councilman24

I have an ALLTEL National Freedom plan. It's trimode digital cellular, versus analog (almost gone),bi mode digital cell. or PCS , Personal Communication System (i.e. Sprint) Included minutes are good anywhere in 49 states to anywhere in 49 states. A couple of lost signals in the middle of Kansas and in the boonies in northern MI but that's about it. If you look at Sprint for a coverage map you'll see mainly follows highways. My trimode dig. cell will use anybodies digital cell tower. Downside, not as cheap as PCS systems. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

NOTHING we couldn't buy today, just cheaper next week. Still can't buy real assult weapons. (With some exceptions and needing lots of money.) I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Hey, the Europeans couldn't get Beagle II's parachute to open on Mars. I think they need new riggers! But the Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster Parachute Recovery Facility at NASA was pretty cool. Folding a 100' plus ribbon round on a "meat hook" trolley system. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

The PIA Sept. business meeting is this weekend at the Adams Mark Hotel in Jacksonville Fl. This is NOT the symposium which is in January. But, visitors are welcome. The various committees provide a place for input on issues you have that PIA might be able to influence. See www.pia.com for more info. Rigging Committee Chairman I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

pH is the log of the hydrogen ion concentration. Neutral is considered 7. Acid is anything lower, basic (or alkaline) is anything higher. And "high ph" means just that, a high number and basic conditions. Now landing in pH 3 water? Forget the parachute, worry about you! Don't you know how the mob gets rid of bodies. Okay, not that bad but I still wouldn't want to go swimming in it. Swimming pools are 6.8 to 7.8. And remember that 5 is ten times more acidic than 6. And what the hell is in it making it pH 3! This sounds like a sulfur spring or maybe a lake in an active volcanic crater. Forget this jump for lots of reasons. If it really is pH 3. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Didn't see it anywhere else. Copied from PIA Rigger forum post. Link is in German. "Post subject: Next Reserve pin Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2004 2:31 pm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- New Paratec (Germany) Bulletin http://www.prueferverband.de/Sicherheit/TM-SB/SIMI-04-04%20Next.pdf About not good pressed Reserve pins. The Round are bad, the Flat pressed are good. All Next Systems (Student, Sport and Tandem) are grounded Until they are inspected Only the flat pressed are acceptable If you find a round one Contact the Manufacturer Wim" Chairman, PIA Rigging Committee I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

You might want to rethink how you state that. Actually your certifying that it is airworthy when you packed (sealed, signed, etc,.. pick one) it. Once it's out of your control it may very well be damaged and become unairworth. It's just nobody is required to look for another 119 days. Example, rounds with the "acid mesh" degradation would go "bad" between pack jobs. I recently found a ram air that had weak fabric. I had packed last but it certainly went bad during some 120 cycle. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Cripes!!!!! Pick two, then I'll give you an opinion! I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

What was buried in skyhigh's description of trying to kill himself was what the experienced jumper was probably worried about ... stalling the canopy. You probably can't stall your student canopy without doing some special things I'm not going to tell you about. But, most non student canopies will stall if you pull the brake lines all the way down and hold them. Knowing the difference between where the canopy is in full brakes and where it stalls is a very important thing to figure out for EACH canopy your jumping. It may be as high as your shoulders or as low as your thighs. When you move to your own or a non student canopy and do the same thing (pulling the brake lines all the way down?) you may end up falling that last 100' to your back. But, brakes are good things. And not enough people use braked approaches. Just be sure your experienced enough and know the canopy well enough not to stall it at 100' For now, talk to your instructors but half brakes will make the people on the ground more comfortable. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Hmmmm, the ghost post. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

For student malfunctions, audible have no purpose. Students should check their canopy and immediately initiate emergency procedures if appropriate. No audible involved. Hard/no pulls get two trys before initiating emergency procedures. No audibles involved. Audibles as used by experience skydivers note break off, and maybe hard deck for jumpers making decisions and maybe trying to fix problems. Now, I do think audibles are appropriate for students used as a hard deck ONLY warning. "When you hear this pull your reserve ripcord." Or some such instruction depending on your preference. It gets one more wake up call before the cypres fires. Students shouldn't hear audibles during a normal jump. Too many people are relying on audibles, especially in attitudes where looking at the ground straight down may be tough. On one thread in the last few days two out cypres fire was blamed on a turned off or non working audible. And I think the other guy had lost his on a previous jump. Unacceptable. Now I do jump an audible. Had a Para Alert on my camera in the early 80's. Had an original dytter I never trusted. Have a time out and a Protrack. Still use one most of the time. But, gradually finding myself relying on it and take it out from time to time just to wake myself back up. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I don't think the pack method in this case is the major contributor to opening speed. You might expect the flop pack to be slower but I don't think that was our experience. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

http://www.precision.aero/packing.htm http://www.precision.aero/omega_pack.htm Precision Aerodynamics became Precision Dotaero and they know call it Precision Pack. At the bottom click on the link Precision Packing the 7 cell ZP (above). The links in the text don't work. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

This is the only pack job that is truely asymetrical and loads one side of the canopy differently than the other. A standard pre pro pack stack pack, fold nose, b on a, c on b, d on c, split and cocoon the tail is still a Proper Ramair Orientation. The canopy is collapsed side to side and s folded front to back. It just starts off turned 90 degrees. The only difference between that and a pro pack is whether the fabric is s folded out each side individually or s folded back and forth all together. The flop pack has one side "hidden" inside the flop and has to "unroll" in an asymetric manner before inflating. The only pro I know is that it tends to distribute the material side to side in the bag/container better. Our DZ used a flop pack for student Mantas for many years because of the more even bulk. It worked fine with no more malfunctions than normal. I don't have a feel for of heading openings because nobody cared with students, only one jumper in the air. Certainly, for high performance canopies with high performance lines I'd prefer a symetrical pack job. For non zp with dacron lines I still prefer either symetrical pack job but don't believe the flop pack is "BAD". I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

It depends on who's doing the frowning. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Age 45 Sex M Average 0.206 On second try, after I fell asleep (snoozin' old timer) on one test the first try. Hmm also at 9:30 in the morning. I don't wake up till after dark. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Mary Ann!!!! I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

The FAA made a pre-announced visit to our small DZ recently. This was the first time other than once to examine the rig from a fatality in 24 years plus. I believe that the field offices have been given a mandate to visit everybody at least once and maybe more. Visits may also be prompted by complaints. Not a problem, keep your rig in date. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Sounds to me if he's only EVER going around the block he may not have a license to drive the thing. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I've never understood comments about Wings being hard to pack. I haven't had any problems, but I only do a few. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Be aware that changing from spectra to dacron may be just enough to make your reserve too big for the container if it's a tight fit already. And some of the free bag line pouches these days aren't real big. It may be tough getting dacron lines in some pouches. Why do you want dacron? I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Service life was 10 and was moved to 12 after study. Don't look for it go any higher. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I don't every remember them making two sizes of firelites. They always had the cricket as the smaller one. Firelite serial numbers start with FL-, Mavericks with MK, Fury's with F. Check the serial number. If it's FL assume its a Firelite and 175 or so. We had a lot of Glide Path reserves on our DZ. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

go here http://www.flightconcepts.com/reserve.html 175 sq. ft. Firelites were built by Glide Path which became Flight Concepts. They've always been the same size. GP/FC canopies have a different name for each size. Relax. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Over 11 years, with the advent of freeflying at higher speeds and odd body positions, and with newer canopies that snivel for 700'? No I don't think that's a lot. I may have even forgotten a couple. A couple were low pulls, two out; two were post collision deployments on unconcious jumpers, one or two were jumpers fighting gear problems that may or may not have been fatalities. In 30 plus years of operation we've had 1 fatality pre AAD that was a visiting jumper who just didn't pull, a one fatality from the freefly collision. That's pretty good. US fatality rates have stayed about the same, 20 to 30, but deaths from no pull low pull impact have decreased. I attribute this to the cypres. They've been replaced with deaths under open canopies. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE