darkwing

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Everything posted by darkwing

  1. darkwing
    You have joined a big club. Take the advice above. Life is good. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  2. darkwing
    There are major safety issues with an underfilled main container. I recommend you address the problem and lot jump it if things aren't right. Merely tightening the loop is not the solution. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  3. darkwing
    I'm with MEL. In the absence of burn/melt damage on the slider, I think it most likely to be hard opening caused by failed slider, caused by oversetting. I'm sure we'd all like to see the slider up close and personal. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  4. darkwing
    I understand specular and non-specular, but it still boils down to the reflectivity of nylon in the GHz regime. I still reject the air pressure issue. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  5. darkwing
    it is called "life." That guy is not just at the DZ. At the dz I have been around "that guy" and try to make it a point to specifically tell students to ignore him, except as a source of amusement. Students and novices need to be reminded occasionally who they should and should not listen to. Eventually everyone knows he's full of it anyway, and he can be fun to watch, and a useful instructional "how-not-to" example. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  6. darkwing
    was it over the front nose, or around some other lines? In any case, you probably did nothing that puts any blame on you. With today's throw-out pilot chutes this problem happens far less, and will less harsh consequences, than it did in the past with spring-loaded pilot chutes. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  7. darkwing
    I'm more inclined to go for the aggregate metal a skydiver has than any funny business with the nylon and air. So says the physicist in me, who is also quite willing to get educated with real values of aircraft radar reflectivity at air density gradients. If air density gradients did it, then I think stealth planes wouldn't be stealthy, because they have hellacious air density gradients around them. The stealth trickery is in other things (surface composition and contours). As before, I'd be glad to be re-educated. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  8. darkwing
    more than 30 years ago I saw film an instructor was showing of him putting out a reluctant first jumper. The student was sitting on the door edge, ready to exit (not a 182, but some small plane withough a wheel/strut outside the door). The student looks at the instructor, vehemently shakes his head "no" and the instructors boot appears in the middle of the students backpack. I've seen worse exits that didn't get booted. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  9. darkwing
    Fucking starlites.... I had a pre-slider model that put me in the hospital. Come opening time I'd sometimes think about just going in, instead of opening it. Flew great after it was open though. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  10. darkwing
    The small doors that were rounded top and bottom we called "knothole" Beeches. There were variations, first just squaring off the bottom, then a door with a squared-off top and bottom and wider than a knothole too, and then a cargo door. I jumped all four types. Mostly the AT-11 that Wally Benton owned was a big, rectangular door, but not a cargo door. Then again, I may have imagined all of this. I still think that for fun it is hard to beat 10-way out of any airplane you can get. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  11. darkwing
    I think that in the mid-70's we used it as a derogatory term for low experience (or low skill) relative workers. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  12. darkwing
    Nevertheless, the Collegiate Nationals were held in Star, Idaho a few years later, at Thanksgiving. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  13. darkwing
    I don't recall a big meet at Star in 73, but there was one in 72, although not a Nationals. In any case the Collegiate Nats were much later. I'm half a world away from my logbooks (I'm in China), so I can't give you the details. One of the Doctors may have been Pete Hill, but you'll have to ask him for confirmation. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  14. darkwing
    The national in Star, Idaho were much later, perhaps around 1980. I was there. Mike Truffer was the meet director, and he could probably tell you. I remember the unseasonable, bitter cold. I did one or two wind-dummy loads. He could also tell you about a double inverted moon he received from a couple of prominent skydivers, both of whom are now called "Doctor." -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  15. darkwing
    Samurai has it right, for the large majority of sport rigs, but you will see cases of other matierials being used. If I were you I wouldn't experiment with anything your rig manufacturer doesn't specifically recommend. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  16. darkwing
    the simplest relationship is the Ideal Gas Law, which says that for a fixed amount of gas: Pressure x Volume = Constant x Temperature temperature needs to be in Kelvin, not C or F. But the atmosphere is more complex than this would indicate... -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  17. darkwing
    The website won't come up for me, but it may not have propagated through the DNS system yet. I'm in China... -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  18. darkwing
    Not having a clue what continent you were on I checked a bit and it seems that Calhan is in Colorado? I couldn't get to the website... -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  19. darkwing
    I know I'm more current than you. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  20. darkwing
    Quote... Jumper said she flared like normal, but nothing seemed to happen. Quote I do not think the problem was related to the wet canopy. If anything, I would argue that an old f-111 canopy would have lower porosity when wet, and flare better. The problem is much more likely to be due to turbulence, or inexperience, or a combination of both. I have flown wet F-111 canopies many times over the years, and have noticed no significant differences. I'm not sure if there is a significant dimensional change in dacron lines when wet, but even if so, it would scale, and not be a big factor. I will gladly retract my comments if there is authoritative info to the contrary. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  21. darkwing
    Easy to calculate if you know the following: 1. Time to complete one revolution 2. Radius of your spiral 3. And if you want to be really tricky you can measure the pendulum angle, because you need to add the acceleration vectors of the circular motion and earth's gravity as vectors, but that can be estimated easily. In fact you could get good numbers fairly easily, especially with the help of a ground observer. The details of canopy, etc, are meaningless, although they can affect the result, they aren't part of the calculation. Like almost everything else, it is just physics. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  22. darkwing
    In the old days I'd just say use masking tape, but now, I'd say PD. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  23. darkwing
    My beloved BSA closed down at Christmas of 2005. From Charleston the Closest big DZ is Skydive Carolina, in Chester, between Columbia and Charlotte. It is a 2:45 drive. Raeford is about 3:30 drive (your time may vary). Both DZ's have strong points, and I have jumped at both, and have friends at both. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  24. darkwing
    found myself just by typing my last name in... -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  25. darkwing
    Yup, I agree with Mick, in spite of the jumpers assertion otherwise. It is the simplest explanation, and the most (by far, I think) common cause consistent with event like this. -- Jeff My Skydiving History