riggerrob

......... Everybody learns differently and other have different standards. There are many ways to learn as there are to pack. If you don't understand it could be a problem between the teacher and the student. ...... ............................. Ideally, the instructor modifies his/her delivery to perfectly match the student(s) best learning-style. Since every student has a different learning-style, the best instructors present new information from several different angles until one method starts to sink in. Then the instructor emphazes that learning-style for the rest of the lesson. The more senses (sight, sound, touch, smell, taste) the more likely a student will understand one of them. For example, when confirming that a pilot-chute is properly cocked, I teach: touch to confirm full extension of kill-line/handle; colour-vision to confirm the correct colour of kill-line in inspection window; sight to confirm that apex hangs level with skirt; touch again to confirm that pilot-chute drags when I wave it around and finally sound to confirm that pilot-chute "snaps" when I wave it around quickly. A student is unlikely to remember all those verification methods, so I am happy if one method sinks into long-term memory. Every packing lesson should include plenty of practice (10 or 20 pack jobs) to burn that muscle memory into longer-term memory. Ideally, I have 3 or 4 similar rigs per student so that they can practice line-checks multiple times before learning the next step. Sometimes a technique only sinks in as a tired student watches another student checking that lines are straight. Finally, it speeds the learning process if all DZ staff teach the same packing method: PRO versus flat versus Wolmari versus trash versus roll. Standardization starts with convincing all the tandem packers to pack according to the manufacturers' instructions.

Then the Mirage factory needs to re-educate a couple of their dealers.

Turkish Air Force jets flying over the city Turkish Army declares martial law. Etc.

Moderators; please combine this thread with the similar thread on the SAFETY and TRAINING forum, then erase this double post from the INCIDENTS forum. No harm = no foul means that this topic does not belong on the incidents forum. Heck! Dude did not even deploy a reserve.

May I suggest getting a distinctive pattern engraved on the opposite jaw of your new seal press? Record the new double-sided seal in your new logbook. You might even want to send a copy of your new seal symbol to the FAA. After that date, any pack job with your old seal is a forgery. The Feds do get upset about forged maintenance records and have imposed fines on skydivers who forged a rigger's signature while pencil-packing.

Go read through old issues of "Parachutist" magazine to find old accident summaries and annual summary reports. Heaven forbid! you might even have to read PAPER magazines. Hah! Hah! I read USPA fatality reports religiously for 20 years. They cured me of a few bad habits like twisted belly bands or waving off with my pilot-chute in hand or hook-turning. After 20 years AIM reports started blurring together. By the late 1990s, most AIM reports started with a small, heavily-loaded canopy that the deceased only had a few jumps on and was still learning how to plan landing approaches.

Moderators Warning! Duplicate post. Please combine this thread with the similar thread on the INCIDENTS forum. Then please erase the thread on the incidents forum. Sounds like a loose harness. Time to ask local instructors for a lesson on how to adjust your own harness. As for not noticing lateral looseness on the ground: shift the container high up your back to eliminate slack ... before tightening leg straps or lateral straps. Some lateral straps require a second person to help you adjust them. Shifting slack up and over your shoulders will also help you correctly adjust your chest strap so that it remains at chest level throughout the skydive.

Glad that you are anticipating the adrenaline rush! The difference between new jumpers and old jumpers is that new jumpers are scared by random circumstances. Meanwhile old jumpers are still scared, but they have learned to channel their fear/adrenaline into productive habits: collecting gear ( helmet, goggles, altimeter), pre-flight checks on gear, watching manifest, planning their dive, watching clouds and winds and other canopies, pin-checks on friends, cleansing breaths, confirming the exit spot, ensuring horizontal clearance from the last group, monitoring altitude with three or more clues so they open at their planned altitude, watching for other canopies, flying a predictable landing pattern, de-briefing, packing methodically, etc. Old jumpers are so busy channeling adrenaline into good habits that they no longer show fear.

Sadly, the English common law concept of "verbal contracts" has faded from North American business practices. Equally sad is that old fraternity of "common skydiving practices" has faded, so now the only enforceable contract is a written contract written on a rental agreement of written on the wall. As for for renting out gear with tired lines .... that is so "old school!" Modern rigging practices include replacing frayed lines when they start to look frayed, but before they break. Replacing lines before they break is good business practice because it keeps all your gear in the air all summer. Early maintenance prevents lengthy searches for lost canopies, free-bags, handles, etc. Finally, well-maintained rental gear prevents legal arguments like this. The DZO needs to decide whether he wants to pay riggers or lawyers. He can pay riggers to maintain gear before the start of the season or ...... But the bottom line is that he is going to pay. For example, last month I suggested to a TI that he order 2 line-kits, drogue kill-lines and other spare parts for his tandem rigs ..... Just last week I advised a DZO to order 3 new line kits 'cus I don't expect his current lines to last until the end of the summer. And the next time so visit DZ "B" I am gong to suggest that he reline a couple of his tandem rigs before frayed lines break.

Yes! Read the manuals, watch videos and sit through ground school to bring old memories/procedures to the front of your brain. A few minutes in a wind tunnel will also help remember old skills. Your first jump back should be with an AFF Instructor, but as soon as you demonstrate old skills, Instructors will allow you to skip a level or three. Then do enough jumps with coaches to complete your A License. Welcome back.

Holy thread drift batman! The gist of the debate seems to be over training young skydivers on equipment different than they will be using in the long run. I agree with the OP that training her to pack a student rig with static-line and SOS is silly because packing techniques are much different than the sport gear she will jump for the next 20 years. The under-lying problem is the difficulty in re-training her on new gear. I have seen huge changes in gear since I started jumping in 1977 and revolutionary changes in training methods since I became a static-line jump-master in 1982. I have dropped students with military-surplus round parachutes deployed by pilot-chute assisted, sleeve, S/L; S/Led Para-Commanders in sleeves; Instructor-Assisted, bagged Para-Commanders; pilot-chute assisted, S/L squares; direct-bagged squares; 3 generations of tandems, PFF, AFF, wind tunnels, etc. S/L was most valuable when cross-training military-surplus jump-masters. SOS was most valuable during th early 1980s when S/L was the only method for dropping first jump students. Fortunately, tandem has replaced that (solo FJC) market sector. During the 1970s and 1980s the leading cause of death - among licensed jumpers - was unfamiliar gear with handles different than their old harness. Every new handle required dozens of ground practices to ingrain new handle-pulling techniques. For decades, the Australian Parachute Federation had a tradition of starting every accident report with "the deceased was wearing borrowed gear." In the long run, I prefer teaching first solo students (IAD or freefall) on gear similar to what they will jump in the long-run: Bottom of container, throw-out pilot-chute, 3-ring release system with a separate release handle, loop reserve ripcord, RSL and electronic AAD. Anything else requires additional transition training. If they practiced the first handles procedure a dozen times, they might need hundreds of rehearsals on new handles to over-write old procedures.

Your first call should have been to the Mirage factory.

Javelins had a similar problem back in 2002. A batch of red nylon Cordura fabric had sub-standard urethane coating that tried to adhere to reserve pilot-chutes. Nylon fabric often has a urethane coating to make it waterproof. Some urethane coatings are as stinky as the urine (pee) that they are chemically derived from. Urethane coating is not as durable as fabric. Sometimes urethane just peels off. The worst case has urethane melting in warm temperatures and high humidity and sticking to other components (e.g. reserve pilot-chutes). I have also seen reserve free bags made of sticky Oxford cloth. They stank like urethane but were never sticky enough to prevent the reserve canopy from sliding out. Sun Path offered to rebuild Javelin reserve containers for free. See SPSB004 for details.

Trespassing? Yes! Burglary? No! Since none of the owners' goods were removed from the site. The "borrower" was courteous to return the ladder to its original storage site. Break-and-enter? Not when the door is unlocked. I say: no harm = no foul.

Given demonstalker's physical limitations, we should drop "ragged-out F-111" and classic accuracy canopies from this discussion because our primary goal is to help him land softly.

Agreed Hackish, Local riggers can only compete on delivery time. CSPA has been trying to address the concept of teaching major repairs by adding Rigger A1 and A2 courses. As for quality control: the best inspection tool is a second set of eyeballs. Finding a knowledgeable second set of eyeballs is the challenge for field riggers working alone. For example, last week I relined a Sabre 2. Since I could not get a second rigger to inspect the lines, I asked the customer to inspect the lines when he picked up the canopy. He freely admitted that he did not know what he was looking at, so I gave him a half-hour lecture on inspecting lines. Reading a trim chart was way over his head! But eventually we agreed that all line joints were sewn, lines were symmetrical and trim resembled the factory chart. His last e-mail said: "great opening." Ideally a second rigger would have inspected those lines before returning the canopy to the customer.

May I join you in assholedom? The other side of the debate is that the owner/rental agency is responsible for maintaining the gear. If I may use a parable: if you rent a car - and the tires are bald - and slide off an icy road - then the car rental company is partially liable for allowing their poorly-maintained car on the roads. This almost happened to me a few Decembers ago. I phoned ahead to reserve a car and specifically requested winter tires, with the explanation that I was driving to a ski resort up in the mountains. When I picked up the car, it had summer tires. A heavy snow storm hit the ski resort while I was up there. Fortunately my friend let me sleep on his couch so that I did not have to drive home in the dark on snow-covered roads. By next morning, plows had cleared the highway.

On the subject of shock attenuators: I saw them on seat-belts on a recently-manufactured van. They were regular seat-belt webbing with the sacrificial stitching loaded in peel.

Sadly, sometimes manuals are written for lawyers first and riggers last. For example, back when I wrote manuals for Righing Innovations, it seemed that I was writing more to protect RI from liability. I was trying to write "picture books with simple captions" for riggers who may not have understood English very well. I disagreed with the editor about one photo that he wanted to delete.l, but the editor out-ranked me and he won. The photo was deleted. A year later he phoned me to say: "Do you remember that photo?" Seems that a team was complaining about pilot-chute hesitations. They had been packing according to the pictures, but ignored a subtle step only written in the manual. As soon as factory riggers demonstrated the complete packing method, the problem disappeared. Morale of the story: manufacturers are reluctant to approve any repairs outside the factory because they have seen some "African engineering" that should never be allowed in the air. Not all field riggers have the machines or skills to duplicate factory stitch patterns. The best repairs so closely resemble factory stitching that skydivers cannot see the difference.

Of course they do. But as pointed out earlier in the thread, they do not get to make the rules, the F.A.A. does. That being said, if you "repair" the components you are now responsible which in North America means Liable. I think this scares off more riggers than anything else. .................................................. Eventually North America will have millions of lawyers, but zero riggers, zero plumbers, zero carpenters, zero mechanics ...... Did I tell you how much I trust the tort law system? GRRRRRR!

Do you have photographs of the fuzzy suspension lines? For decades now, we have known that fuzzy lines increase the incidence of slider hang-ups and tension knots. If lines really were fuzzy, then the DZO was responsible 'cus he rented out shoddy gear. If a staff member packed it, then that shifts responsibility towards the DZ to repair, repack and replace lost components. Reminds me of a rigging course that I taught a few years back. A candidate brought a rental rig from her DZ. It had cracked stiffeners, loose grommets, popped harness stitching, etc. More than I could repair while teaching a class of junior riggers. The candidate was angry when I refused to sign on top of her practice pack job. She said that the DZO would be angry with her and just get another rigger to repack it ... cracked stiffeners and all..... As for the quality of Square One's rental gear ...."when the dust settles" ..... made me laugh! Perris Valley can be mighty dusty during the summer and even muddier during the winter! I washed a lot of rental rigs covered in dust or mud, back when I rigged for SQ1. SQ1 maintained their rental gear way better -than most DZs - when I rigged for them ... er ..... last century.

Hah! Hah! Seeing as how it has been 30 years since my last BASE jump ..... I may not be the best advisor on which BASE canopy to buy. You will get more recent information on BASE-specific forums. Remember that modern BASE canopies evolved from the 7-cell main canopies that were fashionable during the 1980s. For example, I did my second BASE jump with a 220 square foot, 7-cell Cruislite made of F-111 fabric with Dacron lines. Two lines evolved from those main canopies: modern reserves and BASE canopies. Though the size for BASE canopies has evolved larger for softer landings on rough terrain. These days I would buy a 300 square foot BASE canopy from one of the companies that specializes in making BASE gear: Apex, Altair, Consolidated, Performance Designs, Squirrel, etc. I am severely biased towards Apex because I worked with most of the principals: Annie Helliwell, Jimmy Pouchart (sp?), Todd Shoebotham and his brother and trust them. An inexpensive option is finding a 1980s-pattern main with only a few jumps. The second least expensive option is finding a larger reserve (250-300 square feet) and asking your local rigger to sew on a bridle attachment (maybe $100 worth of sewing). In conclusion: any of the top half-dozen BASE manufacturers will sell you a decent canopy. Some BASE canopies are specialized for wing-suit or low-objects, etc. and BASE-specific forums will give you the most recent advice.

The Sigma factory does not want outsiders making Sigma closing loops for fear that they will make new loops the wrong length, then the drogue release system will not work correctly. The last time I made some Sigma loops, they came off the sewing machine the exact (UPT manual) or 1/8 shorter. The customer made such a huge stink - that I will never did business with him again. By the same token, numerous packers have asked me to make longer bungee stows and longer main closing loops for Strong Dual Hawk Tandems. I tried to explain that those loops are part of a "system" and when you alter any component, you also alter openings. I have jumped Strong Tandems with longer loops and sometimes they opened hard enough to hurt me. Finally, I mumbled some bureaucratic bullshit about "not being high enough up the totem pole."

Two distinct answers: legal and practical. Legally, manufacturers do not want to risk lawsuits instigated by stupid people doing stupid things outside the factory. Lawsuits do not need to adhere more than loosely to written laws..... they just need some one whining. For example, Lawsuits continue 8 years after I was injured in a crash. The Superior Court of B.C. quit caring about the wounded (sugery, knee braces, psychiatric counselling, prescription pain-killers, physio-therapy and lost wages) back in 2012. Ever since 2012, lawyers have only bickered about dollars. The lawsuit has boiled down to the Provincial gov't suing the federal gov't for negligence (poor over-sight, failing to enforce CARs, etc.). Practically, FARs allow Master Riggers to do most major repairs provided they have the dimensions, materials, tools and skills. As long as a Master Rigger's repair resembles original factory sewing, it passes the first practical test. The ultimate practical test is how many wounded you have to scrape off the ground.

Fleecing stops when wallets are empty.