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The Vector manual also doesn't tell you to attach the reserve pilot chute to the bridle when assembling a new rig. When I pointed that out to Kenneth @ UPT, just in the course of another discussion, this was his reply: Seems like a pretty important step that warrants a mention somewhere, but there you go. Rely on your training, and since the manual doesn't give you the option to reuse the existing loop, you must make a new one (The manual doesn't give me an option of going to the bathroom in the middle of a packjob either and my training didn't cover this scenario... am I allowed to go? )

There are several questions that ask you to distinguish a repair from an alteration, but I don't remember any that differentiate between returning equipment to its originally manufactured configuration vs. the current approved configuration. Let's say my Vector came with the old-style RSL lanyard and I wanted to replace it with the new split style. You're saying that I'm not allowed to do that because it wasn't the original configuration?

For sizing information, go to the container manufacturer (e.g. Vector, Sun Path). PD has the flight characteristics document for the Optimum. I'm not sure if Aerodyne provides the same level of detail for the Smart, but you can find lots of information here by searching. You can demo both of these reserves as your main. It's about $100 for two weekends. Compared to PDR, the Optimum is known to have a longer snivel. Keep that in mind when deciding where your AAD should fire. There have been cases of AAD fires where the reserve did not inflate in time, so it's another factor to consider.

A jumper at my DZ had a main malfunction yesterday that resulted in a reserve ride. He thought it was a line over, but a closer examination of the video (screenshots attached) shows that the right collapsible slider tab got tangled with the C-D lines, causing a spin to the right. He was able to counteract the spin briefly after unstowing the brakes, but the canopy wasn't stable, and he had to chop it. It was an Aerodyne Pilot, loaded at about 1.5, if I remember correctly. Has anyone seen similar incidents? Packing error or do the slider tabs make such malfunctions more likely? My PD Spectre just has a 3" piece of bartacked line sticking out and I always make sure that the ends are tucked into the slider to minimize the chances of them getting caught on anything.

I would attach the blades only to your arms. You should tie the legs together and hang a cast iron kettlebell from them to maintain proper orientation. The real problem is that your container will be offset from the spin axis and will likely create severe vibration as your RPMs increase. Fortunately, autorotation should slow you down enough to make parachutes unnecessary, so I don't see any problems with leaving your container on the ground, which will also eliminate any potential deployment issues. Be sure to check winds aloft and your spot before you jump out as horizontal movement will be difficult.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxSnlPXO3c8 Got anything to cure VVS?

280 since April of last year. About $10k just for the jumps and AFF.

The Parachute Manual, Volume 2, p328: "Canopy surge on opening, unless reduced/controlled, can be a major cause of malfunctions to gliding canopies. Unless restrained, the deploying canopy runs right over its leading edge. An effective solution is locking down the steering lines to deflect the trailing edge of the canopy... The deployment brake setting affects lower surface pressurization, center cell inflation, spanwise internal pressurization and opening surge... Deployment brakes are usually set at about 50% of the total control stroke available for a particular canopy. Generally, the opening forces can be modulated somewhat by the brake setting but there are practical limits which vary from canopy to canopy. If the brakes are set too low, the canopy will stall on opening. If the brakes are not set low enough, they will have little affect [sic] and canopy surge will occur during deployment. The most common setting for sport ram-air canopies is just above the point where the canopy experiences a stall on opening... Deployment brakes were first installed on the Barish Sail-Wing by Dan Poynter in 1966." Keep in mind that this was written in 1991, so the 50% setting may no longer be accurate for newer designs.

Let's see what google thinks... *sigh* No surprises there... It's not a bird. The container is (was?) manufactured in Ivanovo, which is located on the river Talka.

I'm Russian, but everything I know about this sport I learned in English, so all the terminology is a bit foreign to me. I couldn't find anything relevant for "Tanka" (well, lots of information about tanks, but I assume that's not what you're after). If you meant "Talka" then that's a parachute system that can contain PZ-81 or several other parachutes. Found a two-part video for "packing pz-81": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1iyuhVDFLA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcz8iu3Mxls If you find the manual, I might be able to help you with some of the translation.

You could do much better by feeding those videos through Microsoft's Hyperlapse algorithm. Instead of taking every 10th frame from a single source, as they do in the demo, you'd use frames from different cameras with similar orientation. Then, by changing the frame input order, you could create a virtual camera that's free to travel throughout the entire formation.

Thanks! I was hoping that someone recorded that session. Any other PIA 2015 videos out there?

I've looked at gymnastic horizontal bars and soccer goals/rebounders. They all have various downsides (weight, price, size, etc.). The solution I'm now leaning toward is a pair of autopoles (something like this or this, but I'm still looking). They are quick to set up, create a very stable frame that will not fall over, and take up much less room on the floor than the tripods. Putting a horizontal bar between them should be simple.

I found two stand solutions that may be just what I need: Odyssey Projection Screen Frame ($190, assembly video) Odyssey Portable Truss System ($120, assembly video) Would you be concerned about the canopy getting snagged on anything, like the tripod stand or height adjustment knobs, with this design? I'm thinking that I can even skip the pulley system and rails; just attach the clamps with 550 cord to the top bar and they will still be able to move side to side.

Bringing up an old thread to see if anyone has some new ideas on this topic. I'd like to build a free-standing canopy rack for use at home, ideally one that's not too difficult to assemble and disassemble for storage. I thought about attaching it to the ceiling, but there is just no good place for me to do that, so it has to stand on the floor. Right now, I'm thinking of building a frame that's about 10 ft tall and then attaching a pulley system and a horizontal bar with clamps inside of that frame. PVC pipes with dowels may work, but the question is how easy the assembly would be. If you have any other ideas, please let me know.

No, the flaps would still be held closed between the top cutter and the pin. I would also expect the cutter to do its job without any tension, but if we're entertaining the possibility of a pinched loop with a single cutter, removing the tension is probably going to increase the chances of failure, however small they might be.

Furthermore, one would hope that after every instance of incorrect operation (fired when it shouldn't have, didn't fire when it should have), the manufacturer would look in detail at that specific case and update the code to handle it correctly next time. This makes past examples poor indicators of current performance. A statistical analysis may not help much. Reverse engineer the current hardware design and firmware if you want to know which one is better. For the hardware part, there is a teardown of CYPRES 1 here: http://www.eevblog.com/2012/08/22/eevblog-339-cypres-parachute-aad-teardown/. As others have mentioned, the difference in the maintenance cycles is "required" vs. "optional." You are welcome to send in your Vigil for checks and a firmware update every four years or even more frequently. Personally, I like Advanced Aerospace Designs more as a company. The seem to be more open with regard to data extraction and analysis, especially after an actual incident, and they are more upfront about the limitations of their products (such as in their recent PIA presentation).

Pulling the ripcord wouldn't help you anyway. The pilot chute may launch, but the free bag with your reserve will still be held in place by the cutter and flap 1 (or whichever flap it's attached to). Take a piece of CYPRES cord, pull it tight, and cut it with scissors. Works well, right? Well... depending on the quality of the scissors. Now, release all tension and try to cut it again. If you have two cutters, they are not going to be perfectly synchronized. One will cut first. If that happens to be the bottom cutter, the top one is now trying to cut a loop without any tension on it, increasing the chances of it pinching the loop and keeping the container closed. That's a pretty big downside, not to mention the extra complexity in the design.

If you get your C license right at 200, yes, it does seem odd. My jump 201 was a wingsuit first flight course and I still had an A license at that point. So in essence, USPA is saying that you need more skills to jump with a camera (C license) than a wingsuit (A license, 200 jumps). I haven't jumped with a camera yet, so I don't know. The difference is that you can't just put a wingsuit on and go. It's 200 jumps minimum to take the first flight course with a coach, which was several hours of ground instruction and preparation. Once you're out of the airplane, however, it's not as if the coach can do anything to help you. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the recommendations used to be 200 jumps for the first flight course, or 500 to jump without a coach.

TK had a problem with the 200 jump requirement because it doesn't reflect skill level. The actual requirement is a C license, which does reflect skill level. Then I'm glad to learn that my skills over the last two non-jumping weekends have improved

What problem?

I don't pack any rigs with the new ripcord, but I've always considered inspecting the entire reserve ripcord as part of the I&R. Just thinking out loud, but how practical would it be to take a length of line and tie it to the pin? Pull the ripcord all the way out, but leave the line in the housing. Use the line to pull the ripcord back through (like a 'fish tape' when running electrical wire). Edit to add: I'm not implying that you (fcajump) doesn't pull the entire ripcord out to inspect it. I haven't had any problems pulling the spectra ripcord out and getting it back in again without any extra tools. You just need to play with the angle of the housing. Get it as straight as possible and the ripcord goes through without major difficulties. Even though I have a V3 that's less than a year old, my ripcord is from a 2012 batch, fortunately. If it was from one of the affected batches, I would not do the interim solution and would just replace it before the next jump. As Jim said, rubbing spectra against the inside of the housing with no way to inspect its condition afterwards just seems like a bad idea. Also, Kenneth Gajda @ UPT previously told me that pulling the ripcord too much too often "may affect the bungee."

I feel like I should to provide some balance to this thread. I have a Dacron-lined Spectre 230 in a Vector V358. This combination DOES NOT work with UPT's semi-stowless bag. I ordered it with some apprehension because V358 is the biggest container that supports the semi-stowless bag, Spectre 230 is already listed as full-fitting, and I've added Dacron lines to that. Everyone I asked, including people at UPT (with Skydivesg's help) and on this forum, said that the combination should be fine. The first time I packed it, I could see that the bag will not work. A fact later confirmed by Kenneth Gajda @ UPT. Dacron lines add too much bulk in the pocket (the tabs have trouble staying closed), and the big main causes the whole thing to be more of a ball shape that just wants to pop out of the container. There is nowhere near enough friction to keep it in and the dynamic corners do not help either. I replaced the bag with a regular one and couldn't be happier. Personally, I wouldn't recommend a semi-stowless bag for mains above 200 sqft. You only have two locking stows and those made me a bit uncomfortable thinking about what would happen if one breaks just after bag extraction. This may be a non-issue, but for a big main I prefer having 4 locking stows. Having the lines exposed and facing the BOC also greatly improved the overall fit. Packing time is a matter of practice, but I doubt that a semi-stowless bag would save me more than minute. I replace about 1-3 rubber bands every 10-15 jumps at the first sign of wear (before they break!). Large bands for locking stows, small ones for the rest, singe stows with 3" bights that provide 6-10 lbs of extraction force (I know PD recommends 8-12, but couldn't get that with other configurations). I keep spare non-locking bands attached, so I never have to replace a rubber band in the middle of the day. Also, not all rubber bands are created equal. My DZ provides them for free, but I found their small bands to be weaker than the Keener ones I buy from ParaGear or ChutingStar.

Risers are one of the most contracted-out parts of a modern rig. In first place is the main pilot chute. Jerry Baumchen The contractors you refer to produce risers to the manufacturers specifications and fall under those manufacturer's QC scrutiny. And yet, the risers on my brand new V3 had the Louie loops sewn on backwards, so even the manufacturer makes mistakes.

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. I did try the hemostat and a bunch of other tricks that I found online. The problem with them is that there was still significant variation between the resulting tension settings (what is a small hemostat, what is the weight difference between my bobbin case and the smaller vertical ones with a plastic bobbin, etc.). That's why I was trying to judge the tension purely based on the resulting stitch. The one thing I didn't try was a bigger needle size. Unfortunately, the 401A wasn't designed to handle anything bigger than size 18. I was able to sew with a 19 needle, but it was scraping the throat plate just a bit. Even so, the resulting stitch was noticeably better, with the top and bottom almost identical. I have the service manual with the instructions for centering the needle, so I'm going to try making some adjustments for the machine to work with bigger needles. I suspect that 19 will be the limit anyway due to the clearances between the hook, needle, and position finger, but we'll see.