mark

I don't work for RI, so I don't know what their thinking is regarding Vigil-1. As for "in accordance with RI procedures," that looks like boilerplate to me. I've seen an assembly: interesting but not cosmic. Mark

Advisory SB here. Mark

You should check regulations for riggers in the country where you want to work. Riggers working in the USA need a USA rating; some European countries accept USA ratings, some do not. Choose a course that leads to the rating you want. Whatever course you choose, you will have expenses: cost of the course, time (vacation days or lost wages), travel, hotel, meals. When you add everything together, the USA may be closer than you think. Dave DeWolf's course is very intense, but affordable. The course at US Academy of Parachute Rigging (usapr.com) is in Arizona, which has special attraction at this time of year. (Disclaimer: I work for USAPR.) I like Guido's rigger courses (parastore.de). Shorter courses, more focussed. Possible to do in several sessions instead of one long session. If I were looking for a course in Europe, I would go there. Mark

Ding, ding, ding! Mark

My customers are by and large repeat customers. It matters little whether I'll be sued 30 days after a repeat I&R or 150 days after an initial one. My best defense is to be the very best rigger I can. The real losers (in a couple senses) are those skydivers and pilots who choose their riggers based on price. Mark

We don't know that, since there is no official PIA input to the rewrite process yet. In any case, changing an FAR requires publishing a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) followed by a public comment period, followed by a final rule. Updating an Advisory Circular is not a short-cut. The FAA will be particularly careful about revisions given their embarrassment over their withdrawal of TSO-C23e just a few days after publication of the "final" rule. Mark

No, because the rig was not safe for emergency use when it was returned to the owner/operator. Try another example. Mark

What FAR did Mr. Edwards cite? What did he say the owner/operator's responsibility was? I can open and close a National pilot rig without breaking the seal. Mark

Depends on which South African English speaker we're talking about ( - pun intended). I hear a difference between English South African English and the Dutch-accented English spoken by Afrikaaners. Mark

The length of time a rigger is responsible for his work is the same; the length of time the owner/operator is responsible for continued airworthiness has increased by 60 days. A rigger is responsible for delivering a parachute system that is airworthy. After that, the owner/operator is responsible for ensuring continued airworthiness, which includes pre-flighting equipment, knowing about and complying with new and recurring ADs and SBs, and returning equipment for maintenance if necessary. I do not understand why a rigger would accept responsibility for something that is the owner/operator's responsibility. Mark

Bench-type: http://www.frazierinstrument.com/products/category/porosity/porosity.html The standard pressure difference for testing canopy fabrics is 0.5" of water, which is not very much. Portable: the Aerostar balloon fabric tester is not very expensive, but tests at 10" of water, so not useful for parachute canopy fabric. Home-made: There are designs that use an skydiving altimeter and a variable speed vacuum cleaner. Mark

Agreed, but if you look around your average DZ, it seems obvious what's important to most people. Fashion. Mark

Some of us (including me) do that and would have made a note for batteries or other maintenance due between November 19 and January 18 if we had known in time. Since we did not know in time, some of our less aware customers might jump a rig that has maintenance due before the end of the new 180-day pack cycle. A few of us (not including me) think there is legal liability attached to the lack of a note on the packing data card, hence the concern. Mark

There are two airports in Marana. One is the former Avra Valley Airport, home until very recently to Marana Skydiving Center. I think AVQ is where the 1968 Nationals were held. The other airport is the Pinal Air Park, MZJ, where the aircraft boneyard provided some cover for other operations. Oddly, this website says that most of the aircraft there belonged to Northwest. Mark

What regulation(s) did the FAA folks cite? Mark

Thread creep... Get back on track mister. Search "old school exit" sorry jon..keyboard jammed up. So: does anyone remember how you adjust the tab stops on an 1971 era typewriter? Put the carriage where you want the tab. Push the key marked "TAB SET." To clear the tab, position the carriage at the tab you want to clear (possibly by tabbing there), and push the key marked "TAB CLEAR." IIRC, holding the "TAB CLEAR" key down while returning the carriage would clear all the tabs. To set the margins, there are left and right margin stops on the carriage. When you get close to the right margin, the bell rings so you know you'll need to do a carriage return or hypenate, or push the "MAR[gin] REL[ease]" key when you can't type any more. You can tell where the margin is set in the Gunther letter because the last letter in the longest lines is offset slightly to the left. See the "c" in "authentic" in the third line, for example, as well as the "e" in "Divorce", and the "t" in "Neediest." Mark

Did you see my post just now about the s in "disapear-" (I didn't realize only one p was there till after I posted) What do you think? do you agree on the possibility of hand-penned (you noted the lack of serifs) I don't think hand-penned is likely. The place to have hand-penned was in "diapear" and instead there is the distinctive "s" (lower left missing) half-spaced in. (It's possible to hold the carriage in position if there isn't a half-space feature, but you have to be good to hold it in exactly the right position.) "diapear" is only one letter away from "diaper." Sometimes my fingers type automatically -- how about the letter writer's? Mark

The Olivetti manual typewriter I owned in 1971 had a half-space feature: when you pressed the space bar down, the carriage moved a half space; when you released the space bar, the carriage moved another half space. If you typed "If yo typed" you could erase the "yo" and insert "you" with a half space before and after. You wouldn't have to erase and retype the entire line. Erasure could be done with a pencil eraser on some kinds of typing paper. Otherwise, you could use a typing eraser, white-out paper paint, or special eraser paper. The eraser paper came in small sheets, about 1" x 3", with a white-outilike substance on the back. You backspaced to your typo, inserted the eraser paper, and retyped the typo to transfer the white to the paper. Then you took the eraser paper out and typed in your correction. If you inserted the paper to a previously used position, you would not get full coverage of the typo. The Smith-Corona electric typewriter I owned about 10 years later used a ribbon cartridge to do the same thing; corrections involved switching the regular ribbon for the correcting tape and back again. So one possible (though unlikely) scenario is typo, incomplete correction, then strikeover. I don't think that's a half-space or partial "u" because all the other "u" have serifs. Mark

Not only possible. It's probable both would make it to the ground, each as one piece. Not only that, the average G force would be the same for both. Even if they didn't arrive at the same time. Mark

Low-tech method: a weight on a lowering line. Mark

Mark, I believe it to be here. http://www.faa.gov/library/manuals/examiners_inspectors/8300/ If not I will find it later for you...setting up for the Family Dinner tomorrow!!! BS, MEL PS: Also look in CAR Part 07. I believe there to be some mention in there also. The url you provided resolves to FSIMS, which makes sense since inspector handbook 8300.10 has been incorporated into FSIMS. No mention of AADs there that I could find except for the procedure for alteration approval for installation. Do you have a url or other reference for CAR Part 07? I couldn't find it, either. When you have time, could you provide the specific citation and quote? Mark

Paul and Mark, The difference is this. The ELT scenario is covered with written policy and guidance by the FAA to be replaced as neccesary. The AAD scenario has no written allowances! I guess I should have pointed that out earlier. BS, MEL The AAD scenario has no specific written policy or guidance either way. All we have are analogous situations from the aircraft world, every one of which supports the idea that we must deliver an airworthy rig to our customer, but it is the customer's responsibility to keep it airworthy, including returning if for service on a periodic or as-needed basis. Mark

Maybe, but what are you comparing it to?

That's a different standard than for aircraft and aircraft mechanics. What is the evidence that the FAA intends to treat them differently? Mark

That is not true in the U.S. although some riggers have chosen to make it a personal standard. Legally speaking, a U.S. rigger CAN pack a reserve even if the AAD expires the next day, just as a mechanic can sign off an aircraft annual inspection even if there is known recurring maintenance that needs to be addressed before the next annual. For example, some engines must have the oil changed every 25 hours of operation -- and it is not that mechanic's responsibility to track down the aircraft to ensure the oil gets changed. It's the operator's responsibility to find a mechanic or other qualified person to change the oil. There is no way for a rigger to ensure that a rig will be airworthy throughout any pack cycle. The rigger is responsible for delivering the rig in a condition safe to jump. The owner is responsible for keeping it that way. Mark