riggerrob

The last time CSPA revised their A certificate gear knowledge requirements, I suggested progressively more complex gear tasks. For example, an A certificate holder needs to know how to pack a main and do pre-flight checks. B should know how do monthly inspections and re-assemble 3-Rings, replace main closing loop, etc. C should know enough to assemble a main canopy from a pile of risers, d-bags, etc.

Llama is a greater chopper. I did a handful of tandem jumps from one and enjoyed them!

On a more practical note: the Relative Workshop has published procedures for converting Vector 2 Tandems for solo freefall students. Basically, you replace the drogue with a hand-deploy pilot-chute.

........ Talk to the manufacturer of the rig to ensure the LPV reserve you're considering is a compatible and recommended fit. -Michael ................................................................... Good point! Over-stuffed reserve containers take longer to close ...... sometimes they take longer to open .....

Silk was used for early hot-air balloons. By the 1890s many barnstormer sewed their hot-air balloons with less-expensive muslin. By World War 1, hydrogen gas required tighter fabric, so gold-beaters-skins were standardized on German Zeppelins. Gold-beaters-skin is made from the intestines of farm animals. Part way through WW 1 the German Army forbade the manufacture of sausages, because all the domestic production of intestines was needed for Zeppelins. Can you imagine a German Army marching without sausages????? Hah! Hah! As for why Zeppelins used hydrogen gas despite its flammability .... ????? Hydrogen gas is readily available in the atmosphere and can be "cracked" with simple cooling towers. OTOH less flammable helium gas is a by-product of the petroleum industry is is only harvested from a few oil wells in the USA. Helium is diminishing resource ( similar to phosphorus) and known reserves may be depleted within my lifetime. On a more amusing note, during WW 2 the United States Navy encouraged thousands of Mid-Western farmers to grow hemp for ropes, sails, etc. After the war, the Drug Administration tried to eradicate hemp for fear that drug addicts would smoke it to get high. The irony is that Industrial grade hemp (rope quality) contains an insignificant amount of the psycho-active drug THC. Feral hemp plants still fill farm ditches throughout the American Mid-West. Hah! Hah! .... and Washington wonders why we call them hypocrits!!! B Hah! Hah!

Pack-opening bands pre-date spiral springs in pilot-chutes. Before reliable spiral springs were installed in MA-1 pilot-chutes, we needed extra, external springs to pull the side flaps away from the pilot-chute and allow it to escape into the wind. GQ Security 150 (pilot emergency parachute introduced circa 1970) was the last significant design with an extra, external spring to assist the pilot-chute in escaping. The primary function of the Security 150's extra spring is to remove the nylon closing loops. Since then we have learned to trust a single MA-1 spiral spring to push the pilot-chute out into the wind. MIL SPEC MA-1 springs push a minimum of 18 pounds.

How many times has that Raven been deployed?

About a decade ago, we tossed a dozen student rigs into a van and told the driver to deliver them from Calgary (3,000 feet above sea level) to Vancouver (sea level). The Vigil 1 AAD 1 remained on. As the van descended towards Revelstoke, the Vigils descended below their "zero" altitude and the driver heard "pop ... pop .... pop!"

..................................... Back during the 1990s, a variety of competitors used weight belts or weight pockets to adjust their fall rates relative to team mates. I have sewn weight pockets into the main containers, back pads and 3-ring covers of Talons and Racers. Whether you wear weights high (reserve container) or low (main container) depends upon how you want to modify your balance ... head high or head low. A few skydivers even wore ankle weights borrowed from scuba divers. Hah! Hah! I just recently sewed a weight belt for a medium-sized woman. I advised her to wear it outside her jumpsuit because we jump so close to the Fraser River.

A license jumpers are not allowed to touch other jumpers in freefall over Canadian DZs. Just do the @&$! paperwork and mail it USPA. Heaven forbid! You might even learn something new while studying for the written exam!

I suspect that the Pioneer Parachute factory (Smith's Falls, Ontario) was the first to make nylon parachutes, but records are difficult to find for a factory that closed many decades ago. I wonder if there are any records in the municipal archives??????

............................................::................... Yes, I have a leather frap hat with the rest of my Tandem Examiner stuff. I only where it while strapped to the front of aspiring tandem instructors.

Backing Chris here ... Standard at most DZs I have worked is to drop first solo (IAD or S/L) jump students with 270-290 square foot mains. After they have demonstrated one or two decent landings under Mantas (288) we switched them to 230s. I have even allowed a couple of petite lady students to jump 230s on their first solo jumps.(IAD).

If we are referring to the North American market ... it gradually shifted from silk to nylon during World War 2 as the Japanese restricted sales of silk made in China and India. All combatent nations restricted civilian sales of strategic materials like silk. Women's silk stockings became expensive and rare. More than one (wartime) bridal dress was sewn from a "surplus" parachute. Keep in mind that silk is "graded" for a variety of uses. Parachute silk needs to be strong and have consistent-sized fibres, but colour is less important. It is rumoured that the Canadian Parachute Industry was the first to convert to nylon. Only a couple of Canadian factories sewed parachutes during WW2: Irvin Industries in Fort Erie and Pioneer in Smith's Falls, Ontario. I have only packed two silk parachutes. They were sewn for the US Navy during 1945. After I re-packed them, they went to a museum.

Earlier today, a wind storm blew down a tree in my back driveway. I was out there sawing through a fallen tree while branches were still falling. What type of helmet should I wear the next time I respond to a disaster? Should it have shiny stripes? Should it have a head-light? Should it have flashing lights? Should it have a shell dressing?

Earlier today, a wind storm blew down a tree so that it blocked the driveway shared by 5 houses. I responded with a saw and machete. 6 of us cleared away the offending tree in 20 minutes.

....................................................................... Shucks! I was hoping that we could carry one extra jumper to help pay the cost of Jet A ... kind of like a Soloy 207. Will your engine conversion be compatible with all the various STOL kits (Wing-X, Sportsman, Flint, Robertson, etc.) Would you do me a favour and make PT6A fuel pump inspections mandatory at every 50 hour inspection?

... Me: "Can I get a flightline check please?" They: "You know we don't have to do that here, right?" Me: "Yup." .................................................................................. Which reminds me of a briefing by a DZO back during the 1970s "If any experienced jumper refuses to check your pins, send him to talk with me." .... meaning that the offender could spend the weekend on the ground.

Thanks for the reminder. We discussed it this week with a local jump-pilot. He was grumbling about having to descend slowly all the way from 10,000 feet (when clouds interfered with jumping). We reminded him that solo AADs are set to fire at 1,000 feet or lower, so all he has to do is fly a regular, predictable, polite landing pattern. As for tandem AADs, we told him to sow his rate of descent before he reaches 2,000 feet. This explanation left him with only 2 altitudes to remember.

Way to go MiniVan! We eagerly await precise numbers. Will the STC also fit a 207?

The key is maintains consistent tension with your hands. The challenge is to maintain consistent tension day in and day out, every day of the week, through varying machine speeds, etc. Pullers are not mandatory, they just make the process more consistent, especially if you have more than one person sewing the canopy. Similar to Jerry, I sewed a couple of kit parachutes (ram-air) with a single-needle sewing machine and they flew straight for hundreds of jumps.

When new variables (new airplane, new DZ, new suit, new helmet, new altimeter, new camera, new jump buddies, new canopy, new dive plan, etc.) add up to 3, I start to thinking about staying on the ground. For example, last weekend, I was helping another DZ by doing a few tandems. Several things had changed since I last jumped there a decade ago: new pilot, new landing field and a tandem rig that I had not jumped in 20 years, so I left my hand-mounted camera on the ground.

.......... If you want a real strong opinion about a reserve ask a Dual Hawk tandem instructor about the Master 425!!! ............................................................. Warning! Tangent! Whadda ya mean? I had a thousand jumps on F-111 tandem mains (Galaxy 400, PD 360 and 421, Pioneer Hi-Lifter 370, Strong 425 and 520) before the SET400 was invented. They opened like freight-trains! After tearing holes in 20 first-generation tandem mains, I quit counting. I also have survived a couple of tandem-terminal Openings on Strong 425 reserves. During my last 425 opening, I strained a muscle in my neck and it never completely healed. ...... which reminds me to stretch my neck and my shoulders and my spine and my knees and my ankles and wonder how I grew this old doing so many silly things as a young man????? Finally .... on the subject of tandem reserves .... after watching the latest video tapes of test drops on Strong 425 reserves and their new reserve (based on the SET 366), I would only buy the new reserve, because it opens more like a PD Optima ... earlier start of inflation, but opening shock is spread over the same 3 seconds, so the human body experiences a more gradual deceleration.

Start with the Minneapolis phone book. Phone all the jump schools and ask them to recommend a local rigger.

......................................................................... Cypres loops typically reduce pull-force to 5 pounds less than their predecessors (Dacron, Kevlar or nylon). The rest is just "cover your ass" legal jargon. The Cypres factory was upset that they set the standard for modern, electronic AADs and gave away thousands of free pockets. Now all their competitors (Argus, Astra, Marrs and Vigil) got a free ride. The Cypres factory is also afraid that an ambulance-chasing lawyer will mention them in a shot-gun lawsuit, when their only involvement was selling a loop to a rigger who installed it with an AAD made by someone else.