councilman24

We taped a 2x4 between the door and the step to keep it from hitting the step. Me as bombardier. That's as far as it got in the door. Rode up with it in my lap and my leg hanging out. Guy that brought these usually threw them but he wanted to see one hit from the ground. One of several. 2001 out at 500'. Divot, about 6" deep Private airstrip. For two decades we had annual bombing contest at the Halloween party. 400-500' Three passes per load. $1 pumpkin winner takes all. For many years the target was a VW Bug. Nobody came close. The safest place was next to the target. We had pumpkins with parachutes, usually totaled, pumpkins with wings, elevator and rudder and propeller that almost pulled the throwee/launcher out of the door. Memorable was one year when I was dressed as a doctor with a long white coat. Someone filled their pumpkin with cherry jello. I often just stepped aside a step or two if a pumpkin was coming near. This one landed about 3' from me. I turned my back to keep from getting mud in my face but got covered in blood colored goo. Later target was 3x4 cloth. Only person to EVER hit it was a pre teen kid. (tied in under parent supervision but throwing the pumpkin themselves. Demise of pilot/DZO ended tradition. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

So, when something is pulling on your head, you may or may not be able to see anything, your camera mount may be wrapped in nylon (as well as your head) your going to take the time to try to figure out whether something is just snagged on your camera or maybe your helmet or both so you can decide which cutaway to use. Then try to find the right one? And if you decide to use the mount cutaway and it's covered up you have to decide whether to keep trying or go to the other one. All still in freefall or spinning under a snagged canopy. Hmmmmm, time for KISS. NOT THE NEW SQUARE ONE HELMET! NOW I KNOW WHY THEY PICKED THAT NAME ,FREE ADVERTISING. Maybe if you really can't get your Phantom off you should choose another camera helmet. But I bet it would come off, with or without your head. This is all the kind of crap you have to consider, no matter good the engineering. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Leave.your reserve packed. The rigger SHOULD want it.opened in front of him. And should welcome you to pull it. Main do what you want. Packed not , not packed. Just keep the thing where you want to be.when you sleep, not too cold and not too hot, dry and dark. Out of the damp and not where moisture will.condense in it, I.e. cold garage. Mine are usually laying all over my.finished basement. Like now.;-) I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Lee, Still speculation of course but what do you think about the idea of a system that grabs the reserve bridle dynamically when it needs to but the bridle can slip out of during a total deployment? Have to see the implementation but doesn't seem like the most sound and reliable idea. Of course I don't like MARDs in general. Also.reminds me Booth's announcement of the skyhook at the PIA symposium. He said it was going on tandems at that point in time but NOT ready for individual sport rigs. The same day a customer got a call from UPT that they were building is long ordered rig and did he want a skyhook for an extra $250? Called me to find out what it was. I advised him if he wanted to be a test jumper go ahead. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

You may underestimate the "legal implications" in this country. Lawsuits from 'incidents' can easily bankrupt companies and individuals. Airtec is still a party, last I knew, to a lawsuit from a fatality where the rigger didn't put the loop through the cutter. AAD worked fine, rigger didn't. Airtec has spent LOTS of money defending this lawsuit. Incomprehensible to Helmut, German owner of Airtec. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Take the above hint and call your congressman's local office. The staffers have to justify their existence and answering constituent questions is one way. Your not even asking for anything concrete, like a road, flag, dinner with the Pres., just info. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Now you know why we're grumpy. What really used to make me mad was one student who used to bring out copies of rec.skydiving to support his arguments with me. Oh, he was one of the early downsizing cripples before swooping was even around much. Actually only partly his fault. What I used to.tell people was that advice on the internet was like used chewing gum on the sidewalk. You didn't know.where it came from, where it had been, was of little.use, and made a mess. We still have too many people spitting there gum.out! I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Full discussion in bonfire. Fully.fake and staged, filmed over four days in elsinore. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

The only critical part about switching it to a sos is the relative length of the ripcord cable and the cutaway cables. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Actually, a gear check wouldn't have helped mine. Nothing to find. Pin from that era was good but was steel and had a little corrosion - same as everyones. PC was a F-111 and a little tried. Was a low speed deployment. And was a really tight pack job due to the low humidity. Nothing a gear check would have found but some things I could have fixed had I thought/realized it might tow. BUT, it is true that most tows can be prevented with a gear check. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I would be dead if I did this. I had a PC in tow due to a tight mid winter/dry air pack job and rough pin. If I pulled my reserve immediately and still went into the trees with partially open canopies (main came out too). Yes it was a low deployment for lots of reasons but not completely unreasonable. PC's used to tow for lots of reasons. We used to use a bend of the bridle through an elastic loop and they would hang up. We used to use straight pins on throw outs. We used to use plated pins that would snag. With belly band and leg strap throw outs things would be twisted preventing the PC from loading the pin. and more and more. For a lot of these, at some stages of development for most of the PC's in tow, pulling the bridle would not have helped and only wasted time. The other two alternative procedures are cutaway and pull your reserve (so main leaves if it comes out) or pull reserve and THEN deal with main if it comes out. I prefer the later since the first one would also have killed me. With a PC in tow you are still in freefall and have seconds to react. To me wasting ANY time is wrong. With higher opening altitudes these days you might have the time but again, with many of the failure modes NOT being fixed by pulling on the bridle should you waste the time? I say no. Also remember that PC is developing 80 to 120 lbs of force if it's inflated. How much more can you had reaching back to the middle of your back? If is ISN'T inflated (not cocked, knotted) do you want the container open with a PC that may not have enough drag to lift the bag and deploy the main, or if it does it may be very slow. Or if the bridle is tangled around something you may create a horse shoe malfunction, the worst think to have. In fact I saw a friend do this. She had a twisted leg strap with a leg strap throw out pouch. PC was never going to pull the bag. She reached back, pulled the pin and created a horse shoe malfunction. She was hanging from the horse shoe, spinning and heading for the corn. I saw here pull her reserve and still thought she wasn't going to make it. The ROUND reserve snaked up past the horse shoed main ram air and opened above the mess. She was still adding line twists to the reserve lines from the spin under the horseshoe when she landed. All in all if the PC isn't working you don't have time to figure out why and if pulling the pin by hand will help or hurt. Either pull the cutaway and pull your reserve or, better in my opinion, pull your reserve. Side bar. When we were still training SL students with ripcords and then transitioning newbies to throw outs we had an instructor (now deceased) who use to train the newbies that if they had a PC in tow they should roll onto their back, PULL IN THE PC, and hang on to it while they rolled back over and pulled their reserve. Now if you want something that a 20 jump wonder, let alone ANYBODY, SHOULD NOT BE DOING, it's this. And of course he was the kind of asshole who would start a physical fight if you told him he was wrong. We corrected his training later. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Never had a Miata but I've had a 626 since 1984. Or three of them, 84 90, and 96. Still have the 1996. Not a spot of body rust and still 32mpg since day it was new. The only time one left me along side of the road was 30,000 miles after I was supposed to change the timing belt. Luckily it was a non interference engine at that time.

Nothing specific to Skydive Dallas or Texas but.... Invest the time to stick around for the beer, stories, trip to the restaurant, etc. Get to know the folks and let them get to know you. Also find some really old farts. A lot of us are willing to jump with just about anybody. Mainly because the kewl kids laugh at our gear. We grew up before anything like paid coaches or wind tunnels. We had experienced people willing to jump with us and we're willing to do the same. It is a little tougher with the higher prices for jumps these days but some would say in corrected dollars it's not more expensive than it was. Find an old fart willing to organize a 3 or 4 way and split their slot. Can't go wrong there. As you've found out it's hard to learn with all newbies in the air. But find a one or two at your level and work on drill dives. From the day I started in 1980 guys from the 1974 and 75 world championship RW team were willing to jump with anyone anytime. Especially if your hanging around all the time. I try to give that back (but have never, ever been near as good as those guys). I know it's tough to hang out all weekend if your not 20 and single but do what you can. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I don't fully understand the mechanics but what I gathered from the narrow fabrics folks was that the continuous process kept the yarn from swelling as much. At any.rate the high volume stuff, done with the continuous process, comes out at the low end of the spec. The batch dyed stuff ends up thicker. So order that pink harness.;) Ted Strong was working on this with an ad hoc committee for PIA before he died. It didn't seem like the narrow fabric guys that know the effects of varying process were in touch with the gear folks to recognize the problem. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Yeah, but type 7 didn't slip either until they changed to the continuous dying process and starting producing stuff at the low end of the 0.06 to 0.10 spec. If you don't want it to slip pick an odd ball color that is batch dyed. And this overlaps with the spec of type 13 0.08 to 0.12. As long as type 7 was at the high end it was fine. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

John, The.hardware under discussion is not old mil spec designs it's only been around since the 2000's and was designed for sport harnesses. Your type 13 info doesn't apply. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

A brick comes to mind. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Just to be clear it's not mine. Google images is you friend. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Save her from herself. Tell her to put the pink fuzz on her helmet. More people will see it anyway. see attachment I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I'll give you five bucks. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I think mine was a pioneer. All the fabric looked right and normal. One panel was full strength. One failed before my scale really registered. Two or three pounds. Ram air was laser. Tail around label in contact with coated free bag also failed at 2 to 3 lbs. These weren't just sub strength. They were total failure. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

It was never just the mesh. I had a bias constructed round that had two different panels of material next to a single panel of mesh. One fabric panel had completely degraded to wet toilet paper strength. The adjacent panel, both next to the same piece of mesh for their entire life, seen the same environment, temperature, moisture, etc, was full strength. Of course there was no way to know if those two ripstop panels, both the same color, were from the same bolt, or even lot or manufacturer of cloth. I've also had a ram air reserve, no mesh to be seen, fail at the wet toilet paper level. In a limited area on one skin. Though PIA Dupont (now Invista) was given samples at the time through PIA but never came back with any results. Either didn't investigate, didn't find or understand issue, or choose not to disclose. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I can tie the slider to the bottom of the canopy and make the openings take the rest of your life. There has got to be such a thing as an absolute too slow. My original Sabre's are just fine. I understand that's hard to others but 10 sec? 2000' What are you smoking erik? Oh well, let me know if you want that super tack. And yes I very well know hard openings can kill. RIP Mike I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I looked 3-4 years for one. Don't buy one from a place in Texas called DEMA. On they looked like junk in the photos and two they tried to bait and switch. YMMV I got mine from the Government Liquidation website surplus from the DOD. And got a very good deal on one that needed very little work. But it was a risk. Sold as is, described as unserviceable (but they had video of it running on their website.) Need tension adjustment and one $10 part. Otherwise like new. None on that sight now. Nothing less than $3500 plus during my search 3 years ago and that was rare. Pennsew.com has one or more. Don't know price. BTW for rigging your looking for an -HS H means heavy duty and S means mechanical run. An A in the S location means air driven and requires compressed air to function. 1900's came in HA but don't believe 1900A or 1900AN (latest) come in air versions. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

First this sport is NOT for everyone. No one can change that. But, most newbies have doubts for a while. Some like me for a long time. It took me 39 jumps to get off student status, 20 more than it should have on static line. Couldn't stop spinning. Tunnel? The only tunnel was one at Wright Patterson Air Force Base for the military. Even after that, until I had about a hundred jumps I used to ask myself why I was doing this on the drive to the DZ, gearing up, the ride on the airplane. But as soon as I made that first jump of the weekend I remembered why. The only 'good job' that counts is landing safely. Everything else is gravy. Remember, this sport can't be too hard. After a hundred jumps, with freefalls of 30 to 60 sec, you've only practiced this sport an hour to an hour and a half. It's not like tennis where you can practice for 4 hours a day, several days a week. And after a hundred jumps you're moderately competent in at least one discipline. And competent in landing close to where you want. At least enough to have fun while still learning. Can't be too hard. If she's skydiving to please someone else, that's a bad reason. I had to talk one girl friend out of continuing in the sports because her fear dominated everything and made it dangerous. And she was jumping to please me. But if she's jumping truly because she likes it, it soon should become much of her life. Doubts, fears, etc are all a part of learning. In the pre AAD days part of what drew me to the sport is the personal challenge. This was one place in life that if you did NOTHING you were going to die. If your driving down the highway and take your feet off the pedals and the hands of the wheel you might crash, you might get hurt, and you might die. But in skydiving (without an AAD) you WILL die if you do nothing. At that's the challenge. AAD's truly have changed the mind set of new and old skydivers. It's subtle and skydiving has lost a little something. But it is no longer sure death when you leave the door. Unless I jump with one of my three rigs without an AAD. It is a personal challenge to overcome the instinctive fear of falling and learn the joy of flight. But its so much fun when your past that that I can never understand how experienced skydiver can stop for good. I've slowed down a lot do to circumstances but never jumping again? Can imagine it. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE