skydiveoc

Looking to re-invest in new student radios. Can anyone recommend a reliable set up?

But they went through a process to make sure it would work, not so with the drogues, right? Matt What would make you think Simon did not do any testing with his drogues? If he did, then the poster should have been clearer in his point. Matt I dont think you have to test if a Master Rigger uses "like materials and design as strong or stronger. Stockpiling parts doesnt seem wise with the way designs change. If you bought a bunch of UPT risers before they went to Vectran you'd have a bunch with toggle loops too long.

Betting on the come...Ahh I remember "Man the Sony PC7 is gonna be awesome...and only $1700!

So...if I need a camera right now maybe get a cheap Silver or Hero2? That Ambarella looks unbelievable.

Oh Man I hate being teased like that!

No the packer did not shote the stiffener past the loop. UPT has since redesigned the riser to make snap replacement easier. In the past it was not unheard of for the toggle snap to break off after just a few jumps with an aggressive TM yank. Tough to justify repeatedly buying a $300 pair of risers after 10 jumps.

I thought we were arguing about justifying horsepower upgrades? 28K 470 vs $70K 550? If powerplants are the same than yes...better to have the cheaper airframe obviously.

This is all true, but we are talking about a machine (in this case a 182). If factory A has a 70k 182 that takes 4 people to 10k in let's say 10 min, and factory b has a 22k 182 that does the exact same thing but takes 2-3 min longer. Is factory A really going to be more profitable than factory b? 2 machines that produce the same product with the same operator (pilot), and the same hourly operating costs, but factory b's machine costs a third less...doesnt that equal more capital? more capital equals better gear, more advertising, the ability to fly a single load here and there and the option to pay an over priced shop $85 and hour to unscrew some inspection plates and buck a few rivets ;) But...its not the same machine...the 70K machine can fly six loads in two hours without fueling, burn 2 gallons less per load, get to $1000 feet before 1/4 mile past the threshold, and gives the owner/pilot a hard on everytake off! Ive yet to meet an operator who regretted upgrading to higher horsepower. ..except maybe a new king air owner. Investments in greater effeciency are costly but pay for themselves over time. I mean, why do you think Caravan owners are converting to the Texas Tubine's $500,000 800 hp engine upgrade? Because its not the same machine as before.

Airplane acquisition is a capital expense or asset and should not be figured as an operating expense. A million dollar 182 with the same engine has the same operating expense as the 22K 182. Operating expense is how much it costs you to deliver one product. Factory A with a million dollar machine that can make two products vs factory B that has a $10 machine making one has a lower operating expense than factory B provided both machines require the same maintenance, and no interest is figured. In fact, Factory A will be able to deduct greater depreciation than factory B. This is why capital expenses are always cut after operating expenses.

I don't know the numbers but I would guess that is true with people putting 2 or 3 tandems on a Caravan or Otter too, and justifying to themselves. It sounds crazy but I have seen it done more than once. Makes you wonder doesn't it? They are at best keeping the staff working. Caravan to own is about $350 an hour, two tandems to 13.5 is still going to tach at .3 burning maybe 15 gallons at $5 a gallon. Double that rate if you're leasing. Can't always make a profit. Better to have customers leaving with smiles than rescheduling because its a loss to send em up. If you own a restaurant, can always make a profit Monday through Friday but you still have to stay open to keep staff and maintain a presence.

Yeah and Ive talked to a guy who owns a Norland and a Pponk and prefers the pponk.

I would hesitate on buying a modified aircraft. Modify your own aircraft. I got a very reasonable quote from Lawson Aviation, Matt Lawson in Detroit MI. He is an authorized pponk shop. (Sorry for all my auto correct chaos!) Low 20K if he can use the crank on your 0470L. Low 30k if he has to buy a new crank. If money is not the issue but it sounds like it is, 20 extra hp at altitude gets you a 550 from TX skyways. Prob at 80k here. The 550 will prob get you to 10K 2 minutes faster. Hardly worth 50K more. I have only one peer who did not like his pponk but he bought it already upgraded and had a cruise prop on her. Everyone else I know feels it is worth it.

Those prices are without maintenance! JPI is the engine analyzer I would get as it gives shock cool parameters for new pilots. C185=high $, cross wind limitations, high insurance and hard to find tail wheel pilots that wont ground loop her. Wing X is 3-4 good days labor to put on, 20 hours at $75 an hour here. You need to go into this without being budget minded. I agree with Van...biggest bang for the buck would be a pink 470-50 for $30k, add a climb prop 13-14K with spinner.(loud mac 401 or the MT as Van suggests is quieter but not so good if you're taking off on gravel. Go one year at 9k ago with this set up then invest some $ the next year on extensions, o2 if you want to go higher and check out forced airmotive's belt turbo. It will Maintain sea level pressure without hot exhaust for about $25K installed. You should be able to keep 1000 fpm to 10k mdl If you pay for good gear, good staff, good maintenance, good advertising, than you will not be able to afford single tandems. You need to be averaging close to 2 tandems per load. We actually charge extra for singles. Guys who are making it work doing singles arent paying shop rate for maintenance, paying $5 a load to pilots, and not buying new gear.

I dont think it has anything to do with order, jammed uo too far while stoeing. I never heard of it when using Dacron line...only vectran. With vectran there is obviously less meat in line thickness and your are not stoeing the flare toggle segment through the loop. So...more room for the stiffener to move around. We have this situation on hand cam video and yoiu can see the stiffener slide upward past the grommet. UPT has made now the loop smaller on tandem risers in response to this. We already had several toggle hang ups which we were able to clear so we were aware while packing to make sure the loop only travels about 3/4 into the stiffener. Of course this happened on risers where the toggle may not have been snapped. Noticed UPT changed the snap location to make it more field friendly to replace! I think you may need to replace with new risers, (means waiting a year now) or shorten the riser loop with some tacking thread. New risers are now much more tighter fitting the stiffener through the loop.

These canopies are oldER but not that old. Openings were not that hard either when they gave.

We used to require T shirts on until we hired some part time Hooters waitresses to pack and now for safety sake we do not allow shirts on while packing. :) Yes shirts are on...

QuoteFrom a guy thats anal about glasses i had a pair of Wiley-x's....compared to the Oakley Minute 2.0 i just got completely for skydiving, the wileys are garbage, The Oakleys blow anything else out of the water, the waranty, the lenses, the quality, is amazing by far! I will never get anything but another pair of oakleys!!![/reply I dunno ..I tried oakleys, cracked the frame so I sent it in.not only did they deny the claim but kept trying to bill me for $20 to look at the frames. My last pair of oakleys

All of a sudden our dz is seeing drogue attachment wear and even material failure on Sigma 2 340 canopies. The canopies range from 700 to 1500 jumps, have had new vectran line sets about 300 jumps ago. Anyone else having similar situations?

Hey...Arent you the guy with the shoulder pain!

Ever since I stopped doing bench press my shoulders feel better. I try and minimize toggle input till the very end!

Well they worked fine before. Used half PNY before that and had cracking issues so we went with all Kingston.

About every 5 videos, we are getting a few clips where the audio plays a weird scratchy almost robotic sounding audio. Seems to have started when we switched sticks to Kingston brand sticks recently. We format at the beginning of the day but not after every jump. Any suggestions?

Super annoying. New i7 laptop with 8 gb of ram and vegas stops working ever 2-3 edits. Should I try a re-install?

I dont think you have 8500 jumps with Sigma 2 mains with Vectran. This is a problem that UPT has obviously acknowledged with the new stiffened riser. We have new Vectran canopies and have had one cutaway, two near cutaways. An associate DZ has had at least one cutaway due to the toggle working its way upward with the grommet sliding throught he loop during opening. Experienced TM with 14000 jumps watched it happen. The toggle was stoed in the keeper, worked its way out of the keeper on opening and slid up. He was able to clear it. Yes snaps keep it in place but often break due to TM's anxiously yanking down. DZO's do not want to spend $300 every 100 jumps on new risers. Hopefully theyve got it sorted with the new risers.

I'm thinking Sony or Asus.