councilman24

Consider yourself made fun of. Of course they wrapped something around my penis and clipped the tail of the shirt I was wearing. And I kind of wish I hadn't agreed to see the piece of spaghetti clipped out and wiggling in the forceps. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Yeah, but they have to write about the latest guy to try to make it better (more expensive). New company, new ad buyer, new article. Frankly I'm tired of the latest trigger job, fancy grips, newest coating, etc. They're writing what sells and the photo of the latest gator pattern 1911 with light coming out of the muzzle sells magazines. Same as articles about the Ruger LCP version of what Keltec already did. Just that some of the parts of all the 1911's (off patent!) interchange. Most interesting lately? Remington's basic version. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

My keltec has never had any issue going bang. I can't think of one failure. There may have been a couple but if there were they were during break in. Not sure the LCP has been out long enough to have anything but raves from gun writers. When was the last time they panned anything? I have several rugers but none of their newer stuff. So I have no opinion of the LCP. Of course just turned my Mini-14 into a "Michigan pistol". Under Michigan's definitions I can now carry it concealed. Now all I need is a holster. My 'good' carry pistols are Kahr P9 and PM9. After the break in of 200 rounds they also have worked flawlessly. They had early raves too. But nobody writes about the older stuff. Of course you can call any polymer framed pistol a rip off of a Glock. Still my favorite but thicker than I want to carry usually. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I came in at the end of the conventional gear. My student gear was belly mount but my first freefall was on my first rig which was a Crossbow. If you think about it it's really not that hard to fly your body. Remember in those days 7500' was often the high load in the 182. Ten Grand was a rarity. So, 30 seconds of freefall and in 50 jumps you were hooking up and 100 jumps you were doing okay. It couldn't be too hard, you had only practiced for less than an hour. Not like tennis or bowling where you can practice for four, five, eight hours in one day. One of the obstacles in the beginning was not knowing it could be done at all. The wing wars made things harder. The gear didn't help. And it might have been as much the lack of big planes with large doors. Stringing 35 people out of a DC 3 puts the base 2000-3000 feet below the last guy out. But what we did have was world champions willing to jump with newbies, everybody hanging around the DZ ALL weekend (sleeping in cars and tents) and learning around the campfire, and everybody 'coaching' everybody else without expecting to be paid. Now when people are done paying for instruction the only people that will jump with them, if anyone, are other newbies. This happened back in the day too but not as much as now. There are lots of folks going out and trying head down because it's something they have to learn on their own and newbies aren't expected to touch each other. But some of these folks with 200-300 jumps can't do a base/pin or launch a three way on their bellies. These are generalizations and there are still lots of folks that will jump with newbies. But some times the newbies don't hang around long enough to figure out who they are. Off my soap box. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Sunglasses are not skydiving goggles, no matter what you see the 'cool' guys on the dz doing. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Get with an experienced rigger or instructor you trust to help select gear, including sizes. Many/most recommend used gear for your first rig. Unless your rich enough to absorb the depreciation of new when you do need to get a different rig to downsize. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Here's a video of one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdZo3363XFs Not sure how they got that far. And can't figure out what is keeping his legs in place. For landing he has straps holding up his legs for a butt landing. One note says something like welcome back to the sport. May have been experienced before injury. More discussion. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1238368;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread More info http://www.jagworksdesign.com/Adaptive-Skydiving/PDF/Adaptive_Skydive_Manual.pdf I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

And here you can read it again. http://www.performancedesigns.com/docs/dualsq.pdf I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I don't find Microns or their predecessors to be the most comfortable rigs but comfort can only be judged by each individual. What I find comfortable you may not. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

It appears the ratio of the reserve to main container may be different. The same overall size but the relative container size changed. But I don't have one to compare it to. That may be what's prototype about it. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I'm not familiar with Australia but if you can find a business that sells parts for or repairs campers (caravans in England but not sure what in Australia) they may be able and willing to sell you a small quantity of window material. http://www.rickyrichards.com.au/products-detail.php?cpath=1_5_94 From this page http://www.bushwalking.org.au/FAQ/FAQ_DIY.htm#Fabric scroll down for US sources Of course I also have a roll in my basement. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

One set of volumes all done by ONE person with one set of equipment are available here. http://www.pia.com/piapubs/TSDocuments/TS-104CanopyVolume.pdf Note the sizes for Saber's with spectra versus dacron and the two sizes shown for Falcon 215's. Your so close to the limit that any individual canopy may be too big, or at least as big as your Falcon. Canopy volumes can vary by 10% between individual example of a particular model. My guess would be that the Sabre would fit as well as your Falcon, maybe better. But if you have a SMALL Falcon and get a LARGE Sabre it may not fit. YMMV BTW I think the Vector manual Sabre size is a typo. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Now I really feel old. But I still say every one of them were UNSTABLE! Congrats. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Something new learned once again. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Water Jump I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

The original ram air reserves, Safety Flyer, Safety Star and Swift had toggles made with tubular nylon with a 'set' grommet sewn to it for a ring. There was no velcro on the toggle, no toggle hood. Also the original guide rings were 1". After the brakes were set the toggle was tacked with safety thread because there was NOTHING else to hold it in place. i have lots of these toggles floating around the shop. This practice continued to standardized guide ring placement, smaller guide rings, and modern type toggles. Rigging Innovations used to punch the nose of the toggle with a harness needle so it was easier to put a small needle with the safety thread through the toggle. On other rigs I would simply catch the edge of one layer of the nose. Some older riggers still do this. While you would notice the rigger doing it you will NOT feel it when releasing your reserve brakes. Page 16 of the manual here. http://www.ukskydiver.co.uk/cms/index.php?/files/file/1458-swift-cirrus-orion-manualpdf/ page "65" of this manual for RI http://www.ukskydiver.co.uk/cms/index.php?/files/file/1876-talon1-telesis1rgrinstructionspdf/ I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

You mean like this? http://www.actionhelmetcameras.com/camera-helmets/2k-composites/ff3-freefly-helmet/ Old idea. Lots of camera jumpers change cameras more often helmets. The various external mount systems offer much more versatility. The first inside the helmet camera helmet was in the 90's. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

http://www.ukskydiver.co.uk/cms/index.php?/files/file/2900-a850pdf/ Your welcome. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Or course how soon after I convinced a customer to update his 5 cell swift and REALLY wimpy original Vector small top PC this spring? Second jump. He bitched about spending so much for a new reserve, free bag and PC that he would never see. Well he got to see it. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

And I thought maybe you changed OUT of that and put on clothes when sales people came to the door. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

And you believe everything you hear on TV? Go watch a main packed, ask where the reserve is and you see why it can NOT happen like that. They are not IN the same pack. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

On ebay sellers through any use they kind think of in the description to get more hits. IMHO these are not skydiving googles. Neither is the second example in the thread. I guess Kroop googles are just not cool enough at $8. And of course they aren't skydiving googles either. They're horse racing googles. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

You NEVER use Bounce with your parachute or jumpsuit!!! I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

In terms of general fear it took me at least a 100 jumps to not be general fearful heading to the DZ. After the first jump of the weekend I'd remember "oh yea, that's why I do this!" In terms of the accident. Shoulders can be an issue. Make sure your doctor knows about the skydiving and the pressure that puts on shoulder joints versus other activities. If still given the okay, remember you said it yourself "Luckily, I remained calm and landed ok even if I didn't flare and wanted to faint under canopy. " Skydiving is not without its incidents, malfunctions, and injuries. But you've already shown you could handle this one.

As you well know if there is no physical damage evident a rigger has no way to gauge whether a harness, webbing or junctions, is full strength. We don't have the facilities to pull or drop test them and if we did we'd likely destroy a good harness as find a bad one. This what I have to tell people when I recommend they consider retiring their H/C. They ask what's wrong with it. Well other than being 25 years old I may not necessarily be able to point to visible damage. But the wear and tear, environmental degradation (sun, etc), possibility of hidden damage all add up to at some point having to decide a harness is due for replacement. I'm not against older equipment in general. I jump stuff that old myself but usually know the history of the equipment. But at some point you have to say enough (age, wear, sun, dirt, jumps...) This failure would fail the current and proposed TSO standards. The test standard for structural testing state "There shall be no evidence of material, stitch, or functional failure that will affect airworthiness." But, did this opening stress the harness beyond it's tested limits? We'll never know for sure but you mention body position. If this was head down with an AAD fire it quite likely could have exceeded the TSO force limits. It's amazing we haven't had more harness failures, complete or partial, over the history of civilian equipment. People ask about harnesses breaking and other than the "Death Star Track II" (Green star, hmm, nick name predated Star Wars.