riggerrob

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Everything posted by riggerrob

  1. riggerrob
    They will probably try to sell you a "Cypres Packer's Kit" which includes spare "smiley" washers, a spool of Cypres cord, temporary pins, silicone lubricant, finger-trapping needle, manual, etc.
  2. riggerrob
    Did you call the Air Force Academy? They have a bunch of FAA-rated riggers on staff.
  3. riggerrob
    ............................................................................... Now I vote with my dollars. I never jumped from a Cessna 190. I never jumped from a Lodestar. I will never jump from another King Air (re. 2008 August 3). I will never jump from another Beech 18 (re. 2002 Labour Day). Slowly, the oldest and most decrepit airplanes are being retired from the skydiving fleet.
  4. riggerrob
    When packing reserves without electronic AADs (Argus, Astra, Cypres, Maars, Vigil, etc.) I tend to use 800 or 1,000 pound Spectra suspension line. The coated suspension line lasts longer. I also use 800 or 1,000 pound Spectra when replacing loops in pilot emergency parachutes.
  5. riggerrob
    Installing a Cypres loop will drop ripcord pull force by about 5 pounds ..compared with a similar-length closing loop made of (300 pound) nylon, because of the smaller cross-section and lubrication.
  6. riggerrob
    Most jump-planes had auto-pilots installed when they were manufactured. However, by the time they have deteriorated enough that DZs can afford them, the de-icing boots have worn out (more patches than a CReW canopy), the cabin has too many cracks to pressurize, the heater does not heat anymore, the weather radar is mono-chromatic (meaning that it does not tell you anything), half the instruments on the co-pilot's side are no longer accurate, the windows are crazed, the upholstery was ripped out a long time ago (to make room for cargo),the radios are older than the pilot, the auto-pilot can barely hold heading on a calm day,... In short, when you buy a 1960s vintage King Air, you are buying the instrument panel and the time remaining on the engines ... they throw in the airframe for free! Hee! He!
  7. riggerrob
    Vertical gusts change rate of descent. Some gusts are even rotary ... try to picture roll clouds downwind of a mountain. If you fly your parachute into the descending part of a roll gust, your rate of descent will increase.
  8. riggerrob
    ................................................................................. The parachute only knows that it is flying through a block of air. The parachute does not know whether that block of air is sliding across the ground, ergo, it does not know whether it is facing upwind, or downwind, etc. ... ergo rate of descent does not change with heading.
  9. riggerrob
    ................................................................................. BPA was responding to the "perfect storm" 25 years ago. Since then most factories have only built reinforced mini-risers since then, then problem has solved itself. OW it is difficult to find non-reinforced mini-risers less than 20 years old ... and if you are still jumping 20 year old risers .... Few of us expect a pair of risers to last more than 600 or 1,000 jumps and if you have not made 1,000 jumps over the last 25 years ... you are in the wrong sport.
  10. riggerrob
    Yes, Riggerlee, I agree with you. Many years ago, Sandy Reid described it as a "perfect storm." A whole bunch of new canopy technologies were introduced around 1990. The new canopy technologies included: Zero porosity fabric, zero stretch suspension lines, RW-7 Rings, etc. Wing-loadings started to exceed 1 pound per square foot and new canopies become less forgiving of sloppy packing, loose rubber bands, deploying one shoulder low, etc. Tandem was invented in 1983. People started breaking risers. Sandy lamented that canopy manufacturers introduced problems, but harness manufacturers were forced to invent new solutions. Thin RW-7 rings were quietly replaced by RW-8 rings. RW-8 rings are the same thickness as RW-0, RW-1 rings and the mini-rings that Parachutes de France had been making for the previous decade. What is the oldest RW-8 ring you have seen?
  11. riggerrob
    ................................................................................... I was being rude. Try to picture a lawyer sucking on a HOT soldering iron.
  12. riggerrob
    Today I packed a 20-year-old Bogy reserve into a 20-year-old Infinity container. I reminded the owner not to load the reserve more than 1 pound per square foot. Then I advised him to invest in a newer Infinity. Part of the problem was brass grommets pulling loose. One of those grommets was in the main container loop anchor ( a problem suffered by a variety of other containers ... see all the Service Bulletins issued at the turn of the century). There was also a loose grommet inside the reserve container. The other problem was that previous owner slid across an asphalt taxiway. He scuffed the reserve pin cover and abraded the one riser cover. Sorry, but I do not have the patterns to replace those flaps and I suspect that the Infinity factory would charge him more than the rig is worth to replace those two flaps. Bottom line, he is considering buying a new rig and reserve.
  13. riggerrob
    Backing councilman .... The industry developed solutions 20 years ago. During the 1993 Parachute Industry Association Symposium, we were introduced to reinforced mini-risers. They were made of 1 inch wide Type 17 webbing with an extra layer of Type 3 tape below the confluence wrap. That extra layer of tape solved the problem of risers breaking where they wrapped around the harness ring. In 1998, 3-Ring Incorporated published standards for sewing 3-Ring risers. Since then the incidence of broken risers has decreased dramatically.
  14. riggerrob
    You use glue? Pfft. I use rivets. ................................................................................. Rivets? Only sissies use rivets! Real men weld their 3-Rings together. Hah! Hah!
  15. riggerrob
    ........................................................................ That reminds me of a guy who brought me his rig a week after his basement flooded. The harness and reserve were easy to dry out, but the Cypres 1 was not in good shape. There were little burn marks inside the battery compartment. We mailed that Cypres 1 to SSK, but I told the customer not to hold his breath. A few weeks later, he bought a second-hand Cypres.
  16. riggerrob
    Also remember that sticky, ripstop tape was originally designed to repair goose-down filled sleeping bags. Then some cheap-skate skydiver used it to repair his "Cheapo" military-surplus parachute and the Western World started to collapse .... Hah! Hah!
  17. riggerrob
    ............................................................................. Dear new jumper, Don't feel bad, because only half of the "experienced" jumpers got this joke. Delta II, Paradactyl and PZ-81 canopies are all Rogallos. They look like old hang-gliders. Rogallos normally fly with their pointy noses leading, followed by two tiny, pointy end cells all followed by a pointy tail. Another way to look at Rogallos is to describe them as sharply tapered (extremely elliptical) 2-cells ... though there was a 3-cell (double-keel) version of the Paradactyl. IOW a well-behaved Rogallo always flies with a 45 degree line-twist.
  18. riggerrob
    Does any one know anything about posterior cruxiate ligament surgery?
  19. riggerrob
    ................................................................................. I was being sarcastic about the 30-year trend. Before Cypres, hardly any licensed skydivers wore AADs and 2-out malfunctions were rare. We saw a dramatic increase in 2-outs when Cypres was introduced (early 1990s). However, 2-outs have decreased as skydivers have become more altitude-aware. And we are about to repeat the cycle as the newer generation of AAD's with higher activiation altitudes become more mainstream ................................................................................. POPS leaning back in their lawn chairs ... sipping lemonade and waiting for the lessons to begin.
  20. riggerrob
    A paper bobbin, from a sewing machine.
  21. riggerrob
    ........................................................................... Are you referring to the US Navy 26 conicals that were coated with titanium dioxide? According to Dan Poynter, the titanium dioxide coating was a "delustrant" designed to reduce "shine." Unfortunately, when the titanium dioxide interacted with sunlight, it rotted the nylon canopy fabric. The last time some-one asked me to repack a US Navy conical it was manufactured during the suspect year, so I refused.
  22. riggerrob
    ................................................................................. I was being sarcastic about the 30-year trend. Before Cypres, hardly any licensed skydivers wore AADs and 2-out malfunctions were rare. We saw a dramatic increase in 2-outs when Cypres was introduced (early 1990s). However, 2-outs have decreased as skydivers have become more altitude-aware.
  23. riggerrob
    ... As for jump height, you can file for a demo, and exit low. ... .................................................................................... I am having difficulty following your logic, because (in most countries) the standards (e.g. exit altitudes) are the same for exhibition jumps as regular skydives.
  24. riggerrob
    ***By law (and this is in South Africa) ... As for the jumper.....The jumper is not the guilty party. It is the pilot. The pilot is in command from the time you board the plane. The pilot will be held responsible when you jump with an outdated reserve, or non TSO'd rig. ... ................................................................................... That aviation law is based on ancient maritime law. Back when a ship might be away from home port for two to three years, the captain was held responsible for enforcing all the laws of the home country. In modern times, civil aviation authorities still hold pilots responsible for everything that happens relative to their airplane. In a few cases, the (USA) FAA has imposed fines on skydivers who did stupid stuff.
  25. riggerrob
    I am not up to date on the latest United States Parachute Association Basic Safety Regulations, but Canadian Sports Parachuting Association BSRs require all skydives to wear flotation gear when their intended landing area is within 1 kilometer of open water. Open water is defined as any body of water big enough o drown you: ocean, lake, reservoir, canal, mill pond, etc. As for the definition of "floatation gear" just look in the Para-Gear catalogue as they sell a dozen different types of flotation, most of which is approved for military aircrew. Note: the above advice was intended for skydivers. However, if the original poster was an ambulance-chasing lawyer, he can take a long, hard suck on my ..... my ... my hot-knife!