riggerrob

I disagree. Any time an AAD fires, you are too low. In my 40 years of skydiving, I have only seen one FXC 12000 mis-fire at 7,000 feet. All the rest of the AAD fires have been below 2,000'. Any time you are below 2,000' without an inflated main, you have made a mistake.

Looks like it took off from the Flying Beaver Restaurant at dawn on Tuesday, 2019 December 10. The Flying Beaver Restaurant is on the South Fork of the Fraser River where it passes Sea Island and Vancouver International Airport. That dock is where you can board floatplane flights to Victoria, Seattle, Nanaimo and Vancouver's Inner Harbour. Great hamburgers too!

Getting raked across the courtroom can be a miserable process … even when you win! Guess how I know? I just got called for jury duty. Ask me my opinion of jury decisions early next year.

The words "literal" and "virtual" are used so often these days that I have forgotten the original meanings. To my ears, they are more like swear words: something to be filtered out while I try to filter out what message the speaker is trying to convey. At minimum, the accused should get probation for slander or libel or hate speech. That sort of language is not used in polite company. What would happen if he said that to an ICE agent's face and the ICE agent punched him?

Buddy solicited a murderer on the open internet. How is the internet “protected speech?” I don’t discuss certain subjects on the internet for fear that government agents will read my comments and arrest me.

I invented a new auto-homing golf ball. As long as you can putt the ball to within 4 inches of the hole, it will automatically drop in. Note to self: don't carry it in your back pocket!

Pure brass grommets need a couple of years to badly interact with rubber bands. Fortunately, most modern brass grommets are nickel-plated.

The best way to keep things fresh is trying to learn a new skill every year. I only made 4 static-line jumps my first year. Over that winter I earned a private pilot license. The next summer I flew a bit and only made two jumps. The third summer I made 60 jumps and earned my A license. The fourth summer, I did about 50 fun jumps. The fifth year, I passed the army static-line course and tried out for the Canadian Army parachute display team. The sixth year, I earned a static-line jump-master rating. The seventh year, I did another 50 fun jumps, plus a stack of exhibition jumps. The eighth year, I earned a rigger rating and started flying jumpers. The ninth year, I flew more jumpers and learned how to drop IAD students (1985). The tenth year, I earned an Instructor B rating and tandem instructor rating and did a couple of BASE jumps. I did not jump much while at university, but worked full-time in the skydiving industry for 18 years afterwards. Every year I tried to add a new rating or renew an old rating: Master Rigger, PFF instructor, Cypres installation rating, PIA Symposia, lecturing at PIA Symposia, wing-suit, Rigger Instructor, Rigger Examiner, Tandem Examiner Rating, etc. Eventually, I had to take a year off for knee surgery and cut back to only doing tandems on weekends. I finally quit jumping after the local CSPA DZ shut down and I disagreed with a non-CSPA DZO about seat-belts. If you try to learn something new every year, you will never get bored skydiving.

Yes Gowlerk, I have had similar dreams many times. They started with pulling my main handle lower than normal, then a really slow opening. I usually impact at line-stretch, stand up, dust myself off and hope that nobody saw my landing.

Those 4 ring risers remind me of Parachutes de France tandem gear. Geometry is a bit off, explaining the incomplete cutaway. However, the harness rings are not from Parachutes de France. P. de F. or Strong Enterprises who both use a single large forged 3D ring (Wichard) to connect main risers to student shoulder hooks. The pair in your photo are actually two different pieces of hardware strapped together, but not strapped the same way as RWS/UPT or Eclipse. The exposed harness webbing is also missing from the Type 12 external buffer (to prevent abrasion when dragged across a packing mat). I suspect that this tandem rig was made in Eastern Europe. The reserve ripcord is silver metal, in the same location as a Strong Dual Hawk ripcord. You are looking at it edge on. The loose end of the ripcord cable dangles just inboard of the shiny metal handle.

May I suggest that you visit a doctor who examines pilots for the Civil Aviation Authority? I have sent several aspiring tandem instructors to the same doctors who do Transport Canada medicals for pilots, but I told them not to bother with the paperwork needed to get an official aviation medical certificate. Both Strong Enterprises and I were satisfied with a doctor's note saying that the TI was healthy enough to skydive. You will probably still have to pay out of your own pocket.

Why does this remind me of the legal "boiler plate" that the Canadian Army dragged Corporal Rob Furlong and Captain Robert Semrau through? Furlong's case was complicated by a military padre who did not understand the "dark humour" that is routine among soldiers and skydivers. Lawyers are on such a vastly different wave-length than combat soldiers.

Agreed Joe, Having a few women on staff greatly reduces the testosterone poisoning that poisons far too many workplaces. My old boss usually hired women as junior jump pilots because they lowered competition and forced overly-ambitious instructors to limit the worst of their behaviour. Some of the best pilots, instructors and riggers I have worked with were women. Rob Warner

Er .... by “fourth traffic light” I meant that you only have to drive three or four blocks before seeing a driver talking on a cell phone in Vancouver. We only notice drivers holding cell phones to their ears as they make left turns through busy intersections.

When was the last time an American gun law was logical?

Looking at a cell phone - while driving - is already banned in several Canadian cities. You are only allowed to talk on hands-free devices. Even with HFDs, not many drivers are bright enough to talk and drive at the same time. Even before it was banned, I refused to pick up my cell phone while driving downtown. I barely had enough brain cells to carry on a conversation while driving on the highway. Police levy hefty fines and suspend licenses, but people persist at talking on their phones while driving. I bet you that we will see that sin before the fourth traffic light in Vancouver.

Butt bungees only became fashionable during the mid-1990s. They became fashionable for two reasons. First: sit-flying became fashionable in North America. Secondly: this was about 5 years after Rigging Innovations introduced hip rings. Now ringed harnesses were being jumped by second owners who were different sizes than people the harnesses were originally built for. Hip rings allowed greater flexibility, making it easier for leg straps to slide toward knees. Butt bungees don’t prevent people from falling (butt first) out of harnesses) rather they prevent leg straps from sliding away from your buttocks.

Few regulations, but you will score the best at classic precision landings with a large, specialized accuracy canopy like a Para-Foil, Eiff or PD Zero. Specialized PL canopies are usually low aspect ratio, 7-cells with huge stabilizers, keels, flares, vents, etc. The low aspect ratio reduces heading changes near the stall. Low wing-loading reduces the number of broken bones when you stall vertically onto the tuffet. By large, I mean wing-loading in the 0.7 pounds per square foot range. Suspended weight includes your body, plus helmet, clothes, harness, canopies, etc. Your second best choice is a large BASE canopy. Third choice is a large, 9-cell ZP canopy like those jumped by students. If you try to jump a small, 9-cell, ZP canopy at a serious accuracy competition, judges will politely suggest that you enter the sport accuracy category. With practice, any canopy can be landed, consistently within a metre of target centre, but faster canopies require far more practice. I earned my CSPA Exhibition Jump rating on a Stiletto 135.

Flexibility can be improved in yoga studios.

First off: please do not use the word "legal" around me because I am allergic to lawyers who shamelessly argue any side of a case as long as they get paid. Lawyers and courts do not care about the letter of the law. Without written laws, you have to revert to "best business practices." If Strong Enterprises tells you not to jump tandems in winds exceeding "X" knots, you are morally obligated to stay on the ground. When forced to chose between slightly different standards (from two or three sources) work to the tightest, most conservative standard. The other vaguery is local wind patterns. For example, a dz may be safe to jump when winds remain steady from most directions, but winds get turbulent from the south. Then you have a legitimate reason for refusing to jump in southerly winds. Similarly, if southerly winds increase the risk of landing on a obstacle (e.g. lake), you have a valid excuse to stay on the ground. My personal standards are maximum 23 knots wind or gusts exceeding 5 knots. I watch the wind sock or wind-meter for 30 minutes before making that decision. Major vertical turbulence is also a valid excuse for not jumping.

Holy thread drift Batman! I know a couple of skydivers who installed breathalizers in their cars after they were arrested one too many times for driving drunk. One guy had a variety of drug addictions and alcohol was just one of his demons. The breathalizer was connected to his ignition switch, so he had to blow "clean" before his car would start. OTOH I think that breathalizers are a waste of money for the other 80 percent of the population.

Pursuing a legal case after a party has died is stupid and a waste of the Supreme Court's time. His lawyers did not care if Zarda lived or died, they just wanted to accumulate the maximum number of billable hours. For the record, I have no need to know about his sexual preferences unless he invites me into his bed.

This thread started with a simple product announcement … perhaps not within the letter of dz.com policy, but almost harmless. If the OP used "fucking sexy ass skydivers" as a verb, that is correct English, Dutch, etc. However the choice of vocabulary might offend some of the delicate flowers in the audience. Back in the good-old-days, skydivers were lewd, crude, vulgar, etc. and the dz was a safe place to vent our frustration with the "real world." many skydivers prided themselves on their "dirty biker" image. Sadly, most dzs have become more and politically-correct during this century. Boring! I have used skydiving as a cure for depression for almost 40 years. I started as a sport jumper back when sex was safe and skydiving was dangerous. Sadly, I was kicked out of the skydiving crowd after a plane crash. Bullies started the pushing, then my boss parked airplane wreckage where I had to look at every day on my way to work, then lawyers insisted on dragging out a simple lawsuit for 8.5 years. The odd thing was that I worked hard at physical rehabilitation during the year immediately after the crash. I could not explain clearly why I was working so hard, just knew that I had to "get back on the horse." I only lasted a year and a half until the airplane wreckage was permanently parked near the airplane gate. Since then I have been diagnosed as: insomniac, anxious, depressed,acid reflux, heart murmur, PTSD, etc. I have read dozens of books about PTSD and earlier today watched Sebastian Junger's videos on PTSD. Hopefully this new book offers advice on how to recover from that sort of long-term depression.

I must be old, but I remember the USA removing nuclear weapons from Turkey and Spain in the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis. When did the USA sneak nuclear weapons back into Turkey? As for Syria invading Turkey … Hah! Hah!

When in doubt, ask Parachute Systems. If they say that your Vortex is easy to retrofit with a Skyhook, great! Buy a new free bag and lanyard from Parachute Systems and ask your local rigger to install them. Make sure to provide your rigger with an updated version of the Vortex manual. Then you have a fully TSOed rig according to Parachute Systems factory drawings. OTOH most Master Riggers are reluctant to retrofit RSLs to older rigs unless they can do a close copy of the factory RSL. Skyhooks are just fancy RSLs. Honest riggers refuse to retrofit Skyhooks to older rigs because they lack precise dimensions. We think it far wiser to ship the entire rig to the factory for Skyhook updates. Most riggers flatly refuse to do RSL, AAD or Skyhook retrofits to rigs that never had them. RSL and Skyhook retrofits require precise dimensions only available at the factory.