sundevil777

Are you talking about the excess steering line, or just keeping the stowed toggles in place? The hook side of velcro will inevitably find its way to chewing up spectra lines. No way would I want that on risers. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

You have other options. Even 2 or 4 minutes in the tunnel will likely help a lot, especially with your confidence (which is very important). Then you do a 'regular' AFF program, that doesn't have to be so structured as SDU. I think SDU is likely a great way to go if you're in a hurry to be a hot skydiver. If you're not in a hurry, then it may be inappropriate, and you may be uncomfortable with the progression. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

Perhaps going to the DZ without the expectation of jumping, expecting to just hang out and visit with people, and then perhaps you'll be surprised at the condition of gear that can be rented/borrowed is a good plan. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

Besides it wearing out, the velcro hook will damage spectra lines. The velcro used to secure the cutaway pad and reserve handle isn't at all likely to come in contact with lines, but the bridle is. For that purpose of putting it on the bridle, I would just remove it and keep an appropriate amount of slack. Plenty of rigs do without that bit of velcro. Dual lock fastener is a really cool alternative to velcro. both sides are identical, and it doesn't damage lines. It is like tiny mushroom shaped caps that mate together, and give a tactile and audible click to indicate they are mated. http://www.pack-n-tape.com/cart/3m-dual-lock-reclosable-fasteners/ People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

And they claim Cypres is responsible for 34 fatalities, one of them a proven suicide. It makes me question their ability to determine fact from fiction. Sparky Quite right! Except I would go further, that blatant bullshit propaganda, along with the everyone is conspiring against us claims, and latest unresponsiveness should give us great pause when it comes to trusting anything that comes from them. Some will assume that I'm carrying the water for Airtek, blah blah, but that really isn't the case. When I bought my first AAD in '02 (after 22 years of not using one), I actually bought a used FXC Astra. I cancelled the order the next day when I was encouraged to completely research their incident history. I realized the Astra was incredibly "stupid/no smarts to filter out junk data" and the exposed on/off switch exposed it to another huge set of failure modes. I was attracted to the rugged connections (the Argus shares that positive point) and low cost. When I bought my second AAD last year, I really wanted to buy one of the alternatives. I thought it was great that there were 2 modern designs competing with the cypres. Hopefully Alti-2 (the mars design) will be sure to learn from the recent history of AAD troubles. That is what really seemed to mystify me - how could Vigil, for example, go to the trouble of designing a sophisticated device with software and all of that, and not do at least as good of a job at filtering out erroneous data? It seems so predictable that such data would be encountered, when the "target" competition does such filtering, I don't understand how design engineers could not have that as a primary goal to do at least as good of a job at that. Then we have cutter effectiveness, I'm sure the Argus designers had all the best intentions to make a cutter design that was an improvement over the guillotine, but I would find it hard to believe that their engineers would go that route again if given a do-over. So it seems we have a poor job at doing failure mode and effects analysis. Anyway, I wish that Argus fans would not assume that those criticizing it have ill-will for it. I don't benefit from their failure, and if the Vigil and Argus had a stellar history I'll bet that my latest Cypres would have cost less, or maybe I would have bought a Vigil or Argus instead. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

No matter how much you ask for no thread drift, don't be surprised that it happens! . The force that drives thread drift should be harnessed as an energy resource. I think that a small amount of time delay to decide to pull reserve may be compensated by the quicker opening. Even if that isn't exactly true, at least you won't have to deal with a 2 out, so that makes a slightly lower reserve activation altitude OK, as long as you aren't super low when you finally pull. Did you have an audible for the wingsuit jump, and did it work? it isn't clear if you did from your response. I've found that I hear mine much better when wearing earplugs, I think that is a common experience. (see, there's more thread drift...) People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

It sure seems like the lighting is really awfully bad in the stadium for the Rangers game. Is that normal for them, maybe just bad camera settings? (doesn't seem likely). People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

The fact of it being a SB or AD is not at issue, I think. The fact that riggers must follow mfg instructions is the issue. They don't have to call it anything other than "do it this way" in order for riggers to be required to do it, correct? Some say that since AADs are not TSOd, that riggers are left to determine compatibility. If that were true, then even if a H/C mfg had always said that brand X AAD is not to be used in this rig, the individual rigger can still do what they want? The enforcement mechanism is by way of the FAA acting against a rigger for not following mfg instructions, right? I thought that ADs have to be followed by the user/skydiver, they are not just a requirement upon the rigger. Isn't that an important distinction? I'm not a rigger, and don't know the intricacies of the code of federal regulations, so of course I'd like to get educated by those that are more aware of such things. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

Your argument would presume that a mfg cannot make any changes to their manual/instructions/whatever after the original manual. That is nonsense. The SBs issued by the mfg specifically include previously made equipment. You don't seriously buy into the argument do you? People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

Because riggers have to follow mfg instructions, I think the argument is wrong. That general requirement has a long reach, I would think. As some have suggested, until a rig needs to be repacked, a person can get by keeping an Argus in their rig until a repack, or until a DZO decides to enforce the mfg recommendation. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

Just read a post over in the swooping forum where the potential for 5 chamber parabolic bracing was reviewed. Of course with complexity comes increased cost, but there was hope... Check it out... Why wouldn't everyone want to swoop? People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

It seems strange to me that we still haven't seen close up examination of that little ball. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

I'm thinking the significance of weight might be getting too much attention. Perhaps friction of the different surfaces is more significant (expecting brass to have more friction). Especially if the brass has been 'grooved' that could drive up friction even more, I would think. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

Why would the 3/5ths compromise be embarrassing? Although many want to not recognize it as such, it kept the South from having as much power. Civil rights advocates should be embarrassed for wanting to manipulate the truth about it. I didn't even need a crappy analogy to discuss the issue, imagine that! People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

It could be thought that a heavier slider (grommets) would tend to result in slower openings because it would take more force to get it accelerated down the lines (opposite of what the OP thought was). I'm not sure if the weight difference is enough to cause a substantial difference either way, but agree that for every other reason you mentioned (except for higher cost), SS is much better. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

Back in the early '90s, the Boeing Employees Skydiving Club had some extra cash in their fund, and I was successful at getting them to let me buy 8 very professionally designed and built creepers. They are the only creepers I've ever seen that don't look home made. They had a separate white top/black bottom plastic shell arrangement (each shell probably vacuum molded), padding and 5 really nice wheels with the center wheel extending just a bit more. Those creepers were tough, really built to last. I can't remember from where I bought them. 4 each were provided to Snohomish and Kapowsin. Perhaps there is some ID on them that might get you to their source, in case you're willing to spend some serious money. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

It was a good thing. It prevented the Southern states from having as much power in congress as they would have had slaves been counted as a full person. It was the South that wanted them counted as a whole. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

My memory was that they were stopping motorcycle production at Marysville, doing other things with that space. They no longer list cycle production on their mfg website: http://www.ohio.honda.com/CompanyInfo/operations.cfm I think the goldwing was the start of cycle production in the states. Sad to see it gone, but Honda is very smart about having extremely flexible mfg operations. They can make many different car models on the same production line (I worked R&D and factory). For example at the East liberty plant, they've made Civics, Elements and CRVs at the same line. Flexibility gives them a great advantage long term. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

I admit you're right on that, if we did actually know the ball was the problem, and even if it came from the factory, as long as it could be inspected to verify, then no ban would be justified. Unfortunately we don't yet know the ball was the problem. We may be very close to that, but not quite. I hope the ban is lifted. I want there to be good competition. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

People didn't know that until now. Given a history of failed cutters I think it was a reasonable assumption that it was the cutter's fault again when the loop wasn't cut. We still don't know it. To bother to take pics of lousy, out of focus pics trying to show up close details of everything BUT the little ball...that doesn't make sense. It could just be poor engineering instincts (that is apparent) that resulted in not carefully checking out the condition and composition of the ball, or it could be worse. Also, as others have suggested, we don't know enough to say that the ball couldn't have been introduced at the mfg, in which case the ban still makes sense. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

...weak analysis by Aviacom (not Aerodyne). Their report is quite weak. It reminds me of when I worked for an engineering consulting firm (now called Exponent, previously Failure Analysis Associates). We would encounter engineering reports from plaintiff experts that often looked as cheapo/garage engineer expert looking as that served to us by Aviacom. It does not inspire confidence in a company very much in need of an infusion of professionalism. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

I can understand a recommendation vs service bulletin. However, I can't even find an official recommendation on their website (perhaps someone else can point us to it). I couldn't find it in their manual, it is not in their "support" part of the website under rigging or product improvement or service bulletins. Perhaps a long time ago they widely communicated the recommendation, it doesn't seem so clear now. I guess any written admission would be opening too much of a legal risk. Pretty lame, I think. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

Taken in context I would place a lot of weight on “recommendation”. Sparky When the recommendation is not even shown anywhere on their website, it is pretty weak. When I heard of the recommendation from them on the phone, it was pretty weak. I was so surprised to see the soft housing on an in-service rig because I thought that conversion to hard housings was mandatory. It is not even close. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

Thread resurrection... I was very surprised when I recently saw a Javelin with soft cutaway housings. Sun Path doesn't have any service bulletins regarding them, only a "recommendation" to have them changed that isn't available on their website. People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

As a report it does not inspire confidence. Lousy, out of focus pictures, no detailed picture or investigation of what is of obvious interest (the ball), People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am