ripcord4

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Everything posted by ripcord4

  1. ripcord4
    I saw a pelvis, lumbar vertebrae, cocyx, and sacrum breaking landing at under a pound per square foot. All of us screw up. It's just less likely and tends to hurt less under larger parachutes. Amen to that. You can hurt/kill yourself under any size canopy. I jump an MC-4 at a .63/1 wing-loading and while I haven't hurt myself with it, I certainly have scared myself under it. Respect ANY canopy.
  2. ripcord4
    I still use my "Old-style" Dytter, also. It works just fine so why change?
  3. ripcord4
    I'm not a rigger, but I see all of them pro packing their mains, just like everyone else. Not quite everyone else. I flat-pack mine due to the size of the canopy - 370 sq. ft. It's too large and heavy and too easy to lose a line in that mess. Hence, I flat-pack.
  4. ripcord4
    Do you perhaps mean flaking a round canopy, by any chance?
  5. ripcord4
    Stay stable at pull time and that will keep your head out of the lines. Don't worry about it. I have a Guner with the strap fastened inside the shell and it has never come close to snagging a line. With your profile you have more important things to obsess about!
  6. ripcord4
    To anyone on duty with the Airborne: does the Airborne use the new-style three-point suspension chin strap to jump with or do you still use the "old-style" set-up with the Velcro stabilizer straps? Is anything extra used with the three point style - ala the Velcro straps? Please PM with answers. Thanks, guys!
  7. ripcord4
    Why? Because the FAA requires it to be worn. I jump a SET-10 twice every month with my re-enactment group as well as my trusty Para Commander occasionally. It's fun and not the "death rig' that everyone thinks a round is. I've hurt myself worse under my square more than I ever did with a round.
  8. ripcord4
    I wear a military Nomex flight suit when I jump and have no problems with it. It fits well and is sturdy enough, despite the previous comment about being unsuitable because of wind blast. Mine has hundreds of jumps with no problem. Of course, if you don't have a mil-spec suit, but a foreign sloppy copy, I can see where the durability might not be there. Also the "not cool" factor from our "designer skydivers" may also be in play here.
  9. ripcord4
    Oh, I know they are around, I just was surprised people who jumped them still were. HEY! I resemble that remark...LOL. Actually, I still jump the old chest mount reserves with my round occasionally.
  10. ripcord4
    This is D-5, and Z-5 reserve. Our DZ did not have D-6. George, I have had the pleasure of jumping both the D5 and D6 in Russia on several different occasions, usually with the "freefall drogue" system. I prefer the D6, of course, but both are fun to jump.
  11. ripcord4
    I have 2 reserves in my gear locker tied off to snaps as described. They are still around, believe me.
  12. ripcord4
    Two mals total, both with rounds and rode down on a T7-A "twilly" reserve in 1962. Not too bad out of 46 years and 2,600+ jumps. No square mals.
  13. ripcord4
    Georgerussia.... Is that a D-5 or D-6 you are wearing in your photo?
  14. ripcord4
    Agreed; but let me ask all of you who started out on belly-warts this: the first time you ever jumped a piggy-back rig, didn't you feel a bit "naked"? I know I did. It felt weird no longer having the ability to reach into the reserve container if it got hung up. (Remember "Jesus strings"?) Yes, I agree. I bought a Security Crossbow piggyback in 1967 for my Para Commander. Without the chest reserve, it was an eerie feeling even with the chest strap and belly band. Took a while to get used to, for certain. And yes to the "last hope rope".
  15. ripcord4
    AMEN. You don't need an expensive jumpsuit this early in your carreer - or ever, for that matter. I usually wear an old military flight-suit and can keep up with just about anyone - fast or slow. You don't have to worry about being a "designer sky-diver"...you know, the type that has to have a suit that matches his rig, a canopy that matches the rig, just the right color combo, but must have a contrasting pilot chute, etc, etc. Save your money and buy jumps. Get good before you get "pretty".
  16. ripcord4
    I have been jumping military and sport since 1960 and have seen many changes to both styles of jumping. However, the greatest changes have occured in our sport. The #1 improvement has to be the ram-air canopies. #2 is the dual backpack harness & container, regardless of the deployment method. #3 is the three-ring release system. #4 is the reliable, safe AAD. #5 has to be the great increase in turbine/high performance aircraft availability for the sport. (Try going to 12, 500 in a Piper Tri-Pacer with 3 jumpers wearing chest-mount reserves. Bring a lunch!)
  17. ripcord4
    Lesson #1 about doing business on e-bay.....DON'T DO BUSINESS ON E-BAY. I have heard so many horror stories about this operation....it's too easy to be cheated. If you must use it, get the money first in hand, then ship the item. Never do business outside the country, especially! It's too hard to track anything down for restitution, but I guess I don't have to tell you that. Another thing that bothers me - - - when did we start to believe that skydivers are all one big, happy family and we would never do anything to a fellow jumper? It's all good in theory and I wish it were so, but this story is a perfect example of why it isn't so. We have the same percentage of scum-bags as the general population.
  18. ripcord4
    I am looking for a connector link "threading tool" to facilitate threading suspension lines onto the rectangular connector links. It is shown in The Parachute Manual, volume 1 in sections 3.400 and 4.113, pages 38 and 111 in the 3rd edition, second printing. Any help will be greatfully appreciated!
  19. ripcord4
    Welcome aboard! Congratulations - - now the learning really begins!
  20. ripcord4
    Forging someone's name on a packing data card is no different than forging his name on a check. Forgery is forgery.
  21. ripcord4
    I have the first edition (loose-leaf) and the third. It isn't in either of them. Are we being had here?
  22. ripcord4
    I always make the sleeve retainer line the length of the flaked canopy to make certain it will slide off with no problems. I don't know if you would consider this long or short, but I never had a problem with fouled turn windows/slots. This applies to all my sleeve deployed rounds, not just the PC. Yes, I know, someone will have a different opinion; this is just my system and has always worked for me. And yes, Old Farts ARE super-tough....that's how we got to be Old Farts.
  23. ripcord4
    Wendy, the PCA/USPA change-over occured in 1966 and there was much controversy at the time about changing the name.
  24. ripcord4
    Sorry guys, those are two shot Capewells in the photo. Squeeze the cover open, squeeze the buttons and pull down. One and a half shots currently in use by the military - pull down the cover, hook your thumb into the cable ring and pull. One shots were never very popular but activated by just pulling them down...instant seperation. First developed and used on the old Security Cross-bow dual backpack rig in the mid-60's. Most people considered the one shots unsafe and converted them to the 1 1/2 shots.
  25. ripcord4
    (Then) Captain Kittenger was not a skydiver. He was participating in experimental research parachute jumps by the USAF in high altitude bail-outs. That is why his "free-fall" jumps are not recognized as records. Project "Man High" was never intended to have anything to do with sport jumping, only to develop techniques and equipment for ever-higher bail-outs. The drogue technique was to provide stability and prevent deadly flat spins at extreme altitude. Kittinger needed to freefall a bit to build up some airspeed to enable a clean deployment of the drogue. On a previous jump, the drogue had deployed immediately and he became entangled with it and was almost killed. Hence the delay in deployment. For a good read, "The Long, Lonely Leap" is all about his jumps. Good luck on finding a copy, it is long out of print, scarce and expensive. Kittinger went on to be a decorated fighter pilot in Viet Nam. The gondola he jumped from is on display in the USAF Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio.