rigging65

And the really shitty part is that even when you do every possible thing right and by-the-book, it's still possible for you to end up dead or near dead. I speak from very personal, very first-hand experience with this one folks. This sport is not safe. You do the best you can to stack the odds in your favor, but that's all you can do: risk management. "...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..."

Nothing about this sport is safe. Make no bones about it. You're committing suicide every time you get out of an airplane until you decide to alter the inevitable course...by throwing out a limp piece of cloth that you hope will catch air and pull out a little stainless steel pin that you can bend with your fingers. If nothing goes wrong there, then all you need if for a bunch of slack lines to release in the proper order from a bag that is being drug away from you without any real sort of stabilization, then dumps a mass of material (without shape) into a 120 mph slipstream. You're then relying on the fact that air should go into the mass of material and sort it out...taking you from 120 mph (or faster ) to near 0 mph in somewhere around 4-5 seconds (try that in your car and see how safe you feel). If all that doesn't kill you, you've still got to fly this inflated mass of nylon through the air with no source of power to create lift if you need a go-around or something. You fly into some sort of a pattern with a bunch of other people who probably have no true flight training, then attempt to time a last ditch effort to create lift from your mass of nylon just in time to keep you from glancing off the ground while going 25 mph. If all that doesn't get you, then you go and haphazardly flip and flop the mass of nylon around until you can get it jammed into a little black bag, so that you can cram it into a bunch of nylon strips that will hold it to your back while you go tempt fate again. Yeah, sounds real safe to me.... "...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 would recommend a standard 8-panel suit (that is, one without a bunch of spandex). I would also recommend you have it made out of a Supplex material (we call it UltraLite). It's a tight weave fabric that catches air better in the wings than does a medium weight suit (and is cooler to wear). I could go into a dissertation about different materials, but I won't. PM me if you'd like more info on it. You'll probably want a medium to large wing cut into the arm of the suit (not a camera wing, this just refers to how baggy the area under the arm is). And some sort of an adjustable swoop cord system. If your fall rate vs. others at your DZ is very fast, I would also recommend Competition (thicker) grips, Inside leg grips, double layered forearms and Booties. If you really want to slow down, some companies will also sew in ZP inserts, under a lining, to "enhance" the wings. I'm about 285 or so out the door, so I know a thing or two about building big boy suits. I won't try and push one company over another, as this certainly isn't the place to do that. I'd be more than happy to give you more info by PM if you're interested. "...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 what about the feelings of all those poor rocket surgeons out there?!? They're a truly neglected group, ya 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..."

That may or may not be true, but the suit is definitely going to have a bearing on how you fly. That is an indisputable fact. If you get something that is proper for your height, weight and style, you will learn much faster and not develop bad habits trying to compensate for your suit. Do what you like, but having sold suits and gear professionally for a while now I can tell you this: Buy what's right the first time and you'll be much happier (and save money) in the long run. If this means you learn RW first and spend the next 100 jumps doing that, then move into a bit of freeflying, so be it. Or if you want to work on both styles, you'll have an RW suit and you can just throw on some jeans and a baggy sweat shirt and work on your sit in that until you can afford a proper suit. Your patients will be rewarded!

I agree with everything you said, except this quote. It would be impossible for most manufacturers to keep "on hand" what they need for any given order. The costs would simply be prohibitive. Over time, a given mfg. will get a feel for what they need to stock more of, but often you have to order specific materials or parts for a specific order. Now, with the usual lead time for most anything in the market place today (suits, rigs, canopies, whatever), there is usually plenty of time to order what you're going to need, long before you actually start building that customer's specific product. Sometimes not though. With the costs of some of the items you guys want on rigs, suits, etc., mfgs. can't order them until they have a need...and if the vendor has a problem or flails, the mfg. tends to take heat for it. "Why don't you have that in stock??!!??" answer: "Cashflow and overhead. We'll get it to you as soon as the Vendor gets it to us." Good quality, fast delivery, cheap pricing...pick any two. "...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 several great suit manufacturers out there, but there is no such thing as an "all around good suit for everything". A Freefly suit needs a totally different cut than, say, an RW suit. Do yourself a favor a buy an RW suit and a Freefly suit. You'll be much happier in the long run. If you can't afford both right away, but the one that you'll have the most use for first. You can always get another one later...and you can always start learning to Freefly in baggy sweats or pants and a sweatshirt. It's a bit tough to take grips on jeans though. "...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..."

It takes us about 24 man hours to actually build a rig, then another 8 or so to build parts (we're now at about 32 hours here), and into that processing time, inspection time, etc. and I'd say 40-50 is a reasonable answer, at least for our little enterprise... Of course, if you build a bunch of parts at once (bags, pilot chutes, risers, etc.) not only does it take less time per unit to build them, but you have them on hand when the order comes in. This doesn't detract the man hours necessary to build them though, so they do need to be added into the over all equation. I'd say this: If you paid enough money and all the parts were done ahead of time, I'm guess you could get an order into the shop and a rig out the door in 3 days without too much trouble, with only one person working on 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..."

A pocket slider is a small, ram air pocket that is sewn onto the leading edge of the slider. It's made out of ZP (usually) and is simply a little pouch that catches air. You can change the dimensions to provide more or less drag, but we tend to make them as deep as half the slider's depth (cordial), and as wide as 3/4 of the slider's width (span wise). As the slider starts to descend, the pocket inflates and slows it down. It's a great way to slow down hard opening canopies, and was a very common fix on Monarchs, Sabres, etc.. They're very easy to build and work well. A balloon slider (or "domed" slider) is basically built in three dimensions instead of two, like a normal slider. When it's descending, the slider inflates and looks "domed". The idea is that it's collecting more air, and thus creating more drag (more surface area). They're most commonly seen on Tandem Canopies and seem to work rather well...but they're difficult to engineer and build on a one-off basis. "...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..."

My $.02... This is a tough call. I've seen it go both ways. Most recently with a bigger slider hurting the opening characteristics. This is more in depth than just "bigger" or "smaller" and I think only the mfg. (or someone with LOTS of time on their hands to experiment) is really going to be able to make this sort of change and make it work. It's a very technical undertaking to change a slider design. A change in one dimension may create a different problem, while a change in the other dimension may enhance that problem, reduce it, or just change it some more... Can't hurt. Might help, but I'm not sure it's going to make that big a difference in a canopy that's as bad off as the one we're talking about. Again, it can't hurt. IMO, this is the best option with the most chance of fixing the problem. Unfortunately, it's not really a "fix". It's more of a permanent band-aide...which might be just as good as a "fix". I just hate the idea of a band-aide being the best way to go, but sometimes it is... See my answer to number 1.... "...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..."

Hey, those of you whom have shoes from cmax.com, are they quality? I was screwing around with their site the other day...I made some ass-ugly designs!! Pretty cool idea, but they're more expensive than the Vans I normally wear, so I'd like to know if they're any good before I get them. What styles do people have? How have they held up? Normal delivery time? etc.? "...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..."

Very easy. It's a nice middle of the road 9-cell. Pretty good rate of turn, nice bottom end. We fly it with our LARGE demo flag because it handles so well in deep breaks... "...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..."

Now that kicks ass. Thanks for posting it. I love it when you find technical nuggets like this one...

You might consider the Fusion by Precision Aero. We have a 275 that we use in our student program. I'm about 280 lbs out the door and the several times I've jumped it, it opened like a dream. I've never heard a complaint on it from anyone else either... "...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..."

IMO, no. There isn't a rectangular (reserve) canopy out there that wants to fly the same as an HP. With that in mind, I'd say you need to focus your decision more on what reserve you want to land (unconscious?) more than matching rates. Of course, it's all about risk management. If you think you're more likely to end up with 2-out, than that's a different story. Figure out your risks, put them in order, then make a choice based off how to cover as many of those risks as possible, from the top down in importance. "...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..."

Well, the PD143 isn't 143 sq.ft.... It's quite a bit bigger than what you think of when you think of a "150", and it packs that way as well (from my experience it's probably closer to a "160" or maybe a bit larger). As it's bigger than you would expect when buying that size canopy, the 143 would actually probably do you quite well. You could also go up to a 160, but then you're getting outside your envelope for pack volume (as it's much bigger than it's posted size as compared to the market as well ). A 160 would be a safer reserve than a 143 at your weight, obviously, but you've got to make it all fit in a container system safely...decisions, decision... Another thought: The idea of matching your reserve size somewhat to that of your main so they fly better together really only works well if they're of relatively the same planform. If you're planning on flying an elliptical or an HP main, IMO, all bets are off. My $.02, FWIW... "...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..."

