councilman24

The people that tell you to cut it away don't realize ( or accept) that reserves malfunction also. I've seen more and more people seem to have blind faith in their reserve. While I almost never second guess someone's decision to cutaway, it is going to your LAST chance to live. I may be slightly more sensitive since I had a reserve total once. But really, cutting away a medium or low level performance canopy for a broken steering line is probably a bad gamble. Reserves are more reliable than in the past. (my opinion) And are there to be used and not to be feared. But this is a DEATH DEFYING sport. You have two things that may save your life. If one can still save your life, and probably not injure you, is it wise to use get rid of it and try your last chance? Only the jumper under the canopy can decide his comfort level and make each and every decision. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I stopped packing 5 cell swifts 10 years ago. Had an old time jumper start up again last year. Wanted me to pack the rig this year. An original Vector with original PC. He pull the RC and it fell at his feet. I told him he needed a new PC, a new freebag, a new reserve. Two weeks after I installed them he used it. Your not buying your first car. Your buying your last chance to live. And maybe not even that if the harness breaks (unlikely). I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

It was already on the web so I put it here. Match the PM? I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

High Time Skydiving Enterprise Perkiomen Airport (N1O) 767 Collegeville Road Collegeville, PA 19426 PH: 610-442-7500 Marc Nadeau E-mail: hightimeskydive@comcast.net From National Parachute's web site dated 2009. Don't know if it's current. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Fill in the rest of your profile here so we know where you are. There are still enough old farts around who will do what we did in the old days. Set around the bar and tell you a lot of what you need to know. Sitting through a first jump course with canopy control, emergency procedures (three ring release, two ram air out, etc.) basic canopy control etc might not be a bad idea. Of find the old fart who is current and have them help you out one on one. You'll find that the canopy stuff will happen faster. The skills you had in canopy control still apply but now at 25mph instead of 8. And you don't have to start when your canopy opens anymore. Make sure the equipment is really applicable to your current size and condition. Hopefully it wasn't a military surplus freefall rig. Free fall is still free fall and I'm sure the sky will welcome you back. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

You forgot this part of my post. Everybody thinks they can land anything anymore and I'm not so sure people are taught to check flare point as much as they used to be. Besides nobody folds their 9 cell up and flys it backwards on the stalled bottom skin anymore. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Its fine to be afraid of skydiving. It is NOT the same as not liking sex. "pick your theory here and take it to SC" made you like sex. you were also made to fear falling. Skydiving is NOT for everyone. But just because you are afraid doesn't mean it isn't for you. Of course I know folks afraid of height but not afraid of skydiving. Fear of heights is fear of falling. Skydiving you intend to fall so nothing to be afraid of! Forget drugs for this fear. Just wait till you hit the gear fear stage. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Often the second jump is scarier than the first. Especially when no tandems involved, then it becomes more mixed up. In the days of only static line training the first jump is blind faith. You drove out to the DZ, having maybe seen one or two demos and jumping on Ripcord, trained, geared up and went up and jumped. The second was often not the same day and you had time to think about what you had done and what might have happened. I went for a 100 or more jumps where I'd almost turn around on the way to the DZ for the weekend. In those days we went out for the weekend and camped. I say to myself 'why am I doing this.. I don't want to do this.' I'd force myself to do the first jump of the weekend and then I'd say to myself 'THAT's WHY I DO IT!'. That was 32 years ago. Some people are in tears in the door on the step and often have another reason for jumping. Sometimes because boyfriend/girlfriend or potential does and they think they need to also. My girlfriend in the 80's made 4 static line jumps, in tears, until I convinced her she REALLY didn't need to be a jumper. Figure out which you are. First, keep going as long as your performing the jumps well. If the second, maybe time to stop. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Raven's were very popular mains and reserves. Same canopy. When everyone was jumping non-zp canopies that performed much like a Ravens there were no issues as a reserve. People knew to check the stall point after opening and it was very much like their main. As mains evolved to have better flight and flare performance they separated themselves from Raven reserve performance. So now a Raven reserve is not much like your main. That's why people now get hurt on them. They load them higher than they should (1:1) and flare them like their main. This equals quick stall and landing on your back, hard. Other reserves, both from that era and newer are not as different from current popular lower performance mains and can handle higher wing loadings than recommended with out drastically changing their flare. I don't think anyone would recommend the original Raven (they weren't produced very long). This is the one that DIDN'T have Super or -M in the name. While TSO'd they demonstrated some issues with opening once in the field. A retrofit 'bikini' slider was offered but not required. Many riggers wouldn't pack one without the 'bikini' slider (me) and won't pack one at all since the new Super Raven came out (me too). I can never remember which was which but I THINK the original Ravens were 1,2,3 and 4 and Super Ravens' were I,II,III and IV. Micro Raven's, Dash M's came out after the change. So, if your absolutely not going to load it more than 1:1, and are willing to remember it's NOT your main needs to be flared different then it's fine. And you should be able to find a Raven used as a main (I,II,III or IV) to practice with. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Again, of all the helmets Protecs give more bump protection than most of the $300 plus helmets. For $40. And more colors than carbon. You can mount any audible you want. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Of course a Pioneer K-XX or a Piglet was an "light, ultra-low-volume, single-surface canopy" To translate a 20' diameter round parachute. Performance didn't quite measure up though. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I don't see two skins, I see a rolled under top skin on the front and a pulled down top skin around the rest. No inflated cells. More akin to a very shallow, squashed round canopy With internal lines to hold the shape. instead of cell walls and bottom skin. May explain why you it recovers so well. It's essentially one big crossport. In other words air from the entire canopy can flow to the collapsed part. Of course your old enough to have heard about or even jumped about the partial cell canopies. A paper on current experiments as kites is at http://2e5.com/kite/volkite/ A Volplane from 1970, patent referred to in above article, is attached. But the single skin para glider might have application. NOT being a parachute designer I would expect the issue to be opening in freefall. Both functionally opening at high speeds and in construction that would hold together. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I'm the rain on your parade. Get a protec. Cheap, protective, you can see and you can hear what the hell is going on. Quite isn't good when the guy your about to hit under canopy is yelling at you. Or your trying to hear a count in the door. I've been searching for a full face I like for 15 years and still haven't found one. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Forget putting on the riser. Listen to your elders. We used to LOTS of night jumps and figured it all out a long time ago. I've seen lights put everywhere. Most didn't work. I've seen flashlight on feet as landing lights. I've even seen red rotating battery operated 'gumball' lights on top of helmets. For others remember you need a strobe out after opening. I made some red led altimeter lights from Radio shack parts for Alt III and II. That and a chem light on my helmet is all I ever needed. Enjoy the dark. I've seen lights on risers to find canopies. They rarely stayed on and are a hazard. If anything some guys used to bust a chem light and through it a cell of their canopy before packing. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Many round reserve canopies have diapers that use 2-3 rubber bands (elastic retaining bands). They generally have line stows in the container which are rubber bands as well. The only modern round reserve systems that has the lines stowed in the container are the various Strong Ent. models. All others use full stowage diapers where all of the lines are stowed on the diaper. Even Strong Ent. canopies with their factory diaper can be used as full stowage when in any container besides Strong's. Most if not all current model round reserve containers (hmm the exception may be the BaseR chest reserve) are designed for full stowage diapers. Butler specifies tube stows for the locking stows on some of their round personnel parachute diapers. I always have to go scrounging for some because I don't generally use them. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I'm sure you play, just maybe not this game. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Most new jumpsuits are ordered custom made to your measurements. At your stage I'd consider used from your local area. I don't know whether anybody other than ParaGear in Skokie might have the new premade jumpsuits on the rack to try on. They only come in 4 or 5 sizes and you should be able to pick yours from the catalog or website. Helmets need to be tried on or be willing to return it. I've had trouble finding one that I like. BUT I'd still recommend an open helmet for your 70 jumps. The best? The cheapest, a Protec. No need to try them on. ParaGear might have the most in stock to try on, or not. Call before making the trek. Best place to try on helmets? Daytona Beach in March at the PIA Symposium. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I believe first year for the WFFC and the C-130 was 1986. I have video I shot on a couple of loads. With later C-130's the tubes got bigger. The first year nobody knew what the hell to do with a plane that big. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

All original saber's 190 and up have two steering lines on each side. The single line is not set when the brakes are set and should be pulled out straight above the keeper ring. I've seen lots of people try to fold this extra line with the slack in the other line from setting the brakes. It will just get pulled out on opening anyway and may cause a knot or other problem. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Some riggers may not want whatever legal exposure it may add. Others are dealer or makers of BASE gear. I'm more than happy to offer opinion/service on materials and components I'm familiar with. Some aerial sports use materials I'm not familiar with. I've been asked to work on Para-sails but didn't' have a source for the materials at the time. As with all rigging, the rigger always has the ability to say no. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Young grasshopper, you haven't seen anything yet! This is hardly worth a mention compared to other things that I and others have seen. For many old time riggers ripstop tape is standard in their rigger kit. The splicing the line idea comes from a time of Dacron lines and lower performance canopies. Needing a main for a boogie IS an emergency for many. Especially when you might be missing out on jumping a big/special plane for the whole year in the 'olden' days. Not something I'd usually choose to do. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Again, "UNSHUFFLED". I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

They were NOT shuffled. So coming out at ace, duece, trey, four, five of one suit, etc. might be easy to notice? The players did and obviously changed their bets. The dealer apparently kept blindly pulling them from the shoe, for 41 bets! I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

My guess is the dealer doesn't have a job. I don't know much about casino operations but I would have expected the dealer to notice at least as soon as the players and stop dealing. I'm very surprised if in LAW somewhere it says that a player can't play the cards they are dealt. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

But mine covers this now. Should have had the 30 round mag in it. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE