riggerrob

Just to clarify: Parachutes de France quit selling to North Americans a long time ago.
It seems that Parachutes de France considers North America too high a liability risk.
The French have no desire to do business with repulsive, slimy, loathsome, bottom feeding, scum sucking American lawyers.
Does that description sound biased?
If any lawyers are offended by my description, GOOD.
Don't bother trying to sue me for slander because I am a poor professional skydiver.

Andy Man,
Shape makes far more difference than fabric choice.
Gelvenor Textile Mills (the factory that supplies fabric to Aerodyne, PISA, etc.) brags that their 0-3 cfm reserve fabric consistently tests at 1.5 cubic feet minute. That is too close to zero-porousity to argue.
My old F-111 Cruislite didn't soften up until after 60 jumps. From that I extrapolate that a reserve will have less than 3 cfm porousity for most of its service life. Again, too small to argue.
The real issue here is shape. Nobody builds elliptically tapered reserves. Therefore you can expect a rectangular reserve to glide, turn and flare radically different than a tapered main.
Reserves have been built with 5, 7 and 9 cells.
Most people consider 5 cell reserves obsolete because of their mediocre gliding and flaring characteristics.
Seven cell reserves are by far the most popular, but they have not changed much since the configuration was perfected by the Pegasus, circa 1980.
Precision tried to market the 9 cell Falcon series of reserves, but few skydivers were willing to pay for the extra bulk. Today the only 9 cell reserves are huge, tandem huge.
Because of their shape, 7 cell reserves glide steeper and require a much deeper flare than modern mains. Note: steering lines on Tempos are the longest of any reserve. The only modern mains that fly like reserves are 7 cell Triathlons. Before you buy a tiny reserve, I strongly encourage you to test jump a Triathlon the same size.

Andy,
You made two points that I am just not grasping.
First, did you said that USPA's progression makes more sense?
I have been a CSPA Instructor since 1982 and a USPA Instructor since 1993 and frankly, I never quite understood their old "zero to hero in one week" progression. Granted, if you are a hero, you will breeze through in one week, but not all students are that bright. Many of them need simplified dives, or they will be overwhelmed and have to repeat levels, a discouraging process at best.
The other problem with USPA's old system was the strident "AFF or nothing" attitude of too many USPA Instructors.
Fortunately, USPA's new Integrated Student Program has all but the worst hardliners grudgingly admitting that the best student progression integrates a variety of teaching techniques, including a few tandems, a few IADs, a litlle tunnel time, a few levels of AFF and a few coach dives. But this is a radically new concept to most American DZs. This broad concept was introduced in places like Gananoque, Ontario and Claresholm, Alberta 20 years ago.
Just to rub it in, in 1982 I flew in the first vertical wind tunnel, near Montreal!
Fortunately, USPA is now revising their progression to bring it in line with innovations that started in Canada circa 1980 and were further refined by Canadian Rob Laidlaw's company: Skydive University and the Australian Parachute Federation. Oh, wait a minute, the APF just photocopied manuals printed in North America.
If USPA has a better progression, it is only because they are building on concepts introduced by Canadians 20 years ago.
As for your suggestion that one could save money by learning at an American DZ ... have you looked at exchange rates recently? The Canadian dollar is hovering around US$0.63. The only advantage to learning in the USA is that you can jump there during the winter.
As for dissing Ontario DZs ... That is just bad karma dude.
Bor Warner,
CSPA Rigger A, Coach 2, IAD & PFF Instructor
Canadian Private Pilot License
USPA BIC, S/L, Tandem and IAD Instructor
FAA Master Parachute Rigger, etc.

Remi and Karen,
You missed the point.
"I just got my new rig."
Young jumpers should be encouraged to open at 4,000' or 5,000' on their first few jumps on unfamiliar gear.
Just remember to warn the pilot, yadda, yadda ....

CSPA has an extensive "Know Your Gear" outline, but currently it is only available on paper. If you bug me enough, I may figure out how to put it on-line.

Try thinking of a sleeve as really long deployment bag. A sleeve is slid around the canopy and gets folded into the container. The sleeve remains folded in the container until you toss your pilotchute. The sleeve continues to hide the canopy until you reach line stretch, then it slides off the canopy and becomes useless.
A sleeve is attached to the canopy by a sleeve-retainer line roughly as long as the canopy is "high." The sleeve retainer line saves you the hassle of searching through the weeds after every jump.
Let's be careful about terminology.
When Performance Designs first started building canopies in the late 1980s, they build a series of F-111 seven and nine cell canopies called "PD-280, PD-150, etc." Since they were made of F-111 fabric they were not half as slippery as modern canopies and didn't need fancy packing aids.
I suspect that you are referring to a canopy that Performance Designs made out of slippery, zero-porousity fabric. A sleeve will make it easier to control a z-p canopy.

Yes, thoroughly inspect the top skin and all ribs for holes.
1.3 is over loading an F-111 canopy. This will cause it to age far faster than normal. Your hard openings are proof of that. The slider slamming down will create more friction, prematurely fraying and shrinking lines.
A larger slider will help soften openings, just ask PD for their advice. Larger slider grommets won't make much difference, but large connector links will prevent the slider grommets from coming down far enough to break your fingers. Just remember to wrap thick plastic slider bumpers around your connector links.
The quickest way to check for line shrinkage is to tie the front connector links and compare the lengths of the A lines. One inch difference across the A lines is considered normal wear on a canopy with 100 jumps. When the difference across the A lines exceeds 3 inchs, it is time to replace all the lines.

Mr. USPA,
A Cypres can be fooled into firing higher than its normal activation altitude by body position.
The most likely scenario is that you tossed your main pilotchute lower than normal and your main was snivelling as you approached Cypres scaring altitude. If your snivelling main pulls you upright, then the reserve bottom wall and Cypres are exposed to faster than normal wind. Note: on most skydiving rigs, the brains of the Cypres are sewn to the bottom wall of the reserve container. The tiny air pressure sensor in the Cypres may read this as an altitude lower than what you eyeballs seeing. The other parameter - that must be met to scare the Cypres - is holding that unusual attitude for several seconds. It has something to do with the Cypres averaging the last few readings. No single altitude reading can scare a Cypres.
As for the question about why some experienced skydivers don't wear Cypri? I am a poor professional skydiver. All the tandem rigs have Cypri and the bulk of my jumps are tandems. My boss loaned me a Cypres for the Talon that I usually wear when doing PFF. But my second rig is an ancient Mirage that requires a 2-pin Cypres, and I refuse to spend the extra money for a 2-pin Cypres. Oh, that and the fact that I cannot find any written instructions on how to install a Cypres in a 1985 vintage Mirage.
That leaves two options: fairy godmother or sewing. I could wait for my fairy godmother to give me a new rig or I could finish sewing together the prototype 1-pin pop-top that is gathering dust in the corner of my loft.

In Canada, if you want to become an instructor, you need a B Certificate of Proficiency and have passed a Coach 1 Course.
Our Coach 1 Course is similar to USPA's Basic Instructor Course.
Having completed those preliminaries, then you attend an Instructor A Course, usually specializing in Instructor Assisted Deployment.
If you want to do tandems, you have to pass all the previous requirements and attend a Tandem Instructor Course run by a company that manufacturers tandem equipment.
If you want to teach Progressive Freefall, you need to be an Instructor A and Coach 2, plus pass the PFF Instructor's Course.
I know that this sounds like a lot of hoops to jump through, but it is actually easier than the old system because now you are taking a series of small blocks of instruction, as opposed to the old school where you were expected to grasp it all in one week.

Both of them are to blame for the canopy wrap.
It takes two to tangle, but only one to turn away.
Fly your parachute the same way you ride a motorcycle: paranoid!
Keep your head on a swivel. Expect the other guy to do something stupid and give him plenty of room to do it.

Definition of a "sleeve" a fabric tube roughly the same width as the container and the same height as the flaked canopy. Sleeves have been around since the 1950s. With round parachutes, sleeves serve the same function as diapers or deployment bags: they hold the mouth of the canopy closed until it has reached line stretch, thereby vastly reducing opening shock and malfunction rates.
When Parachutes de France introduced the first zero-porousity parachute in the late 1980s, they offered sleeves to ease the packing process.
A sleeve allows you to divide the folding process into two separate steps: long folding and lateral folding. Basically, you lay the canopy on the floor and dress it to the same width as the sleeve/container and slide the sleeve around the canopy. Close the mouth of the sleeve and stow most of the lines in rubber bands. Now that the canopy is all nice and neatly contained by the sleeve, it is easy to S-fold into the container. Close the container in accordance with the container manufacturer's instructions.

I use a black "Sharpie" marker when building line kits or replacing lines.

The last time I suffered a line-over on my Sabre, I pulled the toggles down into a deep stall, then let them quickly. The lines went slack and the offending line slid off the top skin.
This trick also used to work well with tension knots on Strong 425 canopies with Dacron lines.

The FAA is rather vague about currency for riggers. The FAR reads something like "have practiced his trade within the last 90 days." Some wags interpret this as cleaning your tools within the last 90 days! Ha! Ha!
Officially, all you have to do to add a BACK RATING is to pack 20 back type skydiving reserves (or Pilot Emergency Parachutes) under supervision and demonstrate to an FAA Parachute Rigger Examiner that you can repack a back type parachute.
From a practical point of view, since it has been so long, and gear has changed so much since chest reserves were in fashion, you would be wise to review all the same training that new riggers go through.
Start by buying Poynter's manuals Volume 1 and 2.
Go to the Australian Parachute Federation's website and print out their list of Airworthiness Directives and Service Bulletins. Speaking of the internet, many packing manuals are now available online.
The quickest, albeit most expensive way to get up to date is to attend the 2003 Parachute Industry Symposium in Florida, but that is next winter.

Are you referring to the shiny black sleeve that hides the Cypres cables and is glued ot the reserve pack tray?
If so, it can be replaced with any strip of fabric or webbing more than 1.5" wide. Any rigger should have some spare Cypres sleeving, but the glue on it will just dry up next year.
The challenge is sewing it to the pack tray. Machine sewing requires dismantling half the rig. It is far easier to just hand sew the sleeve to the pack tray in 3 or 4 places.

If you go to the Australian BASE board, Cliff Jumpers of America, etc. you will find links to a dozen BASE euipment manufacturers who explain their products in great detail.
There are about 5 different types of BASE harness/containers.
1. Regular skydiving gear was the only thing available to early BASE jumpers. Now that few skydiving main canopies are suitable for BASE, few BASE jumpers wear skydiving gear anymore.
2. Velcro-closed is by far the most popular for BASE.
3. Single-pin closure, rare.
4. Dual-pin closure is popular for long delays off high cliffs.
5. Dual canopy BASE rigs like the Sorcerer. From a distance they resemble skydiving rigs, but up close you can't see a reserve ripcord. There are two ways to deploy a Sorcerer reserve. If you cutaway from a partially open main, a main riser pulls on the RSL, which lifts the reserve d-bag, etc.
The second way to deploy a Sorcerer reserve is to pull the "pud" on the left shoulder. Just like a Racer main, pulling the pud on a Sorcerer pulls the pin that closes the reserve container and pulls the soft reserve pilotchute out into the wind, etc.
BASE main canopies are deployed by a variety of methods (ranging from static-line to BOC) depending upon exit altitude.

Drug laws are bad.
Canadian drug laws are so unhealthy that I quit reading them.
I also quit doing most drugs. Now the only addictive drug I do is caffeine.

Aerodyne was the first company to take old canopies in trade-in for 50% off on a a\new canopy. That sales campaign is over.
Currently Precision is offering a similar deal. If you mail in an old canopy, they will sell you a new canopy for 50% off. They don't even care if your trade-in is airworthy.! I have a huge pile of ratty old F-111 mains for trade-ins, and you can have one for not much more than the cost of shipping.
One disadvantage of Precision's campaign is that it only applies to their Ground Zero line of canopies The Ground Zero line is supposed to include the Raven Max reserves. I just don't when the Raven Max will enter production.

I started chuckling halfway through.
My cat looked at me as if to say "Are you nuts or something?"

Vote with your feet if you don't trust the pilot at any DZ.
Be polite enough to drop a hint on the DZO about why you left. Soon enough the DZO will figure out that unprofessional pilots equal lost revenue.

Steve Magnuson is an old-time jumper who lives in Southern California.
Steve claims that he had a bad experience with a rigger many years ago.
Ten or fifteen years ago he got caught for repacking his own reserve without a rigger's license.
In 1997 Steve took his reserve to Master Rigger Al Frisby for a repack. When Al found a cracked stiffener in the reserve container and several burns on the (round) Phantom reserve, he called the last rigger whose name was on the packing data card: "Dead Ted." Ted reviewed his logbook, then denied having repacked Magnuson's reserve.
The local FAA Designated Parachute Rigger Examiner was called in.
Eventually Magnuson admitted to having a reserve ride, repacking his own reserve and forging Ted's signature. The FAA fined Magnuson $500.
We are not sure which mis-deed made the FAA more angry: repacking a damaged reserve canopy, or forging a signature.

First jump at age 20, most recent jump at age 44.

You could probably do it and live, but the FAA would tear up the pilot's license if they heard about anyone jumping out of an airplane wearing a BASE rig.
Even if you wore a TSO'd chest mounted reserve, the FAA would give you grief because you are not wearing a TSO'd harness.
Even if you don't hold any FAA licenses, they can still slap you with a nasty fine for violating an FAR.
Remember that Steve Magnuson got slapped with a $500 fine the second time the FAA caught him repacking his own reserve.

Main d-bags made of F-111 and ZP fabric work as well as parapack d-bags. The lightweight d-bags just don't last as long.
Cotton or more correctly, polyester-cotton blend d-bags are a hang over from the days when sleeves were made of cotton. Because of the long distance the canopy had to slide out of the sleeve, there was serious risk of burning and melting the canopy fabric. When you consider how short most d-bags are, friction becomes irrelevant.
But skybytch had a good point about sticking with a d-bag from the same company that built the container. Harness/container manufacturers devote a lot of time and effort to tailoring d-bags so they will fit gracefully into a specific size of container and will open consistently.

The worst thing about Psycho packing is the funny name.
The best thing about Psycho packing is that rolling the canopy makes it easier to stuff into the bag. You can incorporate that roll into any other packing method.