Periapt

Weight is an important factor in general health and, in this case, likelyhood of active sports-related injuries, especially in those with prior injures and/or prosthetics. What constitues a safe/healthy weight varies from individual to individual. General guidelines can be found at: http://www.calculator.net/weight-loss-calculator.html

#3 is one of the soundest pieces of advice re. reserve canopies I have seen. I know there are those who want the smallest, lightest rigs possible, but to assume that you will always be fully functional and able make a perfect landing in an emergency situation is folly. No reserve can guarantee you an injury-free landing, but being prepared for the worst case scenario by having generous safety margins seems eminently sensible. Also, #4 seems worthwhile advice, unless you are truely invincible and immortal.

What about these: Ligaments of the AC joint: Capsular; superior and inferior acromioclavicular; articular disk; coracoclavicular (trapezoid and conoid) Ligaments of the Sternoclavicular joint: Capsular; anterior and posterior sternoclavicular; inter- and costo- clavicular; articular disk Ligaments of the GH joint: Capsular; coracohumeral; glenohumeral; transverse humeral; glenoid of humerus Are they just for decoration? Touche' I was thinking of the stabilization of the humeral head at the highly mobile glenohumeral joint. The capsular ligaments are integral parts of the joint capsule which must allow for the great freedom of movement that the shoulder has. These can be torn when there is a dislocation. The others mentioned are certainly part of the shoulder girdle and are less compliant and more like the ligaments of other joints. My apologies and thanks for pointing out my lack of precision. RGJ.

So many people jump with the provided gopro mount and often without a cutaway... They can't all be wrong! [/sarcasm] I realize this isn't strictly on topic, but can you imagine filming with this?

Strictly speaking, there are no ligaments holding the shoulder in place. The head of the humerus is held in place in the glenoid fossa of the scapula (shoulder blade) by the muscles and tendons of the rotator cuff. Ligaments that hold joints together connect bones to bones with no intervening muscle tissue. The bloke from Australia took quite a risk taking the brakes off his reserve. If he could only get one brake unstowed he would have spiraled in. The same thing could also have happened if he was unable to flare symmetrically. Good for him that he made it work.

Is #2 an international standard or is it only USPA/North America? It would be good if so. Imagine how interesting it could get at an international get together if jumpers from countries that drive on the left also turned left to avoid the collision.

perhaps the better question would be does anyone know of a malfunction or incident that could be attributed to the hood on any garment. based on the current replies, it would appear that the answer is "No". Of course that does not mean it's not possible. as a practical manner, if someone wants the hood over their head, they should probably put some kind of helmet over it so it doesn't blow off.

this is the link to the Aussie RAC http://hq.apf.asn.au/index.php/RAC501A I've seen it. The problem I have with the blast handle issue is that there were incident reports, but was there any serious investigation of the problem? Were there inherent problems in the blast handle itself, or were the issues related to manner in which it was used and rigged on sport parachute systems? If you don't know the real nature of the problem, how can you remedy it? The easy way is to just make the problem go away by summary judgement. But if the easy way out becomes the habitual first choice, as it can easily do, you will end up creating more problems than you solve.

[replyPoynter I says that the USPA banned blast handles in 1968. 1968? I bought my rig in the 70's jumped it in 10-man speedstar competition at the 1973 nationals. I expect they are still banned and will be forever, so this thread is, at best, academic.

Good one........ oh... was there a parachute in that clip? . I believe it's a Security Crossbow piggyback :) With a flat circular canopy and a T-U cut in it, or possibly it's a LoPo manufactured with the mod. Nice demo of packing a round, but I guess they don't make packers like they used to...(Sigh!)

Thank you for the info and the pics. This, indeed is indeed the componint I was inquiring about. The rig I had was a crossbow piggyback with a cut-down main container. It had blast handles on both main and reserve, both of which had guide nobs in place. As per the custom of the time, the post was drilled out of the reserve handle, but this, uncustomarily, was not done on the main handle. It is noteworthy that I NEVER had any difficulty pulling the main (undrilled post and all). It was reported that pulls not in-line with the ripcord housing could cause the handle to hang-up. I also know that the knob-guides were rarely seen on sport rigs. My suspicion is that the knob-guide effectively added a lever arm that stuck out from the fist when pulling and twisted the handle so it was inline with the end of the ripcord housing, even if the pull was off-axis. Based on this, I must conclude that a guide nob was necessary for optimal function and should have been used on all blast handle ripcords, main or reserve. As I posted elsewhere, I really liked the blast handles. They were always where you expected them to be and they were less likely to snag on something. It is a shame that they have been banned.

Which services had emergency parachutes that used the Wind Blast handles? What was the terminology for the cylindrical sleeve that was attached over the end of the ripcord housing, covering the clips that held the handle in place.. These were, as I recall from a sport rig I owned, about 2" in length and were held in place by a setscrew. If you have any images, they would be appreciated. Thanks, D-3017

How much force is "high force"? How blunt is a "blunt object". What if impact was a glancing blow? What if the object had some "give" to it instead of being rock hard? What if you didn't directly see the impact? What if you're wrong about judging how fast and how hard they hit? What if you're wrong about there being no pulse? If your pup, which you love, suffered such an accident, would you do nothing to try and save him? It doesn't hurt to try. This has been an interesting thread, largely because both sides have made good points. FlyingPortagee is partially correct in saying that that a pulseless vicitm of trauma is dead. Trauma surgeons will tell you,"Dead trauma is Dead!" But what is "Dead"? Lack of a palpable pulse is not necessarily dead if there is a reversible reason for it, such as loss of blood or mechanical interference that prevents the heart from filling with blood (usually fluid or gas where it does not belong, compressing the heart so it cannot fill with blood). It is also true that attempting CPR on an uresponsive, pulseless victim of blunt trauma may buy them some time, IF there is a reversible cause. And if they are truely dead, you can't hurt them by trying. While there are documented cases of people surviving falling from great altitude, they are rare and involve factors that served to increase the distance over which they decelerated from terminal velocity. The simple fact is that a right angle impact with normal solid ground at 120 mph is seriously bad news. If the crater is a foot deep, the AVERAGE deceleration would be about 450G and if it is 6" it would be twice that. Survival in such a case is remote, at best. On the other hand, the blunt trauma associated with misadventures involving high performance parachutes and low altitude canopy collisions or cutaways may well be survivable and CPR, if the victim is unresponsive and pulseless, is definitely appropriate. Just remember that there may be spinal injuries and don't move the victim unless ABSOLUTELY necessary for safety reasons. If you MUST move them, immobilize the cervical spine to the best of your ability, perform CPR when you are out of immediate danger, pray, and, when the medics arrive, let them do their job. For those interested in my credentials, I am a Board-certified Emergency Physician with 30+ years of experience including time in a Level-2 Trauma Center. Ralph Johnson MD PS: I wholeheartedly endorse learning CPR and basic Life Support and first aid. I have no doubt that most of you already have done so, but for those that have not, do it ASAP. You never know when your ability may be the only thing standing between another human being and the grave.

I don't know how common it is, but I do know of one individual who jumped the rig of a friend who had bounced (on April Fool's Day, no less). In fact, it became his primary rig. He is still in the sport, has 20,000+ jumps and runs his own Jump School. I don't know what eventually became of the rig, but I doubt he has it any more (the incident occured nearly 40 years ago).

I had a crossbow container with the main container cut down so it could just contain a Mk1 PC. It had Quick-ejector snaps, blast handles on both the main and the reserve and the top cone had a tendancy to hang-up on pulling if I didn't sit up on opening. The only thing that was ever a problem was that damn top cone. The smaller Thunderbow piggyback had the same issue, made worse by the tall, rotating cone that was on the top flap. Gary Hattenschwiller, the rigger who supervised me in modifying the main container, solved the cone problem by using a very short cone that I remember as being from a Navy chest pack. Once this was done I never had any problems with pack closures. My capewells were 1-1/2-shots and the blast handle on the main NEVER gave me any problems (I never had the occasion to pull the reserve on that rig). The reserve ripcord handle had the center post drilled out and both had a metal sleeve that the military used attached to the end of the housing. I don't recall seeing those on any other sport rig with blast handles. I frankly liked the blast handles. They were always where you expected them to be and were less likely to snag on things. D-3017

"All these were honoured in their generations, and were the glory of their times." I can't claim Ed Miller as a close friend, but he was part of the world of Skydiving in So. Cal. in the '70s at Elsinore along with so many others who are no longer with us. It was a special time for me and I am greatful to have known them. The poet, A. E. Houseman, who had never heard of our sport, wrote what could be taken as an epitaph for any of them: From far, from eve and morning And yon twelve-winded sky, The stuff of life to knit me Blew hither: here am I. Now-- for a breath I tarry Nor yet disperse apart-- Take my hand quick and tell me, What have you in your heart. Speak now, and I will answer; How shall I help you, say; Ere to the wind's twelve quarters I take my endless way.

I returned to jumping in May 2007 after a near-26 year hiatus. I did a refresher course at Jim Wallace's school at Perris, made a single AFF jump with one jumpmaster and was cleared to go. One great advantage at Perris is an on-site Tunnel and I did 10 minutes in the tunnel before the refresher course. If you have access to one, you will probably find that, just like a bicycle, the conditioned reflexes are still there; just a bit rusty. It is reassuring to know you can still control yourself in freefall and that the rust blows off once you're back in the air. Of course, you should pay close attention to the gear. It will be different and you'll feel pretty silly if you're groping your main lift web for a ripcord instead of reaching for the pilot chute in the BOC. As far as canopies are concerned, start with big, docile and forgiving (which is what they use for students) and don't be in too big a hurry to downsize. Good instructors should be able to help you with canopy control and adivse you on what size to jump.

See article: Belly Fly 101 - Tue Jun 13 2006 by Steven Blincoe.

I have punched clouds on only two jumps, once in April, '73 at Elsinore and the other in southern Ilinois in April,'75. Neither episode was intentional (being back from the door in a twin beech, I had to rely upon the spotter!?). Both resulted in landings far from the DZ (No GPS back then). Elsinore also had sailplanes in operation and where do you think they are? Answer: Under the clouds where the lift is. So, the first thing I saw on opening was a Sailplane at 12 o'clock level doing a near-wingover to avoid flying into our opened mains. This could have had tragic results, and it would have been entirely our fault. The other was a night jump over farm country. No one was hurt, but one jumper landed in power lines and blacked out a farm. I think we got lucky. Night landings beneath an overcast are interesting enough without wondering if that dark patch is a field or a pond. Skydiving is a VFR activity and, even with GPS, there may be something down there that can kill you if you can't see it.

Quite a display of various ways to release canopies. All employ the concept of leverage or other mechanical advantage to decrease the tension on the actual release point beginning with modifications of the capewll system, then to webbing arangements. This can be viewed as the evolutionary path to the 3-ring releases that are seen on virtually all modern sport rigs. Fascinating and educational.

I worked for Hank at Para Innovators in the summer of '75. I may be mis-remembering this, but I think he called the extensions as stabilizer panels. They certainly looked similar to those on Paracommanders but, yes, their function was to slow down deployment. A similar system was used on the Piglet-2 reserve, but the panels were separated rather than being contiguous. This was also found on a military emergency parachute, but I don't know the details. Some of you may recall the James Bond movie where Bond skied off a cliff and opened a parachute. It was a Piglet-2 done up with a Union Jack pattern. The very same summer I worked for Hank, I took possesion of a Piglet-2. I jumped it until I got a 5-cell Parafoil. It never failed me nor bit me. It was a great canopy in its day. Were I ever to be on a zillion-way formation attempt (lol), I'd be willing to use it again, provided the landing area was big enough. Ralph Johnson

What you are describing sounds like pilot chute controlled reefing or “spider slider” first used on the Jalbert Para Foils made by North American. Sparky Interesting and nostalgic thread. My first square jump was on a Strato Star with rings and ropes. If I hadn't been told about the openings before hand I would have thought I had a streamer. When I finally got my own square it was a 5-Cell parafoil with a spider slider. It worked well, but occasionaly would hang up for a second or so. All in all, the standard sliders were more consistent. Once open, however, I felt the canopies were comparable in performance.

When Hank Asciutto was developing the Piglet system, I jumped his Piglet-1 rig one time. The Piglet-1 did not have the stabilizer panels found on the 2 and the opening was VERY quick, prompting an immediate expletive that rhymed with "DUCK!". I went on to make about 200 jumps a Piglet-2 which was much more comfortable on opening. At 140 lb. I didn't have much trouble landing. I did witness a lean, but very tall jumper have an oscillation on landing that smacked him into the ground and knocked him out cold.

Larry, I'm in Saint Louis, MO since 1974. Your post got me looking at my logbooks. My notes on the jump you mentioned indicate it was a 19-way organized by Fielding that built to 16, which tied the existing record at the time, with 17th on wrists when a grip was lost. I have been out of the sport since 1981 except for a brief return in 2007 that ended with hip problems which required bilateral hip replacements, but I remember those good times with good friends. Regards, Ralph G. Johnson D-3017