Well, now you're taking the fun out of it. Yes, 300 feet is a bit low to get a downplane started... "...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've seen them once or twice. Not very usual, as you can stick mini-ringed risers onto large base rings... The tolerances are a bit more easily managed on larger ring sets so they should (in theory) be more likely to be built correctly and function correctly, but I suppose the person to ask about true functionality would be Bill. Can't really think of a reason why it wouldn't be just fine... "...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..."

Ok, but to be fair, it's the rigger's choice as to what s/he charges and what s/he packs. If they think it's worth more to do the packjob, and you don't, you can always go elsewhere. They lose the sale and you get your packjob done, but it's their choice... If you don't agree, you can feel free to go out and get your own rigger's ticket... "...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 there's anything wrong with that. You might eat up the rubberband with the steering line and end up with it popping on you and letting your line go free, but that's not such a big deal...anyone 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..."

Turn it into a downplane.... "...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..."

IMO, probably the best all around helmet design is a Carbon Composite full face without a lens. It's all about tradeoffs of course... No skydiving helmet is very good when it comes to impact resistance...some are better than others, but not by too much. You could wear a motorcycle helmet for better impact protection, but then you've limited mobility and added weight. Having chin/jaw protection is a pretty good idea as well. A good shot to the jaw will knock you out real-quick...and there are always hands, feet, legs, whatever flailing along out there. You'll never keep track of them all. I prefer not to have a lens in the helmet because it's one more thing to deal with and I don't like to have a large, curved lens in front of my eyes when I land. I jumped a flip-up for many years and it worked fine, except when I had to clean the lens, replace it, whatever. If you choose to leave the lens in front of your eyes, the distortion can cause issues on landing (especially near sunset...as the scar on my knee will attest to...) Now I just jump with tight fitting glasses and an open full face. Goggles would work just as well. You're giving up a bit of protection when you get rid of the large lens...but like I said, it's a trade off. If the lens blows open (or off!) than you've compromised your vision. If you're screwing around getting the lens open and not paying attention to others under canopy, you've compromised yourself yet again. A good set of goggles or glasses that don't have too much distortion work well for me! Most of the big-brand full face helmets available offer at least some padding inside (which helps for harder impacts). Carbon fibre helmets can take a pretty severe beating before they fracture (which absorbs that energy meant for your melon). Of course, anything on your dome will help protect you from scrapes and scratches...which is always good. Keeping your ears covered is a trade off as well: Leave them uncovered so you can hear under canopy leaves them vulnerable to riser slap. Keeping them covered reduces how much you hear under canopy. IMO, keeping your head on a swivel is better protection than being able to hear...especially when you're hauling the mail under a little HP rocketship. IMO, protecting your vision, maintaining as wide a field of view as possible, some internal padding, good abrasion resistance, and jaw and temple protection are what I would be concerned with when buying a helmet. FWIW, I jump a Factory Diver w/o a lens and have for the past 800 or so jumps. I've used it for RW, freefly, AFF and Tandems....works well, all the way around. That's my $.02, take it as you will... "...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..."

Gaths do a great job of keeping your nogin from getting torn up by door frames, the ground whatever. They are limited to abrasion resistance, IMO, but there really aren't many helmets out there right now that give you much in the way of impact resistance. The ProTec is probably the best for that. If you take a 30mph. mid air impact, nothing you wear is going to keep you conscience or unbroken. Do you think you could get out of a car do 30mph. (into a solid object) and come away ok? I'm doubting it. I agree that the Gath is low end when it comes to preventing severe head injuries, but it'll help with those heavy bleeding lacerations! "...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..."

As much as I disapprove of Molar Straps (an unnecessary tool, IMO...and I generally disapprove of all unnecessary tools that can kill you), they are certainly helpful with Racers. I, also, use it to help control, contain and center the reserve p/c...it works well! IMO, the key to Racers is understanding where you have room to work within the container. Seems US skydivers, in particular, are all about shoving 10 pounds of crap into a 5 lb. sack. This makes packing a Racer very difficult. With the proper canopy in a properly sized container, good technique will get you a nice looking packjob at the end of the day. My personal reason for disliking Racers has more to do with their limited ability to handle over/under stuffing than anything else. Their margin for for going above and below the numbers is poor, IMO. "...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..."

Works for me...everyone is entitled to their opinions!