riggerrob

That old list probably needs to be updated. If we limit our list to single-engined airplanes that are factory-approved for flight with the door removed (or door ops ned in flight) I can remember: Antonov AN-2 Cessna 170, 172, 175, 180, 182, 190, 195, 205, 206, 207, 208, 210 and L-19 Cresco crop dusters DeHavilland of Canada DHC-2 Beaver and DHC-3 (single) Otter Dornier 27 Finist Fletcher crop dusters Gippsland Airvan Helio Courier and Stallion, but good luck finding a Stallion!!!!! Maule PAC 750 Pilatus Porter and I suspect PC-12 Piper Cherokee 6, Cub and Tri-Pacer Quest Kodiak Yak 12 For the sake of the OP, let's try to limit our list to aircraft that are still flying in significant numbers or working at DZs.

............. That guy is a long way South of Lake Elsinore, near houses.

....... master rigger will end up charging you 300-500 dollars for all the work if it can even be done in the first place. Call the maker of your rig to see if they would allow this modification. Overall this would be a Really Bad Idea ™ in my opinion. ........................................... Agreed. While working at Rigging Innovations, I only cut-down one old Talon. Even with factory drawings, it was still a slow and awkward job. By the time I cut-down the container, replaced a frayed diagonal back-strap, etc. the job cost as much as a second-hand Talon originally sized for a Sabre 170.

Nav Canada

I don't care until they have dreadlocks with BEADS!

For the first 3 months, it is normal to feel "rattled."

You are over-thinking the question. Jump your canopy a few times with the factory setting. Decide which direction to adjust the steering lines (longer or shorter). Adjust steering lines. Jump it a few more times. Decide if you are happy with the new setting.

Wrap your rig in an official, carry-on sized bag that will fit gracefully in over-head luggage bins. Minimize extra gear to avoid over-loading. Include a Cypres card and the FAA letter about AADs.

We have heard this story a dozen times before, including from the RSM of the Canadian Airborne Regiment! Hah! Hah! The cure is to keep an eye on multiple lighter landmarks around the DZ and use multiple landmarks to navigate back to the DZ.

................................................... Yes, I was rambling, but my point is "no blood, no sport." If spectators were at risk of being struck by random tunnel rats falling out of the tunnel, it would make tunnel flying more interesting. ..... sort of like being splashed by the trained mammals at the aquarium. That's it! We allow spectators to sit along the edge of the swoop pond at the next Canopy Piloting Competition. Minor fails would see spectators splashed, while major fails would see spectators suffer the same concussions, cracked femurs and drowning a as competitors! Yeah! Any less blood would be as exciting as watching paint dry!

Yeah! But tunnel cracks don't mess up air traffic controllers .... nor do they awake neighbours from their Sunday morning hang-overs .... nor do they land in spectator-seating .... Wait a minute! If we remove a few Plexiglas panels ..... It would be as exciting as catching fly-balls at baseball games .... Hmmmmmm?

Harvest? Harvest? When did they change the meaning of that word? Why did I not get the memo? When are they going to update my paper dictionary? I am so old that I can remember when "gay" mean "cheerful." I am so old that "fags" were "cigarettes" when I was young.

Promise5, you are correct. Christians like to forget that humans were celebrating harvests and changes of seasons thousands of years before the prophet Jesus was born. Jesus was only born 2,000 years ago, while the human race is hundreds of thousands of years old. Brighter Christians co-opt older traditions to fit the Christian calendar. Look up the English Christian tradition of "All Saints Day" or the Mexican tradition of " Dia de los mistype" (Day of the Dead). Tell your local Christians to pull the pickles out of their butts and celebrate a few-hundred-year-old Christian festival at the end of October. Note that Christian churches routinely celebrate Thanksgiving (mid October in Canada and mid-November in New England) which are "harvest festivals." And if this is purely a matter of "political courtesy" they should dig up Jewish "harvest festivals," Hindu "harvest festivals," Bhuddist "harvest festivals," etc. Any excuse for a party!

Yes, local dialects can be difficult. For example, when I jumped at Strassbourg (local dialects include different French and German spellings) locals said: "You have a cute accent, but it is 300 years" referring to my Québécois pronunciation. Ironically, I have difficulty listening to some French-language radio. Radio Canada dialect is clear and easy to understand, but some of the "popular" talk shows are so full of "filler words" (en tous cas, en ce moment, en autre mots, etc.) that my ears quickly tire and I switch channels. OTOH Swiss-French dialects are easier to understand because they clearly enunciate every syllable. As for spelling ..... written French contains almost as many silent letters as English "@&$!. Spanish is easy to read in comparison! Hah! Hah!

Gowlerk spoke "god's own truth."

....... "They were fucking with you. It's what the French do when you are not French." French Canadians sometimes, too, though most are quite friendly these days. I flew to Quebec City 2 weeks after a vote to secede from Canada failed twenty+ years ago. My colleague and I ordered the exact same meal. He went ballistic when he discovered he was charged 50% more than I. I ordered in broken French...he loudly insisted they take his order in English. When in Rome, do as the Romanians do.

....... security officers involved all agreeing on the decision to put my rig in the hold). I just thought perhaps it's considered less of a risk in the hold because a bomb (that doesn't bring the plane down) would be better to go off in the hold away from the passengers than in the cabin where passengers would surely die regardless of whether the plane is brought down or not. *** ............................................................................. Warped logic at best????? Airplanes are surprisingly fragile. Explosives in the baggage hold can still make them fall out of the sky. Just look at the Air India bombing: 300+ dead. And a Japan-bound flight narrowly missed a similar fate when only baggage-handlers died. May I suggest adding the (American) FAA letter? Lots of skydivers leave a copy of the letter laying inside their luggage, on top of their rig. The FAA letter can be down-loaded from the USPA website.

if it is baglocked, it will fall faster. ................................................................. Yes, Bag-locked canopies fall faster than a jumper hanging under a reserve. I have watched one or two of my male land before me. OTOH wadded up and partially-inflated canopies tend to fall slightly slower than reserves, so they land within a minute and a couple hundred yards (metres for Europeans) of the jittery jumper.

I recently inspected a second harness made with the same batch of hip rings. Much of the cadmium-plating had worn off, but there was no rust. Probably because the second harness had not been dipped in salt water I just received a pair of hip rings from DJ Associates (made 0114). The new rings have shiny cadmium-plating that looks better than the earlier rings.

B-25 Mitchell bomber ... I have never jumped it, but did drop a stack of rubber dummies from it. Only skinny teenagers can access the bomb-bay. If would ask the pilot if he is willing to remove the hatch and ladder leading the the amidships gunners' stations. That would allow you to drop straight through the floor, immediately aft of the bomb-bay. If you are not too fussy about seat-belts, you could stand a half dozen skydivers in that cabin. Oh! And before you jump, ask a British paratrooper about the finer points of "ringing your bell!" Hah! Hah! However, the most fun seat in the B-25 is the tail gunners'! Quite the rush sitting on a belt watching the runway recede during take-off! Sorry, but balance issues only allow one person in the tail turret per take-off.

..............................................................Amazing how Stilettos went from being the hottest canopy on the market to the docile canopy mainly jumped by POPS. Hah! Hah! Mind you, Stilettos were the first - or second - elliptical canopy to hit the American market and we had to un-learn a few bad habits .....

Yes John, Like you, I have had dozens (?) hundreds of students jam my head I to the ceiling, door frame, underside of the wing, etc. For the first few years, I tried to lead by example by wearing a leather trap hat, but I got slapped in the ears by too many risers. That is why I wear a hard shell helmet. When young TIs ask me about helmets, I recommend full-face to protect their jaws, but with the visor removed to allow them to talk with students after opening. As for student helmets .... For decades, I followed Strong Enterprises dogma about putting leather helmets on students. Now I regard student helmets as more of a way to keep lawyers off my back. After my last encounter with personal injury lawyers, I feel like an Afghan "tea boy!" As we watch the cycles of fashions on student gear, I keep seeing "last year's fashion" for licensed jumpers becoming "this year's fashion" for student jumpers: cheapos, Lopos, Para-Commanders, belly-bands, B-12 Snaps, Quick-Ejector Snaps, Pioneer twin zipper jump-suits, French para-boots, Expert Cypres, hockey helmets, frap hats, etc. Once the sky-gods have sold all their second-hand gear, fashions for students change again. Ho hum!

I thought we eliminated that problem a couple of years ago. First, we assigned different flight paths for wing-suiters and freefallers. Secondly, we made it unfashionable for wing-suiters to use tandems as "pylons" on their way back to the DZ. IOW we banned wing-suiters from "buzzing" tandems.

I doubt if vibration alone would cause a coating fatigue failure on a soft handle. Soft coatings (Teflon or nylon) have great resistance to fatigue failure. OTOH Stainless steel cable fatigues far quicker. The tighter the bend, the more likely the fatigue failure. Just look at the large radii used to install control cables in light airplanes. Cessnas use the same stainless steel cables as ripcords are made of. Stainless steel control cables last about 50 years. Similarly, burying a swage inside a soft cutaway handle reduces smooths the flex arc as the cable exits the swage, extending the cable's fatigue life. Worst-case scenario is a steel cable exiting a steel handle, with a sharp edge on the steel handle. The sharp edge forces the cable to flex through a narrow arc, increasing the risk of fatigue failure.

That is a normal 5,000 snap, properly connected to a Strong Dual Hawk Tandem, the correct way. Rob Warner Strong Tandem Examiner FAA Master Rigger