skydiverek

From Bill Booth's post, few posts above: "When a metal RESERVE ripcord handle comes loose, the pressure from the pilot chute spring on the pin will usually keep the reserve shut. However, there is no such tension on the 3-ring system, so if the handle comes loose, the whole system is much more likely to come apart."

I have seen righs with soft cutaway loops. Parachute de France offers them on their Atoms. Semi-stiff "soft" loop. Attached is a different concept - a photo of the cutaway handle with a pocket (not hole) in it. After what Bill Booth said, probably it is not such a good idea. If dislodged in freefall, it would catch more air (due to a pocket) and possibly extract the cutaway cables. Here is the thread on that handle: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=187982#187982 Blue Skies!

Thanks for all the help, but no resolution yet ...

Could you provide the weight of a stainless steel grommet and a brass grommet, in grams?

Any more, fresh reviews on R-MAX reserve? Comparisons to PD-R, SMART and DASH-M (design and flight-wise)?

Hi there, I have a technical issue here. I am in Poland and I hooked up my old printer (Lexmark Color Jetprinter 1020) to my new computer. I lost the original driver floppy, so first I installed the Windows drivers (from windows database) for that specific printer. Nothing printed after that. So, I uninstalled this driver and downloadad the specific english driver for my version of Windows (98) from www.lexmark.com. The printer started printing Word documents after that, but instead of printing Polish fonts (we have a lot of letters with "hooks" and "comas" attached to them), it printed tiny littles squares. I thought the problem was the english, and not polish, version of the driver. So I uninstalled an English driver, went to www.lexmark.pl, downloadad the Polish driver and installed it (it was for Windows 95 though - they did not have a 98 driver in Polish). Same result - the printer prints, but no polish fonts. Any ideas how to make it print Polish fonts (let me add that it worked fine with the original computer and original driver)??? Any settings I need to change? I tried to look everywhere (ctrl panel, driver and printer settings), but no sucess. Thanks!

Looks great, but mey not be the est for all brands of rigs. For instance, I am 99% sure RWS says such hanging of he rig messes up Vector 3's riser covers. General ruls for storing a gear, especially for a longer time, is DARK, DRY and COOL.

Pics of Powershot are in this post: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1563649#1563649

Some opinions which design is better can be found in this thread titled "Reserve Pilotchute: Meshless or with Partial Mesh?" here: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=476690#476690

Check the photos of Beech Super King Air 200 below. Look at the location of tail wing - why arn't all jump aircraft built like this? We would have far fewer, if any, tail strikes and tail wraps if such design was used more widely. I understand aerodynamics and engeenering issues, but it always amazed me that PAC 750, which was build FOR skydiving, has one of the lowest tail wings I have ever seen. Is it super difficult to build planes with such high (and safe) tail wing? Photos: http://www.airliners.net/open.file/805728/M/ http://www.airliners.net/open.file/804734/M/ http://www.airliners.net/open.file/803719/M/

Could you upload it to www.skydivingmovies.com

I am trying to find out the percentage of mesh and fabric on different reserve PCs. I'm just curious how they are built, since I know there I advantages and disadvantages of certain designs. So far I know: - Vector 3: fabric 100%, mesh 0% - Wings: fabric 80%, mesh 20% Riggers - could you continue and complete the list with your estimates? - Racer: - Quasar II: - Javelin: - Infinity: - Mirage: - Reflex: - Dolphin: - Centaurus: - Talon/Voodoo: - Atom: - Sidewinder: Thanx

I quess he meant both. With pull-out, the container openes BEFORE the PC gets into the airstream. So, PC-in-tow risk is almost non-existant, and the horseshoe where the main container openes, the bag leaves and the PC is still in the pouch is imposible. Remember - with the pc-in-tow you can NOT jettison the PC before (keyword "before") pulling the reserve, and with the horeshoe it's the same problem, even worse - just watch the horseshoe segment on the "Breakaway" tape... So, the pull-out design eliminates the only two malufunctions that require you to dump the reserve into the trailing mess behind you (PC and horseshoe mess). P.S. I know there are different situations, I was writing "in general/almost in all cases".

I am with you on that one. Other "annoying" posts: 1. The ones that consist only of "

Some pros of pull-out: 1. Pilotchute-in-tow mal is eliminated (in general) 2. Horseshoe is eliminated (in general) These are the two mals that you may not be able to cutaway from before pulling the reserve (PC-in-tow: obvious. Horseshoe - watch the "Breakaway" horseshoe sequence both in commercial break and in the movie.) Some cons of pull-out: 1. Straight pin can be pushed out (as opposed to curved pin which only rotates in place when the force is applied to itss tip - try it.). I don't understand why the whole "floating pud" thing is used as a pull-out con... So what - you have a floating pud, you deploy a reserve. Thats it! "Floating pud" issue seems to be more a training or psychologically related danger, rather that design danger...

Is it safe to put the floppy disks in your check-in luggage? I know they always tell you NOT to put an undeveloped camera film in your check-in luggage, since the X-ray process would destroy it. But what about the floppy disks? Any danger of losing files???

It is one of two speed settings on Protrack.

I used to jump this quipment, too. The container was called "Talka", main canopy was also called "Talka" and a reserve was called "Delta" (PZ-81). The whole kit was called "TALKA". Got it, right? Main was rectangular, reserve was triangular. There is no freebag, reserve is "freepacked". I have one reserve ride on it... Very light toogle pressure, not too hard landing for non ram-air canopy. The reserve PC was connected to the the thing similar to the slider to slow the deployment process. More info on triangular reserves here: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=661037#661037

Was this film on TV or can you rent it???

Cross-post : http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1514734#1514734

That figure might be incorrect. From Guinness World Records book: "Eugene Andreev (USSR) hold the official FAI record for the longest free-fall parachute jump after falling for 80,380 ft (24,500 m) from an altitude of 83,523 ft (24,458 m) near the city of Saratov, Russsia on November 1, 1962". So, he jumped from 80,380 ft (24,500 m) without a drogue and opened at 3,143 ft (958 m). Kittinger's record (in terms of exit altitude) still stands... unless the jumper you are talking abot did not file for the record.

How about taking a gentle version of the air pressure chamber ride (the one offered by th AirForce). I have seen this on TV and the candidates were exposed to different "altitudes", given math tasks to do, and so on. But one experiment included a simulation of going from see level to 25,000 ft in 2 seconds!. Are you at great risk of blowing your ear drums in such a rapid decompression??? I have heard it is easier for ears to equalize when you ascend than descent, but still - ascending from 0 ft to 25,000ft in 2 seconds is pretty damn fast! Do you have to have perfect ears and nose to survive that??? Does AirForce check you ears, sinuses and nose before doing that?

LOL, that was in Las Vegas wind tunnel!!!

Dooes IRS pay taxes to itself?

The website was updated today, March 1st, as promised: http://www.argus-aad.com