Hooknswoop

According to my Pro-Track, my fall rate in a track is in the 70-85 mph range. My softest openings are when I pull in a track. If your canopy opens harder if you pull in a track, you need to work on your flat tracking skills. Hook

Gloves are a trade-off. You lose "feel" and dexterity with gloves, but if your hands are frozen you really lose fell and dexterity. Wearing the thinnest, least inhibiting gloves possible to keep you hands warm enough not to lose feeling or dexterity is the key. Huge, bulky gloves will keep you hands warm, but they might as well be frozen because you can't feel anything through them anyway. Too thin of gloves and now you have cold hands and gloves on and can't feel anything. Having several pairs of gloves for different temperatures and testing the gloves on the ground for feel and dexterity and then using the right gloves for the given temperature is the way to go. Hook

Ya Lum, I gotta agree. Really sounds like he wasn't wearing a parachute and did it intentionally. Too bad. Hook

OK, so maybe the guy won't turn up. Still very strange. Hook

I have....um....understand that in order for a jumper to exit a Cessna 152, the throttle should be at idle, with the aircraft's speed just above the stall speed. A little right pedal helps too, but it is anything but easy to exit, even when you are trying to, much less accidently falling out. With the further facts, exit altitude was 9,000 ft, haven't found anything yet, I still think the guy was wearing a parachute and jumped. You have to want to get out and have help. You really gotta be depserate to take a C-152 to 9k. The pilot probably was pulling someone's leg that asked, "hey what happened to Joe? Didn't he go flying with you?" "Oh ya, he fall out, he, he" And then the police were called, and the pilot is now thinking "uh oh". When they threaten to charge the pilot with murder, the skydiver will show up. They'll get a slap on the wrist, and the FAA will eyeball DZ's more closely. Hook

USPA says" Gloves are essential when the jump altitude temperature is lower than 40 degrees F." With an exit altitude of 13,500 FT AGL and a standard lapse rate of 3 degrees C per 1000 ft (approx.). 40 degrees F = 4.4 degrees C. 13,500 FT * 3 degrees C/1000 FT = 40.5 degrees C colder at altitude than on the ground. So if it below 44.9 degrees C on the ground (or 112.8 degrees F), USPA suggests gloves are essential. So I guess USPA says gloves are essential on almost every skydive. Beyond that, I don't know of any BSR's or FAR's preventing the instruction of students in northern DZ's during winter months. Hook

The lower back exercises are a great idea. Also stretch. Relax in free-fall, make sure your knees aare too wide apart. You might consider a weight belt/vest. Hook

NTSB Identification: FTW03LA038 Accident occurred Friday, November 08, 2002 at Fort Worth, TX Aircraft:Agusta A109E, registration: N142CF Injuries: 3 Uninjured. This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. On November 8, 2002, at 1035 central standard time, an Agusta A109E twin-engine helicopter, N142CF, sustained substantial damage during an attempted takeoff from the Harris Hospital Heliport, near Fort Worth, Texas. The commercial pilot, flight paramedic, and flight nurse were not injured. The helicopter was registered to North Central Texas Services Inc., Grand Prairie, Texas, d.b.a. Care Flite. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and a company flight plan was filed for the 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 positioning flight. The flight was originating from the heliport at the time of the accident and was destined for Grand Prairie Muncipal Airport, Grand Prairie. According to preliminary information, the pilot reported that he was attempting to takeoff from the heliport at Harris Hospital. The pilot initiated a rolling takeoff, and as the helicopter was rolling, he realized that the throttle was in the flight idle position. Subsequently, the helicopter departed the heliport and came to rest on the roof of a lower level parking garage. During the accident sequence, the main rotor blades contacted a light standard, the tailrotor gearbox separated from the airframe, and the tailboom sustained structual damage. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!! How do you explain that to the owner?????? Hook

My vote is the guy jumped, with a parachute, into his or a friends property. The pilot is playing dumb, making up a story, so as to not get violated for dropping jumpers w/o following the FAR's. He will probably turn up or they will never find a body and leave it at that. Hook

By the same token, where is the non-subjective data on Rapide links? Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe Slinks went through the same, or more stringent (TSO-d vs. TSO-c, or even TSO-b) testing requirements to get TSO'd as Rapide links did. the Slink vs. Rapide link debate seems to be more about old vs. new than reliability, strength, advantages/dis-advantages, maintenance requirements, etc. Hook

Clear tape and a mini-cylume chemical light stick. I tie a cylume chem-light to the case of my PC for night jumps. I have a chance of finding my main in the event of a cutaway and it is visable from almost any direction while under canopy. Hook

Great in theory, but try "Demanding" better safety standards from a DZO. You'll be jumping somewhere else and no one will care. Hook

I think frap hats are OK for abrasion forces, but not impact forces. I think they were designed for bicyclists and are meant to protect the head when sliding down pavement. They were designed before modern helmet technology was around. I thin the tubes concentrate a wide area of impact on the head, opposite of modern helmets. I have done tandems wearing a hard helmet, a frap hat, and no helmet, and with my passengers wearing a frap hat and no helmet. I have never hit my head on a tandem (820 tandems to date), nor have I had a passenger hit their head. I have found it easier to communicate w/ the passenger when we are not wearing helmets. I think this is very important. If you have to yell to be heard, it is difficult to sound calm, and if you have to repeat yourself, because they are having difficulty hearing you, it can be distracting and hinder the safety of the tandem. "OK, grab your harness again and push your hips forward" "What?" CHINK. "WHAT!?!?!" Just my experience. Hook

22lbs w/o the seal. Pg 296 VOL II PPM. Hook

USPA requires the student to demonstrate the ability to pull stable, on time twice before going w/ one instructor. So 2 tandems, then one instructor AFF/AFP. Hook

Why? Frap hats are next to worthless for actually protedcting your head and it makes communication difficult between the instructor and their passenger. Hook

I see your point and it makes sense. I do feel that it necessary to address pulling on time regardless of stability. How about: If you are at or below pull altitude, pull, regardless of attitude(orientation)? or: pull, even if you are not belly-to-earth. Hook

I have a cutaway rig w/ a second main canopy on the front. The system is simple. Deploy the chest mounted main canopy while on your back, either sub-terminal or terminal. Release the main, and you are in free fall w/ a normal main/reserve system on your back. I have 34-35 cutaways on this rig and have rented it out to others. USPA recommends 100 skydives before doing an intentional cutaway. Hook

I hooked almost right over top of him, he was laying on his back, as i came down, he zapped me, then sat up and zapped me in the back in my swoop. the first clocked speed, I was at about 400-600 ft. Hook

I was clocked (with a laser gun) at 93 mph (136.4 fps) in my dive (starting from 700-900ft, and landing at sea level) and 78 mph (114.4 fps) across the ground at the start of my swoop. I had about 10 jumps on the canopy for that jump. For this reason I don't jump with a Cypres. With the 12 year (and 3 month) end of useful life coming soon for some Cypres's, I am looking for one to put in a fanny pack and take on a jump or two on it to see if I can fire it. Especially now, since I am jumping at 5,400 ft MSL and with Density Altitudes in the summer of over 9,000 ft. Hook Hook

I mean that a rigger shouldn't have to go to Master Rigger/DPRE and get refresher training on how to install Slinks. This rigger got them second hand and installed them incorrectly without the instructions. He should have gotten the instructions and followed them. Refresher training would be a good idea if a rigger hadn't practiced his trade in several years and wanted to get up to speed on the newest gear and techniques and have a current and knowledgable pair of eyes back him up and offer tips on several re-packs until they were back in the groove. If I haven't sewn a patch in a while, I look over my instructions for the task, I don't go seek refresher training. I think we may be thinking of refresher training differently. If a non-rigger had installed them incorrectly, would you recommend they go get refresher training? Hook

I have found that large F-111 canopies glide farther w/ a bit of brakes. Because they are so long nose to tail, pulling down the rear risers produces a big "step" in the canopy, creating too much drag. With small ZP canopies I can pull down a little on the rear risers w/o deforming (the "step") the canopy at all. Absolutely correct. I recommend releasing the brakes above your decision altitude. Hopefully, I will have a more complete article published on this topic soon. Hook

Slinks don't require re-fresher training. They come w/ very easy to read and understand instructions. I went to the 2001 PIA, great stuff. The rigging classes were great. I'm not going this year but would love to hear all about the rigging classes and any new gear that is released. Hook

Lots of jumps in a short amount of time gives a jumper currency. They tend to have good free-fall and canopy skills. What they tend to not have is lots of experience from watching others and seeing different problems. Less jumps over a longer period of time can give a jumper more experience, if that jumper spends every weekend at the DZ like the very current jumper. Take two skydivers: Jumper "A" goes to the DZ every weekend and makes 10 jumps a day, 20 a weekend and jumper "B" goes to the DZ every weekend and makes 10 jumps a day, but only goes out to the DZ for 1 day a weekend, but started jumping before jumper "A" so they both have the same number of jumps. They have the same jumps, and have spent the same amount of time at the DZ, but jumper "A" has more currency. So everything else being equal, jumper "A" should be a better skydiver than jumper "B". There are a lot of variables. Time in the sport (time at the DZ or reading/talking skydiving w/ others) translates into experience or knowledge. Making lots of skydives in a short amount of time translates into currency and tends to increase a jumpers abilities over someone that spreads their jumps out over a longer time span. Hook

A rigger not being botherred to read the instructions. That is bad, I think. Hook