MakeItHappen

How about we use that incident as one of many examples of it is dangerous to spiral down through the pattern? . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

According to the argus web site and several others that have more direct knowledge of the TX incident, Argus has not been able to examine the aad in question. They will get to see it on Monday Mar 28. If anyone has been stonewalling I suspect the owner or the rigger that last packed the rig. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I had a WD in a computer that was turned off for about 3 weeks while I away. When I got back from my trip it would not start up. A WD tech person said to strike it when it tries to start with the handle of a #3 Phillps screwdriver. It started up and I removed all the files, sent it back and got a new one. This was about 15 years ago with an IDE drive. Don't know if that technique would work with a SATA drive. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

If true, this could explain the rather long delay in getting the mfgs to inspect the equipment. I would surmise that since the FAA was called in by Argus on a non-fatal, no-injury issue, there *might* be some issues about the owner and/or rigger that packed it last or documentation that claimed abc rigger packed it last is questionable. Probably the best thing to do is get the FAA to agree not to prosecute/fine the owner or rigger or pilot so that accurate information about its repack history would be known. Otherwise, this aspect of the issue is an unknown. Refer to the Argus manual. It does state issues about the silicone. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

A lot of delays in the issuance of ratings or licenses tend to be related to the course director slacking on submitting proper paperwork. You should also check with the CD and then that SE received that paperwork from the CD. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

For those of you that are not hip to current events, the question is about looking at the display after an aad has fired and *maybe* has not separated the closing loop completely. So you would not know that it fired and in many configurations you cannot see the cutter without opening the reserve. This information would be useful during your pre-jump gear check that should always include checking AAD window. For a CYPRES- the answer is that the CYPRES records data on the jump, to activation and then to 130 ft AGL. It then turns off. So after a jump in which it fires the screen would be blank. (source SSK - Cliff Schumcker) For an ARGUS - screen says 'replc cutter' source (Chuting Star - Mike Gruwell) Don't know yet what a Vigil would say. Still awaiting replies from inquiries. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Please post a picture and product description of the silicone product you use on reserve closing loops that have an AAD. Thanks . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Is that after a self test or after it fired and then you look at the display? . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Looking at the manuals (and since Mike covered the Argus): Vigil2 says: Cut Err: If the «Cut Err» message appears, the cutter unit must be replaced (see § 7.2). A new cutter will be supplied free of charge if a completed “Life Saving Report” is posted and approved (see our website http://www.vigil.aero/ on the download page). Cypres2: 1111 or 2222: One or both of the attached release units are not correctly electrically connected to the unit. The reason may be a cable break, the cutter plug could be disconnected, or the release unit(s) may have activated. Those are the errors that come from the start up self-test procedure. I am asking what the display would say when the AAD fires and you get to the ground. What does the display say then? . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

If an AAD fired, what does the display window say? . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

If you look at Section 6-4 it says: The verbiage in Section 3-1.E may merely be a subtle way USPA tries to get people to follow the USPA doctrine. There is no 'must' perform a solo jump in the doctrine, albeit it is ambiguous in Sec 3-1, if you do not read Sec 6-4. Re Restricted licenses I believe the licenses are marked restricted on the license sent out to the jumper. To the best of my knowledge, all the D-license restricted licenses given in the past 10 or so years have been because of night-blindness issues. The jumpers wanted a D license to - get a tandem rating - apply for Wings or Freefall badges - get a PRO rating None of the jumpers were going to go out and do a night jump because of their limited night vision. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Let me make a clarification. My OP was not targeted towards 'newbies'. It was targeted to experienced jumpers with thousands of jumps. In the past decade there have been at least 3 fatalities attributed to 'one brake released on opening' or its cousin malfunction 'not being able to unstow one brake'. There was insufficient or incomplete response by the jumper. All 3 of these jumpers had +2000 jumps apiece. These jumpers were heads up enough to realize that they were in a death spiral and needed to execute EPs ASAP. For some reason, they could not do that in time. What could be the reasons? - not recognizing the situation - oh only one toggle released, pop the other one or maintain steady flight with the released toggle - not being able to reach a handle - twisted harness - not being able to pull a handle - multitude of factors here To all the 'newbies' that are saying my original post was directed towards 'newbies', take yourself off that high horse and go try the exercise. I'm pretty sure you'll learn something. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Let me address a couple of items people have brought up. My suggested jump is an approximation to the real thing, as 3.14 is an approximation to PI. The simulation I proposed is to give you an idea of how your canopy will fly with one brake stowed and one brake unstowed on opening, and your ability to control the situation with riser and/or toggle inputs. It may also give you an idea on how much your harness can shift or twist around your body. The scenario of unstowing both brakes and then pulling one down to the 'stowed position', eg cats-eye aligned with the riser retaining ring is a lesser approximation to the real thing, as 3 is a lesser approximation to PI, not as good as 3.14. This scenario is not exact because a person's ability to hold a toggle at the proper 'stowed distance' configuration is suspect at best. It also does not allow the jumper to feel the ride through the harness, as you would on opening. In fact, the act of pulling a toggle down to the 'stowed' position disrupts the entire simulation of one brake stowed and one brake unstowed. It also does not allow the jumper to attempt steering corrections via the risers, unless, of course, you are one of those jumpers with 3 arms. ;) Unstowing both brakes and then pulling one down to the 'stowed' position defeats the purpose of learning how your canopy system flies with one brake stowed and one brake unstowed. It may be an approximation, but it is not as good as a situation where you can safely fly with one brake stowed and one brake unstowed. Several years ago I attended a Safety Day lecture given by someone with +18K jumps. (That's +18,000 jumps.) This guy said he did not know how his new canopy would react to a single brake fire on opening. So he unstowed one brake after a normal opening. Then he said 'That thing spun around so fast – I couldn't get it stopped fast enough.' IOW, he had a much greater appreciation of his canopy and it's potential flight characteristics after a simple and relatively safe and controlled maneuver. (Unfortunately this experiment was motivated by a jumper that recently died because of a one brake unstowed on opening type scenario.) I once mis-packed my brakes and had an opening with one toggle stowed and one toggle unstowed. The canopy does not fly as though you were at full flight and then buried a toggle. It's not the same. It is however very similar to the controlled scenario I delineated in the OP. There are also other things that you can observe while you do this. Like, how much does the harness rotate around my body? Are my handles getting rotated to a position that I may not be able to reach? . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

These deals seem too good to be true. They certainly appear to be unsustainable in the long run. There is something that vendors using Groupons need to know. This is explained on Groupons website Terms Para 3 at bottom Applicable law includes and is not limited to 2009 Credit Card Act that says this about gift cards (and Groupons are gift cards) "Prohibits retailers from setting expiration dates less than 5 years after the card is purchased." Say you or a customer buys a Groupon and pays $125 for a $250 tandem with an expiration date 1 year from the deal date. The customer comes in after the expiration date. The vendor MUST honor the amount paid by the customer, in cash if he wants it, for a time period up to 5 years from date of purchase. The vendor must honor the 'deal' up until the expiration date. IOW, you might be paying a Groupon customer the cash value of what he paid for it 5 years after the purchase. That means the vendor loses. Cash value - Groupon take - 3rd party take =~ 60-70% of the cash value (if that). You'd be paying out $125 when you only took in ~$85. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

One Brake Unstowed on Opening Disclaimer: Skydiving is a hazardous activity that may result in injury or death to you or others. Performing or attempting to perform any of the maneuvers in this article may result in your injury or death, or injury or death to others. Do NOT attempt this if you are on student status. Solicit advice from local instructors before attempting this. Every once and awhile you hear about someone that has one brake unstowed on opening. Many people do not know how their parachute will act when one brake is unstowed on opening. There is a very simple remedy for this unknown. Manifest for a solo jump and plan to open high. This is not something to try after a regular jump with others in your group. Plan to open 2 to 3 thousand feet above your normal opening altitude. Upon opening, do not unstow your brakes. Then make some clearing turns, with your risers, to ensure your airspace, including several hundred feet surrounding your immediate area and below you, is clear of traffic. Now select a toggle to release. Pull it and hold it in a position to maintain level flight. Check for traffic. Raise the unstowed toggle SLOWLY to the full flight position while diligently checking for traffic. CAUTION: If you raise the toggle too quickly you may induce line twists. Some wing loadings may induce line twists even with a slow and smooth toggle movement. You and your canopy will start to rotate and descend rapidly. This will be very similar to a situation when a brake becomes unstowed on opening. After a few rotations pull the unstowed brake down to return to a steady state descent. You may opt to retry the maneuver, if you have sufficient altitude, or release the other brake for a normal descent. Ensure that you have a good canopy at your cutaway decision altitude. You should take away an appreciation of how fast you will spin and how rapidly you will lose altitude with one toggle released on opening scenario. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

This is an excellent talk from the BPA's AGM. USPA ought to have speakers like that at the GMM. ( What a concept. ) I'd like to point out one disparity between the BPA and USPA philosophy regarding body position just prior to an imminent collision. The 'old school' recommendation is to tell people to go 'spread eagle' - make a big X with their body to try to 'bounce off' the lines of the other's canopy. The 'new school' recommendation is to tell people to tuck up, protect handles and hope that you pass through the lines of the other canopy. Quite frankly, I think most people will naturally protect themself by tucking up if presented with a ~40-50mph collision. The spread eagle technique would work well if two T-10s were colliding. Last summer USPA changed the SIM to recommend: SIM Canopy collisions This change was brought to the BOD by Craig Stapleton, aka topdock, an 'obscure CF jumper from California'. ;) My opinion on this was written some 22 years ago in Bogey at 12 O'Clock. YMMV. . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I don't have the gift of gab to chat this up. That's why I write articles and refer people to them. Here's a good one for the upcoming Safety Day Avoiding Canopy Collisions I'll gladly take criticisms and input from people. This article was printed in SNM a few years back. It's been reviewed by many people already. This is public domain - FREE to use. I don't even care if you remove the credits - just get the message out. Blue Skies are Safe Skies. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

just an FYI if you want to see groupons google 'dropzonename site:groupon.com' replace dropzonename with your favorite DZ. eg skydive houston site:groupon.com will show this link another interesting one to check out is 'sportations site:groupon.com' . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Unfair Bill. I did not equate SR to murderers. Lara made mention of 'a drop zone that knowingly disregards basic airplane maintenance, which results in skydivers dying' and compared them to the SR issue. . Ah, I think I missed your point then, Jan. I thought you were equating SkyRide to killers and asking why one killer (and Bernie Madoff, thrown in for good measure) was worse than another. Must back away from the computer when falling asleep. Spence brought up a good point, though, that I hadn't considered - that safety violations are normally considered a regional problem. Maybe my biggest misunderstanding is that those things, like aircraft maintenance, become the same blight on the sport - worse, in my opinion - than SkyRide. I'm all for the community uprising to bring SkyRide down; I think it was due to a lot of people's good, hard work that they are smaller and less 'powerful' than they were a few years ago. Why is that same "let's get 'em" mentality not applied to things like aircraft maintenance? Like boycotting a dz that does seriously unsafe things? Chris' point about the sphere of influence of issues is good and valid. SR's influence is the entire skydiving industry where there are a plethora of examples. A local DZ that cheats the FARs is a local issue that most jumpers do not have information about. Both issues are news worthy. Discounting one issue because 'Well, they have not killed anyone.' is stupid. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Unfair Bill. I did not equate SR to murderers. Lara made mention of 'a drop zone that knowingly disregards basic airplane maintenance, which results in skydivers dying' and compared them to the SR issue. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I don't necessarily see people actively defending Skyride. I see it more that the debate has devolved such that anyone who is not a strident and emotional detractor of Skyride is now viewed as a supporter/defender ("If you don't toe the party line, you're against us"). I've seen that rhetorical style in other circumstances and I'm not fan wherever it appears. This is kind of where I see it going, too. I know why SkyRide is BAD, I just want to know why they're the WORST, which is how people treat them. I agree that they're BAD and I'm all for steps to shut them down. Now, we sent support to a boogie that's tangentially theirs - you can make the case that that action did the opposite of what I just said I'm all for, and I'll understand. I understand the argument for us being wrong, and I see its merit. I just see it otherwise - but can still respect that you see things differently. My question is really this, again - how is SkyRide WORSE than a drop zone that knowingly disregards basic airplane maintenance, which results in skydivers dying? How is SkyRide WORSE than a drop zone built on drug money? How is SkyRide WORSE than a manufacturer that doesn't issue timely safety bulletins when it knows that SB could save lives? How is SkyRide the WORST? Why is it so cool to hate SkyRide with such passion, but not these other entities? Why a campaign to get people to unsubscribe from us, but not a campaign to stop jumping at unsafe drop zones? I know there are people who won't jump at certain DZs, but it's not the huge lynch mob that I see when it comes to SkyRide. And really, I really want to know what it is that gets people so incredibly heated about this. With regards to our business practice, Spence, I don't mean to give the impression that it's our way or the highway. If you tell us you want more boogie articles, we're sure as shit going to print more boogie articles. You want less boogie articles? You got it. We're never going to say we believe in something just because we think you'll give us your money if we say it, though. I don't see that as being anti-customer or ranting, just being someone I don't mind looking in the mirror at everyday. Thanks for all the support, too, I love that a reasonable, level-headed conversation is taking place in bonfire :) And, we really do want articles, letters and opinion pieces from everyone. We're failing if we personally agree with everything we print. Whoa! This is an incredible response. Why don't you ask "Who is worse Bernie Madoff or Jared Loughner?" or perhaps "Who is worse Seung-Hui Cho or Jefferey Skilling?" . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

My subscription must have run out. Someone please send me a copy of what you are talking about. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Can you run netbeui on it? . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

You may be able to find some ASUS that have XP or have Linux that can have XP installed on them. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I have some feedback from the lawyer in IN. Senator Waltz has received LOTS of emails from out of state. However, some of these emails are 'very unprofessional' and 'crazy'. These 'very unprofessional' and 'crazy' emails tend to obscure 'the well thought out communications and are not helpful at all'. If you really want to help, please write the Senator and address him properly, speak forthrightly. If you don't know how to do that, wait until the sample letter from the lawyer is distributed. To the yahoos writing the crazy emails - don't screw this up for the rest of us. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker