FLJB

Alex: pics attached. sorry, I am not a professional photographer, but you can get an idea of the size difference. remember, safires are known for soft openings, so don't go too big or it could fail to open. I am a rigger, but not a professional designer and made my removable for the sense of accomplishment and novelty. I would never sell mine or let anyone else jump it since it is a one of a kind item like any other handmade item. besides there are various people who can make professional ones for a very fair price nowadays.

Alexg: I made a removable slider for my Safire II 149 a couple of years ago... jumped it about 20 times at terminal and it was soft as butter.... Yours is excellent work. I will dig it out and take some pictures if you want for reference. I used a well known manufacturers rings that are more square than yours and Lolon release cables but other than that it is very similar. My removable was 1/4 inch larger than stock all the way around once sewn (I figured slower was better than faster) and the crease of the corner fold on the removable bisected the grommets on the original. This equated to almost 3" of total extra span and chord distance from the original slider and it worked almost too well so keep that in mind. ( 1&1/2" each side). Good Luck in your adventures.

Well, green means go... Clamp tip. I hate those frikking things, they always stick to whatever they were securing or fly off and at then end of the packjob when counting your tools give you a mini-heart attack because you can't find one or two.

I was thinking troll. The knowledge of skydiving is impressive for a whuffo. Don't know how you figured out it was a she though? My money is off of troll and onto lawyer or researcher for a law firm or insurance firm looking for something???

Yes, that is what the manual says, but my machine is ass backwards from this, which is weird, but that is what works on mine. I didn't know if it had to do with something in the translation of the manual to English or what so i wanted to throw it out there. Huh. Other than tension the only other thing i can think of is the long needle groove not being centered to the front of the machine. I have done that before where the long groove is not directly in front causes problems. I do not mean to throw basic stuff out there and possibly offend you, just trying to be helpful. Hope you get it figured, like I said it is a great double duty machine once you get it working. Good luck!

I have one of those machines. In fact, I got it because it has the straight stitch and zig-zag and figured it would be a great double-duty machine. It is great for what i need. I made shot-bags and lower steering lines with it. I even sewed up a homemade RDS with it. So it does work for light duty stuff very well in my opinion. I don't think the needles are the problem. My needles are 135X5 (110X18, & 90X14) even though the manual specifies 1910-05 (135X9). I have not had a problem with the 135X5 needles and got them from the retailer who sold me the machine. He has many years sales and service of these machines. If the levers and knobs are set correctly, then it would be thread tension, which could be upper or lower which is the problem. Bobbin (lower) thread tension too tight will break upper threads. One thing to look for is did you rotate the straight stitch locking mechanism to free before zig-zagging with it? There is a knob on the left side of the head, near the bottom where needle goes in the machine. It is a black knob with ridges on it and the end looks like it accepts a flat-head screwdriver. On my machine i turn the knob away from me for straight-stitch mode and towards me for zig-zag. It is important that knob is positioned correctly. Also for zig-zagging, the setup is finicky. I make sure the knob on the left side is towards me or free and also the two knobs on the front of the machine are also free (or to the right) Then select the needle position, left, center or right with the mechanism on the front of the machine. Then i move the swing lever to where i want it and then turn both knobs on the front of the machine to lock (or left position) left knob locks first then the right knob. Then i use the hand wheel to do a couple of practice stitches first and then apply power on scrap first to ensure the size is what i want. Hope that helps, let me know if you need anything else.

Cool. That is a really useful site. I use it all the time as a reference and for general knowledge. I knew it was someone on here who maintained it and just could not remember who. Thank you for putting that together. JB

Anybody else get a page that parachutemanuals.com has been hacked?? I just tried to access the page and got the attached message. It is a JPEG picture/screen capture of the page. It indicates it was hacked by "Khalid" Anyone know who maintains the site and wants to let them know whats up if indeed it was hacked... Bummer.

Dude: The Farm has a similar problem. They fly in the hanger and up to the top and get stuck and i guess overheat and end up falling on the packing area. No Shit. I saw a lady there bring more than one hummingbird back to life. She got some Gatorade and poured some in the cap and stuck the birds beak in it to make it drink. After a while it drank it up and was back to itself and after a while flies away. So cool to watch. It was like a fricking National Geographic special in real life. One of the coolest things I have ever seen. Hummingbirds are pretty cool and very small.

Screwed up, yes. Legitimate threat, maybe. Far 65.129 No certificated parachute rigger may- ...(f) exercise the privileges of his certificate and type rating unless he understands the current manufacturer's instructions for the operation involved and has-... It kinda sounds like the current manufacturer's instructions take precedence over previous instructions unless explicitly stated in writing. unless my interpretation is wrong. checking manuals online for current manufacturer instructions seems prudent common sense if for nothing else than the fact that many pilots are on the 3 or 5 yr extended repack cycle. not saying that a failure to contact the previous rigger directly in a situation like this isn't a dick type move, cause it is. But i have no information on that.

This. On all my rigs I only use small rubber bands on vectran lines and the non-locking stows are so loose there is barely any tension on them. i don't know when the last time i broke a rubber band was... I don't have hard openings or off heading openings or anything else weird with my openings and never have. I think double stowing large rubber bands are a function of paid packers who save their fingers a little bit given the number of pack jobs they do... but they end up breaking quicker and have to be replaced. It all depends on who does your packing...

I could have sworn i recently got an email from USPA regarding logging of military jumps. It may have been a USPA professional email that spoke about logging military jumps and that verification by an S&TA or appropriate person allows them to be logged. I cannot find it though... Did anyone else remember seeing that recently?

I agree with the above posts. after being unemployed for almost a year and involved with multiple interviews it is apparent that no response should be interpreted as a negative response. Unfortunately, a lack of a response has been developed as defense mechanism by companies and should not be taken personally. Although that is generally not much consolation to the unemployed. Keep trying.

Aerodyne has trim charts for discontinued PISA canopies.

If a chartered accountant exam is anything like the US Certified Public Accountant exam, it is nothing to sneeze at. I know, I took it and would rather loose a limb than take that test again... There was lots of people loosing it and freaking out when i was studying for and taking it. The reason the test is evil is because public accounting is a service based business that operates under extreme stress and very tight time-lines in the real world. I guess the thought process is that it is better to have someone "loose it" before they become an accountant rather than after. It may only be mainly multiple choice, but it is the most evil test known to man, the wrong answers are intentionally designed to deceive the test taker into selecting the wrong ones as the test designers use the most common wrong answers and the analytical procedures used to get those wrong answers in creating the questions and answers. Unlike "normal" multiple choice tests where the correct answer is not easy to miss since all the other choices are outlandish - just look at the USPA (or I suppose BPA) multiple choice quizzes in the SIM Still it is just a game and to win the game you have to understand the game. Here in lies the secret.......... the only goal is to get the correct answer. Seems simple, but it is the trap that has caught many an aspiring accountant. It is not school and there are no "partial credit" points for close. All you are doing is showing what you know at the point you are taking the test, nothing more. You have to understand the correct answer and moreover why the incorrect answers are incorrect. nothing else matters. Once you do that, it will be a breeze to get the correct answer. The fastest way to do that is to do multiple "practice tests" like you are doing, where you can see the answers afterwords and an explanation of why the wrong answers are wrong. An explanation that is provided by professors and geniuses who study the questions when they are not under a time limit like you are during the test In the US we use Becker Review, the information in the front of the Becker books are invaluable in understanding this game. I do know some people who do not use this approach that pass eventually, but not without a lot of $$$ and time. It really is a mind game and traps a lot of people... when i was in Grad school, i was a teaching associate. I taught financial accounting and that had to be the single best experience for me to understand the game and how it is played. It does not mean it is right the game is like this, or that it is just for the game to be like this, it just means it is. Good luck. Remember young Jedi, it can be done, so why not by you?