darkwing
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Everything posted by darkwing
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There may be some trickery you can pull with the upper control lines. You can re-engineering them, maybe add another one, such that the same control stroke gives more response to the tail, thus shortening the necessary control stroke. then you could go back and lengthen the lower control line such that there is a little excess and you can use your front risers with impunity. -- > yes, I have designed and built canopies. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
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Bummer dude. In defense of your DZ I'd say quit doing tandems. Don't quit skydiving though. Tell your friends, so if you are in an accident things will be handled appropriately. I'd jump with an HIV+ friend. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
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3rd Annual Estrella Days @ Desert Skydive Center
darkwing replied to WILDBILLAQR's topic in Events & Places to Jump
Just out of curiousity, where the heck is this place. -- aahhh... Buckeye, AZ clicky for their URL edited to add url -- Jeff My Skydiving History -
Slink hats are slider stops, not slink protectors. If you want to protect your slinks then use something else. The trick I discovered for installing slink hats hassle free (and it was a big hassle before the trick) was to invert the slink hat after you put it all together, but before you try to tuck the end tab in. Then tuck the tab inside the riser, and re-invert the slink hat over it. The hassle was due to a really tough fit of getting the tab through the slink hat. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
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Wasn't there a very long dz.com thread in November (or thereabouts) in which there was a lot of official and semi-official disagreement about who is allowed to modify/alter/maintain main canopies? I'd like to see the final resolution (FAA) of that question, as it seems that different FAA and DPRE officials were giving different answers. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
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I probably would have thrown my main pilot chute out. There is a chance that the handle wasn't out far enough to have cut things away. If it opens, and assuming you are high, you can spend some time putting the cables further in. If not, well you haven't lost much, other than the extra effort of retrieving your main canopy. If, on the other hand, the cutaway handle is completely gone, then go directly to reserve. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
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There is lots to learn doing just 2-way. You can get practice doing every aspect of belly flying. In fact, you will learn more and faster doing most 2-way than you will just hanging in an 8-way waiting for number 9 to get in. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
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I think all of us with a crush on Carl should speak up now. Be very afraid Carl. I want you baaaad. My wife will be crushed. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
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I am reluctant to chime in when the only "facts" available are from a newspaper article. I can certainly envision circumstances where it would be impossible to get others out of a 182 unless one person got out of the way first. Sometimes (i.e. in emergencies) the ideal situation is not available. No time (no altitude). Having said that, I'd still like to know who was where in the plane. What equipment did they have, how big were they, etc. Until I know a lot more I can neither condemn nor exonerate anyone here. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
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Sweet. Maybe I'll add Moab to my road trip plan this year. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
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To tell you the truth, I don't think it makes a lot of difference, except at the extreme ends of tight or baggy. Lighter fabrics can be doubled for extra body (drag). With heavier fabrics you can make the cut of the jumsuit a bit trimmer, to compensate for the extra drag. It is arguable that supplex is more durable than cotton. Depending on your airplane, and your landing style, you might consider getting cordura knees and butt on whatever jumpsuit you get. Also, get tough booties (maybe cordura), as they can take a beating. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
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I'm a big one for major color differences for handles and pilot chutes (compared to rig/harness/jumpsuit colors). My rig is black/red/gold and my cutaway handle is blue, as is my pilot chute. Visibility, for you and others, is good. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
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Yeah, I forgot the direction of the spin part, and the cover your capewells with your left arm part. As soon as they were mentioned the memories came flooding back. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
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taslan has less body than cotton, so you might want it double-layered to have similar drag. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
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I assume you mean for a conventional rig. Feet and knees together, bend forward at waist, look at cutaway mechanism, grasp cutaway mechanism(s), look at reserve handle, activate cutaway mechanism, pull reserve handle and throw it away. If there is a pilot chute on reserve, then punch the container to help it open. if there is no pilot chute on reserve then: grasp the entire reserve canopy, throw it ... Something like that anyway. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
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Regular thread. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
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I would ask them both, together, to devise and present a non-conflicting plan to students. Conflicting advice from instructors is dangerous. Even the perception (from student point of view) of conflicting advice is bad. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
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Yes, I agree about students getting their ticket back. I should have clarified I meant up-jumpers. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
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working from memory out of the current issue of Skydiving... A vigil misfired in the air, just after the main opened (at a reasonable altitude). Then it misfired in the rigging loft after it was serviced for the first misfire. It has been sent to the manufacturer. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
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I'm not aware of any maintenance needs beyond periodic inspection. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
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I was jumping back then, but I don't recall this incident. It was an airplane usually called a Twin Beech (there were several designations, and variations). Not a particularly good flying machine, but widely used in that era. Generally they were considered a 10-jumper aircraft. Here is a model of a C-45. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
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It is interesting that if the ground called up and told me not to jump I wouldn't give it a second thought--I'd just ride down. Naturally I'd be curious, but I'd still ride down. Maybe a couple of thousand jumps have given me some confidence in the judgement of some other people. I hope your friend develops such confidence. It is always nice to get a ticket back when you can't jump for whatever reason, but I never expect to get it back. That's part of the adventure. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
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Don't forget that when you start cutting the risers or lines on the malfunctioned reserve it will begin flying very badly, if it isn't already, and it becomes more difficult and time consuming to finish the job. But heck, you have the rest of your life to deal with it. Keep a good grip on the knife. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
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Wasn't Jim Handbury the Paradactyl guy? I did a quick web search and didn't confirm that, although it is in my memory banks. One of my teammates in the old days had a Handbury rig with a dactyl in it. Scary, even then. Not a good photo, but its rig worn by the guy in the lightest jumpsuit in this photo -- Jeff My Skydiving History
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If it doesn't flip up then you had better pay close attention to using good anti-fog compound. Lots of my friends like "Cat Crap" I use the stuff that came with my bonehead havok. Apply every weekend and all is well. If I don't then I can have some fog problems. I don't think I'd consider buying any helmet that couldn't flip up. Fog aside, have you ever had a bloody nose inside a helmet? You need to flip up then... -- Jeff My Skydiving History