riggerrob

Riggers are responsible for enduring that gear is airworthy (batteries, service bulletins, factory inspections, etc.) when it leaves their loft. If gear will time-out before the next scheduled I&R, many write that on the reserve packing data card: "Cypres retires July 2015." .... plus or minus the few months allowed by the Cypres factory .... blah .... blah ..... blah ..... Most riggers also write that on the invoice/bill and verbally tell the customer. The rigger covered his ass legally and with a piece of paper. If the customer jumps the Cypres after July that is his problem.

1 or 2 jumps a day is ridiculous! You need to find a new DZ that cares about progressing junior jumpers. 4 to 6 a day is normal for coached jumps. More than 4 or 5 and you don't have enough time to brief and de-brief between jumps. Learning to pace yourself is also a huge issue. Eating right, general fitness, enough sleep, etc. all help increase the number of jumps you can do in a day. Professional tandem instructors and competitive teams routinely do a dozen jumps a day, but that is with some one else packing, manifesting, etc. For a TI it is essentially the same jump done a dozen times the same day. IOW TIs don't waste much time on ground school briefings because it is the same dive flow every jump: dress student, dress themselves, walk to plane, same seat, same seat-belts, same hook-up, same handles check, etc.

"Tail spin" is a term fashionable with whuffos, but never heard in flying schools. We will have to wait for an informed reporter before we understand what really happened.

25 years ago, every rigger understood the finer points of tensile-testing canopy fabric and had the proper tools to do the job correctly. That was back during the acid mesh era. For a while, Performance Designs also insisted on tensile-testing their reserves. Thankfully those days are behind us now, but you should still be able to find a grumpy, old, grey-bearded, Master Rigger who has a set of tensile-testing clamps. Hint, they look like Vise-Grips, with fancy square jaws and rubber padding. The best way to learn how to tensile-test fabric is with that grumpy, old, grey-bearded, Master Rigger looking over your shoulder. All the other learning methods are more expensive! Hah! Hah!

Exactly! For something as important as altitude awareness, you should have three or more altimeters: visual, audible and the mark one eyeball. I depend upon my peripheral vision first, my sense of timing second, dials third and beepers fourth. Some days I use clouds as altimeters. For example, one day I was riding to altitude with a freefall student. I pointed at clouds outside the window and asked "How high are those clouds?" "4,000 feet he replied." Right! What should you be doing at this height on the way down?" He replied "Grabbing my steering toggles ..." "Right again!" I grinned back ... As your wife found out, hearing is the first sense to suffer when we get scared. Then we get tunnel vision, etc. I can smell cow poo in freefall, but am not sure how many of my students can?????

Trying to remember all the different sizes and shapes of cross-ports I have seen over the years. .... First generation cross-ports were the same size and shape as tomato juice cans. Then some-one introduced race-track shaped cross-ports. Then some one cut three race-track cross-ports side-by-each. Then some-one cut oval cross-ports. The some-one cut triangular cross-ports, with rounded corners ... I have only had to repair cross-ports with square tears in the upper or lower corners. They tend towards a square shape. The first hundred frayed cross-ports ... I just re-cut (hot knife) slightly larger. Really badly torn cross-ports get a sewn patch the entire height of the rib. By the time I re-sew the rib to the top and bottom skins, the repair gets rather expensive. $$$$$

The other airplanes are a: Piper Cherokee, Beechcraft Musketeer, Rockwell Commander and Bellanca Decathlon.

If you want to fuck an insurance company, triple wrap your "equipment" and use an alias.

But you can bet they are in someone's private collection! ............................................................................... That reminds me of a "bloopers" tape that was restricted to Perris Valley Skydiving Staff Only. They used it to educate new staff members, the same way Strong uses the "side spin tape" to educate new TIs. PVSS management were afraid that a lawyer might use the tape as evidence to launch a lawsuit. Eventually, the statute of limitations must have ran out, because it became public knowledge.

...... Joel Dempsey In the result of a death and subsequent payment, wouldn't the underwriter go after the DZO and everyone else involved to get their money back? ................................................................... Exactly! Subrogation can drag on for eight years after an accident. Wounded and witnesses will be repeatedly asked to remember that miserable day. Wounded will be forced to testify in interviews, hearings for discovery and multiple court appearances. The wounded will never be allowed to forget the accident and they will never receive enough dollars to compensate for the mental anguish imposed by the subrogation process. Subrogation can do far more secondary psychological damage than the original accident. Subrogation can prolong traumatic stress disorder for the rest of your life .

For the last decade, I have been doing a variation on Sid's "Reverse S-Fold" method. Knees are the key. Once I have they canopy narrowed to about the same width as the d-bag, I kneel on it 1/3 of the way up and continue to maintain knee pressure while bagging the canopy. I fold the canopy in half and loosely fold the top 1/4 back up towards the bridle. I slide the lip of the d-bag under my knees and use my knees to clamp the d-bag to the canopy, to the floor while I shove the centre fold deep up into the d-bag until it fills the top corners of the d-bag. While continuing to clamp with my knees, I stuff the top quarter of the canopy into the d-bag and use fingers to confirm that the bridle is clear. Maintaining hand pressure, I tilt the d-bag like Sid and stuff the slider/bottom 1/4 of the canopy into the middle of the d-bag. I maintain pressure (push-up/plank pose) while I wrap the lip over the d-bag and close the first rubber band. While stowing lines in the first rubber band, I use knees to prevent the d-bag from wandering. Knees are the key the preventing the canopy from wandering away.

................................ A lot of our technology in weaponry has a starting point right back to German weapons .......... or the thousands of GI's who had to deal with MG-42's in front of them with higher rates of fire than our outdated Browning 30 cals. ........................................................................ Germany started the war with a vastly superior machine gun called the MG-34. MG-34 was better because it was light enough to carry all day and was versatile enough to be fired from bipod or tripod. MG-34 could fill both light and medium MG rolls because it weighed about the same as a British Bren gun, but was only 2/3 the weight of a Browning .30 cal. MG-42 was developed for 2 reasons: human wave tactics on the eastern front and reduced cost of manufacture. MG-42 responded to human wave tactics by almost doubling its rate of fire from the usual 600 rounds per minute to almost double. MG-42 was also more tolerant of dirt and burnt powder fouling. MG-42 is positively brilliant in how fast you can replace a barrel. After 5 seconds, the old barrel is laying on the ground and after 15 seconds the new barrel putting rounds down-range. In comparison, replacing the barrel in a Browning .30 cal requires gutting the gun of all working parts. May-42 reduced production cost by minimizing the number of machined components and replaced the chassis with pressed sheet steel. While MG-42 was a clear improvement we can see the error of Hitler's management style and weapons procurement processes in the way he developed new infantry rifles. By 1942, it was clear that the old bolt-action Mauser 98 rifle had to be replaced by a self-loading rifle. Hitler wasted resources on three simultaneous rifle development projects. The first was the Garand-like Gwehr 43 firing full-sized 7.92 x 50 ammunition. Gwehr 43s were available in moderate numbers by late war. Simultaneously, Hitler's best buddy: Herman Goering order a new rifle for his beloved paratroopers. The brilliant Fallschirmjager 42 was only a meter long, but still fired full-sized rifle cartridges (7.92 x 59mm) semi or full-automatic. Even better, the FG-42 had half the felt recoil of a Garand. While the FG-42 Mark 1 was a bit flimsy, that was not what for ed development of the FG-42 Mark 2. A shortage a specialized steel alloys forced Rheinmetal to redesign the FG-42 with a pressed steel receiver. The FG-42 corrected most of the short-comings of the FG -42 Mark 1, but was never available to re-equip all paratroopers before the end of the war. Meanwhile the German Army wanted to develop a new intermediate cartridge (larger than Amrrican M-1 carbine, but smaller than M-1Garand). Hitler delayed that project by insisting on only sub-machine gun production, so the German Army dutifully started issuing "Machine Pistole 42s!" Hah! Hah! By late war, Sturmgwehr 42 assault rifles proved their worth and set the pattern for all future infantry assault rifles. (M-16, AK-47, etc.) So Germany led the Alllies in small arms innovation, but lagged in production because they wasted scarce resources on too many different weapons projects. The other disadvantage of fielding too many types of weapons was that they needed 2.5 distinct supply lines just when the RAF and USAAF were bombing German railways and canals into rubble.

.......... I am sure that was lost on all the Sherman crews who went up in flames when going up against Panzers, Panzer2's or Tiger's ....... I will not dispute for a second that any armor we fielded was junk, particularly the vaunted M4 Sherman (which was to armored warfare what the Big Mac is to food). The low velocity 75mm gun was at best annoying to the Germans, it ran on gasoline so it tended to explode when hit, it had a high profile so it was easy to hit, and its armor was barely sufficient to decelerate the round when it was hit . ................................................. British Operations Research teams concluded that large numbers of Sherman's succumbed to ammunition fires. M4A2E8 reduced ammo fires with wet storage, which surrounded ammo with water jackets.

Lots of good advice on this thread. Start ground practice with an instructor confirming that you demonstrate good form. Lay sofa cushions in a circle so that they support your chest , fore arms and knees. Lay the tops of your feet on the edge of the sofa. Lay down, breath deeply and feel the stretch across your chest and along the front of your thighs. Good form feels like laying face-down in a hammock. Even better, practice while laying face-down on a hammock. Start climb-out early to give you enough time to hang from the strut for 2 or 3 seconds. Take a deep breath and tap your toes. Tapping toes helps equalize legs and reminds you to extend lower legs 45 degrees at knees.

Re-training is the biggest disadvantage to starting students with main ripcords. Think back to the dozens of fatality reports that started with "the deceased was wearing borrowed gear." When skydivers get scared, they revert to the first ripcord pulling procedure. Re-training requires dozens or hundreds of repetitions. Later, students have to re-train on the finer techniques of tossing a pilot-chute. One way to ease transition is the main ripcord system they used to use at Snohomish. The ripcord handle hung on their right hip and was retracted by a bungee cord (similar to Strong Tandems). Students learned to throw ripcord from their first free-fall and they were scored on how well they threw their ripcord. 99 percent landed with a ripcord hanging from their right hip.

Agreeing with Jerry ..... "Repairs" should be done so neatly that a Senior Rigger cannot distinguish them from factory sewing. Changing the stitch pattern is a no-no. Changing the colour is definitely a no-no. If a repair changes the configuration ( e.g. adding hip rings) it voids the TSO.

Start by reading the first chapter of Poynter's Manual, volume one. You will see that parachute production started with Military specifications, then civil aviation authorities adopted (almost photo-copied) MIL SPECs. The process is clearer when you read American Federal Air Regulations which allow civilian, FAA-certified riggers to pack MIL SPEC or civilian parachutes manufactured under a Technical Standard Order, as long as they have a copy of the (military or civilian) manual. Since the (US and Canadian) military quit selling surplus parachutes circa 1980, they have gradually faded from the skydiving business, but the FAA has not updated the Federal Air Regulations. A few years back, CSPA split parachute containers into five different types, retaining chest more as a formality, as they are exceeding rare at Canadian DZs. So a CSPA-rigger can repack chest reserves provided he/she has already packed a bunch (10) under the supervision of a rigger who is already rated for the type.

....... Yet almost a full decade after that crash, I've never seen a two-point harness attachment in any jump plane I've ever been on. Why is that? Harnesses can't cost that much. ........................................................................................ "Two point" has 2 meanings: double-lug cargo restraints or 2 separate seat-belt attachment points. In many jump-planes, seat-belts are often screwed onto cargo Tie-down rings. Those cargo rings are clipped onto rails along the floor. Double-lug cargo rings are less likely to pull loose than older single-lug cargo rings. The other interpretation involves using one restraint belt versus 2. This is relevant when attaching Hooker's belts to parachute harnesses. After viewing video of the 1997 FAA crash sled tests, we concluded that single-sided belts vastly reduced balance problems and minimized the flail arc (how many other jumpers you slap). However, single-point anchors looked like they would cause some nasty twisting injuries to crash test dummies, so anchoring both sides of the harness to Hooker's belts would eliminate a lot of twisting injuries. IOW two attachment points are better than one. Given skydiving attitudes, we are doing well if we can convince jumpers to attach one side of their harness because that keeps the airplane balanced and minimizes flail injuries.

In the Canadian King Air crash, only the pilot was wearing a seat-belt. He suffered facial lacerations when he head-butted the instrument panel. He got off lucky because if the throttle quadrant had been bent a few more inches to the left, he would have suffered broken legs. I was sitting with my back to the pilot's seat. When the airplane decelerated, 3 or 4 guys piled on top of me, tearing my left knee in an " interesting" way. I suffered: concussion, lacerated forehead, dis-located shoulder, bruised sternum, bruised ribs, twisted spine and was covered in bruises from top to bottom. Everything hurt! Bruises prevented me from getting a full night's sleep for 2 months after the accident. Physio-therapy was a slow and painful process. It was 5 months before my dislocated shoulder was strong enough for solo jumps. 8 months before I was strong enough to jump with light tandem students, but I never re-gained my full strength. 7 years after the accident I am waiting for a second knee surgery to repair 3 torn ligaments. If everyone wore seat-belts, my knee would not have gotten torn up and I would have suffered fewer bruised muscles.

I've known several people who were able to walk away from a plane crash because they had a seatbelt. ............................................................................ Look at the two most recent forced landings in New Jersey and Switzerland and Switzerland. Every body wore seat-belts and every one limped away from the Cessna wreckage. Limping away from the wreckage is a good thing. I have limped away from one wrecked airplane. Only problem is that I am still limping 7 years later.

It can be done... MEL ....................................................................................... It can be done, but tolerances on tuck tabs are so tight that it rarely fits properly without factory patterns. Tolerances on tuck tabs can be as tight as 1/8 inch. If that Talon 1 landed in my shop, I would replace the Velcro with magnets. Magnets work the same as Velcro and work well with the same huge tolerances as Velcro.

" ................................................................................................ The rigger in question was Ray Ferrel (sp?) from Action Air in Northern California. He completely rebuild a Vector Tandem. His work was only spotted when the rig returned to the Relative Workshop and they noticed that it was a different colour from production tracking sheets. I draw the line at cost. If I cannot do the repair for about the same cost as the factory, then I tell the customer to send it back to the factory or buy a new one. Sometimes shipping is more expensive than the repair. Because I live in Canada, it might be more cost effective for me to repair a tandem rig than shipping it back to Florida or Germany for repair. Also consider the complexity of a repair. If the repair requires specialized patterns or sewing machines fancier than mine, then I tell customers to return the rig to the factory for repairs.

***Hey guys/girls. Has anyone ever dealt with Flight Concept? I've sent a canopy 2 month ago or so for a reline and inspections. After a I had a mal, my rigger inspected it and noticed the canopy had 1 cell made from completely different material to the other 8. ....... ............................................................................................. Can you be more specific about "completely different material?"

..................................................................... Good point! Belts help keep the (passenger) load balanced, greatly easing the pilot's work load.

Skydiving is a complex environment for hearing protection. You need to protect your ears against the 100 decibal + noise in the airplane and freefall, but then need clear ears for the parachute ride. Skydiving airplanes are noticeably louder than commercial airliners. First, most jump-planes lack the structure, sealed windows, etc. for pressurization. Even jump-planes that could be pressurized when new (King Air) have usually been stripped / gutted by the time they are old enough to fly jumpers. Jumpers are rough on interiors, so Cessna jump-planes usually lose their fancy interior upholstery (read sound-proofing) soon after they start hauling jumpers. Expect more than 100 decibels inside a jump-plane. Most hearing damage occurs during the 15 to 30 minute airplane ride, so many senior jumpers only remove their ear-plugs during the last 5 minutes of the airplane ride. They stuff their ear-plugs into a pocket in their helmet or jumpsuit. Free-fall is also louder than 100 db, but lasts a minute at most. Free fall noise largely depends upon how well the lower edge of your helmet seals around your ears. The tighter the seal, the less wind and the less noise gets in. Helmet choice is individual and best decided by trying on a half dozen popular models to determine which model best fits your skull. Half-shell helmets are the noisiest, which explains why 1/2 shells are not very popular for skydiving. Open ear (Pro-Tec) are popular at skydiving schools because they are easy to mount (receive only) radio speakers inside. Better-equipped schools insist that students wear radios for their first half- dozen jumps. The sooner the students demonstrate decent landings, the less instructors say over the radio. Students are always impressed with how quiet the canopy ride is after the hustle and bustle of the airplane ride and free fall. After checking their canopy, the second thing they do is equalize the pressure in their ears by using the Valsalva technique, popular with scuba divers. I have have been able to do the Valsalva technique with all types of foam ear-plugs and even with the fancy metal "Sonic 2" plugs. For a few years, I even wore industrial, foam ear-plugs on a string, just so that I could pull out one plug after opening, the better to hear my tandem students. Wind tunnels are an excellent place to practice the basics of free fall and an excellent place to test helmet and ear-plug combinations. Before your first tunnel session, collect two or three different types of ear-plugs and explain to tunnel instructors that you want to swap-out the different types of ear-plugs. Tunnel staff will then swap you out with another client so that you get the occasional two minute rest, just long enough to swap ear plugs.