gjhdiver

Not exactly a tiltrotor, but back in the post war years, quite a lot of weird designs were built out of prototypes developed during the war by both the allied and axis powers. A British one was the Fairey Rotodyne, an early plane/VTOL hybrid. They were a weird sight to see on the rare occaision you saw one.

Indeed it is sir. The lowest tech plane I think I ever jumped from. I last jumped one in 1990 just outside Krakow. Just as cold and slow as I remember, but fun all the same.

My old club's first jump plane. Cramped, noisy and cold, but at least it was slow. Still see them around in various parts of the world.

Not to me. It's happened to another instructor at our drop zone. She has over 10,000 jumps, about 9000 of them tandem. As soon as it happened, you see her reach back, check and toss the bag, getting a good deployment out of it. The whole scenario took less than five seconds. I've built that check into my emergency procedures ever since. I wouldn't give it too much longer than that, and I would still get my hand back there on a reserve pull if I could. As for deviating from the manual, just like a pilot, I believe that a good case can be made that once an emergency is declared, the pilot in command, in this case, the instructor, can make whatever decisions he or she determines appropriate to rectify the situation. The manual is right most of the time, but there's always scenarios that will depart from it.

I still have my Blue Track BT-50. In fact I have two of them, and early Kevlar lined model, and a later optima lined model with the no brake setting mod. Both are still very sporty canopies and you still see a lot of them in Europe. The reason they didn't sell in the US was that PDF's parent company, the Zodiac group, is a multi billion dollar entity, and wasn't about to expose itself to the US legal system. Personally, I feel that the more a canopy becomes a truly elliptical planform, the less reliable it becomes on deployment. The pintail wasn't exactly known for regular openings, and when I was at Z Hills, we had a prototype Jedei swept wing that we ended up cutting away so many times, that the last time, we just left it out in the swamp to rot. It was only going to wind up back out there on the next jump anyway

We're close to another AAD wars thread I suspect. I use the Argus, I'm very pleased with it. All AADs work more or less within their posted parameters. All AADs have misfires occaisionally for varying reasons. There's no such thing as a 100% reliable AAD. (There's no such thing as a 100% reliable anything). Read up on each unit, and choose one that meets your criteria and budget and that you feel comfortable with. Then get an Argus (Well they do sponsor me).

I must admit I did squirt a little pee myself.

Depends on your situation and height at the time it happens. If I lose the drogue in drogue fall before I release it, my main container is closed. That's an easy one, no drogue = no main. Go straight to the reserve. If I release it and it goes, I have a different issue. My main container is now open and the risk of an entanglement is there. I've seen the mains go out as the reserve pulls the pair upright and the bag hits the relative wind. In this case, I'll reach behind me and throw the main bag if I can. I have video of a bag lifting out and deploying correctly in this way. If I can't throw it, I'll pull the reserve and get my hands back there ASAP to stop the bag lifting. That way I reserve the option to cut the main away later in the deployment sequence if necessary, or at least hestitate it from lifting until the reserve is at line stretch. It's really hard to come up witha one size fits all method for dealing with this. It's kind of like the endless debate on whether to cut away pilot chute in tows or not. At some point, you have to settle on one procedure, practise it mentally and physically, and follow it through without hesitation.

I'm not sure that you will be able to jump at Monterey in the week. I believe it was tandems only. That may have changed, so please correct me if I'm wrong. Also, I won't be at Byron this week as I'm in Perris, so it's a good time to go if you don't want to be taunted, or pestered until you buy a Wings and an Argus.

I'm here at Perris and I should have caught up with the PMs' now. Anyone else who needs it, just PM me, or ask someone else on this thread. Thanks everyone. Let's make the girl's 11th birthday a liitle less sad for them.

I was lucky enough to get into the sport just about the time they were still doing those 40 way comps from the 3's at the Hills. I lurked Bird's team a few times. They cleared the Southern Cross 3 like it was on fire. Being in the middle of the lineup was one of the most intense exits I've ever done, next to actually launching a 10 way speed chunks out of the damn things. And then within what seemed like a couple of years, all the DC3's had gone, to be replaced by Otters. I still miss them. Nothing like strecthing out on the floor and letting that low sonorous rumble lull you off for a few Z's on the way to altitude, and the diet of motor oil to keep you nice and regular if you were floater. And of course, you occaisionally got to see an integral part of a motor decide that it wanted to get to altitude faster than the rest of the aricraft.

Classiflyer? Top Secret? You know what the Top Secret was on those rigs ? The reserve wouldn't come out. Anyone else remember the Jesus Toggle ?

Just an update. Lot's of people are PMing me for the address, so thanks for that. I'm sure that the girls will appreciate it ! I'll be at Perris for most of this week at the P3 100 ways, but I'll be checking the message list daily more than once so if anyone else needs the address, just PM me.

Actually, I can think of something from Highschool musical I wouldn't mind for my birthday either, if those photos are anything to go by

First, any chance we could make this a sticky for a few days ? Anyway, most of us know that we lost a good friend to us all here in the forums and in real life when JP Kelly a.k.a Deuce died this last May. He's left a big hole in the lives of a lot of us, especialyy in the NorCal jumping community, but no more so than in the lives of his twin girls Yvette and Camille, who are turning 11 soon on the 27th September. It's been really hard on them losing their dad, and I think it's important that we let them know that they are not alone as they spend their first birthday without him. As we all move on, it's important for us to remember that they have lost their father and role model, and that there's only do much that we can do to fill that void. What we can do however is to send those kids a note or a card, or even a few bucks for a present. Let them know that we remember the Deuce, and to let them know that wherever he is now, he misses them and watches over them if he can, and that the friends he left behind remember him and his family. So.... Take a few minutes out of your day and send the kids a card for their 11th birthday. Didn't you like to get cards when you were a kid ? Make them feel special, and let them know that there's lots of people they haven't met yet who think about them. Here's the address; Camille and Yvette Kelly (send them one each !) PLEASE PM FOR MAILING ADDRESS Now you don't have any excuse Oh yeah, keep that address for Christmas and next year too !

[reply 2. The Reserve Closing Loop is NOT in the Vigil Cutter Hole !!!! the loop is next to the cutter. Vigil themselves issued an AD where they all but suggested that this was a solution for people concerned about misfiring if I remeber correctly. One of the more outlandish AD's ever issued IMHO. If I'm wrong on that, please feel free to correct me.

Of course it isn't you silly bugger That's why it's an option. Most people take care of their rigs and try to avoid dragging them on the floor. For most applications, it's more than durable enough. If there's an unusual problem with wear, we'll fix it for any customer. Also, cast iron is more durable than cordura, but I don't think we will offer it any time soon

People did thousands of jumps with capewells before 3-rings came along. 3-rings are just there t make the rig look good and make the manufacturer money. See how silly you sound ? The spacer foam adds a huge level of comfort to the rig. On the Wings, it's an option. If you don't want it, just don't tick the box. Wings spent a lot of time sourcing the foam to try to get the most durable and affordable material for the spacer backpad. That stuff is very expensive to buy even in bulk. There's very little profit in offering it, but it's there if you want it. I have two rigs, one with and one without. I notice the foam under canopy, but both rigs are very comfortable.

The spacer foam is really comfortable. You don't feel it too much in freefall, but in the plane and under canopy,. it's like sitting in a nice soft armchair. I'd go for it if you have the money for the option.

Well, I'll be organizing, not playing this year. So far we have a Super Otter, Skyvan and King Air. I'm working on someother fun stuff if it's available. We actually had the DC-9 confirmed, but the county shut it down because they said the runways couldn't handle it. Not much we could do about that...

He was the guy that started me on the road to becoming an instructor. I never had any idea to do it before he took me aside and told me I had potential. 21 years later, I've been the chief instructor of Z Hills, been all over the world, got seven world records, and live in CA making my living jumping. If it hadn't been for Nigel pushing me to d o it, I'd still be a computer programmer iiving in the UK. I last saw him at Eloy in 1996 before his accident, but since that time, he's stopped jumping. Because of complications from that accident, he lost his leg, so he hasn't really jumped since, (as far as I'm aware). I suggest that the best way to contact him is through the BPA office. I'm sure that even if he isn't a member, he's well enough known that you'll be able to get contact details for him. Try dropping them a line at http://www.bpa.org.uk/

I had to do that a while back. My good friends murrays off this very site turned me on to an app called Handbrake. Did the trick very nicely for me. Check it out. http://handbrake.m0k.org/

Yup, it's a double keel Advanced Air Paradactyl. I have a single keel one. Lands like a sack of anvils, but it's fun right up to that point.

I presume you mean that the Mac is the manual. I have way more control shelled down to Unix BSD than I ever had at DOS. And as for apps taking over the whole machine like they do with PC's, don't you wish you could have the joy of issuing a nice kill -9 xxxx ?

Had and/or worked with PC's as a programmer on and off for 21 years. Had a G4 iMac fror the last three. I'll never willingly use a PC again. If it's PC apps you can't live without, run Virtual PC on the Mac with a partition. SLowly but surely, you'll enter the PC partition less and less until one day you delete it.