councilman24

I've had a few new swoopers who hit me that I'd consider debris. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

These are documented saves. I don't think any of the 5 or 6 at my small DZ were sent in. My guess is that until the FAR change ALL tandem saves were documented. Also my guess is that the total is much higher. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Try this http://www.nfinity.com/~exile/howhigh.htm convert units to those needed in the equation. Two google searches away. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I don't know but I doubt it. PD's technique is not the PIA standard technique and was decided upon by PD. I'm not sure about aerodyne's. But since one is PD's non standard, I doubt they would both use the same non standard technique. I doubt the difference is much or significant with that small of canopy. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Sounds to me like in the case of skydiving he's got it backward. Not breathing because of panic, not panic because of not breathing. Sounds like this guy believes he/we really can't breath in freefall. In other cases choking certainly can lead to fear and panic. I'd say if the skydiving hypothysis is the main part of the paper, through him out of an airplane with it. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

The 2005 International Parachute Symposium, January 14-19, 2005 in Jacksonville FL, sponsored by the Parachute Industry Association is in final planning as I post this message. The success of this symposium relies not only on PIA members but on people across the parachute industries and sports around the world to come and share their knowledge, expertise, and enthusiasm for their activities. This is your personal invitation to come and be a presenter at the 2005 Symposium. . As Speaker Coordinator I can tell you that there are very few people, if any, who wish to speak who aren’t included in the program. Just because the speaker before you may be Bill Booth, John LeBlanc, or Dave DeWolf, doesn’t mean that what you have to say isn’t important. I’m a part time rigger and local S&TA but have given presentations on DZ first aid, rigging Security Pilot rigs, and being a part time rigger. Appropriate topics are anything from parachute design for the Mars Lander, to DZ operations, to BASE safety, to packing demonstrations, to rigging tips, to fabric finishing, to military testing and operations using parachutes, to whatever you can think of. Speakers receive complimentary full registration to the Symposium. The only real limitations are presentations are not allowed to be sales pitches for your product and should be of interest to the broad parachute and related industries and sports. Obviously, some presentations are product specific, (i.e. How to Pack a Racer) but promotion of your product and comparison to others products must be avoided. The exhibition hall provides the place to show your salesmanship. If you have a topic that would like to share with the rest of the world please go to http://www.pia.com/symposium2005/registration.htm and register as a speaker. This provides us with the basic information to see if you fit into the Symposium program. The outline for the next steps is included on the website. Please, if you ever wanted to share you knowledge, now is the time. Also, now is the time to plan on attending the 2005 International Parachute Symposium. This is truely the place to be to learn the answers to your questions about manufacturing, rigging, operations, and many other aspects of the industry. As well as see the new toys from the sport manufacturers. As before we'll be running a Rigger Continuing Education program. Thanks for your support. Any questions please contact me or PIA. And I expect to see a lot of dropzone.comers there. 2005 Symposium Speaker Coordinator and PIA Rigging Committee Chairman I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

That's what I was doing. Had a 1400' reserve total on a prototype Super Swooper Tandem (SST or "struggle, struggle, thump") after a cutaway. Fought for awhile and finally gave up. Nothing more I could do. Was watching the ground. It cleared and was open at 300' Not much fun. Several small things added up to cause the problem. It's why I became a rigger. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

You call him mister and he won't know who your talking to. 5 jumps this year means that your having to relearn what you forgot from the last jump. 5 jumps a weekend is more like what you should be doing. I know how all sorts of things get in the way, but until you can do enough to build on what you learn from each jump it's going to be hard to get any better. In MI during our shorten seasoned at this stage you should be doing between 100 and 200 jumps a year to really progress. Remember, you only practice this 45 seconds at a time. You can't learn how to swing a tennis raquet in an hour, but with 80 jumps you can learn a lot of body flying. It ain't hard but you've got to practice. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Paul, I don't remember your name with a face but your at my home DZ. If I'm out there, most of the time I just throwing together something and more than willing to jump with newbies. Others are too. I've had a number of low timers on the plane with me refuse an offer to do RW with them because, I guess, they didn't want the pressure or to "suck" too bad. Jumping with someone your own low skill level only leads you to trying to figure out who was back sliding and who was tracking. But it can be fun to chase each other across the sky. It takes a few hundred jumps to be "good". Don't worry about it. And I've flipped lots of low timers over onto their belly. Break off for up to four way. (our Cessna DZ) With newbies I instruct them to give a arms in front of the face wave off to initiate break off (and demonstrate altitude awareness), or if they don't I do. With a more experience, the first person to decide its time to leave, by altitude or fright (just kidding) usually just turns and goes, signally to everyone else it must be time. For bigger formations it can still work the same way with experienced jumpers but on larger or more structured dives, there usually is one person to key the breakoff. If your jumping with similarly low experinced people you may not be together. So you may not have a formation to track away from. A very clear wave off over your head is important to signal to others that you may not see that you are stopping RW and pulling. I've dodged a few PC's from newbies that pulled a little high, giving up because they didn't see me coming from behind them. Also don't be discouraged if some of us turn down a request to jump with you on a particular jump. We like to have fun too. But, I get as much kick out of working with newer jumper as turning 4 way. And don't give in and go trying to play head down! We need more belly flyers.

At least get the quote right! "NO Shit, ..." I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Wear a chest mount. +/- 500 ft depends on altitude. At 0 they all pretty much return to zero, so the inaccuaracy isn't over their whole range. I've never heard of one being affected by "wrist burble", but I suppose it's possible. If it's on the back of your hand most people turn their hand to look at it anyway. If you wear it on the side it may not be affected. Of course the torso is big enough to make a difference to chest mounts and back mounted AAD's. Hmmm, stop looking at your altimeter and start having fun? Just kidding, kinda. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Your not wrong but a few hundred feet does make a difference if your staggering openings for a stadium demo, if your D license and throwing a pilot chute at 2000', or you canopy takes 700' vs 200' to open. But "pack opening" should equal pull altitude. As we see it doesn't for newer jumpers, probably does more for old farts, and you need to ask more questions to be sure what you each mean when discussing it. BSR's are "pack opening", not fully open canopy. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

"Who the hell is shaken the tent!?" Out of my mouth on Sunday morning after the skydivers closed up the bar and went skinny dipping to rinse all the beer off. Roll out, grab the rig (hmmm when did I pack this?), roll in the door of the twin beach, kinda put the rig on while moaning and yelling at the pilot to stop steering. Kinda rolling out the door. "Oh yeah! That's why I do this." And we lived? Every weekend occurance in the early eighties. That was kind of the end of the outlaw skydiver era. Or maybe not? I've seen people jumping drunk, on coke, magic mushrooms, high, etc. etc. I usually stayed off those loads. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Pack opening altitude is a more accurate descriptor, as used in the BSR's. If some says they want to be "open" by 3000' I expect them to be "pack opening" around 3500' or higher. Many of today's canopies take 700' to a 1000' to open. Many older designs take 200' to 500'. So your A example, starting deployment sequence with wave off at 3000' expecting 2 seconds(300-400') to actually open the pack and 700' opening on their new spectre would put them below 2000'. Your example B with wave off at 3300 to 3500' and with "pack opening" at 3000' actually IS the normal way "pull" is referenced. Your text doesn't quite descibe it right though. With wave off started at 3300' to 3500' pack opening will be at 3000' and an open canopy may be as high as 2800' and low as 2000'. So "pack opening" is usually called pull altitude. If someone wants to be "open" by 3000' pull altitude is between 3300' and 4000' depending on canopy and wave off a few hundred feet higher. "Hey where you going to pull?" "3000'" "Hey where do you want to be open at?" "2500'" Same answer and same actions at the same altitude. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Bill, Bill, Bill ....... reduces lost altitude, not time. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

The Spectre opened too slow for my taste too. I demoed one of the first ones out in 1997 because PD was replacing a lemon canopy. 700' openings from a 2000' hop and pop or terminal deployment were too slow for me. But this is what newer skydivers want. I want a canopy over my head, not a streamer. So, my Saber 1 and my Triathlon are just fine. Of course I'm an inch shorter after 24 years of jumping. A mesh slider probably isn't a good idea. Other than packing it nose open and slider back your probably stuck. Call PD and see what they recommend. If you do try a mesh slider start with hop and pop and work up second by second to terminal to see if its still slow enough. But my guess is you won't get to terminal before hurting. The only real fix is to change canopies. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Don't put your weight on it! Put just enough pressure with your hands, knees, etc. to hold it in place. Anymore and it just squirts out. For instance, if you put your knee on it keep your weight on your other leg and just put a small amout of force on the canopy. I form a corner with my left knee on the ground on the left side of the stack and my right knee on the rig side of the stack. Then I can work into the corner of my knees while putting it in the bag. Take heart. I had 1400 jumps and had been a rigger for 10 years before I packed my first ZP main. It took ten tries before I got one I'd jump. Of course I'm extra picky. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

No. I try to educate the owners that only I should tighten them. But I don't do very many. A friend brought his Reflex in and pull force was about 40 lb. I'd packed it but he had another guy tighten it. Usually my Reflex doesn't need tightening. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Check out your local fabric store. They usually have stuff like coated ripstop. Maybe not matte. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I have customers with a fury (470) in an E3 and a Maverick (415) in a D8. volumes are from Flight Concepts web page. PIA volumes are higher. So a definite MAYBE. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

It's ment for cheap, point and shoot cameras that have been modified for a remote release. This cigarrette box size. I know the inventor. He's working on several models. These are injection molded and of high quality. The grew out of a need for him and his friends but are very well done. The still idea is not ment for the professional but for the recreational photographer who wants to add a small vertical still in an easy and compact way. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I cock mine before, and after. Tends to shift a little and just to make sure. And yes it's better to cock it before. Both the kill line and the retention line can cause burns or damage, but haven't seen any in years. That said I'd not hesitate to cock it after and jump. Kind of do as I say not as I do. I'm willing to take assorted, calculated risks with my gear that I won't tell some one else to do. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

To simplify, a main packed by anybody other than the jumper has to meet all the requirements of a reserve, except the logging and seal. If the PC wasn't cocked at all, refund the pack job and at least half the ticket. (Other half on jumper for not checking on the ground) But, I'd refund all the ticket and appologize profusely. If your main doesn't work your started on the cascade to a fatality. PC in tow is one of the scariest, I've been there. If the kill line had slipped but the PC was still functional, the "offer" not to pay the packer is reasonable. "You pay your money and take your chance" with a main pack job. Hmmm, you should be paying for rigger quality and responsibility. They should be held to the same responsibility as a reserve. They're covered under the same regs. Now, is this reasonable. Probably not, and thats why I don't pack mains. (I take that back. I will pack a main, for my regular $40 fee) I'm held to the same standard, means the same cost. Hmmm do I need Nomex? I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Call ParaGear. While they're no longer listed they may very well have some new "old" risers on the shelf. Or be supplying chest mounts overseas. I'd also call Pioneer. http://www.pioneeraero.com/2-3_res_par.htm They still make chest mounts and may well have a compatable part. Don't forget the cross connectors. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

The answer from Booth and others about the leather rigs is that they are nylon rigs with over laid leather etc. The first thing I asked when I saw the mink and leather rig years ago. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE