peckerhead

I replace them every repack. They are cheap and it is quick and easy to do. It may not be necesary but it makes me feel better.

I would go to Nagambie when in Melborne, they have a Pac-750. It is about an hour and a half north of Melborne. Sydney skydivers is about an hour or so south of Sydney and they have multiple turbines. I had no problem with my rig except for the return from Sydney to Auckland NZ. They wouldn't let me carry it on because it was over the weight limit. (they didn't care what it was, it was just to heavy) I picked it up in Auckland and carried it on for the return back to L.A. That was the only time I have ever had my carry-on weighed.

I didn't have to pack for my first two jumps. After that if you wanted to jump you had to pack. If you didn't know how, you had to learn or you wouldn't jump. Pretty simple really.

I remember #1000 very well, what a hoot! Here is my advice.... Wear a Batman costume and do a demo into a big crowd. Give autographs. Chicks dig Batman.

The cypres plastic sleeve that protects the loop is on the inside of the passage hole that the closing loop goes through. It does have one. From the cypres website; When packing rigs with CYPRES it is important to inspect the passage hole of the cutter to make sure that the protective plastic sleeve is intact and in place. This sleeve protects the loop from the blade, and is also severed when the cutter fires. The plastic sleeve on the vigil is much more obvious and appears to be thicker. .

Define "safely" I used to know a guy that had 2 pilot chutes in his reserve.... When I asked him why 2? He said because I coudn't fit 3 in there! No shit!

If it has been properly stored in a climate controlled environment for it's lifetime it is just as good as new. It may be more air worthy than a new PD that has been jumped and landed in a swamp. Reserves much older than that are still "airworthy" That doesn't mean you want to jump them. Clear as mud?

I would have to look at it to give you an answer.

Very cool two cessna DZ, humor and good times.

So the RSL doesn't snag on the reserve as the main departs.

I know a mate who has been jumping for 30 years and he has never told his family. I think that is the way to go. Whuffos will never get it and they will always think you are crazy and trying to kill yourself. Perfectly good plane, blah, blah, blah. I have been jumping for 25 years and I still scare my mother. She keeps asking when I will stop. She would be so much happier if she did not know. She does not care about my trophies and wings and videos and pictures and patches. She is very proud but does not know why I still can't stop. She is afraid I will bounce and leave my boys without a father. For no apparent reason...... Do your self a favor, tell them you play golf on weekends.

I have 8 reserve rides. Every one was out of date. I had one on a borrowed rig and when I checked the card after landing I found out it had not been repacked in 4 years. But, it opened anyway and I bought a case of beer so it all worked out.

Dude, you bought a used canopy that was 4 years older than advertised so of course you should be pissed. If the seller lied about the DOM he may have lied about other things as well like jump #s, condition, etc. If it was a good deal it may not matter but you should have it inspected by your rigger and see what he thinks. Not much difference in design between a 97 Tri or a 01 Tri. They both have that great S. African Z-p fabric which is so much better than the new stuff. Without knowing all the details of the transaction and how the canopy was described before the sale I can't really say exactly what you should do. If it was cheap and in good shape I might just let it slide but I would at least contact the seller and have a nice little chat about the DOM.

Lets say he takes a 3 second delay each jump (arch, reach, pull) Times 600 jumps thats 1800 seconds or 30 minutes. Is a half an hour of freefall in one day enough for ya? I made some jumps with Jay many years ago at Ralphs in Oregon and he is the real deal. If anyone can do it Jay can! I don't think a cutaway would slow him down a bit.

Great thread! This has also been one of my pet peeves. People post ads with no picture, no DOM, no serial #, no jump numbers, no mention of where the gear is located, etc. I don't even look at it if there is no picture and I certainly would never buy something without the serial number. (might be stolen) A few months back I saw a conopy I was interested in. There was a good photo and a pretty decent description of it but no DOM or serial number. I sent the guy an email and he says "I have no idea what the DOM or serial number is". I had to explain to him it was written on that big orange tag in the picture but I couldn't quite read the numbers. By golly I was right, it was printed right there on the tag. DOH! The other one you see all the time goes something like this; Wanted: Sabre 150. ...And right underneath it; For sale: Sabre 150....too funny. On the positive side I have bought and sold a lot of gear through the classifieds and so far been very pleased with the results. But I only do business with people who give complete and detailed descriptions and fill out their profile. A phone number so we can talk in person is also a plus but not mandatory. PS if you look at that ad mentioned above it says the main is a PD hornet..... PD doesn't make the Hornet.

This thread is hilarious and it just shows how spoiled rotten the newer generation is. I landed out on my 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and so on. I don't think I hit the DZ until my 10th jump. It took 25 jumps before I could do a stand-up in the peas on a para-comander and that was considered quite a feat in itself. Most of my round jumps resulted in a brutal PLF. Long hikes back to the DZ were very common. If someone came and gave you a ride back you were considered a pussy so most of us declined. I didn't jump a ram-air main until I had 56 round jumps which was advanced progression for the time. Many of my buddies had over 100 jumps before jumping a square. Nowadays students have two squares, rsl's, radios, aad's, gps spotting, etc. it is considered rare to land off. You really have to fuck up to not land on the DZ. It used to be a chalenge.

Thank you!

N/A

I posted a canopy in the stolen gear data base and it never appeared. I waited a few days and posted it again, still nothing. No response to emails.... Any suggestions?

Never, all three of my reserves are bigger than my 3 mains. Diablo 135/smart 160 Hornet 135/smart 160 Lightning 143/PDR 160

I had 8 reserve rides during the 80's. All except one was on round reserves. Two on the same day. The first one was on jump # 120 The last one was around jump number 900. I haven't had one since, sixteen years and over 1500 jumps. I have over 2400 jumps logged, don't know the exact number.

The corsair was the best one. In my opinion the most comfortable rig ever made. Sniff, I still miss my corsair. The top secret was a piece of shit.

I used to jump a classiflyer container that had four pins. Two curved on the main and two straight pins on the reserve.

I do it pretty much the same way as RR except I hold the entire pilot chute and bridle in my fist and just tuck my pinky finger up under the main closing flap. I always try to expose as little bridle as possible. All our student rigs are boc.

I agree with John. I think its stupid. Back in the 80's we used to shout out a little chant either on take off or jump run. Hardly anyone does that anymore.