hackish

I saw DeLand similarly marking their bills. When I bought gas on my way to Ft. Lauderdale I was surprised when I got a marked bill in my change. -Michael

Terry "Yoda" Urban D-8631 S&TA ME, FAA Master rigger

I think it would be a good idea to get the rigger to show you how to remove it. I few pieces of hook velcro in there to be careful with and non-riggers can sometimes forget about that nasty stuff... Personally, I'd prefer to remove an AAD for a skydiver than have them do it. While it's not that complicated, someone with less experience may run amuck with all the unfamiliar stuff in there. -Michael

While I agree, I hope no instructor will recommend such sizes in a rig to a new jumper. In fact it's been well studied and reported that a main and reserve of vastly different sizes do not behave well together anyway. So I can't say I'd recommend an optimum 120 with a 170 main to anyone - experienced or not. One nice thing I see from the Optimum being offered in larger sizes is that it could allow some reserves to be upsized. -Michael

Contrast that with what you see in the PD video. Poof opens on heading every time. When you have to grab the risers and steer it through the opening I don't consider that an on-heading opening. -Michael

At our DZ the funding from the gov't and the hours of the airport are determined by the number of takeoffs and landings. If we fly 40 loads in a weekend that's 80 takeoff/landing activities and that makes the DZ the highest runway user for our airport. For GA there just isn't a comparable amount of activity. -Michael

Years ago I studied some statistics about the success of people retaking courses they had already done poorly in. The stats were not on their side because they felt there was nothing more to learn. With 700 jumps you probably know how to fly your body plus a lot of stuff about the equipment of your time. In studying the history of skydiving I've found a number of changes both in technology and in procedures. Despite the fact you probably know 90% of what they teach that last 10% could be worthwhile. I think it would be worthwhile to still sit through the training as if you were a beginner. If the skills are good then you can probably complete the requirements in a jump or two. Last year a jumper arrived at my DZ with a 15 year layoff. He sat through the course and got IAD'd by an instructor like a student on a student canopy. He did just fine and landed it like an experienced jumper. Great, but there was no undo key if he was just thrown on a load with assumptions of what he knew or remembered. -Michael

Just to agree with what others have already said, with 5 jumps on your profile any experienced packer can probably pack better than you... or me when I had 5 jumps. I also notice your'e in the USA. That means the rig would have to have been packed by a rigger or under the supervision of one. Chances are pretty good that it's been properly packed. You can pretty much guarantee that the reserve was packed by a rigger. I get a lot of comments from tandem clients when I'm working at the DZ... "Make sure you pack that thing right". Truth be told people have stuffed their canopy in paper bags and they still opened. They're designed to open. I wouldn't make a habit of that but rest assured a properly packed parachute has a relatively low chance of malfunctioning. -Michael

While I don't feel that there is anything specifically that unsafe about what was done I do feel that if the rig manufacturer who has way more test jumps, engineers and more expertise than all of us felt it was necessary to increase the safety they would have designed the bridle with a weak point. On a normal deployment 150-200 pounds of force is applied to the bridle. Start wearing that piece of 3/8 tape and it could break on you. I saw an improperly attached d-bag fly away at the gan boogie this year. The jumper didn't realize it was gone until people were talking about it and he noticed... still cost him $250 and his jumping was finished. In the BASE instance mentioned above this is for a static line deployment that is intended to break. Strikes me as a good idea to have a secondary weak point if the SL attachment (shopping bag??? :) does not break. Not in any way related to SL deployment from an AC. -Michael

I like the way they seem to have put a lot of effort on something opens on heading. I love my sabre2 but when it opens perfectly on heading I buy a lotto ticket. I'm anxious for a boogie in the spring where I could demo one. -Michael

3/4" binding tape is about 400lbs mbs no? Compared to the breaking strength of the bridle material isn't this a little on the weak side? Especially when it starts to wear? Of course it would only result in a freebag - dbag but still... -Michael

I want a PPD. Parachute packing device. Just a big lever on the side of my rig. Flip it up to open, flip it down to pack up. So if you have a mal you just flip the lever down and back up. Good idea? -Michael

What I've found from questioning other riggers who say racers are crap is that they're just so different that people don't want to touch them. Riggers who've got more than 1-2 pack jobs seem to love them so I think your challenge will be to find a good rigger who is familiar and likes them. If I ever have the opportunity I will pick up a racer as a backup rig. -Michael

I'd say get it done while you have lots of time available before the date. I have a mild dislike when people call the day before a boogie wanting their reserve done. Who wants to spend an anxious morning convincing someone their reserve is good for another day when you could be out planning your jumps? Functionally the 181st day will make a lick of difference but we've all got rules to follow. -Michael

I took riggerrob's rigging course. It was intense. Just bring the old guy a bag of apples on the first day and you'll be good :P Seriously though, there is a lot of material to cover so I would suggest buying Poynter I and Poynter II. Read and study them before the course and it will give you a lot of the basics and background. If you could get a copy of the CSPA rigger info pack before the course that would be good as well. It's about 3" thick and there is a lot of good stuff inside. -Michael

I'm 6'2" and 185 - well still trying to lose a few more pounds. Wasn't a big problem to find a rig that fit. Just have to be patient. One thing you might not want to hear given that you're probably anxious to buy your first rig is that you're probably better off waiting until you've got 30-50 jumps under your belt. Depending on how you progress and the advice of your instructors, you might be flying something significantly smaller. Here it's not uncommon to see someone go from a 280 on their 10th jump to a 170-190 by their 30th or 40th. If you buy right now you might only get 50 jumps on the rig before you are ready for something much smaller. -Michael

I'd be pretty happy to see any discount for a team. Probably negotiating gear discounts (and small ones) would be a better idea. I know that there isn't much margin in a jump ticket so anything you get is a donation from the DZO. -Michael

I sent mind up for 2 tandems. She enjoyed them but is solid in the fact jumping is not for her. I am just as happy since she lets me go do my thing and she's free to do hers. Took her up gliding and maybe someday she will get her pilot's license. That would be funny if she started flying jumpers :P -Michael

I found that site but not the specific manual you linked to. The entire thing can be mine for $40. I don't mind dabbling in mechanical things and tuning up sewing machines but I really think this omni machine is either broken or just simply junk. It was purchased some years ago at walmart and apparently never really worked properly. A poor quality chinese knockoff perhaps. So I don't mind saving up and buying something quality to learn with. The Singer 251 I've been offered is obviously good quality but very limited in what it can do. It will do a 301 stitch or a 301 stitch. By the answers posted I get the impression that sewing nylon is not that picky on needle size. -Michael

So I'm working on my round rating. I actually find them easier to pack than a square but oh, all those people concerned about 20 year-old reserves would have a lot of trouble if we started using round reserves... Sadly it seems like a skill quickly dying off as people retire from the sport. -Michael

I tried to play with the tension a lot. Also tried some lighter thread but with little impact in the results. I may just have to get someone experienced to set it up correctly so I can concentrate on sewing, not sewing machine repairs. I've been offered a Singer 251-13. Spent about 2h trying to figure out what it is and what it would be good for before I accept (I just have to pay freight on it). Any ideas on that? -Michael

So I decided my blood pressure wasn't high enough. Decided to play around with the woman's Chinese knockoff sewing machine again. She's headed over to Europe so I decided to make a money belt out of nylon, some tape and velcro. I'm wondering what people typically use for needle size? This stupid thing just tangles to shit after the first few stitches. I've been told it's probably the needle size. I've tried a 100, 80 and 70. the 70 broke so I'm assuming an 80 or 90 is appropriate. -Michael

If I recall correctly it was made by a company called Niagara Parachutes or something like that. This is a belly mount and I'm hoping to jump a jumbo PC this year so that will be the reserve considering the entire rig is original. Looking at the actual structure of the reserve it does not seem to have anything in particular that sets it aside from any other round reserve. I'm not extremely particular about the deployment system since it has nothing for staging and the lines are just stowed in the bottom of the deployment bag, but this does not seem that different from others of that era. Under the Canadian Rigging system our round rating is separate from the square rating so I've got to pack 10 of these rounds to get the certification. -Michael

The cost of the physical board inside the unit is very small. The cost of the physical unit is also small. Probably to the tune of about $300 out the door. The expensive part is the R&D, the support, the advertising. With a staff of 5-6 people you probably need margins of $1m per year just to keep the doors open. That's like selling more than 1000 new units per year, every year. I frequently deal with the same misconception. Hey, if you reflash the computer in my car it doesn't cost you anything - why is it $500??? Well, true but not true. What about the 3000h of unpaid time to figure out how to do the performance reflash? R&D is a bitch. With every AAD you buy you're paying some of the labour for those engineers and programmers and testers who developed it. If, after 20 years they just replace all the innards of the AAD then how far is that from replacing the entire AAD? It's probably cheaper for them to replace than open the unit up to replace the electronics inside. In both cases they need to run a full battery of tests. Since the unit itself is not that expensive to build the labour costs quickly eclipse that. -Michael

Wow this has turned into a wealth of new knowledge for me. I'm working on my round rating so it's nice to see how it all fits in. Last weekend I packed a baby cobra and it really had no reefing to speak of. The lines were stowed with elastics in the bottom of the belly mount pack tray and I can well imagine it beginning to inflate while it's still unstowing the lines. Ouch. Peek, yes, guilty as charged. I haven't built a rocket in years but was thinking it would be fun to build one with a ram air recovery system... Then I looked at the price of model rocket engines (the big ones). Think I will stick to skydiving. -Michael