faulknerwn

Moderators
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content

    2,481

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    2

  • Feedback

    0%

Everything posted by faulknerwn

  1. faulknerwn
    I was using one of my Racers to teach a rookie to pack on today, and sure enough, that Racer had the double velcro on the bridle you were talking about. In all honesty, if I noticed it before, I just assumed it was the one-piece velcro and the pilot came from some random rig which had the place on the container to stick it. I never had noticed that it was "double". Saying that, for the life of me I can't figure out why doing that velcro or not doing it would make even the slightest bit of difference. All of that part of the bridle I tuck up under the top flap, and I can't fathom why that would matter. At least on this one rig (I've gotta start checking my other 6 Racer's to see if they have this too!) I've never used it (didn't even realize it was there) and never had a problem. W
  2. faulknerwn
    I could do the first 6! Send your credit card to .....
  3. faulknerwn
    I think most of mine are non-Racer original pilot chutes so they don't have the ability to "pinch" anyway. But I've never seen a problem. The only problems I've ever seen are when people try to tuck the walrus teeth under the bottom flap instead of the top flap.
  4. faulknerwn
    That's bizarre. I own 6 Racers and none have that velcro like you describe. But I think most of pilot chutes are Cazar or other ones. Though I know two for sure are from the factory and neither have that velcro. Must depend on the age of the container. I just tuck the excess under the top flap - even on my tiny Power Racers that's enough slack to not cause a pc-in-tow. Almost 5000 jumps on 8 different Racers and never had a pilot chute hesitation or one in-tow so it seems to work. Is your rig extra-super-duper tight or something?
  5. faulknerwn
    You mean just leave a little bit of slack at the top above the pin? You have to do that on ALL rigs - whether they have velcro or not.
  6. faulknerwn
    I've seen great variance as well. On belly dives a friend's Altitrack is consistently 10-15 mph slower than mine. My Viso always seems to be really high - doing AFF recently with a TINY girl where I was wearing a huge baggy suit to stay with her, my Viso said we were going 133! Yeah right... When I was doing AFF with a big boy and wearing 20 lbs of lead, my Viso read 147 while a friend's Pro-track I took with me read 136...
  7. faulknerwn
    The fact that my heart rate was so high (and I wore an expensive chest-wrap heart monitor when exercising) was why I went to the doc in the first place. At the cardiology office is where mine hit 190 just walking at a reasonable pace - they never even let me progress to jogging! I was just told that the heart rate numbers are just average and I just had a heart that beat super fast but was fine.
  8. faulknerwn
    I wore a heart rate monitor for a while - mine definitely can get to 230! I actually did the treadmill thing in a doctor's office once and got to 195 just walking! Not even jogging! on a treadmill. He said my heart was perfectly fine though. I'd regularly see over 220 right before exit skydiving, as well as when I was exercising on the ground..
  9. faulknerwn
    Does anyone who knows the guy involved really think he had a heart attack or stroke or medical problem? No offense to his friends, but we're not talking about a 70 year old guy here with a weak heart. I keep hearing excuses about how it might have been a medical issue when the odds against that are astronomically high.. It just seems to me to be a way to try and think their friend didn't make a large mistake by pushing too many limits far too fast... The average 20 year old male skydiver is unlikely to die from any medical problems other than the bravado of youth. It just takes the experienced folks to have the courage to say no sometimes to save their lives.
  10. faulknerwn
    The 109 has the dock. From an ad for one on ebay: Microphone Type: Microphone - built-in Microphone Technology: Electret condenser Microphone Operation Mode: Stereo http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=230178782142&Category=20333&_trksid=p3907.m29 I take it I'll have to take it into a shop to get it fixed if its an internal thing?
  11. faulknerwn
    Ok. I'm feeling really ignorant - where is my audio plug on the pc109? I've never plugged anything into an audio port that I know of...
  12. faulknerwn
    Plain old static mainly. What is cramolin and how would a plug fix it? You've lost me...
  13. faulknerwn
    My PC109 in the last week has started having a "wind" noise on the video - even when I'm inside the building. When I play back the tape it sounds like its really windy even if I'm inside a quiet building. Any clue as to what might be going on?
  14. faulknerwn
    Exactly. I've been one who accidently reached through the line and snagged my hand. I know a Master Rigger who preaches to people to not bother stowing them. Drives me insane! No one has ever given me a valid reason not to stow it - its pure and simple laziness. Stowing the brake lines will not hurt you, and might help.
  15. faulknerwn
    Its not inevitable. We have a bunch of new rookie jumpers at our dz. One of them recently bought a larger F111 canopy loaded at ~.9. He likes it, he flies it well, and lands it well.. One of our other rookies made a comment today (one who just recently bought a Pilot loaded at ~ 1.0) that he bought a canopy way too big for him. I immediately corrected him - that's bullshit - he likes it, he flies and lands it well, its not too big. There's no hurry to go fast and tiny. The conservative kid is much more likely to go longer without any injury than the ones on the new faster canopies.. I do think its up to experienced jumpers to fight this trend among rookies... Too big is better than too small for a first canopy.
  16. faulknerwn
    We've done 18 loads in a day recently in ours. Mostly to 11,000 or so. Its a fast climber tho!
  17. faulknerwn
    Not sure if the biggest, but a couple of times at the World Freefall Convention around 2000-2001, we flew some 8-9 ways over the Mississippi and landed in a soccer field nearby. The second jump there poor Steve broke his femur on landing!
  18. faulknerwn
    The pilot is key too. It can be difficult to learn to catch 3rd - if you're not just doing a leg catch - then their hands are coming off their toggles which can have unforeseen effects. The pilot also has to keep their body perfectly even because varying weight changes between the two sides can also cause interesting situations. Add in the worse-case scenario of the pilot reaching down to catch the grip which can cause a turn...
  19. faulknerwn
    It depends on where the lines are (so I didn't answer your poll.) A lines are way more likely to cause problems than D lines. I once did an entire CRW jump with a broken D line and never even realized it! Both brake lines could be broken and it still be landable. Not necessarily so with 2 A lines..
  20. faulknerwn
    We're having the Back From Iraq Boogie at Skydive Temple in Texas this weekend. Our boys from last summer are back and jumping and we're having the big boogie as a fundraiser for the Disabled American Veterans fund. We have Houston's Caravan so come on out!
  21. faulknerwn
    Top Secret Real Genius Harold and Kumar go to White Castle
  22. faulknerwn
    I learned in Palatka - great dz always - and one of my old jumpmasters started the dropzone in Tallahassee.. Small dropzones are good.. And you need to get current and come back to us at Temple. I still have your d-bag on one of my rigs...
  23. faulknerwn
    A friend of mine who spent last year in Iraq told similar tales about Blackwater. One I remember - he said that he was standing in an intersection with an Iraqi cop who was directing traffic. The cop had a gun but wasn't doing anything other than directing traffic. Blackwater zoomed up to the intersection, shot the cop, and sped off. The cop was within 10 feet of my buddy - he wasn't doing anything wrong. WTF?
  24. faulknerwn
    I completely agree on the 20 year thing - make sure its safe and it shouldn't be grounded. A couple of years ago I had to dump a belly-mount round reserve at terminal velocity that was made in 1969 ! (older than me!) It worked fine.. The rigger should obviously take great care to make sure its good to jump, but the 20 year lifespan is bogus....
  25. faulknerwn
    For every time that someone successfully beats the rain, there's one that they don't. I know that every time I've been convinced to go up to do a jump to beat the incoming weather, EVERY TIME, I regretted it :-) Last time I turned em down I avoided a hailstorm that others jumped through. The AFF student I was with was very happy that I wouldn't let him go after he saw the others land!!!!