councilman24

Hmm, but you bend at the waist, right? Not so much where your thigh hinges, but where your pelvis hinges. Take a bow and see where you bend. The harness supports you by the pelvis not the thighs. Your legs only keep the harness from slipping off. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

IMHO A traction splint is NOT a topic for a safety day class. This is a piece of equipment that while available to the public should only be use with specific training that is part of an overall certification in pre hospital treatment. As a MFR licensed in MI I DO recommend that medical personel trained in its use that hang out at the DZ have one. I suggested it in my first aid for the DZ seminar at the PIA symposium last year. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

With only a grand to spend he's not going to end up with older non ZP gear. Recommending canopy size with out specifying canopy type or brand is misleading. I would not put this guy on a 190 7cell F-111 type canopy. Will I might get away with that wing loading and type I have a 1000 jumps on 5, 7, and 9 cell non zp canopies. For a grand your going to get a very older, maybe not free fly ready harness, a non zp 7cell (MAYBE) nine cell main with a lot of jumps and a old model reserve. For instance I have an original Swift 5 cell reserve that is fully airworthy and never deployed but no where near state of the art that someone could have for $150. I was going to put it in a water rig. I have an old heavily used Manta that someone could have for scrape value, maybe $80. Its airworthy but tired and could blow up any time. I also have a very lightly used PD 260 that would should go for at least $500 (or more) but I'd have to look at the market to set a price. There are old Vectors or Talon or Northern light (two pin reserve) containers that are available for $200-$300 dollars but usually not put in the air. Your budget give you about $350 harness, $350 main, and $300 reserve. This gets probably 15 to 20 year old gear that's airworthy but just. Like my examples above a lot of us have older gear that we've retired for performance and design issues, is still airworthy, but not particularly desireable. Also, this doesn't leave you anything for visual altimeter, certainly not audible atimeter, jumpsuit, helmet. I fully realize the limitations but also you need to be sure of the advice your getting in that price range. You need to talk to the older instructors to get an idea of what you should get for gear of that age and style. Good luck, I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Yeah, I couldn't remember whether it was 1000 or 1500. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Yes it has a factory calibration cycle. It's been a while since I delt with one but I THINK it was two years. With the change in part 105 this is now legally madated. If your trying to fit this to an experience jumper rig, you probably want to reconsider. It probably won't fit, the rig will have to be modified if not already set up for it, most newer rigs probably may not offer an FXC set up, it weighs a bunch, and is relatively inprecise on activation and leads to two out quite often for skydivers pushing lower. We routinely set our student FXC's at LEAST a 1000 feet below the hard deck canopy open altitude. http://websearch.cs.com/cs/search?query=guardian+fxc+12000&x=0&y=0&fromPage=CSBoom That said the USAF academy has 200-300 student rigs set up with dual FXC 12000's, one for the main and one for the reserve. They are they're own service station. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Okay, one last comment. The Sabre 210 has double brake line on each side. Only on is pulled down and stowed for opening. The 190 and up had these lines. They work ok, and certainly for a first rig it would be fine, but they never seemed to me to fly quite as well as the 170 and smaller with out the extra lines. Make sure someone familiar with these line shows you how to set the brakes. ONLY the line with the brake set loop gets pulled down. The other is left extended. This also makes flaking the canopy look just a little different. No hard, just different. Good luck. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Hey, we let anybody make a skydive! Seriously, don't worry, it's not a problem. But when the time comes (at some very distant time in the future) get some advice from someone with experience. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

This is NOT appropriate for all rigs. Some manufacturers instruct you to do what you describe and some tell you to have ALL of the canopy in the bag. One place to get instruction from the makers is at the PIA International Parachute Symposium, next in Jacksonville next January. Go to www.pia.com. Ok, so it's a shameless plug. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

When the Sabre came out it was one of the hottest canopies. It is only docile compared to everything that's faster. Compared to some other choices and depending on how it's loaded it may not be right for you. But, lightly loaded Sabre's have become common for newer jumpers. It's also what I choose to jump, loaded up to 1.3-1.4. But I'm an old fart (relatively). The point? Be careful of making assumptions without all of the parameters considered, or knowing what to consider. A 210 isn't right just because you jumped a 230. A Sabre isn't right just because it's less docile than what your instructor might jump. The choice of canopy and size are intermingled with where you jump, what you've jumped, whether you have a clue yet or not (no offense ment, that's why you should ask the people that know you), etc., etc., etc. Because you asked if a 210 is right because you jumped a 230 without offering any other information, and assume that because it's a Sabre it's docile, leads me to believe you don't yet have enough knowledge to know all of the questions you need to ask and factors you need to take into consideration. TALK to YOUR instructors before making any assumptions about what is right for you. If it sounds like I'm ragging on you I'm sorry, but I want you (and everyone) to still be jumping at the end of the year. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

What Lisa said, and... 210 or 230 WHAT? 5 cell, (yeah I know but I have one in my basement), 7 cell, 9 cell, more than 9 cells, non-ZP, partial ZP, all ZP, rectangular, tapered, elleptical (better not be). There is a lot more to selecting a canopy than size. Getting a Paragear catalog to use as a reference will help you learn about the variations. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Yes it is common. It anchors the ring in the confluence wrap. Don't but the three ring loop through it. Pull it to the inside of the three ring housing to connect the RSL. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

You may still need to flare. Just no where near as deep or as much. And often times lower. You may want to stop some of your downward velocity with out giving up much air speed. As to landing. There's a reason when we jumped rounds we had students do PLF's from 6 feet BACKWARDS. PLF's still work. If you never got good at them you still should. There are man times I've gotten up with out a bruse by dropping into a PLF. This is also a case where there should have been ground to air communication to advise the load of the changing wind conditions. When your spotting a Cessna this is relatively easy. When a pilot is putting you out of a turbine by GPS you may not have much option for communication to the jumpers. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

But consider someone like me. My first jumps were in 1978 on military gear, no pilot chute on the reserve, and 28' C-9's. I didn't learn to spot because there wasn't GPS, I learned to spot to survive! Landing approach started at opening. A spot 300' off was bad. My first rig was a PC (Paracommander, not pilot chute). We'd feel special traveling to jump out of Agent Orange DC-3. The cargo Twin Beech was the hot airplane. RSL's were Steven's lanyards. Three rings really were rings, not sloted hardware. And throw out pilot chutes were new on the block and still killing people. Training involved real PLF training, backwards from 6 feet. AFF was a gleam in Ken Coleman's (RIP) and Rocky Evans' eyes. We thought that 200 mph was the fastest a human could go. And jumpsuit had more material (or seemed to) than the popular Strato Star five cell. And we would have been laughed off the DZ if we tried to get someone else to pack for us, even for money. What you describe Bill is RECENT history. And the changes disturb me even more. Oh well, AAD's have saved dozens, new canopies have killed even more, and new jumpers can't pack, spot, or get out less than 4000". I guess we just have to live with it. And I just bought a 28' Phantom round so I can ride a quiet parachute again this summer, if I have enough guts with my bad ankle. I'm not done with the rocking chair Bill. You'll have to wait your turn. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Virtually all inks (and marking chalk for that matter) weaken fabric to some extent. Some are better than others. Would it likely fail? Probably (likely) not. But these kind of risks are not worth taking with a life critical device. In addition it very likely, as a major alteration, makes the rig illegal to recertify. I told the guy he could send it to the manufacturer and they might put it back in the air (unlikely) but that I wouldn't pack it and put my name on it regardless. Trying to dye a rig might result in significant strength loss due to chemical degradation. Not to mention the stuff he used was rubbing off on my hands. The last thing I wanted to do was set next to this thing in the airplane. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Dying a container is a major alteration that must be done by a master rigger. That being said I doubt you'll find a rigger that can or will do it. And I doubt you'd be happy with the results. And don't do what one newbie did. Me "What did you do to this container?" Newbie "The fabric marker said it was safe for all materials." As I looked at the Javelin that had a blue harness and containers "painted" black with I don't know how many markers. Needless (or maybe not) to say container never saw another skydive. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

How the hell did this happen? The only way I canfigure is that someone must of pulled and replaced the cypres with the bag still in the container, and caught the line putting the loop through the cutter. That or replaced the loop with the bag in place. (Possible to do) Please share this with the rigger in question. See PIA TS-116 http://www.pia.com/piapubs/TSDocuments/ts-116.pdf if you'd like guidance. PIA Rigging Committee Chair I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

We are pursuing 180 inspection cycle on a couple of different fronts. The members of PIA and the Rigging committee are not in agreement on this. PIA has, by vote, taken an official position in favor. Contact your USPA director and ask them to support matching funding for testing to support this change. They should be considering it at their Board meeting this weekend. PIA has budgeted $15000 dollars for this activity, contingent on getting matching funds from USPA. Concerning main alterations. I didn't see the thread. If someone can find it for me that would be great. Someone else asked me that in a PM. I'll raise the issue with the committee and maybe with the FAA here, depending who's in attendance. We'll consider asking for a formal opinion through PIA. Thanks for the input. Rigging committee chairman I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I'm leaving for the PIA business meeting in Reno, NV this evening. As the Rigging Committee Chair, if anyone as any general issues about rigging (or any other parachute business issue) please feel free to respond or PM me. I'll be glad to bring them up. Also, if anyone is near the Reno area and would like to stop by you more than welcome to come attend the meetings as a visitor (at least my meeting ) The location and agenda information is at www.pia.com Thanks, Terry Urban PIA Rigging Committee Chair

I don't mean to treat them like idiots. But the problem is low timers don't know what they don't know. They haven't experienced the range of minor things that can happen and turn quickly into major things. It's those oddball things that can hurt and kill even the most experienced jumpers. There's a reason main canopy manufacturers list different max weight for different experience levels. Have fun with your new gear. Later, I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Aside from low timers giving advice like old farts, structure isn't the problem. With 52 jumps, or a few more, your now jumping above the MAXIMUM suspended weight, normally ment for the most experienced jumpers. I'm not familiar with this canopy but I wouldn't have recommended that wing loading and even without the change in the placard, on the most docile of ZP canopies. It's not the normal jumps that are the problem. It's going to be when small things go wrong that you haven't experienced yet. Wind shear, getting cut off, off DZ landings, day dreaming instead of getting ready to land. Your going to have to be very careful to survive intact the next 100 jumps. Sorry for the sour grapes but I've seen too many low timers under canopies they weren't ready for. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

In my opinion there is no need to dump the Tempo to buy a PD. Most of what you hear about one canopy/reserve/rig being better than the other is opinion or marketing. We all have our favorites and our not so favorites. If your overloading the reserve, flight characteristics or extra reinforcing might be important. If your within placard don't worry about it. There are a lot more important things to worry about, like opening your main. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Why do you think it has a 250,000 square foot landing area? A football field is only about 36000 square ft. Even you have a track around it and triple the area with the side lines your still only at at little more than 100,000 sq. ft. from the SIM Stadium 1. A Level 2 landing area smaller than 150 yards in length by 80 yards in width and bounded on two or more sides by bleachers, walls, or buildings in excess of 50 feet high 2. This area would also require an FAA Form 7711-2 to conduct an approved demonstration jump. Your definately dealing with a stadium. And don't forget the goal posts, light poles, surrounding buildings, and parking lots that will be full. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Pick an orientation for a rodeo dive. Most intimate RW dives I know of were more like a horny gorilla "interlocked" higher than their legs. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

We're not all people of leasure Bill. See ya there. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I was kind of disappointed my two plates and 11 screws in my ankle didn't set it off. In Munich the hand wand was actually going off when it went over my ankle but the guy ignored it. First time I flew and first time I flew after 9/11 I actually carried one of my xrays. Of couse they could just run you through the carry on scanner. Your ankle probably won't be enough to set it off. I can get through the walk through detector. I've always wanted to have an all "bionic" load at the convention. I think we have an 8 way on our small Cessna DZ. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE