captain1976

Thanks for the chart. I never would have guessed the difference of 6.5 feet, thats a lot! Mine is probably the 3 ft like DRJUMP mentioned but I will measure it myself this weekend. Thanks all for your answers. You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

A young jumper at my DZ fell in love with the PC I gave him and he jumps it every weekend. Now others are using it and its becoming a novelty. He asked me a question the other day and I don't remember; how much did we shortline our Mark I's? I recall the Competition model came with pretty short lines and most of us had ours cut at the dealers, but does anyone remember how much? You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

The reserve went right up into the main and tangled up and deflated whatever main he had. He always preached cutaway and I guess he just got scared and pulled the reserve. This was his first malfunction and he had 4,500 jumps which in the early 80's was quite a lot. You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

Wow, am I glad you posted this. I flew a big green one and for the past 30 years I though it was a 5 cell. I don't remember any bad flying characteristics but I was pretty conservative anyway when it came to close to the ground stuff. It was actually owned by Jim Stoyas who died with it on an attempted canopy transfer in July 1982. I flew it a few times after that and as I recall it was considered by others as being a bit sluggish. You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

Thanks all. You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

I can't for the life of me remember what these were called (see pix). This particular 4 line release is different than the ones I installed and worked with years ago. Anyone remember here? You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

Jim opened too close to Betty; Tom landed in the wrong direction; Bill took out a 6 way because he came in too hot; Jenny screwed up on her swoop turn; Tom pulled too low. These examples can be regularly observed at a typical large DZ during a normal weekend of jumping. You can be sure that any and all of these mistakes would be immediately addressed if it was Navy Seal or Armed Forces training, but outspoken individuals are rare here, probably because they tend to be unpopular with the rest of the jumpers. Though any and all of these can result in serious injuries or fatality, my observations show most are simply shrugged or laughed off. In 40 years of Skydiving, I have only seen a couple of instances (myself being one) where a DZ Operator grounded someone for the day. This 1 day penalty should probably be the norm, but it should have been implemented long ago and any DZ who exercises this kind of punishment may lose business. Good Luck You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

This is aircraft cable, with no broken strands its way too strong to be a problem You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

Having never flown a square reserve, I had 3 26' lopo rides in my life. The last one was in 1981. I was always about 200 lbs and never had what I considered a real hard landing. You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

Thanks for the education in this area as I never knew this. You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

The only thing I can tell is that sticker on the visor, otherwise looks OK to me. You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

Built in turns on older canopies were quite common as previously mentioned, but the Raven series had the most issues in this area including mine. Line tension was usually the issue and even canopies sent back to the Raven factory didn't always cure the problem. Now that modern canopies are made with computer exacting methods, seldom is there a problem. Interesting that last Fall when I had to send my Spectre to PD for some work, I decided to make a few jumps on my Raven III. Still had that old built-in turn which I just learned to live with. You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

Airshows should be banned! Take it from an ex airshow performer, they are too fuckin dangerous and should be restricted to static displays only with maybe an occasional flyby from the Blue Angels. I have lost many more friends to airshow accidents than I have to skydiving, and the toll they take in pilots as well as spectators is unacceptable. You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

I've hear of the baton pass, but never "passin the bag" Looks like fun! You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

I though you sounded familiar. According to the news article, the 17 years sitting outdoors would simply have been a rough estimate by the NTSB. I only reported to them that the engine sat outside for at least a couple of years before I sold it as a core about 1990. There were no maintenance records or logs either and I never would have believed that this engine core would end up unserviced and installed on an airplane that killed 2 of my friends. You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

DZ kids were probably the first to get to pack. Harold Stewarts son Johnny packed for 2 10-way teams at the '74 Z-Hills Turkey meet.Para Commanders in sleeves. No malfunctions. "Professiona"l packing may have started with competition teams wanting to save time and energy. The Air Bears in '85 had Alaska Bob for a packer. He went north after they won the Nationals and didn't come back to DeLand for a while. Tommy asked if I wanted to go to the world meet in Yugoslavia. I let him know that I was no where close to Bob as a packer but they took me anyway. A great trip that led to the demo EVER. (That's another story) The next year, "86, Aziz (sp) came to DeLand and hired Tommy to coach his 4 way team. That was the beginning of professional coaching. Aziz was the only one of the four who could skydive well so Tommy built a team around him. Aziz paid for everything. Skip Kniley was the paid video man, Fang was the paid packer/rigger. This might have been the first professional team other than the Golden Knights. Billy, Rickster, Todd, and Andi were all there at the beginning and jumped on the band wagon. Other teams saw the advantages of having their own packer and it went on from there. And it was Billy Weber at DeLand who was instrumental in having jumpers set their brakes during a meet where time was an issue. Thereafter it became the norm. You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

Stratostar, I'm not sure about the DZ not being involved in at least having knowledge of the engine. I know about the "outlaw" you are speaking about and I figured there must have been at least a collective effort between the parties in a decision to hang that piece of shit engine. And that engine "did not" come from a static display in PA. If that's what the full NTSB report says "I haven't read it", it's contrary to what was reported in the interviews and investigation. The only static display that engine came from was as a display in high grass along side a hanger in Florida. It was sold as a "core" only. You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

Exactly!, Thanks You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

Thanks for your input Andy. I too never heard of criminal actions myself in the US regarding aviation incidents, but this one had many illegal acts connected to it and I'm sure it was considered by some. Up until the early 80's, illegal entries and documentation in the US were punished by civil penalties only, then it became a crime punishable by 5 years prison time for each entry. Additionally, there were others involved besides the person who lost 2 son's. Many other countries tend to criminally prosecute in any aviation negligence case and I'm sure it will eventually happen here, especially where illegal maintenance, entries, etc are involved. You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

I too was almost on that plane. I lost 2 friends on that one as 1 of them was supposed to pick me up that day but I guess he forgot. You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

Hope I got this in the right category, but I'm sure the moderators will determine that. Anyway, can anyone in the legal community out there comment on why charges of manslaughter were never filed in a case where Illegal engine installation and gross negligence of the operator(s) caused the death of 12 fellow skydivers? I have first-hand knowledge of the origins of the engine in question, but always wondered why law enforcement and prosecutors let it go as an accident. http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief.aspx?ev_id=20001211X15678&key=1 You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

QuoteI'm talking about pilot emergency rigs. Not the chest mount. But the chest mounted reserves from the 70's pack identically. I just finished one of those the other day for a guy jumping a PC. Actually there was a 24 ft in there and when I got it you could use it for a drum it was so tight. I put in a 26 conical and it wasn't too bad, but still time consuming. You simply have to be careful not to go through lines just like on the pilot rigs. Didn't have the need to stuff PC material between the springs either. I just drew the material down and under, with remaining tucked under the cap. You simply have to be careful and don't be in a hurry. You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

Sound like simple adjustments your AFF instructors will deal with in your training. I'm not the best one speak here being so far distanced from the training that goes on today, but being an active current skydiver I see this sort of thing addressed and corrected often. Maybe some qualified AFF instructors can ofter more here. Good luck and welcome to the sport You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

Quote the DZO replied that there had been a CRW fatality there last year and he has since banned CRW from his DZ ! The DZO sounds like an idiot. Suppose he would probably ban belly flyers if one went in too! You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

I second the PAC750. The Helio Stallion and Pilatus are nice planes, but having flown both I can attest to their forward visibility which sucks on the ground. You can't see much in front of you. You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime