peek

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Everything posted by peek

  1. I do not have the definitive history of the discussions that led to this protocol. (If you think you do, please provide a reference.) However, from what I know, it is thought that the reserve side instructor insures stability (to the extent that they can), while the main side instructor insures pilot chute deployment (to the extent that they can). If either of them cannot perform their task, then priorities change and they make the best of the situation. I once had such an unruly student that I'm glad the reserve side instructor was able to use both hands to keep them stable while I got the pilot chute out, and was able to keep both hands on them throughout the rest of the deployment.
  2. Thank you, Keith. I started this topic, not to promote barrel rolls to clear airspace, but to see if anyone had any ideas about how to improve safety. Barrel rolls were just one idea. So far I have seen people with completely different opinions. My opinion is somewhere in the middle. We know what the best practices are, but sometimes things happen on a jump such that we need to modify those practices.
  3. I forgot to mention that this happened to me for a week or so a while back, too, at a time that it was happening to other people. Sorry, don't remember when, less than a year perhaps.
  4. Thanks for your comments. As I said to Nicky, we know what the best practices are, but I was just thinking about a barrel roll being "another tool in the box" for certain situations. And it would definitely need to be practiced before it was needed.
  5. Nicky, thank you very much for your insights, particularly that one. I think we all know what the best-practices are, but I was looking for some additional thoughts and ideas. Another way that people express the "perfect storm" concept is that a "chain of events" leads up to an accident. If any of the "links of the chain" are removed, the accident would not happen.
  6. I am no longer receiving emails telling me of someone replying to my post. It seems like this has been for a couple of days.
  7. This subject is related to the fatality I reported on in the Incidents forum, and I think it is better to discuss it here. Doing a barrel roll while tracking away from others after breakoff from a formation is controversial to say the least, and I think that most people realize the times when it is definitely not a good idea to do it, for example, when a formation has been successful and breakoff is going as planned. However, there are other skydives that include situations that are not planned for or not expected at all, and that include skydivers with various degrees of skills and experience. For example, a jumper being way high or way low on the others at breakoff, a "funnel" near breakoff altitude, etc. 1. Do we attempt to teach everything to everyone, so that if they remember their training (and practice those skills), that they will have the survival skills to deal with an unusual situation? 2. Or do we become incredibly conservative and do not plan anything that would risk an unusual situation? 3. Or is there something else we can do? As far as training goes, we teach people to track, backslide, and barrel roll, but tracking is the only skill that they are then doing often enough to get good at it, unless they are practicing these things themselves. For example, if we find ourselves directly over someone, a backslide or sideslide might be the best/quickest way to correct that situation. [By the way, if your search the forums for "barrel roll", you will find a few discussions from many years ago, for comparison to what we now think. There are good arguments on both sides.]
  8. Have you been able to re-create this at the factory? This just boggles my mind how anyone could tuck or wrap enough of the pilot chute fabric around the reserve bag to cause this. The pilot chute spring is powerful, and once released, the flaps are not exerting that much pressure to the sides of the bag (are they?) By the way, I think the rig's manual is clear enough on how to properly pack the reserve. When I pack a reserve that requires the pilot chute fabric be outside the spring and rolled up, it looks like the picture, and it works quite well.
  9. Peter, that is similar to what a colleague of mine found from (I think) some military study, perhaps the same one you refer to.
  10. Some of them I will pack if over 20 years old. It depends ... I'm usually more concerned about the rig because of its looks, amount of wear, exposure to sunlight, etc. But, does anyone know of a manufacturer that will "re-certify" a canopy over 20 years old?
  11. Cool, what size Raven and what dimensions on the slider?
  12. It is my opinion that a sail slider with the dimensions that Keith gives you would be a good start. It might open a bit fast still, but probably not too hard. All this assumes a canopy that has very few jumps on it. Once it gets hundreds of jumps the opening will probably start to slow down. To complete your education on this "bikini slider" stuff, read the advisory circular that Ian pointed you to. I imagine someone will provide a picture at some point. (Searching Google Images for "bikini slider" did not provide any pictures of sliders, but it did keep me occupied for a while.)
  13. Yes, and I would like to remove it. Maybe I will when I have ADS-B installed. In the mean time, yes, I can listen to my local AM radio station.
  14. Attached photo is how I did mine. Piece of plywood. It uses Velcro at the bottom and a bungee with a clip at the top. Not using permanent fasteners allows it to be considered "cargo" or something temporary. It is not included in the weight and balance info, but is added to the jumper weights. If an FAA inspector objected, it could be removed in 30 seconds.
  15. Guess where I am this weekend. (Racist photo attached.) This is the field next to the landing area. This is kind of neat for me because where I live in the St. Louis area, we don't have cotton.
  16. Any form. Anything is better than nothing. This is not a subjective thing. I can't provide what you are asking for. But don't we all know that rigs have gotten much smaller and tighter over time? When did we start needing these "crank tools" to close a rig? Maybe before people needed these, rigs were not so tight. They should not, except that a small person actually has a reason to need a small rig. Anyone your size, and definitely someone my size has absolutely no reason to need a small rig. For those reading, Mark and I know each other. This is not an argumentative discussion.
  17. I think a "decent" circle would be close enough for most S&TAs to sign off on if you land in it. A yellow or white hose would be highly visible too. Sounds like a good choice to me.
  18. Peer pressure? One thing that PIA could do is to chastise manufacturers, dealers, and riggers that are responsible for rigs that are excessively tight, which I'm pretty sure is causing some of this. There is just no reason to have a tight rig unless that is what it takes to make a rig small enough for a very small person.
  19. To reduce the overall burble is my understanding. Perhaps small semantic differences. But of course. They stay until the pilot chute is released, then they leave to reduce the burble. I think that perhaps you have just not experienced a huge hesitation with an AFF student's pilot chute in the burble. Me and my very big jumpsuit will cause it if I don't leave. I'm not trying to be argumentative. Just providing some info about what I have experienced.
  20. I agree, they should seek advice, but the new instructor may be in competition with other instructors for students at their DZ, and asking for advice may be regarded as a weakness or lack of skill. Think about how many instructors take marginally fit students on tandems, or start using hand cameras before they are ready. Tandem jumping is a business most places now, and instructors are competitive. Also, many DZs want as much work out of them as possible. Fitting in sometimes becomes more important than safety.
  21. I agree that this technique is helpful for some situations, but as we all know, having one instructor leave to reduce the burble is usually a good idea. (I have seen pilot chute hesitations from both instructors being there.) I have yet to hear from Mr. Patterson about what they are doing and why. I checked with a very active AFF IE when the original post was made, and he told me that "main side leaves after pilot chute is thrown" is what is being taught. And there is this thing called an "AFF Standardization Meeting" where things like this should be decided upon. If there is an Examiner teaching "both instructors hang on" then they would seem to be operating "off the grid".
  22. From the July 2017 USPA BOD meeting draft minutes: "The S&T committee decided to make the IRM available for as a download on the next release of the updated publication. Now both the SIM and the IRM will be available at no cost to the membership. Projected date Jan 2018." The minutes are awaiting approval, so I have given you advanced and not-yet-approved information, but I don't think anyone is going to suggest that this information is incorrect. By the way, it has always been my opinion that the IRM should have always been on the web site for download. My questions to Mr. Patterson remain and are somewhat unrelated to this anyway.
  23. Where did that come from? Staff discussion and agreement? DZO decision? AFF Standardization meeting? I have not heard much about that.
  24. As I discuss this with more and more people experienced with tunnel to AFF training, I am finding that many think as you do, and I have usually thought that way too. I think that traditionally, instructors have been worried that the "unlimited" time in the tunnel would cause an AFF student to forget to look at their altimeter often enough. But I think that as soon as a tunnel trained AFF student experiences the noise, temperature, wind, and visual changes on their first AFF jump, that they would quickly change to "skydive" mode.
  25. Both of those are good thanks. And I bet someone could write a Windows program for a laptop too. I was just wondering if this is already available on the timers in the tunnels.