riggerrob

Flaring 4 feet too high is a minor error when it comes to landings. As for the radio quitting ... it is more like your ears quit listening when you got highly stressed just before landing. I have radioed down hundreds of students and dozens of them complained that the radio quit a few seconds before landing. Meanwhile I am helping another student daisy-chain their lines and listening to the the next student's radio (less than 50 meters/yards away). The second student also complained that their radio quit, even though both of us heard it clearly from a few meters away. Hah! Hah!

Wiser jumpers manually and mentally review emergency procedures on a regular basis. Tandem instructors are REQUIRED to rehearse the hand movements of EPs before every jump. Rob Warner Strong Tandem Instructor Examiner Also certified on Vector 1 (pre-drogue) Vector 2, Sigma and Racer Tandems.

A reserve pilot chute only has to launch 1.5 meters ... perhaps 2 meters ... to clear the low-speed, turbulent air around a skydiver. Once out in smooth, fast air, it will inflate and pull hard. I cannot remember the last time I pulled a reserve ripcord and the pilot-chute launched less than 1.5 meters. Most extend most of the reserve bridle before hitting the floor ... more than enough to start reserve deployment.

The next step involves us punishing those evil French vintiers for restricting the naming of alcoholic beverages to one specific region of French. For example, only bubbly wine made in the "Champagne" Region of France can be labelled "champagne." Every other similar bubbly drink must be labelled "sparkling apple cider" etc.). Hah! Hah! Evil Frenchmen! Next thing you know, French cooks will claim to have invented certain recipes! Hah!

The Javelin reserve pilot-chute spring is based upon an old Military Specification. A MIL SPEC MA-1 spring is supposed to require 18 pounds to compress it to only 1/2 inch. Some other modern skydiving rigs use stronger springs, but most of them are buried under many more flaps versus only 2 flaps covering Javelin reserve pilot-chutes.

Spread rumors about Ukrainian women having a wide variety of doubly nasty sexually transmitted diseases. Any Russian soldier suspected of rape will have difficulty getting laid after he returns home! Cue evil laughter!

I was ruminating about the almost blank south wall of the Canadian Aerospace Museum at Rockcliffe, a suburb of Ottawa. They do have parts of an ejection seat in one corner, but the museum guide's description of the ejection seat left me under-whelmed. What if we assembled a series of antique parachutes to display a history of parachuting in Canada since 1888? Start with a half-hull model of the hot-air balloon that Mr. Larsen jumped from back in 1888. Since the wall is 40 or more feet high, we could install an almost full-scale model of the balloon ... but it only needs to be a half-hull model to give the correct impression from the far side of the hall. Come to think of it, most of the balloons, jump-planes and parachute canopies only need to be half-hull. These models can be sewn with soft fabrics and inflated with fans to achieve realistic inflation. Perhaps include another full-size display of barnstormers like Frank Ellis jumping from a fragile biplane before World War One. The World War One display will be the most spectacular with a flaming observation balloon and occupants doing static-line jumps over the side. Perhaps a few inter-war barnstormers, then on to World War 2 with the First Canadian Parachute Battalion jumping into Normandy, across the Rhine and their forced march to prevent those evil Russians from invading Denmark. Cold War displays could include freefall cylinders, Search-and-Rescue Technicians and ejection seats. We wonder if the RCAF wants to brag about how many of their CF-104 pilots were saved by ejection seats???? Finally the last panel can focus on Canadian-born Domina Jalbert's greatest invention. The last panel would be dominated with Jalbert's Para-Foils bringing medals home from World Meets (Kathy Cox and Pierre Fourand). The last display could include 3 or more Skyhawks displaying their canopy formation skills. What are your thoughts and suggestions. The goal is to give museum visitors a quick, big-picture view of parachuting in Canada over the last 140 years, but remember that most museum visitors have short attention spans, so keep commentary to a minimum. The display will probably need a few big-screen TVs to display the more dramatic parachute descents. Can you imagine the crowd's reaction to a video of Jay Moledski pond-swooping past them at 60 mph.? Perhaps add a nozzle spraying water to complete the "experience." Hah! Hah!

Domestic cats still kill more song birds than wind turbines. Raptors (predatory birds like falcons and eagles) often collide with wind turbine blades while chasing the smaller birds that become their supper.

I finally got around to reading the entire summary and was surprised at how many fatalities were more than 50 years old. Does this reflect demographics among licensed jumpers? Are we all getting that old????? (Staring at a 64 year old man in my mirror???????) Back when I started jumping (1977) most students were in their teens or twenties and students older than 30 were considered "odd." Continuing jumping as a member of POPS was considered a big deal back during the 1980s. POPS rarely made more than 2 or 3 jumps per day before sore knees forced them to quit for the day. Most of those sore knees were caused by too many down-wind landings under round parachutes.

Parts of the USA were once under: Abenaki, Apache, Cherokee, Creek, Dakota, Eskimo, Haida, Hopi, Huron, Iroquois, Lakota, Migmaw, Ojibway, Oneida, Seminole, Sioux, Zuni, etc. control. Do American conservatives want to hand their land back to earlier rulers? Hah! Hah!

Since my first jump - in 1977 - I have seen massive improvements in equipment, training and accident rates, despite vastly larger numbers of jumps being made every year. Back in 1977, static-line students jumped military surplus gear from World War 2 surplus airplanes. The vast majority of the revenue was from static-line students. The smaller DZs used 1950s vintage Cessnas. When I earned my first instructor rating in 1982, military surplus rounds were still considered the safest for students. Over the years - but mostly the 1980s - I worked with a wide variety of student systems: military surplus S/L, civilian S/L, IAD, tandem, accompanied freefall, etc. I also saw much improvement in teaching techniques lead by Rob Laidlaw. Circa 1980, gov'ts quit selling military surplus parachutes intact, so in a mere decade, S/L students converted to large docile squares packed into piggy-back containers. The fiercely competitive capitalists who ran parachute factories constantly upgraded their equipment to minimize malfunctions. Skydivers benefitted from more reliable equipment. Despite expansion in the numbers of S/L students, accident rates remained low and I attribute that to more reliable square parachutes. Fewer malfunctions meant that solo students had to make fewer decisions during stressful malfunctions. The 1980s also saw that popularization of more professional AFF instruction. We also saw DZs shift from crude arrows to modern radios to steer students back towards the correct landing field. this further reduced the numbers of students who had to be retrieved from trees or rivers. Tandem may have been introduced during the 1980s, but it really came to dominate during the 1990s. Having a professional TI pulling the handles vastly reduced the numbers of S/L student who needed to be retrieved from the trees. Since professional TIs were trying to earn a living, they discouraged any behavior that interfered with them making a dozen jumps per day. As WW2 surplus airplanes wore out - during the 1990s - DZOs purchased more reliable turbines which can go well beyond TBO with the proper maintenance. Some DZOs start3ed to treat their investments in airplanes as their pension funds and to keep the value up, invested more in airplane maintenance. As DZOs invested more in airplanes and equipment, they became more risk adverse and the older, dirty biker type of skydiver was no longer welcome. At least not to sell recreational drugs on the DZ. With that source of revenue gone, fewer dirty biker jumpers could afford to continue skydiving. Electronic Automatic Activation Devices - Cypres was introduced in 1991 - removed the traditional 1/3 of "no pull/low pull" fatalities from USPA's data base. More fatalities were attributed to heart attacks in freefall.

Vertical Suits President Valdimir Rincon just announced that his firm is branching out into manufacturing speed-flying and skydiving canopies. "We have teamed up with Wowseewoowoo Industrial Sewing Machine Company to introduce the latest in 5 axis through-stitched recreational products which integrate my many years of canopy-piloting competition experience with their latest 5 axis machines to optimize canopy smoothness to massage laminar airflow over the canopy. The more parallel the airflow, the less drag allowing for longer turf-surfs. Through-stitch technology was pioneered in Britain during the Second World War, when they used it to make flat, inflatable panels for dummy tanks. They sure fooled the Germans with those gag props. Then Goodyear furthered the concept with the Air Matt skin panels used on their experimental Inflatoplane. The advent of numerically-controlled quilting machines enabled the current generation of constant-thickness inflatable recreational products like stand-on-top paddle-boards. Now the most exciting development is variable-thickness, 5-axis machines which allow us to precisely control the curvature of the top-skin. Through-stitching allows us to directly connect 72 percent of the stitches directly to suspension lines, eliminating all those external seams, internal ribs and line attachment tapes found on legacy canopies. Our first-generation LAMINAIR canopies still use the same single-curvature bottom skins as legacy canopies, but that will improve with our second-generation. But the most exciting improvement is how 5-axis through-stitching allows us to far more precisely smooth the top-skin to extend laminar air-flow back to the 40 percent chord-line. This reduction in drag allows the LAMINAIR series to turf-surf 14 percent farther than legacy canopies. Because this more precise thickness control allows us to precisely tailor top-skin curvature, we are currently using the same 21 panel top-skins as legacy canopies, but our second generation will incorporate a more precise 92 panel planform. Speaking of planforms, the new manufacturing methods finally allow us to use a true Schumann planform with a slightly swept trailing edge. By blending airflow off the top skin and bottom skin, we can minimize the size and drag of wing tip vortexes. Finally, all those thousands of tiny internal threads help modulate airflow during inflation. They easily allow air to flow into at low airspeeds (e.g. BASE jumps) but slow it at head-down terminal velocities to provide smooth, positive openings at all airspeeds. Please don't tell my wife, but I jumped a LAMINAIR 92 - our biggest size - off the Golden Ears Bridge and enjoyed perfect synergism of opening sequence with altitude. Vertical Suits announced that they will release the first batch of LAMINAIR canopies to selected competitors during the 2022 Canopy Piloting competition season. Beta-testing LAMINAIR canopies are being made in sizes ranging from 44 to 92 square feet.

In a surprise announcement, the Canadian Sports Parachuting Association announced that repairing BASE equipment will now be included as part fo their new Aviation Rigger rating. We aim to add instructional modules for a wide variety of military, glider, aerobatic, BASE, para-gliding etc. parachutes to broaden the education of our riggers and expand their income opportunities. This announcement fore-shadows the impending merger of CSPA with the Canadian BASE Jumpers Federation. CBJF supports access to public buildings for their members and organizes go-fund-me campaigns after they get injured.

Skydive Wichita got a sneak-preview of Cessnas' new Sky Courier jump-plane when they borrowed it for a half-day of testing on April 1. "It is super easy to load" reported Skydive Wichita's ground crew member Dick Shovinski. We just pre-load the pallets beside manifest. Straight out the door and into the pallet with zero chance of passengers wandering into propellers. Then the automated truck drives them down to the end of the taxiway and shoves the pallets into the plane. Integrated cargo tie-downs secure pallets to the airplane automatically. "I tried riding along for the first few loads, but got bored and spent the rest of the morning hooking up with a cute passenger who has big ..... " Tandem instructors report that strapping in is a no-brainer with the automatic securing system. "I only had one problem with one student who was busy taking selfies and got her foot (don't ask) entangled with a seat-belt. But we quickly sorted that out. I love the way the seat-belts completely retract out of the way before the door opens. The powered door is great too. Exits are a breeze with no handles for students to cling to. Even my worst, clingy student could not delay the exit when the pallet floor tilted. Yee! Hah! Out the door!" Shovinski reported that Sky Courier pallets are easy to clean. "We had one student lose her 3:00 am. pizza, but we just tilted the pallet and hosed it out. Nothing sticks to that Teflon lining!"

Peace talks between Russia and Ukraine continue with Ukrainian President Zelensky agreeing to several of Mr. Poutine's demands. "Sure we can agree to de-nazification. We even agree to bring in some ardent neo-nazis from America to confirm that those charged are "nazi enough" to deserve prosecution. In other news, Zelensky agreed to return all the Russian vehicles seized in Ukraine. "We are willing to write it off as a silly spring-break frollic by a handful of drunken Russian soldiers who slipped away from adult supervision during spring break. They can have their trucks back as soon as they pay parking fees." The Ukrainian Union of Tractor and Automobile Mechanics are busy repairing Russian trucks, tanks, mobile rocket launchers, etc. to allow Russian soldiers to drive their trucks, tanks, etc. home as soon as they pay for repairs. Ludmila Lastokovich - a county court clerk - has reported a record number of mechanics' liens filed in the county court house of Whatchamacallitski, a suburb of Keeve. Mr. Poutine agreed with President Zelensky that the whole miss-understanding was caused by a handful of drunken soldiers having too much fun during spring break. Mr. Poutine vowed to punish the mischievious lads who were responsible. He also insisted that they return to Russia with all their vehicles, equipment, etc. "If you are not driving your Russian-made army truck, don't bother coming home." A passport office in Kharkhov reports record numbers of Ukrainain young men requested replacements for their passports that were destroyed during recent fighting. Most of these lost passports belong to young men from the Russian-speaking, Eastern oblasts of Ukraine.

Ripper knife handles are made of cheap plastic that distorts and allows lines, etc. to get trapped between blades. You would be wiser to buy the stiffer knives with fiberglass or metal handles. See the CANPARA article on hook knives that I wrote back in 1984.

If you consider that most of those missiles had shelf-lives of 20 or 25 years, they cost NATO $0.00

Russia achieved most of their goals in Southern Ukraine during the first day, when they reached the banks of the Dnieper River. Their first goal was to re-open the North Crimean Canal that supplies water to Crimea. Their second goal was to capture a land bridge connecting Russia to Crimea. They almost completed that goal except for stubborn Ukrainians defending Mariupol. Russia could hav simply by-passed Mariupol and built a railroads to re-route North of Mariupol. Russia's third goal was to install a puppet government favorable to Russia. That was what motivated their invasion of the Northern and North-Eastern cities of Kharkiv and Keeve. That goal has failed because of stubborn Ukrainians who do not want to live under Russian rule. The latest announcement is Russian public attempt to mask their failures in Northern Ukraine while claiming glory for Russian successes in South-Eastern Ukraine. Did I ever tell you how much I hate the MASKovka published by Russian politicians, Russian proagandists, Canadian politicians, Canadian propagandists, Canadian lawyers, etc.???????

This debate is raging in high-level sports. Should trans-sexuals be allowed to compete as women? I say NO! They enjoyed a huge advantage during puberty when the excess testosterone helped them grow more muscle mass and grow taller. I say that trans-sexuals should compete in an "open" division, while traditional females compete in a "womens' only" division. We still need a "mens' division" in there somewhere. If a traditional woman scores higher than traditional men, then that should encourage the boys to train harder. Humpf!

Even before Sky Courier starts, the Pentagon is already mumbling about including it in foreign military sales. Guess they want to sell them to replace Cessna Caravans, Shorts Skyvans and PZL Skytruks in allies' air forces.

Call Scott Cave in Abbottsford, B.C., Canada.

My co-worker is of Ukrainian-Canadian descent and has been telling me some of the Ukrainian background to this current war. His father was born in the South-West corner of Ukraine, a few kilometers inland from Odessa. His father survived the Second World War by trading on the black market and immigrated to Canada after the war. He fit in well with the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who had already moved to the Canadian Prairies before and after the First World War. He taught my co-worker the cyrillic alphabet and how to speak Ukrainian. The lad did not learn English until he attended elementary school. As I said in an earlier post, Soviets were upset that so many Ukrainians resisted communist rule (circa 1029), so they almost welcomed the Holomodor drought and famine of 1932. This drought struck around the same time as the Dust Bowl devastated the America Mid West during the "Dirty Thirties". The Eastern Ukrainian Oblasts (provinces) were the worst hit because they are traditionally the driest part of Ukraine. Soviets seized food from farmers to feed factory workers. Soviets also refused to ship food into the hungriest parts of Georgia and Eastern Ukraine. Thousands of Ukrainians were also forcably deported to make way for Russian-speaking immigrants. This was all part of Stalin's plan to "russify" the most rebellious (from a bolshevik perspective) part of Ukraine. As an aside, Stalin also accused Crimean Tatars of betraying the Soviet Union, so deported them from Crimea to Siberia in the aftermath of World War 2. Did I mention that Stalin was merely the most blood-thirsty ruler of Moscow rullers... from a long line of ruthless rulers? The current war is just a continuation of a centuries old process to "russify" Eastern Ukraine. Recent news footage - of Russian speaking - Ukrainians telling Russian soldiers to go home is an indication that even Russian-speaking Ukrainians prefer to live in a Western democracy. While I may have been tired of hearing NATO propaganda about "evil Russians" by the late 1980s, it turns out that some of that propaganda is still true today.

You always have the option of asking your rigger to sew a secondary BOC pocket lower down on your wingsuit. Caveat: Consult with the suit maker and Sun Path before re-configuring anything.

Please keep is mind that the Russian Army is far more stratified than NATO Armies. Since they lack a cadre of long-service, professional senior non-commissioned officers (sargeants and warrant officers) the Russian Army depends far more on officers to make all the decisions. All front-line decisions are made by junior officers (lieutenants and captains), while senior officers (colonels and generals) need to lead from the front to keep troops moving. Ergo, Russian generals are farther forward than their NATO counter-parts and suffer more casualties.

Yes, the FAA Technical Standard Order still applies even after minor changes. The manufacturer decides what is a minor change. Depending upon which FAA Regional office you are dealing with: maybe yes and maybe no. The original Relative Workshop TSO on the Wondehog dates back to circa 1975. When They designed the Vector in 1981, RWS repeated the drop tests and submitted the results to the FAA. The FAA replied "Does it use the same materials?" "Does it use the same manufacturing processes?" "Will it accept the same canopies?" "If yes, then you don't need a new TSO." To their credit RWS and now United Parachute Technologies have done numerous drop tests since then and military testing has pushed military Vectors, Microns, Sigmas, etc. well beyond any numbers published in civilian sources. I helped Manley Butler with deployment testing back in 1992 and in 1994-1997 I helped Rigging Innovations with several drop tests.