ZigZagMarquis

... and take them Beer!

Schuey87... I see you've only got a few jumps and a really high A-License number...

I too have broke myself of the habbit of looking over my shoulder on deployment since moving to jumping higer performance canopies vs. the days of jumping F111 back when I started. Now its wave, pull, pitch, arms and shoulders level, eyes on the horizon, arch... and as the opeing sits me up, then spread the risers. If for some reason, on the rare instance, that the pilot chute hesitates, then I may do a burble check with the typical results of a bit of a squirrelly opening, but its better then towing a pilot chute.

Terry, you're shittin' me!??! "They're" going to make the main risers part of the TSO since that's what an RSL attaches to? I'm assuming because if that riser breaks the RSL may not be activated... or more likely... be activated prematurely... depeinding on the nature of the failure; is what I'm guessing their logic is? What about the arguement that the RSL is a back-up device and not the primary activation system for the Reserve... i.e. pull the friggn' handle. *sigh* You're right, this will complicate life for jumpers and riggers and sadly lead to more folks "viloating" the rules either knowingly or unknowingly. I'm glad I got my riggers ticket and maintain my own stuff. Edit.... Terry, I did a search on google and found PIA TS-135... I did a quick read of it and will keep looking, but cannot find in there where it says the Main Risers will be part of the TSO'ed assembly. Could you please point out specifically where it says that or where it says something that makes you believe that to be so? I'm not doubting or challenging you, just trying to learn.

Dude... don't know if you were just trollin' there... or if you're crater bait... have you ever been under canopy in high winds had had your canopy collapse?

Sorry for being un-clear, my bad... what I meant to say was I've seen Jav's with the RSL lanyard removed, but who ever did it, did not cover the hook portion of the Velcro on the reserve riser with a stirp of pile, thus the hook tore up the other reserve riser. As for removing the rings, yep, they'll do just that... but technically, its a modification, but I'd agree, that removing them wouldn't likely change the airworthyness of the rig as so long as an RSL wasn't re-installed sans the guide rings (that's another topic that's been beat to death in another thread too)... but, but others up post have already talked to the other aspects of doing so and I don't want to get involved in that knife fight...

Well... up in the SoCal Mojave Desert where I jump, its usually pretty much like other folks have said... the students go on a wind-hold at 14mph and the Tamdems at somthing over 20 / less then 30 or when ever the Tandmem Masters say "no-go". Experienced are pretty much self regulating. The DZO, who's also the pilot, owns the ultimate vote... if he doesn't want to fly, we're on a weather hold. Personally, I can echo a lot of the comments made here about the more experienced folks pulling off of loads when the winds get high or things get turbulent before some of the less experienced up jumpers. I've been under canopy in high winds / turbulence more times then I care to think of doing the ... "wishing I was down there rather then up here"... thing. Direction as well as intensity can play in to decissions too depending on your particular DZ. At Cal City... when the winds start coming up out of the west, across the Sierras, and the wave is running, it can get really turbulent under canopy and / or it can be doing less then 20 on the ground, but you go up a few hundred feet its doing 30, 40+ and in no time it can be doing that on the ground. Another scenario which may be more likely at other DZs for some to consider is if there is a building or buildings that the wind is blowing across as you're coming into land, you're probably more likely to see this at an experienced landing area then a student pit, but landing into the wind after its blown across some structures can create some difficult landing conditions. I've seen, or its happend to me, where you go to flare and you get nothing and hammer because you landing on the downwind side of something or other in high winds... sucks... you learn to not only look at the wind direction / speed in high winds, but what's also up-wind that will be creating disturbance and maybe finding an more open area to land in... a bit of a walk back to the hangar to get a beer beats an ambulance ride to get morphine in my book any day.

One "bab" thing I've seen on Javelin's with the RSL "removed" is this... when the rig is packed, the RSL lanyard is held in place with Velcro, the hook being on the back side of the front reserve riser and the pile on the lanyard. I've seen Jav's where someone has removed the RSL lanyard and the, now exposed, hook portion of said Velcro is exposed and "tears up" the front face of the rear reserve riser when packed and things move around a bit. Also, I think cutting the guide rings off is a bit extreme.

... seems to me, the most rigs I've ever seen done in parapak was the ol' R.I. Flexon, but you don't see too many of them anymore.

Well, I guess that some folks like the looks of it. I jump in the desert and way back when I was a newbie, the advice I got the then old grey hairs around the DZ said that parapak doesn't wear well in the desert, you're better off with cordura. I've observed too as parapak ages, it gets kinda "fuzzy" which detracts from its looks.

Well... I'd say its pretty safe to say you cannot skydive yourself fit... but as a mental health benifit, I'd agree with that and if it motivates you to exercise elsewise, that's good... but at the same time... I've probably done a lot more 12oz curles at the end of the day at the DZ then I would have otherwise...

Dunno if MJO "Sparky" was on that load or not, but I'm pretty sure Rich Brooks was, don't know if he posts here or not.

Dunno... wing comes off... smoke and flames in the cockpit... airplane departs controlled flight and begins to spin towards the dirt... I ain't waitin' for no stinkin' green light!

... yeah, okay, I'll give you that... my bad. Anyway, if the pilot gets busted by the FAA for dropping through clouds, then he or she is pretty much responsible... as they're the person the FAA is going to take the "pilot's license" away from.

Ugh! The ol' "the green light is on -- get out" story...

All of my cutaways have been intentional.

Huh?

Ummm, I agree with you about the looks of parapak... as in, I don't like it either... but why is it up to the manufacturer to "warn" someone if they order a rig made of parapak. I mean, if you're going to go spend several thousand dollars on a rig, you ought be sure know what it is you're picking out... as in, go take a look at one. Buyer Beware!

what do you mean by that? GPS will tell you exactly where you are, but in the case of skydiving... how do you know that's where the spot is at? I've been equally screwed on "bad spots" when GPS was used as well as doing it the old-fashoined way.

3 in 2800+

Remember... GPS tells you exactly where you are... it doesn't do dick about where you want to be ... and in the U.S. it is illegal to jump through clouds... so I would never intentionally do that... and that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

If you got the pin in without the use of tools, even a worn out PC will pull the pin. Sparky If it goes in the bag, it will come out of the bag. -- Zen and the Art of Rigging.

It never ceases to amaze me when ever this question / arguement comes up... geeze... Why do most of us put a Cypres in our rigs? My words... In case we get knocked out in freefall or for some reason, suffer a serious lapse in altitude awareness and wind-up on an instant away from bouncing. Argue all you want... but without thinking about it really hard, I can think of 3 jumpers that would be DEAD if they hadn't had a Cypres and I can think of 2 jumpers that most likely would be alive if they would have had a Cypres. Experienced skydivers want an AAD that is ultra reliable and very unintrusive. Again, argue all you want, but Cypres has what, like a 98 or 99% reliability track record; all you gotta do is maintain it properly and and remember to turn it on, AT THE DZ, and then pretty much forget it and then go jump. Before Cypres, AADs were too "twitchy" for the liking of experienced jumpers... i.e. generally speaking, the likelyhood of one going off when it shouldn't was too high for the liking of the experienced crowd. Okay, so y'all go out and buy yourself a Cypres and basically you want it to be 100% reliable all the time... its there to SAVE YOUR LIFE when you can't or FORGET too... but you don't want to listen to the maufacturers instructions on how to use the device? One of which is that after 12 years, its a hood-ornament... AND... the FARs dictate that a Rigger cannot pack a reserve with an expired Cypres, blah, blah, blah... but what I said first..."...y'all go out and buy yourself a Cypres and basically you want it to be 100% reliable all the time... its there to SAVE YOUR LIFE when you can't or FORGET too.."... and the guys who build the thing say that it should come out of service after 12 years... and y'all get bent about it?? What the *^&(&*% sense does that make. Here's a tid-bit too... I work on military aircraft. To the best of my knowlege, there is not one single piece of pyro involved in the emergency egress system of any jets I've worked on that is left in service for 12+ years. Again, argue all you want, but one of the things the military and engineers have learned, is sometimes things don't work when you need them to when they get old. Best change them out after "X" amount of time... especially when it comes to life support, you'd best err on the side of caution. Someone up-post made the comparison of PT-6s way over TBO in jump planes since jump planes are operated under Part 91... well, interesting comparison and I suppose that there are many PT-6s out there in the jump-fleet that are over TBO... however, if said PT-6 shells out, what happens about 4 or 5 seconds later? The airplane doesn't dematerialize... but what happens to you about 4 or 5 seconds later if you go through 1000' AGL still in freefall and you don't get a reserve coming out? Last but not least... how many of y'all out there bitchin' that a Cypres 1 sunsets 12 years after DOM have or are close to actually owning one for its entiere 12 years? Overall, on this issue, I say, "Quit your bitchin'!"... but, hey, its a free world (mostly) and folks pissin' and moanin' because they got sand in their pussy over this or that probably isn't going to end here on DZ.com anytime soon either...

I thought it was Bill Booth that always says something like that?? Oh, maybe Sandy cop... ... err... ... nevermind.

Easy there Ripcord4... I'm just pokin' fun and at no one in specific... no need to go shakin' your walker at me... ... just kiddin' around...