BlindBrick

Yeah, I have become an avid reader of "The Canopy and its Pilot" and consult reguarly with a coach at my DZ who specializes in canopy control. Right now I am not wanting to due HP landings. What I am looking to do is start practing HP manuvers at altitude. I also want a way to be able to turn out of an imminent collision at opening time without haveing to first pop my brakes and flare the canopy, and given my canopy's very slow turn rate on rear risers and weight shifts, I do not consider them truely viable options for such a scenario. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Kahn Hildebrand, the manager of Nylon City, the Z-hills packing concession, is a rigger. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I'm flying a 269 sf Safire II loaded at 1.2, I love the way the canopy flys with the exception of the fact that I can barely budge the front risers. I can use both hands to pull down a single riser and barely move it. I've heard that CReWdogs use a form of risers with pulleys called 2-1 assists. I was wondering if anybody here knew enough about them to comment on where or not they'd work for high performance canopy manuvers. If so, what would be a good ratio to aim for? -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Yeah, I'd call and talk to Registration about that becuase I'm not sure how that works. It was easy for me as I was the child of a registered member and just required a birth certificate. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

That's good, becuase you can't. Due to liability concerns, the company now refuses to sell to anyone other than military. As much as I choke on saying it, check with Ralph at Western Parachute Sales. He's got a good selection of military surplus gear. Just be aware that he's the type where calling him ulttra shifty might be an ungrade over what people usually call him. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

This is where you need to go for scholarship information. http://www.cherokee.org/Services/EducationService.asp?ID=190 This is where you need to go to get info on registration. Which is a requirement for tribal funding, http://www.cherokee.org/Services/RegistrationPages.asp?ID=145 Contrary to what some have posted here, the Nation does not have a blood quantum. Establishing relation to a Cherokee who was mentioned on the Dawes rolls is all that is required. It should be pointed out that this info doesn't apply to the Eastern band of Cherokees in the Carolinas or the Ketoowah band here in Oklahoma. I do not know Eastern requirments but I do know that the Ketoowahs have a 1/4 quantum requirement. Which is why I'm Cherokee but my mother is Ketoowah. It's cool to here about other Native jumpers though. When I used to go jumping with MEBENALLY, from here, I used to wonder how many active native jumpers there were. Sometimes it felt like we were the only two. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I can't do it, but at my DZ, there are several psycho packers who can bag their canopies in under 30 seconds. If you have made your roll tight enough and don't have an overly snug bag, it really only takes a few seconds to put the canopy in. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I've a brand new Safire II wich is 269 sf of slick as snot ZP fabric. I have no problem pro-packing it. The trick is to make your first S fold underneath rather than on top of the canopy and using your knees to control the canopy as you pull one isde of the bag over the canopy, then the other. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

OK, ignoring the question of whether this is a parachute operaion on not. aren't you able to get around that by droppign over an unihabited area. I thought that that was how Eloy got around chucking stuff out the back of their tailgaters. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Oh course it is. When you get to the top tier, college sports is soley about generating revenue for the school. Terms like sportsmanship, team building and personal development are all just bs trappings they put on it to make it look a little more cute and cudly. The only thing exceptional about this is that the coach was blatant enough to get caught. Now I'm not saying that's right, just how it is. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

You know what the first thing I was taught in first jump course? Emergency procedures, nope. Canopy control, nope. Stability, nope. The first thing I was taught was that if I could develop a taste for cheap, mass market beer, I'd have a lot more money to skydive with.

You know I passed chemistry by designing and sketching out wiring diagrams for variious esoteric bombs we'd seen in movies. I think I got a full leter grade after my teacher was able to replicate the toilet bomb from Lethal Weapon 2 using my instructions. The principal didn't even begin frowning on things until some contact explosive I cooked up went off in the lab. And then it was just one of those "you boys need to settle down" type talks. Now I understand what the grownups used to mean whent hey said "We lived in simpler times." -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I've seen a former dealer's invoices before. He was gettign less than a 35% discount on mains and a ~ 30% discount on containers. Now factor in that ~25 percent off is the going deal right now and how few sales are made and you realize that this is another area of the sport you get into for love instead of money. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

The Mirage RTS student contianer is really just a G3 with some minor mods to make it more friendly for student operations. If you could get one of those used it would be a very good first rig. It's what I jump. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Sorry, got to be a cheesy dad for a second. Both my main and my son were feeling under the weather so I had my son close by as I was taking pictures of the damage to the main. I turned to talk to his mom(the third thing) a minute and when I turned back, the situation was just begging for a pic. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I pack my own but I would love to watch a Mirage-trained rigger do a repack on my rig. The reason is that my reserve is rated as a very tight fit and while it works wonderfully when I pack it, I've not been able to get all the wrinkles out of the side flaps. So it would definitely be for apperances rather than due to a lack of confidence in myself. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

For what it's worth, in ready mode the Vigil's LCD display tells you what jumper mode(Pro/Student/Tandem) it is in in large bolded letters. In fact, since the Vigil also has an LED to indicate status, the jumper mode is the only info displayed on the LCD when in ready mode. So it's really hard to not know whether you are in pro, student or tandem mode if you can read. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I jump a Vigil and am very satisifed with it. In particular, the Vigil is of a much sturdier construction than the Cypres. I have always been turned off by the fragile construction of the Cypres and so I feel a lot better about the solid constructionof the Vigil. And Before anybody feels offended and tells me that Cypres is not fragile, read your Cypres owners manual. It states it in there. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

These companies pay real good. A former spec ops type working in a hot zone in Iraq can bring in over $1000 per day. Oddly enough, there an odd trend with mercs and international relief orgs. The IRO's have realized that private military companies can get into a hot zone faster and cheaper than the UN. They are also serving as security at relief camps and such. Which makes since since the Red Cross lost more personnel to hostile fire than most major militaries during the 1990's. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

You can get a whole set of picks for under $5 at Wal-Mart (in the hardware tools section). They are handy to have for many different types of repair situations. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Thanks guys. You all gave me some valuable advice on my resume and thanks to that I will be begin my new job as property manger Monday. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

As my data card says, I'm never out of date. However, I am a very firm believer in a six month repack cycle. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Not every rigger has a business address to ship to andx honestly how can you tell the difference betwen a home address and a business address. I mean if I wanted to I could have my address listed As 1000 Highway 412 E Suite 151 and what it really means is this package will be delivered to the Post Office(which resides at 1000 HW 412) and to put it in P.O. Box 151. It's been a while since I checked but does the FAA's online airmen's database list addresses? If so, all you need is the rigger's name and seal symbol and you can verify the address. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Wouldn't that result is a failure from friction? The ends of the break do not feel melted, only the finger trapped core just below where the break occured. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Ok, I've had time to edit a picture down to a size I can post here. This photo was taken before I realized that there was a second line damged so it does not show it well. I've used arrows to highlight the point of damage on the second line and bumper. If you look close you can see where the damaged line seems to narrow down, this is where the broken filaments are. Also, since I had someone PM me asking. The trouble did happen to me, and this is not a troll attempt. I posted it in third person to avoid people thinking I was making accusations against the canopy company before they have had a chance to respond. As for the possibility of a tension knot, I do not think it was one. I am very anal retentive about my brakelines and every pack job I do involves two trips down the line, the first of which is to make sure the brakelines are not twisted. Gvien that the brakeline runs through my fingers twice, I feel that I would have felt a knot even if I didn't see one. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."