riggerrob

The Yellow Lolon cable comes from Loose and is their name for Nylon. Nylon being hygroscopic absorbs any lubricant over time. A well lubricated cable is necessary to allow the cable to pass through the nylon retainer loop under load. Cleaning the cable is actually unnecessary as the black goop on the cable is the residue of the cutting oil used in the housing manufacturing process. Oil lasts longer in service than silicone which seems to Hydrolyze within days where oil will last about a month depending on conditions. Due to the tolerances between the housing and cable I don't believe any amount of dirt will stop a lubricated cable from pulling through the housing. However an un-lubricated cable will fail to pull through the nylon loop with 10 pounds of loop load. The test is: Remove the end of the cable from the keeper on the back of the riser and pull the cable through your fingers. If it "Squeaks" like just shampooed hair then go back and oil it. Do not jump it unless it pulls through you fingers with NO resistance. .................................................................................. My experience contradicts John's opinion. I found that California desert dirt dramatically increases cutaway pull-force. Dirty cables required up to 25 pounds to release, while clean cables only needed 5-ish pounds of tension. Both those tests only measured friction within the metal housing.

............................................................................... Wow! That security bulletin dates back to 1989. It tells about a problem with the bottom turn of the pilot chute spring burying itself in the deployment bag. Apparently, the pilot spring can stand-up, but entangle with the deployment bag ... a common problem with old containers (pre-1980). Like you, I would only re-pack it for museum display.

"... Very little if any tail reinforcement. I'm guessing this is a more modern thing? The Fury has a single piece on each inboard steering line, and none at all on the Raven. ..." .................................................................................. The amount of tail reinforcing is a compromise between low pack volume and strength. No reinforcing tapes weight the least, but as wing-loadings and deployment speeds increase, you risk tearing the control lines off, so need to add more reinforcing tapes. The first step is to fold 6 inches of tape into the tail seam near the control line attachment, but most manufacturers find it less labour-intensive to just run one piece of tape all the way across the tail. The second step involves adding wider (3 or 4 inch wide) tapes near each control line (tandems). The next step involves sewing diagonal tapes (Smart reserve). The next step is to add short tapes running forward along the ribs.

No! I use WD-40 or food-grade silicone.

I think that's the bottom line. Well, I'll just see how things are going to develop. I won't beg nor sue. If they don't want to let me jump, so be it. I've got much more important biz to do

He tossed that drogue one second after exit. Strong's textbook says to toss the drogue 3 to 5 seconds after exit. I am curious about the helicopter's airspeed on exit????? That drogue toss would have been dangerous from a hovering helicopter, but reasonable from one flying forward at more than 40 knots.

.............................................................................. Yeah! Whatever steveorino said!!!!!

I just adjust all tandem student harnesses in accordance with the 2008 Strong manual. I get much better results when I position the hip junction at the front of their hips. That foolishness about asking students to adjust their own harnesses - while hanging under canopy - is soooooo last century!

Those greyish black marks are iron oxide rubbing off the stainless steel slider grommets. When stainless steel oxidizes ("rusts" to rednecks) it produces a grey or black dust. That dark dust is harmless to harnesses and suspension lines.

Yes. Carry food and water out to the plane. If the young pilot is well nourished and fed, then he/she might have enough energy remaining to check fuel or oil levels or glance up final approach one more time before taxiing onto the active runway, or any of those dozen other little tasks that we demand of all our pilots.

Moderators, Please correct the spelling in the thread title. Thanks

THIS ^ I learned in the military and I promise you it was not an enjoyable experience but boy did I know everything that they taught me COLD. skydiving is a fun and exciting experience, but AFF can be a very stressful time for some. I don't know to many people who enjoyed their first few AFF jumps. .............................................................................. Agreed! If you enjoyed military jump school, you are either: A a masochist or B god's gift to the Rangers, SEALs or some group of specialized soldiers we are not allowed to talk about in public. Hah! Hah!

Back when I had about 300 jumps, I was invited on a Canadian Record Attempt that built to 23 before break-off time. I do not remember exactly how many people planned to dock after me, but we had a Twin Otter and a Beech 18, so it must have been around 35 people. My most vivid memory of that jump was how clearly I could see fence posts right after opening!

But what about tandems, Aff, and tunnels. You all must have been really poor and deprived. .................................................................................. Tandems were not invented until 1983. AFF was invented around 1980. The first tunnel time I flew in a tunnel was 1981. If you wanted to jump before that, you jumped military-surplus round chutes. Para-Commanders were introduced in 1964, but those high-performance rounds were considered way too radical for students. Square canopies may have been invented (by Domina Jalbert) around 1969, but it took Prof. Dicoladius (sp?) and a huge pile of ARPA money to work the major bugs out. Reliable squares were perfected during the late 1970s, but it was another two or three years before they learned how to make squares large enough and docile enough for students. Which was good, because Crown Assets Disposal (Canada) and the U.S. military started cutting lines off MIL SPEC canopies around then (1980), so that by 1990, square mains had disappeared from civilian DZs. Round reserves were replaced by square reserves about a decade later (2000). That is why us old-farts jumped round parachutes when we were young and beautiful.

AFFIs wearing cameras only works when the cameras have few snag points. Why are modern skydivers not bright enough to learn from previous deaths?

My worst "out landing" missed a target the size of West Germany. I had to walk back from France! Can anyone beat my incompetence? The story includes a long spot motivated by "honking" upper winds, a DZ less than a kilometer from the border, etc..

Big parachutes are less expensive than big medical bills.

***Bear in mind that it is quite likely that your harness and reserve also have the same maximum weight limit. .................................................................................. Most skydiving harnesses are only certified for 254 pounds. This troll is a laugh a minute! Hah! Hah!

Rob, The 82d used to send guys through school to be able to jump the -1b in the 70s. Although uncommon regular airborne units have and sometimes do jump steerable rounds .............................................................................. Military steerable chutes are usually limited to units that only jump in small groups: forward air controllers, pathfinders, search and rescue, etc.

Riggers, how many different back-type pilot emergency parachutes have you packed? Aviator (Rigging Innovations) Butler Eclipse GQ Security Jump Shack National Para-Innovators PISA Softie (Para-Phernalia) Spekon Strong US Air Force surplus US Navy surplus Other ... please specify?

I stop doing tandems when winds exceed 22 knots or the spread on the gusts exceeds 8 knots. Yes, I have hundreds of jumps in worse winds ... and collected a lot of bruises.

^This.

Back in 1988, I cried when I learned that Robin Sutherland died after his chute entangled with his camera helmet. Have we learned nothing in the intervening 26 years?

GoPros only allow you to make mistakes faster than whiskey or computers. How many more people do we have to kill before people learn that cameras are snag hazards????????

"... Can anyone tell me when the Airborne units started jumping steerable canopies? I don't mean SF units I mean regular airborne. ..." ................................................................................ Regular airborne still do not jump steerable canopies. If you tried adding steerable canopies to the usual .... um ... er ... "cluster" of hundreds of scared, young paratroopers loaded with rucksacks, rifles and snowshoes, you would just increase the carnage. Even the newest T-11, S/L canopy is non-steerable.