riggerrob

I made that suggestion based primarily on avoiding collisions under canopy. If you put the heaviest tandem out first, they will naturally descend fastest and will land first. And if you put the lightest tandem out last, they will naturally descend slower and naturally land last. The worst case scenario is the lightest tandem spiralling in the landing pattern (below 1,000 feet) in his egotistical rush to land first.

Now you are sounding like a “barracks lawyer.” “Barracks lawyers” are typically enlisted soldiers with 1 percent of the law knowledge required to pass the legal bar. The naval equivalent is “mess deck lawyers.” Arguing over the finer points of law about whether you should be sucking on supplemental oxygen whenever you fly above 12,000 feet Canadian Air Regulations or 12,500 feet American Federal Air Regulations is silly. I have done a handful of tandems from 19,000 feet and concluded that was a stupid and dangerous practice. That was the same year I attended the RCAF’s High Altitude Indoctrination Course and ran a bunch of half-marathons. I used half-marathons as a hang-over cure back when I drank heavily. I drank heavily and often that year. The scary thing about hypoxia is that it produces a sense of euphoria in some people, so that they are hypoxic but feeling better than ever. If they fly at “oxygen altitudes” for too long, they make silly mistakes and eventually lose consciousness. Bottom line: extended flight above 10,000 feet is stupid and dangerous and the average skydiver has less than half the knowledge required to stay alive at those altitudes.

Did you look at the chart in the Talon 2 manual? I jump at Talon 2 T6 containing an Amigo 172 reserve. The Amigo packs slightly tighter than a PD176.

First time that I have heard of routinely putting out licensed jumpers at 17,000 feet. Many years ago I did a handful of tandem jumps from 19,000 at a boogie and concluded that was a stupid practice. That was the same year that I attended the RCAF’s high altitude indoctrination course. That was also back when I often used a 20 km run to cure hangovers. I drank a lot back in those days. Legally, civilians are suppose to suck on supplemental oxygen any time they fly above 12,000 or 12,500 feet. Any higher than that is stupid!

Assuming that they are all jumping the same size of main canopies, put the heaviest tandem out first and put the lightest out last. If the spot gets too long, the last TI should be smart enough to open higher than normal. Since outside photographers tend to open half as high as tandems, they deserve a better spot. At most DZs, photographers help open the door, and check the spot before exit.

This is the first that I have heard about "re-certifying" reserves made by Parachutes de France. From page 21 of the Techno 98 manual: "Lifing policy is in accordance with the integrity and condition of the parachute and is left to the responsibility of the rigger." The 40 repack standard was written by Performance Designs. Most of the reserves that were sent to PD for "40 repack inspections" passed and were returned to their owners with a stamp saying that they were good for another 10-ish repacks. The second question is "how many high-speed deployments." Most manufacturers will tell you that their reserves are good for 20 or 25 deployments. I do know that some European countries set a 20 year life on parachutes. My guess is that the reserve in question is good for at least another year. Consult your local regulations.

How many more years until we can jump shapewaves canopies? They use various lengths of tapes glued inside to make vaiable depth inflatable structures like paddle-boards with raised bows. www.shapewaves.eu

I have landed a couple of canopies with twisted risers. No big deal. The first was a Canadian Military Freefall round that inverted during opening. The sleeve and pilot.chutes we’re hanging INSIDE the canopy. The canopy was flying backwards relative to me. Steering was backwards (e.g. pull left to turn right). There were a dozen small burn holes, but it was descending slowly. So I landed that main canopy in the grass beside the bowl. The second was a tandem main with a total flip-through. The packer failed to notice that the harness had done a complete back-loop between the risers. Since it steered fine and flared fine,I elected to land it in the grass beside the bowl. Both my student and Inwalked away smiling. No big deal.

That reminds me of a recent jump at Campbell River, Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada. My main canopy opened in a spin and I was not enjoying the spin, so I cutaway and deployed by reserve. I landed my in the grass beside the pea gravel bowl. My main landed in the forest. As I was walking out to search for my main, I encountered a half-dozen RCMP who were overly excited! Construction workers had phoned in the "accident" when they saw my main land in the forest. I had to coach the RCMP corporal to take a few slow, deep breathes to calm down to a level where he could function. Hah! Hah!

Strong LoPo fabric is just a variation on F-111, Soar Coat or the old MIL SPEC canopy fabric. The yarn and (ripstop) weave are pretty much the same. Structurally they are all pretty much the same so can be used to patch any canopy made from that range of fabric. The biggest difference is porosity, but I doubt if you will notice a difference with a small patch on a 26 foot diameter round canopy.

Canadian Army Basic Parachutist Course 8103 was the most physically-demanding thing I have ever done. Two weeks of push-ups followed by two days of jumping. We were all physically-exhausted by the end of the course. I lost 15 pounds! As an adult, I have only weighed 170 pounds twice. The second time was at the end of a long illness. I am proud of surviving that gruelling course.

If you already have the air deflector, you can skydive all day in warm weather. Judging by your profile, you are somewhere in Africa? What are typical air temperatures on the days that you jump? An inflight door makes it quieter, warmer and faster-climbing. An inflight door also reduces an inflight problem - like a loose pilot-chute - to a nuisance. Just leave the door closed, land the plane and repack on the ground. As for the step ... look at the article in the January 2024 issue of CANPARA magazine. Some steps are good while others are snagalicious! Please post o photo of your step. Third: what type of seat-belts do you have?

At the other end of the scale, you have all the Afrikaner doctors who moved to Canada. After WCB dropped the ball, my Afrikaner family doctor turned stubborn and Dr. Botha kept referring me to orthopedic surgeons until we found a surgeon who new how to treat torn posterior cruxiate ligaments. Are all Afrikaners as stubborn as Dr. Botha? I have a lot of respect for the Afrikaner doctors, real estate agents, bus drivers, skydivers, etc. that I have met over the years because they work hard and hold themselves to high standards.

Well said T.K. Immigrants would be wise to learn the local language. If I had to learn 4 languages during my travels, every other immigrant should learn the basics of the local language. I had to learn to read and write English in my home town. I learned French while serving at CFB Valcartier. I learned to speak German while serving at CFB Baden in West Germany. I learned to speak some Spanish while working at Rigging Innovations in California. Now I great my co-workers in a dozen different languages. All those moves make me sort of an immigrant. After the 1970 FLQ Crisis, and Quebec politics taking a turn towards the stupid .... I became a political refugee. And Alfred Pinisch was a friend-of-the-family who died in the bungled FLQ robbery of International Firearms. And I agree with T.K. that immigrants should swear off the political violence that forced them to leave their homelands. My Sikh co-workers explained to me that the Sikh leader who was shot in front of this own temple was on an Indian gov't hit list. He may not have been the most important man on the hit-list, but he was an easy target and was shot "to encourage the others." One of the sadder things about that whole political killing was that Indian gov't agents "cheaped out" when they hired the lowest ranked hit-men, who were mere "foot soldiers" for a criminal gang. They murderers were not even professional enough to leave the country. A year later they were arrested in Toronto! What a bungling bunch of amateurs!

The United States Postal Service routinely moves military veterans to the front of the line when hiring. One of the reason that so many US Post Offices got shot up was PTSD. Back then, American society did not know how to treat shell-shocked soldiers returning from a war that they did not understand. Merely deploying can be dangerous. Especially in the asymmetric style of warfare known as guerilla warfare. "Guerilla" is Spanish for "small war". The term originated when Napoleon invaded the Iberian Peninsula and the Spanish Army was too small to stop the invasion. So small bands of Spanish "entrepreneurs" "bandits" "freedom fighters" etc. raided French supply columns or ambushed small groups of French soldiers. Marine Corps veteran Gary Douris told me that even before he got shot at in Vietnam, he was afraid because the bus he was riding in had steel netting over the windows to prevent VC from throwing in grenades. Skydiver Dave Ruckert may "only" have driven a Jeep in VN, but he was constantly at risk of ambush. After VN Dave worked a 20 year career at the USPS. When my brother went to Afghanistan, he had to promise his wife that he would not go "outside the wire" because he knew that Coalition convoys were frequently ambushed by roadside bombs even when there were no Taliban in sight.

Canadian paratroopers carry a similar "aircrew equipment bag" sewn under the main container.

Good point dear Wolfriverjoe, During one rigger course, I was feeling mischievous, so assigned a "gear selection exercise" that included a student whose objective was to do wingsuit BASE jumps. Most rigger candidates recommended a plan to down-size, but the brightest student suggested buying a large 7-cell loaded at 0.7 pounds per square foot. During another rigger course, I assigned s similar "gear selection exercise" and one (British) rigger candidate was OUTRAGED that I would mention the word "BASE" during a CSPA course. Hah! Hah! Bottom line, seriously consider WHY you want to down-size. Down-sizing may not be in the best interests of a student who plans to do BASE, precision landing competition or exhibition jumps into tight stadiums.

To quote song-writer Steve Earl: " ... I enrolled on my birthday, they take the white trash first here anyways." It never ceases to amaze me how good the upper classes are at convincing working class young men to do their bleeding for them during wartime.

Joe, You are correct in stating that I do not understand the Canadian legal system ... but then neither do most Canadian citizens. The Canadian legal system has evolved to the point that it (de jury) no longer resembles the original (de facto) written law. Canadian law is inaccessible to the masses. Perhaps that is the way that Canadian lawyers prefer it. But I am a curious person and I continue to ask questions until I understand something. Today I just mailed two more embarrassing questions to the Law Society of British Columbia.

Why does this remind me of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War? Israel invaded Eastern Egypt to later trade that conquered land for what Israel wanted more. At the start of the war, Israel held all of the Sinai Peninsula. On the opening day, Egypt crossed the Suez Canal and captured maybe a quarter of the Sinai. Israel retaliated by making a left hook - south of the Egyptian Army - crossing the Suez Canal and were marching towards Cairo when the cease-fire came into effect. During peace talks, Israel agreed to withdraw from the Sinai and gave the Sinai Peninsula back to Egypt in return for a peace that has lasted since then. It took Western nations another few years to de-mine the Suez Canal and re-open it to shipping. Please remember that the Sinai is arid and not much good for anything beyond strategic depth.

What I want to know is why the most recent band of UK thugs were sentenced a mere WEEK after their crimes, while back in 2010, it took British Columbia courts a YEAR to convict vandals who ransacked downtown Vancouver during the Stanley Cup riots.

Many times, jail only protects the general public against that criminal for "X" number of years.

Do rioters really consider jail time before they vandalize something?

Consider how chest straps need to be completely un-threaded and re-threaded for every jump. Every time they slide through a buckle, they suffer a tiny amount of wear, hence chest straps wear out first. Also consider that leg straps need to be tightened before every jump. Again, every time a leg strap slides through a friction-adapter, it suffers a little friction. 20-some-odd-years ago Aerodyne published a Service Bulletin recommending adding a layer of Type 12 webbing to leg straps to increase friction/reduce slippage. I have sewn that update into harnesses made by Aerodyne, Altico, Flying High, Mirage, Relative Workshop, Strong, Sun Path, etc. I have worked at a few skydiving schools where all the student rigs hade been re-harnessed when the containers were only half-life. The worst was when (around 2001) when we bought out a school that had dozens of Javelin student rigs. This was just after Sun Path published a Service Bulletin about fraying main lift webs. That winter I replaced frayed MLWs on 20 harnesses, plus 20 chest straps and a few frayed leg straps. I also did a bunch of container repairs …. replacing cracked stiffeners, etc. I could only return half of them to service. Talk about hiding behind a sewing machine all winter!

Backing fcajump, May I suggest that equipment age be linked to jumper age? For example, only people who skydived during the 1970s and 1980s should be allowed to jump with pilot-chutes mounted on their belly-bands. Only skydivers with “X” number of jumps on round mains should be allowed to jump with round reserves. My personal experience with round mains was all during the 1970s and early 1980s. My last jump on a round reserve was in 1986 and I missed the country! Hah! Hah! Note how few POPS still jump round canopies. Riggers should only be allowed to work on parachutes that were in production when they earned their first rigger rating. This limit is mainly to discourage young riggers from repacking gear that was made before the internet became widely available. Finding Service Bulletins, Airworthiness Directives, etc. published before 1990 is difficult or impossible.