crazydiver

I just got mine a week or two after that also. Congrats. Cheers, Travis

I am curious as to whether or not the people shunning PC's are people who have ever jumped a PC before. I have never jumped a round parachute, but I am not about to call them useless. I guess I landed a PC once after parasailing it, but that was about it. They saved lives years ago, if they are still in good maintenence, why would they not save lives now? I guess I am assuming too much, I'm sure that people's comments are in a joking manner, but really, they can't be too bad. Cheers, Travis

Travis is now a senior parachute rigger! I'm startin to build up my tool kit and skill set. Any words of wisdom for me? Cheers, Travis

Because of the trap door effect, I do a pseudo-sit position to gain speed and stay with the pair as they are in the trap door then transition to my back to film the rest of the opening. My pseudo sit position is kind of like a hindu/budda type thing. The bottoms of my feet are flat together and my knees out to the side...this is a medium speed position for me. It is cool though too to sometimes stay at your same fall rate to show the tandem pair rapidly decelerating in front of you and to see the passenger's face. Cheers, Travis

------------------------ Any person can work under a Master rigger and complete the work, but the Master rigger is the one to sign it off. The intent of 65.111(b) is basically for packing and etc. If the FSDO inspector sent that out to you; he/she needs to research further into the FAR's because they are dead wrong! ----------------------- Keep in mind though, that main parachutes do not have to have anything written on the packing data cards if an alteration is made. Reserves also only require the rigger who makes a repair or alteration to record the "any deficiencies found" on the card. It would be nice of them to write what work was done, but the FAR's never state the it is required. Cheers, Travis

I realize that after this post you are simply going to be thinking...hey, I finally proved my point and told him off...but thats wrong. I have better things to do that argue with you. If you think that i'm going to go in because I dont prefer racers or round parachutes, then I think you are going to go in because of your gear choice. Thats not what I think in reality, but I figured I'd come down to your level a bit. No one said I chose my rigger on how cheap they are. I dont know what the hell you are thinking packing racers for cheaper than other rigs...thats just plain crazy. Its not that "bad" riggers charge more, its that it is a more involved closing process...it only makes sense to charge more. Why do you charge more for a canopy reline than a canopy patch? My guess would be because its more complex and time consuming. My rigger charges more for a racer...he doesn't refuse to pack them like your tonsil analogy. As far as your bridle incident...do you WAIT for a malfunction before you improve your gear? Maybe thats why you still jump a racer and a round reserve as well as taht batwing. When something bad finally does happen to you related to your racer...will you then decide to consider other choices? Just wondering. I'm done replying to this nonsense. Its going nowhere and you are only embarrasing yourself with personal attacks. Good luck. Cheers, Travis

------------- And the blanket statement that modern equipment is 'safer' is simply not true. The statistics prove you wrong. The statement proves you might not be long for this world. Have you checked the incident reports lately? Have you ever seen a dead skydiver as the result of a hook turn? I have and it ain't pretty. ----------- I have seen a few people femur in because of hook turns. I have also seen broken bones from parachutes striking objects, hard landings under tandems, and students forgetting to flare, along with various other injuries that are slipping my mind. I also watched two friends of mine die in a crw incident last fall. Thanks for the vote of confidence. You saying that i'm gonna go in because I feel that there are now more updated and safer containers than a racer is just rude and it surprsises me you haven't gone in as a result of karma. ------------------ And by the way, junior, I have more jumps on what you call 'modern equipment', than you have jumps TOTAL. --------- No one ever said that I had more jumps that you or that I had seen more injuries and deaths than you. I"m not sure if i'm supposed to think you're cool or something because you have seen lots of people die, which I am presuming you have from your previous statement. You think i'm going to go in early in my career because I don't like racers??? Who are you? What the heck does that have to do with not jumping a racer...I think it decreases my odds of going in. I never said I was a skygod, nor that I had thousands of jumps. I have lots friends who jump racers. I have jumped racers. I'm not saying they are bad, i'm saying that in my opinion, there are containers that have many things to help prevent incidents that racers lack. This is all aside from the fact that most riggers charge extra for packing racers because of there complexity and tediousness. I was just reading your story about freeflying on the poopsheet(whatever that means) and you mentioned that on a head down jump you had bridle flopping around hitting your leg? Why? Now why would that be? You are a rigger...investigate and let me know. Cheers, Travis

I would say no. The only thing that would be available to snag on the tab is topzkin fabric...but that is not going to happen. Cheers, Travis

A canopy that opens hard can throw a steering line around to the front of the canopy and create a line over, but lineovers are ver unlikely malfunctions. Try packing a lineover...its gonna take lots of jumps to ever get that to happen intentionally. Cheers, Travis

If a canopy has low riser pressure all around, it probably is well dispursed throughout all the connection and steering points. In my opinion, heavy toggle pressure is not a huge deal since you will never have as much trouble pullin the tail of the canopy down as a whole chunk of canopy with either set of risers. Dont worry about toggle pressure for you beginning canopy. There are no sport canopies that you would not be able to flare out there really. Tandems take some stregnth, but thats not you anyway. Also, there are not tradeoffs for everything in canopies. A heavier toggle pressure doesn't mean more lift or flare power. THe sabre woiuld probably be a good choice for you. Cheers, Travis

What the control pressure does to the canopy depends on what control source it is. You are correct though. Say the front riser pressure is very low, that puts more of the pressure on the rear of the canopy so rear risers and toggle pressure will be higher. This will work the opposite way if the toggle and rear pressure is low. Some canopies, however, can distribute the tension to the front and rear leaving the b and c lines with less tension. This could very well be the case with the sabre. Some of hte larger older sabres even had two steering lines attached to each toggle to distribute the flare out along the tail of the canopy. The jumpshack firebolt has this system presently. Cheers, Travis

Its all an opinion thing. Sabres are safe well flying low to mid range canopies. They have tendencies to open quicker than desireable sometimes and thats a matter of packing. While nowdays, you would hope that a brand new canopy would not need really any nose treatment, thats what makes the sabre out of date. You should roll four cells on each side into the center cell, which you may already know. HOWEVER...this reduces the consistancy and heading control of openings and you are therefore left with a quick opening from time to time. I had a sabre 135 for about two hundred jumps and jumped lots of larger sabres before then. They really weren't that bad of openings as long as you were careful, but they definetly weren't that consistant. On another note...the original sabre is a great flying canopy. I think its a good canopy to start out with if you are looking for used gear. Now if you are looking for new gear, obviously your money would be better spent elsewhere, but for a used canopy...the sabre is perfect! Cheers, Travis

What is with all of these huge stows? You people with microline dont need near that much line outside of the stow bands. For spectra microline, I wouldn't reccommend more than 2 inches outside, but less..in my opinion...is better. I would reccomend taht the longest stows on your dbag be on the locking stows (the grommets) but after that make them smaller and make sure they are uniform with each other. Its most important taht the two, three, or four locking stows are solid to prevent an out of sequence deployment. Cheers, Travis

I dont think that anyone on this forum is saying that rapides are bad, but they are (and myself) saying that rapide links are inferior to slinks. I see on your profile that you jump a racer, with a batwing, and a phantom round reserve. I have jumped racers. They are comfortable, but are inferior products on the market today. Round reserves are inferior products. Batwings are now inferior products. Not saying that your gear is bad, but I am saying that you may not realize some real advantages to state of the art equipment. Its more fun and safer. Let me compare your thoughts to this.... A round parachute made twenty years ago is most likely just as safe as it was years ago given that its been taken care of. However...square parachutes are much safer to fly and land. Just as rapide links are not bad, slinks provide more advantages. In the same respect...a 1978 buick gets me from point a to point b in the same manner as a 2001 honda civic does...but the civic is going to do it in a better way. The buick isn't bad...but the civic is more advanced and more desireable...not becasue of looks only, but moreso because of its safety and efficiency features. Keep in mind that while your gear preferences may be a few years behind...which is fine...I truly believe no one should be forced to stop jumping their gear if they feel it is safe and useful and a rigger says its ok...but keep an open mind to new products. If you were open to new ideas and checked out their advantages...you wouldn't be jumping a racer with a round reserve and a batwing. Cheers, Travis

The cost of jumping always goes up and never comes down. Cheers, Travis

I would say that a diablo possibly has more of a leading OR trailing edge than a velocity, but there is no way you can argue that a sabre has more taper than a velocity. Sabres have no taper at all. Cheers, Travis

Explain that one please... Cheers, Travis

Hey Brian, if you're out there...I've been jumpin your canopies (jedei, samurai) for a few years. I never knew you when you lived in colorado, but I was wondering what your canopy progression looked like. What canopes were your faves before you began designing your own? Just bored, curious little me being nosey. Post edited for clarity Cheers, Travis

Amen to that. I am relatively confident that I could do it, but not risking it is much better than trying to fly under them on my back and floating up and bashing into the tandem student or something. The day will come. The only time I have flown with tandems on my back is with really fast fallers I have found that a rocked back sit position is sort of back flying, but similar to sit flying. You can kind of get under them. I need to go do more two ways and try to fly around the other guy on my back. If that lady wasn't falling to fast, one thing I do is knee fly. You can speed up and also get right under them. Basically, the main air deflection points are your shins (paralel to the earth) and your arms stretched out in front of you. Your trucnk is completely vertical. Sometimes big wings will prohibit you from doing this. Try it out. Its an extremely versatile position and you can point your camera straight up at the passengers face! Cheers, Travis

Hell of an idea. Only Bill Booth could come up with that. Better start applying for a patent. Cheers, Travis

I have had to assemble a sigma as well as many other tandem deployment bags attached to the canopy in that manner. In some it may take a little extra effort, but it is far worth it to not have friction burns on the topskin of your canopy and also the fact that you dont have to constantly keep checking your links to make sure they are properly closed and in good maintenence. I can tell you one thing for sure...pulling a dbag and drogue through that loop on the end is not near the hardest thing to do in the rigging world. Cheers, Travis

An even better solution...if your bridle attachment allows it, is to larkshead the dbag and bridle to the canopy attachment. Also, using large slinks for hip and chest rings would not be safe. While they would hold up just fine i'm sure, they would wear very easily. There would be a constant friction on the "link/ring" making it wear very quickly...and I would much rather have a dbag or riser link fail...than have my harness come apart! Cheers, Travis

I dont get it. Cheers, Travis

----------The skydiver in me at first typed, "Sorry about the CRW canopy." But, then deleted that and now am typing, "Sorry about the job."--------------------- Actually, it was a double wammy. Canopy very sad...even sadder, was that my job was at Denver Skydivers and that is no more. Oh well, Things always work out. I'm moving to idaho for the summer on the 14th of may. i'm gonna try to make it out next weekend to say by to everyone for a while. Cheers, Travis

Understandable. Thats why i put mine on my chest strap. I have a happy hooker in a pouch there and I actually use it to hold my chest strap instead of a stow band. When I do crw, I add another one to the legstrap and if I'm really anal, I put another on the chest strap. My theory is that I'm much more likely to use a hooknife on a crw jump and i would probably be really amped up and throw the first one away. Always good to have a backup. Unfortunately I just had to sell my CRW canopy because I lost my job and need to pay for school. Depressing. Cheers, Travis