riggerrob

Depending upon how heavily you load the canopy and how you fly, you should re-line a canopy after 200 to 800 jumps. Blade Running competitors who are fanatics about performance should re-line their canopies after 200 to 400 jumps. Tandem manufacturers recommend re-lining after 300 jumps and if you don't, the openings get weird and they flare like bag locks! If your canopy is lightly loaded, you don't care much about performance and are just plain lazy, you can wait 800 jumps before re-lining. The other way to decide when to re-line is to examine the lines. One broken strand in any line means that it is time to replace that line. By the time you have replaced 4 or 5 lines, you have spent as much money as re-lining. The other way to determine line quality is to measure the differential across the "A" lines. When the difference across the "A" lines approaches 3 inches it is time to reline the canopy. Also consider how much the steering lines have shrunk. Sometimes you only have to replace the middle and lower steering lines to get a canopy flying properly again.

Safire alternatives, why bother? I really enjoyed the Safire 149 that I tried last year. PISA's Hornet is also a slightly tapered 9 cell designed to compete with the Safire. Hornets fly almost as well as Safires, but they mainly compete on price: substantially less! PD promises that their Sabre II will be another slightly tapered 9 cell that is " more forgiving of sloppy packing." Geeh! sounds a lot like a Safire!

Triathlons are 7 cell squares made by Aerodyne Research. Tris' are basically mid 1980s vintage CReW canopies updated with 0-P fabric, Spectra lines and a few tricks to soften the openings. Tris are very popular with casual weekend jumpers and have won their share of medals at international CReW competitions. Tris are made of South African fabric with a dull finish that makes them much easier to pack.

Slinks are soft connector links made by Performance Designs. Like most soft links, Slinks reduce weight and pack volume. They also allow the slider to be pulled down to neck level. Slinks are better than other types of soft links because they can be removed and re-installed repeatedly. PD makes two types of Slinks: one for main canopies and another for reserves. PD Slinks are currently approved on PD and Raven reserves.

I've never heard of a ringed harness failing, and incidents of straight harness failure are also extremely rare. You have a better chance of falling out chest first - because you forgot to fasten your chest strap- or falling out butt first - because you borrowed a harness that was too big - than you do of tearing a harness! My 17 years of rigging experience includes 5 years in parachute factories including 3 years in the Customer Service Dept. at Rigging Innovations. If you remember, R.I. introduced ringed harnesses to the skydiving world in 1991 and during the mid-1990s we were starting to see wear patterns on ringed harnesses. After a few thousand jumps in the desert, straps were starting to fray where they rubbed together at hip rings. We also replaced a few harnesses because of elongated hip rings. These elongated harness rings would probably have lasted thousands more jumps, but we were perfectionists. The elongated stainless steel harness rings were part of the learning curve involving heavily loaded 0P canopies, tiny spectra suspension lines, loose Tube Stows and sloppy packing. R.I. switched to harder, cadmium-plated hip rings, and we all learned a lesson about packing neatly. In conclusion, all harnesses are built way stronger than needed. QC at factories is tight. And your only chance of tearing a harness at opening time is if you choose to jump a harness that is already damaged.

Unless your daddy is wealthy, your first rig will probably be like your first car, a popular model a few years old. Your first main canopy will also not be the fastest thing on the market. Your first main canopy should not be the fastest thing on the market because you are going to make mistakes learning its envelope and expanding your own envelope. We want you to limp away from your mistakes. After a year or two you will tire of your first main - which by now will feel sluggish - and will want to trade it for something faster and more fashionable. If you have kept it clean, you will be able to resell it for almost the same price you bought it for. Just one caution on fashion: the hottest canopies on the market are designed for people with thousands of jumps who do a thousand or more per year. Anyone with less experience would be a fool to buy the tiniest, hottest canopy. As to which brand you buy ... anything form the top half dozen manufacturers will do, just some of the newer - freefly specific models - will resell better a couple of years from now. Finally, look at local fashions. If you have never seen that model on your DZ and the local rigger curses that model every time he mentions it, then steer clear!

I would rather have an inflated reserve with a bad case of line twists, than impact at line stretch! Most rigs have single-sided RSLs. Racers, ATOMS and a few other rigs have double-sided RSLs. Racer RSLs are controversial. On Racers, one piece of tape is attached to the left riser, passes under the reserve ripcord, then attaches to the right riser. After you release the main canopy, the RSL pulls directly on the reserve ripcord. In my opinion, too many students have had Racer-style RSLs hang up on the back of their helmets. I prefer the - Parachutes de France - ATOM's RSL (brand name LOR) which is two separate pieces. Each ATOM RSL is attached to one riser and one pin, so both risers - and both pins - have to clear before the reserve will open.

How do you know when your loop - on a throw-out - is too tight? 1. You can't close the rig. 2. You can pick the rig up by the main bridle. The loop is too tight on a pull-out if you struggle at pull time. Even a minor struggle will put you one shoulder low which can result in line twists, etc.

First of all, Racers have stood the test of time. Secondly, they wear like iron. Lisa was correct that the volume charts published by the Raer factory are .... how do we put this? Tight in a humid climate like Florida, but unrelated to reality in arid places like deserts! After struggling with factory numbers for too many years I resorted to lying to the factory. For example, I now tell them to build a new Racer to fit a Raven 181, when I intended to pack a Raven 150 into it. Finally, my pet peeve about Racers is that none of the expensive metal T-bodkins are Cypres compatible, much less Racer Tandem compatible. If you are curious, I can send your rigger instructions on how to build his own Racer/Cypres compatible temporary closing loops made from a bit of Cypres cord and a couple of lumps of scrap iron. The price approaches zero. Some riggers love Racers and other riggers hate Racers. It only took me 10 years to learn how to pack them.

Generas are inexpensive because no options are available. The Genera only comes in one color and it only comes with one width of leg pads. Fortunately the stock Genera leg pads fit my skinny thighs quite nicely. My Talon2 has Genera style leg pads and I even retrofitted Genera style leg pads ot my old Mirage. If you find the stock Genera leg pads uncomfortable, then ask your friendly local Master Rigger to install wider leg pads. Any decent loft will have a dozen or more old sets of leg pads laying around.

Come on folks! You are comparing apples with oranges: medium loaded 7 cells with 9 cells loaded twice as heavy! As for the 9 cell advocates claiming better all-around performance: bull .... Elliptically tapered, heavily loaded 9 cells sacrifice everything else in their quest for longer turf surfs. Icarus Extremely Extremes are the best in one corner of the envelope and dangerous in the other three corners. I dare any Icarus Extremely Extreme pilot to stall his heavily loaded canopy straight down onto a 3 cm disc!

Since most low altitude BASE jumps are done without d-bags or sliders, it is really easy for a steering line to flip over the top of the canopy. tailgates (from Basic Research) and neat packing can prevent most of these malfunctions, but BASE jumpers still like to be able to toss their toggles. They route steering lines outside of slider grommets and steering guide rings. They sew extra locking loops on the risers, similar to tandems. The locking eye on the steering line is pulled down through the steering guide ring and locked with the top end of the toggle, like normal. But if they let go of the toggles, the steering lines just trail behind the canopy. Zoo toggles - with straight metal pins - used to be fashionable, but I recently saw a new form of soft toggle that they claim works even better. Visit the BASE manufacturers' websites to view this week's fashion.

My previous post on reserve life mainly referred to "service life." Nylon parachutes have very long "shelf lifes", probably exceeding 40 years. Assuming this canopy has been carefully stored in a plastic bag, in a cool, dry, dark closet, it is in "like new" condition. Expect to make 600 to 800 jumps on an F-111 canopy from that era. There is a safety advantage to older canopies. Since no one in their right mind jumps these canopies at wing-loadings much more than 1 pound per square foot, you limp away from landing errors that kill people flying tiny Icarus Extremely Extremes!

The standard for tightening Maillon Rapide mini links is "finger tight plus 1/4 turn." Any looser and you risk the link unthreading itself. Any tighter and you risk cracking the barrel with similar results. A drop of Loktite on the threads will help prevent premature loosening as will tight silicone bumpers.

We used to jump with a guy who claimed to be the best gay skydiver in Canada.

riggerrob is based in Pitt Meadows, Canada, though I did jump for a year with the good people at Snohomish, WA.

Oops! I spelled the last address incorrectly. It should read: www.baselogic.com

Try visiting the following websites: www.basicresearch.com ww.crmojo.com www.vertigobase.com www.basejump.org www.baselobig.com

Lifetimes on reserve canopies are vague. It is really an "on condition" issue. Repacking slowly loosens fabric. High speed openings put more strain on fabric and lines, but the worst wear comes from dragging through the weeds. Practical limits include 40 repacks, 4 terminal openings, more than 1 sewn patch or some vague chronological guidelines. If a rig has been jumped hard (300 jumps per year) in the desert, the container is probably worn out, which leads us to suspect the condition of the reserve canopy. If a rig has been carefully stored in a cool, dry, dark closet, it is probably still airworthy up to 20 years. Older than 20 years, you have to start asking design questions. The oldest square reserves I will repack are Swift 5 cells, which were certified in the low speed category of TSO c23b in 1981. Mind you, the Swift owner will have to listen to a lengthy explanation about how any reserve certified in the Standard Catagory of TSO c23c or c23d would be better. Reserve technology has not changed significantly since TSO c23c was introduced in the mid 1980s. Finally, I refuse to repack any reserve that is older than me! I turn 44 this month.

Do 7 cells out-perform 9-cells? It depends upon which corner of the envelope you want to fly in. Yes, tiny, elliptically tapered canopies like Icarus Extremely Extremes are the best things available for turf-surfing and blade running, but you won't catch me shooting accuracy, or flinging myself off a bridge, or docking on a stack with an Icarus Extremely Extreme. My point is that Icarus Extremely Extreme canopies sacrifice all other aspects of performance so they can become the best possible turf-surfers in this atmosphere! Other companies manufacture specialized 7 cells for other corners of the performance envelope. For example: all specialized BASE canopies are large, lightly loaded, low aspect ratio 7 cells. BASE jumpers prefer 7 cells for thier consistent, on heading openings. They prefer low wing loadings for softer landings between the boulders, trees and fast flowing rivers that surround their landing sites. For most of the same reasons, accuracy competitors prefer large, lightly loaded 7 cells for slow, steep predictable approaches on the edge of the stall. Almost all reserves are 7 cells because back in the early 1980s designers realised that 7 cells had the most predictable openings. CReW jumpers stick with 7 cells because they will survive rough docks and still stay inflated. In conclusion, yes Icarus Extreemly Extreem canopies out perform Triathlons, but only in one corner of the envelope. They are dangerous or useless in other corners. So when you say that one model out performs another model, please specify which corner of the envelope you are referring to.

You know it's a bad day when the lazy local rigger is rushing about. You know it's a bad day when you see a Manta descending very slowly and there is nothing hanging below the leg straps. You know it's a bad day when you stumble home from a party to find a guy bleeding to death in the parking lot. You know it's a bad day when you arrive at the DZ to find the runway covered with trucks and flashing lights.

That King Air used to fly jumpers at Perris, but after it landed wheels up a couple of times they sold it. The first wheels up landing was a mechanical failure, the second was pilot error. Now all the airplanes at Perris have their wheels welded in the down position.

No rules governing who can freefly in Canada, just some vague guidelines. Last weekend we had a group discusion with the head of CSPA's Coaching Committee. We concluded that aspiring freefliers should have the (belly flying) RW endorsement signed for their "A" Ceritificate of Proficiency. Then they should do a few dozen sit flying jumps. Followed by stand-up jumps and late in the program they should try head-down. Local freefliers agree with this progression.

Yes there are pilots who do not understand GPS. It was not even invented when I learned to fly!

It's amazing how many of my skydiving buddies have sprained their ankles during baseball tournaments. At least that is what they told their bosses Monday morning!