ZigZagMarquis

Ain't that the truth! If you're learning to sew, the first skill you'll (be forced to) learn is becoming very adept with a seam ripper.

Cool! ... I wonder if they'd let us jump it?

Kevin, like CMan said, it may not be a good idea to plan on using your wife's fancy sewing machine for anything other then a very few first practice runs. To preserve your marriage, it may be better to go buy yourself an inexpensive home manchine of your own. I too would like to have an industrial machine, but they can get really expensive really quick. Every once in awhile though, you can run across one that's in good working order and the seller doesn't know what they have and you can pick it up cheap, but such "finds" are few and far in between and can eat up a lot of your time searching for them... time you'd probably rather spend jumping or rigging. Harbor freight does sell a straight stich industrial sewing machine that you can get with a table (sold seperately) for around $500. The machine is made by Chicago Tools (I think) and is some sort of a Singer knock off. I've heard so-so things about it. They also have a walking-foot model for a few hundred more. Even a used Singer, or Juki (sp?), or Consew (sp?) with a talbe is going to set you back a lot, if its in good working order, if not (needs work), maybe less, but the best I can tell, fixing sewing machines is a black art. As far as a good "starter project"... a gear bag would be a good one... but if you're looking for something a bit smaller... i.e. to kill less material... I'd recommend a log book cover. It will get you doing things like biding tape (ah, the fun of making corners)... zippers and Velcro... and you can do things like add several inside pockets too for tickets, pens, business cards from DZs, lofts, etc. As far as patterns... dude... do what MOST other folks that have gone before you have done... find one you like and COPY it.

You can make soap in a crock-pot too??

Hey! What was your recipe for making it in a crock-pot?

I've heard of some getting paid a certain amount of $ per jumper (per head) they take to altitude. I've heard of some getting paid a flat rate to "show up" (gas money) + a certain amount of $ per jumper they take to altitude. I've heard of some getting paid a certain amount of $ per day... wether they sit around or work their asses off. I've heard of some being paid no $ at all... they just get the privilage of building time in what ever aircraft / type they're flying. Of course, how do you figure what the DZO / Pilot gets paid a year? I guess it all "depends". Why don't you ask some jump pilots?

Ummm... what about Booth's idea where he puts the reserve pin on the end of the RSL and then the reserve rip cord is just a pin-puller? Do they kink the reserve rip-cord in the same manner when its the RSL that activates the reserve? You are right! It doesn't kink the cable. But Rob's post said "conventional ripcord", and Booth's implementation is hardly that. Damn! I thought I had rob on the ropes there...

Q: What goes OOooooo? A: A cow with no lips.

Basicly what Bytch and Doug said... to which I'll add my 2 cents... it comes down to with rounds, I think, it is less complicated in some ways teaching folks to jump them. Granted, flying a square doesn't take a Phd, but it does require more training and practice then with a round... I think, I've never jumped a round ... and these folk aren't doing but a handful of jumps a year. It may have a lot to do with, "this is what we've always done... ain't broke, don't fix it" too though. Having said that, I'm pretty sure there are some agencies that are putting smoke jumpers out on squares. I remember when I was a little kid I saw some sort of a documentery show on T.V. about smoke jumpers and forest fire fighters. I thought that was the coolest thing in the world. Found this... http://www.fire.blm.gov/FactSheets/smkj.pdf http://www.blm.gov/education/feature/1999/wo/ See the article, starting on page 26 in the doc below (note have broad band, the doc is over 1 meg)... http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/fmt/fmt_pdfs/046_02.pdf

Cool move. Question... sorry if it doesn't fit here, but I just thought of it and didn't think it worth another thread... is Perris effected in any way by the SoCal fires? Looked at a map earler and note the fires are pretty far away, but figured I'd ask.

If you jump in Southern California right now, you don't need smoked goggles... mother nature is taking care of that for you. Yes, eye contact is important, especially when y'all don't yet have a lot of jumps / experience. However, I've never not be able to tell if someone across the formation is or isn't looking at me because they had smoked or tinted goggles on... I guess they could have their eyes closed and it would seem like they were looking at me, but not really if they had tinted vs. clear goggles... Anyway, I'd recommend starting off with a clear set of goggles. If you want to buy a smoked pair or goggles later, go for it, its not like they cost that much. As for the sunset load comment... yes, this is true, but remember you can always take your goggles off under canopy. I jump with clear goggles and still usually take them off under canopy on those "late" sunset loads or night jumps.

Ummm... what about Booth's idea where he puts the reserve pin on the end of the RSL and then the reserve rip cord is just a pin-puller? Do they kink the reserve rip-cord in the same manner when its the RSL that activates the reserve?

Yeah, I hear that... the "Two Handles System vs. an SOS for students" debate is one that I too am tired of.

ooooh, yeah, I could see where that could get your ass kicked... funny, but remember, pay-back is a bitch! Honestly Officer, I don't know what happened here. I came around the corner here and from what I saw it looked like Mr Jtval had fallen down, hurt himself and Mr Bozo was trying to help him up.

... of course then, its not my legs Bozo is threatening to break... he may not be as young and spry as he used to be... but if I was in a bar fight, I'd still rather him be on my side...

What?? I was expecting to find a picture of Bozo here doing something silly and/or memorable... ya know... one of those skydiving Kodak momements that you're really glad one of your "friends" was around to take a picture of... Anyway... as for the Photoshop job... not many points for that... kinda some obvious Photoshpping going on, but I'll give you some good points for the concept, cool idea / pic!

Way back "in the day" when I was a student, I was taught on R.I.'s Telisis system which has an SOS with the SOS handle on the left shoulder. As I recall, we were taught... went something like... in the event of an emergency, look at the handle, both hands on the handle, pull to full arm extension, strip the cables, throw the handle away, arch. i.e. no pause between the 3-rings releasing and pulling the SOS far enough to activate the reserve. Having said that, I know two up-jumpers that jumped SOS rigs (without an RSL) for years and like rigger paul says, they'd talk about pulling the SOS just far enough to release the 3-rings, yep, main gone, finish the pull to activate the reserve, but these were two very experienced skydivers, not students. The two cases I've seen of a student pulling an SOS just far enough release the 3-rings, but not activate the reserve were on different systems (i.e. the SOS handle at different places... one on the left shoulder... the other the SOS handle at the more traditional Reserve Handle location). In both cases... - AFF Student w/ Jumpmaster(s) & video - At pull time, for what ever reason, AFF student gets confused, goes to "pull", but... - Student gets a hold of the SOS handle instead of the main rip-cord - Student Pulls the SOS handle just far enough to release the 3-rings, but not activate the reserve - Again for what ever reason, student lets go of the SOS handle (now floating) - Student now goes for the mian rip-cord and pulls it - Main PC launches... bridle... bag... line-stretch... 3-Rings aren't hooked up, thus, main detaches / keeps going... - RSL activates the reserve - Studnet rides reserve down, doesn't know how (or even reaizes they're under a reserve) until they see video. ... in a somewhat similar scenario, but without an RSL (or the RSL un-hooks itself... it happens), you get a Lutz.

Ditto to what Strat said... Twice I've seen where a student pulled the SOS just far enough to release the 3-rings, but not far enough to fire the reserve and it was the RSL that pulled the reserve as the main left.

Did 7 Jumps at Perris this past Saturday (10/20/07). All were 4-ways and all were Great! One was from the DC-3. It was good to jump a 3 again and watch some of the kids stress over this big, old aircraft that makes strange noises, reportedly has prop blast that will blow you off if you're front float while coating you with oil... ... of course we made the kid in our group that had never jumped a 3 be front float... Sunday, 10/21, showed up at Perris to 20+MPH winds (classic Santa Anna's) and barely being able to see the 215 & the hills to the east because of blowing dust and dirt... it quickly turned into 30-40MPH winds and not being able to see the other side of the triangle let alone the 215. Hung around and joked with some of the other Perris-ites before taking my life in my hands and driving back up the 215 to the 15, up through Cajone Pass and back into the Mojave Desert where it was much less windy and safer...

... he who lives by the pie, dies by the pie.

PM MJOSparky. I'll bet he has one.

Hey! Us guys don't read the WOMEN'S FORUM!!! Oh... wait... was that Posting or Thinking?? Does Thinking involve typing and hitting the Enter key... I get confused...

Hey! Just because you got pied doesn't mean you don't owe beer! And be glad it WAS ready whip... it could have been worse... it could have been a cat-food pie.

SCR ceremony?? What's this SCR ceremony you speak of?? The only "ceremony" I recall when getting my SCR & SCS was having to guy buy 2 cases of beer.

Oh sheesh....why did I post that? I really must still be suffering from jet lag. My advice to you is to start drinking heavily... oh wait... this is the Safety and Training forum... I meant to say... Please drink responsibly and always have a designated driver.