riggermick

If it's not throwing oil, it's out of oil and the engine is about to seize!!! If the preflight requires an umbrella, there's an oil leak. If there's no oil dripping, it's out of oil. The proudest time in my flight log is my SIC in 6MA. Blue Skies! Harry Remember 817? Iv'e got some photos (already posted here a couple of years ago) of her when she was cut in two by that dumb fuck student pilot, that was a sad day. Remember when 57 ugly threw a blade,resulting in the port engine shaking itself of the nacele and dragging in the dirt? The resulting fire completly destroyed her. Jim ???'s (last name escapes me for the moment) video of that take off is still around somwhere. That was a sad end to Steve Feildings night load big way that evening. Ahh, those were the days!!!! I kept a piece of her for years in my trailer in the "ghetto", of course that started the whole PVSS (Perris Valley Skydiving Society) thing which is funnelly enough still in use today in the form of ID's at Perris. My PVSS # is still my perris ID number. Would have to look it up to see exactly what it is though, it's been a while. It did not seem like a big deal at the time when all of this went down but looking back it altered the face of Sth Ca skydiving for ever!! Mick.

Bally Ribbon Mills will dye teal webbing for you, but.......you have to order a minimum of 1000 yards to make it cost effective for them. Good luck!! Mick

I am retired living on my laurels.

Send the rig back to Altico and have mike replace a flap with a new one with your name on it. It's the best and safest way to ensure the work is done correctly. It will also help ensure a neat and professional job is done. Mick.

I have about 1000 + jumps ot of 3's, still miss em still love em. I remember spotting a night load at Perris in the early 80's with only moonlight as the guide, put everyone on target (30 somthing in all), man that was a blast. Who rembers spotting and using the "buttons" red, yellow and green for direction? Back then when you were over the spot you would alternate the buttons (sending flashing lights to the pilots) to tell them to cut the power. Boy have things changed! Self reliance has been repaced with someone else to blame for any error in judgement, not good in the long run. There is somthing fundimental about spotting for youself and your load that has all but dissapered, sad really. Mick.

The fill time on that little toy parachute was so small if they didn't put that big apex vent on it could be really bad. But with such a large vent it came out of the sky like a man whole cover. So they compromised and put on the “cats eye”. As I am sure you know, when dealing with anything, parachutes more than most everything is a trade off. The last KXX I packed I could swear I could read the paper through it. Yep, everything in skydiving is a trade off. My KXX (which I still have (with a Phantom 22 full stow diaper, not quite legal, but I dont use it as a reserve)) is in great shape!! I used it as a tersh (free bagged without the diaper being used) and it lands just fine!! Without the cats eye it would definatly land like a lead balloon!! Mick.

Mike's a good guy to deal with, I recently worked with him on a "special" project and he was constantly taking calls from customers and filling the orders but all the while kept focused on the project. Now that's customer service!!! Mick.

It works like a cat’s eye apex vent or a rubber vent ring. During the deployment when the pressure in the apex region gets too high it opens and “vents” the pressure. Then after deployment it closes off to increase drag. If you remember on the Navy Con. You could pull the vent cap down over the vent hem to straiten the apex and apex lines. Then pull it back up with just the bridle poking out. Pioneers KXX had a "cats eye" vent, when I was under one it looked like a large nylon vagina!! Seemed to work though. Mick.

Jump a 24' flat unmodified or C-9 28' flat and see if the crown vent stops ocillation. Okay then, so what is the crown vent for? It helps dampen ocillation but is also used to vent the canopy during deployment so it doesn't explode, it's kind of a dual purpose thing. Mick.

Like photos of hip rings on old 4 pin rigs? Never seen em! Never paid a dime to Sandy. Tony Domenico and I "invented" rings for harnesses used for paragliding when Sandy Reid happened to drop by the shop and Tony jokingly said "hey wouldn't this be cool on a skydiving harness?". Well one year later the Flexon was born, go figure!! The original intent of the hip rings was to stow the leg straps of the para gliding harness so they wouldnt snag on chair lifts at the top of the mountain. These early paragliding rigs looked like back packs with skydiving harnesses on them. In the early days of para gliding many people (in the summer months) would use ski fields to lanuch and land and then repeat the process many times over a single day. Because we have production logs and dates nothing ever came of it. Mick.

Does that mean my Gray Goose is back on line?

Well if you know Bill and vouch for his veractiy (sp?) howabout giving your true identity? I personally know Bill and will stand by your conviction about him, but unlike you I represent myself here and believe in my conviction(s) to the point that I will actually identify myself! How about you? BTW Bill G is a standup guy, as is Ted Strong, Gary Douris and many other "old timers" often quoted here. C'mon idntify yourself it's good for everyone, incuding you! Assuming you have nothing to hide, that is. Mick.

He is old, he is probably trying to open the attachment with a typewriter.

I could not open your attachment. Buy a new computer of upgrade your operating system, mine opened it with no problems. I bet you are still using a rotary phone and a VCR!! Mick

Having been through this process a couple of times I can tell you that he's already published it!!! Just by posting it here he already has a date and time stamp on his invention (gotta love the internet). His next worry will be shareing the "discovery" with his partner in crime who helped on the project. If it actually works (not necessary for a utility patent, the only criterion is that is novel and a couple of other things not too hard to prove (new and unthought of) He's going to need to test it against all other inventions covering the same topic. If indeed he has a "winner" it could be somthing great if it is brought to the market correctly. You are not nessessarly going to get rich from it but may profit from it in some way. Keep thinking it's good for the mind!!! Mick.

I think all of the later posters gave you the answer you were looking for, but hey at least you were THINKING!! Maybe you have the desire and potential to become a rigger and later down the road a designer/ manufacturer! That's how EVERYONE ELSE who designs and builds skydiving stuff got their start. Question conventional wisdom at all oppertunities and develop an aniyltical mind, that is how it is done. No one is born with the specfic skills to do this type of work, they just find it facinating and have a true pure love of being creative. If it feels like a "fit" for you then run with it, I did as so many others before and after me have done. This is the true engine of evoloution in any endevour. That's where ALL the new innovations come from. It's truly exiteing, no shit!!! Mick.

QuoteOh yeah! What a great idea the Crapapult was. One pilot chute on one side of you and the other wrapped around you on the other side cuz you cutaway from a spinner and tumbled through reserve deployment. And now you got nothing to extract the freebag and reserve canopy cuz its all wrapped around Yeah That old arguement, popular with the naysayers, one slight problem though, it assumes that a body is in a steady state and not moving. As we all know in free fall nothing is static, even unconcious jumpers are moving all over the place. We tried to duplicate this scenario but those pesky laws of physics kept getting in the way and wouldn't let happen. It's a shame you bought in to the propaganda perpitrated by people with agendas one of which is representing for rival manufacturers. Once it (negative propaganda) starts newer and more impressionable people buy in to it with out question and it becomes gospel even though it's BS. Some believe it through ignorance, some don't understand physics, most no nothing about equipment design and as we all know skydivers love to give their opinion on everything, weather it's right or not. Mick.

Unless you're unlucky enough to have a reserve baglock, but you'll have to be very unlucky. edited to add: then again, bill booth did say in that link above that the bridle does not produce enough drag to extract the reserve. Eugene AND THAT'S WHY I DEVELOPED THE "CATAPULT"!!!!!! A horseshoe'd bridle almost cost me my life!!! Shame all of the nay-sayers helped NOT to bring it in wide spread acceptence, BTW it hasn't killed any one and has three or four documented saves. All of the scenarios "they" put forward never came to pass, it could have saved four or five indivuals had it been accepted on a wider basis, but that's how it goes when superstition overcomes the laws of physics! I offered a solution and the "old guard" rejected it as a "death trap", I guess that's the downside of competition when you are the "little guy". JUDGE FOR YOUR SELF .I wouldn't jump without one neither would I let my friends or loved ones also. That is how strongly I believe in it. Period!! Anyone? Mick. I love ya man, and I'd happily put one on my gear if I could.

Unless you're unlucky enough to have a reserve baglock, but you'll have to be very unlucky. edited to add: then again, bill booth did say in that link above that the bridle does not produce enough drag to extract the reserve. Eugene AND THAT'S WHY I DEVELOPED THE "CATAPULT"!!!!!! A horseshoe'd bridle almost cost me my life!!! Shame all of the nay-sayers helped NOT to bring it in wide spread acceptence, BTW it hasn't killed any one and has three or four documented saves. All of the scenarios "they" put forward never came to pass, it could have saved four or five indivuals had it been accepted on a wider basis, but that's how it goes when superstition overcomes the laws of physics! I offered a solution and the "old guard" rejected it as a "death trap", I guess that's the downside of competition when you are the "little guy". JUDGE FOR YOUR SELF .I wouldn't jump without one neither would I let my friends or loved ones also. That is how strongly I believe in it. Period!! Anyone? Mick.

RI had issues with Airtec over the placement of the battery/ processer pack. Sandy was adament that the unit be placed on the pack tray and Helmut was equally adament that it be placed on the reserve vertical wall. They went round and round on this issue for months, Sandy's position was (correctly) that the H/C mfg had jurisdiction over how the AAD would be installed in their product. Eventually they resolved their respective issues, as far as witholding approval I don't think there was ever any official stand on that issue. Remember the CYPRES was the only AAD of it's type during this period so everything was new and unproven about it. Mick.

You must always remember Booth's law #2. "The safer skydiving gear becomes, the more chances skydivers will take, in order to keep the fatality rate constant." Sad but true! Mick.

Well this aguement has been around as long as skydiving has, the fact of the matter is that there is not a signifacnt body count to be blamed on poor rigging. Parachutes do function correctly even when rigging is sub-standard, I'm not endorsing poor rigging practice but look at it in real terms, poor rigging has not significantly contributed to jumper death tolls over the years. Manufacturers have for many years now have sought ways to mitigate bozo riggers from actually killing or maiming people and despite the best efforts of the bozo contingent the mortality rate is astoundingly low!!! The best recipe to overcome "gear fear" is to learn more about what it is you have on your back and how it works, right down to the exact sequence of events that takes place when you pull the handle. Remember the "mysterious box" above your main is not magic, it's simply another parachute that has many built in features to handle things that you would never be concerned about deploying your main. Talk to riggers and manufacturers about how things work right down to the load path taken during an opening, you'll be supprised to find out how much you don't know! Remember education could save your life one day, it saved mine!!! Mick.

Unless covered under an SB or AD all published editions on record with the FAA are legal. Legal but not nessesarly current in light of any recent findings by the mfg. It is up to the individual rigger to stay apriszed of such changes. Under the rule of law the pre existing instructions are still valid (but not necessarly current) and could still be used. Most bridle packing changes are done to cosmeticly enhance the apearence of smaller containers not because of some deployment issue or safety concern. Remember, when it comes to gear: It's all about the looks!! At least that's how most of the experienced jumper population sees it. Just my .02 worth. Mick.

I believe Wichard used to make them and probably still does. Wichard used to make swords many years ago but now make a variety of maratime S/S hardware, but these days many imitators make them. Mick.

if any of you guys are taking this seriously i feel real sorry for you, have a nice day boys and girls. Some, if not most who post here do take this seriously. Many of whom post here are currently or formally in the equipment industry and have seen more than their fair share of "ugly shit" and feel compelled to speak up about it. When you have to "remove" the eqipment of a dead person that you were talking to just minutes before, well that just puts you ill at ease and changes your whole perception of life and death. It's not some faceless/nameless individual you are working on, but someone you actually knew, it changes you in ways that you can't imagine (and I sincerely hope you never have to) and gives you another perspective on what it is you are currently doing in your skydiving career. Suddenly all of the glib/ Im so fucken cool remarks seem totaly empty and you find yourself second guessing your whole attitude about everything. Call us primma donnas or worry warts or doom sayers, it dosen't matter. We've (collectivly) seen too much bad shit happen over the years that we feel a compelling need to point it out to people like you. When you (if you're around long enough) actually find yourself in this position you will come to the realization that this can easily be you (or one of your closest friends) and feel sick to your stomach because you will have to deal with it. It's not pretty or cool it just sometimes happens and it's not fun, but it's REAL and you have to cope with it And hopefully learn from it. COMPRENDO? Mick.