fcajump

I think the consensus here is to put the gear away and get the right parts to do the job right tomorrow.

If the paraglide harness is not TSO'ed, you could do almost anything. While I think I have seen it done with many passes of 'E', I'd feel much more comfortable with 5-cord (harness). JW Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

Don't know if they ever put it in writing, but an offline conversation a couple years ago with PISA said "NEVER" put a clamp on anything. When I asked, OK I've got one of your chutes and a suspect point... how do I test it?? Answers as I recall were "thumb" (though no one present seemed comfortable with the calibration of the average rigger's thumb) or "send it to us". This does not leave the field rigger in a good position. We are required to certify that its airworthy without any approved means to test an aspect that has (on rare occasions) failed. Most companies I've dealt with have said use the PIA standard test (some prefer 30-lbs) if you find a suspect area (discolored, stained, worn, etc). JW Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

The Vector's pinned toggles work great. Just run the excess through the loops on back of the risers and then put the pins through them and into the riser. The excess can't get out. On my sabre2 there's just enough excess... but on some canopies like spectres there can be too much and it might still be possible to reach through the excess when unstowing the brakes. Dave A friends' V-III has them and we've found his Sabre2-230's brake lines have too much to do this and be secure. Personally I prefer Velcro... always accommodates lines of all sizes and lengths. But, that's just me. JW Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

Yes, in fact I did that just Saturday. My student (L4) was doing his best under canopy, but had zero chance of making the landing area. I think it had to do with toggle induced bad spotting since he did his canopy requirements (L&R riser turns toggles stowed, L&R riser turns toggles unstowed, and L&R toggle turns) right after opening and then tried to head to the holding area.... One of the issues with the AFFI jumping the radio, I was unable to guide him until I had landed. Anyway, he clearly was not going to clear the tarmac with the aircraft tie downs... so I directed him to an open field. Even though I ran towards him, I was blocked by a big fence and I had to do my best to guide him into the field. I told him to line up with a clear runway (don't aim at an obstacle) then had him go into half brakes to ensure he would not overshoot the area. I then put him into full flight at about 150 feet and tried to help time the flair. But it is difficult at that kind of distance. He landed fine. In the example cases I've seen (both using base-station radios): - (AFF7'ish) my instructor, upon seeing we were out, circled in front of me and lead me to a good out landing field. - (AFF7) my (now) wife's instructor, upon seeing we were out, beat feet for home under their fast canopies. Left her to fend for herself for her first out landing under a DC-5. I was flying a PD-260 above and circled down in front of her (at safe distance) and lead her to a good out landing field.* I my case, my instructor did a good job of communicating "follow-me" without the radio. In her case... well, a hand-held would only help if they stayed around to watch... JW *Both were at the same DZ, cut out of the woods, where you were either IN, or OUT. Nothing good in between... Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

Related question (to all, not just you)... If you are out far enough that your student might not make it back, do you pick a field and lead them to an out landing? (Honestly, I've only seen one instructor do this, and many that did not. And this did not seem to vary whether the radio was with the instructor or not.) JW Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

What he said. Here's a photo of a stupid thing I did while unstowing brakes a while ago. Didn't much like it - chopped it. Still trying to figure out how I managed to do it. Looks like while reaching for the toggle to release the brakes, you reached through a loop of the line between toggle and cats-eye that had flipped itself around the riser. Should be easy to reproduce on the ground. Once you see how it can be done (on the ground) look to see how to ensure it doesn't happen. Mostly it starts with ensuring that your excess line is properly stowed (and secure) until you extract it during brake deployment. [soapbox]Until we started getting so freaking anal about not wanting to replace Velcro, or so lazy as to not do go, we had a wonderful way of securely stowing the excess brake line. I've yet to see a better method (elastic wears and stop holding, binding tape loops don't hold all sizes of line securely, and looping them through the riser tops makes this type of deployment knot event worse.) Not saying hold the whole rig together with Velcro, but it has its proper place!!! [/soapbox] (The previous soapbox rant was not directed at rockola, and was the sole opinion of the poster.) JW Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

Terry is correct, I did mean Speed Links... Told you there would be errors in the list. And I think I can answer them all... (stay tuned) and Terry's list besides... Thanks go out to skydiverek, I knew of one set of SB's published in the land of OZ, but on that list I did not see any of the older SB's. Certainly the resources you point to is better than most other lists. (now if we could get a database going... anyone volunteering to put one up on a web site??) JW - PS: 80-90% of my rigs are rounds/PEP's. While I do not want to make old gear illegal, I generally do not service gear over 20 years for anyone else. Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

a good way to do that might be to ammend tso requirments to include submitting sbs to a central, accessible location. i know that wouldn't cover everything, but it would be a good start. after all, it would just be another recipient of the bulletin, no real extra work required. of course, this would mean involving the faa and they would probably spend years drafting the regulations. Don't think the FAA needs to be involved. Seems to me that PIA would be the correct group, as it is international (as is our industry) and most manufacturer's are members. JW Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

No one yet. To be honest, I don't know too much about his jumping, but can say this... - Lived in Columbia, MD - Had three kids (two daughters, youngest was son) - Oldest daughter died suddenly (illness) around 1972. - Had a brother that I think jumped as well. - Walt and his brother were at one time talking about joining those who were jumping into South America to look for gold. I think the brother did go sometime later. - Stopped jumping (believed to be after his wife saw/learned of? his 2nd/3rd reserve ride. - Brought his daughters (Jenny and Mandy) to the DZ on at least a few occasions - He and his wife split in early 70's(?) JW Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

As it was explained to me, the mil spec MS-70101 did not address the finishing of the edges (or at least not well enough). Some were produced that had sharp edges where the parts were stamped, subsequently they were cutting the chest strap webbing. The MS-70101-1 modification resolved that issue. I would like to see us (USPA/PIA/etc) put together a consolidated list whereby, if the manufacturer participated, you could look up the make/model (s/n?) and have it indicate what all the SB/AD's were that applied. Having each rigger create and keep his own list, with the natural gaps the will occur is a waist of time. It also assumes that each rigger is diligent enough (or cares) to find out. This is further limited by the fact that some of us rig primarily evenings or weekends (when the mfgs are closed), and that does not even address orphaned gear... JW Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

The second DZ I mentioned used (basically) matching student gear, had several students on the same load and the radio instructor had to (upon landing) look up and figure out which student was which... JW Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

I am confident that you are up on all the latest bulletins (maybe). But when dealing with a classic, remember that while the industry "knew" about these problems at the time, much has been lost from active rigging discussions, because most were fixed then. But these problems are all gone now, right? You won't run into them now will you... Besides, that its been packed by others, so it must have had any old issues taken care of by now... right?? (Are you sure you know enough about that gear that's been around longer than you, and 15 years longer than you have been around parachutes?) Disclaimer: I am pulling most of these from memory, and I've only been rigging for 10 years. I'm sure I've got one or more slightly off from the original SB. I'm sure the older crowd could add many more that I'd have to look up. My point - if you are going to service gear (especially older gear), make sure you learn both what is common knowledge now and what was commonly known about the gear "then". When in doubt, whip it out... book, manual, phone with "old guy rigger" on other end before you assume that because it looks good, that it is actually correct. Just my rant. JW PS - "old guy" riggers (of either gender), please feel free to add your favorite "forgotten" AD/SB items here... I want to learn too.

I've opened factory pack jobs on brand new PEP's that deployed at 28-38 lbs (multiple brands). Determined that one manufacturer's stock closing loop works for his older gear just fine, but a change to the gear several years ago causes a hard pull ~30lbs when using a new factory made loop. Found one factory packed rig that would not open at 50-lbs. Determined that there was an old SB (unpublished) that had never been applied to this rig. Turned out that while the mfg had been quick to get the word out when the problem was new, this particular rig had not been repacked in the 16+ years since being assembled. JW PS - this last one is a reason that some of us are leaning toward the 20 year limit on what we will service... old "known" issues that are forgotten by the industry over time and are not part of the "current" common knowledge... Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

Note: While written based on student "radio" instructions, the point is more whether the instructor in the air also gives the instructions to the student when under canopy... if you use visual signals rather than radios, please answer whether or not the signaling instructor is the same as the freefall instructor for the particular load. At the first place I jumped, my recollection is that they always had a dedicated instructor for each load (where students were still on radio) to man the radio. This instructor was not on the same load. The second DZ I jumped at routinely had one instructor on the plane who had a radio in their jumpsuit, designated to talk down all students on the load (after they themselves hand landed from their jump). I was never personally comfortable with the second method. Though I can see the advantage if you are short on staff, it seems to me that it could lead to confusion. Was curious how its done elsewhere. JW PS - this was never an issue for me at an instructor... I was always able to talk to them as their ears were never more than 6" from me ... (TI) Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

Yea, but almost immediately we'd start seeing jump suits with "Please Touch, Feel, Grope" stickers all over them... (teach the students) JW Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

Likely not. Too many caviots... its kind of like when one asks ones self for the third time if they really are up to going for the jump... If you have to ask yourself, maybe you've already answered yourself. Now, as a Main... for a vintage experience... with experienced jumper... probably. I'll let you know next spring when I do (got one and a cutaway system) JW Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

yep. Will try to scan it tonight/tomorrow and post it here. -jw- Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

That looks like someone retacked the housing after the repack... Didn't we loose a nationally known jumper a few years back because he tacked his wingsuit to the (still packed) main container and caught a few lines in the tackings? Unfortunately we keep having to relearn old lessons. JW Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

Might, will check at home... JW Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

Well... you had quite an experience. Listen to your instructor for each point of the dive where (s)he offers room for improvement, including pre-jump decision making. Obviously you need to keep yourself out of that situation again... BUT!!! CONGRATS!!! on saving your own A$$ when things did not go the way you expected!!!

Ever since reading this, and also wanting to keep enough slack to keep from breaking the threat the first time the pin moves 1/100th", I found a technique that works well on standard pins... Back the pin off ~1/2 way, String up the seal in the usual manner, Slide seal almost all the way to where the thread is wrapped around the cable (too close and it will break the thread when the seal tries to set down under the top flap), Press the seal with the thread TIGHT Reset the pin such that the bevel is just outside the grommet. This leaves enough slack in the thread to keep from breaking at the slightest movement and keeps the seal as far from the grommet as possible. The ONLY rig that I still have the seal sitting closer to the grommet than I like is the Vector w/ RSL. (such as my own) JW Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

More changes. Thanks to several people for input. JW Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

Updated - Attached please find a consolidated list of the dropzones I've gotten thus far from this thread. I guarentee: - omissions - incorrect classifications of town names / DZ names / airport names - typo's - incorrect states assigned when the author was not clear (or even if they were) - much missing information If folks wish to send me corrections, additions, etc... I will repost the file as it grows. If someone does get the notion to turn this data into an online web site of lost DZ's, go for it. JW Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

Attached please find a consolidated list of the dropzones I've gotten thus far from this thread. I guarentee: - omissions - incorrect classifications of town names / DZ names / airport names - typo's - incorrect states assigned when the author was not clear (or even if they were) - much missing information If folks wish to send me corrections, additions, etc... I will repost the file as it grows. If someone does get the notion to turn this data into an online web site of lost DZ's, go for it. JW Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...