LawnDart21

I understand where you are coming from Chuck, but I did interpret the title "New Riggers Please Be Careful" as the post was directed at new riggers. Then the line: "Come on guys and gals, it may only take you nine days to get your riggers ticket now but it only takes you a few minutes to check things out properly" I read that as well as a reference to new riggers. If I am wrong so be it, I just replied to what I interpretted from the original post, which was a seasoned rigger finding a "miss" on a pack job done by a newbie and using that as a generalization that all newbies tend to be unthorough. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

Okay, I'll bite on this one. If the cypres is nine months past its four year, then in theory it should have been sent back prior to passing the four year mark, meaning it should have been pulled out 4 pack juobs ago. That means it was missed four times. The cypres batteries were two years past replacement, meaning, that atleast 6 repacks went by and it was missed. Now assuming these repacks were all made by the same rigger, they aren't a "new rigger", or they were just recently missed by a "new rigger" but missed by experienced riggers for the last two years. Experienced riggers are not exempt from making careless errors, and new riggers are not all missing things. You happened to catch some things on a "new rigger" repack, but that doesn't mean the problem stems from the person being "new" its just a problem of lack of attention to detail, and that can come with any expeirence level. I consider myself lucky in that I have the priviledge of working in a loft on a busy DZ under an extremely talented Master Rigger/DPRE, so I have a "walking parachute manual" to consult as needed, but that doesnt negate the fact that I learned the requirements/expectations of a Senior Rigger at my 9 day course. Its not being "new", its simply a matter of being thorough. Newbies and experienced riggers are both capable of making those errors. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

Thank you! -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

Muchos gracias my Xbraced amigos! -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

I just got my riggers ticket in January at Dave DeWolf's course, and since getting the ticket, I have been busting my ass trying to get good at using a sewing machine. I've made a gear bag for my rigging tools, and have sewed a bunch of patches on suits and things, so now I am getting bold and have decided to make some free fly pants. "WhyWearFlyWear?" is on it's way.........lol -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

Anyone have (canopies with a DOM 2003 or 2004 only please) experience & opinions on: 1: Openings, best opener based on consistency of good openings and secondly how sensative it is to a quicky pack job? 2: Optimal loading? 3: Wait time for delivery? 4: Overall rating, if you could only buy one, which would you buy and why? Muchos Gracias Amigos -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

The best looking Cobalt I have seen (and also coincidentally own...lol) is a white top/bottom skin/blue ribs and black diamond. I say: All White, with blue ribs/xbrace and black diamonds. Or just all white, with blue ribs/xbrace/and diamonds. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

If the canopy is landable, despite injuries, I say land it. If you cut it away and then your main mals, you are done. Atleast if you keep the reserve you are already under something. Although, a good side bar to the scenario is that if your reserve is f'd up but marginally landable. Whats to say it wont change to totally unlandable as you decend. (ie, what if it starts to collapse 1000ft off the ground? I take small comfort in knowing we jump in a heavily wooded area, lots of trees. I would rather risk landing a marginal reserve and hopefully get hung up in a tree, than to get rid of the reserve. I wouldn't mess with a self induced main/reserve oepn scenario. If they downplaned, youd probably have to cut away your good main, and you'd be right back to square one. Or they entangle. If I was gonna cut away a reserve, I would cut the riser as opposed to cutting above it. Hook knives (I have been told by a master rigger) should be strong enough to cut through a riser. If you go above the riser, you will be trying to get all the lines, and they probably wont be all neatly grouped together if the canopy is that f'd up. Lastly, I have also been told that if one is to cut a roser away, either main or reserve, that you should grab the one you arent cutting with your free hand, becuase once you release one, you will be in a not so stable streamer situation and may have difficulty locating the other riser. "Grab one, cut the other first" was how it was taught/explained to me. (Last note, for main risers, hook knives have that little nubby thing on the end which among other things, is designed to be able to cut the riser loop holding the three ring together. It is (conceivably) much easier to cut that loop then to saw through a riser.) Peace. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

I seem to have a nice system worked out. Our season in Boston ends in November, then it's srtaight to "uncurrent" for me in the winter months. Every year we go to Florida in the end of January, so while there, I take my up jumper fiance on a recurrency tandem (next January will be wife....lol) and then I make two more recurrency jumps in the end of March as it warms up, and then I'm ready to go back to work for April 1st. My personal view is that I consider myself the luckiest person on (and above) the earth to be able to do what I do as a TM. And I wouldn't want to do anything to jeopardize my ability to do so. As such, I personally would never even consider jumping a tandem uncurrent. We've (TMs) all had students tell us we have the best job in the world, and it's a job I fully intend to keep! Peace! Peace! -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

Lisa, I have a question for you. (I am a newbie rigger, w/ under 50 repacks). The above FAR states that only the manufacture, a rigger or a person working under a rigger can "rig" a reserve and container system for jumping. Pretty clear, no grey area. But......do you think in a general sense that disassembling a reserve would also fall under the FAR as "rigging" in terms of who can and can't do it? I mean a fun jumper that owns his reserve and removes it, isnt really "rigging" in the sense that they are not planning on jumping it. I mean, in theory, if someone does that, and gives it back to a rigger to reinstall, the rigger would inspect the canopy for any damage and for its "jumpability" prior to installing/sealing it. Within that context, I don't think a fun jumper that owns thier own resevre is violating any FAR by disassembling thier reserve. What's your .02? Muchos gracias amiga! -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

I agree, don't be too hard on yourself.....lol Reassembling your reserve isn't like building a house, it's not that big of a deal. (Especially, if your rigger, like me, can just hang a canopy from the ceiling of the hangar! Makes line groups muchos de easy to reattach. The most important thing here is not necessarily that you removed the links persay, it's what that says about you as a skydiver, and that seems to be you have an above average interest in our sport and "how things work" and I think that is definitely a positive. You should be seeking out all the knowledge you can about the gear you use, it will give you more piece of mind in the sport, knowing how things work. And it seems that that is your mind set. Good stuff. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

I dont think that teaching a student how to PLF would a good thing. Imagine if as you land, the TM decides all is well and attempts to stand up his landing, while at the same time his student experiences ground rush, panicks, and trys to PLF. It would look like a bad martial arts movie. On the few landings when I could sense we were gonna eat some dirt, I wouldn't say anything, I sort of modified my PLF when I jump tandems, to a side slide, like stealing second base, that way I (for better or for worse) take the impact and dirt. Although I hate to admit this, I remember one particular landing where the winds were choppy and we started sinking straight down, from about 30ft and I actually said the student "Uh oh, this is gonna hurt!" as we thumped on to the ground, he was big enough that despite trying, I couldnt get underneath him, and we just dropped the last four feet like a rock. We laughed it off as we (slowly) waddled back to the hanger............... -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

I guess the appropriate thing to do would be to call them and ask them what they think. I mean in theory (in a non advisory position), I would think that inspecting and "assembling" a canopy for jumping is a riggers job, but I wonder if in fact there exists any rules for disassembling one's own reserve canopy. If you find anything out from Mirage, post it here. Good question. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

Can I stay up late tonight to watch Letterman? -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

I overheard this at a boogie last year: Jumper #1: "why doesn't blood rush to my head when I'm head down? ..." Jumper #2: "Cause you can't fly head down.....your on your back........" Jumper #1: "Oh, that makes sense." Jumper #2: "Glad I could clear that up for you." -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

Mom, your drunk, get off the computer. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

The only "dropping" sensation that I have experienced in this sport is "dropping" all my cash into the manifest cash drawer each weekend....... -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

Okay, for any TMs out there that like jumping in shorts, I just found a kick ass all around great pair of shorts online that are perfect for tandem jumping. I was on www.foxracing.com and went to their onlnie store under BMX stuff and found a shorts version of their mx racing pants. Padding on the butt, super strong construction, they are a bit heavier than my jumpsuit pants, but they are rugged and will make sitting on an otter bench all day and slide in landings not so painful on the backside....lol. The were expensive, $89.00, but they look like they will last forever. Perfect Tandem jumping shorts. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

I just repacked a 93' PD 160 and it looked brand new, I would buy it/jump it without question. Mains are like cars (like aggie said). It's not hard to find a good used main (your in a buyers market on that one, so thats a benefit to you), and as for a cypress, as long as its in the specs of airtec's service requirements, i see no prob jumping a used cyrpess either. If you are gonna buy anything new, get a new container, IMHO, if you go new on the container, you will have a structurally sound (good for all axis flying presumably) rig that fits YOU. ie, everything will be where its supposed to be in terms of fit and function. If I were you I would set yourself up a budget, for example: $500 for a main $500 for a reserve $500 for a cypres and then whatever you end up paying for a new rig. You could get away (if you are thorough in your search) for getting a reserve, main and cypres for around $1500. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

I've had one cutaway in about 1100+ jumps. I own two containers, one has a cypress, one does not. I left a cypres out of my second rig for a number of reasons, of which the primary reason was that I intended it to be used primarily for pond swooping. So, I made 95% of my jumps with my cypres equipped rig, and used my non cypres one sparingly, just hop in pops and ocassionally if we were busy on the DZ and I needed to make back to back loads. My perception of a cypres has always been that it is not meant to be a replacement for emergency procedures, rather it was only a means of protection against an unavoidable/unpredictable situation. Anyways, my cutaway was nothing more than line twists on a highly loaded HP canopy that I could not recover. I cut away and landed without incident. Here's the kicker, my other rig, the one with the cypres, had its ripcord recalled shortly there after for the faulty pin problem, ie, if you pulled the reserve ripcord, the cable could possibly break away from the pin, leaving the reserve closed. By dumb luck, my cyrpes was in that rig and my non cyrpes rig had a "prerecall" reserve cord. I never had to use the other pin, so I dont know if it was faulty or not, but the thought of what if has haunted me since the recall. What if I had the cypres in the rig with the good pin and the recalled (possibly faulty) reserve handled rig didnt have the cyrpes, and I was in that same situation. There was a chance, all be it slim, that I could have cut away and pulled the resevre and the pin coupld have broke off and stayed in the reserve loop, which would have ended very badly for me. That type of situation is why I am a cypres advocate. There would have been no amount of prep or training that could have solved that type of situation. So, to answer your question, I consider the cypres to be an invaluable "compliment" to a skydiver's survival chances. I wouldnt fault you for choosing not to jump with one, financially or otherwise, it's just one of those things where there are a million reasons to have one and a few reasons to not have one, but if ever someone finds themselves in a position to need one, its better to have one and not need it, than to not have one and need it. I don't know the exact number, but its been pretty well documented that they can and do save lives. ps - If you want a cypres but its a financial situation, PM me, I may be able to help you out with aquiring a good used one without breaking your bank account. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

either way, it still hurts if you hit it too hard....... -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

I've seen a jumper on a 170 Triatholon loaded 1.3, out swoop a stilleto flyer on a 135 loaded 1.8. Its not the canopy, its the pilot. A smaller elliptical canopy wont make you a better swooper, 300 more jumps on your current canopy will. You can learn the same things about canopy flight on bigger safer canopies, without the increased risk of injury. If you want to be a swooper, I think there is nothing wrong with setting your goal early, just understand, its not how you react when things go right, its how you react when things go wrong. The next 400 jumps you make, things will inevitably go wrong, atleast under a larger canopy, you will have more breathing room in your decision making. Remember, its not the canopy that can kill you, its the ground. They call it "Terra firma" for a reason, the ground is firm. The one word I would consider when thinking about canopy choice is IMPACT. How much of an IMPACT do you want to make in this sport? Just keep it in mind. Best of luck with your decision. Choose wisely. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

1) Taking my sister on her 1st tandem on her 30th birthday. She still thinks I'm nuts, but atleast now she knows why I am nuts. 2) Turning 36 points on a 2 way with my skydiving mentor. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

Thanks, probably better to make my own then. Blue skies, Tom -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

But am having a hard time finding it. I have a bunch of different owners manuals for closing different reserves, but have heard (possibly paragear, but cant find it there) has a binder/book that contains the closing instructions for all the differnet containers out there in one neat book. MY fiance is working on her ticket as we speak, and I'd like to get it for her (less she keep stealing my manuals.....lol). Thanks, Tom -- My other ride is a RESERVE.