riggerrob

We seem to agree with the OP's basic outline, but disagree over the finer points. Dear SethInMi, I disagree. Solo freefall maneuvers used to be an international competition event (aka. Style). Junior skydivers still need to demonstrate precise solo maneuvers before they can earn various USPA licenses. I still think they need to demonstrate solo skills on belly, sitting and on their heads before progressing to group freefall maneuvers. Speaking of freeflying ... That category needs to be broken down into sitting skills, vertical skills and head down skills before they can be combined into "freeflying" in general.

Wind tunnel is most valuable after they have done a few (2 to 6) stable exits with IAD or static-line. It is generally a good habit to toss them in the tunnel before they start practice pulls. Ten minutes of practice pulls - in the tunnel - will eliminate most fumbles during real practice pulls. If students will progress to assisted freefall, then you toss them in the tunnel for a few minutes to practice the maneuvers they will do during their first assisted freefall. Be sure to toss an AFF Instructor in the tunnel to ensure that they practice correctly. Video is also a great way to debrief tunnel time. Tunnel time gets them over the sensory over-load experienced during their first few seconds of real freefall.

Eric Fradet identified that problem with Mirages a good 25 years ago. He found that if the reserve closing loop is more than 1/2" too long, it can get pinched between the rolled edges of grommets,, causing them to hesitate. The ideal closing loop is perfect or less than a 1/2" too long. Rigging Innovations struggle with a similar problem when we built a Telesis 1 container for retired President George Bush Senior. The main container was a variation of a design that we had built hundreds of for the US Air Force Academy, but it was even more complicated with an FXC 12000M, a chest-mounted ripcord (right MLW) and a second main ripcord on the lower left corner for the reserve side AFF instructor. After it hesitated - on the table - a few times, we eventually used the shortest possible, double-ended main closing loop. We activated it dozens of times on the ground before we got that spring-loaded main pilot-chute to deploy consistently. As the (President Bush Sr.) program neared completion, Sandy Reid told me "We will never build another rig like that."

if everyone is sitting around waiting, a complete skydiving rig can be sewn in a day or so. This means a dozen ladies sewing sub-components (e.g. side flaps) that are only sewn together late in the production process. It is expensive to keep an entire factory sitting idle while waiting for a single rig to come through the production line. Mind you, that pre-supposes that accessories like pilot-chutes, d-bags, risers, etc. were pre-made. It also assumes that your rig is made in the same colours as the last batch of rigs because changing thread colour or binding tape colour takes a few minutes. That is why many factories only make black rigs on Monday and Tuesday, blue rigs on Wednesday, red rigs on Thursday, etc. They will group all the blue rigs in a single batch to limit colour changes. Similarly, if they have an order for a large number of student rigs, they will do them all in a single run, just so that the ladies at the sewing machines can sew a single pattern all week.

The shortest IAD FJC was 3 hours and all 4 students performed well as they exited the airplane. Larger classes and "slower" students require more time for rehearsals on the ground. Accompanied Freefall FJC usually requires 6 hours because of all the additional tasks the student has to perform. The key is the instructor(s) constantly observing students to confirm that learning is taking place. A few students will never "get" ground school and need to be weeded out quietly.

Moderators, Please move this thread to the INCIDENTS forum.

If rigging students only want to pack pilot emergency parachutes, we need to add: Round canopies Back containers Long back containers Seat containers Chest containers

Tears of joy after the Habs finally won a play-off game. Hah! Hah!

It was impossible for the lawn mower driver to hear a plane approaching for landing. To prevent a repeat - of this accident - we should install better mufflers on gasoline powered lawn mowers. Did I ever tell you how much I hate the sound of loud lawn-mowers?

CTV's Matt Grillo (sp?) needs to extract his cranium from his rectum because anyone can see that Nanjing CJ-6 is almost useless for skydiving .... ergo there is no need for Parachute Montreal to own a Nanjing. Chinese-made Nanjing trainers are popular with warbird owner/pilots because they can be bought for a fraction of the cost of Spitfires, etc. They are a Chinese design loosely based on the Yak 55 trainer that is also popular with warbird pilots.

Dear Airhugger, Working with first-timers does not have to be boring. It all depends upon your attitude. The best thing about working with newbies is that you get a new audience every day ... for your corny old jokes. Hah! Hah!

Agreed dear Winsor, My impression is that antifa don't really care about politics. They just enjoy a good riot! I fear extremists on both sides of any debate.

Ask USPA or CSPA.

Around 03:00 am Wednesday (2021, June 30) a Catholic Church caught fire north of Edmonton, Alberta. The wood and brick structure was fully engulfed with flames by the time firefighters arrived. The historic St. Jean Baptiste Church was built in 1907. Police are investigating the possibility of arson.

Why am I surprised that a crooked lawyer breached another lawyer's promise?????? Sarcasm!

Over the past week, four Catholic churches have burned to the ground in eastern British Columbia. They were all Catholic and the last two burned on First nations reservations. The RCMP are investigating possible arson. This news comes in the immediate aftermath of hundreds of graves - of First Nations children - being discovered at former residential schools. These schools were financed by the federal gov't, but contracted out to the: Catholic Church, Anglican Church, United Church of Canada and Presbyterians. Why do I get upset when someone vandalizes a mosque or synagog, but not these churches? Was it because I listened to too much protestant propaganda from my Anglican grandfather? I was tired of his anti-Catholic propaganda before I was a teenager.

Some of those "California compliant" firearms look silly. All of those AR-ish pistols look terminally silly with those buffer tubes sticking out the back of the breech.

What do you mean "Hockey riots BEGIN?" Back in 1985, I was passing through Edmonton the night that the Oilers won the cup. Joyous fans clogged streets as they cheered to victory. Police closed off the High Level Bridge for fear that some drunken idiot might fall off the bridge! Fast forward to 2012 (?) downtown Vancouver was over-run by disappointed drunks when the Vancouver Canucks lost a game. Dozens were arrested when surveillance cameras revealed their vandalism and violence.

Dear bycastory, Lat pull-down exercises are unlikely to help much with weak/painful lower back muscles (lumbar spine). I suspect that your back pains started because you gained a lot of weight and all that weight was on the front, pulling your lumbar/lower spine at an odd angle. I suffer the same problem when my beer-gut gets too fat. As another poster suggested, discuss back exercises with a certified physio-therapist. The correct physio' can save you many hours of training and much pain.

Has UPT or USPA publically said why they revoked Pooley's Tandem Examiner ratings?

That reminds me of my ex-wife. She had an abortion many years before I met her. She got the abortion because a child would have been "inconvenient." After meeting her mother and observing the two for a few years, I concluded that my ex- would have done a terrible job of raising children. Thankfully I never got her pregnant.

Excellent video dear Binary93! That is why I always clamp my knees together and tuck my elbows in to reduce the width of my suit as the pilot-chute tries to deploy my main canopy. Now a little history. Back circa 1980, huge balloon-suits were fashionable for (belly-flying) freefall formations. Those balloon-suits were so huge that spring-loaded pilot-chutes often hesitated in their huge burbles. That is when a variety of hand-deployed pilot-chutes (pull-out and throw-out) were invented to get PCs out to arms' length before releasing them. Hand-deploys decreased the incidence of pilot-chute hesitations. Fast forward to 2000 and modern wing-suits were introduced. First-adopter WS jumpers quickly realized that throw-out PCs were far more reliable.

Dear Deyan, Tensile testing is easy because it is the same test for acid-mesh and PD reserves: 40 pounds. Measuring porosity is slightly more difficult, but just ask the tester for raw porosity numbers. If porosity is less than 3 cubic feet per minute, your canopy is still within the original manufacturing specifications.

Try asking another factory (e.g. Performance Designs) to re-certify your old Decelerator reserve. Alternately, ask one of the Strong Tandem re-certification facilities to test your old reserve. Both manufacturers test for tensile strength and porosity.

Paxton Smith spoke with courage, truth and clarity.