riggerrob

Flat-pack is probably specified in the old military manual. If I remember correctly, MC4 was introduced before PRO-packing became the norm among civilian skydivers (mid 1980s). I have PRO-packed hundreds of tandem canopies that are similar in size to MC4 canopies. They all opened fine.

Disagreeing with Albert Berthold, but agreeing with gowlerk BECAUSE I was injured during the crash of a poorly-maintained, American-registered Beechcraft King Air back in 2008. The problem started with an American AME neglecting a Special Inspection published by Pratt & Whitney. The SI required inspecting fuel pumps for a known problem with shafts gauling and rusting. The inspection schedule was TIGHT on single-engined airplanes (Cessna 208 Caravan, PAC750XL, Pilatus Porter and Quest Kodiak) powered by PT6A engines, but a looser inspection schedule on twin-engined airplanes (Beechcraft King Air, DHC-6 Twin Otter and Embraer Bandierante) ... pretty much half of the American fleet of jump planes. In my case, the AME inspected one fuel pump, but not the other. At 4500 feet, we heard 2 weird "bangs" from an engine. The weird noises were blamed on a surging fuel pump. The pilot shoved the nose down to maintain airspeed, but accidentally shut of the good engine. He was smart enough to keep wings level and maintained enough airspeed to maintain control and set us down in a farmer's field a kilometer from a runway at Pitt Meadows, B.C., Canada. A contributing factor was the pilot neglecting annual refresher training in a simulator. Canada's Transportation Safety Board concluded that the crash was caused by BOTH maintainer neglect and pilot neglect. A contributing factor was that the engine was operated "on condition" well past Beechcraft's schedule. Both Beechcraft and P&WC have announced that jump planes cannot be operated "on condition" because jump-plane operations are so radically different than the mission that the airplanes were originally designed for. A typical jump-plane does 3 or 4 up-and-down cycles per hour while business planes might do 2 or 3 flights per day. I never completely recovered from my physical injuries (e.g. my right shoulder aches today), but the long-term financial and psychological damages were worse. While Canadian Air Regulations and American Federal Air Regulations are almost identical, they differ in enforcement. Just last week, a pair of Transport Canada inspectors showed up at Campbell River at the start of a boogie (Operation Pegasus Jump). They looked over the paper-work and airplanes and found no glaring errors. The only thing that Skydive Campbell River staff had to do was remind jumpers to wear seat-belts. A few friends have tried to import American-registered airplanes to Canada, but found tens of thousands of dollars worth of maintenance neglected. While the better-managed jump-planes (Perris Valley, California and Kapowsin, Washington) are treated like investments and retirement funds and are well-maintained, not all DZOs can think that far ahead. Poorly-managed DZs need to bring their airplane maintenance and pilot refresher training up to the same standards as commuter airlines. The only suggestion that I disagree with is about installing flight data recorders. Modern GPS trackers are smaller and simpler and more helpful when trying to understand crashes.

Probably still airworthy as long as you keep the wing-loading well below 1 pound per square foot. Like most canopies made of F-111 fabric (pre-zero porosity). Back then no-one regularly loaded canopies much more than 0.7 pounds-per-square foot. WARNING: exceeding more than 0.7 pounds-per-square-foot will result in injuries on most F-111 canopies. IOW F-111 canopies can only be jumped at 1 pound-per-square-foot when new. They soon lose/gain porosity so after 50 jumps, it would be unwise to load them too heavily.

Gear sales typically require a rigger to do a full inspection. This protects both the buyer and the seller physically and financially. First an full inspection confirms that all of the gear is fully airworthy ... keeping the buyer alive. Secondly, riggers often act as neutral third parties in financial transactions. When I worked for Square One (Perris Valley, California) I was the middle=man in dozens of used gear sales. Basically, the seller left it with Square One - on consignment. SQ1 riggers inspected and repacked the reserve, AAD and harness/container. We also did a full inspection on the main. We also completed any minor repairs or Service bulletins. That was about $120 in labour. Then the rigger wrote a report and handed the report to sales staff, who shared the report with both buyer and seller. Once money changed hands, SQ1's sales department shipped the gear to the buyer. Since then I have acted as middle-man in dozens of other gear sales. People know better than to try to sell ratty old gear through me because I have a reputation as a narrow-minded, control-freak of a fascist when it comes to parachute repairs. I have also refused to be involved in a few deals that would have seen a tiny parachute sold to a junior jumper. Riggers have to look out for the health of their junior customers if they want repeat business next year.

We banned tobacco from Rigging Innovations because we did not want new-production Talons to smell of stale cigarette smoke.

My personal record is 14 tandem jumps in a single day. Mind you, some of my tandem colleagues brag about doing more than 20 tandems in a day. When I worked at Victoria Skydivers, the norm was 6 per day. At Skydive Kangaroo, Hinckley, Hemet, and Pitt Meadows, we routinely did 8 tandems per day. At Snohomish, the routine was a dozen tandems per day. With tandems it is like doing the same jump a dozen times in a row because the dive plan is always the same. The only thing that changes is the size of the student. On good days I can even remember the names of my students. It REALLY helps when someone else is packing.

His mother speaks the truth!

I modified my Vector I with magnetic riser covers and made hundreds of jumps in that configuration. The only problem was them opening when I was sideways to the wind while dispatching IAD students. Magnetic riser covers always reclosed themselves when the side wind was eliminated. If I had to modify the rig again, I would install three layers of magnets, like more modern Vector 3. # layers meaning one layer on the rise cover and double layers on the yoke.

There was a packing course at Campbell River a couple of weeks ago. If you live in Vancouver, your best option is to contact the DZ at Abbottsford. If you tell me exactly where you live, I might be available for private lessons during evenings, etc. Hint: I live at the corner of 6th and 6th in New Westminster, but work near the north end of Boundary Road.

Well spoken! When two or more social critics say essentially the same thing ... then maybe ... just maybe ... they speak the truth. Sorry, but I spent last week at a reunion of military veterans (Operation Pegasus Jump 2023 at Campbell River Skydive Center) and military veterans tend to live on the conservative side of politics, religion, sexuality, etc. The attitude spoken most often was "I don't care who you want to %$#@! just don't shove your sexual preferences down my throat." When I said "I have not need-to-know about your sexuality until you invite me into your bed." was greeted with smiles and nods.

"Religion or science? What is your best guess?" is the title of a sermon that I wrote a while back for a Unitarian/Universalist Church. The book of Genesis was a "best guess" based upon early Jews' limited understanding of physics, history, cosmology, etc. Fast forward to modern quantum physics and I remain cynical. My brain only grew as far as the Newtonian Physics needed to fix and fly airplanes, parachutes, kayaks, etc. I understand that Newtonian Physics are not enough to explain the inner workings of atoms. I also predict that some of current Quantum Physics will be laughed at 50 years in the future because current scientific thinking is still only a "best guess." On another note, when trying to determine whether light came before water, etc. in the book of Genesis, remember basic Newtonian Physics says that solids, liquids, gases and plasma (aka, light) are based upon the same materials/elements, just at different energy levels (aka. excitation levels). There is a logical progression from solid to liquid to gas to plasma. Finally, my suspicion is that the Big Bang Theory is just a simplified and shortened explanation for vast waves of expansion and contraction. These waves are far too huge for the human mind to comprehend. ... so we read simplified explanations in the book of Genesis or the Big Band Theory. I also suspect that the Big Bang Theory was written to passify the Christian Bible-Thumpers who needed a version of science that supports the Holy Bible.

You are quoting Canadian Professor Jordan Peterson (clinical psychologist) in that he perceives the current fad for trans-gender surgery to be a fad. A fad like teenagers cutting their own skin .... a fad the Salem Witch Hunts ... a fad like another dozen religious crusades .... a fad like a variety of religious jihads ... a fad like the Flat Earth Society ... a fad like disco music ....

The Christian "New Testament" mainly quotes sermons that were originally spoken in the Aramaic language that was spoken in Palestine 2,000 years ago. Then some of the Bible was translated into Greek (the dominant language of scholars) then some was translated into Latin (precursor to modern Italian) then Wycliffe, etc. translated the Bible into English. Parts of meanings were lost every time the Bible was translated. Then Wycliffe staff translated the Bible into hundreds of little-known languages ... and the process continues ....

The good news is that child molesters get all the sex they could want AND MORE while in prison. Too bad they are "catching" instead of "pitching." CAUTION: dark humor.

Agreed! I learned how to drive in an M113.5 Lynx back when the USSR was still considered evil. Sending M113s to Ukraine would reduce the number of Ukrainian infantry casualties. Remember that this is a war of attrition where Russia can afford to lose hundreds of thousands of soldiers while Ukraine cannot replace their casualties. The Canadian Army learned this lesson during the summer of 1944 and responded with Kangaroo APCs. Several retired American generals have opined that sending M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine might be a bit of a "white elephant." The last thing the Ukrainian Army needs is a new supply chain for M1 Abrams, plus a new supply for British-supplied Challengers, plus a new supply chain for Leopards, plus a new supply chain for ......

I watched the latest "Mission Impossible, Dead Reckoning Part 1" over the weekend and rather enjoyed it. The film is a rollicking chase scene involving enough stunts to hold the attention of even jaded old me. The only room for improvement would be a bit more proximity-flying with his speed-wing. Final credits included BASE pros "Alaska" John Devore and Miles Dasher.

Stocking shelf-stable foods is a good start. A few years back I was injured in a plane crash and unable to work for 5 months. Then I needed knee surgery and was unable to work for 15 months. Both times my stock-pile of canned food and dried pasta kept me alive. I may have lost 60 pounds during the second crisis, but the key point is that I survived both crises because of food stock-piles. Your second level of stock-piles should include tools and books on how to use those tools. Somewhere along the way it helps to have like-minded friends.

They died because the TI wasted too much altitude trying to attach the shoulder hooks. A few other TIs have made the same mistake BUT they quickly realized the error of their ways and tossed out that giant decellerator ... the main canopy. They landed with their students hanging from the 2500 pound MBS side hooks .... had embarassing conversations with their local TIEs ... did a bit of refresher training and resumed work. The key take-away is that when you have a problem, often the best solution is deploying your main canopy.

This is a very old video. It looks like the harness/container is a Vector II and Vector II production stopped around the turn of the century ... when RWS/UPT introduced the Sigma tandem system. My last jump on a Vector II was before COVID (circa 2018) and that was one of the last Vector IIs still working in Canada.

I am still on this thread, but my last Delta II jump was 40 years ago.

I am not a good source - of advice about BASE gear - since my last BASE jump was in 1986. I wore stock skydiving equipment. The only change was a larger pilot-chute and spider slider. The larger pilot-chute helped at low airspeeds. I believed that the 4-grommet spider slider helped keep line groups separate and neat. Multiple generations of BASE gear have been built since then.

6-holed sliders were more valuable back when bulky Dacron suspension lines were fashionable on tandems. Those bulky Dacron lines got even more bulky as they absorbed desert dust and became increasingly fuzzy as they aged. Only the best of packers could minimize tension knots in Dacron suspension lines. They had to walk the lines up at least 3 times to even tension.

The 'Inventory of tattoos" is to help identify the corpse after you hook-turn yourself into the morgue. Hah! Hah! Caution: black humor.

Angie impressed us with her seminars on tandems during PIA 2023.

6 grommet sliders were briefly standard on tandem canopies sold by United Parachute Technologies.