riggerrob

We never did hear the full story from the fabric mills or mesh mills or parachute manufacturers, but as I understood it, all suspected round canopies were supposed to be tested for acidity (bromocreasol green or litmus paper). If they (chemically) tested neutral, then they could be returned to service. OTOH if they proved acidic, the second sage was pull-testing. If they passed pull-testing, then you washed them and re-tested them. A few lofts had FAA approval paperwork to re-certify canopies "acid mesh free." Butler insisted that I pull-test every used canopy that came through his loft. He also insisted that I put ages drops on canopy models that were mentioned in the acid nest recalls. So I suspect that Butler's "alternative method of compliance" was slightly different than Baumchen's. By now, I am just glad that Free Flight Enterprises, GQ Security, National and Para-Phernalia have given us additional excuses for not repacking PEPs older than some of our glider pilot customers.

If a round reserve was grounded by the acid mesh fiasco, then it must be pull-tested at every repack. It also has to be tested with bromocreasal at every repack. After tensile-testing for 25 years, most of those round reserves are worn out. The tensile-testing process is non-destructive. When done properly, it is difficult to see the minor weave separation with the naked eye. But if you pull-test 20 times in the same place, you will eventually tear good fabric.

Is Bill Dause still jumping?

Agreed! Is have also used the PIA pull-testing methods to ground faded, frayed and filthy old canopies. Back during the 1990s, an East Coast rigger was buying new PEP containers, stuffing well-used, military-surplus canopies into them and selling them to aerobatic pilots. Remember that this was shortly after skydiving schools converted from military-surplus canopies tomMantas for first-jump students. The second owner of a Citabria aerobatic airplane brought in a pair of Softies for inspection and repack. As soon as I opened them, I saw dust and fading. Those canopies looked like they had hundreds of jumps as mains. Following loft policy, I applied the clamps and pulled slowly. One panel tore at 18 pounds. Another panel tore at 15 pounds. Third panel tore at only 13 pounds. The Citabria owner's buddy was enjoying the process and encouraged me to pull-test a pilot-chute, that tore at about half the rated strength of MIL SPEC fabric. Funny! But both Butler and Para-Phernalia quit wholesaling containers to that dealer! For reference, that MIL SPEC fabric is supposed to survive a 30 pound tensile-test. I have pull-tested hundreds of brand-new C-9s to 40 pounds without tearing them. Civilian F-111 fabric is supposed to survive 40 pound tensile tests. I can count on one hand the number of canopies I have torn while tensile-testing.

Sometimes the written life limits give an official-looking excuse not to pack that ratty piece of $&@001! anymore. As an aside: let year I taught a riggers' course to a class of eight keen :Swiss jumpers. I delivered a half-hour lecture about the why and wherefore of various life limits published by major manufacturers. The first rigs we inspected ere 19 to. 23 years old, faded, frayed. And filthy . During the final exam the students wrote "I will not pack reserves more than 20 years. That was not the answer I expected, but it was an answer I could respect. Most of the candidates passed ,

For example, Performance Designs still builds reserves for Sigmas to the same drawings as they did back in 1986. UPT would dearly love to make a few minor alterations to reduce pack volume (e.g. eliminate bridle attachment and substitute Maillon Rapide connector links) but the FAA insists on repeating all the drop tests and re-applying for certification under TSO C23E ... or is it "F" these days?

................................................ I stand corrected. National: retire after 20 years.

To summarize: Butler will not service any of their parachutes more than 20 years old. Firebird: 15 years with possibility to extend longer Cypres I: the last retires in 2015 Cypres 2: factory inspections after 4 years and 8 years. Retire after 12 years. Flying High: "I thought all those old Bullets and Excaliburs retired years ago!" GQ Security: retire after 15 years National: retire after 15 years Performance Designs reserves: factory inspection after 25 jumps or 40 pack jobs. Life will probably be extended after a factory inspection. Para-Phernalia - retire after 20 years Strong tandem gear: factory inspection after 8 years, 13 years and. 18 years. Harness/containers retire after 18 years, while (more recent) reserves may remain in service for a maximum 22 years or 20(?) jumps. Please feel free to add to this list. Local riggers are free to refuse to repack any parachutes younger than manufacturers' life limits, but they cannot legally repack reserves older. Remember that FARs always loop back to include "in accordance with the manufacturers' instructions."

The first time I herniated a spinal disk, the doctor blamed it on old age, while I blamed it on helping my brother build a rock wall. The second time I herniated a spinal disc, my doctor blamed it on a airplane crash. In between those two injuries I made 5,000 jumps, mostly tandems. Tandem landings can be brutal on instructors when students "invent" new landing techniques.

USPA AFF Instructors are supposed to attend standardization meetings to ensure that everyone uses the same hand signals, across the USA. The alternative is like Canada. In Quebec, they teach one version of "accompanied free fall." Ontario DZs teach a second version of AFF and the West Coast teaches a third version of PFF! One of my most frustrating years was teaching PFF with a guy from Quebec who was always angry at me for teaching the West Coast version of PFF. I struggled to keep up with his one-campaign to change the way PFF was taught on the West Coast. Students looked confused. Finally his idea of solving professional differences was offering to punch out other instructors! The "closed fist" signal might have been relevant back when main ripcords were fashionable, but the last time I saw a main ripcord was back around the turn of the century! The worst thing about the "closed fist" signal is that it encourages students to hang onto their pilot-chute!

When you squat, you raise your thigh closer to your shoulder. Some part of your harness is going to feel loose. We could discuss this all week on the inter web, or you could show it to your local rigger and get an accurate answer in 2 minutes.

Thanks for sharing your opinion. This is the FAA's opinion which is binding. http://www.parachuteshop.com/faa_service_life_limit_parachute.htm ........................................ To clarify the FAA's position: a manufacturer may state a life limit, at the time of manufacture, but not afterward.

......................................................................... Psychologist Sigmund Freud termed it "shaden freund" (sorry friend). Kittens and teenage boys use shaden freund as a learning tool, but if the behaviour continues into adulthood, it becomes a perversion similar to sadism.

A couple of times customers insisted that I add bar-tacks to NSFT lines because "it didn't look right." Hah! Hah!

A few years ago I did a test on a spectra 725 (?) line with a E-thread bartack. The line broke before the bartack. So I'm not sure what you read is correct. Interesting and good to know. I wonder if the no sew finger trap would fail before the line fails. Does the added twist in the line cause abraision when it is put under load? ..................................... Not sure if method makes much difference in line durability. I have replaced hundreds of lower steering lines with bar-tacks with barracks and dozens with Jump-Shack's method. Both lasted hundreds of jumps and were only replaced when entire line kit wore out.

Start apprenticing for a rigger's license now. Try to enrolled in Dave DeWolf's 10-day rigging course this winter. That way, you will be gainfully employed on rainy days when everyone else is bored and whining.

May be do short-term contracts just to stay current in your old job.

Don't sell the house. Keep it as an investment. Rather rent it out and let the tenant pay off the mortgage.

............................................................... Butler used to sew riser ends with the same stitch pattern. That allowed field riggers to chose L-bar or Maillon Rapide links. They just left all stitches intact when installing L-bar links. Before installing Maillon Rapide links, they had to carefully un-pick the top "boxed" portion of the stitch pattern while leaving the WMW intact.

To summarize: sounds like Plexus is most cost-effective for DZOs retiring worn-out Eclipse tandem rigs. Plexus would be almost as cost-effective for DZOs replacing worn-out Vector or Racer tandems. As for the Sigma fanatics ...... please don't bother awakening the Sigma fanatics because you might get hurt by their instinctive knee-jerk reaction. Hah! Hah!

PISA Skymaster 230 A line base length 13 feet A to B 2 inches A to C. 8 A to D. 17 Deployment brake setting 2 inches above the nose Full flight 12 inches above the nose B to stabilizer 6.5 C to stab. 14 D to stab. 24 Brake lines Longest outboard (UCL 5) second longest is second from wing tip (UCL4) Shortest is farthest inboard (UCL 1) Brake locking eye to toggle 19 Those dimensions were written the last time I installed a PISA-supplied line kit on a Skymaster 230 (2009).

............................................................. Yes. I have often wondered why AADs didn't release the closing loop from the pack tray. It would be much simpler to build a mon-bloc with both the anchor pin and closing loop passing through the middle. Sewing tolerances would be as loose as tolerances for Cypres pockets. Down-side, the deeper the loop is released (in the canopy folds and below more flaps) the greater the risks of packing mistakes causing the pilot-chute to hesitate. We have already seen that an extra-long closing loop can cause a Mirage reserve pilot-chute to hesitate if the loop is squeezed between the raised edges of grommets. Mirage owners please do not get offended. I was not singling you out for criticism, because I can demonstrate the same partial malfunction on the next dozen single-pin reserves.

Consider fashion back when Helmut Cloth was designing the Cypres 1, circa 1990. Old-school mechanical AADs were big and bulky and had a bad reputation for "miss-firing" below 2,000 feet. It was embarrassing - for a licensed jumper to wear an AAD. One of Helmut's original "fashion" goals was to completely conceal the AAD within the container.

As long as your doctor says that your spine is fully healed and it can handle a rough day of snowboarding you should be good to resume skydiving.

I'd say the legal obligations are zero. It appears, based on the SIM itself, that USPA has no real authority except to remove a member DZ from it's directory. ......................................................................... USPA BSRs, SIMs, etc. are considered "best business practices" if a lawsuit discovers that a skydiver knowingly did something contrary to USPA the judge will find him/ guilty of reckless endangerment, public stupidity, etc .