riggerrob

You are criticizing the F-35's vertical take-capabilities too harshly. Even helicopters can carry 40 percent more payload if they can do rolling take-offs. The whole concept of VTOL is really a Marine corps concept to take-off from ships and provide close support to marines on the beach. The British Royal Navy pioneered the ski-jump ramp to allow their Harriers to carry more bombs from short-deck aircraft carriers. Most of the countries that bought Harriers: Britain, Spain, India, etc. could only afford short-deck carriers. All those second-tier countries are hoping to buy F-35s, which will help the USAF pay down R&D costs.

What? Do you expect the high and mighty USAF to get their planes dirty flying close support? What have you been smoking? The only reason the US Army flies AH-64 attack helicopters is because the USAF did not wasn't the job. Great philosophy if you can afford the biggest Air Force on the planet ... But what about smaller nations that need to fly two or three or four missions with a far smaller fleet? Even a wealthy nation like Switzerland is debating whether to continue to fly their F-18s.

Trying to build one plane to satisfy all different air forces is a ... Challenge. Consider the Royal Canadian Air Force which has to fulfill multiple roles (NORAD long-range interceptor, short-range hijacker interceptor, ground attack to fit in with NATO putting some 3rd world despot in his place, etc.). CF-35 might be able to do the short-range roles, but will not be able to fly the long-range roles??????

......:::...................... ...... Yes, life without parole keeps perverts out of other peoples' pants but it costs something between $30,000 and $50,000 per year. After how many years confinement does execution cost less to the tax payer?

You will get the best deal if the rig has been sitting on a dealer's inventory for a few months. You will get the best deals on harness/containers that are last year's fashionable colors or less popular sizes. Other possibilities are a dealer trying to clear last year's stock just before a new model/colours debut. Also try to dicker when you are buying a complete set of gear .... If you are paying full retail for an AAD and reserve, you can often talk them into discounting the price of an odd-coloured h/c ... or ask the dealer to toss in a "free" assemble and pack. Hah! Hah!

There are certainly people who do things that are so horrendous that they deserve to die. But since the death penalty is not reversable it should be "to a certainty", not just "beyond reasonable doubt." .. ....................... A small percentage of. Criminals are so sick and twisted that they only way to prevent them from re-offending is to execute them (e.g. Willy Picton) Executing Willy Picton also helps prevent him from naming all accomplices or alluding to investigators' mistakes.

Ancient Indian proverb: walk a mile in your enemy's moccasins before you criticize him. Then you are a mile away and you have his shoes!

The rules are slightly different for instructors. Instructors are still expected to lead by example, keeping movement to the minimum needed to do their job (e.g.check students' pins BEFORE) opening the door. If your boss expects you to corrall a dozen students at a time, I hope that he gives you a large enough airplane, with as few snag points as possible. I also expect you to pat your own main pilot chute and pin cover before you open the door.

These days only drug dealers deal in cash any more For example a decade ago I offered a camera store $1,200 in cash. They got all flustered and had to call the manager over and count the. Ash 3 times and put it it in a special drawer (dusty from disuse).

***Actually I think it's more likely the risk of someone stealing a car for $500. Agreed on the DZ-cash thing though. Cash is always a win-win. [/quot They are more interested in being able to charge the full cost of repairs to your credit card if you break the rental car

Hint: keep your legs tucked back and your arms symmetrical until you are "saddled out."

If you do exactly as they tell you in ground school, you have a 99.9 percent chance of walking away (uninjured) from an AFF jump.

"The German Flieger Korps in WW1 equipped their balloonists ... with parachutes ... The British did not do so because they had the idea that carrying a parachute would give a pilot a way to avoid battle by baling out before combat, "cowardice in the face of the enemy". " ................................................................................ From the early days of - the First World War (British) Royal Flying Corps balloonists wore parachutes. But their usage is poorly documented. When you consider the hundreds of thousands of foot soldiers who died some days, casualties among balloonists paled in comparison. You are correct in stating that British airplane pilots were not issued with parachutes, but that was mainly because reliable bail-out parachutes were not available until a few years after WW1. Yes, a few German pilots (e.g. Herman Goering) did wear "H" parachutes during the last year of the war, but they were only marginally more reliable than British parachutes.

Hah! Hah! That depends upon whether you are quoting from the British history of parachuting or the American history of parachuting. The British version re-assures gentle readers that England led all aspects of the industrial revolution and modern warfare - including inventing the parachute - were perfected in England, then sold to the colonies. But only sold as fast as the "darkies" ... er ... colonists could learn how to use them. OTOH, the American history teaches readers that no significant parachutes were invented before 1919, then the Army Air Corps collected samples from around the world, combined the best features and incorporated them into the FIRST successful parachute. Then American industrialists (Irvin, Smith, etc.) spread the gospel of proper parachuting around the world. French authors are surprisingly quiet about all the parachute equipment and techniques invented in France during the 1930s and 1940s. The only French book I have read on the subject was written by (about) Leo Valentine "The Birdman." Most German books do not mention significant German inventions until the 1930s, then the Nazis mostly copied Italian ideas. It seems that Hitler wanted to grow up to be as powerful as Mussillini. Hah! Hah! I have seen Russian history books that tell a radically different chronology ... but I was too lazy to learn a new alphabet. Hah! Hah!

.................................................................................. Massive line twists (more than 6) might prevent the slider form coming all the way down, but you would still have a large enough canopy overhead to survive the landing. OTOH The original poster only have minor line twists (less than 360 degrees). Some people call that an "off-heading opening."

Gear checks on the plane are a really bad idea in my opinion. Too little room, and too much squirming around. It's too easy to undo the good work you've done earlier. Get a proper check before you get on board, and then check your handles and PC before the door opens. ........................................................................ I half agree with your logic. You are only checking after something is likely to get dislodged. How often you check depends upon how tight the airplane is. If you are in a roomy airplane (e.g. Skyvan) - and squirming around a lot - then pin checks before the door opens are wise. OTOH if you are in a cramped airplane (e.g. piston-pounding Cessna) the best recipe is to sit down and shut up until the door opens. The less you squirm around, the less likely you are to knock a pin loose.

How old school of you.... how many of those will be standing forward for TO? .............................................................................. Like I said earlier: "The best way to balance is to insist that all skydivers wear seat-belts." That implies that all their butts are securely strapped to benches or the floor. While I may have leaned over the pilot's shoulder, when taking off in Beech 18s, ... I am glad that youthful foolishness is behind me now. These days I refuse to fly in any airplane that needs people leaning over the pilot's shoulder for balance.

The link only shows 2 frames. What model of pilot emergency parachute was he wearing? Who packed it for him? Who taught him how to use it? Does he have any advice for other glider pilots?

Keeping your hands wide will help with stability during opening shock (e.g. reduce line twists). Yes, losing a few pounds will also help reduce opening shock. Yes, that was a quicker opening than normal. In comparison, after my last hard opening (tandem reserve) I needed ten days and a massive massage therapist to straighten out my neck.

If you are only going to rent them for the weekend and they come with experienced pilots and mechanics, that vastly simplifies your decision tree. A Beech 18/Turboliner can haul 12 to 19 jumpers depending upon empty weight, gross weight and balance. The best way to balance skydivers is to insist that they all wear seatbelts. Just clip the seat-belts onto existing cargo-tie-down-rings. Just ensure that they are the double-anchor type cargo tie-downs. Hint: ask Jack Hooker for a quote on seat-belts. (Hooker Harness in Illinois). Beech 18s are approved for flight with the door removed. Double-check the Turbo-liner manual, but I suspect that it is also okay to fly without the cargo door.

The first wind tunnel in Quebec opened back around 1980. Sadly, it is long-closed now. The second wind tunnel in Quebec is in Laval, a northern suburb of Montreal. There are about a dozen commercial DZs between Montreal and Quebec City. The last time I taught in Quebec was at Nouvelaire in Farnham, maybe an hour east of Montreal.

What are your goals? Do you want to compete in precision landing? Do you want to do exhibition jumps into tight stadiums? Do you want to BASE jump? Do you want to compete in canopy formations? Do you want to compete in canopy piloting? Do you want to jump wing-suits?

Back around 1985, Butler got FAA approval for a (type 4) diaper that could be sewn onto almost any round canopy. Like I said earlier, I sewed dozens of them onto new C9 canopies coming through Butler Parachute Systems. I also sewed Butler's diapers onto a dozen other models of Military-surplus canopies sewn in: Britain, South Africa, USA, etc. The retrofit diaper was almost identical to the diapers sewn onto Butler's XTC-500 canopies during production. The biggest difference was the circumference. I remember that XTC-500s and most sport reserves got 9 inch wide diapers, while C9 diapers were larger in circumference ... something like 14.5 inches, but don't quote me.

................................................................................. Traditionally, the reserve packing data card goes with the reserve canopy. That is because containers wear out long before reserve canopies. Most reserves get retired because they have fallen out of fashion (e.g. a 1980s vintage design). OTOH most containers get retired because they wear out.the french do it different. They have separate papers for each component, and will stay with said component after resell. -container -reserve canopy -main canopy -AAD .............................................................................. Agreed! If you are polite, you send photo-copies of the old reserve packing data card with all the different parts (harness, AAD, reserve) when you sell them separately. Given the profusion of photo-copiers, iPhones, etc. there is no excuse for not including the maintenance history.

" " ................................................................................. Funny! I sewed (Type 4) diapers onto hundreds of C9s when I worked for Butler and Para-Phernalia. It is silly to pack a C9 without a gadget that vastly improves opening reliability while reducing opening shock?????