stratostar

George Galloway has left reserves packed for years and then deployed them; they always opened. I've left mains packed for years and had them open with no discernible difference. (quote) So the real question is "how long WOULD you leave a main packed" over a year, if I packed it, have gone as long as two years for stuff in storage. I have been given two old PC's that were packed in the late 70's, when they were unpacked to see if they were rotten and that is the only reason we unpacked them, after inspection ,I should have left them packed and just jumped them they were in great shape, except the rubber bands were all rotten and stuck to the lines, so yes the rubber bands will rot to the point of turnning to dust. On one of the PC's I changed the rubber bands out and checked the tensel but kept the pack job in tact (didn't unfold the pleats) pulled the sleeve back down stowed the lines and made a jump, worked fine for being folded over 25 yrs. So how long would you leave a canopy packed and still jump it? ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

True very true! You don't see people doing blow or burning a big fatty and sipping on a cool one on the way to jumprun any more, but that stuff stopped in the 80's. ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Thank you ! You just said it all, sparky. I won't bash trae for saying or posting his thoughts. I don't think it's fair to point at him and call it "the boy who cried wolf", I don't know him, I don't know where he jumps. But if he has ran into things in the sport that he think's is unsafe or repetedly "cut's corners", he has a right and a duty to bring it to light. If someone want's to dismiss his account of things that is ok but it don't mean he is just making shit up to piss off people. Just maybe he really did see some stuff that needs to be talked about but he needs to be careful as to what he say's like naming folks or dz's. Wouldn't be the first time I've seen people bash some one who said something about XYZ and then everone from XYZ chimes in and defends XYZ. Not every time, but most of the time if you really took the time to look you might find out that XYZ was really doing it. A lot of people think they know what is going on at the dz, but really their not at the dz enough to even have a clue, your two and a half days a week being busy having fun jumping/working/partying ect, most are to into "their own world" at the dz getting their fix to even note things like no safety wire on a cowling, or pink shit coming out of a 100LL tank, ECT, ECT, so people should not be so quick to dismiss others accounts. Most of the really crooked shit I have seen done was done durring the weekdays and then carry over to the weekend. If your not there (at the dz) seven days a week, then you can't know what the hell the DZO is doing or not doing when your not there, and just because their a hell of a great guy durring your weekend visit don't mean that durring the week he's not cutting corners to save a buck, most of that shit you will never see unless your an A&P or I/E, Pilot or dz manger because you have to get dirty sometimes to see the shit, like carb heat missing, how many fun jumpers are going to take the time to look or learn what to look for? Not very many! DZO at XYZ is great guy he wouldn't do that! Really? The other prop I saw home work shopped to fix it was back on a plane in two weeks with fresh black paint and yellow tip's on it, and hauling jumpers, but it's ok we got rig's on and sit by the door. Maybe Trae is just full of shit and has a personal axe to grind! Then again, maybe not. Just something to think about. ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

I used to take a pair of pliers and bend the hooks enough to where they were somewhat hard to unhook. This was also a pain when packing,(quote) Yea I do the same thing still even today when jumping all the rounds at my home dz, and I tell the younger kids who care to learn that kind of stuff. ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

...they've got a built in support crew of blind/naive jumpers running around only too eager to help hide their hero's mistakes by shooting that naughty little messenger. (quote) Yes I have seen that happen too, every thing on my "short list" more then one person knew it was going on, ie pilots & a&p's jumpers,they all knew it was wrong and went along with the flow. ps I'm glad a grown-up turned up to this conversation.(quote) I understand your frustration with the young pups, but you have to remember it's not their fault, not being around long enough to see stuff happen, if no one tells them how would they know any better? Or if you start at a dz where this kind of stuff is S.O.P. then they would think your just being a pussy and you would hear something like "we do it all the time & haven't killed anyone yet" or "it work's just as good". Jumpers/poster with only 5 or 6 years in the sport don't remember all the crap of the past and most don't care they didn't know any of the dead people, like we did. They don't seem to want to under stand the past and so you tend to see history repeat it's self. Then again I've known not to try to catch a cutaway under canopy since 1977 or 78 With that said I don't think there are many shady operators left around, only but a few left these days but that's no reason to not keep an eye out for things that paying customers have a right to know about and a right to expect that the legal standards for safe operations have been met with out corner cutting or breaking the law in order to save a buck or two. ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

you've never seen some-one try and cover up a mistake? or blame some-one else for their own deficiencies .?? (quote aimed at sparky) Yes I have seen just as you have said. Most of the hiding of the truth I have personally seen have been done by DZO's or instructors and DZO's hushing up a mistake. But by far the most endangering and greedy cover up's I have seen have been by owner/operators. Almost every one of the cover up's I have seen, the weekend fun jumper and even fulltime instructors wouldn't have a clue that it was happening, unless you know the law, FAR's and know something about aircraft maintaince and you TAKE THE TIME TO LOOK. Most of these things take some looking around in order to see. As far as somone going in, unless you are one of the first persons at the P.O.I . you will never know if anything was tampered with or covered up, only but a few scumbags in the sport would do this, but you never know what someone will do if they feel they are at fault or could be at fault. It's kind of like having a plane crash and it just so happends that the logbooks were in the plane and they burned up in the wreakage, were they really in the plane at impact or were they tossed in the burning wreakage after to try to hide the illegal maintaince? That is one good reason to have the S&TA not be the DZO and the rigger and the A&P and the first on the P.O.I. at least then the more people involved before the cops and feds get there the less chance of a cover up.

I know of a first jump student that cutaway and grabed the pilot chute and held it till impact. And I remember a few bellywart intanglements/horseshoes. I know someone who had the reserve PC snag on a pack opening band "hook" on the main container and they went in on a main total and reserve horseshoe. So it did happen a time or two. ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Yea he arched and took them for a ride for about 1800 ft just like in the photo, then both jm's popped into their slots for a stable 3-way, the chunk was stable the whole dive, just made for a good shot, so I took it.

Thanks for the flowers altichick. Trae, Student see's "arch signal" when checking his dial, so as trained he arches harder.

Okay, not my best, but my most recent. (quote) Ditto. ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

And if they are USPA GM. if not, Why? 1-Cuz they never had been one 2-or didn't want to rejoin 3-or were they thrown out on their ass forever because of a long history of busting FAR's and BSR's. Oh course asking the DZO, I'm sure you'll get a real answer to that one.... ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Could anyone comment incident #23? What actions seems to be right in the situations like this? (quote) Cutaway and pull reserve. (op 1) Or try to find the little wing release at 120 with a bunch of shit flappin around trying to rip your wing off, (OP #2) I like OP # 1 the best myself, seen it done live and up close. Do camera suits usually have RSL-like locks to release wings? (quote) Yes and no, all suits are different, mine came stock with them I cut them off and built my own mo better ones. I have never jump with a camera suit, but I am going to. (quote) Remember video is the second most dangerous jump you can do. Start by getting some trainning from an experinced camera person and only do one new thing at a time, like jump your suit A few times to get the feel of it, then add the camera set up ECT. ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

No not really I just got a brand new never been opened in the factory box with seal on Sony PC-100 on ebay for 500.00 bucks. ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Wayne, Make sure you get the extra one out there with "the making of " as a special along with the regular movie. I met with Garth Taggart this summer, he did a lot of the stunt jumps in the film, he also donated his 75 jumbo pc to the richmond boy's retro gear collection. Great guy to meet if you can get him away from that sinclaire fellow. ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Yep got a lot of them around in these here part's... Why? You need one or something. ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

I supply the cd's and case's for the stills and vhs. The dz covers the dvd's but they charge more for dvd and they keep it. I do my own editing, their mac, they get a cut from the video sale to cover the cost of the mac. Up in till last year we had to supply everything needed to do the job at our expense. My dzo is more then fair with the pay and use of the equip. ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Video with stills. 65.oo USD plus slot. Again why do you ask ??? ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

I have been getting 30 to 35 for a disk of what ever I took on the jump. Most people pay it if they have it, I sell a lot of them after the jump when the customer said they didn't want them before the jump, but after seeing the photo's they want them. If someone want's them but don't have the all money I will wheel and deal with them, I would rather they have the photos then be a dickhead and hold out for all the money this has got me more work by request when their friends and family come out later. A lot of folks who may not have the cash in the full amount will give a check or whip out the C.C. Even at that price your "giving away" your photos, as you know it's not cheep to replace your stuff or to get it in the first place. The dz will offer a package of 90 for both with the 30 for stills going the camera flyer, the dz still get's their cut off the video. All camera flyers at my dz have to have their own stuff for stills, we are all digital here. We are getting five dollars more then when we used to fly 35mm and give a roll of film. Yes we should make more for the work, for what the quality of photos are, compaired to other types of photography work we are "giving away" our work. However people are not going to shell out 300.00 more bucks for video and stills on top of the cost of jumps. If they would we would get more in line of what there worth. (so does your dropzone pay the camera flyers more to offset that expense? ) QUOTE No and I don't know any that will ! Never have, never will. Why do you ask? Are you running into greedy dzo's who want more of your income/profits when they don't have the investment in the camera equipment and all the extras to do the job? ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

My personal collection, 2-1970-? mini systems 1974 rod's rebel 1977 wonderhog S/N #944 1964 MK-1 (paracomanders) 1965 MK-1 1975 jumbo Mk-1 1977 strong lopo 26' 1980 strong lopo 26' 1986 phantom 26' (acid free)

I have been skydiving for 24 yrs now and for the last 11 of those I have been at it full time durring the summer season and NEVER have I made enough money to buy med.ins., sometimes I can't even afford a fun jump, but I don't live in the getto and eat ramon noodles and P&J everyday. Bills come first! So as many people have said in a nother thread those of us like me who don't have it are some kind of scumb bag and a burdin to the rest of the world due to your high cost of med. ins. I would like to know how many full time skydivers really have ins. For the record I have one been hurt once and it was minor and I paid my bill !

Mike ROCKS!

Pm me your email where I can send you a bigass file. ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Looking good to me. ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Just follow the steps as posted before to junkee. And to everyone else, why take a chance putting something on your lifesaving gear when you don't know what it will or won't do? Stick with good old plain water (mild temp or cold) and a mild soap like cheer and only use a little and I mean a little or you'll be rinsing for a long time, make sure you get all the soap out or it can leave white shit behind after it dry's. Some people I know take rigs to the car wash and blast the shit out of them with the high pressure wand. I WOULD NEVER DO THAT! Others I know have used the washer at home to do it and works fine. I prefer to do it the old fashion way in the bath tub. 1. for control of the water temp. I rinse first with just water 4 or 5 times till the water don't look chocolate milk, then scrub with soft brush only the real bad spots, then I let it sit in the suds and water for a while about 45 mins, followed by a rinsing it over and over till the water runs clean with NO SUDS at all. Then I hang it up to dry in a cool shady place till dry about two days give or take. Never had anyone bitch yet. If I do it, that cost you 45 bucks not counting the repack, but your rig will be clean!

Knock off the big stuff with your hands then try taking a dry soft bristle brush to the other, then try the vac if you want. At the next repack you can have your rigger wash the H/C. But I wouldn't worry about washing the canopy, I would wait till it's warm and do a water jump or fuck up a pond swoop Then I might even pack it up wet and air dry it by jumping it on the next load, no really I would. ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo