riggerrob

If you read the details of that story, most of the civilian casualties were "collaterol damage" from air-strikes called in by American and Canadian special forces fighting in Syria. Collateral damage has always happened - in every war. These civilian deaths were not individually targeted, much less shot by individual soldiers. That many (claimed) casualties requires that their chain of command needs to answer some embarrassing questions. Generals need to publically define rules of engagement, etc. Finally, keep in mind that ISIS, daesch, Iranian Islamic Republican Guard, etc. have never read the Geneva Convention, much less pretend to follow its guidelines (e.g. limit civilian casualties). See Dillon Hillier's book "One Soldier" about battlefield conditions in the Kurdish areas of Northern Iraq and Syria circa 2015.

Yes, sociopathic repeat killers who are beyond rehabilitation, deserve execution. Hired killers probably also deserve the death penalty.

This morning's news reported that Russia admitted to losing 87 soldiers to the most recent Ukrainian attack (HIMARS?). Ukrainians tracked Russian soldiers' location by a single cell phone call. Taliban learned that lesson two decades ago and banned cell phones from meetings. Why is Russia relearning this lesson the bloody way?????????????

What about a graduated licensing program for new gun owners? Start with a basic firearms safety course (see Canadian Firearms Possession and Acquisition License). Limit them to .22 rim-fire for the first year. After a year, add in a review of the basics (to test how much they remember) then add in a basic accuracy requirement. That accuracy demonstration would require going to a registered gun range and hitting a standard target with 10 rounds fired from 10 meters/yards away. The target would need to be signed by the range officer and submitted with the application to upgrade the license. It would take 2 or 3 years to qualify for a concealed carry permit. Concealed carry permits should require some formal training in situational awareness, risk management, adrenaline management, de-escalation, road-rage, etc. Pre-trained military or police officers might get some slack on timing (for example, the way that the FAA fast-tracks military riggers wanting to earn civilian parachute rigger ratings), but they would still need to demonstrate safety and accuracy.

That is reallllly old and cumbersome terminology. Why invent new terminology? About 40 years ago, John Sherman coined the terms: Type 2 diaper, etc. and most riggers have been using that standardized terminology ever since. Type 1 with all the suspension lines stowed in the pack tray. Now considered obsolete. Type 2 diaper with the left line group stowed in 2 or 3 locking rubber bands on the diaper with the rest of the suspension lines stowed in the pack tray. Considered obsolete for most containers except for Strong Para-Cushion pilot emergency parachutes where the suspension lines' bulk provides a launching platform for the pilot-chute. Type 3 diaper with 2 locking stows and all of the suspension lines stowed horizontally on the diaper. Invented by Hank Asquitto and used on Piglet and Phantom, etc. round reserves. Type 4 diaper with 2 or 3 locking stows and all suspension lines stowed vertically on the diaper. he industry standard for round civilian canopies made since the 1960s (e.g. Strong Mid-Lite round reserve canopy). Also seen on a few early squares (e.g. Hobbit and reefing line Cloud). Type 5 deployment bag with 2 or more locking stows and all of the suspension lines stowed on the D-bag (rubber bands or in a pocket). Type 6 Sleeve - mentioned in the FAA Parachute Riggers' Handbook (2015 revision)

Backing Jerry Baumchen. Follow the container manufacturers' advice. At Rigging Innovations, I was the rigger test-packing all the newly-arrived canopies and deciding which combinations we could recommend. Meanwhile, Sandy Reid was on the far side of the room stuffing newly-arrived canopies into a PIA volume measuring cylinder. We were in the dry desert of Southern California. The manufacturers that I disagreed with were base din humid Florida where everything pack sone size smaller. What passes for a comfortable fit in Florida is almost a struggle in the dry heat of the Southern California desert.

Silliness done by people who do not understand the deployment sequence.

Wishing everyone a peaceful 2023.

Traditionally, junior jumpers would buy a case of beer and share it with everyone. Senior jumpers would share "no shit there I was thought I was gonna die" stories as informal education.

Much or that "drone porn" comes from simple, short-range, commercial drones that are too small to bother installing GPS. The simplest drones operate purely on short-range, line-of-sight radio signals.

Are you implying that American murderers, domestic terrorists and bumbling idiots have killed more Americans than the Taliban?

Sandy Reid was the best boss I ever had: knowledgeable, flexible and willing to share his experience in making parachute harnesses and containers. I learned a lot about parachute rigging while working for Manley Butler, but even more when working for Sandy Reid.

I ws under the impression that the American ban on parachuting through clouds was written circa 1964 when a bunch of skydivers drowned in Lake Erie. The story starts with a bunch of skydivers doing high altitude (above 20,000 feet) from a World War 2 surplus B-25 Mitchell bomber. When clouds closed in below them, they asked an air traffic controller to help them spot. Unfortunately, ATC followed the wrong airplane - Beechcraft Bonanza. When the Bonanza was over the chosen drop zone, ATC cleared them to jump. Unfortunately, the B-25 was really over Lake Erie. All the jumpers landed in the Lake and most drowned. Since then, navigation avionics have improved considerably, but no civil servant (e.g. ATC) wants to involved with a decision that might kill some one, so jumping through clouds is still banned in American airspace. OTOH I have done dozens of jumps through clouds, dating back to 1980. Most of those jumps were made in other countries. We had good pilots - who knew how to read VOR or GPS systems, so that my longest walk was from the far end of the runway. Ho hum!!!!!!

Merry Christmas Ron, But what I am really praying for is peaceful skies over Ukraine. One rumor has it that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is considering switching their Christmas celebrations to December ... like the Roman Catholics (e.g the Poles who live next door). This will completely separate the Ukrainian Orthodox church from the Russian Orthodox Church. However we suspect that many older Ukrainians will continue to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ in January. Yeah! Two parties for the same religious figure!

Dear lippy, No offense intended. I got a NAFTA visa to work as a technical writer when I worked in the USA. Apparently my employer (Rigging Innovations) could not find any one else with my combined skills as an FAA Master Parachute Rigger, CSPA Instructor, USPA Instructor and print journalism diploma. The fact that a previous job included writing technical manuals for MBB Helicopter of Canada helped with my visa application.

Those immigrants are flooding into North America to compensate for low birth rates in Canada and the USA. They are flooding in to work nasty jobs (e.g. cleaning, picking berries, construction laborer, etc.) that native-born North Americans are unwilling to do. The difference between Canadian immigration policy and American immigration policy is that Canada openly and honestly welcomes a half million skilled immigrants per year, favoring those of working age with a decent income. Immigrants earn points by completing university, earning professional credentials, speaking both of Canada's official languages, etc. Ironically, immigrants are far more likely to be bi-lingual or tri-lingual than native-born Canadians. The only problem is that their other language is likely to be Africaans, Arabic, Aramaic, Bulgarian, Cantonese, Croatian, Dutch, Farsi, Finnish, German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Kurdish, Mandarin, Nigerian (another dozen languages), Polish, Portugese, Punjabi, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Tagalo, Ukrainian, Xhosa, Zulu, etc. ... and those are just the immigrants that I work with every day ... Over their working lifetimes. those skilled nurses, dentists, doctors, engineers, etc. will repay the federal gov't (Ottawa) with income taxes that exceed their re-settlement costs. OTOH The USA treats immigrants like criminals. By allowing the great unwashed masses ... your poor, your tired ... the USA is importing only low-wage-earners who become little more than a slave class. Exploiting poor immigrants is not a uniquely American problem. See the book "Rat People" about poorly-documented day laborers living in cellars of major cities in mainland China. Most of these "rat people" came from poor farming towns in the interior of China who moved to the big city in search of work or higher wages. Corrupt landlords rip them off at every opportunity ... even if they are only forced to pay high rents for un-healthy cellar apartments. They are too poor to get state=sponsored medical care or educations. How does this differ from the way the Charles Dickens' London was bursting at the seams a couple of centuries ago. See "A Christmas Carol."

comrade Carlson warns about the chaos that will ensue after regime change in Russia. Has anyone told him about the current chaos in Ukraine? ... many thousands of citizens starving and freezing in the dark because Russian missiles have damaged electrical generating plants, etc. In two minutes, I just watched my annual quota of Tucker Carlson. UGH!

Also handy for confirming that your (tandem) drogue is out and fully inflated.

Dear sfzombie13, Sailors will tell you that you need a rag to inspect steel cables. There are two methods of inspection. First, you can slide the rag along the steel cable to check for broken strands. Secondly, you can slide your bare hand down the cable, then use the rag to staunch your bleeding hand. Hah! Hah!

Yes, but if you slide down it fast enough, it gets hot enough to melt nylon ... er ... the nylon gets hot enough to melt ... you know what I mean.

I scored "54 Scary" on USPA's survey. I have a Pilot 169 for my 190 pounds (naked), more than 7,000 total jumps over a 45 year span. Mind you, the majority of those jumps were on tandems ranging form 520 to 330 square feet. Since I quit jumping during COVID, USPA made an accurate assessment. I have no intention of returning to jumping until the nearest DZ changes their policy on seatbelts. I am too old and too scarred to repeat that lesson.

When you perfect this HUD, offer it to motorcycle riders. They will buy thousands and return your investment.

Insulting allies, raping, looting and pillaging recently "liberated" territories are all war crimes committed by poorly trained, poor disciplined and poorly led common soldiers/conscripts. We wonder if a professional NATO army would commit the same atrocities.

"Don't be careful. Be competent."

Agreed. One of the problems with puberty-blocking hormones is that they prevent puberty, but also "sterilize" preventing patients from ever bearing children.