RiggerLee

All the loops I've seen break under sudden load such as impact snaped at the first turn as it passed through the washer. So is it doing it's job of protecting the knot or is it creating an even weaker stress point at the first sharp bend? I'm not sure it really maters the point is it does it's job, does not seem to be a problem, and would you really want it to be that much stronger any way? At some point you're going to just start to bend the pin and you would probably be better off with the loop breaking at that point any way before some thing else failed. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

I'm not sure I understand your question but I'll take a shot at it. I think I understand what you mean by a continous a/b. The normal failure point tends to be at the end of the finger trap where the line ends inside the outer line. I don't know what percentage loss that is and I would be interested if some one has the number handy. That failure point is still there at the top of the line. Are you going to finger trap it through itself and back out right above the conector link? If so you now have the exit point of the fingure trap exposed to the full force. Normaly it's in the section where the end is run double above the bartack and protected from half the force. I'm not sure if there is more loss there from that or the ending inside the line. Even at a cascade the lower line is subjected to twice as much and it of course failes there before it really gets the chance to load exit point. Kind of an interesting question. You might be better off with two seperat lines and not load it that way. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

Brass #8's are noticably lighter then SS. This will slow down the opening. The slider will come down a bit later and a bit slower. There is also less chance of those ocasional bangers. Not saying it's gone but there is less chance of "slider rebound", Not wild about the name of the term, with the lighter grommets. On the other hand in the general sence going to a larger grommet has historicly been known to speed up the opening all other things being the same. Note the canopies with #5 and #7 grommets. However the savings in weight on the slider more then makes up for it when compairing to the SS. The only real down side is you wiil have to change them out from time to time. Use Slinks. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

I finally got around to reading this post. Looking at it from a mearly practical viewpoint the question seems just a bit silly to me. The school packers were always bringing me these little tiney holes in the droges on the tandoms. It's mesh. It's suposed to have holes. It's part of the deffinition. That's what makes it mesh. If it has a few small holes in it it's just better mesh. No, I don't recal a spec on the acepability of repairing holes. Lacking direct guideance from the manufactorer you might actualy have to use your judgement to determin if it is structurealy compermised. In all fairness I have seen perfectly good reserve pilotchute blow to hell. But that at well above adverage speeds. I don't think a quarter inch hole would make any diffrence one way or the other. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

For the record I've seen two risers fail. both broke the tape on the third ring. Both were assimbled correctly. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

I don't know what they'll tell you now over the phone, but after you die they'll be out to shoot your rigger, your family, and your dog. So if you're cool with that go ahead. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

Seven cell. The bottom skin spanwise construction smells like paraflight. crews lite? Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

At Skydive Dallas we're talking about makeing all the packer get there rigging ticket. One option is of course to send them off to get the rubber stamp in the middle of their forhead at one of the crash courses. Another idea we are tossing around is running a rigging course here. We'll use them as a test bed but the idea is to have it as an ongoing project. Basicly a rotating series of lectures every week. We have quite a few riggers here already, some are really good, and it could easily be broken up so that each of us only has to devote one night a month to it. The idea being that it would be open to any one free of charge and that once some one has all of the blocks checked on his card and has 20 pack jobs he wold be ready to be signed off and go take the test. So for example, one month I would spend an evening teaching a sewing class the next month I'd spend an evening lecturing on TSO's. In the mean time Tom would teach a class on packing the Icon and Johny wold do one the Mirage. The basic idea being that over the course of three or four months some one could get a fairly good education and their ticket. It's an idea we were tossing around at safety day. There has been a fair bit of interest. Skydive Dallas is behind it. Their talking about buying several sets of tools and setting up some more sewing machines etc. It's a commitment their willing to make to safety and education. Basicly it's crowing rights for them because I don't think any one else in the country is doing any thing like this. As far as I go... basicly I've been bitching about peoples ignorance long so long that it's eather time for me to put up or shut up. How many of them will actually go on to finish their tickets? I don't know but eaven if they just attend a few evenings it wont hert for them to have a better understanding of their gear. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

As to modifing the slider to adjust openings...That's interesting. First I should point out that one of the easiest ways to change the opening is to change the break setting but here are some other thoughts. If you had a pleated "dome" slider you could put a strap across the center of it in a channel like a kill line but fastened on each end with a fast tec so you could compress it to take the "dome" out of the slider. Another thought is a slightly adjustable slider stop. I'm envisioning something that would slide along a peace of tape and lock in place. Lowering the slider stops is one of the best ways to speed up the opening of a canopy. I can think of at least one canopy that added weights to the slider to try to speed the openings of their canopies. Now it's late at night and I'm just rambaling but hay, we're brain storming right? Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

I've got about twenty slider down jumps from 182's. In all honesty it is a bit rough but survivable. Remember the size trim and break setting are big factures. Small canopies are a smaller wall to hit the air. And let's be honest. I'm just not that bright. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

That in no way implies high deceleration. In fact I'd wager the g forces are much lower. When the mass is that high you can not risk a spike in deceleration. In fact if you were to tag along I'd bet it would be the smoothest ride you ever had. The mass acts as a damper. I wouldn't hesitate to ride along on one of those drops. However brought the whole thing up as just an example of a nonaerodinamic reefing system. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

Some of the most cutting edge designs do not use sliders. A lot of the heavy drop canopies, very large squares, do not use sliders. They are just too big and too complex. Too many cells. The diffrence between cell width and span is too great. Some of them use cutters to stage the opening letting the center spread first and progresively to the out side. This idea is not new it's used in larger rounds as well. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

http://velocitysportswear.com/deluxe-weight-belt.html Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

I worked at Quincy as a rigger for eight or nine years. At times there were up to five of us in one trailer working fairly well around the clock. The detritous that was left at the end of the boogie was always amazing. Wag and I would be there on sunday looking at this stuff... Gear bags, free bags, handles, etc. We were always like, "Where did this come from?" I never understood how we could have so many peaces left over. I mean where did that free bag come from? Shouldn't some body be missing that? Were we really that tired? We would just sweep the whole mess into a pile and cary it over to the lost and found. You would be amazed. You could have equiped a small dropzone with the shit left there every year. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

I'm a little confused. how is this a bad thing? The old rule is the more limiting. it's the old rule that forbid you unless... The new rule doesn't even mention it. You don't have to be granted this power. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

This is one of the classic skydiving t-shirts of all time. Some one has approached us about reprinting this peace of history. Does any one know who originally drew the art work for this shirt and where to find them? There is a signature at the bottom but we can not make it out. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

It would be nice if they could agree and stick to a standard. but even then you have to realize that there arestill a lot of variables. The canopy itself shrinks when you sew it ands not by a little bit. It's a noticable change in the area. The inflated area is a whole nother question. There is a fairly large reduction in span width when it inflates and that can vary with the flight mode. One of the nice things about cross braces is the have less destortion in the wing. So I mean how big is it really? Look, it eather flies or it doesn't Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

Watch out for too much end play. You can start striking the neadle with the hook. It will get dull, cut thread, skip etc. Race should be tight and smooth. Witch out for chips where dumb asses pried the case out. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

When I started we still had round reserves in our student rigs. A dual canopy out was a nothing event. In some ways I beleave this was the safest system. The only true down sides were the wind restrictions and harder lanpings for bigger jumpers. I've often asked people why they jump an AAD and their answer is always, "What if I get knocked out?" They always look at me like I've got a horn growing out of my head when I ask them if they have a round reserve? The 200 lb guy can not grasp that his 126 will not stand him up on it's own when he's knocked out. I laugh some times. Lee And rounds steer fine. We jump them for fun some times. I've never gotten a disc but I've often landed in the peas. Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

I've never needed any of that fancy shit and I've sewn every thing imagionable. I'd go with the singer. The old machines are tanks. Newer machines tend to be shit. Some of them even have plastic gears. I've got four 112/212 up on tables now and have about another dozen heads here. I'll sell you one right now. What gage do you want? Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

I love packing softies. But I did see a problem with them once. A rig came in at Quincy.A Softy. It must have gotten wet. All the lines on the diper absorbed all the water and held it. The fabric of the diper must have been some kind of pollycotton. It totaly rotted. I mean it just wasn't there any more. There was nothing but mildew. It could use an all nilon diper. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

I've seen them give extremely good service to people. I remember early on when they had a recall. They tracked this guy down on the phone. Once he confirmed that he was the owner they said that they were shipping him a whole new unit. He hadn't even heard of the problem much less sent his unit in. They simply asked that he return the first unit when he got a chance. That is not bad service. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

I remember that. I was talking to Bland about that. He was very interested in that at the time. It was aparently pretty spectacular. But to answer your question, No. No one remembers that. I've never had a pilot express any interest or concern when I raised the question of the size or strength of his FAA mandated seat cusion. None of them ever beleave that they will ever have to use it. I really wasn't all that surprised when that phantom blew up. No one seems to respect wingloading or air speed now a days. I'm surprised we haven't seen more problems in skydiving with all the free flying. I mean there's been a few failures but they've mostly been brushed over. With an average life span of 5 years skydiveing has a very short memory. I wonder sometimes what it will take to get people to beguin to act a bit more rationally about their gear. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

Lets be honest here, they're pilots. Their only priorities are that it: 1. Fit in the plane. 2. Not be too lumpy to sit on. 3. Be cheeper then dirt. 4. That someone withen 100 miles will sign it off once a year so that they can pass a ramp check during the season. Good luck convenceing them of the importance of any thing else. Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com

On this last one did the containor have RW7 or RW8 rings? Lee Lee lee@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com