rigging65

Rubber bands are just there to keep the lines in order. I freestow my lines and have no problems with openings due to it. They should just be there to hold things in place so they don't knot up, and that's about all they're good for. Have you tried double stowing the tube stows? If you like them, this might work for you. "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

You know, there is actually some credible evidence that that's a bad idea. The theory goes that the oils on your fingers aren't the best thing in the world for the webbing in the first place. Additionally, the dirt that gets on the rings/webbing sticks to the oil and creates a sandpaper-effect on the chafing strip inside the #2 ring fold. I read a report on this a while back, and basically what it said was that you're really not doing much for yourself by spinning the rings, but you could be negatively effecting the life of your risers by doing so. I'll see if I can't dig up the article. Incidentally, you're supposed to replace your risers every 400 jumps (along with your p/c), so this would probably reduce the amount of wear caused by this sandpaper thingy, but why do it if it's not helping? Flexing the risers is important so they don't take a set and have problems unfolding when called upon...for anyone out there that didn't know. "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

Rear riser landings (especially on HP canopies, which is how I've explained the landing sequence below) are something that take some timing and practice. I've found it's best to start by getting a feel for stall point up high (it's obviously a shorter stroke than on your toggles...duh...but you need to know where it is and build the muscle memory to know when you need to stop pulling). Bigger canopies will generally let you get away with just "flaring" (as opposed to transition flaring btwn risers and toggles) on rear risers, but sometimes not...and you'll still never pull the risers down more than a few inches. From there, try a straight in approach using your rear risers (with hands still in toggles!) to plane the canopy out (like you would use the top half of your flare), then transition to toggles for actual flaring. A word of caution: There is some lag between when you come off the risers and get into the breaks (because of the different stroke lengths), so you might try the first couple of landings by coming off the risers a bit higher than you would think...say 10 ft or so? Once you can get the transition smoothed out, take the release point a bit lower, then a bit lower, until finally you're not actually transitioning to breaks at all. Just in case this isn't clear, you really need a nice smooth landing strip to come in on. We have an asphalt strip with light gravel spread across it...works great...smooth grass areas also work well. This is important because you're not getting much breaking effect from landing on rear risers, you're just planing the canopy out and keeping it running. And trying to run out a 25mph. landing sucks, so most guys slide it to a stop. Something to thing about with HP canopies! Just because I live In California, I'll throw this in: NO ONE SHOULD EVER TRY REAR RISER LANDINGS AS THEY WILL MOST LIKELY CAUSE INJURY OR DEATH. I AM IN NO WAY ADVOCATING REAR RISER LANDINGS AND TAKE NO CREDIT OR BLAME IF YOU'RE STUPID ENOUGH TO TRY ONE! With that said, have fun and be safe! "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

I'm not sure where you get your information from, but I suggest you get out of your little region of the States and see what's going on in other areas of the country. There are a ton or Reflex rigs on the West Coast, and it's uncommon to see one without a Catapult. When Mick was designing the secondary res. pilot chute system it was looked down upon by a couple of prominent gear Mfgs.. Why? Because they had tried a similar system and couldn't make it work. Sorry, but just because someone can't figure out a system, doesn't mean it can't be figured out. There are plus sides and minus sides to every argument or design, but I would suggest you do a bit more research than two or three regionally located individuals before you make statements like the ones you've made here. Everyone knows the country has regions that have similar views on gear likes and dislikes...that doesn't make them right or wrong, but you need to look at things as a whole, not just take what your region believes as gospel. For what it's worth, I've got no real heartburn about packing a rig with or without a Catapult. I think the system is sound and has proven itself not only in testing, but in 2 live saves that I know about first hand. As for the regular argument about the jumper in Cross Keys that snagged the Catapult on her malfunctioning main...what can I say, if you pull the handles in the wrong order, you're odds go into the toilet rather quickly. See the world, meet new people, hear new ideas...you're little corner of the world isn't all there is to the sport. "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

