clash with Newtonian physics, I get confused. Perhaps the problem is that I am a visual learner and have seen very few diagrams of quantum physics that I can grasp at a glance. Please note that I am not dismissing quantum physics. I would like to better understand quantum physics, but am currently baffled.

I wrote a church sermon entitled "Religion or Science? What is your best guess?" It outlines how in olden days, when anyone did not have a logical explanation for something, they replied "Because god wanted it that way." Theologians refer to this as "God in the gaps." Some debaters and theologians got stuck on rigidly reinforcing the written words of god(s). Since the Enlightenment, scientists have experimented and invented many new explanations for why the world is the way it is. Most of those explanations have been confirmed by other scientists who repeated those same experiments and achieved similar results. However, I must caution you that many concepts that were accepted as scientific "fact" a few centuries ago are laughed at today. Furthermore, some of what we agree on as scientific "facts" will be laughed at in another 20 or 30 years. For example, I am still skeptical about much of the "quantum" science currently accepted by physicists.

"Nomadland" I am currently reading Jessica Bruder's book "Nomadland." I also saw the documentary by the same name a few months back. They detail the lives of a new class of Americans who live in tents, vans, truck campers, converted buses and even Winnebagos as they move from one seasonal job to the next. Many were middle-class until they were bankrupted by divorce, closing factories, etc. How many dz.commers have lived and worked out of a van parked beside a DZ?

Ask a local instructor to watch you practice DRPs. Sometimes you have to adapt your technique to adjust for different harness-student configurations. For example, I teach my students two different methods to find their BOC handle. I tell them to practice sliding a hand down the right side of the container. I also teach them how to grab their own ass, then slide their hand up until they feel the handle. Then I get them to practice both techniques while laying on the ground and let them decide which technique works best for them. Then we practice their chosen method a few more times to burn it into long-term memory. During later practices, I encourage them to imagine wind noise, etc. By the way, where are the main ripcord handles on your school's student harnesses?