Line kits without instructions?

[riggerrob 643]

My pet peeve is manufacturers that ship line kits - to field riggers - without installation instructions or trim charts.

This practice has annoyed me for years, but it came to a head last Friday afternoon when a PD line kit landed in my lap - on short notice - with no trim chart.
Part of the problem is that Performance Designs has published two different trim charts for Stilettos. I only had the new chart, but my line kit was labelled the old way, or vic versa.
I eventually got the line kit installed correctly, after calling in a favor from a rigger three states over.
When I finally got P.D. on the phone yesterday, Donna's response was "If you need instructions, you probably shouldn't be installing line kits."
Argh!
This reminds me of a similar conversation I had with Aerodyne last year. They shipped a Triathlon 4.0 line kit with no instructions. When I asked them to clarify the steering line modification, they went on for ten minutes about all the mistakes they had seen over the years, yada. yada.
My biggest problem is that every manufacturer measures and installs lines in a slightly different manner, I have a hard time remembering which manufacturer uses method A and which manufacturer uses method B, etc.
Even though I have collected a hundred trim charts over the years, they are still an incomplete list.
Heck I have even gotten good enough to re-line canopies starting with a spool of line and a trim chart!

The bottom line is: I will cheerfully reline canopies "in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions" as long as I have a copy of the manufacturer's instructions.

Thanks for reading my rant!

Rob Warner
Pompous old FAA Master Rigger
re-lined more than 100 canopies, etc.

[FeFe 0]

Quote

Part of the problem is that Performance Designs has published two different trim charts for Stilettos

that's funny
when I asked PD if the early Stilettos were trimmed differently than modern ones, the answer was "no"

[riggerrob 643]

I doubt if Performance Designs changed Stiletto line trim, but they did change how they label lines.
For example, what do you do when you have a line kit with a pair of lines labelled "A1" a pair labelled "A2" and a bunch of lines labelled simply "A." Meanwhile your chart shows A1, A2, A3, etc?
Fortunately I was able to call a loft - where I used to work - and they faxed me the old trim chart to remind me of where to hang which line. The old chart shows A1 out near the end cells, while the new chart shows A1 on the center cell.
I think the root of the problem is a factory that has installed lines using method A for so many years that they cannot conceive of any other method. Meanwhile, factory B uses method B and factory C uses method C. No method is "better" than any other, they are just different.
Confusion arises when a field rigger re-lines a canopy from A last week, a canopy from B this week and a canopy from C next week. The poor field rigger needs some notes and trim charts to remind him of the differences between methods.

In conclusion, P.D.'s attitude on the phone was offensive: "if you need a trim chart, then maybe you should not be installing lines."

[FeFe 0]

now it's clear, thanks a bunch

[riggergreg 0]

riggerrob..I have a PD line trim manual i can copy for you. Email me and I'll give you my phone #