Actually, if you read the whole post, what you'd find is that I wasn't referring to the need to be able to land a damaged canopy. I was referring to the need to have control of the canopy in all aspects. In fact, I made a very clear statement that, IMO, you should be able to land your canopy on rear risers "at a time and in conditions of your choosing". This has nothing to do with flying damaged canopies, and I couldn't agree more with you about ditching a bad canopy. You're right, that's why we have reserves. Landing a canopy on rear risers, again IMO, is pretty much the ultimate show of control. Before you all goes nuts, yes there are many different ways to show control...but think about it, rear riser landings are pretty tough to time and gauge. If you can pull them off, you're showing good overall ability and skill...something I think many young canopy pilots simply jump right over as they want to go faster without actually being able to "fly" their wing. "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

I think you're going a bit overboard by saying you're "stalling half the canopy" but I understand your point. And you're right, a front riser hook does allow you 100% of your breaks...but it also adversely effects the lift characteristics of the lifting portion of the wing (the leading edge)...which is bad ju ju when you let it out too fast and too low, and the canopy bucks while snapping back into shape. Yes, your options are limited...but then you've already screwed up, so it's more a lack of emergency recovery than anything else (not that that's not important). If you do the hook correctly, you're off the toggle long before you need the breaks. Similarly, if you're doing a front riser to double-front, eventually you have to come off the risers...if you time it right, you've got a solid canopy planing out...but if you don't, you've got a canopy trying to un-distort it's leading edge when you really need it to be flying. Something that I think is even worse than having only 80% of your breaks left! Again, this comes down to a matter of currency. Any and all types of aggressive landing can be done safely, and your odds go up significantly the more current you are with the style. If they're doing a snap hook, then yes, they do...and that's an issue as it leaves you less time to recover or "get out". But if you're doing a carve with some harness input, you're way above the altitude that most ANYONE starts a snap hook at, thus my opinion about a carve being safer than a snap. It all depends on why you're hooking. Do you want the swoop? or do you want the sensation of the snap? What you're looking for should define the style you use, because not all hooking is the same! "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

I think a lot depends on specific situations. Would I take a rig from someone I'm not familiar with that was packed by someone I don't know from another loft with a broken or missing seal and reseal it? No Would I take a rig from one of our locals or instructors that I trust, that has been packed by one of my riggers in my loft and has a broken seal and reseal it? Probably. But I'd also note on the card what I did so it was clear. Would I simply close up an opened rig, even if it looked like it was inadvertent? No. Regardless of who's it was...there are simply too many things that can go wrong when a rig opens up. It needs to be laid out and repacked. I think the basic rule is "use common sense". Amazing how that works, isn't it....? "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

I'll go ahead and stir this one up.... I use toggle exclusively for hook turns, in combination with Harness steering. There are arguments for and against toggle hooking...the biggest con is how far out it gets you from under your canopy...meaning you have to recover back through (a bad time for impact) and as you recover,you actually get in front of the canopy, which drags the tail down and slows you up... The biggest pro to a toggle hook is that you are constantly using your toggles, which means you're always actively in control of your breaks. Sure, you can keep your toggles in your hands (and should) when using front risers, but you're not actively controlling them...what if your fingers hang up in the loops? What if your toggle slips out of those two fingers you're holding it with? What if....? With that said, if you do a carving approach with a toggle and harness, you don't get out behind the canopy and you're in control of the toggles. You need to start it a bit lower than a Front riser carve, as you're not getting the extra drop from deflecting the nose, but other than that I think it's a superior way to carve....less overall canopy distortion is a good thing, especially on the leading edge. Now, snap toggle turns do have the potential to by very messy, but I did them for years on my Stilettos and never ran into problems with them...but then again, I was very current (like 20-30 jumps a week on that canopy, every week). I think it really comes down to the risks you take are reduced with currency...but I'd never go back to a toggle snap-hook, as I'm not current on that style anymore and the carve is just so much better for speed and distance...not to mention it's much safer! "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

No, that's not what I'm saying...read the words...it is NOT illegal to RESEAL a rig, providing you annotate that on the card. I said nothing about opening the packjob up or anything like that. I'm not saying I'd put my seal on someone elses packjob, but if I watched the seal break off a rig, I'd have no compunction about sealing the rig and marking in big bold letters, RESEAL ONLY and the date. I think it's probably pretty obvious that if you annotate what you do, you're covering yourself...just don't practice outside your scope. Now, as for replacing a handle. My personal opinion is that if I can slip a temp-pin in, remove the handle and replace it with a new handle, then annotate all that on the Card, I'll do it...and I'll mark the Card so it's obvious. As soon as I open the container though, the game changes. "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

Wow, bold statement... Just out of curiosity, on how many TSO certification teams have you worked? "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

Haven't gotten them yet...evidently they're still "in transit"...either diablopilot or myself will post when we get them in and play with them a bit. "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

I think physics will show you pretty clearly that a snap turn means you loose all the momentum you had going in one direction, effectively slowing to 0 mph, then picking up speed in the other direction. A carving approach, on the other hand, allows you to keep some of the momentum you've got and simply translate it into another direction. If you've ever worked with force vectors on paper, you can kind of visualize what I'm saying. Of course, time and altitude play a huge role in it as well. The wing producing lift offsets some of the force of pull created by gravity, so by allowing the wing to dive you allow gravity to give you some speed. A carving turn takes more time to develop, but usually isn't as steep as a snap turn...so the real trick is getting a steep enough carving "dive" over a long enough period of time to get as much speed as possible... Oh yeah, then you've got to time the plane out I used to like snap turns because long carving turns started up so high that I had trouble judging when to start them. In retrospect, that was my failing, and I should have spent more time working on it. One more note: a carving turn is generally considered safer as well. Because you are in it longer, you have more time to opt out of it and save your butt. Once you commit to a snap turn, you can't do as much, nor do you have as much time, to get out of it as you do with a carving approach. "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

I think the simple answer is that a remote activation device (ie- one that you can pull and hold onto without effecting the deployment) was a good idea for students...as they might freeze up after pulling. When we converted over to Student BOC's we were concerned about students not throwing the PC away...but if they've never known a different way to do it, they don't seem to have much trouble with it. Besides, as has been stated, a hand deploy PC is what they'll be using in the future anyway! "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

Just to clarify, resealing a rig IS NOT illegal, as long as it's noted on the card that it was RESEALED ONLY. Obviously, trying to take credit for the packjob and sealing it as such is a NO GO. As with most things in life, if you make copious notes on what you've done (and not done) and you're within the scope of practice of your ticket, you're generally just fine, from a legal standpoint. Of course, it's much preferred to just have the whole thing repacked and certified that way, but it's not illegal to reseal a rig (again, as long as it's annotated). "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

Nice...I'll have to try that! "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

Not to be a jerk, but I have serious doubts that with 150 jumps on it you're "not learning anything under it (Turbo Z) anymore". If you aren't, it's because of you, not the canopy. It takes several hundred jumps on anything before you're really ringing it out and several hundred more before it's not able to perform for you any more. If you simply want to go faster for the sake of going faster, that's your decision, but please don't play the "I've outgrown this canopy card". I did about 400 jumps on a Turbo Z, and it (as with any canopy) can teach you a lot. You just need to work it harder...but you'll be glad you did in the long run! Again, I'm not saying you shouldn't change canopies if you want to, that's up to you. But 150 jumps is hardly time to ring out a canopy. Just my 2 cents. "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

Ummm....in most cases you don't have a choice. Most Mfg. don't "recommend" a certain Res. Pilot Chute, they mandate it. There is a grey area where Master Riggers are certified to determine compatibility between components, but you'd have a hell of a time getting a Mfg. to recognize that. The fact is, the pilot chute that comes with (or is designed for) a given rig has been tested in that container system and has passed the required tests. Why screw with it? RWS will swear up and down that their Ballute (sp?) design is superior...the same as RI will swear that their long spring design is best... It all comes down to choices. If you really think the Res. Pilot Chute makes that much of a difference in performance, then maybe that should be a major criteria in your buying decision...but, IMO, you'd be limiting yourself unfairly. "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

We've used the planter/garden separation material you can get at most Garden Shops. It's that flat, plastic that you roll out and push into the ground as a border between a garden and say a lawn. The stuff we found is about 6 inches tall with a round "tube" section at the top and bottom of the flat sections. I've attached a very crude drawing of it (please excuse the artwork!!) We got some properly sized dowells and glued them in place into the top and bottom "Tubes" on the material. About 6 in. dowels did the trick. We then took some cheap aluminum reinforcing plates and riveted them in place using standard, short pop-rivets. This gives a very secure base ring that you can then cut slits into for attachments points. We rigged the attachments up with simple two-ring releases and the tube worked just great! One other note: We found that double needling every one of the seams really increased the life of the tube. At the top end of the material section, we took some 1.5 inch Ty III tape and sewed it around the edge to help it keep from shattering. Good luck! "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

Ummm...patch the canopy and replace the effected lines. Petroleum products can be very damaging to Nylon. Don't wipe it around, just have the sections cut out and replaced. "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

Yes, but it kind of morphed into a discussion about rear riser landings instead "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

You've got to remember, "practicing up high" isn't anywhere near the same as doing it within a few feet of the planet. You have nothing to compare your rates against at altitude. Of course, getting a feel for how much you can take out of the risers before a stall is something that can certainly be practiced up high...but at the end of the day, a rear riser landing occurs near the hard stuff...and since you can't add power and go around, you've only got one shot at it... This get's back to my original reply on this thread, if you don't think/can't land your canopy on rear risers, it's probably too small for you. Why? Because you don't have control over it in all phases. There's more to flying that pulling toggles, ask any CReW dawg or qualified HP canopy pilot about that! "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

There are certainly some canopies I wouldn't think twice about landing on rear risers...but my current canopy, I think not. Not that I haven't done it, but those were under conditions that I chose to rear riser in on, not ones I was forced to land in. My personal opinion, and that's all it is, is that if you can't rear riser land your current canopy (under conditions of your choosing) that you have no business flying it. With that said, "conditions of your choosing" shouldn't be the most windy day you can find, but rather something middle of the road. Normal conditions, a day you're feeling good, etc. This is more to show control than to "riser land". So, before I get flamed for this, I realize that just because you can land your canopy in ideal conditions on rear risers doesn't mean you're necessarily "safe" under it...but at least it's a gauge as to how much you're relying on one set of controls on your canopy to do all the work. This falls into the same argument as "if you can't land you're canopy straight-in, you have no business flying it". You should be able to do more with your canopy than just land it after a front riser hook using toggles. Safety comes from comfort with your equipment in ALL it's phases. "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

There is a pretty simple phrase that I think works in your situation and you might want to consider learning: "Dress for Success". It doesn't matter what type of flying you want to do, you need to be adequately prepared for it. You're light and tall, get used to wearing weight if you want to belly fly, that's all there is to it. If you don't want to wear weight, then you may not want to belly fly...like you said, it's physics! Freeflying is the same way. Once you get some skills and can stay stable and transition, you'll need a suit that's going to help you get range in your freefall speeds. Since it takes longer to develop Freefly skills, for many people, you won't get to the "need a proper suit to help me stay relative and develop range" state for a while longer than you would on your belly, but you won't just be able to use any ol' thing off the rack...just like you're going to need some special gear for RW, your FF suit will also need to be a bit more "custom". All I'm saying, is don't let someone tell you you need to fall faster and take it as an insult. Go put on weight and match the DZ's fall rate!... or don't, and have fun doing something else... "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

Absolutely, but even that doesn't always protect everything...you've got to be aware not only of what you're doing, but what's being done to you and in what condition your gear is from minute to minute. Gotta be aware! "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

I don't think anyone will argue that being proficient at ALL disciplines will help you no matter what you're doing. The better you are at flying your body, the better you skydive... It will take you longer to get good at both if you work at RW and FF at the same time...but what's the hurry? As long as you're enjoying yourself, just take your time and learn as you go! "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."