riggermick

No, I think he's real. He left his real name and State behind. I think he just answerd the question I posed to him and that is sadly to be an ass. Mick.

we already tried that unfortunatly the parasail has what you would call a small problem negotiating through town behind the truck. you know power lines and what-not getting all wrapped up in the thing, not to mention the tight turns and buildings as well as stopping all the time at lights, gets to be a bit of a problem landing and taking off all the time. guess you can see the difficulity in a road show. now what we can do, is sell tickets on this thing at the next fair to make money to buy a "real parasail" but until then we will take our young, tough bouncy ball bags swinging benieth our paracommander out on windy days. i guess you didnt pay too much attention in my first post where i said we dont go any higher than we are prepared to fall, but you must have just skimmed past that all fired up. except this summer when we are gonna base jump off it behind the boat, that should be killer...... no pun intended..... or is it.....; Your general attitude and demeanor displayed on this forum is a primary reason why so many people leave the sport after a few years. Abrasive personality and egotistical attitude get very old to people after a while and when you have a DZ full of them a lot of people just say enough. According to your profile you hold no ratings of any kind whatsoever yet you come to this forum (after recently registering) and make reckless statements about training and what is safe and what is not. I'm guessing you haven't had to take a rig off a dead jumper during an investigation or even seen someone die in front of you because if you had, I don't think be making the type of egotistical /I'm bullet proof statements you currently expouse. If you would like to have intelligent conversations with very knowledgeable people and perhaps learn something new you might try backing it down a notch or two, or you can continue to be an ass in public, your call. Mick.

It sure is, but the smart ones learn from other people's mistakes. Its cheaper and hurts less.

Unless that heat is from a hot knife that a canopy was accidently dropped on, been there done that! Mick. Do you remember the name of the guy that browed Fisby's hot knife to cut crossports in his Unit and crossported the top skin? No, I don't but I know he wasn't the only one to do that!! Many people just didn't understand that flat packing a canopy didn't mean all the cell walls just magicly aligned themselves when laid out for packing. Big oops- cross porting through the cell walls, top skin amd bottom skin at the same time, TFB but that's how we learn in't it? Mick.

Heat is not a big factor in nylon degradation (at least compared to UV.) Unless that heat is from a hot knife that a canopy was accidently dropped on, been there done that! Mick.

Forgive him, he's old and crotchety and set in his ways! But he does have valuable insight into what you are going through. He's agressive as he (like me) has seen too much bad stuff happen to inexperienced jumpers with a majority of them being WAAAY to over confident in their abilities. His true intentions are not to "diss" you but to keep you alive and healthy. Sometimes the hammer is needed along with the feather to keep you on track. He does give a shit about your safety but he has never met you (neither have I) so take it as helpfull advice and no I'm not his appoligist he can look after himself. Mick.

Personally I would route the belly band inside the main lift web as it can be snugged tighter than what is shown. Even so your rib cage will not allow for the belly band to slip off all the way to your head , unless your belly exceeds your rib cage but that's another story altogether. Think of belly bands like belts, if they are snug they can't go to far in either direction. Nothings perfect. Mick.

Actually...my eyes are rolling back in my head cause of your post...not propilot's. As a newbie I want to point out that the ""OHMYGAWDWER'REALLGONNADIE!!!!!!!!" threads" don't scare me or stop me from posting on DZ.com. The People who want to make posts like yours and just generally want to rip into people are the reason why I think twice before coming on this site. Sad really...all this information available and all it takes is a couple of wanks to ruin it. Dear Mr Red, If you think that this MODERATED forum is a haven for name callers and trolls you are sadly misinformed. Have you ever visited rec.skydiving? It used to have a thousand post's a day in the 90's, now because of said name callers and trolls no one uses it anymore. It was truly the wild west out there and anyone could say anything they wanted to about anyone or any thing with out being held accountable for their actions. This forum (by virtue of NOT being on usenet) is probably one of the most civil disscussion groups on the net today. That being said, posts like the one you are refering to are meant to put issues like this in their propper perspective. Falling out of ones harness has ALWAYS been an issue, It just doesnt happen that often with regard to the number of jumps done anually. Ths is not some new phenominon , it has been around as long as parachuting. Like every phenominon it comes in cycles, seemingly ramdom events not connected to each other do happen in clusters, look at general aviation over the last 9 decades ther are many incident clusters that meet this criteria. Because you are relativly new to this sport you will not be aware of this phenomina, but if you wait long enough you will start to see it is true. Scarcasim and ridiclule share a thin boundry and sometimes it is hard to see that boundry and wonder which side of the fence someone is coming from, I think in this case it's scarcasim which is meant to alert you the fact that stuff does happen and it is WE the skydiving population need to always be vigilint and not freak out about it when it does happen. Listen to the signal through the noise, you will still hear it, but it will be a little harder to understand. Look FOR the message not AT the message. Mick

How would you characterize a reserve pack-job? Fast-as-possible slider up? (Yes I'll have this conversation with my rigger as well.) The orintation of the nose is the most critical aspect in determining opening speed. Once the nose is allowed to fill and the cells pressureize you basicly come to a stop (with regard to previously falling). The sooner this can take place from the moment of pilot chute launch the quicker you will be open, it's pretty simple. The reverse is true if you want softer openings. Mick.

I'm not sure what you mean by achieved. Do you mean archived by chance? I feel that a pull test is always valid regardless of the canopys age. Mick.

If you wait several thousand years it will eventually break down without any outside influences. Maybe that is what he is refering to. Mick. Of course when you've been in the sport as long a Mick, that becomes a real concern. Ouch!! If I find you I'm gonna beat the crap out of you with my walker for that remark!! Mick.

(newb warning) I did not find this to be the case. I posted about it a couple weeks ago but "search" isn't done indexing. Best for you to jump it and see for yourself, really. (iirc I pulled at 9k just off the hill, that didn't hurt, so 9k from full altitude 13.5, and 6k from full altitude. I called the openings "brisk", but not hard.) And, the canopy seemed new to me (not that I could tell much difference at 48 jumps). I was lucky to get the three jumps on it even, winter weather and all. If you packed it like a reserve pack job (nose splayed and ready to recieve air) and using no other packing tricks to alow it down IE: slider stowing/ positioning, double stowing etc it will open quite "firmly". Most people will pack it just like their main, which they are used to reefing for the openings they like, read: soft. Mick.

Where does this come from? All the evidence I have seen indicates that parachutes are damaged most from handleing. Then from use, and expousre to UV, and time by itself has little or no effect on nylon If you wait several thousand years it will eventually break down without any outside influences. Maybe that is what he is refering to. Mick.

Found a packing weight in the tail of a swift reserve once, had the riggers name on it. I walked outside (at Perris) the loft and gave it back to him. He was to say the least somwhat embarresed about that. Well known and well respected (still is) point of it all? It can happen to ANYONE. Talk to him privatly about it. Mick.

They were very popular in europe in the 1980's, I saw them on just about every canopy at each DZ I visited. Rapide links were a novelty back then on european drop zones and a sure sign that a "foreginer" was jumping there. Mick.

In my recent FJC my instructor advised me to clear the cables, and that is what I've been practicing. I'm curious about why you qualify your advice "especially @ your current experience level." I don't understand what experience, or rather the lack of experience in my case, has to do with clearing the cables. Why might it not be a good idea to clear them? And don't worry, I'll keep practicing what I was taught until my instructors say different. Just curious. As Meatbomb said, it's not that clearing them isn't a good idea at your level, but ANY CHANGE in procedures could potentially kill you. I've seen it happen, some simple change to a procedure in a low timers emergency drills not fully understood and practiced and in a moment of panic can cause a disaster. Mick.

Is it not supposed to strip entirely clear? Nope, it worked as advertised. Unless you have 4' arms it's impossible to clear. That's why some people come across their chest with the left arm/ hand and clear the cables (while still holding on to the pud with the right hand) before reaching for the reserve rip chord. Talk to your instructor before try this especially @ your current experience level. Mick.

Time for a new perscription Sparks, I see hard housings with terminal swedges on them. Mick.

Yes, we all jumped strato rocks back then and deployed them by tossing a small stone connected to the rock by a vine!! Things were tough back then. Mick.

If it doesn't melt your skin I don't think it's going to be much of a problem on nylon. You can use somthing like isopropol rubbing alchohol to break down any thick deposits. Mick.

We used to use isopropol rubbing alcohol and a tooth brush, it worked well. It also helped close up the old "bullet holes" and make the repair/ adjustment look almost new. Mick.

Yeah that will work but not accomplish his mission, which is to experiment with different deployment settings. Just using the finger trap loop is akin to using the toggle during normal packing. Mick.

Good call!! That's the canopy I was thinking of. Mick.

In the 70's some canopies had their brakes set by that method (a model escapes me for the moment), it was based on the four line release mechanisim for round canopies. Basiclly you want to mark the line at the point at which you wish to experiment. When this mark is set at the guide ring take a loop of the line below the ring and start a daisy chain USE AT LEAST THREE daisy loops. See the diagram to start the process. PRACTICE it on the ground a few times to make sure you understand how it works. Mick.

Hell nowadays there should be a rating for rounds and a seperate for squares. Many moons ago this was just the case see attachment. God look at the date on it I feeling older just looking at it. Mick.