riggerrob

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Everything posted by riggerrob

  1. The whole concept of junior jumpers waiting "until they get good enough' is counter-productive. Byt he time they "get good enough" they will have developed several bad habits. Far better to start jumping with a good RW coach early on, before you develop bad habits. My other point is that skydiving, even bellytive work is changing so rapidly that "recreational" RW skills are no longer relevant to competition. For example, one of our instructors (with 2,000 jumps) - who used to be a die-hard 4-way competitor - recently gave up on 4-way. It seems that he is having so much difficulty mastering the mantis position, tha the figures it will be easier to learn sit-flying! Ha! Ha!
  2. Slider-catchers. Sounds like Mr. Spy is trying to re-invent slider-catchers. Sandy Reid invented slider-catchers back when F-111 was in fashion and I built a few while working at Rigging Innovations. They look like dive loops except for two changes. First slider catchers are sewn on much lower, almost at the crotch. Secondly, slider-catchers incorporate plastic stiffeners.
  3. Short snaps don't hurt anything, they just don't do anything to improve the pack job, except maybe keep you amused. But if they keep you amused, continue snapping.
  4. Riggers, Does anyone know how PISA measures line tirm? Specifically, do they measure brake line length with the brake locking eyes on the same peg as the connector links, OR do they measure brake line length with the brakes stowed on risers? Sorry to rush you folks, but my customer wants to pick up the canopy tomorrow afternoon. I've got trim specs, sewing machines and spare line, just need to know how PISA measures lines. By the way, has anyone figured out why every canopy manufacturer uses a slightly different method for measuring canopies? For example, P.D. measures from a peg, while Aerodyne measures from risers. Is it all a plot to drive field riggers insane?
  5. On the one hand, whuffo crowds love to see the occaissional biff Second point, I can understand sliding a landing at a distance event. Just last month, we were watching video of the last pond swooping nationals with a bunch of POPS. After watching repeated biffs, one of the POPS asked "And these guys are supposed to be the best in the business?" and stomped off in disgust. In the long run, competitors are role models for junior jumpers. If junior jumpers see their heros and role models accepting awful landings in the interest of gaining a few more points, junior jumpers will accept biffing and fracturing. This trend is leading junior jumpers in the wrong direction. Some blade running events should have bonus points based on standing landings. BASE jumping competitors got it right a long time ago: stand up the landing if you want to win.
  6. You can earn a USPA license provided you completed all the tasks, can convince a currently-rated USPA Instructor to sign your logbook and administer the written test. Most non-USPA DZs employ legitimate USPA-rated instructors, it is just the drop zone operators who decide not to pay money to USPA, usually for political reasons. Keep in mind that to become a DZO, you have to be a cocky, arrogant, entrepreneur who believes that he can run a better DZ than anyone else. Most DZs operate by standards close to USPA. Some non-affiliated DZs operate with higher standards than USPA.
  7. How heavy a drop weight did you use with your 5'X9' flag? Also remember to rehearse, with all your flags and whistles, at the DZ, a week before the demo.
  8. P.D. says that jerking or snapping the leading edge does little to straighten out a pack job. I get the same results by lslowly ifting the leading edge over my head and giving it not much more than a wiggle to align the line groups. But then I usually also reach inside to flake the bottom skin. I doubt that flaking the bottom skin makes much difference, so call me a neat freak.
  9. Scary comparison man. Scary but true. DZs are a lot like churches. I prefer to hang out at DZs that are like Unitarian Churches, populated by mis-fits who respect each other. Respect is the key word here. Just like European clothing optional beaches are better, because of the mutual respect. An old friend of mine used to run the "First Church of Skydiving", but I think it was more of a tax dodge. Though that concept did come in handy once, when a Jehovahs Witness made it clear that he was more interested in attracting me to his church than renting me his dingy basement apartment. I offered to attend his church if he attended mine. We met every Sunday morning by the open door of a Cessna, said a few prayers, then lept out to practice flying like angels. Ha! Ha!
  10. 20 years ago I predicted that neither Russia nor the USA would be the first nation to explode a nuclear bomb in anger. It is the little countries - like Israel, South Africa, North Korea and Iraq that are the scary ones. You get a small nation - like South Africa, with its back to the ocean - losing the later stages of a religous/racial war and they will cheerfully commit national suicide before surrendering. With few of the normal democractic checks and balances, it is too easy for the paranoid leaders of small countries to fire nuclear weapons. Those leaders of small nations have every right to be paranoid, considering the way the CIA, etc. have meddled with their internal affairs. Hopefully, Indian and Pakistani leaders will remember how many million lives are at stake - millions of Indian and Pakistani citizens - before they trade bombs. The flip side of that argument is that few of those millions of Pakistanis or Indians pay taxes, so they are just a burden. Vaporising them would relieve their respective governments of millions of hungry mouths to feed, educate, transport, etc. No wonder American audiences immerse themselves in WWF, the real world is far too sacry!
  11. In 1995, the Australian Parachute Federation published an excellent pamphlet on high performance parachutes. The pamphlet is available free on their web site.
  12. The problem may have been that your shoulder muscles were slack when you entered the wind tunnel. Most people involuntarily tense up any time they get near the open door of an airplane. These tense muscles help stabilize your shoulder joint. If you were un-prepared mentally and physically when you entered the wind tunnel, then you increased your risk of injury. All that being said, I would go with the earlier, more obvious explanation: you probably hit the wall shoulder first. The long-term solution is an exercise program that will toughen up all the muscles in your shoulders.
  13. The problem with pre-1957 26' US Navy conicals was the titanium dioxide delustrant coating. When exposed to sunlight, the titanium dioxide rotted the nylon. The simple answer to this dilemma is to refuse to pack any parachute older than you!
  14. Haeloth, Canopy size does not limit Psycho packing. Canopy nose design limits Psycho packing. For example, I have psycho packed 425 square foot tandem canopies. On the other hand, the noses on some blade running canopies are designed to open so slowly, that if you psycho pack a tiny Icarus Extremely Extreme, it will take more than 1,000' to open!
  15. ramon, what type of pack job were you describing? Whatever you were trying to describe, P.D. frowns upon "snapping" the leading edge.
  16. One other point, install a plastic stiffener inside your sheath, so that the blades don't chew on each other. Australians invented this solution 20 years ago.
  17. Being a full-time skydiver is a difficult job. On the one hand, you are expected to make the DZ a happy place - like Disneyland - with sweetness and love and good vibes all over the place. On the other hand, DZs are populated by fiercely competitive A-types - some of whom do not know their arses from a hole in the ground - but they all want to be in command. This can lead to vicious politics over trivial items, such as territory. When business is low, it can also lead to fierce competition for crumbs - like university professors. The point of the argument may be trivial, but tension has usually been building for weeks. Tension built because people were biting their tongues - to maintain that Disneyland vibe - over a dozen other little issues. Oh, and skydivers tend to not be the most mature of people. DZ politics will burn you out long before the work does. Smarter DZOs give staff members days off - in the middle of the busy season - days when staff are expected to be off the DZ, surfing, biking, doing laundry or anything that does not resemble skydiving. All that being said, I would still put the temperamental bitch on stern probation - because she crossed the line. The line means never tampering with other people's parachutes.
  18. riggerrob

    Packing

    Are your line stows tight?
  19. Has anyone tried saddle soap on leather gloves? Maybe finish off with a little Snow Seal or bees' wax?
  20. Like bill von, I used to drop static-line students and couldn't drop the habit of wearing a knife. Now I mostly do tandem, with a bit of PFF. When we get really short-handed, I drop the occaissional IAD student.
  21. A twisted bridle will make little difference in opening characteristics, however, if the bridle includes a kill-line, the pilotchute may not collapse after opening.
  22. Dear Dave, About my claim that 99% of the reserves I inspected would have opened ... I have pull-tested holes in a couple of round canopies. One was an old, low-speed, sport reserve, made a by a defunct company. When you looked closely, you could see that the canopy was made from two different bolts of fabric, one of which did not quite look like F-111. The odd fabric tore when I applied 20 pounds of tension. The other canopy I tore a hole in was an ancient military surplus C-9 packed into a new Softie PEP. The canopy was almost as old as me, but not in nearly as good shape. It tore at only 24 pounds of tension. Ironically, I have never torn any canopies specifically listed as being prone to acid-mesh syndrome, but it is a handy technique to ground, butt-ugly, antique military canopies. Given the high moral standards of Southern California trial lawyers, I don't dare promise 100% on anything! For example, we did 100 drop tests during the P-124 Aviator TSO certification process. All 100 parachutes opened fine and landed soft. However, Sandy Reid refused to make any public promises about opening reliability on the P-124 Aviator pilot emergency parachute system for fear that some lawyer would try and use his statements against him. We live in a sick and twisted legal world!
  23. Many years ago, when I was working for Square One, someone tried to rip off the company through credit card fraud. The criminal's parents eventually mailed the rig back to us. When they asked me to inspect it, I knew something was wrong even before opening it. The reserve container was not completely filled. There was no reserve data card and the seal was missing. When I pulled the ripcord, nothing happened, because there was no pilotchute installed! Further investigation reveal that the antique round reserve was tied shut with several pieces of wire! The last thing I heard was that Kate Cooper was planning to lay charges for theft of a ram-air reserve. No one in their right mind would have trusted that sloppy a pack job! Other than that criminal incident, I have seen many sloppy reserve pack jobs, but 99% of them would have opened.
  24. billvon, With your reference to the introduction of Sabres, you are starting to show your age, but I am even older than you. I started jump-mastering when military surplus rounds were the only canopies that students were allowed to jump. Mind you there was one renegade in Ontario who allowed his students to jump Para-Commanders. We could not understand how he could cram all the information needed for 3-handle cutaway procedures into a 3 hour first jump course. Lordy! How times have changed. All the gear that I jumped as a student would be laughed out of my loft!