riggerrob

CSPA defines the difference as whether or not you need a sewing machine. Introduction to sewing machines is covered in CSPA's Rigger A1 course. As for replacing plastic stiffeners in riser cover tuck tabs ... it is a bitch of a job without a binder set up exactly the same way as the factory. As for the repairs on your Tandem Vector 2, I cheated by unstitching the plastic early in the repair, repairing the container, rebinding the flap, installing a new grommet and resewing the plastic last. By pulling the plastic away from the binding tape, I vastly simplified the binding process. I learned that technique the hard way when repairing main top flaps on pre-2000 Javelins, Sidewinders, etc.

MEL, We are going to have to disagree on this point. Many manufacturers believe that TSO approval allows them to do any repairs they want without the need to pay an arrogant, expensive Master Rigger. When I arrived at Para-Phernalia, I was an FAA Master Rigger. I offered to help train the current Senior Rigger and an apprentice to write their FAA exams, but they were not interested. The last time I visited Para-Phernalia, they did not have a Master Rigger working on site. OTOH Manley Butler is an FAA Master Rigger and used to closely supervise all the work in his factory. Sandy Reid is also a Master Rigger and kept an eye on everything happening in Rigging Innovations, plus all repairs had to pass production inspectors before they were allowed out the door.

Print them onto cardboard 8.5 x 11 inches or larger. Laminate them with clear plastic.

Yoga, yoga, yoga, yoga. Best thing ever for loosening out tight hips and stiff backs. .............................................................................. Agreed! Also lots of walking or running to maintain the bone density in your legs. All that aerobic exercise will also improve your awareness at exit altitude. And never too late to start!

................................................................................ I did try jumping the Aviator 290 and rather enjoyed it. That was 20 years ago. Turns were not quite as dramatic as my Sabre and "flaring" did little to change the angle of arrival. "Flaring" did slow down the rate of descent a bit, but I ran out of muscle by the time I pulled the steering loops to my shoulders. After my third jump, I got bored and deliberately landed it down-wind, hands-off, in the toolies surrounding the Lake Elsinore, California DZ. All those landings were softer than I remember under round canopies. The greatest improvement was the ANGLE of arrival - much flatter under the Aviator - which allowed me to slide off excess forward speed. In conclusion, I made up my mind that large squares are vastly superior for all PEP users. I made up my mind after 70 jumps on rounds and thousands of jumps on squares. I am old and I am stubborn, so please don't waste your time trying to change my hard-earned opinion. Hummmpppfff!!!!!

........................................................................................ Most of the two-shot Capewells had rusted shut by the time I started jumping. Hah! Hah!

I just used old Spectra suspension lines that I cut off of tandems. They are rated for 1200 pounds. New tandem main closing loops are rated for more like 1500 pounds.

Try taking more pictures while wearing white clothing. Some side shots will also help us understand the fit.

..... as an emergency parachute they really don't require any training other than a plf. ... ...................................................................................... The Canadian Army devoted 2 weeks to pounding PLFS into me. I rarely saw civilian skydiving students do perfect PLFs. You also forgot about the difference in ANGLE of arrival. The human body is designed and programmed to well absorb forward and side-ways landings. Injury rates increase dramatically when PLFing backwards.

................................................................................... Most of those bans were written by civilian, sporting organizations a decade or three since round main parachutes disappeared (circa 1990) from civilian skydiving schools. The decision was usually made by grumpy, old, grey-bearded POPS who had jumped rounds back when they were fashionable, but now all owned square reserves. Most of their sore knees, backs, ankles, etc. were caused by rounds and they had no desire to repeat the injuries. I am old enough to have made 70 jumps on rounds, including landing 3 round reserves. I repeat my question: how jumps have you made on round mains????

Maintenance is the same on new and old sewing machines. Clean the dust out of the bobbin case once a month. Every manual contains pictures showing how to remove and install the bobbin case, etc. Oil the machine at the start of every day's sewing.

I never taught students to cut away from line-twists on rounds or squares. Half the time, rounds usually solved their own line twists as the student looked up. Line twists are still common on student square canopies, but again half the Mantas solve their own line twists by the time the student looks up. The second factor is that Mantas are so big (288 square feet), so stable and so lightly loaded (.7 pounds per square foot) that they don't do anything exciting with simple line-twists. Simple line-twists are only a problem on the heavily-loaded squares worn by B-Certificate holders and higher. I have only cutaway two squares because of diving line-twists. The first was a Diablo 135 and the second was a 109 square foot Demon(?). I loaded the Demon at more than 2 pounds per square foot.

I disagree. I am so old that I taught the (static-line) first jump course on military-surplus rounds. Round canopies broke far more legs because of the angle of arrival. By the end of 1979, I had already carried my life-time quota of broken legs off the DZ. I welcomed every advance in student gear during the 1980s: Para-Commanders, RSLs, piggyback containers, throw-out pilot-chutes, IAD, electronic AADs, ZP fabric, square reserves, BOC, etc. I hated teaching the FJC with square mains and round reserves. The first problem was that students were over-loaded with new information well before they finished ground school. As soon as I told them that they had a 1 percent chance of using a reserve, they promptly dumped that info from their short term memory, which meant that it was not accessible when the 100th student found themselves hanging under a round reserve. I doubt if half of my "this century" students remembered what I said about reserves having different-coloured steering handles. I was really glad when I started working at a school that used square reserves Tempo 250 because it vastly simplified FJC ground school.

... As far as rounds, there is nothing wrong with a round reserve. ... .................................................................................. First of all, the Swift harness/container was the first (1981) certified for SQUARE RESERVES ONLY. Para-Flite only authorized packing Swift or Orion reserves into Swift containers. The Swift container spawned the whole MT-1XXXXXX series of military free-fall rigs, which were only available with square reserves. Why anyone would try to pack a round reserve into a Swift baffles me. Where do you install the kicker plate?????????

False Ok, with the exception of a few uncommon rigs, the vast majority of pilot bailout rigs, and probably all pilot bailout rigs you are likely to pack have rounds. Is that better? By far the majority are round. Round parachutes are very reliable and it's very hard to screw it up once it is open. That's why they are packed into rigs for people who don't know what they are doing. .................................................................................. How did you get so far behind the times????? When I started working for Manley Butler (1992) he had me pack a few squares into Pilot Emergency Parachute containers (back, long-back and seat) that he made. In 1994, one of my first jobs at Rigging Innovations was heavy drop-tests on the P-124A/Aviator. When I worked at Para-Phernalia, I sewed up a bunch of free-bags for PEPs containing squares. Giving a modern pilot a PEP containing a round parachute is the equivalent of sending him up solo in a Sopwith Camel! As for the myth that round require less training .... how many jumps do you have on rounds? Starting back in the 1970s, I made about 70 jumps on rounds, but my last jump on a round (reserve) was in 1986 and I completely missed the country! As for rounds being more reliable ..... my last jump on a round main, that T-10 suffered a partial inversion and had some any small holes that it went straight to the trash! And that was not my first malfunction on a round! Glad to hear that you hold so strongly to attitudes that were relevant/accurate during the 1970s. Hah! Hah!

Back in the 1990s, I sewed BOCs onto a hundred or more rigs. Replacing tired Velcro is also a high priority. I have sewn bridle covers onto dozens of different rigs: Infinities, Javelins, Sidewinders, Vectors, etc. I have added magnets to the main pin covers on variety of rigs too. Scott, if you want to see some of my work, come visit me in Port Moody. I will allow you to drool over my double-needle binder and harness machine.

... Sailrite LSZ-1 is another option, but it's much more expensive if new ... ...................................................................................... I picked up a Sailrite last year and have used it to patch canopies, rebuild a Vector II Tandem, build a BASE rig, etc. Great little machine. You should see the rolling case that I use to carry it across parking lots! If you are only patching canopies, then a PFAFF 230 will do fine. I sewed a couple of kit canopies on mine.

I would buy a BASE rig, spend a week jumping off the Potato Bridge, then blow the rest on a trip to a famous cliff in Norway.

Some people attach both sides of a RACER RSL to one main riser.

Okay, the stitching on your Mirage may not be quite as pretty as most Mirages, but all the stitches penetrate all the correct webbing. That joint is plenty strong enough to support your weight. You have more important things to worry about.

What sort of work were you doing in Kosovo?

Please keep us posted on the culture shock, even the little things.

Rejection hurts at any age. The trick is to let them down gently. I also find that as I get older, I get fussier and am willing to compromise on fewer issues.

Variable outside of pre-programmed parameters can really mess with an AAD's head. Fore example, when the Vigil 1 was introduced, they sent a couple to Strong Enterprises. Strong installed them in tandems and strapped 500 barrels to the front of the tandem-equipped dummies. 500 barrels are fairly common of military tandems re-supplying observation posts high in the Afghan mountains. They tossed the dummies out of airplanes (10,000 feet) and watched. Nothing deployed and the dummies impacted at 200 miles per hour. It seems that the Vigil 1s got confused by descent rates faster than 200 miles per hour, so they shut down. Vigil engineers never expected solo jumpers to exceed 200 miles per hour. Now Vigil 2s understand descent rates exceeding 200 miles per hour when set to tandem mode.

.... As for confused AAD's, someone could dig up the threads but it involved a C-130 doing pressurization stuff ... to an apparent altitude below ground level. It was World Team 2006. Both Vigil and Cypres made public statements afterwards, see below. C1's detected pressures outside the normal range and so concluded there was an error so the best action was to shut off. C2's were more advanced and decided it wasn't a permanent error so stayed on and did nothing. Vigils got jumpy and fired. .................................................................................. The story I heard (from a Cypres factory rep) was that as the engines started up - flight engineers closed all the doors and pressurized the cabin below sea level. Standard practice for military transport crews. The rapid rate of descent freaked out the Vigils and they fired. Meanwhile, Cypres got confused by "below sea level pressures" and shut down. The next day, a Cypres factory rep flew to Thailand with a suitcase full of Cypres 2 AADs.