mark

That would be true for smoke-jumper training as well. Mark

"Skydive" by the late Carl Boenish. The last guy doesn't exactly run along the top of the fuselage, and doesn't exactly go over the tail. It's a copyrighted work, not public domain. Mark

How old do I have to be to qualify? The Navy never has run jump schools to see if their recruits were Army material. The US Army Parachute Test Platoon validated the airborne concept in August 1940. The first airborne regiment (the 501st) wasn't formed until 1942, too late for even a motivated pre-Seal to join before getting court-martialed. The first jump school was organized at Fort Benning, Georgia in 1942. Also, the pre-requisite for smoke jumper is experience as a wildland firefighter. Any documentation of firefighting experience? Mark

Rhode Island + Jacksonville, Florida = Navy. No jump school. A Bad Conduct Discharge (BCD) must be adjudicated by Special Court Martial, and is equivalent to felony conviction. It's only one step removed from Dishonorable Discharge, and is not something you earn just by being disagreeable or surly. You have to do something criminal. So if one had a BCD, he'd be unwanted by any branch of service. It is still possible these days to create a new identity to reenlist; it would have been much easier -- and necessary, even with a change in branch of service -- in those days. Fort Hayes = Army induction center. No training. Maybe some aptitude testing before being sent on to training schools. No jump school. Camp Siebert = Chemical Warfare School. No jump school. WW2 jump training at that time was unit training -- your whole regiment went. Individual replacement training came much later. Unless you were actually assigned to an airborne unit, you wouldn't get to go to jump school. (Sometimes even if you were assigned to an airborne unit, you didn't get to go. General Maxwell Taylor, commander of the 101st Airborne Division, made his first jump -- a night jump -- in the early morning hours of June 6, 1944.) Also, although prisoners were trained and used as firefighters, this was pick-and-shovel work. No jump training there, either. Mark

A description that applies to more than just Cooper. As opposed to static lining out of a 727? Among other things, where would you propose to hook up a static line? McChord is an Air Force base. Their pilot emergency rigs would have been equipped with 28' steerable parachutes, much better than 26' Navy models. BTW, pilot emergency rig = bailout = freefall. To jump at low altitude (1000-2000 feet), he would have had to jump within a minute or so after take-off. Mark

NB-6 is a Navy back container, usually assembled with a 26' conical, possibly a Steinthal. 26' Steinthal is a canopy; could be assembled with an NB-6. Which one were you thinking would be a logical choice for the sport jumper? Steinthal made parachutes mainly for the military market. They made a only limited amount of equipment for the skydiving market -- much later, in 1977 and 1978. Rigger logbooks would not necessarily show both harness/container and canopy information; common practice at the time was to record only canopy info. The NB-6 is not good for freefalling. It is good for stopping freefalling. Mark

Close, but not quite. It really is a student rig -- Manta 288 and Raven IV are on the small side for a tandem, but appropriate for students. Strong produced a small number of drogue-stabilized student rigs so students could practice turns, forward movement, and tracking without having to worry about tumbling. If you static-line the drogue, you don't need freefall instructors. The idea never caught on, and I don't see it advertised as an option on their web site any more. Mark

You get extra questions if they are testing new ones. You don't get graded on them, they're just interested in seeing how many folks get it right or wrong. And there have always been trick/option questions, with answers like: A-statement 1 is true; B-statement 2 is true; C-both statements are true. I have to think it's an unintentional test of your ability to understand written English (which is a requirement to be a rigger). As far as your specific question, how much loop should you be able to pull up after closing flap three, see page 5-42 of the Parachute Rigger Handbook (PRH). The answer is B, 1/4" to 1/2" -- it's a Voodoo. I don't know anyone, including the guy who wrote the PRH, who thinks that's a reasonable question. To its credit, the FAA is trying to modernize its rigging oversight program. You might try getting your local DPRE to talk to his or her FAA Principal Inspector who can relay your suggestions to OK City. I don't think you'd get very far with "Go back to the old way," but perhaps there's a way forward. Mark

The test bank is the collection of all possible questions. The sample questions on the FAA web site are from the test bank but are not all the possible questions. Even before the recent test changes, there were over 300 questions in the test bank. The questions on the website are similar to, but not the same as, about 75% of the questions you'll encounter on the written. The remaining questions come from newer material in Poynter Volume 2 and the Parachute Rigger Handbook (particularly Appendix A, which is a reprint of PIA TS-100, standardized nomenclature for ram-air canopies). Mark

There is no revised AC 60-25F. Instead, there is a "Learning Statement Reference Guide," which includes new codes for all the airman test. Rigger stuff is on page 15. The "Learning Statement Reference Guide" and the Parachute Rigger Handbook can both be found in pdf on the FAA website if you use the search function on their home page. Mark

Electric drill works well for #0 grommets. Use slip-jaw pliers on the stud side to keep it from turning. Use low rpm (less heat generated) with countersink bit on the washer side. Takes about 15-30 seconds of actual work to get a grommet out -- you'll spend more time than that looking for your tools. Mark

This would give the surface area if the canopy were descending vertically, which is different thant the amount actually presented to the air. However, the measurement system you describe is similar to the PIA method, which measures from the tail to the most forward portion of the nose. Mark

If part of the reserve system is not TSO'd, then the whole reserve system is not TSO'd. That makes the system unapproved for use by US citizens or permanent residents, but the FAA is just fine with visitors using their own unapproved equipment. If you needed, an FAA rigger could pack it for you to jump. That's in FAR 105.49(a)(4)(ii): "The reserve parachute must be packed in accordance with the foreign parachutist's civil aviation authority requirements, by a certificated parachute rigger [my emphasis], or any other person acceptable to the [FAA] Administrator." That whole test jumping thing. Kinda fun, really. Never a dull moment! Mark

UPT Vector or Micron without RSL: no guide ring after the end of the ripcord housing at the top of the reserve pin flap. Even with an RSL, there's no guide ring for the ripcord, just a guide ring for the RSL -- and Bill Booth says the only reason the guide ring is on there is because customers expect to see one, not because it's necessary on his set-up. Some Mirages have been built without a Velcro track or guide rings for an RSL; the ripcord housing ends at the top of the reserve pin flap. Sunpath publishes instructions on how to alter Javelins and Odysseys by removing the guide rings altogether. (Most riggers who remove a Sunpath RSL leave the rings in place in case the owner changes his mind.) So routing the cable as shown in the photo is not a safety issue. It remains an attention-to-detail issue. Mark

Your profile says "New Zealand," so the rules might be different there. In the U.S., the aircraft operator is responsible for compliance with FAA regulations, with "operator" broadly defined to include DZ management as well as the pilot. Anyone who knowingly violates the FARs that way is putting more than himself at risk. What kind of person would do that to his friends? Mark

Yes, FAR 105.43(c): "If installed, the automatic activation device must be maintained in accordance with manufacturer instructions for that automatic activation device." Mark

I have had three or four high-speed partial malfunctions in my career. I know what I'm going to do. The title of this thread was "Does a bag lock slow you down or speed you up?" I'd like to know the answer to that question, based on something other than anecdotes or personal experience. Do not patronize me by answering a different question. Mark

It matters to me, because I'm curious and I'd like to know. Just to know. Besides Jump Shack's 20-year-old pictures (available where?) and anecdotes (remembering that the plural of "anecdote" is not "data") are there any controlled studies which looked at the effects of, say, pilot chute size, initial freefall speed, and body position? Mark

Strictly speaking, the FARs are silent on the use of single-harness single-parachute systems for intentional parachute jumps. Single-harness single-parachute systems intended for emergencies (pilot rigs, in other words) must be approved. Single-harness dual-parachute systems intended for skydiving (sport rigs) must have an approved harness/container and approved reserve. And tandem systems must have approved harnesses, an approved container, and an approved reserve. BASE rigs are simply not addressed, nor are chuteless jumps. A separate question is changing legality depending on the phase of the jump. The relevant phrase from FAR 105.43 is "conduct a parachute operation," which includes considerably more than just a freefall and canopy descent. Mark

65.111 was changed when tandem systems were incorporated (instead of being allowed under exemption), and the rewrite muddied things up somewhat. The previous version was clearer on "maintain" and "alter" requiring an appropriate rigger certificate. We're stuck the the plain meaning of the current version, which allows a first jump student to alter (= change from original factory configuration) his main parachute. Mark

FAR 65.111(b) has some limitations. That's the part that starts with "No person may pack, maintain, or alter any main parachute of a dual-parachute system to be used for intentional parachute jumping in connection with civil aircraft of the United States unless that person. . ." 65.111 was changed when tandem systems were incorporated (instead of being allowed under exemption), and the rewrite muddied things up somewhat. The previous version was clearer on "maintain" and "alter" requiring an appropriate rigger certificate. We're stuck the the plain meaning of the current version, which allows a first jump student to alter (= change from original factory configuration) his main parachute. You may be thinking of FAR 65.125(c), which exempts riggers from complying with regulations on facilities, equipment, currency, and logging when they work on main parachutes. That makes it hard to tell who did what to a main canopy, which is why there has been no enforcement -- the issue has not yet been litigated. Still, 65.125(c) requires riggers to work within the limits of their privileges, and it would be hard to make a persuasive argument that a rigger should be more restricted in his activities than a non-rigger. Mark

Upper lateral band and crown band, actually. The bulletin for the mandatory modification came out in '88, so I'd hope all affected canopies have been fixed or retired by now. You're right, though: the additional tape didn't add much bulk. Mark

A Strong 26' lopo packs just a shade smaller than a 24' flat. I'd think the Phantom 24 would be too small without a shim. Mark

SPSB 03032000 Rev B, modification of main closing loop retainer. For your Javelin, this involves adding a piece of light webbing to cover the grommet. About 1/2-hour's work, $25 - $30. Sunpath says the modification is "recommended" but not "mandatory" for your Javelin. You should have it done anyway. Mark

What I hear you saying is that for you Swift service life is 20 jumps or 40 packs. Also, if the service history of a PD reserve is unknown, I can send it back to PD for evaluation. Would Para-Flite do the same for a Swift? Cheers, Mark