riggerrob

"The Vector 2 free bag will work, but it is shaped a bit differently. I think that Shoobi built the rig a little shorter top-to-bottom ..." when in doubt, install the next larger size of Vector II free-bag. For example, if your Eclipse is sized for a PD-360 Reserve, then install an Vector V-13 or V-14 sized reserve free-bag.

Not all rounds have "slits in the back." The army still jumps non-steerable rounds. Given their most common scenario (below 500 foot exit altitude, ruck-sack, rifle and snow-shoes, in a snow-storm, on a DZ you have never jumped before, in a country you never heard of before, where they don't speak a language that you understand, against an enemy you never heard of before, etc.) 300 or more scared young soldiers in the air at the same time, most of whom might have done one jump during the past year .... steerable canopies would cause more casualties than the Taliban. By the time you have "checked canopy" you have less than a minute to lower your ruck-sack and rifle and snow-shoes and clamp your knees together for landing. Forget about steering way from obstacles, because you probably cannot see them in the dark.

.................................................................................... Why were you so mean to the planet? Hah! Hah!

Riggers, How many different models of seat-type Pilot Emergency Parachutes have you packed? I can remember repacking: Butler GQ Security National Para-Innovators Para-Phernalia Strong U.S. Air Force U.S. Navy

That does not sound right. Does he still have the original (Rigging Innovations) main risers?

"... Now, I'm in the process of trying to buy another set of risers. Simple enough generally, but for the fact that I'm still jumping Eclipse rigs. Anyone know where a guy might find a set of Eclipse main risers. ..." ................................................................................... Last time I discussed Eclipse spare parts with Bill Dause (current owner of the Eclipse TSO), Bill told me to install Vector 2 Tandem free-bag. Even the TSO-owner admits that Eclipse is a close copy of Tandem Vector 2 and that most Vector parts will fit.

Don't forget the little people market too... just not a lot of call for tiny little canopies for that segment of the skydiving market. .............................................................................. Agreed. Most little women are too smart to jump tiny canopies. Some thing about the short lines making the canopies too responsive for them to feel comfortable under canopy. Did I just say that girl skydivers are brighter than boy skydivers? Hah! Hah!

" ... He had NO MORE THAN two inches of cable through each 3 ring loop. Really think it was less. ..." .................................................................................. That is scary! The yellow cables on Telesis 1 SOS were a minimum of 4 inches exposed cable. Even 4 inches was too short for stock main risers. We had to make special main risers to ensure that the ends of the yellow cables did not hang loose ... creating other problems. Telsis 1 SOS main risers have (yellow cable) channels that extend all the way to the bottom edge of the confluence wrap. Bottom line, SOS has a bunch of extra manufacturing tolerances, that vastly complicate the design.

Weird. I am a younger rigger, not old grey-bearded one. I have ratings and I haven't been jumping anywhere close to 40 years. I got plenty of round manuals, I have packed (and continue to pack) plenty of rounds, and I have jumped and landed plenty of various rounds (both reserves and mains). sorry, just wanted to brag :) ............................................................................... You sir, are an anomaly! I challenge you to show me your manuals for the following parachutes: Advanced Air PEP Asquito PEP Ballistic Recovery Systems' PEP Butler Headrest pack Eclipse PEP Flying High's Slimline PEP Free Flight Enterprises' Preserve 5 canopy Handbury PEP Irvin lap-pack Jump Shack PEP National seat-type PEP Parachutes Australia long PEP Parachutes de France Flex-Pack Para-Phernalia "Softie" containing a square canopy Pioneer Thin-Pack PISA back-type PEP Reltny lap-pack Rigging Innovations' Aviator Security 150, 250, 350 and 550 Spekon RE-5L Stewart Systems PEP Westway pilot emergency parachute

Tell that Yank to move to Switzerland where the smallest jump-plane is a Pilatus Porter! Hah! Hah!

Yeah, but I'd argue not typical. C-206 was mentioned and many, if not most, are turbo. ... ............................................................................. Just to clarify, most Cessna 206 jump planes have stock fuel injected, piston engines. Thousands of Cessna 206s came from the factory with super-chargers installed on their piston engines. Turbo-charged 206 are popular at high-altitude DZs (e.g. Colorado) but are too expensive to maintain to be profitable at sea level DZs. Hundreds of Cessna 206s have had Allison/Rolls-Royce 250 turbo-prop engines installed by Soloy (Olympia, Washington). Soloy 206s climb like rockets! Van Prey Junior is in the later stages of obtaining an STC to install a Pratt & Whitney PT6A-20 in a Cessna 206. Minivan's conversion out-climbs a Soloy! The Soloy conversion of the Cessna 207 is the only 207 version that climbs fast enough to keep TIs awake.

If there are no broken strands, you may return that ripcord to service. If it exceeds your esthetic standards, order a new ripcord and install it at during the next I&R. I am surprised that this question was not answered when you learned how to rig.

There is a logmarithmic curve that says that only a tiny percentage of skydivers are skilled enough to jump sub-71 square foot canopies. PD insists on their factory jumping the bejezus out of any new design before selling it to the public. PD will not sell that new canopy to the masses until the PD factory team have collected their full crop of medals with the new canopy. IOW PD is afraid that selling sub-71 canopies to regular skydivers will result in too many fractured femurs. It is in PD's best interest to keep your femurs intact.

There is a practical reason why many riggers refuse to pack reserves more than 20 years old. Back during the 1980s, a bad batch of mesh snuck into factories that made round reserves. Some of that ACID MESH deteriorated some batches of F-111 fabric. A few round reserves got grounded until they could be tested and re-certified. Only a handful of FAA-registered lofts had FAA approval to re-certify reserves ACID MESH FREE. In the long run, the FAA Airworthiness Directive was only a short-term measure, because wise skydivers replaced their acidic round reserves with Ravens and Swifts as quickly as they could. Military-surplus round mains faded from North American skydiving schools by 1990. Round reserves almost disappeared by 2000. By 2010, the FAA quietly allowed DPREs to make round reserves optional when testing new riggers. So good luck in finding a young rigger who knows how to pack a round reserve. Even more luck finding a grumpy, old grey-bearded FAA Master Rigger has a dusty copy of the manual for your 20-year-old round reserve. Forget about finding a skydiving instructor (less than 40 years old) who has jumped a round canopy! Hah!

Most of the PD reserves have passed their 40 repack/25 deployment factory inspection and Performance Designs has re-certified them to return to service.

"... You may get a few more bucks from a US jumper since any Master Rigger can re-certify reserve ... ............................................................................ Where does it say that in the Federal Air Regulations? Rob Warner FAA Master Rigger

........................................................................................ I disagree with your logic. The primary goal of the criminal justice system is to protect victims ... ideally deter criminals from committing their first crime. In lieu of prevention, the criminal justice system should change the attitudes of criminals the first and only time they go to prison. If that fails, then repeat offenders should be isolated from their victims. If that means life behind bars, so be it, because the first time they dis-respected a victim, they destroyed the victim's freedom. In compensation, criminals lose some of their freedoms. In blunt terms, that means that any "goof" who rapes a child will be repeatedly raped in prison.

................................................................................. I agree with you that REPEAT sexual offenders should not work as TIs. Several levels of authority share the responsibility to screen repeat sexual offenders ad deny them work in sensitive careers. USPA should refuse to issue coach ratings to repeat sexual offenders. Tandem Examiners should refuse to train repeat sexual offenders as TIs. Manufacturers should refuse to issue TI ratings to repeat ... DZOs should refuse to hire TI with a history of repeat sexual offences. Vidiots should refuse to work with "that creep," etc. How would you define repeat? A guy that rapes more then one woman? A child molester that molests more the one child or molests the same child repeatedly ? .................................................................................. Yes! Any more than one sexual offence means that the whack job is a "repeat sexual assaulter." The number of victims is irrelevant.

Depends whether he has no legs or medium-length stumps. If he has medium-length stumps (half femur) then production tandem student harnesses will work well. Just remember to tighten the Y-strap before you board the plane. A few years ago, I did an tandem jump with a student who had multiple birth defects including only half a femur on his left leg. By the time I had tightened all the straps, there was insignificant risk of him falling out of the harness.

.................................................................................. You seem to have missed my point. I still want an FG 42 Mark 2 (G) with a gas port that will not burn my left hand. This review is similar to my review of Precision's R-Max 118 reserve. At the end of that review, I said that I would never buy an R-Max 118, but would seriously consider an R-Max 150 the next time I buy a reserve.

Popped reserve pins are not only a WINGS problem, If you bash ANY container around long enough and hard enough, you will knock the reserve pin loose.

"...no matter how much of a douche this guy might have been to his unit... he is OUR douche... an American ..." ............................................................................. Warning! My sense of humour is politically incorrect. If Bergdahl was as bad as you imply, maybe Obama decided that leaving him in Afghanistan was too cruel for even the Taliban. Hah! Hah! OTOH Maybe the Taliban told Obama that "we are sending Bergdahl back to America ... we do not care what you offer in trade, because we cannot stand him any more."

It falls the same way. If it turns out that his health wasn't bad, REAL BAD it will play poorly...especially with Congress. OTOH if he's health really is poor than I think the public will give Obama a pass. Personally I think we are in a new time. We aren't fighting other nations and swapping POW like this may be a bad idea but it certainly has been done in the past. I'm leaning toward this was 100% political but would like more info.......... ................................................................................ Good point! If Bergahl's health was deteriorating, maybe the Taliban wanted to avoid the embarrassment of him dying as a POW. Similarly, maybe the 5 Taliban leaders traded had failing health and the USA was trying to avoid the embarrassment of them dying in Guantanamo. Just speculating.

you already are a member. But I have no idea how competent (well regulated) you are with a weapon. .................................................................................. Join the National Guard or the Army Reserve, or the Air Force Reserve, or the Navy Reserve and serve three or more years. All three services do a pretty good job of screening potential gun carriers. I have served comfortably with thousands of armed professionals (police, military, etc.) but amateurs with guns scare me. Trivial point: in Canada, the only "militia" serve in the Army Reserve, under same rules as the Regular Army. IOW Canada's militia have always sworn to protect and serve the Queen.

May I suggest that life-long imprisonment is a luxury of wealthy nations? In the olden days, small communities could not afford the luxury of feeding idle mouths. Minor criminals were sentenced to hard labour. Medium criminals were enslaved, while the worst criminals were executed. Hint: criminals sentenced to hard labour were often worked to death before the end of their sentences.