riggerrob

pchapman, You are confusing "angle of attack" and "angle of incidence." AoA relates to the angle the relative wind strikes the wing. OTOH AoI compares the wing chord with another part of the airframe. Parachute manufacturers tend to refer to AoI as "trim angle" which is defined by the length of suspension lines. Both are measured relative to the wing chord. Chord is an imaginary straight line between the leading edge and the trailing edge. Since the leading edge is chopped off of most Jalbert (ram-air) canopies, it is simpler to measure the bottom skin to define trim angle. When flying an airplane, lowering simple flaps lowers the trailing edge, changing camber (curvature) and angle of attack and AoI. AoA is still defined by the angle the relative wind strikes the chord. Even when camber is increased, chord is still a straight line between the leading edge and the trailing edge of the flap. To maintain the same airspeed, the pilot has to change pitch (nose up or nose down) to maintain the same airspeed. Simple flaps slightly increase lift, but their main function is increasing drag to allow a steeper (nose down) landing approach.

A lot of different versions of SSTs and Racers have been built over the years. First question: What is the serial number? Second question: What year was it made? Third question: Are any sizes listed on the data panel? Fourth question: What type of canopy releases? Fifth question: What type of main deployment? Sixth question: Do you have the original freebag? Seventh question: What type of reserve pilot-chute? To answer your question about reserve pilot-chute caps .... Yes, you have to cut hand-stitching to dis-connect the decorative cap. Next question: Why do you want to dis-connect the Pop-Top?

............................................................................ No one mentioned "blast handle". I still have one on my garage wall removed from my first rig by a conscientious rigger (F4 pilot call sign Lizard) who "cared" about my safety. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Funny! Blast handles are back in fashion and I frequently recommend them to pilot customers who fly ultralight airplanes. Blast handles are part of parachutes manufactured by Ballistic Recovery Systems. Blast handles are usually installed in the cockpit ceiling of ultralights. One pull and you save the entire airplane.

I have a couple pairs of Wiley X with prescription lenses.

During the mid-1990s (shortly after Cypres was introduced) Rigging Innovations built a bunch of Flexons and student Telesis rigs with pockets for Cypres control heads on the front of the shoulders, just below 3-Rings. This proved to be a bad idea because BOCs became fashionable at the same time and packers developed the bad habit of tipping rigs on their heads while stowing BOCs. Cypres cables were fragile and too many were forced to return to the factory for repairs.

Pitt Meadows converted to square reserves in 1996. Before that, every school - that I taught at - used round reserves. In the early days of skydiving, students traditionally got hand-me-downs from licensed jumpers: Cheapos (military-surplus rounds), 26 foot Lopo conicals, Phantoms, etc.

Unless you started before about 1962, there was the Sentinel available to you. Jerry Baumchen -------------------------------------------------------------- Jerry, you silly boy! There you go getting all Americentric! Hah! Hah! Russians have had KAP-3 AADs since the 1930s. Sadly, few KAP-3s ever made it North America. AADs were not standard when I started jumping in the late 1970s. We had a few FXC 8000 AADs. When dressing for one of my student FF jumps, the DZO told me: "Give that (chest-mounted) reserve containing an AAD - to a first jump student." Which was a back-handed way of saying that he was confident that I would pull a ripcord. AADs did not become standard for students until the early 1980s. Electronic AADs (e.g. Cypres) were standardized - for licensed jumpers - during the mid-1990s.

Rio is correct and Pobrause is learning: both good signs. Stiletto is one of the flatter-gliding skydiving canopies. Otherwise, few skydiving canopies are trimmed for flat-glide because many skydivers (canopy pilots, canopy formations, etc.) want a canopy ride as fast and as exciting as freefall, therefore their canopies are trimmed steeply nose-down. If you want a truely flat-gliding canopy, look towards HAHO or para-gliding canopies. Military High Altitude High Opening jumpers like to open at 30,000 feet fly as far down-wind as possible. The disadvantage is that most HAHO canopies are large enough to jump with rucksack, rifle and snowshoes. OTOH para-gliders want the slowest possible descent rate to allow them to exploit even the weakest thermals (rising warm air).

The three most popular cars in Surrey are: BMW, Mercedes and courtesy.

The difference in volume between 550 and 750 Vectran is insignificant, but 750 last hundreds more jumps. Greater volume differences when you chose different types of line: Dacron, Spectra, HMA or whatever will be fashionable next week. Also don't bother "locking in" container volume too early. You would b le far wiser to tell the factory which canopies you have, then let the factory decide which size container will best fit them.

How many hours to drive from Orlando to Key West?

Why am I envisioning a wind tunnel with one set of fans, but two playrooms: the first - horizontal - playroom for wing-shifters, then a second - vertical - playroom for the rest. We might eventually see a whole "chain" of playrooms tailored (by venturies) for different speeds and styles of skydiving.

Agreed Betzilla, The OP used a mid-leading term. He should have asked about "1-piece LEG PADS" or "2-piece LEG PADS." My perception is that 1-piece leg pads are okay for belly-flyers but multi-axis jumpers need more flexibility around their hips.

Would you like the outline from a bail-out seminar that I recently gave to the Aerobatic Club of British Columbia? What type(s) of airplanes are your customers flying?

Circa 1984, our school (Waterville, Nova Scotia) bought a batch of Tomahogs from Gananoque. We salvaged reserves and AADs from our military-surplus rigs and converted to TO over the winter. TO pilotchutes were mounted on belly-bands. Two or three schools later, we had TOs mounted on rear of leg. During the mid-1990s, Roger Nelson started preaching the virtues of BOC TO. During the late 1990s, American DZs rushed to convert to TO BOC. In 1997, Rigging Innovations introduced the Telesis 2 student container with BOC. My last rigging job at Perris California was converting all of their student Telesis 1 rigs from main ripcord (spring-loaded pilot-chutes and FXC 12000M) to (2 handle) BOC. Perris was one of the last major schools to convert in 2001.

What year did your school convert to throw-out pilot-chutes? Second question: were they mounted on belly-bands, rear of leg straps or bottom of container?

-------------------------------------------------------------------- Sorry, but I have never seen "snap-shackle, single-point restraints" and was hoping that some one would post pictures.

You took the high road Nataly. Stooping to their level rarely does any good. Sometimes silence is your most powerful weapon.

DJ Associates (Arkansas) charges less than Para-Gear and MIL SPEC / PIA SPEC materials come with certificates. I always ask them to mail via United States Postal Service because the post office does a better job of crossing borders.

.................................................. And what really amazes me, it how good the opening are for pack jobs that get done so fast!. When I pack fast (10 min for 1) I usually get not so great openings. But these guys give good openings all day everyday....... --------------------------------------------------- Packing fast requires focussing on the "must dos" and not wasting time on trivialities. It als means having all your tools: sandbag, pack boy, carpet square, etc. within arms' reach and a handful of rubber bands in your sock.

------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ah! Grasshopper, you now understand my objective.

Annette, I always learn something new from your articles. Good points about "underlying logic" and "pointing your finger towards the spot." Spotting is such a huge subject. May I add "pre-spotting" meaning keeping your eyes outside the airplane for the last two minutes before exit? Familiarizing yourself with the direction of jump-run, clouds, winds, speed across the ground, etc. reduces the number of decisions to be made immediately after the door opens. Even better is multiple eyeballs outside the airplane checking for traffic in the pilot's blind spots. Even better is multiple eyes outside the airplane looking for traffic in the pilot's blind spots. Sorting out all those different groups is best done on the taxiway before that noisy airplane shows up. It speeds loading if all the different groups stand in a line before that noisy airplane shows up.

Yes, there are huge differences between intermediate para-gliders and intermediate parachutes. Differences narrow when you advance to the speed-flying and pond swooping/canopy piloting. This means 2 possible paths to the same objective. Caution: confirm that your medical insurance is paid up before flying a tiny speed-flying or pond-swooping canopy.