riggerrob

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Everything posted by riggerrob

  1. Depending upon region, riggers earn U$15 to $40 per reserve repack. Sewing pays anywhere between minimum wage and $30 per hour depending upon whether it is production or major repairs. Top designers - like Sandy Reid - bill their time at $100 per hour.
  2. To clarify polarbear's post, there are usually two weight limits on reserves. All modern reserves must demonstrate that they can survive opening at 254 pounds at 150 knots. Most manufacturers placard their smaller reserves at less than 254 pounds because they do not expect your ankles to survive a landing at 254 pounds. A few manufacturers (ie. Performance Designs) try to link exit weight to the users' experience level.
  3. "a nasty grinding noise coupled with a weird form of pain" sounds like you need to visit an orthopedic surgeon or a sports medicine doctor to determine exactly what is wrong with your elbow. A sports medicine doctor or a good physical therapist can prescribe a series of exercises that work around your old injury, allowing you to build muscle without over-stressing a weak joint. Good luck.
  4. First of all, plant your left foot on the step, so the awkward student will slide down your leg instead of clunking on the step. Secondly, it is relatively easy to pry hands off the strut, one finger at at time. Thirdly, never believe that you can predict any student's behaviour. Fourthly, students will show you ways of messing up that never crossed your mind in your worst drunken nightmare.
  5. Slider-catchers. The answer is slider-catchers. Slider-catchers are little ratchet type devices sewn to your front risers just above the crotch. When you pull your slider down, it hooks under the slider-catchers and stays there until you have both hands free to un-hook it.
  6. More chin-ups. The answer is more chin-ups. If you do enough chin-ups, you will eventually be able to steer and flare a tandem just using the risers - at least with a small student.
  7. Whether you can pull your slider down depends upon the size of your Maillon Rapide links and bumpers. #5 MR links with clear plastic bumpers are usually too fat, however, #3.5 MR links with silicone bumpers easily allow you to pull your slider down. Stowing the slider under your chin scares me. I worry that it will come loose and blind you just before landing.I also worry about stowing your slider in Velcro behind your neck. On the off chance that some doofuss collides with you, you may have difficulty cutting away. Your best bet for stowing your slider is slider-catchers sewn onto your risers.
  8. Piston engined Beech 18s carry 12 to 14 jumpers depending upon empty weight. Military surplus Beechs tend to have a lot of heavy, useless wires, radios, hoses, etc. Installing modern radios and removing obsolete wires improves the climb rate or allows you to carry more jumpers.
  9. riggerrob

    Exercise

    Why does Aggiedave's post remind me of different definitions of meditation? Female meditation: lotus position beside a quiet lake. Eyes closed, deep breathing exercise. "ommmmm" Male meditation: laying on a bench, breathing heavily, face all contorted, struggling to lift a large piece of scrap iron.
  10. Yes. I had a car like that once.
  11. Look in the Para-Gear catalog. PG offers a generic bellytive work suit made by Para-Phernalia. I think they call it "Slipstream" or something like that.
  12. riggerrob

    Exercise

    Morning stretches every day I jump and when I remember. 1 hour of aerobic kick boxing Monday and Wednesday evenings. I try to get in an hour of bicycling on Thursday or Friday (2 hours this Thursday). Since it is raining today, I will settle for doing push-ups, sit-ups, stretching, etc in the loft. Stretching helps this 44 year old guy skydive like someone much younger. I can still do more tandems per day than most of the local guys half my age. Aerobic exercise helps blow off day to day stress.
  13. Whether visiting tandem instructors can "rent" gear to take up their buddies depends upon DZ policy. Smaller DZs usually say yes, while bigger DZs usually say no. Some DZs, like Perris insist on all instructors and packers peeing in a bottle before being allowed to work with students.
  14. Dornier 27 with the Portugeuse plywood floor. Lots of room to lean back, lots of windows to enjoy the view and you have plenty of time to enjoy the view, an inflight snack and a nap. Oh, and the doorway is so wide and so low that no one gets uptight about launching bellytive work pieces.
  15. This is related to the concept of leading by example. Losing your cool and yelling at anyone on the DZ ruins the vibe. Ask yourself if you are setting an example that you want your students to follow. Do you want them to treat you this way 2 years down the road?
  16. The largest reserve size recommended for a Genera is 550 cubic inches. I will have to check the RI/PIA volume chart at work to see which size of Tempo that will fit. Ignore volume numbers published by canopy manufacturers.
  17. Last thing I hear about Skydive Toronto was that Lloyd Kallio had shut down the static-line factory and retired to Belize. The new owners enquired about a stack of used Student Javelins with square reserves, etc that I was overhauling.
  18. Prepare yourself for a biased, insider review. When I was working for Rigging Innovations in 1994 to 1997, I helped Sandy Reid develop the Genera, Aviator, Talon 2 and Telesis 2 harness/containers. Most of the time my input was limited to test-packing prototypes and saying things like "Sandy, we really should make this flap 3/8" wider." I also made a couple of jumps on a Genera prototype and was fortunate (?) to help with the TSO C23D heavy-weight, high speed drop tests. The Genera is a fixed-price, fixed-options, fixed-colors, fixed-price rig that competes directly with the Dolphin. Fortunately the Genera has better pin covers and riser covers than the Dolphin. Though I have to admit that Dolphin riser covers have improved over the years. The Genera has the same pin cover as the Voodoo, which is slightly better than the Talon 2. The only reason I don't have a Genera is that it does not have harness rings. Though frankly, a propely-sized Genera harness is so comfortable ... The only reason that there are not more Generas out that is that they hit the market after the market peaked. Generas are nice, simple, solid, safe rigs that get you in the air for a low price. The only disadvantage is that you can order a black Genera or a black Genera. The most beautiful thing about the Genera is its price, you have enough money left over to buy jump tickets. In the long run, number of jumps is more important in keeping you alive than shiny colors.
  19. Who started this silly rumor about a 6 year life on a reserve canopy? In 18 years as a licensed rigger, I have never heard of a 6 year life on any parachute component. Operational lives of parachute components are usually "on condition" unless the manufacturer specifies otherwise. As long as rigger inspects it and is willing to sign for its airworthiness, it can be returned to service. I have never heard of PISA specifying component lives.
  20. If you worry about harnesses sliding off your shoulders while head-down, then order a custom-made harness with chest rings. Tell the factory that you want a tight fit and crank the chest strap down tight.
  21. Protecs are inexpensive. They protect my ears from the 3D buckles on tandems, while protecting the rest of my head when loving students slam it into the door frame. I would like to wear a full-face, but Bonehead says that I have the second largest jaw they have ever seen!
  22. 20 high speed deployments is a reasonable life for a reserve canopy. Various manufacturers assign various "lives" to various components. For example, after 8 years, Strong Enterprises requires all tandem gear to return to the factory for re-certification. After 8 years, the reserve cnaopy is usually in good shape, but the harness/container is faded, frayed and filthy. Strong does all repairs and updates and returns the rig with a large bill. Airtec insists that Cypres batteries be replaced every 2 years. Cypri must do a pilgrimage to their birthplace when they are 4 years and 8 years old. Cypri retire when they reach their 12 th birthday. Whoa! That sounded like religious dogma! Various military users apply various lives. Shelf life is usually 10 to 15 years. The Canadian Army used to limit static-line canopies tot 100 jumps. The US Navy ties its ejection seat parachute repack cycle to aircraft maintenance schedules, ie. 2 year inspections or X number of flying hours. For parachutes that the manufacturer has not specified a life, you have to make an educated guess based on wear patterns. For example, Butler Parachute systems refuses to repack most pilot emergency parachutes more than 20 years old. Adventure sports Loft (in Perris, California) is reluctant to repack sport rigs more than 25 years old and rarely touches any parachute more than 30 years old. When Square One managed the loft, they rarely touched skydiving gear more than 10 years old. This because nylon deteriortaes rapidly in the California desert. Ten years of serious skydiving (300 jumps per year) reduced harness/containers to scrap after 10 years. The other factor is obsolescence. For example, I really don't want to have anything to do with round reserves built during the acid mesh era; late 1970s to late 1980s. I also don't repack non-steerable reserves or round reserves without diapers. And if your pack-opening-bands are slack, expect to get laughed out of the lfot! But this is the first time I have heard about a 6 year life. When in doubt, ask the manufacturer.
  23. This thread would flow better in the gear and rigging forum. PS, when you take your Dolphin for repack, ask the rigger to close it with the bottom reserve flap covering the pilotchute, like a Javelin.
  24. Two pints, er points. Talk about your Freudian slips on the keyboard! Ha! Ha! First, breathing exercises vary depending upon whether you are trying to psych yourself up or calm yourself down. If you are trying to psych yourslef up, breath quick and hard. Blow hard on the exhale. Make primal noises while you exhale. On the other hand, if you want to calm yourself down, take slow deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth. Slow breathing oxygenates your body and forces your mind to slow down. You can only truly slow your mind if it is empty. I do slow breathing exercises with tandem studnets and surprise, surprise, most of them arch. Robin Heid says that breathing exercises work because you can forcus on fear or breathing, but not both at the same time. Another airplane exercise - that I do with tandem students - is wiggling fingers and toes, because when you relax small muscles, you also force big muscles to relax. This wiggling fingers exercise easily transitions to freefall. When they see me wiggle my fingers, they wiggle their fingers, which reminds them to wiggle their toes, reminds them to breath through their noses and reminds them to look at the horizon. Take it from a compulsive worrier: you have to empty your mind to skydive well. This is the same reason I enjoy aerobics and flying. To fly well, I need 100% of my mind checking airspeed, altimeter, wings level, rpm, landmarks, airspeed, how are the engine instruments doing? etc. Any extra thoughts just clutter up my scan. Jim Slaton put it a different way. He finds that complex freefalls require so much brain power, that he cannot focus 120% on canopy flight. So the last few weeks before a blade running competition, he doesn't bother with freefalls, he just does hop-and-pops. The other side of that would be the person who is trying to take their freefall skills to the next level. They chose a moderately-loaded canopy with a "tame" reputation (ie. Spectre). As they are walking out to the plane, they watch windsocks and mentally plan their canopy ride. Then they put that plan on a shelf in their mind. After opening, they pull the canopy flight plan off the shelf and fly the plan. This process demands a minimum of thought about the canopy flight, leaving more brain cells to think about freefall moves. To sum up: skydiving happens too fast for you to think your way through through every move in the sky. The more pre-planning you do, the less you have to think in the air. Pre-planning things like your canopy ride frees up brian cells for better things. Do breathing exercises to empty your mind shortly before exit. then get out there and do it!
  25. Riser length is directly related to arm length. For example, skydivers with short arms tend to jump 17" or 19" risers. On the other hand, I have long arms (6' tall) and usually jump 21" or 24" risers.