councilman24

If your still at the Air Force Academy go ask Susie at the rigging loft. There have been many designs of pins over the years. For about the last 10 years or so stainless pins have been standard. But there were plated pins and wire pins of various types that caused significantly more wear. As stated, the gromments may be the source of the problem. I routinely have to reseat reserve grommets to decrease wear on a the reserve loop from just one packing. (Yes I change it with every repack, sometimes 2 and 3 times.) Closing loops used to wear out in a 100 jumps or so. With the smoother stainless pins and stainless grommets they often last many times that now. You should find the source of the problem and have it fixed. Terry I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Quote from where? I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

But service will likely be higher to accomidate battery change? So saving $75 every four years maybe? Terry I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I wouldn't worry about a few hours or a few days. It's not good but most all of us have done that. This was 4 summer months when it didn't leave the trunk except to be jumped. One option for work and the trunk may be a cooler. Not with ice but just as insulation. Terry I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Do NOT leave your rig in the trunk of your car unless you have to. Then don't do it routinely. A customer worked out of town and went straight to the dropzone for a whole summer. He had his rig in the trunk most days. When I opened the reserve to inspect it it took forty pounds of force to pull the OPEN FREE BAG off the reserve canopy. Some freebags are made of coated nylon. In this case the coating has stuck to the canopy fabric. It probably would have worked at terminal but in a cutaway it most certainly would have been delayed. This is only one of the many reasons you shouldn't store your rig in the trunk. Think of your trunk as a 200 degree oven. Your you store your rig there? Obviously for travel, overnight, even for a week in moderate temperature nothing much should go wrong. Controlled room temperature (where your comfortable), dry, and dark are appropriate. Also I know a flying museum that keeps them near their paint stall. I wouldn't keep them around any chemically noxcious vapors or fumes either. ZP can take a set and come out like a brick. Store it open or repack after ### insert time here ###. Everyone has a different idea. Mine's two months for the main and one month for the PC. Reserve in cool dry place for quite awhile. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Try the canoe/kayak places for over the ear protecs. They may have vinyl coated foam instead of opencell foam but other wise will be the same. Terry I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I had a sabre 190 and a Triathlon 190 that I jumped interchangably. They both had identical airspeed. The Sabre had a little more flare at the bottom, but not enough for you someone at your level to notice. A triathlon will be easier to learn how to pack because of the material used. A lot of my experienced friends are buying PD's 7 cell answer to the Triathlon, the Spectre. I still have my Triathlon 190 but now have a Sabre 170. That difference is significant, but not because of nine vs seven, but because of wing loading. Terry I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Up for grabs. When I saw her round come out I didn't think it would open in time. I think a square with it's free bag probably would have had as much chance to open, which wasn't much. It used to be routine for jumpers to recommend pulling the pin by hand for a PC in tow. But just because of the possibility described, I never did. We even had one guy tell people to roll over on their back, PULL in the PC, roll back, and then fire the reserve. Obviously he never tried this or he'd wouldn't have been around to suggest it. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Sure. They're not particularly rare. Especially in the early days of throw outs. Worst one was Richmond about 1990 or so. A friend twisted a leg strap and was towing her PC. Reached back and pulled her main pin by hand. Created a horseshoe with the PC towing. She was spinning pretty good. She fired her round reserve at about 400'. It snaked through and opened. She was still adding line twists from the spin when she landed. Not hurt. Borrowed a rig and went up and jumped again in a couple of hours. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I made my first freefall on my own gear. Of course it was in 1980, was a Comp. Paracommander, Security Crossbow rig, Crossbow reserve and weighed about 50 lbs. Add a Kmart motorcycle helmet and used jumpsuit. The only good thing I had was a new altimaster II on a chest mount, that I'm still using with the original lens. Hmmmm, I guess my experience doesn't apply anymore. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

John doesn't need a reason to dislike anything. SLAP MY FACE! Did I say that? I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

There called brake lines for a reason. As directed by your instructors you should investigate flying, turning, and landing in brakes. You don't have to "flare" to slow your canopy down. As you watch others at the DZ you won't see many people using brakes, but its part of the flight envelope, to different extents, of the canopies and you should learn how to use them. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Do you have a legitimate source? We used to use them all the time. They were generally available. As best I know they were "take homes" from National Guard or Reserve. The only ones I've seen lately go for $75 up on auction internet sites. I've got one that I got cheap a couple years ago from someone who didn't know the going rate. I also have a number of East German military smoke that were available on the gun show market a couple years ago. Those seem to have disapeared now. Other than my stash I don't know of any pin pull ingiter smoke available other than what Paragear carries. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

My opinion is that tube stows are tubular because surgical tubing was readily available. I have a customer who even used to make his own. Many in the industry, including PD, don't think that tubes stows hold well enough. Because they can "roll" off and don't have the bearing surface of rubber bands they don't grip the lines as tightly. PD wants... hmmm... I think they quote 6 to 12 lbs of force to remove a stow. That means you should be able to pick up the baged canopy by the line stow. Super bands give you back the holding powing with the supposed durability of tube stows. But, as noted they may be too strong. I bought some but haven't tried them yet. After 24 years I still just use rubber bands. Stows 2 inches so they don't half hitch around each other, and no double wraps. Oh, by the way. I had a customer bring me his rig for service during the winter. We opened the main right away and the black tube stows he used for locking stows had lost all elasticity in the cold. When we removed the stows they stayed stretched out. Only when the warmed up did the shink back to normal size. This is another reason I don't use tube stows. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I don't think they are any different. I also know of a one jump 1990 or so 9 cell Parafoil in storage since then. No takers so far, but he doesn't advertise it. IF that's what he wants, and he would otherwise by a new one, and wants to jump it till it's dead its a great deal. In the US there is no legal or mandated age limit on equipment. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Hey, there's a reason you asked to practice on someone elses rig. If he isn't sweating it you shouldn't. One thing I found lacking in packing training is break setting. I've found several newbies over the years who were setting the brakes wrong. One guy was doing it so they could have released every jump, but didn't. Still surprised he got away with it. He was putting the nose through the keeper ring after the locking loop. Anyway, have some one go over that with you. If the guy couldn't tell you what was wrong, maybe nothing was. Wouldn't be the first person to cutaway from a good canopy. And line twist happens. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Most people fit the BIGGEST reserve in the smallest container. I had one guy trying to put a Tempo 170 in a J5. The bag was so big the safety stow had no tension on it. I wouldn't pack it as incompatible and unsafe. I had a new rig come in built too big for the specified canopy. I could pinch 2 inches of reserve bag fabric together with the canopy in the bag. Depending on the container and canopy, this my be within the acceptable range for this rig. Someone would have to evaluate the specific situation. If 190 is already the smallest noted, my guess is that 170 going to be too small. Go up a size. Your legs will thank you. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

First time I've ever liked the Yankees. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I guy I knew in about 1981 jumped naked into the Miss Nude USA at a nudist camp in northern Indiana. This guy couldn't land smooth on his best day. He crashed into the side of the stage, broke both legs, and layed there naked drinking a beer (and probably smoking a joint) till the paramedics came. And no, I wasn't on the jump. Of course the IFIF jump landing on the municiple golf course next to the airport. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

