markbaur

As a flight instructor, I can tell you that when a new pilot turns an airplane, it dives. The energy needed to turn the airplane has to come from somewhere, and it's only with practice that flight students learn to convert some of their airspeed to additional lift to maintain altitude, instead of just letting the airplane fly at its trimmed airspeed. Mark

You might have done a 4-line check on a round canopy as part of your packing procedure, but you probably used the 2-line method when confronted with a tangled parachute. If the canopy was assembled properly in the first place, then following any two adjacent lines from apex to link or vice versa, clearing walk-throughs, dips, twists, and knots along the way, is sufficient to straighten things out. If the two adjacent lines are straight, it is mathematically (topologically) impossible for any other lines to still have a walk-through. You can do the same thing with a square canopy, and all the methods described by others here work because at heart they involve the same sort of 2-line check. The easiest pair of lines to work with are two A-lines from the same link, but it's possible to use the center lines if you want. As long as one adjacent pair of lines is free from walk-throughs, the entire canopy is. Mark

I disagree. Don, Rick, and Glenn all wear full-face helmets. I don't know about Billy. I've helped with 5 AFFCCs in the past year, and nobody was graded on headgear or facial expressions in freefall. I disagree. If a candidate has a better way of doing things, I want to hear about it. How will I get better otherwise? Neither have I. What changes would you like to see? Mark

There are no helmet requirements for AFF-Is. Instructors choose the level of protection they like: full-face (best protection), open-face (better communication), frap hat or no helmet (easier to put in a gear bag). The trend is toward full-face. Mark Baur AFF Designated Evaluator

The printed IRM includes the multiple-choice writtens. Also the AFF eval forms and checklists. Mark

Can you get your money back? My wife bought that set-up from Headhunter because she was concerned about neck injuries. The digital recorder was okay, and because it was separate from the camera, sighting was really easy. Unfortunately, the lipstick camera itself had very poor auto-irising. The camera might have been acceptable for security applications, and maybe even for something like downhill skiing, but it didn't work well for the fast lighting changes in skydiving. Short of replacing it (major expense) and reworking the helmet mount to accept a different camera (major pain), there was no solution. Lynne also had problems with condensation on the lens, even on clear days. Headhunter's response was "We don't have a problem with that in southern California." That was when they finally did respond to numerous attempts to contact them. Carefully drilling some holes to allow air circulation around the lens fixed that problem -- without Headhunter's help. The helmets (yes, she bought two) were also poorly made. On the other hand, it's been several years, so maybe things have improved. I hope so. Mark

Sounds like you did okay, given the circumstances. Since you asked for free advice, here's some, worth every penny: Wiggling the wings is not as effective as banking the aircraft. 45-degree bank = 1.4G, 60-degree bank = 2G. Your 182 is legal at 75-degree bank = 3.8G, but most pilots are unable to maintain a 75-degree bank without exceeding it, and once you exceed 3.8G, you and your companions are experimental test pilots. Banking the aircraft has the additional advantage of orbiting over the spot. Train your pilot to bank steeply (45 to 60 degrees) when you give the secret signal. Oh, yeah, and the G-forces will apply to you, too, so brace yourself. Most 182's can climb in the configuration you describe (just 2 jumpers, both on the step). I wouldn't recommend slipping the aircraft and attempting a pull-off. Generally, the more power the engine develops, the more right rudder is needed to fly straight, which means less rudder available to swing the tail out of the way. If you must do a pull-off, best to do it from a glide, altitude permitting. Mark

My biggest change was on jump #51: first square, first piggyback, first single-point cutaway system, first hand-deploy. The transition program was to go to 5000 feet and do a clear-and-pull, land, buy vast quantities of beer. Second big transition was several years ago when after 1000 jumps or so on my PD 210, I jumped a Sabre 135 15 times before going to my FX 107. On the other hand, I like to experiment with canopies. Here's my list: T-10, MC1-1B, steerable conversion of T-10 Several varieties of 28’ rags and lo-pos (single-T, double-L, 7-TU) PC Viking Superlite Strato-star Strato-star 7-cell conversion Cruisair Cruislite Cloud Lite Nimbus XL Cloud Pegasus Manta 288 Mavarone 249 Vengeance 120 Stiletto 120 Sabre 107, 120, 135, 150, 170 PD 150, 210 Velocity 96 Spectre 120 FX 99, 107 VX 63, 89, 93 Jonathon 120 Jedei 135 Pioneer Hi-Lifter SET 400 PD425, 384 Icarus 365 24-flat, 4-line release 24-flat, several unsuccessful slider-equipped models Super 22 Phantom 24 Preserve III PD126R Vector tandem reserve (PD360?) And 5 different canopies I designed and built Mark

If you want another parachute, you can have another parachute. Your local rigger can sew a couple D-rings to the front of your harness, and you can attach your chest-mount there. In case of partial malfunction, you can hand-deploy the whole canopy -- remember, peel open the flaps, grab as much fabric as you can, plus gobs of lines, then throw the whole mess down and in the direction of the spin. Been there, done that. Good luck. Mark

The last time this thread went around, I asked some questions I didn't get answers to. I already know what the pilot-flight instructor crowd says, so my questions are directed to the "parachutes turn downwind" folks, and I'd like to hear what they say. 1. Does the strength of the winds aloft make a difference to the turn rate? That is, will the parachute turn faster in higher winds? 2. Does the turn stop on the downwind heading, or is there some over-rotation, followed by a turn the other direction, with the heading changes getting smaller and smaller until the heading settles down? 3. Do airplanes turn downwind, too? Do gliders also turn downwind? How about helicopters? Hoping to hear from jceman and allies, Mark

When you slow down, you increase the angle of attack, which in turn makes it more likely the wing will stall in a vertical gust. In an airplane cruising at altitude, that's a good thing, because the alternative is bent metal. But with parachutes, we don't exceed the "structural cruising speed," so a lower angle of attack and faster speed can be used to make a canopy less likely to stall or collapse. Mark

Yeah, we're saying the same thing. 206, Holland. Mark

Okay, the answer is: No FAR requires a pilot to wear a rig just because he is carrying jumpers or because the door is open. A Piper Cub, for example, can be flown with the door open, and neither pilot nor passenger is required to wear a parachute. As riggerrob pointed out, some jump-door STCs require the pilot to wear a parachute if the door is open in flight. Some STCs may also require observers to wear parachutes (although if you are flying Cessnas, your observer is probably illegally sitting on the floor), but others are silent on the issue. But what is legal is not necessarily prudent. There has never been a successful Mr. Bill after a catastrophic airframe failure. Mark

If it takes an STC to require the pilot to wear a rig, that means there is no FAR. Perhaps someone who knows of such an FAR could cite it. Mark Gold Seal CFII-ASMEL, CFI-G, CFI-H, etc.

Could you cite the particular FAR, please? I can't find it in my copy. Also, could you cite the FAR that says observers have to wear parachutes? All I can find is that observers have to have (FAA-approved) seats and can't use the floor of the aircraft as a seat. Mark

With respect to high initiation on either canopy, I respectfully disagree. Both give acceptable, though not spectacular, landings straight in, so it's okay to finish the turn and find yourself too high for a surf. If you have to hook to get an acceptable landing, I'd encourage you to fill out as much of the Accident/Incident Report Form as possible, to save your S&TA some work later. With respect to low turn initiation, the real problem is fixation on the direction of landing rather than constantly evaluating if the altitude is sufficient to continue the turn. The prudent swooper ensures that even a cross-wind landing is obstacle-free, and so is prepared at any time to stop the turn and begin the surf-flare. If you are going to land cross-wind or downwind, the Super Rocket is generally more forgiving than the Sky Truck. In cross-wind situations, the faster you go, the smaller a correction you need to zero out the cross-wind component of your ground path. The time of surf is independent of direction. The Super Rocket allows more time to adjust the descent rate, including during downwind landings, where the primary problem (once you've adapted to the breathtaking ground speed!) is maintaining balance when your canopy stops flying and you still have lots of horizontal momentum. If you've been practicing your Super Rocket downwind landings, a hook initiated to low results just in cross-wind landing -- an opportunity to practice carving. I guess I'd like to see a skydiver equipped with a canopy he'd feel comfortable making cross-wind landings with before I'd encourage him to try swooping. And I think the kind of jumper who needs to judge if he's between 45 and 55 feet above the ground is unlikely to be successfully swoop more than once or twice -- a matter of experience and equipment. Mark

A packer who packs tandems can pack triple risers: put the riser brake loop through the eye on the brake line, then put the brake loop through the riser guide ring. Now it looks just like the set-up on a tandem riser. You don't have to do anything special about flying triple risers. Any different feel from the risers will be lost in the much different feel of a different canopy. On the other hand, for the size canopy you have, there's no great advantage to using triples, and you may find the brake-setting hassle not worth it. Mark

"a flexible re-pack schedule" Airplanes get an inspection annually (if privately owned) or every 100 hours (if used for hire). I'd go for something similar for parachutes: an annual inspection/repack for personal gear; a 120-day cycle for tandems, student rigs, and rentals. Mark

Good for him (or her). That's what is supposed to happen. Mark

Why is underloading a cross-braced canopy a bad idea? Does it create problems with opening, stability, or landings? I understand cross-bracing is more expensive, and makes bigger pack volume, and you don't get the performance benefits until you load up the canopy. Mark

There is also a minimum wing loading for a safe swoop. Someone who jumps a Sabre loaded at 1.2 or 1.3 soon finds out that it slows down fast after the turn to final, so unless you hook it low, you might as well just make a straight-in conventional approach. Surfing with a lightly loaded canopy thus requires an exquisite sense of timing to finish the hook at the last possible moment, to have enough speed for a decent distance. But what kind of experience level would you expect to find jumping a Sabre at 1.2 or 1.3? Mark

When I was at Space Center last November, the team rooms were plywood partitions in a corner of the hanger, no doors, no ceilings -- and they locked the hanger at night. Mark

I don't understand how you will do this. Each canopy has two risers on each side. If you are planning on cutting main risers, then getting rid of your canopy with one cut on each side requires you to cut through the confluence wrap near the 3-ring grommet. If you are planning on cutting reserve risers so one cut on each side gets rid of your reserve, you will need to cut through the main lift web -- after you move the main risers out of the way. Mark

Is the Cypres TSO'd? Would it need to be if it were designed to alter deployment characteristics? Mark

I've seen two headhunter helmets, and was disappointed with the quality of both. Customer service was substandard as well. There are better alternatives, and for a few cents more, you can go first class -- cheaper in the long run. Mark