riggerrob

My knowledge is limited to one accident that tore 3 ligaments in my left knee. That bruise - around her kneecap - might indicate damage concealed under her knee cap. Start with x-rays to rule out broken bones. Then ask for MRI and CAT scans to determine soft tissue damage. Ultra sound (as used on pregnant women) can also help locate soft tissue damage, but I am not sure if ultrasound can see through homes. Bruising and swelling can complicate diagnoses, so continue RICE and limit movement until she can visit a knee specialist. Definitely get her knee examined this month, because knee injuries might cause her grief later in life. My surgeon mumbled repeatedly “You’re 57 but you don’t smoke. You’re 57 but you don’t smoke .......” he eventually re-aligned my tibia 6 years after the crash!

Yes, Tail diapers were a phase in the transition from round to square reserves. I have packed a few Hobbit and X210R reserves with tail diapers. They primarily sold to jumpers discarding their (acid mesh) round reserves with square reserves. Neither Hobbit nor X210R required freebags. Neither diapered reserve required any sewn changes to the harness-container. Eventually, all the container manufacturers perfected free bags and diapered squares were no longer needed. Back in the day, I jumped Strato-Cloud mains with diapers sewn onto an end rib - at the Para-Flite factory. Stowing lines on end-rib diapers was easy. The hassle was straightening 64 feet of reefing line! These canopies were made before sliders were perfected.

The Strong manual shows the old military pilot-chute compression tool. I just wrap my molar strap around the Pop-Top, route pull-up cords through bodkins, etc. I also make my own adjustable bodkins out of Cypres cord ...... but those are more relevant when packing Cypres into Racers

Whenever I get the urge to swear, I stare at the pretty pictures in the manual. Councilman is correct in stating that 80 percent of warbirds use seat packs. A few civilian KITPLANES accommodate seat packs, but 80 or 90 percent of aerobatic civilian airplanes use back PEPs. Modern gliders have such cramped cockpits that they can barely squeeze in long backs. Low-volume modern canopies have encouraged many glider pilots to buy reverse wedge back PEPs (3” thick across shoulders but tapering to zero at the bottom). Seat packs were originally developed for open cockpit biplanes with deep fuselages, but small cockpit coamings/openings. Biplanes are especially tight between the seatback and instrument panel. When air forces transitioned to enclosed cockpits (fighters and trainers) they continued the tradition of issuing pilots with seat packs. Seat packs remained in service until ejection seats became standard. Early ejection seats required pilots to wear separate back PEPs, but modern ejection seats store parachute canopies in headrest boxes. Military-surplus containers really should be a separate certification category for civilian Riggers. Military-surplus PEPs have faded from Canada since the last intact military-surplus PEP was sold circa 1980. To clarify my earlier statement: CSPA certifies Riggers to pack 1-pin sport back reserves or 2-pin sport back reserves, etc. “Sport” differentiates modern skydiving piggyback containers from antique, military-surplus PEPs. CSPA only retains the “chest” rating for historical reasons.

Why are Americans surprised that Iran has meddled in neighbors’ affairs since the (American-backed) Shah was deposed in 1979? Iran/Persia was meddling in regional affairs thousands of years before the first white colony was founded in the Americas!

FAA and CSPA only care if there is an accident or written complaint about quality of workmanship on type-certified parachutes. Hang-glider reserves, drag-chutes for hot-rods, etc. are rarely certified. While working for Butler, I helped test-fire a spin-recovery chute. Designers had to demonstrate spin characteristics before the FAA would certify their new airplane. Butler insisted that all repacks, explosive cartridge replacements, etc. be done at his factory in California City. Returning chutes for maintenance was easy because Cal. City is mere minutes away from Palmdale, Mojave, USAFB Edwards and barely an hour from USN China Lake.

Canadian rigging regulations are similar to American FARs. The only difference is that Transport Canada delegates responsibility for training and rating Riggers to the Canadian Sports Parachuting Association’s Technical Committee. The practical difference is zero. Yes, I was dancing on that razor’s edge of legality. First I have attended several of Betty’s PIA seminars on repacking hang glider reserves. Secondly, I have a stack of manuals for other emergency parachutes for hang gliders and ultralights. Thirdly, I have repacked dozens of similar reserves. Finally I copied a factory repack. On a similar vein, what do you think of me packing Talon 2, Telesis 2 and Aviator PEPs without the manuals? Hint: I wrote those manual for Rigging Innovations after packing prototypes dozens of times.

Mighty brave vidiot to fly close to that mal and pull the reserve bridle! Next question: why did the TI forget to pull frothed release handles?

Good point wmw999, Canopy flaking varies big time between military-surplus and civilian seat packs. MILSPEC containers usually say the only long fold the canopy until it is the same width as the container. Fortunately young Riggers need not bother learning military packing techniques because the US military and (Canadian) Crown Assets Disposal quit selling intact surplus parachutes back around 1980. I rarely repack any parachute more than 25 years old. The last time an aerobatic pilot asked me to repack his back PEPs, I replied that I no longer had access to a long table. Nor do I have bromocreasol green or clamps for tensile-testing. The whole truth is that I wanted nothing to do with his Natonal Phantom reserve seen during the acid mesh era. OTOH Civilian PEPs require a wide variety of flaking and bulk distribution techniques. Most civvy seat packs need canopies long folded in fifths so the canopy goes into the container on its edge .... like a Wonderhog. Back PEPs require a much greater variety of packing techniques. Instructions usually start with long-folding the canopy to half the width of the container. Then bulk distribution changes depending upon whether it is a simple back container, long back or wedge. A few wedge, back PEPs start similar to seatpacks with the diaper laid cross-wise in the thick end and folds leaning more and more as you approach the thin edge.

There is another option. The last time I repacked a recovery chute for an ultralight (forget which brand, but the cpanopy was sewn by Free Flight Enterprises) I did not have the specific manual. Fortunately, the last repack had been done by FFE. We took a series of photos while stretching out the canopy. Since the old pack job followed industry best-practices, I just copied the old pack job. The biggest hassle was remembering which corner to rout le the bridle out. Reviewing photos reminded me of the original corner and I was satisfied with my second pack job.

You are over-thinking the problem. Your first instinct was correct. It is okay to have two or three canopies flying parallel final approches provided everyone keeps their heads on swivels. Only one of you (usually the first to land) gets a clear shot at th bowl. Finally NOBODY CROSSES THE WINDLINE. This policy also discourages sashaying or significant turns while on final.

Congratulations. My life has gotten much easier since I sobered up 22 years ago.

Can we agree that Americans have not been updated to accomodate 1980s-vintage skydiving gear? Every decade or so, the Canadian Sport Parachute Association updates our rigger training and rating program. CSPA issues separate ratings for round or square canopies. CSPA certifies Riggers to pack 5 classes of containers: 1-pin sport (Vector and Javelin), 2-pin sport (Wonderhog), Pop-Top (Racer and Teardrop), chest and pilot emergency parachutes. Canada has no lap rating because the Royal Canadian Air Force never issued lap parachutes. Many these different type ratings are included purely for historical reasons. For example, since chest-mounted reserves disappeared from Canadian DZs by 1990, no young Riggers want to waste time learning how to pack them. Similarly, after round reserves disapearred circa 2000, no young Riggers want to bother learning how to pack canopies they have seen in the air. Round canopies are now limited to PEPs. The PEP type rating includes seat and chest .... a bit broad for my taste, but when you consider that 80 percent of PEPs are backs or long backs ..... Modern seat type PEPs are easy to pack if you have already packed a bunch of rounds into 2-pin sport containers (Wonderhog).

*** ........ Back in the day, I think it was para flight, that had a special "Square Certification". They at least reconsidered how radically different the technology was at the time. I wouldn't mind seeing the old system scrapped and rather go to Round, Square ratings. I think they do some thing like that in Canada? ————————————————————————— Yes, When Para-Flite introduced the first square reserve, it was radically new technology requiring radically new packing techniques. Since Para-Flite did not want military-surplus Riggers fumbling with their reserves, Para-Flite introduced a “square reserve training program for Riggers. USPA took over that program for a few years, eventually dropped it when square reserves became the norm. When I rigged for Butler, I packed a few Para-Flite reserves into seat-packs. Since the customers were “corn fed Texans” they needed military-pattern square reserves certified for more than (the usual) 254 pounds. I even sewed a few freebags for Butler-made PEPs. When he introduced rounds with sliders, Butler dropped the niche market for squares in PEPs. A couple of years later, I helped Rigging Innovations drop-test the Aviator (back) PEP that is only certified for square reserves.

While I agree that a tandem rig would have need a wiser choice, there was no tandem used during Pastrani’s stunt. Minor correction: Travis Pastrani’s “catcher” wore a Javelin - albeit with large canopies. Harness modifications were limited. The most important modification was weaving tubular webbing through slots in the RW-1 (maybe RW-10) harness rings. That tubular webbing led to a lanyard that terminated with a carabiner. Travis was probably the first “chuteless” jumper to wear a concealed harness. Since his wardrobe only included running shorts, he wore a climbing harness concealed inside his shorts. Pastrani flew on his belly for most of the free Fall. After they met in free fall, the “catcher” sat on Travis’ rump and clipped a carabiner onto the back of his climbing harness. They landed on a soft sand beach .... too far away for a camera to catch the inevitable face-plant! Hah! Hah! While Pastrani’s chuteless jump may look reckless to skydivers, it is important to remember that Pastrani is an experienced motorcycle stunt rider with plenty of experience assessing risks for motorcycle stunts that had never been done before. Pastrani broke a few bones while learning motorcycle stunt-riding.

Agreed! The biggest difference between American gun laws and Canadian gun laws is that here, background checks are performed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, before (firearms) Posession and Acquisition Licences are issued. One of my pet peeves - about Canada - is all the hundreds of laws that are still on the books but rarely enforced. For example: Canadian police ignore hundreds of minor traffic violations everyday and only charge scoff-law drivers - with minor offences - after an accident. Often a variety of charges are laid to give lawyers leeway to plea-bargain. If they can convince the accused into pleading guilty to a minor offence, then they do not need to waste court time. Any new law should include a sunset clause, forcing Parliament to review its effectiveness 5 or 10 years later. Sunset clauses allow ineffective laws to quietly disappear. New laws may be well-intentioned, but career criminals eventually find loopholes.

***It actually looks like the England jumps were maybe practice or something, the HALO jumps were done in UAE, though saying they were done there because of "legality" has me really curious. .......................... —————————————————————————————— I am curious if they did chute-less jumps. No, I do not mean concealed parachutes. I mean stuntmen only wearing tandem student harnesses under costumes. They hook onto a tandem instructor part way down and land with the TI. A while back, I was asked to research chute-less jumps. We did a few practice jumps with everyone wearing their own parachutes. And I sewed up riser samples. During my due diligence search I found 8 or more chute-less jumps starting with Bill Cole back during the 1960s. Chute-less jumps are much easier to organize these days with wind-tunnels, tandem rigs, etc. Wind-tunnels allow you to adjust weights and jumpsuits to exactly match fall rates. Since tandem rigs are designed to land a pair softly, that eliminates another variable.

The Cessna Pilots Aseociation publishes a guide to buying a second-hand Cessna 182. It mentions dozens of common wear points and many of the Airworthiness Directives.

This is another area where the USA lags decades behind the rest of the civilized world. High school classes in safe gun handling are a good idea. Because learning the basics of firearms handling reduces the risk of accidental discharges. Education also reduces random fears of guns. As soon as they understand the basics of firearms regulations, safe handling, range and penetration, those random fears evolve into logical risk assessments. A bit of education will also reduce the volume of “false news” like The (false) belief that same I am civilians can easily hurt fully-automatic machine guns. In a simple vein, a group of Canadian gun owners are lobbying Parliament to require legislators and (gun related) civil servants to learn the basics of firearms handling and earn a (firearms) Possesion and Acquisition License. PAL training also covers the basics of gun storage. For the example, it is against the law to leave firearms laying about unsecured. All guns must be stored in locked cabinets and trigger locks are strongly recommended. Ammunition must be stored in a seperate locked cabinet. Normally guns can only be transported directly from your house to a licensed gun range. There is abit of leeway for hunting. Restricted weapons (read pistols) can only be fired on licenced gun ranges Secondly, my greatest fear is guns in the hands of bumbling amateurs. Canadian gun laws reduce the numbers of murders and gun-related suicides. In Vancouver, the majority of shootings involve one drug gang killing members of other drug gangs.

y And risk tearing it up? ——————————————————————— Most sport rigs are small enough to stuff into a standard carry-on bag.

Who wrote your ‘bucket list?’ You or them? I have seen a few junior jumpers injured after letting other jumpers buy canopies too small for their skills. Skills are only loosely related to number of jumps. Sometimes the seller just wants to unload his old canopy. Sometimes the seller wants to talk the junior jumper into buying this year’s fashion. Sometimes the salesman tries to talk the junior jumper into buying the canopy that the salesman wants to buy next. After the buyer femurs, the salesman will be able to buy the canopy at a deep discount. Sometimes people talk junior jumpers into buying a heavily-loaded canopy “because they will want to downsize soon.” Ultimately, your choice of canopy should be based on your skills and which canopy you can fly safely and comfortably.

Many years ago I went shopping for life insurance. One agent told me that if I made less than 50 jumps per year, I would be a low risk and did need to tell them. He also said the more jumps I made, the greater the risk. I countered with Transport Canada’s attitude that pilots who flew less than 50 hours per year were high risk, needed refresher training, etc. I did not any insurance from him. These days I advise prospective Tandem Instructors to do 50 tandem jumps or not waste my time. In some countries exhibition jumpers are also required to do a minimum of 50 jumps per year.

Yes, Wing-loading is the dominant factor. If you loaded a Raven at 1.3 pounds per square foot, you would complain about the abrupt flare. The second factor is line length. Any canopy smaller than 150 square feet gets “twitchy” .... er .... quickly responsive. If you worry about line twists, abrupt flares or being too responsive, you bought too small a reserve.

A few hard landings are enough to start cracks in the airframe. Combine that with thousands of cycles during training flights, it is little wonder that trainers don’t fall apart more often!

Another brilliant analysis by Brian Burke