In 1985 I had a friend knocked unconcious exiting a DC-3. The one guy who realized she was in trouble got below her before he realized, he couldn't get back up to her, and she went in. Her husband of nine months was on the jump, as well as about 20 of us from the DZ. At that time an AAD acceptable to most experienced jumpers didn't exist. A few people jumped an FXC 12000, and many people wouldn't jump with them BECAUSE they had it. Sentinels could be used on most rigs but the risk of misfire was considered too high by most. This was a time when most of us wore either no helmet or a frap hat (padded leather cap). The only hard hats available were motorcyle, Protecs, and hocky helmets. Most of the jumpers on the load said immediately afterward they were going to start wearing a helmet. Not a single person followed through and starting wearing one if they didn't already. When the Cypres was introduced in at the 1991 PIA symposium it was revolutionary. When it finally became widely available in 1993 many of us said were were going to get one. I had one of the first at my DZ and that wasn't until 1995. Back then many people had to have their older rigs modified, another $70 and going cypres prices were $1100. At least three jumpers on that fatal load and still jumping don't jump an AAD. Reasons stated are money, I don't need it, and risk from misfire. While I don't agree with the last two and the first isn't a problem for me, its up to them. And they know first hand. The only fatality at my DZ in 35 years didn't have a cypres and probably would have been saved by one. At least 3 cypres firings were definate saves. (Small DZ) Some others were low openings but you never know for sure. For my first 1700 jumps or so skydiving was unique. It was the only sport I could think of that if you did nothing it was certain you were going to die. That's still the case for those who chose to jump without an AAD. That was part of the challenge, thrill, and attraction of the sport, that absolute total reliance on your own actions to save your life. And we accepted the risk. I have three rigs assembled at the moment. The two that I routinely jump have cypres'. The other rig for occasional CRW doesn't. Having the AAD's has changed the psychology of the sport for me. You may claim it shouldn't and I agree, but it really is different. Death is no longer a certain outcome of no action. And in some ways that is regrettable. It's changed the sport. Both for the better and the worse. I suspect that many who chose to not use an AAD want to participate in the "old" skydiving, and dare to accept the risk. Sometimes I miss the old skydiving, but I've went to less funerals. So, I highly recommend them to new jumpers, usually jump with one myself, and insist they're maintained in the rigs I service. I also don't charge anything beyond out of pocket costs for anything related to a cypres, because I don't want my rigging fees to discourage someone from using a cypres. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

To attach the steering lines, if the canopy is laid out and straight, 5 minutes. Assemble a new canopy to the risers completely, 30-45 minutes. Fully assemble, including bag and PC, and INSPECT a new main on risers, at least an hour and a half. More like two, depending on the level of inspection. Add a little time if your taking it off old risers, add more time if it's not on risers or a card and is all tangled up. Pick an answer that matches the question your really asking. Your results may vary. The level of inspection can vary from "yep, its a parachute" to examining every inch and every stitch, inside and out. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Pretty sure I have the manual at home. It'd be a day or two before I could get around to scaning it for you. PM me if you want me to work on getting it for you. Any new manual you'd find on line probably wouldn't be aplicable. Terry I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

A Rascal was one model that APS/FTS made, along with the Laser and Bogey. See PIA's volume chart. http://www.pia.com/piapubs/archive_documents/tech_stds/PIA%20TS104-13%20Canopy%20Volume%20Study%20.html It was made in a couple of sizes and configurations, including an eight cell. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I have a set. I could probably scan them. Hmmm, not sure my scanner is big enough. Ok, I can take a digital picture of the pictures and supply jpegs. You'd have to print them. I think the originals are 11 x 14 but could print them smaller. Of course with an LCD projector you could just project them. Slides were available also. Don't know if they're available. Since I'm a PIA member I'm going to not want to step on any copyright. But I doubt that we'll care. Let me check and PM me so I'll remember. Terry I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Yes, your that far off. It's not TSO'd, or tested to any other standard that I know of. Some of the Europeans may have required some testing. FXC's, sentinals, and KAP's weren't TSO'd either. Whether AAD's even had to be maintained according to manufacturers directions legally was an item of debate until FAR 105 got rewritten. AAD's are now the ONLY non TSO'd device that is requlated by FAR's, maintenance according to manufacturer is mandated. Even the requirement for a master rigger ticket AND approval from Airtec for modifying a rig to take a Cypres was a grey area under FAR's. There was the one rigger, whose name I don't remember, who was cited for dozens of FAR violations for simply putting an AAD in an already modified container with only a senior rigger ticket. PIA and USPA fought and got all of those counts removed. The one that stuck and he got fined for was installing an AAD NOT maintained to the manufacturers recommendations. That citation, which I think he didn't fight, was the only LEGAL guidance on maintaining an AAD until the new 105. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE