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Hi Jim, And, sometimes, if the stars all line up, you get asked to work on developing some new gear. Jerry Baumchen

Blevins is trying to get a group to search the placard find location.. Don't bother.. Facts. Placard came from the outside of a 727/737. (FBI) (ID number lists 727/737 models) Placard was found right under V23 airway. (thousands of jets passed over that spot '71-'78) Placard could have come from any passing 727. (FBI) Placard condition suggests it was recent. (1978) Boeing employee said these things fall off all the time. (FBI) Conclusion, placard did not come from Cooper opening the airstairs, it came from the outside of any passing 727/737 and based on the number of jets flying v23 it is a virtual certainty that it did not come from the outside of NORJAK. Placard is a red herring. The time has passed to put the placard out of our misery.

And they all cheered along when Trump said suspects should be treated rough. People being arrested should have their heads smashed against door frames, and if any of ‘those’ suspects gets to the station with two black eyes or worse that’s all part of the process. But carry out a fully legal search warrant against a private citizen who just happens to be a right wing darling and suddenly that’s too heavy handed. That’s weaponisation of justice. That’s unprecedented persecution. Bunch of hypocritical whining fucking snowflakes.

Vertical separation can be pre-planned before you board the airplane. When doing exhibition jumps or team stacks for precision landings, we always put the guy with the smallest (most heavily-loaded) canopy out first and told him to "suck it down" to open at 2,000 feet. Once open, he would spiral down over the stadium to gain even more vertical separation. The guy with the biggest (lightest-loaded) canopy exited last and opened immediately (say 3,000 feet). Then he hung in half or 3/4 brakes to watch the rest of us land. That sort of stack is easy to plan from a 4-seater Cessna.

I cannot. The rig is either airworthy, or it is not. Airworthiness is determined by inspection of the rig, not inspection of the data card. What question of airworthiness can be answered by the data card?

Call Butler Parachutes... I believe that Manley worked on ejection seats a bit.

The fundraising gives him both money and affirmation that people still love him. Those are both important in his world. Wendy P.

Kliff was on my first CReW jump in the US. It's now almost 15 years and hundreds of CReW jumps later, but I still have very fond memories of that day. BSBD.

To me, spiraling is a fairly advanced tool to manage the landing stack at DZ's with bigger aircraft; it's just fine when combined with judgment on who else is jumping, their wingloads, and the stack. At smaller DZ's, jumpers should be made aware of the fact that what works with 4 jumpers in the sky isn't a good idea with more jumpers. Wendy P.

That's why I got a ticket. The most local rigger left the province and our DZ had none. It took nearly 4 years to just make the cash investment in training and tools back. Not even mentioning the lost time.

As a job, I don't think it is worth it for the hourly wages. People become riggers for love of the technical part of skydiving. Maybe I should say people advance in rigging for this reason. I've had my rigger's ticket for 15 years. I've packed lots of reserves, fixed lots of things and paid more in tools than I will ever make. Rigging properly takes time, and at $60 to pack a reserve, you don't get far once you've properly inspected everything and packed it properly. How much are your knees worth anyway?

Thanks for all the feedback here - lots to consider. I'll certainly continue to pursue some type of continuing education, but I'm not sure if a ticket is the way to go. Based on what I've seen online, a course will cost around $3K if you add in food, lodging, and travel. But hell, I just might do it anyway. Not sure yet.

I know many licensed jumpers and instructors who earned rigger ratings back in the day, but no longer repack their own tight Javelins. Many also only instructed for a year or three before retiring their instructor ratings. They brought their tight, fashionable tiny Javelins to me because they knew that I would do a better pack job, considering that I was the busiest rigger in town. None of them regret the time and money they spent on learning how to rig.

Since this is essentially what I have ended up doing, I may be able to give you some perspective on it. Background: I was part of a small club DZ that was in decline. The two members that were riggers both left and the club didn't have one anymore. So, according to the rules, the TIs had to pack their own and we couldn't do Static Line or AFF students (by that time the two AFFIs had left too). So, in 09, I went down to Para-Concepts and took the course. It was an excellent course and I would recommend it without reservation (keep in mind it was 13 years ago and may have changed). While the reserve repacks were a primary focus (including rounds), the course was very comprehensive. So I became the club rigger. I did all the student rigs and did the 'supervision' part of packing student & tandem mains. The TI wasn't totally comfortable with my level of experience and had the tandem repacks done by one of the former club members/riggers. I didn't have any issue with this. I would also do the repacks on club members' rigs. When the club closed down in 2012, I kept doing friends rigs, but that was about it. As I got older (knee & shoulder issues) and less and less current, I chose to not do other people's stuff. I know my Infinity inside, outside, backwards & forwards (I still pull out the manual when I work on it). Other rigs? Not so much. So, by Mark's very apt definition, I'm a 'perpetual entry level rigger'. Was it worth it? I think so. The knowledge I gained during the course was really cool. I learned a boatload of stuff about the gear. I've been able to pass some of that on to newer jumpers, which is nice. Did it 'pay for itself'? I don't think so. Between the course, course materials, tools (I'm always happy buying new tools), tests, travel expenses and such, I probably spent close to $2k for the rating. Since the student stuff was to keep the club going, I didn't take actual pay for it, just credit on the books. I didn't pay anything for my jumps those last 3 years, but still had a fair amount of money owed me when we shut down - I pretty much knew it was going to be that way from the beginning. I was just happy to help keep the doors open. I'm not going to tell you which way to go. That's up to you. If you want to gain a fair amount of knowledge about the gear, if you want the freedom to take care of your own stuff (I also do most of my own work on my vehicles too), if you simply want the rating to be able to say "I'm a rigger", then go for it. But keep in mind that you likely won't be legally current, you won't be experienced on anything other than your own stuff, you will be lacking in many areas.

I’m a lapsed rigger; I haven’t packed a reserve for someone else in about 35 years. I’d say it was worth the investment in time (no money was involved firme because it was the 70’s), because I like understanding things, and in general having been a rigger just makes me more comfortable with the boundaries of gear. Wendy P.