Hooknswoop

Anyone else notice that PD has a link to discontinued products on their web page? They discontinued their PD 9 and 7 cell and the Sabre. Hook

Unless the Onyx has been released, and I'm SURE I would have read about it's release, then what size Onyx will fit into an RS doesn't help him. He isn't putting one in his RS if he can't buy one yet. I have put an FX-79 in my old XRS, it was tight, the FX-70 was a better fit. I believe the volumes for the XRS and the RS are the same, just different dimensions. Hook

Right, contigency ops include manually closing the bay doors, manually bringing in the RMS, remote manipulator system (the arm), unbolting/cutting tubes on the external airlock, clearing jams from the doors, bringing in the antennea, unbolting the airlock door if it jams, etc. Witht he Spacehab module installed, I don't know if spacewalks were a possibility, because it is connected to the airlock. If the external airlock is installed, then they can still go outside with the Spacehab module installed. The A/L takes up a lot of room and weight, and is used for docking on the ISS, so it may not have been installed. Hook I do remember seeng on the Discovery channel, I think, a tool for replacing missing tiles on orbit w/ an orange-ish/red goop.

OK, we never got to finish this discussion, so now that you are back form PIA: Your student canopy, do you mean the Cobalt? Do you recommend putting students under Cobalts at a 1.2 wing loading? Has this been done? At what wing loading is a Cobalt "ideal" for beginners, and how many skydives (range) do you define "beginner" as? Does Atair have a chart showing performance vs. wing loading for the Cobalt?, not a recommended wing loading chart, most manufactures have those, PD has it right on the label. How do you define performance? Max speed? Max turn rate? Glide ratio? Altitude lost in a 360-degree turn? Why do you say a square canopy (Sabre) will have more forward speed at the same wing loading as the Cobalt, but the Cobalt has less drag and is more efficient? Isn't this contradictory? Would you agree that a common characteristic of elliptical canopies is a higher max turn rate and faster turn response than an equally sized, material, and wing-loaded square canopy? Hook

"the other extreme". Exactly downsizing that fast can be called extreme. You are recommending an "extreme" downsize progression. Too late, you already have made a recommendation. Skydivers looking to downsize will take approval from one person and run with it, regardless of who that person is. Advising people to downsize quickly is reckless and irresponsible. This is not a complicated issue. If you downsize too fast, you increase your chances of injury or death. If you down size slower than you are capable of, no harm done. I had a student, after I left the DZ, get peer pressured into smaller and smaller canopies. He wanted so bad to be part of the "cool" crowd, right now. He was willing to risk anything, injury, permanent injury, or even death to be considered "cool" and a "hot canopy pilot". I had to constantly talk to him regarding canopy control. He's dead now. The hot canopy pilots that impress me don't jump up and down yelling "look how good I am, I am a hot canopy pilot". The impressive canopy pilots are damn good, and humble. They are always self-critiquing, improving. JC springs to mind. Hook

Demo, trust your rigger, or better yet, become one. I do not want "Cutaway a perfectly good canopy and the reserve malfunctioned" on my toombstone. Just not worth the risk, especially when I own a cutaway rig. Hook

I wonder why did they do it? Attention? Wanted to up their "save" numbers. One of them was having an affair w/ their wife? Hook

So I should have downsized from a 288 to a 187, or smaller, as soon as I got my "A" license card stamped? I don't think your formula works at all. When people ask me about downsizing, they are asking me to predict the future. "How will I do with canopy ABC at X.X wing loading. If I have seen them fly, I can make an educated guess about their odds of being able to handle the new canopy. I can't tell them it is OK if I think that they will be fine IF I think they might not get through the first 20 jumps without a problem. I feel as though I take a bit of responsibility if they say, "you'll be fine" and the person femurs on the first jump under the new canopy. They have to be able to handle the canopy from their first jump on it and that means being able to handle their current canopy 110%. That way when they downsize, they can handle the new canopy 100%. 90% is not good enough. I think it is different for a friend to offer advice to someone than an Instructor. The friend can say, "Hell, what do I know?, he shouldn't have listened to me". The Instructor puts his/her reputation on the line. "You'll be fine" BAMMMM! "CALL 911!." So much for that Instructor's credibility. There are several DZ's I have seen, where the peer pressure to downsize is strong. This leads to people downsizing too soon, to fit in with the "in" crowd. These DZ's have a high number of injuries each year. I think the first question a skydiver should ask them-selves before downsizing is "why do I want to downsize". The answer, if honest, can be very revealing. Hook

Lots of rigs, packers, support staff, and only going to 2k in a fast airplane. I think that # is somewhere around 500 now. Hook

Very possible that there wasn't a third canopy. I know people that cutaway and deploy their reserves at re-pack time. NOT RECOMMENDED for a number of reasons. A friend of mine watched someone go in with a reserve bag lock after cutting away a perfectly good canopy (he was kown for doing this). That being said, Billy Weber did a bunch of cutaways for "Malfunction". The third canopy was under the main, ripcord activated. Very slick rig, except that the first main had to be deployed in order to get the last chance out. He could cutaway the reserve w/ outboard tandem style handles. Hook

For recommended wing loadings for PD reserves: http://www.performancedesigns.com/reserve.htm Wing loading is a ratio of your exit weight (all geared up, ready to exit) per square footage of the canopy. For example, if your exit weight was 205 lbs, your win loading for the PD-193R would be 1.1:1. That would put you in the "Advanced" catagory for that reserve. Hope this helps. Hook

That has been changed. The FAA added the word "direct", so now it it is "under the direct supervision". Technically, the rigger has to be standing there watching to ensure the parachute is packed correctly, and then take responsibility for that pack job. Hook

Right, except for water, you have to take into account a policy for not making it out of the water and having someone coming in behind you. Coming in to a ditch and having some that didn't make it out of the water pop up in front of you sucks. Run out of steam on the ground and you can get out of the course easily. Pre-determined order, conlfict policies, spacing, etc are the same. Hook

Hey Mariann, how's TX? You could come up to CO and set it up. I would like to do it, but I haven't been out there for several months. They don't have enough work to keep me busy, I guess. I have delt with these issues before and put a lot of thought into them. Hook

The pilot chute pulls the free-bagged reserve out of the container, not the spring inside the reserve pilot chute. Withing a particular model, the reserve PC is the same size. The reserve pilot chute in my old Javelin XRS is the same size as the reserve PC in my J4. The XRS had a 109 reserve and the J4 has a 220 reserve, with dacron lines. There is a noticable difference in time to line stretch between the two rigs. I've always wondered if the small rig's reserve PC was too big or the large rig's reserve PC was too small. Hook

I use a set of straps to hold the "A", "B", "C", and "D" line tight. I place a board over the side of the canopy I am not working on to compress and control it. Then I use packing paddles to make the folds (check the nose) and 6 clamps to hold everything in place. Then I lift the canopy up and use my foot to slide the free-bag under he canopy. I take the clamps off one side and form the ear for that sidew. Place the ear into the free-bag. I use one hand to put the ear in the bag and the other to hold the ear in place as I take my hand out. Then I slide the free-bag onto the canopy a little. Same thing for the other side. Then slide the free-bag onto the rest of the canopy and put the lines into the locking stows. The keys are to control the canopy, have as litle air in it as possible, and distribute the bulk. Hope this helps, it would be easier to show you. Hook

Which reserve into which container? Hook

I believe that even minor incidents should be posted. It keeps the realization that incidents do happen at the front of our minds. That in turn helps keep us from getting complacent. If someone posts, "I did XYZ, I know I should have done ABC instead. Learn from my mistake. Replying "Yep, you should have done ABC, you idiot" isn't very productive and adds nothing to the conversation. The first poster already pointed ut that ABC was the correct course of action and the "idiot" part only causes other people to decide to never post a mistake for fear of being harshed upon. Then the value of the incidents forum declines. The point of the first post is to help others avoid the same mistake. The second post does nothing towards that goal. I recently checked out the APF's newsletters. They report everything. I learned a few things I had never heard of. Specifically there was a report of a tandem drogue "orbiting" above the tandem in drogue-fall. At pull altitude the instructor was unable to pull the drogue release cable because the drogue bridle had twisted down to the 3-ring and cinched the drogue release ripcord (the excess cable is stowed in the drogue bridle on some rigs). The instructor was forced to deploy the reserve past the drogue. He was also unable to pull the cutaway handle which has a third drogue release handle attached to it. So if I ever experience an orbiting drogue, I will wave off the cameraman, if any, and deploy immediately. If the instructor had had made this report, I may have found my self in the same situation, unable to release the drogue at pull altitude. Since it was reported, I have a chance of avoiding the situation. The Incidents forum must be a place where we can feel safe to post mistakes without fear of ridicule. How many people read Kevin's post that had never seen or heard of this type of rigging error? Some replied saying they hadn't seen it and the pictures made it clear to them. How many people did Kevin save from a reserve ride? If something happens to him again, will he post the story and pictures? Will he subject himself to ridicule? What does he gain from this? Nothing. What do we loose if people stop posting "lessons learned." Too much in my opinion. I call on the moderators to exceed their mandate and protect people from anything beyond logical discussion of the incident that has learning value. Someone has hinted at an injury that the person involved has apparently requested that the incident not be posted here. That is our loss. Why would the person not want their incident posted here? Ego, is one possibility. Fear of being attacked is another. If the reason they do not want their incident made public is the former, then they need to get a hold of their ego. If it is the latter, then we must fix the incidents forum, to remove that fear. What if revealing this incident saves someone from the same fate? We owe it to ourselves to protect each other and arm each other with information. Withholding information that may save someone from injury or death is wrong. We all make mistakes. The Incidents forum can reduce the amount of mistakes we make as a group, if we use it properly and take advantage of this resource. Hook

A senior rigger can assemble an AAD, if the container is set-up for it, i.e. "Cypres Ready". If it isn't, then it is Master Rigger territory. Hook

I fly a VX-60 at 3.1:1 and have never had tail flutter. My toggles are set 6.5 inches lower than the factory mark. I think it makes all the difference. I haven't jumpd a Xaos 21 or 27. Hook

That was on home-made dive loops, incorrectly made home-made dive loops. Loops or blocks, personal choice. Hook

It was erie listening to approach call the call signs of both aircraft and not get a response. The more the controller called, the more you could hear the worry and anxiety in his voice. He had just issued a traffice advisory to the Cheyenne, "traffic 1 mile at 12 o'clock". The Cheyenne pilot responded, "I'm looking". Then nothing. My course took me right over the top of the crash sites. I was surprised ATC didn't vector me around. They dropped me from 10,500 to 8,500, then 8,000. I could see three different clusters of emergency vehicles and smoke from one of them. My condolences to the pilots of both aircraft, any passengers and their families. Hook

I think that is a drogue attached to the tow cable, so that the cable doesn't slam back on the ground. They use them for towing gliders aloft. Hook

I will be. I don't compete because I am not willing "to go big or go home". I stand up every landing. I am alos not willing to get wet. Not competeting in swoop competetions does not mean I can't fly a canopy or teach how to fly a canopy. I am very aware of the of different wing loadings and it's effects. Different wingloadings give different results. Depends on what results you want. That depends on the canopy and wing loading. I think I qualify. Thanks for the vote of confidence.. Your post almost seems to imply I am not qualified to teach this course........... The course is designed to take up where "A" license training left off, similar to Bryan Burkes course. It is designed to provide a base of knowledge that the student can use to improve their canopy control skills past the basic, open, fly to the DZ and land. It does nopt teach hook turns/high performance landings. Hook

2 Slots left for the Advanced Canopy Piloting Course at Skydive the Rockies, February 9th. $150.00 includes 5, full altitude jumps, class room work, video of landings, one air-to-air video and de-briefs. PM me if you are interested. Hook