riggerrob

... it is ... supposed to exit at the bottom of the right flap, come up to the loop then back down. -Michael ............................................................................ Agreed! ... and is the latest method recommended by Vector. UPT (aka the Vector factory) changed their packing method to reduce the risk of curved pins puncturing kill-line bridles ... and causing malfunctions. Sidewinders were always supposed to be packed with the bridle exiting the bottom edge of the right main flap, then routing upwards to the pin, etc. You can tell the difference by how much Velcro is sewn to the Sidewinder bridle. Sidewinder bridles have a small piece of hook Velcro and a small piece of pile Velcro. The two pieces of Velcro are supposed to mate to each other.

Wow, that's crazy! The VAST majority of my experience with soft links has been with the PD brand. While I knew metal on metal can cause problems, I've never seen anything quite like this. .............................................................................. Remember that the original Parachutes de France soft links were issued with main risers that included "centering studs." Those "centering studs" looked like half of a "press the dot" snap fastener. They helped keep the soft link centered in the riser where it was hidden from slider grommets.

In comparison, I have packed about 40 chest reserves, over 400 seat PEPs and 4,000 plus back-type reserves. Most of those chests were for the USCG when I worked for Butler. Most of those seat-packs were modern (Butler, National, Security, Softie, Strong, etc.) PEPs when I worked for Butler and Para-Phernalia.

***Hello, I am relatively new to the sport, and have about 70 jumps in 3 months. I have ordered a container, and am looking at a main parachute. I have spotted a Sabre 2 190ft^2 which is from 2002. It is roughly $1250 with around 700 jumps on it and a new(er) lineset. First (and main) question: has the Sabre 2 parachute changed in the last 12 years? I plan to have this parachute for at least this year and next year, before I downsize. While I would like to save the money, I am a little hesitant that the technology may have changed in the last decade, and considering that maybe I should spend a little more, and get a parachute that was manufactured within the last few years. ... ................................................................................ Sabre 2 design has not changed significantly since they were introduced. However, they have updated the line trim chart. I learned that the hard way while trying to re-line a Sabre 2-135. When the factory line kit did not match my old chart, I phoned the factory and Eric carefully explained that I should be using the Sabre 2-135 line trim chart Revision E, dated 2007. Now it all makes sense! The most notable difference is the Brake locking eye to toggle measurement. It was 20 inches on the old chart, but only 15 inches on the new chart. That makes sense, since few of my customers have arms as long as John LeBlanc and most of them asked me to shorten new factory steering lines by 5 inches. Hah! Hah!

My brother ground launched a old raven reserve off a mountain and landed perfectly...he had never skydived in his life etc .. so no experience at all.....and as for the micro ravens its probably people that start there flares way to early who knows....but blame the gear if u get hurt I suppose ................................................................................ Sarcasm alert! Racism alert! Grumpy old Master Rigger alert! Most of the people who got hurt under Micro Ravens were stupid, fat, white men loading them twice as heavy as they were designed to handle. Remember that Ravens were designed back when F-111 fabric was the norm. Ravens were never designed to be loaded more than one pound per square foot. Finally, the Micro Raven series was originally designed for tiny (think 120 pound) Japanese women.

Sure, Furies can easily be used for wing-suiting. They are (large 220 square foot) 7-cells that are docile - correction: really docile - during openings. Oh! If anyone is getting bored under canopy, they are not paying attention to what they are doing, where they are going or how to get the maximum performance out of their canopy. By "maximum performance" I mean consistent standing landings less than 10 metres (yards for Americans) from target center.

............................................................................... Still better than cluttering up the website with multiple threads about the same subject.

AHA! That explains why the FJC instructors used to hand the occasional student off to me. "Let me introduce you to our best tandem instructor." Those students usually flailed all over the sky (even with me strapped tightly to their backsides). As much as I did NOT enjoy those tandem jumps, I had to remind myself that they were still easier than doing PFF with students who back-loop off the step.

Originally, the Federal Air Regulations were written around military-surplus, pilot emergency parachutes. The FARS were written partially to allow retired veterans to easily earn civilian licenses and quickly find work. For example, an Army rigger might have packed thousands of chest reserves, but never even seen a seat-pack. OTOH a retired US Navy rigger might have packed thousands of seat-packs, but never even seen a chest reserve. The biggest difference was the mass of precise hand-stitching needed to assemble a military-pattern seat-pack. Modern civilian seat-PEPs (Butler, National, Softie, Strong, etc.) require one per cent of the hand-stitching compared with MIL SPEC seat packs. All the military-surplus PEPs contained round canopies and squares had not been invented yet, hence no distinction between different types of canopies. The US military quit selling intact PEPs 30-some-odd years ago, but there are still enough in service that the FAA still has to "keep them on the books." Yes, the FARS are long over-due for update (to Canadian or Swiss or ????) standards, but until Al Queda retire, there will be little pressure on the FAA to update complex regulations that have worked well (e.g. low fatality rate) for decades.

Your time would be wiser spent learning the finer points of landing accuracy.

The tacking serves to keep the ring (or tab) inside the riser instead of sticking out to one side or the other, and to some extent, this helps to insure that the link is loaded properly too. Once your soft links have taken a good "set" with the tab or ring where it needs to be, the tacking isn't important at all. BUT Aerodyne's instructions stipulate that they should be tacked, so if you want to be anal, they *should* be tacked (not so with PD Slinks, so don't trash a rigger who doesn't tack those every time!). In other words, it's not important for your safety, but it is important for the sake of following instructions I tend to tack soft links on mains only if the tabs/rings are poking out of the riser - I try to avoid poking sharp stuff through webbing if I can. I will only tack reserve soft links if the manufacturer's instructions explicitly tell me to. I am endlessly irritated by riggers who tack the soft links in such a way that I can't inspect them for proper assembly without cutting their inevitably tiny stitches and possibly nicking the riser in the process. If you're gonna tack it, do it in such a way that the next guy can still check the work, and so disassembly isn't a terrifying process! That was WAY more than 2 cents, haha... ................................................................................ Agreed! The primary reason for tacking soft link ends is to hide them inside the riser, is to protect them against being slapped by the metal slider grommets. Slap any link end often enough and hard enough and it will fall apart.

Did anyone read the Talon 2 manual? I wrote it 17 years ago.

................................................................................. Pack volume varied widely with Gelvenor fabric. The wide variations in Triathlon volume caused us no end of grief when we were "sizing" the Talon 2 series.

The new Aerodyne pattern is similar to "SLinks" made by Performance Designs. A metal lump was never needed on the end of soft links. In comparison, the soft links made by Light Concepts and HyPer only needed large, ugly knots.

Ask your local rigger to inspect it before any money changes hands. Many riggers offer escrow services.

Also consider that most military course are primarily about screening. How much is the student willing to sweat to earn jump-wings? How many thousand push-ups is the student willing to do to earn jump-wings? How many chin-ups is the student willing to do to earn jump-wings? How many miles is the student willing to run to earn jump-wings? How much boredom is the student willing to endure to earn jump-wings? How much pain is the student willing to endure to earn jump-wings? Instructors are trying to screen students to figure out which students will keep their cool when cold, tired, scared ... under fire, etc. Whether you learn anything is secondary. I hate to tell you how many times I reported into a squadron and the first thing I heard was "forget everything you learned at the school, because we do it differently at this squadron."

Well, how many sport jumpers would still be interested in jumping if they spent 2 weeks getting their bells rang trying to do PLFs, only to get to jump a few times on the third week? ............................................................................. The civilian first-jump-course changed radically during the 1950s when Jacques Andre Istel brought modern free-fall methods to the USA. JAI also realized that American students did not have the patience to struggle through 2.5 weeks of training, so he condensed it to a half-day of "must-knows." Also consider that by the 1960s, military static-line parachutes were more reliable than students. Back then, the biggest risk was ankle injuries from poor landing technique. If we could convince students to land with their feet together, we were doing well.

Every Cessna - that I ever worked in - had a hook knife above the door frame. The pilot was taught to cut loose anyone stupid enough to deploy in the doorway, wrap a seatbelt around an ankle, etc.

Try on "retro" motorcycle helmets. One of those low-profile helmets might fit. Bell helmets were fashionable when I started jumping back during the 1970s. Too bad modern, full-face motorcycle helmets are too bulky for skydiving. Then hockey helmets were fashionable skydiving wear for a few years. French, leather "frap hats" were fashionable for a while, though I never expected them to carry anymore than my audible altimeter and keep my ears warm. Then full-face down-hill ski helmets. Then surf helmets. Sadly, most surf helmets do little more than carry your audible altimeter. Bottom line, a variety of other sports have helmets that are suitable for skydiving. The best helmet is one that fits so comfortably that you are wearing it when you whack your head into a: door frame, planet, other skydiver, etc.

Also talk to gear stores in Perris, Elsinore, etc.

"... And look on the bright side, the entire England rugby squad is classed as clinically obese/diabetes risk and all risk dropping dead according to the stupid BMI scale. ..." ..................................................................................... BMI is such a crude way to measure people. While I score an almost perfect 27 percent, I have always thought of myself as slender compared with the rest of the population. In comparison, General Swartzkopf was "obese" by the Canadian Army's standards. Swartzkopf was always a large lad, even when he was a young paratrooper. He would never be healthy at 26 percent BMI. The CF would never have Gen. Swartzkopf to deploy to the Middle East when he weighed as much as he did during the first Gulf War. As I recall, Gen. Swartzkopf did a pretty good job of leading a coalition army to victory. I would like to see a new scale that compares body fat, with muscle mass with bone mass. The heaviest tandem student I ever jumped with was a 260 pound, retired rugby player. Judging by the thickness of the guy's thighs, I was at ZERO risk of breaking his leg bones. Hah! Hah! Hah!

"... I'm wondering if brand new dacron might somehow produce more friction with the grommets than broken-in dacron. Thanks! ................................................................................. The difference between "new Dacron" versus "broken in Dacron" is minor. After 70 or 100 jumps, the thickest latex coating will start to wear off and the lines will feel a bit softer. Risk increases after 400 jumps, when the Dacron starts to get fuzzy and hold a lot of desert grit. Then the rate of slider hang-ups and tension knots increases dramatically. Guess how I learned that??????? Hah! Hah! Hah! HINT: when your suspension lines are fuzzier than your cat, order a new line kit! Hah! Hah! Hah!

Fully dressed, he will weigh about 230-240 out the door, still within the 254 pound "maximum suspended weight" placards on most parachutes.

Wing-loading is too much when you cannot walk away from every landing.

Lots of American factories close over the Fourth of July weekend. Some close for an entire week. Managers find it easier to give everyone a week off than listening to variety of lame excuses about obscure ailments.