RiggerLee

I would be happy to see unreefed rounds go the way of the Dodo. Somebody needs to apply for an alteration to let you pack a Mil seat with a full stow diaper folded in fifths. I wonder if you could do a B-12 with a strong style half stow diaper? And a 4 line. It needs a buttler style four line. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

Hot tacker. It was done with a hot tacker. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

Just out of curiosity, are the lines in order? It's not dangerous if it was never intended to be jumped. I think it was demilled and some one wanted to make it look like it had lines. Commercial, photo shoot, etc. It's the way that it was done that surprises me. Hot knifed hole makes me think rigger. I got to give him props for an out side the box, quick and easy solution. I think it was pretty creative. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

Let's say you were willing to carry the weight and bulk that would be required to have a rig with three reserves. If you were to split that weight and square footage between the main and primary reserve canopies I think you would go much farther towards increasing your safety with out sacrificing the simplicity of the system. Just saying, look at the stats. I'm hard pressed to think of any one who died because their canopies, particularly the reserve, were too big. But there are a lot of people in the ground that might like to go back and rethink their wing loading given the chance. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

Scratch what I said. I'm brain locking. Just woke up. The sub flap on the merage should prevent what I just suggested. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

I think he may be talking about something else. It sounds like the base of the PC was stuck. This can happen some times. It you've got a molar style bag and tight side flaps the bag can get squeezed inwards trapping coils of the spring. After 120 now 180 days The canopy can be a brick. Stiff enough to not want to let go of the spring. A little work with the paddle as you close the side flaps can go a long way towards preventing this. Show it to your rigger. Try not to disturb it too much so He can see what was going on. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

I'm not working at any DZ right now. In fact virtually nothing I'm doing right now has any thing to do with skydiving. I've was working for a company called Armadillo Aerospace which has now reformed as Exos Aerospace building suborbital recovery systems. So I don't have an active shop at least as far as TSO'd FAA rigging goes. I'm afraid that it's not very practical for me to train people right now. It's like I've said before. If you really want to do this you really need to apprentice at a very active loft where you can get a fuller education. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

Actually I'm down near Austin. You're close, same state. 200 miles or so. That's spitting distance around here. If your really no shit serious about this then I'd tell you to find a very active loft that has a wide verity of gear coming through it. The best place would be John Storrie. Storrie Parachute works. He has the only really active loft around. He does a lot of sport rigs but he also does almost all of the pilot rigs in the area. Every thing from seat packs to ejection seats and drag chutes for lear jets. He services Cavena Flight museum. He no longer has a TSO for containers but he still does a lot of sewing and he has the only real sewing shop around that area. And he can sell you a fully automatic machine gun or silencer. How can you beat that? Call him up and offer to be his slave. Tell him you want to do every racer and wings that walks through the door. The only other real option I can think of is the loft at skydive dallas. They have a master rigger there and I'm sure he does plenty of sport rigs but you wont see any thing like the variety there. Last I heard he has a couple of sewing machines for basic stuff but I don't think he's fully equipped. I don't think he has a 7 class for instance. May be wrong, it's been years since I was over there. Then of course you have to find a DPRE... Last one I heard about taking a test from around there had to go to Georgia? Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

Just close your eyes and pretend he's a hot girl. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

If it's such a wasted post then why are used cypreses so over valued. A lot of people seem to think that these old units are made from gold and con young jumpers into paying them. It's an inflated market. A lot of people don't seem to understand the math or don't bother to do it. And then seem over whelmed by the cost and up keep of skydiving. I've seen occasional jumpers or those looking to get back into the sport floored by the cost when they come in and I tell them that they need not only a repack but a four year and battery. And by the time that's all done and they make their one or two jumps and look at the credit card bill... Well it can be a little disheartening. I've seen events like that be the deciding facture in whether or not they continue in the sport. These units are expensive. People need to be aware of the math when they make the decision to buy them. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

Actually he didn't. That was his only rig. Care to take another guess? Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

Depends on what your jumping from. We can do you a couple of minutes of zero G before you reenter the atmosphere. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

For about 2 years now I've been sewing almost exclusively with Kevlar thread. I got a couple of spools from AE that are actually much nicer then what I normally get from Saunders. It came out of their R and D lab. It was a solution dyed black. It's a slightly coarser twist but it's got a much nicer coating on it. It runs much nicer through my machines. I haven't had any problems with it. I save it for my zig zags and bar tacks. I'm too small for them to lessen to me but if you were to encourage them to do another run... Just saying, I'd love to get a few more spools of it my self. Got some more ballutes to build. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

I remember some of the worst wear I ever saw. It was back in the day when our tandems had Dacron lines and brass grommets. We got "Smart" and decided to spray silicone on our lines to reduce the wear and prevent friction knots. Insert laughter. It actually seemed to do the opposite. It was a smooth cement floor and the lines picked up every bit of grit off of it. Not only did the lines seem to wear out faster but we went through a whole set of sliders. It wore right through the brass. The finish on Specter seems to hold up better then any other line. I'm not sure if it's the finish or the nature of the line. You know how vectran opens up and gets fuzzy. Spectra just gets that smooth almost polished look. What I'm saying is that I'm not sure if it's the line it self or the abrasive grit that it picks up. Un the other hand think about how rough some of these things are on scissors. Kevlar and some of these related fibers seem to be harder then the steel. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

Yes, and that is precisely the problem. Many of the shells are too hard and there is not enough room between them and the skull. A protect is one of the "best" helmets out there. It sucks. It creates traumatic brain injuries as the brain gets slammed against the side of the skull. You have to absorb the energy. The shell has to fracture like an egg shell and the foam has to have enough room to crush absorbing the energy. It would be better if the helmet shell were on the inside and the foam on the out side of the helmet. You asked what actually works. Well it's not a sky diving helmet. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

Any thing but a sky diving helmet. This is going to sound odd but a good bicycle helmet. One that is reasonable clean. By that I mean not too snag able by risers. Some have large over hangs. There are also some skiing helmets that might also have some actual value. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

I never liked that. None of them have broken. But I never liked the idea of wrapping the junction around the hard wear. At least in the long term. I always wondered if it would be a wear issue. And I'm not sure how I feel about putting that sharp of a bend in the layers after it's sewn. The funny thing is I've actually been thinking about doing something similar but it would be for a disposable part that would be replaced for every flight. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

Now that we have this total velocity standard. What do you think the smallest reserve will be that we will see in the future? I'm assuming that it's measured at the maximum weight that the canopy is approved for. So with the... min maximum requirement in the TSO there should be a practical lower limit to the square footage. And I think it was you that said that the FAA had no intention of permitting another such waver. So, do you think we will ever see another reserve under 126 sq ft? Or will it be more like 143? How many of the optimums needed a waver? The small ones? The very big ones that have a higher max? Interesting how PD managed to sneak this shit in right before every future manufacturer is locked out. Or do you think it's just a product of the design? The trim and the break setting? Maybe it was another compromise that they made along with opening time to allow the canopy to survive at higher terminal speeds? Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

They work particularly well for hard to cut things like Kevlar. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

Of all the containers out there a racer classic is probable one of the least affected by size related compatibility issues. I wouldn't sweet it. Your rigger is probable just bitching because it's a racer. That fact alone is enough to make some riggers bitch and whine about packing it. Tight rigs suck. But with this particular design I think your more likely to physically damage the container by over stuffing it before you compromise it's function. And that is possible. There are stiffeners, grommets, seams on that container that do not take well to being over stuffed strained during packing. But as ugly as those peace's of shit are the one thing I think you can count on with them is that they will open on time. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

The difference in pull force is a product of the coefficient of fiction. Poly ethylene is just a slippery material. The diameter of the loop is a wash. Smaller loop means higher PSI, wider lower PSI. It balances. The snot probable helps. It seems to me to get a little dry and tacky over time. but a lubricant like that would act the same regardless of the material of the loop. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

Keep in mind that cypress loop is not the standard loop material, type 2a is. It often isn't specified so we often used 500 lb or 725 specter. 500 makes a great loop. Then along comes the cypress and all of a sudden you're stuck with their loop. Most rigs do have some form of aad so... And the silicone thing. It because the rig will not open properly if the cutter fires and cuts the loop way down in the tray. It will lock up and total. So they came up with this snot to try to make the system work. End of story. No cutter no need for snot. Some people say that cypress cord has a lower friction coefficient then 2a but since you're evaluating the pull force after you close it that's not really an issue. It just means you may not be able to pack rigs as tight. 500 and 725 are so much stronger and have a much nicer finish, less prone to abrasion or breaking, I think they make great loops. Keep in mind that these are all my personal opinions. In an hour or so when every one else wakes up you'll hear the opposite side of the story. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

Absolutely, Why have a shitty loop if you don't have to? Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

It has been successfully demonstrated that mains are now optional. They're just cheaper then 30,000 boxes. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

You're looking at this from a very limited viewpoint. Many of us jump with out a reserve. Single canopy rigs have become the norm in base jumping. In fact people argue vociferously against containers with reserve. In fact there are objects where it is forbidden to jump a skydiving rig with a reserve. The interesting thing is that reserves were in the past much more common Depending on the area it was very common to see people jump Sorcerers with reserves and mard systems, predecessor of the sky hook only better. And we actually moved away from this system to a single canopy system. And with long delay slider up jumps there really is no difference between that and a sky dive. On many of these jumps you could if you wish open high enough to cutaway and open a reserve like the sorcerer system. All I'm saying is that it's not as cut and dry as you make it out to be. Not to be rude but you still have much to learn about the sky and the wind and all the things with in it. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com