riggerrob

A key point here is to cinch leg straps high, up towards your crotch to prevent them from sliding any higher during opening shock. To this end, I am in the habit of picking up my tandem students - by the leg straps - to ensure their harnesses are snug enough. the amusing part is watching the facial expressions of the larger (280 pound) guys - most of whom have not been hoisted off their feet in decades.

I'm sure you didn't mean for this to sound as offensive or self-superior as it appears. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I apologize if my sarcastic tone offended anyone. My intent was to remind people that we learned the mega-lesson 20 years ago and there is no point to re-inventing the wheel. The mega-lesson is that you need some form of d-bag, diaper or tail pocket to minimize the chances of lines half-hitching around side flaps.

Ok, seriously, why would pro-packing vs. flat packing (or anything else) really matter? Wouldn't it be like pro-packing a tandem? (I'm not trying to be sarcastic, I'm curious, esp since I've never even seen a military FF rig in person). >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The deciding factor here is the thickness of the ribs. For example, a Strong SET 400 had thinner ribs making it easier to PRO pack than a Strong 425.

I seem to recall you also said that you are using your old molar strap and a B-12 connector as your leverage device, am I correct in that? >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Yes, however the B-12 snap and molar strap tool is not so much a "leverage device" as a "using a different set of muscles" device. You could achieve the same effect by hanging the B-12 snap from the ceiling. The main reason I prefer the B-12 snap is to leave all my fingers free for steering flaps, compressing pilotchutes, temp pins, etc.

If the label says "TSO" then the rig can legally be repacked by any American rigger and jumped out of any American-registered airplane. Yes there are other certification systems in other countries, but the vast majority of foreign certification standards (i.e. European JTSO) are close copies of FAA (USA) certification standards. The only other standard I am familiar with is the French EQ 530-03 which includes most of the TSO tests, plus more stringent tensile testing, so EQ-530-03 is slightly tougher than TSO. The bottom line is that the vast majority of American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, South African and Western European-made skydiving gear is far stronger than needed to pass TSO testing, and the only people who argue the finer points are armchair lawyers with nothing better to occupy their time.

Performance Designs and Big Air both recommend leaving a minimum of 18 inches slack line between the last rubber band and the connector links. Much shorter and you risk tearing your reserve container off. Significantly longer and you risk tearing off a main side flap. Fortunately modern container designers have worked long and hard to prevent idiots from doing either type of damage, but idiots are an inventive lot! Hee! Hee!

1986 Vector I - my back-up rig 1997 Talon 2 - my primary rig Trying to ground rigs after X number of years is a crude measurement. Far more important measures are wear and style. Sometimes telling a customer that you will not repack a rig more than 20 years old is a polite way of telling them to retire their faded, frayed and filthy 20-year-old POS. If you can quote some regulation published by some organization or government body, you remove the "personal" side of the argument. On a practical note, I recently told my rigger apprentice to draw the line at 20 years. First of all, there is little 20-year-old gear remaining at Pitt Meadows. Secondly, I cannot see the point to devoting the rest of the year to teaching her how to pack rigs that she will only see once or twice for the rest of her rigging career. As for the question of "style," everyone pick up their 1983 Para-Gear catalog and tell me how much of that gear you are still willing to jump: Sentinel AADs, light-weight round reserves, Swift 5-cell reserves, Dual Hawk containers, giant jump suits, etc?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Sure. Bungee-cam 1.1 is going to be ambidextrous so you can mount the camera in the palm of your left or right hand. Whether the lens of the wing-suit-cam points towards the thumb, forearm or some other angle will be determined by wing-suit jumpers. Try describing your ideas or posting a sketch. The only dilemma remaining is figuring out how to pull a reserve ripcord with your palm full of camera. To date, all my tandem-cams have mounted the camera on the back of the left hand so the fingers and palm are free for pulling handles. Pulling the reserve ripcord with the left hand is important for tandem-instructors because reaching across - with the right hand - is difficult. Maybe wing-suit fliers can retrain themselves to pull reserve ripcords with their right hands ???

Larry Sanchez at Bonehead told me that I had the second largest skull he had ever measured when he fitted by camera helmet. Otherwise I normally wear a Protec with the thinnest possible liner. The only full-face helmet that fits my huge noggin is a Bonehead Havok. Guess what I am getting for Christmas?

Rob, I'm curious as to what tool you developed. Are you willing to share what it is? I have my methods of packing pop tops but I'm always willing to try other methods. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Sure I will be glad to share my Pop-Top packing tool. It is basically a temporary loop made of Cypres cord (2 to 10 inches long) tied to a lump of scrap iron (i.e. a ring off an old riser). I also finger-trapped and sewed a 1 yard ( 1 meter) pull-up cord to it - to reduce tool count. To further reduce tool count, I tied two temporary loops together for packing Racers. To use the temporary loop, start by installing the ring near the ripcord pin, then pull the temporary loop up through the pack tray, free-bag, side flaps, etc. so that most of the pack job is similar to a Vector. Late in the process, you route the pull-up cord up through the closing loop and back down through the temporary loop. The last step involves pulling the whole mess through the container and pinning the closing loop. There is also a fancier, adjustable version of the temporary loop. One advantage of the adjustable loop is that you can tighten it early in the process to compress the side flaps and prevent canopy fabric from getting too close to the center-line. Alternately, you can leave it loose until late in the process, then use it to compress the pilotchute on a Teardrop (or Reflex)before flipping the rig over. I developed the temporary loop after frustrating attempts at using all the other Pop-Top tools on the market. Yes, I can quote all the other methods - off the top of my head - but was never comfortable with any of them. Maybe it is my ADD, but I was never comfortable with most existing T-bodkins and since most of them are not Cypres-compatible, I quit using them when Cypres was introduced. A Master Rigger should know two or three methods for every job, but I only use one method (i.e. temporary loop) on a regular basis.

Manley Butler explained to me that rubber bands work fine - up to a certain airspeed - but when you get up around 250 knots - at pack opening time - cloth sleeves really help prevent line dump. Sure, old-school line stow pockets work great at low and medium airspeeds, but you need more control at higher airspeeds.

Hee! Hee! I even made a few jumps on a Firelite main back in the mid-1980s. Even though all my landings were stand-ups in the pea-gravel bowl, my ankles still hurt. Hmmm? Wonder if it had anything to do with over-loading?

Also, don't you have any worries about your coiled lines catching on something as they unspool from your back up, rather than your bag down? Perhaps a loop catching on the closing loop tab? >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Yes. Free-stowing lines fell out of fashion 20 years ago after a couple of guys suffered line entanglements with their main side flaps. These unlucky fellows could neither full-inflate their mains nor cut them away! Mind you, back in those days, Wonderhog side flaps had fairly high aspect ratios along with big stiffeners and plenty of Velcro. There was a huge jump in d-bag sales as soon as we figured out what was causing the problem. Heck! Para-Flite was even giving away free d-bags to encourage people to use them!

Are the harnesses built very heavy compared to a regular rig say with a "d" rating or is webbing and features similar. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Tandem webbing and hardware are mostly the same as found on solo harnesses, however they use specialized hardware for 3-ring releases. Strong Enterprises has their own custom-made 3D rings on the harness and no-one uses the original rings on tandem risers.

The Icons displayed at PIA 2003 looked an awful lot like Parachutes de France ATOMs, a decent rig.

I just got a gift certificate for a Bonehead Havok. Yippeee! What a great Christmas gift! Why a Hovak? Either "a' my original full-box Bonehead camera helmet is still going strong, or "b" Havok is one of the few full-face helmets that will fit my huge jaw. When Larry Sanchez measured me for my first Bonehead helmet he said that I had the second-largest skull he had ever seen! Besides I have known those boys for almost a decade.

Talon 2 containers are easy to pack as long as you follow the manual - written by a handsome and clever fellow named riggerrob. Seriously, the Canadian Sports Parachute Association rates riggers on 5 types of containers: 2-pin sport (Strong Tandem), 1-pin sport (Talon), semi Pop-Top (Javelin), full Pop-Top (Teardrop) and pilot emergency parachutes. An aspiring Canadian Rigger A only has to get signed off on one type of container to earn the rating. Pop-Tops are indeed a special type, requiring special tools and special training. Ask 5 different riggers how to pack Pop-Tops and you will get 6 different responses! Hee! Hee! It only took me ten years to get good at packing Pop-Tops. I eventually solved that dilemma by scraping all my steel T-bodkins and developing a brand new tool.

The bungee-cam mounts a SONY PC101 in the palm of your right hand, lens pointing towards your face. Sorry, but bungee-cams are not compatible with modern skydiving gear. On the other hand, all two dozen of the tandem-cams that I built fit over the users' left hand, with the camera on the back of the hand, lens pointing towards thumb, so you can take video of tandem students while your hands are in the "boxman" position. Since they leave the palm - and fingers - of left hand free, tandem-cams are compatible with skydiving gear.

How do you safely do a "PLF" at that or greater speeds. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Clamp your feet and knees together, point them in your general direction of travel and prepare to roll. It also helps if you flare about 3/4 and press your hands/elbows firmly against your torso. Even the crudest PLF will reduce injuries during a bad landing under a ram-air canopy.

Reserve pops in freefall and blows out: Cut it off with knife, to avoid tangle and then pull main. If can’t cut with knife better to pull main and risk tangle to have maximum material above when land. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I strongly disagree! If you find yourself hanging under an open reserve at 12,000 feet, tough! Look at it long enough to satisfy yourself that it is fully inflated, grab the controls for a controlability check and start looking for a landing field. Doing anything else vastly reduces your chances of survival! The last thing I would contemplate is getting a hook knife within a mile (er, kilometer) of an inflated reserve! You are thinking too hard. Relax dude

Bulk

Yesterday I finished sewing my first bungee-cam, hand-mount for a SONY PC101 and I am all excited! Talk about narcisism! The camera sits in the palm of your hand, facing up your forearm, directly at your face!

It is about time!

Tandems with video out of a 182 is sort of an art form,and I only say that having watched it. The actual exit is the easy part. It's the getting the passenger and yourself into position that resembles badly performed yoga. You wanna really have fun try being the 2nd tandem pair out of a 182. I recommend soccer shin guards and knee pads. And a hard helmet. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Wow! What technique are you using? I must have over a thousand tandem jumps (2.700 total) out of Cessnas without bashing my shins or doing exotic yoga positions. Granted, I stopped doing RWS textbook exits more than a decade ago - something about a bent reserve pin. Since than I have only done sitting exits from Cessnas. I just sit with my back against the instrument panel, get the student's feet near the step and launch over top of them. My 200 pounds and 6 feet may be a bit tight in the front of a narrow-body 182, but that is the quickest and simplest way I know of getting a tandem student out of a Cessna.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> For Tailgate or Twin Otter, you just hook the static-line to a seatbelt anchor near the tailgate or door. You don't drop static-liners from King Airs as they fly way too fast on jump run. Just ask the Alaska smokejumpers about all the hassles they had dropping S/Lers out of Beech 99s (a stretched King Air).