councilman24

The standard four year service DOES NOT include converting a hardwired cutter to a field replaceable one. SSK will do it for an additional charge, I think $105 the cost of the field replaceble cutter. Take a look here. http://www.pia.com/SSK/cypres/english_maintenance.pdf Read through the literature at SSK's site to understand how it works and what needs to be done to service it. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I have one jump on a Para Plane. My first ram air was a Strato Cloud, also by ParaFlite. I jumped a ParaPlane once just to say I had. It's still around the DZ used in the class. Comes down like a rock, doesn't flair a whole lot, but I stood it up. Terry I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Thanks for the input. Terry I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Broken safety stows are common. Whether they were missed at the last pack job or broke since then the things you don't know. (Unless you did the last one.) The inner rubber core breaks at the end of the stitching but the nylon outter sheath looks fine. You have to feel this problem. Hmmmm I need to order some for the spring rush. Untacked slider bumpers on reserves (or mains). I opened a reserve once and as I deployed it on the ground a bumper ended up about two feet up the lines. The only reserve ride this jumper had had was caused by the same thing on his main, on his wedding day, in his tux. I've seen homemade "nonTSO'd" TSO components, connector links that were damaged, toggles tied on wrong. I've never found something that would have failed, but some that might have contributed to a failure. One rig took 30 pounds of pressure to remove the freebag from the canopy stack. The jumper kept his rig in the trunk all summer and the coated bag stuck to the canopy. (I'm not exagerating, I measured it.) And all the stuff that a lot of riggers won't deal with. Weak velcro (once on a throw out bridle that was a cypres save from killing a friend), loose grommets, kinked cables, broken stiffeners, damaged harness webbing, loose closing pins, melted rubber bands (on a pilot rig). Hackey handles coming off, lose PC apex lines. The list goes on. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I use a ratcheting device thats much smaller. It also cost even more. With anything like this you have to be responsible. I can tear a rig apart with the one I have. I recommend new riggers don't use something like this, but get a feel for the rigs and the tension needed to close them. But after 20 years is nice not to strain my back quite so much. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Like me I'm over in Kalamazoo if you need any help. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Nope. Your stuck wading through everyones opinion and all the manufacturers claims yourself. And pretty soon you'll have your own opinion to add to the mix. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

...should be used as freefall wind drift indicators. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Thanks for the input. Most of that is the kind of things I've included. My solution to Racers? Don't do them! Seriously, it's been twelve years since I've done a ram air in a racer. I would tell a potential customer that I'm not their best choice for servicing that rig because I'm not current with them. Admiting you cann't do something or are not current shouldn't ever make you look like an idiot. The idiots are the ones who do anything given to them, whether they know how or not. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

At this years PIA symposium I'm again holding a forum for part time riggers. In the regular Riggers Forum (to which everyone is invited) we usually cover broad high level issues in the rigging community. I know that when I started attending Rigger Conferences/PIA symposia in 1989 I was a little intimidated. I thought my questions were too trivial for the high powered group, or I didn't know enough to even ask a question. That's not necessarily true, but in 2001 I ran a forum geared to the part time rigger. It was meant to be less intimidating, perhaps less formal, mention some basic things about doing business, encourage any and all questions, and encourage continuing education. I'd like to solicit your suggestions on topics and questions that might be good to cover. This year its scheduled for two hours inside of one and I hope to get through a lot of the material I didn't have time for in '01. But, I'd like your suggestions. From experienced riggers about what you think needs to be covered for new and parttime riggers, and from the newbie or wanna be riggers about what you'd like to know. You may have some ideas I haven't thought about. Thanks for your input and hope to see you in Jacksonville. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Also realize that the definition of a "hard" opening varies from jumper to jumper. Many new canopy models are designed to take several hundred feet to open. I "grew up" jumping when if you had time to look at your canopy before it opened it was too slow. I demoed a Spectre shortly after they were available. Two terminal and two subterminal openings all took app. 700 ft to open. I call these malfunctions that finally cleared, but this is how the canopy was designed and is what many (most) new jumpers want. (New defined as 10 years or less in the sport) Getting out at 2000' this was a little long. (Flatline on my timeout.) Actually I remember having to learn to slow down before opening. With my ParaCommander I used to open in a track. What most jumpers consider a hard opening I consider a normal opening. Of course I'm an inch shorter than when I started 24 years ago. When original Ravens took as long to open as current canopies, we put bikini sliders on them to speed them up. My current canopies are a Sabre and a Triathlon. Both open briskly, just the way I want. Especially getting out at two grand, or throwing out at 2500'. Ram air canopies open two fast and must be slowed down to survive. Watch base slider down openings sometime. Some early system used the PC drag in various ways. Then the sail slider was invented. The air it catches holds it up and resists the spreading of the line and the opening of the canopy. This is a fine balance that also includes the particular design of the airfoil, construction, trim etc. BTW the current article on base rigs talks about bottom skin vents being for advanced base jumper. My first ram air, a 1.5 oz per sq yard Strato Cloud, has bottom vents and no crossports (till I cut them). I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Being curious is fine but this is NOT the place to learn to pack a pullout. You need to read the manual for the specific rig and find specific personal training. You are not only packing the PC, your routing and stowing the "ripcord" pin, "cable", and handle. The lanyard with the pin and "pud" (handle) is esentially the ripcord. In twenty four years I've seen probably two dozen reserve rides due to pull out problems. Some of them were design issues on early versions but most were operator error. Pull outs can be effect deployment methods, but take a lot of care and recognition of what can go wrong. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Could the packer have restowed the line? If you have velroless toggles, but have the keeper that you have to stuff line into, it may have come out. The packer then may have used the method some I've seen some people use. They route the slack throught the link attachment, and purposely "lock" it down with the toggle. I think its the Vector III vecroless that have the loops to stow the line. If it came out after you stowed them, the packer may not have known how to use them, or found them a pain to use and stowed the line the way I described. With the slack stowed this way I believe its easier to have things knot up. Unless you're a real jerk I think it probably was an accident. There are other things (and faster things) someone could do to screw with your rig. Knoted toggles and steering lines aren't particularly rare and probably are still one weak point in the gear. That's why manufacturers are still changing toggle and line stowing systems. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

SACRILEDGE!!! Out the door of the B17!!! They ought to chain it shut during jumping! Nothing cooler than standing over the bomb bay door while they open it. I still grin every time I think about it. Oh, never mind. We forgive you. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I'm curious what is being blamed on hard housings that wouldn't apply to soft ones. Any more info? I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Best I can figure out, nobody is offering them anymore. Hmmmm? Take a cue, change them. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

My current take on that from hearing various sources... "WARNING, UNSUBSTANTIATED OPINION FOLLOWS"... is that is NOT a characteristic of the fabric, but more due to the higher loads placed on the fabric in general. In other words, ZP is usually loaded higher (higher pressurization, faster air speads, higher opening shocks) so when it goes it goes farther. 0-3 cfm fabric would do the same if loaded to the same level when it fails. I'm real glad nobody has asked me to pack a MZ. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

My guess is Paragear would sell you extra pouchs even though they don't list them. And they're in Skokie. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Hey, I just thought of another reason. Chest mount is getting to be too close to focus on without my reading glasses. I may have to move it to my leg strap just to be able to read it. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I make my own pouch for Jack the Ripper's and tack it to the back of my chest mount altimeter. It extends down below the pillow, opening down, along the sternum. It helps keep the altimeter pillow from flipping down, is never in the way, and is accesible with both hands. For cheap "disposable" hook knifes if you want extra Tractor Supply Company (TSC) sells a knife the size and shape of a ripper for about $4.00. The blades aren't replaceable and it's more flexible but it works for a second or third knife or to loan to someone without. It's sold to cut ear tags off of livestock. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Just so no one is confused, this is not the ZP we all know and love now. This refers to 0-3 cfm fabric, like F-111 and Exactachute. What we refer to as non-ZP now. This was written before ZP was in the industry. Terry I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Miranda, If your rig has cadmium plated hardware (the stuff that isn't shiny, don't worry. It very well may slip a little. We've lived with that for decades. If it is stainless, then it may be hardware that has a slipping problem. Right now I couldn't be sure I could recognize the newer stuff. I've only heard it described. I haven't actually seen the good and the bad next to each other. Bill Booth was going to post some pictures and a further discussion sometime soon. And a lot of peoples legstraps come out of the keeper tunnels. Terry I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I'd send the rig to them and let them do it right. Especially if your rig doesn't have hip rings. There are many master riggers that can do it (it requires a master rigger), fewer that can do it right with tracable materials and exactly recreating the factory. That's what UPS is for. If they were going to do it for free then let them. Use the money to ship it. It's too new a rig to have it screwed up. Of course it's easy for me to suggest this, I've got three rigs. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

As the sarcasm above indicates... Get it done BEFORE the holidays if your going to be jumping a lot. Particularly if it's Las Vegas instead of New York because of the effect sand and dirt can have on slipping (increasing it). Uneven leg straps could cause a malfunction by loading the lines unevenly during deployment. And even if they don't slip till the main opens, then you may have uneven leg straps when you try to open your reserve. Yes, I'm being paranoid but it "could" happen. Doesn't make sense to wait if your waiting because your going to be jumping a lot. If your putting the rig away for the winter and just don't want to deal with it till later then that's different. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Early stainless hardware was simply the old design made in stainless. Bill Booth did a lot of work on this problem and will be giving a presentation at the PIA symposium in January. The original stainless hardware would slip. The are two solutions. The two piece set of hardware or there is now a redesigned one piece stainless adapter that solves the slipage problem. Bill may chime in here on how to recognize it. I heard the explination but haven't actually seen the hardware so I won't try to explain it. Found an early thread where Bill talks about it. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=215266;search_string=stainless;#215266 Terry I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE