Samurai136

A few years ago at DeWolf's rigging school I had the chance to talk to "Rags" Raghanti from PD. My understanding is that Rags did a lot of the training of the sewing staff in Honduras to insure the same high quality final product. He was teaching the sewing class. I asked him how long it took to build a parachute. He told me that no single person assembles a parachute. After the panels are cut and sorted for assembly they move from station to station through the facility. The worker at each station only performs one task in the assemble process. For example, the first step is putting the re-inforcement tape on the leading edge. It wouldn't matter if the parachute was built in Honduras or the USA. Either way it's the same person doing the work. Parachutes are built by people who may have no rigging knowledge what so ever. Generally speaking assembly staff only have to be able to run a sewing machine well and follow the directions for the sewing step they are performing. Ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

Yep. Thursday is the Holiday. Friday is a regularly scheduled work day. Of course I know that because I've been with ther company for 11 years. But I've got one poor co-worker who is upset about missing her first thanksgiving ever with her family. She's 33 and can't drive home and be back for work friday. Ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

You want the Pancake or the waffle? The disco Fuher? feh. Ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

Actually, it does happen in the real world. The low jump number skydiver accidently picked up the wrong rig (which happened to look just like the DZ student/ rental gear.) I forget if it was a VX or a Velocity, anyway, the skydiver made a controlability check, and decided he didn't like the speed generated from heading changes. He chose to take an off DZ landing into the wind, flared and PLF'd the landing. No injuries. Ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

If you were also smiling I consider that the best tip. Cash is usually spent immeadiately on beer and or hard alcohol of choice, which is also good. Ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

God hears and answers all prayers. Ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

About $2500 for used equipment plus a jumpsuit/ helmet/ Altimeter ($500 plus). $5000 plus for new equipment. Student training can run from $1500 to $2000. You would be paying this cost first using the DZ's student gear. Most people buy their personal equipment after student training is completed. After that it's $15 to $20 per jump. Ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

yeah, if only those missle silos were near a DZ or other interesting place to live. Usually, they're in the middle of nowhere. Like Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, or Kansas. Ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

I've been wondering what happened to cause her canopy to rapidly deflate? The Vengeance is a dogsled. Ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

This idea has some merit. I've seen BBS's with a kill post feature by user name. Set up a personal list of users you want filtered out of threads you view and all response to those users. I can think of at least one user I'd put on my list. Ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

You're jumping a Sabre2 135; have you jumped a Stiletto of the same size? What was your experience? Have you jumped a Sabre2 or any canopy loaded at 1.3:1? What was your experience? The wingloading is one issue. Wingloading doesn't scale perfectly. It is not unreasonable at your experience level to explore jumping a smaller Sabre2. Just move down one size at a time. Changing canopy class from a Sabre2 to an elliptical class canopy (Stiletto/ Samurai/ Katana/ Crossfire/ Etc) is a significant transition from what you are presently jumping. A Samurai or Katana of the same size will be 'faster' than the Stiletto... or tend to dive more. A change of wingloading and canopy class in one move is not reccomended. Things happen a lot faster. Bad Piloting choices can have serious consequences. But it is not unreasonable to explore jumping an elliptical class like stiletto the same size as you're presently jumping. I think you probably should classify yourself as a conservative canopy pilot (you jump a 1:1 wingloading) until you develop more experience with higher wing loadings and faster canopies. Develop your piloting skills by changing one known variable at a time instead of trying to make the entire leap all at once.

Jeez.... Ida know. I'm gonna scratch my butt on this one. *sniff**sniff* Ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

So... uh... Nice tattoo What does it have to do with FF or RW? Or Style ans accuracy??? Ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

Inside of whom? "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

Send a hot chick back to skritch my nads for christmas... ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

I got the new issue of Skydiving two days ago.... Ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

Just got November issue today. I am. Pg 47, far right corner.

Well, I saw all the other teams' complete round 6 videos. Round 6 for Fastrax looked like the camera ate the video; a few points then a long video pause then it seemed to jump around and go back to the launch and more formations then it was over. It also didn't appear to be judged. No Omniskore clock, formations or other indicators. I have no idea what Microburst is doing next year. We'll probably have a team meeting in the near future and sort all that stuff out. I have been itching for some tunnel time and turning points instead of training students and throwing drogues. Ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

Not exactly. Flying thru a body of air is similar to surfing in a body of water. If you surf in relatively calm waters that is similar to "normal" parachuting conditions. You're generally working with a consistent and predictable current. Turbulence is like big wave surfing. It will carry you as far as it can while you are caught in that current. A big wave or an undertow can hold you on the bottom. If you're caught in a mass of air that is moving straight down, you will ride that mass of air straight down until you fly out of it or hit the ground. Unfortunately, its difficult to look at the air an determine exactly how large that turbulence will be or when exactly it is occuring. There are good rules of thumb for predicting turbulence in any landing area but you can never know what conditions you'll land in until you are in them. The faster wing theory works if the turbulence is relatively smaller/ shorter in duration and you have some altitude to work with. Ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

Turbulence can bring a 747 out of the sky. Original poster describes conditions that sound like a thermal but doesn't really tell us about the winds conditions that day. How do you know it was turbulence? Maybe it was an over all lack of piloting skill? 19 jumps under a huge ass student canopy doesn't sound like a formula for a bad landing due to turbulence unless you were caught in a dust devil (australia). There is no parachute out there that is turbulence resistant. Just pilots who feel comfortable jumping their parachute in higher tubulent winds. All bets are off on high wind days and flying thru turbulence. You may have a great landing one jump, or 5, and then a landing that dropped you hard on your ass. It has nothing to do with airlocks, flying faster thru turbulence, or any other theory. If you jump enough in high winds and turbulence you will have some good landings and some bad landings but you'll never know which landing you're going to get until the very end. Ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

If you're trying to learn free-flying/ Sitflying solo, you're wasting your money. The best way to spend that money is on a focused tunnel camp on RW and/or free-fly skills. Second best way to spend it; pay a coach to make sit-fly jumps with you. You will learn faster. Ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

Just ran a few searches on the web and it looks like your car is still in production for the 2006 model year. Did you have the Linear or Aero model of the 92X AWD? Ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

What's the story with USA Fastrax in round 6? It looks like they dropped 5-6 points in that round on the score sheet. The video for that round on NSL website looks.... funny. Details? Ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

The smallest plane I've jumped out of was a C182 RG with only the co-pilot seat removed for space and the door removed. I was doing a Tandem. Ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

I laugh every time some one gets kicked in the Nads. A reasonablly good bit of political satire. Ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken