riggerrob

Automatic Measuring Device aka electronic pad for scoring precision landing competition. TD1100 in the Para-Gear catalogue.

Agreed mathrick, The deceased problems started when he bought a tiny reserve. IOW if you bought such a tiny reserve - that you worry about reserve line twists - you bought too tiny a reserve. And they used to ignore me when I grumbled about "stupid fat white men under Micro Ravens."

What about storing your gear in the "left luggage" department at an international airport? I have also luggage lockers at major train stations and bus stations.

Global Temperatures Plunge. Icy Silence from Climate Alarmists ........................................................ Global land temperatures have plummeted by one degree Celsius since the middle of this year – the biggest and steepest fall on record. ........... the cause is winter. And that icy silence is from rational people's jaws dropping. ............ --------------------------------------------------------------------- This short-term "noise" is difficult for mere humans to understand, so we need to look at big-data collected over tens of thousands of years to understand. Most climate shifts are preceded by a series of dramatic (hot-cold or wet-dry) fluctuations before reaching a tipping point (Irish Potatoe Famine 1845). I only started believing climate-change propaganda after reading the "Two Mile Time Machine" (4 I'm) about analyzing 11,000 foot deep ice core samples from Antarctica and Greenland.

True survivors would park in a burnt over place and wait for things to cool down. In other news: how is the wind tunnel in Pigeon Forge?

May I suggest laying the (flaked) canopy on the ground, then covering it with a square yard (square metre) of thick carpet to squeeze the air out while you flake the second canopy? Even better are the perferated heavy rubber mats used in machine shops.

Many lofts have written policies stating that if they need to do repairs less than $30. they will not bother phoning the customer to ask for permission. Repairs costing $50. deserve a phone call or e-mail. After failing to reach some customers two or three times, I have simply billed them $30 (for a more expensive repair) just to keep rigs moving through the loft. Caution: casual readers: I might be calling to ask for your approval on a more expensive repair. That repair might require shipping high-wear, rare items (e.g. main risers) across international borders or sending your rig back to the factory for major repairs. There is no way I can find a second-hand, airworthy pair of risers for $30. Hah! Hah! IOW you can buy $30 risers or you can buy airworthy risers: pick one.

That's okay TK. I have covered my ass - legally - with random posts on dz.com. Several times, I have posted "lawyers are free to quote me, just pay me a thousand dollars per word!" Hah! Hah! The alternative is a game of smash-mouth involving a pair of lawyers! Even more hilarious. Hah! Hah! Seriously folks, please stop posting stuff about doing things that are not quite legal (e.g. smuggling year across borders) because lawyers, police and major corporations can read everything we write on the Internet.

Split sliders typically have four (#0) grommets set just right of the Center-line and a long piece of thick suspension-line (e.g. Dacron). The long suspension line is only sewn to the leading edge and trailing edge and flops free in the middle. The other (left) slider half has 4 "closing loops" sewn to its inboard edge. Before packing, you slip the 4 small loops through the grommets and secure them with nights of the long loop of suspension line. IOW the long loop "pins" the slider together along its Center-line. To release, merely pull down on the long loop.

------------------ I've contacted PD and they don't do a split slider suitable for the Sabre 2. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Any old-school rigger can "split" a stock slider. If your local rigger still has tools for setting #8 grommets, he/she could sew a new split slider for you, but they would still charge you $120. (same as PD).

............................................................................................ One expects the Conatsers to understand seatbelts more than most. Er ....... maybe their Skyvan arrived without belts and they needed a few weeks to install new belts. You know that you are an old skydiver when ....... the first time you discussed seat-belts - with Transport Canada - you told them that they were 16 years behind the times. ..... and the next time you see TC, you will tell them that they are ignoring bloody lessons learned by Americans a quarter century ago!

Like the other posters said: most of the bruises are caused by poorly adjusted student harnesses where " one size fits nobody!" Hah! Hah! Definitely ask a local instructor to show you the finer points of tightening leg and chest straps. The primary function of chest straps is prevent the shoulder straps from spreading so wide that you risk falling out of the harness head-first. As modern harnesses are more precisely tapered, the less important the chest strap. Start by tightening leg straps and MLW until you only have 3 or 4 fingers-widths of slack between the top of your shoulder and the underside of the yoke when hanging under canopy. Another way to test this is to ask a strong friend to lift you by the shoulder straps. Be cautious about tightening your chest strap so much that it limits your arch. Adjust your chest strap - on the ground - so that you can arch and still insert a fist between your chest strap and sternum. Avoid the temptation to tighten your chest strap too much when riding in the airplane. In comparison, I am a guy who stands 6' tall and weighs more than 200 pounds, broad shoulders, etc. I used to get similar bruises on my biceps from early tandem instructor harnesses .... most of those TI harnesses were built for shoulders wider than mine. I suffered bruised biceps until I learned to tighten the chest strap the correct amount. I also found it easier to steer without my biceps rubbing on the shoulder yoke. On a related note, I had to learn to keep my ears and fingers clear of main risers during openings. Tandem risers can be as hard as iron crow bars during opening! Keeping my hands off the risers until after opening-shock reduces finger injuries, but I still needed to wear thin leather gloves to avoid losing small pieces of skin from my finger-tips. Psssssah! Tandems ruin my cuticles! Finally, when ordering a new harness, ask an experienced rigger to measure you, because you cannot accurately measure yourself. Second choice is asking a tailor to measure you since harness-measuring methods are based on tailors' methods. Usually a harness factory will review your measurements and build you a small shoulder yoke. For example the letter "A" on a Javelin data panel indicates a small shoulder yoke. Similarly, when a Vector data panel reads "14-1" it means a 14" MLW and the shoulder yoke is 1" shorter than a medium.

Congrats on your find. The only significant difference between deployment bags and Parachute Opening Devices is the #8 grommet on the top and extra line stows (for crown lines) on the top. As for POD size ...... the first step is determining if your container can contain the huge bulk of a Para-Commander. Which version of Centaur container are you referring to? ..... the modern piggyback container currently sewn in Eastern Europe?

***What does Satan do with all those hand baskets? [/quo .................................................................................................. That expression is based on a cruel truth. A century and a half ago, Canada imported thousands of Chinese labourers to build a trans-Canada railroad. Racist white foremen were rough on Chinese labourers and hundreds of coolies died while blasting railway tunnels through the Rocky Mountains. If it was getting close to pay-day, they would lower a Chinese blaster into a tunnel - in a whicker basket. Sneaky fireman sometimes gave them a short fuse, so that when they lit the fuse, dynamite exploded early, blowing them to hell. The white foreman pocketed the coolie's pay. Hope you enjoyed that racist piece of Canadian history!

This time of year I like to grow my beard long. Since my beard is mostly white, the guys at work nicknamed me "Santa." The other day, I was walking towards the trash compactor with a black garbage bag over my shoulder when a guy quipped "That is the first time I have seen Santa with a black bag!" His facial expression revealed the wheels grinding behind .... "I get it! You are delivering coal to all the bad girls and boys." "Whilma's desk is over there!"

Anti-wind Blast handle. Yanta Escape System Irvin Hieght-Finder Streamline Bullet Excalibur West wind EZ-Flyer Six-Pack Ropes and Rings Paradactyl Sleeve Short sleeve Parachute Opening Device Direct bag 5-cell reserves

......... OH, it had a "throw out on the legstrap" with a sh1tload of Velcro. Damn, that 145 eliptical was the smallest state of the art canopy back then. LOL ........................................................................................ You know you are old when choosing your first rig involved a Pappillon or Strato-Star. The Pap' came with a 3-pin ripcord and a belly-mounted reserve. The (180 square foot) Strato-Star came in a piggyback container with the pilot-chute mounted on the belly-band. Your second rig stowed its pilot-chute on the front of the leg strap. It still contained a round reserve but updated the main canopy to a (230 square foot) Strato-Cloud because that was the canopy that was bringing medals home from the world meet. Your third rig stowed its pilot-chute on the back of the leg strap and contained a square reserve. The main was a (220 square foot) Cruislite because that was the height of fashion back in the day. Your fourth rig had a BOC and a Sabre 1-170. Coaches and instructors routinely use a term (wing-loading) that you first wrote in a magazine (CANPARA) article more than 30 years ago.

Either senility or dyslexia?????? ..... but I should have said "2/3" of my life-time. I did my first jump back in 1977, so am now approaching the 40th anniversary of my first jump. Next year will also include my 60th birthday. Only sat out one year (2014) for knee surgery. The surgery was to straighten a knee damaged in a (jump) plane crash.

So far, I have only jumped a third of my lifetime ...... but I am too stubborn to quit! You know you are old when somebody brings a second-hand parachute to your loft - similar to what you wore on your first jump - and you pint them towards "that museum in Langley."

The earth's atmosphere has been warming since the start of the Holocene, roughly 12,000 years ago. Some climatologists see the Holocene as an unusually warm and unusually long inter-glacial period, while others see it as human-caused. Experts are still debating what caused the Holocene to last so long. Have you read any of (retired engineer) Burt Rutan's climate-change analysis? I am still wading through Burt's videos on YouTube. The silliest thing is carbon-offsets and carbon-taxes. If they are not directly related to investments in non-polluting energy sources (e.g. wind or solar) I call them another "money-grab" by governments.

Scary, racist fascists! Like the KKK, these modern neo-Nazis believe that oppressing other races/religions/ethnicities will keep whites on top. Someone should remind them that Adolf Hitler's version of fascism failed miserably more than 70 years ago, because bullying produces great short-term results, but miserable long-term results. Fascists seem to miss the concept that a "master-race" only stays on top if it continues to improve itself: working harder and smarter and longer than other races/ethnic groups/religions. Like Puritans, neo-Nazis should shut-up until they have perfected their own race/completed their inner jihad/etc.

The best military instructors start by clearly describing their expectations. If a recruit does not meet those expectations, he/she receives encouragement or negative reinforcement until they meet expectations. The best instructors push students beyond their previous limits and help them achieve far more than they thought possible. OTOH Bullies never set clear goals. Bullies only dispense negative reinforcement. If a victim is doing things properly, the bully invents excuses for more negative reinforcement. Straight talk means being brutally honest, without sugar-coating. Skydivers tend to value truths more than the general public, because they would much rather hear "If you keep landing like that you are going to die!" than lament their poor habits in a hospital bed. OTOH, lawyers rarely tell half the truth and it takes years - and advanced education - to read "legal jargon" (aka boilerplate). Lawyers like to pretend that they are trying not to hurt your feelings, but the confusion and half-truths only ruin confidence in the legal industry.

...... filling out a passport application ..... when they ask about "current hair colour" ......

I heard about the Service Bulletin via PIA.

Good point about pull-up cords and rubber bands. I always stuff a few spares in a pocket on my rig and keep the rest in a pocket on my gear bag. For something as important as pull-up cords: 1 = none. So carry two or three of the most important items. Speaking of important items, we return to the subject of rubbers. Carry a few spares with your sleeping bag.