riggerrob

Both #4 and #5 grommets work well to route bridles out of sport d-bags. The difference is how much they squeeze kill-line bridles. Too much squeeze equals shorter bridle life. Be thankful that we quit using #8 grommets. Hah! Hah! Can anyone remember why we used to use #8 grommets on d-bags?

That canopy is a Butler HX series and was packed by Judy Celaya ... long-time USPA and FAI judge.

Both Butler and Para-Phernalia use conventional reserve toggles when they install square canopies in PEPs. The only unusual thing is when Butler installs squares in seat-type PEPs, then he extends the lower steering lines ... so that the tail is the same relative height (to the A-lines) as it would be when packed into a back-type container.

................................................................................. Not sure where you got that number. P-124A 280 packs about the same size as a 280 square foot ram air reserve, roughly the same volume as a 26' Lopo round reserve.

Jerry, The steering lines on Precision P-124A canopies are factory set at around half brakes. All the suspension (including brake) lines are attached to Maillon Rapide links ... top of risers ... The steering lines are inserted a few inches above the M.R. connector links. When you pull steering lines to shoulder height, the canopy turns slightly slower than a Manta. If you try to pull a steering toggle below shoulder level, toggle pressure increases dramatically and it is difficult to pull toggles to hip level. If anything, toggle-flaring a P-124A was more difficult than doing rear-riser flaring a Manta. If anyone doubts my arm strength, I did 30 tandems the month before (the Aviator test jumps) on Strong 425 and 520 mains, usually with larger students. As for the debate about whether it is better to land straight down or slide ... I have over 4,000 tandem jumps and much prefer to slide landings. The worst landings are backwards.

Yeah! Whatever betzilla said. Her trick (of loosening the lark's head knot) means that you only have to cut through 1 layer of suspension line. I tend to use the end of my hemostats to loosen lark's head knots. I use a pair of Kevlar scissors that I got from a friend of a friend of a friend who used to work for Lockheed Martin .... after I showed him a rigging trick.

................................................................. The FAA tries to do background checks on commercial pilots. The FAA insists that applicants report any recent DUI's drug-smuggling charges, etc. when they update their medical. Failing to report criminal convictions, DUIs, etc. is considered lying to the federal gov't and is grounds for denying an FAA medical. IOW the FAA tries to hold TIs to the same standard as airline pilots. The general public expects TIs to perform to the same standards as airline pilots, bus drivers, cooks and staff at DisneyWorld.

Mr. fencebuser, I really do not care about you or your political record ... since I am not planning to vote in the next USPA election ... since I don\t live in the USA ... and have not paid USPA membership during the last 15 years. I was trying to warn you that if USPA becomes the sole certifying authority for TIs, then USPA will stand alone in court. Forget about standards, blame, etc. because lawyers always go after the money and USPA has a reputation for settling $10,000 lawsuits outside of court. OTOH If USPA is only one of several players in the TI certification process, lawyers will soon lose interest and chase after "the Uninsured Relative Workshop" etc.

Enjoying this debate .... Jerry, May I counter your point about "... pilots not being used to forward speed ...."? I contend that pilots are familiar with forward speed, gliding approaches, flaring, etc. Just the other day, I was discussing with a tandem instructor how to brief helicopter pilots for tandem jumps: "Just tell then that it is like auto-rotations. Toggles work like rudder pedals for directional control and grab a fist-full of collective just before touch-down." Rather it is old riggers who need to be re-trained. Parachutists and balloonists are the only aviators who are comfoartable with landing backwards. As for refusing to repack C-9s for old pilots .... HAH! Many years ago, they learned that the best airplanes were built for the United states Air Force, the best engines were radial engines, the best wheels were tail wheels, the best instruments were round and the best parachutes were round and don't waste your time trying to tell them anything new. The scary part is young riggers and young skydiving instructors trying to teach pilots how to use round PEPS when those young jumpers have never seen a round main because round mains disappeared form North American DZs 25 years ago (circa 1990). How can they pretend to teach something they have never seen in operation? ... Yes, I know that I ask embarrassing questions ....

Riggerlee, We agree on most of those points, ... so I will only belabour the points we disacree on. Pack volume: a 290 square foot P-124A canopy packs about the same volume as a 26 Lopo (750 cubic inches). Strong Lopos are my minimum standard for PEPs. All the round canopies certified in the low-speed category pack smaller, but who takes them seriously any more?????? I am really hoping that all those wimpy, warmed-over, light-weight, low-speed round reserve canopies sewn during the 1980s would quietly disappear. Ooops! Did I just sound like Manley Butler circa 1990? Hah! Hah! I don't even have bromocreasol or tensile testing clamps any more. Yes, C-9s pack larger.14 x 16 x 4 inches for a typical seat-pack. The key advantage of P-124a over any round is the angle of arrival. For the last few million years, primates have trained to land straight down or with a bit of forward movement. Ask any old para-trooper if he hates backwards PLFS .... Ask the tandem instructor why they quit jumping when winds reach 26 knots gusting suicidal .....

.................................................................................. I have only done low-speed, hop-and-pops from a slow Cessna while live-jumping P-124A 290 canopies. Openings were smooth and comfortable, slightly quicker than popular F-111, seven-cell mains (Cruislite, Strato-Cloud, etc.). At the fast end of the scale, we dropped P-124As from a B-25 Mitchell bomber all week. The Mitchell could only fly 205 knots with the bomb-bay doors open and it did not climb above 300 feet AGL. We started with a stock rubber torso dummy, then strapped on extra lead weights at each stage of testing. We kept strapping on more and more lead ingots until we ran out lead ingots and daylight. We never tore a P-124A. All those openings were QUICK!!! They were all fully-inflated, slider down before touch-down. Not sure if my neck would want to do more than one high-speed opening per day with P-124As. In conclusion, I now believe that all PEPs should contain large, docile square reserves in the 200 to 300 square foot range, similar to what we loan to first (solo) jump students.

I regard the Bible as a simplified version of the truth as understood by ancient Jews. Jesus Christ added to knowledge. The prophet Mohammed added to knowledge. The jewish scholar Moses Mohammedes (sp?) added to that knowledge. The founder of the Bahaii faith added to that knowledge. etc. etc. Why does this osudn like a 600 year cycle of the prophets? No single faith has all the answers. Limiting your knowledge to one book limits your knowledge of the human race/planet/cosmos, etc.

Yes, You can buy ammo that is cheap, reliable or accurate ... pick any two. The other feeding issue is the wide rim on .22 ammo. You need to load rimmed ammo so that rims are stacked with round #1 always ahead of round #2, #3, #4, etc. Similar to loading any weapon with .303 British ammo and lots of the older pistol cartridges.

... if you wanna go really cheap get the .22, but that isn't gonna stop anyone unless you empty the entire magazine within 5 feet range. ... .................................................................................. Anyone who takes your cavalier attitude to a pistol range .. had better be on a different range than me. ... .22 caliber is the preferred weapon of professional assassins. Small pistols are easy to conceal and carry within range of VIPs. One .22 bullet to the head will kill/cripple an adult. One .22 can cause the victim to bleed out through an artery.

Ugly! Too bad Pete did not "accidentally drop his scissors" on that harness. That harness should be grounded. As for trying to sell it ... that borders on man-slaughter ....

I am agreeing with rmarshall. I am a grumpy, old, grey-bearded master rigger who did his first jump on a C-8 back in 1977. Since then I have C-9, T-10, CT-1, three jumps on round reserves and 1.5 jumps on a Crossbow (high-performance round). I earned a couple of sets of military jump wings, but did my last jump on a round canopy in 1986. Most warbirds need canopies that are certified for faster deployment speeds than C-9s. Yes, I know that the US Navy has proved that C-9s can survive 600 knot deployments ... but the users do not enjoy the opening shock!!!! For deployment speeds faster than 150 knots, you really need a slider ... or more complex reefing device. While working for Butler and Para-Phernalia, I sewed diapers onto hundreds of C-9s. They were sewn during the 1990s, so they came from the factory with 4-line release standard. For decades, C-9 was the only canopy compatible with the faster warbirds, but C-9s are obsolete compared with two new canopies specifically designed for Pilot Emergency Parachutes. My attitude towards PEPs changed radically when I live-jumped the Precision P-124A (290 square feet) ram-air canopy that comes standard with the Aviator PEP made by Rigging Innovations. After three test-jumps, I got bored with fine tuning toggles and did a couple of landings hands-off, down-wind, in the weeds surrounding Lake Elsinore. Both those landings were softer than most of my "round" landings. The key difference was the angle of arrival. I slide, rather than pile-driving my spine. The other modern canopy is the "HX" series introduced by Butler in 1997(?). This line of sliderized, round canopies is specifically designed for the high-speed (faster than 150 knots) warbird market. They are also available in a variety of sizes to accommodate (land softly) well-nourished", elderly warbird owners oft enough to walk away from the landing.

.................................................................................. Please ignore Mr. Stayhigh's attempt at humour. All you will gain will be holes in your toes. Even though I fired a wide variety of weapons during my military service, I recently took an RCMP-approved Firearms Acquisition License course and learned a few things. When playing with firearms or propellers, you can never know too much. Start by asking your local gun-shop about local ranges and attend a course or three given by your local gun club/range. My first purchase would be a .22 rifle for plinking. Once you get safe and accurate with a .22 rifle, then go to a gun range that rents out various sizes and try a few pistol caliber carbines (9mm, .38 Special, .357 Magnum, .45 ACP, etc.). Once you get accurate with a pistol-caliber carbine, consider learning how to shoot a pistol. Again, start with a .22 caliber pistol, then eventually move up to full-bore pistols (.38 Special, .37 Magnum, 9mm, .45 ACP, etc.). After that, chew the fat with other shooters that you meet at the range and consider your long-term goals: plinking, home defense, hunting, trap competition, etc.)

... I am planning to run for the Board in the coming election and, if I am elected I will be the voice of the skydivers who believe our organization spends too much time worrying about manufacturers and not enough time making skydiving more inviting for the weekend fun jumper. ................................................................................ Fine! The logical solution is for USPA to completely take over the process for training and administering tandem instructors ... instead of those silly manufacturers like the Uninsured Relative Workshop. URWS wanted to get out of the business of training TIs decades ago. If USPA completely takes over ... it will waste more time fighting off lawyers than ... trust me, I am currently involved in a lawsuit that includes a tandem student with a cracked pelvis. After seven years of legal proceedings, there is still no hope of conclusion......

Riggerlee, Your idea reminds me of a Pioneer military freefall canopy circa 1984. The top skin extended about 6 inches farther aft of the bottom skin, creating a sharp trailing edge for smoother airflow immediately aft of the trailing edge. On hard wings, trailing edge radius makes a (several percentage points) difference in lift to drag ratio.

Run away screaming!

Clever Jerry! While the US Army currently uses 5,000 pound snaps and D-rings to attach chest-mounted reserves, plenty of old sport rigs only used 2,500 pound hardware. All the chest-rigs that I packed for Mr. Butler had (2500 or 3000 pound) V-rings sewn to the harness. Currently, the most popular lash-up for intentional cutaways starts with screwing RW-5 rings (3000 pound) to the main lift web. It has been a good 30 years since RW-1 rings have bent during live jumps. If a canopy opened hard enough to bend RW-8 rings, I would not want to be awake for the opening!

I discussed this subject with "Bruce the pilot" from Vernon last week. He detailed how air temperature limits the amount of power the PT6A-34 engine in their Kodiak can produce. Most turbine engines are limited by inlet temperature. The cooler the inlet temperature, the more horsepower they an produce. Piston engines are limited by oil temperature.

... For Riggerob : I spoke to Marie-Eve B. She is originally from Sherbrooke. She has the best memories about you. ............................................................................... Yes Andre, Please4 reassure MEB that I have fond memories of her: beautiful blue eyes on one of our best PFF students.

Good idea Wendy! It is also a good idea to practice steering with one hand long before you need to do it for real. As for rehabilitation, take your time. I dislocated a shoulder a few years ago - during an airplane crash. The insurance company paid for two rounds of physio-therapy. For the first month, I struggled to maintain range of motion. Three months later, lifting a 3 pound weight was exhausting. The second round of physio-therapy took 6 hours per day, 5 days per week for 6 weeks. Five months later, my shoulder was not strong enough to close a main container, but I did a solo jump. Hundreds more push-ups, chin-ups and stretches. 8 months after the accident, I returned to tandem jumping. Despite all that exercise, my acromium-clavicular (sp?) ligament has never healed properly and I still have a "step" in my shoulder. Some days I still hear grating noises from my weak shoulder. Caveat: If any lawyers object to this post, they should "A" remember that I am only repeating what was said during hearings for discovery and "B" lawyers are free to quote this post as long as they pay me $10,00 per word.

I wonder if all these cameras and the interweb will lead to a more polite society? As for your original question ... I hate cheating. As soon as I find someone cheating, stretching the truth, etc. I lose respect for them. Even if the truth is painful, I prefer to hear the truth early in the process If your co-worker's cheating partner as stupid enough to publish photos of his/her miss-deeds on the interweb, that is their problem. You may now quietly step back and wait outside the blast radius.