RiggerLee

Makes my case. And he owns one. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

Actually the sport would probable shrink. Fatalities are not necessarily bad for business. The media coverage can really help a drop zone. Also notice that fatality rates go through waves with the introduction of new technology but with that factored out they remain relatively steady. As the gear becomes safer skydivers become more dangerous to compensate for it. The term is risk homeostasis. The truth of the mater is that we like the fact that it's dangerous and that people occasionally die. I can only conclude that we like death in our sport and will alter our behavior to maintain it at a certain rate. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

But AAD's are what make the stupid brave. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

How about mandatory FUNCTIONAL helmets. As I recall their is a safety standard for almost every other helmet on the market. Skydiving helmets are a fucking joke. How about requiring them to at least meet the required standards of a bicycle helmet. Or even better motorcycle helmets. I knew people who would be alive today if they had been wearing more then a camera mount on their head. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

I don't jump an AAD. I'm not anti AAD. I don't have a problem with them but I do have a problem with people and their attitude towards AAD's. I get really sick of this idea that has grown up around them, that they are perfect and infallible and the solution to all fatalities. That because you jump an AAD you will be safe. It WILL save your life. And that if you do not jump an AAD you are not safe. You are reckless. You will surely some day die. because you do not have an AAD. I become frustrated with the lack of understanding as to what these things actually are and what they do. The gap between the perception and the reality has become very wide. I remember I gear checked a guy once that had cut out a picture of a cypress from a magazine and slipped it into his pocket. I'm about fed up with this and ready to do the same thing. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

I've owned a number of AAD's. You know what I've used them for? Test drops of recovery systems. I've never bothered to install one in my rig. Then again they were FXC's and expired cypresses. Haveing said that I'm not anti AAD. It's just never been that high of a priority for me. There are simply other things that weigh more heavily on my mind when I exit a plane. If some one were to just give me one. One that wasn't expired that is. I'd probably jump it. I might even actually repack my rig when the batteries needed changing. But if some one gave me a choice between an AAD and a new reserve. Say a new Optimum where I could put one size larger canopy in my container, I'd take the canopy hands down. If it was a choice of having an AAD in a tight rig and having one size larger canopy I'd advocate for the larger canopy every time. You want to regulate safety? How about this. Require people to follow the maximum recommended wing loading's published by the manufacturers. Even better. The new TSO has a maximum total velocity limitation with the breaks set. Make that retroactive. Require manufacturers to demonstrate the maximum wing loading that will meet that limit. In other words no small reserves. Include density altitude in that if you really want to be mean. While we're on a roll enforce volume compatibility on the reserve as well. I mean that would go a hell of a lot farther towards improving safety the mandatory AAD's. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

It's an education problem. People are not being taught about these things. In part because some of these designs and issues are going away but there is also a movement towards a less complete education. I think it's part of the movement away from apprenticeship to short abbreviated class based education for rigger training. Say a guy drags a pristine national pilot rig out of a closet? What would some of these young riggers make out of it? Let's say they ask here. They will get people telling them that according to the FAA they can technically pack the rig, expiration dates not being retroactive. But how many have heard of acid mesh, or laminated Kevlar, or tighter diapers. I'm just saying that we are losing the depth in our education. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

You'll get more for the alti then all the rest put together. It's worth $75 cash. I'm not sure you can say that for the rest. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

Bad news. Pink, deffenantly unairworthy. If it's a vector 1 then it's about three generations behind the times. It works, may need some upgrades like a new reserve PC. Forget the reserve. The main can't really be used as a reserve now. I'm guessing that it's a super raven but it's smaller then most might want if they were in that market, too small for base. So basically you don't have much of any thing. Their are people that might take the container off your hands but it's also smaller then what those kind of people generally look for. Can't fit a base or accuracy canopy. Maybe a crew dog but even for them their are newer options out their. So you might find some one to give the container to but you probable wont get more then a case of beer for it. And that's optimistic. A better question is what else does she have. Altimeter, Jumpsuit (it might pass for free fly), etc. No shit she probable has more value in that then the gear. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

Looks like we are going to have to wire up a big red button for some one to push. $10,000 contributor. Some bodies going to the launch. I wonder if he's aware of how close the impacts have been to the launch trailer on some of our oppsies. Super sonic impacts don't give you a lot of warning. I do wonder how they squared that with the FAA. Even a single "spectator" totally screws the E sub c calculations. I guess he'll be some kind of employ. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

free jump tickets for life. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

Some thing one of the old CRW guys used to do. He would stamp all of his money with a canopy stamp. They have them for CRW just like for way RW. When he went out to eat he always payed in cash with his "Skydiver" money. Start doing that in a small town. Show them how much money flows through a dropzone. I've also seen people get stacks of two dollar bills for the same reason. To show people how much money is blue. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

Sorry about your friend, but this is not your fault and it's not the bikes fault and if it had been a rig, assuming no design flaw, it would not have been the rigs fault. People make choices and people make errors and people die. It's just part of life. A guy named Charter died in almost exactly the same way. First ride on a new bike, bumped his head. Sad but it's life and life is sad some times. And never pass up a deal on a death rig. Their are some awesome bargains out their. You may have to resew a few stitches here and there but blood washes out. Bikes were meant to ride, rigs were meant to jump, planes were meant to fly, and so were we. With out that they lose all their meaning. With out that our lives lose all their meaning. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

It was odd. After my first trip to canada and spending two months in a yellow tent in 24 hour sunlight, when I flew home we stopped for about an hour layover in... it started with a K. The sun went down. And I have to tell you I was freaked out. It was a very surreal and frightening feeling. I was afraid of the dark. I couldn't help but think that this is how my ancestors must have felt. hiding in a cave behind a fire from all the unseen things out their in the dark. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

It's getting there. If that shit gets any worse your going to wind up replacing half of a perfectly good harness. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

I wonder if a coating of oil on the surface would help with the splash? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKLnhuzh9uY Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

Their's actually a lot more to QC on fabric then that one tensile test. For example I was once talking to Chafen about his testing. Another test he felt strongly about was tear strength. He would take a long strip of fabric several inches wide and start a cut up the middle. He would then put the two halves in clamps in a machine that pulled them apart at a set rate tearing the fabric down the strip, measuring the force along the way. He argued that he wasn't as interested in how strong the fabric was but in how weak it was. That the failure point told him more about it then an idealized tensile test under ideal conditions. This plays into how tight the weave is, how slippery/lubricated the coating was, how stable the fabric is. Example, If a fabric is heavily calendered then it's almost fused together. The fibers can not shift relative to each other. It's almost like plastic. It can have a very low tear strength even though the tensile strength can still be fairly high. The thing to do is call up one of the mills and see if they will explane the standards to you. They can probable send you a link to them but it may take some explanation. In the mean time I'm guessing that it would probable be good enough for a prototype. Keep in mind how long some canopies have been in service and that the lines and fabric all deteriorate from wear and tear, UV, sweat, etc. over time. I don't think you've got 1000 jumps on any of your prototypes yet so this fabric is probable a good deal for you. I was talking to the Performance Textiles guy at PIA. I had not realized that they had been bought out by Brand and Oppenheimer and are now one of their divisions. Contact... Wendy Staley Customer Service Manager wendy@brandandoppenheimer.com 336 275 5800 I spoke to a guy but I wound up with this card. I'm sure they can point you the right way but be ready for a long lecture or a lot of reading if you really want to understand the specs. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

WARRING: SHAMELESS PLEA FOR MONEY! I spend most of my time in the rigging forum but this is a slightly wider audience. This is seeking for donations but it is for what, in my warped view, is a noble cause. It's not a cure for cancer or saving some ones life but it's the shit that makes life worth living. For a number of years I've been doing some rigging for a company called Armadillo Aerospace. They build rockets and not just baby ones. They got started building Lunar Landers for the X-prize challenge. They have built maned rocket planes and have moved on to suborbital launch systems for micro gravity payloads. So two years ago Armadillo lost it's main backer when John Carmack, the inventor of the game Doom, ran into financial trouble in the stock market. It was sad because the Europeans were on board with a number of flights they wanted to contract us to fly for them. The core group was able to stay together and started a machining company. They have been able to buy out almost all of the Armadillo equipment and have some new partners. Together they have formed Exos Aerospace. It's been slow going as they have actually merged with another company and have been pursuing other contracts but they are getting ready to restart the rocket program again. They are however still looking for investors. They still need capitol for the first two air frames to meet the contract with the Europeans. They have started a Kickstarter campaign for any one wishing to help support this effort. This is a good group of people but they need a little help to get back into the air. If you think about all the stupid shit we waist our money on every day this is an opportunity to actually make a difference with it. For the price of one jump ticket you could help get this back off the ground and into, well not just the air but space. Why you should contribute money to this or even look at becoming an investor. Stop and think about this. You can put any thing on top of a rocket. That includes a skydiver. Balloons are done. You can't go any higher with a balloon. Right now the focus is on getting this thing back off the ground but ultimately they would like to fly passengers. Several of us are skydivers and I think every one their has made at least one jump. They operate out of the big hanger on an airport east of Dallas with a drop zone. You know what payload we want to fly. Even the old air frame had enough delta V to lift a man to 200,000 feet. No balloon can ever do that. The next record will be set by a rocket. And these guys are amenable to the idea of flying a jumper. So it's not just an investment in a fine company it's an investment in the future of high altitude skydiving. Let's get this thing off the ground so we can punt some one into space. For those of you who know me, wouldn't you like to see me burn up in the ionosphere? Isn't that worth the price of a jump ticket? LAUNCH LEE INTO SPACE! Please give generously to this good cause. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/95173281/spaceflight-fast-and-affordable-access-to-sub-orbi?ref=email http://www.exosaero.com/home Please pass this on to any one else that might be interested. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

So I'm trying to think about what's involved in this. I'm not sure how well it will work. I think it's a question of the inertia of the net/frame/cables of the device. You hit it at 120 mph but all of that has to accelerate to 120 to slow you down softly. Their is some cushion with the net folding inwards and the force is spread out but just to get all that moving I'm thinking cheese grader. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

It wasn't Vladi Pesa giving the lecture, he did the one on their military unit. It was another guy. I think his name was Willie Boeykins but the class schedule was kind of a cluster fuck this year. Give Vladi a call. He's a great guy. Very helpful. Or just find a vigil. and some one with one of their down load devices. There is an IR receiver that will let you down load the low speed, filtered for noise, data from the unit. Or give him a call I'll bet he would be happy to send you some files. The ones they were showing in the lecture were a good example of what a tumbling cutaway looks like. I think I have a number for them... 386 801 6295 You may have to get them to transfer you to the technical department but I'm sure some one their will be happy to help you. Good group of guys. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

Ahh, are you saying to correct a temp error existing in the pressure sensor it self? Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

Temperature data? Really? How exactly can you get meaningful air temp data? Their are temperature sensors but taking such a reading and having it mean any thing are very separate issues. Temperature is notoriously one of the hardest things to measure in a meaningful way. We're talking about a sensor that is berried deep within the thermal mass of a rig. A rig that sets in trunks and in the sun. It has no significant air flow to it. I can't see a temp sensor giving you much of any thing. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

Actually they use a lot less information then that. They don't even have that data. I'll use vigil as an example. Not because they are any less sophisticated then cypress but simply because they are open and honest about how their unit works. It's based solely on the absolute pressure measured by the sincer. From that they infer altitude. Their is a 250 error depending on orientation. Their is no effort to correct for that. The firing altitude is set at 1100 ft based on that pressure measurement not on altitude. Therefor it will fire at around 850 ft when you are on your belly for example. It gets more complicated. They do not have any way to since decent rate. The try to differentiate it from the altitude "data" which as we noted has significant error in it. Differentiating by it's very nature increases noise in a signal. This is just one iteration and they have a pretty high sample rate. They can do some smoothing so it's not that bad. The issue is not one of noise but the "error" from the burble. It can cause what are basically discontinuities in the altitude graph. They do not try to correct these. Their is no good way to do so with out making assumptions that could lead to significant error in the "perceived" altitude. So when you differentiate these discontinuities you basically get huge spikes in the decent rate curve. This can lead to activation errors in their firing logic. The way it's written it sides to the "conservative", to not firing rather then activating at the wrong time. If you could some how get a hold of a copy of their lecture they are very open about it. If it get's 5 data points in a row that say it's over speed then at the first point at which it sees that it is below firing altitude/pressure then it will fire. Five samples works out to about half a second of their low speed/washed data. If however it experiences one of those spikes in the decent rate graph caused by the discontinuity in the pressure curve from the burble the error in the decent rate can cause the counter to reset and delay firing till it build up five more consecutive points. What are we talking about? Say if you roll over or are tumbling. In theory if you you were tumbling or rolling at a rate of two hertz it would continue to interrupt the cycle and never fire. That's a pretty good tumble and would be a very edge scenario. But every time it resets it delays the opening by another 88 ft. That's not trivial and is a very plausible scenario. They showed real data of this happening. It would generally catch it on the next cycle and all was well. The lecture was about how with a high speed vigil and it's higher activation speed you are much more prone to this. It is much easier for the unit to miss more then one cycle and dangerously delay the firing. They are building this high speed unit because they have to. Their are handful of people out their that actually need it. But what they are seeing is that many people including relatively young jumpers are ordering these units just because they are new and cool, or they think that they might one day want to get into canopy piloting. Basically the lecture was about the trade offs in safety that they have had to make in order to keep the high speed unit from firing under canopy in a high speed swoop. But it's actually a very good explanation of the inner workings of the unit. By the way. I'm a vigil fan. They are great guys to work with. The unit is very evolved. They are just being open and honest about how it functions and it's limitations. This might make it sound inferior in some way to cypress. It's not. Cypress has simply chosen to keep the curtain closed and not let you under stand the inner working of their unit at all. If that makes you feel better, to be blissfully ignorant of the workings of the equipment on you back and to not know the limitations of your own gear, then that's fine. Many people feel that way. They prefer airtec to just pat their hand and tell them that every thing will be fine, like a small child. I'm joking, or at least half joking. Many people do feel better and prefer it that way. The point is that although they may be using slightly different logic. They are working from the same raw data. And that data does not include altitude or decent rate. Those are only inferred from the pressure sencer. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

I miss spoke. TSO being the wrong word. As I see the whole point of the issuing of a TSO is the QC program. Yes, it's an approval of a design but that seems small in comparison to the approval of the QC program. I can't imagine materials tracking not being a part of that. I can tell you that every roll of webbing and tape was stamped. Every drawer of hardware had a card in it. Every material was traced back through purches orders to lots from the supplier. And every rig built carried paper work with tracking for every part that went into it. I watched stanford going around filling out which roll of webbing the type 8 came from. Which roll the type 7 was from. Which batch of hard ware the three rings were from. Every roll of binding tape was stamped. And every spool of thread had a sticker on the bottom of it. Many of a time I'd be sewing and he would walk by with a clip board and turn the spool over and note the information down for that rig. Maybe he was just anal. May be that's the way his QC program was approved. But all of that data was kept for every rig, forever. That was my experience working for him as a young dumb slave. If your not tracking that information then what's the whole point of holding a TSO? I always thought that that was the basis for the issuance of the TSO. To approve the design and to insure the continuation of the production of it as it was issued and to create a means for tracking the materials in the event of a failure. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

It's not as hypothetical as you might think. Their was actually a case of some one rebuilding a complete tandem rig retaining nothing more then the label. No shit the guy did it. Apparently his sewing was just a little off because it was at some point spotted. It raises interesting questions. Their is actually a precedent. You can "salvage" an aircraft out of a lake with a pair of tin snips by retrieving the plate on the side of it and then repairing every other part. Their are some paper work loops to jump through in how you repair it but the FAA is aware and has given it's blessing. It is done. This is not hypothetical. So in theory you could perform a major repair on every part except the label. People do perform major repairs, ex. rebuilding one whole side of the main lift web. And it has at times gone wrong. For example some one was talking at PIA about a master rigger that did such a repair with 5 cord but he used an old spool that had been setting on a shelf in the sun light from a window. One of the junctions failed and every one freaked out. The manufacturer freaked thinking that they had a problem with hundreds of rigs that had been sewn with that lot of 5 cord till they realized that it had been repaired in the field. Their are some subtle issues with actually doing these things right. How long have you been using that spool of thread? I sew a lot and I do go through spools but a 16 oz. will last most riggers a life time, and that's not really a good thing. Rebuilding rigs. Yah their are people that could do it. I could do it. In fact I'd bet money that the actual manufacturer would not be able to spot it once I was done. I guess It's a good thing I never got my masters ticket. But is it a good idea? The extension of that is, Should their be limits to a major repair? At some level should a master rigger need an authorization from a manufacturer to perform a certain level of repair. At the least should the manufacturer be apprised of the repair. I mean in theory the repair should be documented on the packing data card but what if it is separated or goes with the canopy if the gear is sold. In theory for the rig to be airworthy it must be signed off again by a master rigger but if it's even half way well done it should not be easy to spot it. What is the line between a major repair and an alteration. Their is data stored on every single rig. Every order form, every materials tracking sheet, every purchase order. If a rig is repaired and a peace of hard ware is changed out or a junction is resewn has the rig been altered? As in the example it is no longer sewn with 5 cord from that lot as specified in the materials tracking in the TSO paperwork. I could argue that that is an alteration of the rig and requires authorization from the manufacturer. At the very least they should be aware of it and I could argue that it should be added to that rigs file. We re size main lift webs all the time. Isn't that an alteration? It no longer matches the date in the file from it's construction. I could argue that you should call the manufacturer and receive an authorization to allow you to do it. They should send you a data packet with the specs on how it should be sewn and what materials should be used. A form to send back with the new finished measurements and any material tracking data that you have on the repair. And that should be added to the permanent file of the rig. I'm not a big fan of regulation but their is a logic it. So kick that around for a bit. I'm board. Entertain me. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com