masterrigger1

Was it in a Mirage? MEL Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com

About 600-800 jumps is usually time to replace them. With that said you are about 200 jumps early. What is the weight range you are jumping with these canopies? MEL Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com

*** Oh yeah, all the services still use the old reliable C9 28' canopy as the emergency bailout rig. Harness and containers vary from the B12 but are basically the same rig as back in the '60's. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's this then ? (hint : only bailout qualified for use on a P-3) Quote It may br the only rig now used in the P-3, but other rigs were, and still are, qualified to be used in the P-3. You have to remember that the the P-3 was brought out in the '60's and the rig shown was not available until the mid to late late "90's. MEL Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com

Looks like Eagle Flight in Granbury, TX.... Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com

As far as I'm concerned risers are main canopy gear. Seriously again, it does not matter if it is a main or not. An owner without any rigger certificate is only able to do (legaly) minor cleaning and assembly/disassembly needed for transportation and a couple of other little things. Reference AC-105-2C, paragragh 11,f. did show the FAA's intent on this subject. *** The thing that straddles the issue is called an RSL. Quote I'm thinking the "thing" that straddles the issue are people that work without a certificate or the ones that are working outside the privileges of a lesser certificate! MEL Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com

I was back treading through the thread and saw this. The answer is in paragraph 13,A of the document I posted above. And the reason that a senior rigger cannot do this work is that he or she does not have the proper certificate to do the work. It is no different than if a SEL (Single Engine Land)certificated pilot is flying solo in a twin engine (that they own) without a MEL certificate. (Multi-Engine Land). Both would be operating outside of their certificate privileges. MEL Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com

*** somewhat like " ....up to and including the cutaway (release) system....... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just to play the devils advocate, how would sewing loops at the top of the risers effect the rings at the bottom? Quote ......and back at ya..... who said the loops would affect the rings in the first place?! On a serious note, about 2 months ago, I had a customer complaining about a couple of frayed lines near the top of his risers. The lines were 600 lb Technora and I had never seen this kind of fraying and was totally bewildered. That was until I looked at the other riser.... He had installed a GPS locating device on the right riser with none other than a couple of large Ty-Wraps.These Ty-wraps were cut at an angle and sharp as a razor blade. He was also using a pull up cord to tie the risers together for packing.During packing, the sharp edge was cutting the lines little by little. I guess no one would dispute that this was going to affect airworthiness in short fashion. It is also noted in Chapter 136 that it is a Master rigger's responsibility to make alterations. It does not matter if it is a TSO'd componet or not. Cheers, MEL Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com

Jerry, There was some verbage ( I do not have the time to find it now) regarding this issue. somewhat like " ....up to and including the cutaway (release) system....... I think it was in 23-E ???? If you look at TSO 23-D, it rquires you to label all of the sub-assemblies maybe they consider the cutaway sytem a sub-assembly, ...maybe not..... Anyway in the old Inspector's handbook, Chapter 136 was pretty vivid that it was not included. see attached: MEL Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com

My whole point is that you do not give out bad advice regarding not sewing fingertraps..period. It is straight up,bad advice and dangerous. If someone is too lazy to spend 20-30 seconds to rip out a simple bartack or other sewn method, then he/or she needs to do something else in this world IMHO! They are not the majority. The other few dozen manufacturers and the hundreds of riggers out in the field are the majority. Most tend to use the tensile strength name that the braiders use. This eliminates confusion amongst the majority BTW. Actually in earlier years, they just used a Singer 20U.... Then progressed to bartackers, and finally to programable bartackers. Cascades. I'm very aware of the diffrences between a cascaded and and uncascaded line set. Based on your commit I think I have a better grasp of the math then you. That is in fact why I recomended that he beguin by playing with a non cascaded line set. It's actually much simpiler. What you are trying to say is... half right. It's not about the CG of the canopy. What it's actually about is the pressure distrobution across the airfoil. If you look at the coeficent of pressure across the airfoil you can basicly look at the lift distrobution along the cord line. This can be set of in a statics model if you were so inclined but mostly people do it by rule of thumb. The bitch of it is that the Cp changes across the airfoil as you change angle of attack. This can change the load on the cascade and bend and destort the airfoil. Cascades are actually a bad thing. We really shouldn't have them in our canopies but it's a compermise betweed drag and a lot of spigetti and the stability of the wing. That's what we're really talking about. As you go from a non cascaded line set to one with cascades yes, the lengths do change. As an example when you cascade a line set the B line is almost the same but the A actually gets a bit longer. The B actually has a bit more load on it in flight and pulls the cascade to the rear. The down side of this is that when the canopy comes to a higher angle of attack, eg. durring flare, the pressure distrobution changes and the load on the A line increases and it actually tips the nose up by distorting the airfoil as the cascade shifts. The CG does not chang relitive to the 1/4 cord point of the canopy the airfoil just bends in a bit of a z. It's suttle but there. It's enough that you can actually improve the performance of a canopy at higher angles of attack by removing the cascades on the A/B lines. Yes, this means tweeking the trim in the revers of what I described before. A lines get shorter. But some times it can be worth it to do this at least on say the center part of the canopy. Again it's a compromise. Is that a bit clearer? Would you like me to send you a presure diagram? I was trying to avoid confusing the poor guy. So Like I said. Maybe he should just start out with a nice non cascaded line set. Nice and simple. Easy to adjust. Easy to play with. ... I too excelled in math at a very early age. ...and also, actually went to school believe it or not! I think you are tooting your own horn just a little too much IMHO! MEL Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com

Lee, You gave the OP a flaming because he did not wear a helmet and then you turn around and give out bullshit info! WTF!!! This is a good example. We do not need someone out there to read this and actually go try it because the finger trap can work loose during packing and deployment if not sewn. Glide path did some thing like this for years on dacron line. Basically I'm saying that I'd build my self a set of non cascaded "test lines" pre marked at various trims. Left unsewed at eather the top or bottom. .... *** This is the final clue that you do not have one! There are major differences in a casscaded line set and a non-casscaded one. Casscaded line set uses line length AND the intersects of the B and D lines to set up the CG of the canopy. Non-casscaded line sets use just total line length to achieve the same. Therefore, the dimensions should be different for each. Playing with this stuff is dangerous and should be treated as such. The last thing we need is someone to go in because of mis-information and there is a ton of it in this thread. MEL Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com

Here you go..... Cheers, MEL Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com

A tid bit of history here: The Nova 7 was an actual reserve canopy that never went into full production. It was in fact, TSO'd and a few were built! Chris Gay had a 77 sq ft model IIRC. Quite the swoop machine BTW! MEL Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com

It might be a big deal. If the tip came off, that means that the raw edges of the clamp are binding against the fabic somewhere on the canopy! The next move would be to stop the pack job, then hang and inspect the canopy for damage from the raw edge. Also remember that some manufacturers prohibit the use of clamps on their products. MEL Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com

I would but I an still on the East Coast and actually heading North for the weekend. As soon as I get back to the Left Coast, I will be down to visit though. ...and it will not be the first time I've jumped there either! Have fun out there! MEL Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com

Rob, I agree if you are talking about H/C work, but not if you are speaking of canopy work. The correct size needle for canopy fabric, if using E thread (size 69), is a 16-18 size needle. The correct size needle for canopy fabric, if using B thread (Size 46), is a 14-16 size needle. http://www.thethreadexchange.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=TTE&Category_Code=nylon-thread MEL Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com

Well you would be very wrong. A Senior rigger here in the USA is simply that! But do you believe that Senior riggers have limited privleges compared to a Master rigger? It seems not by reading your posts. That is correct. If you have a back rating you CAN pack any back type rig out there. I will ask you this one question. When you took the Oral and Pratical exam, have many different back types did you have to pack to get that rating, that exact day. I will answer that for you...one... That is if the Examiner went by the PTS as he or she should have been. The bottom line is tha the test standards are set to establish minimum learning objectives for the rigger candidate. These standards are not specific to any one rig out there. One goal of the PTS is to establish ewhether or not the applicant can interpet instructions correctly. If he or she can, then they should be able to correctly pack ANY back rig out there and be somewhat confident in their rigging ability. Also, these test standards recently have gone through a major change and all DPRE's should have re-submitted new test plans by now to their FSDO. You might have a point there. But rarely does someone show up to a week long course that has absolutely no previous rigging experience. MEL Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com

Wow! Pins and Cones! MEL Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com

First, you are confused to think that the pin is swinging "up". It is swinging or rotating around into the 90 degree fold caused by the velcro mating and the main flap. Think about it like this. The compression of the main flap, along with the 90 degree turn of the bridle, makes a little fold that sits just in front on the pin. The main pin flap will not allow that fold to move, so the pin sometimes just goes throgh it. Another thing to think about is that we never had this issue with looser fitting main flaps. Now we do. MEL Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com

It is pretty simple. The main flaps have become tighter and more compressive to the bridal/pin assembly. So when the pin rotates during via a pilot chute extraction. the flap becomes a "Backing Board" if you will. If you look at the picture in the UPT link, you will notice the distance of the velcro tab (which is now covered) and the pin relevant to the mouth of the main tuck tab closure. This short distance and and bridal/pin compression by the flap is the culprit IMHO. So if you have a rig that has the same issues, you might want to change to a below the flap packing method on the next pack job. BS, MEL Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com

Maybe the rigger is not a Master Rigger which would be required since it is a change to the original manufactured configuration... Also, some riggers will send complicated repairs to the factory as they may not have the skill sets, machinery, or both needed to do the work. Actually, the rigger sounds heads up to me! BS, MEL Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com

Rob, Have you actually packed a Seven Container? The reason being is that the Seven's design is totally different than all the rigs that you just listed. BS, MEL Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com

You can specify that the bags come without the velcro and sewn shut. Skydive Carolina has them delivered that way from Strong. We would order them that way, but I usually forget to tell them when I place the order for new ones. We just sew them together before the first use. Simply stack the canopy like you would if using the Velcro, slide the canopy about 12-14 inches toward the container, place the D-bag where the canopy was before you moved it, place canopy on TOP of the D-bag, and them simply pull the bag around the canopy. Works great everytime! ...and with less maintenance and repair costs to me!!! Cheers, MEL Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com

We have that capablity here to build bothhere. I received the factory line files about a year ago. BS, MEL Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com

Agreed that the Lightning opened hard as did the Pursuits. But to be number one it would have to open hard enough to severe a main lift web and then some! MEL Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com

#1 - Sabre II It is the only canopy that has opened hard enough to severe a main lift web to my knowledge. ....at least Twice IIRC.. #2 - Is a tie between the Spectre and the Triathlon #3 - Sabre I #4 - Monarch #5 - Nova MEL Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com