FrogNog

It's not what you think; he lands with them both open every time. (He's got a third canopy as a "real" reserve, but there's no room to list it in the profile.) -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Ah, yes, I forgot that a rigger (or anyone) can use his own head in determining how long/short a stretchy thing should be, if there are other indications (in this case, loop tightness). Durr. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

All I know is they post one or two UGLY rigs for sale in classifieds. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

My favorite quote for this is from Black Adder Season 2, episode "Bells", when Black Adder is talking to his doctor. "Still, why should I care? Just means more rampant taughty for us real men." (Emphasis theirs.) -=-=- If indirectly killing kittens ever becomes a crime, I'm going to get 99 life sentences. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Has your opinion on Racer container reserve closing methodology changed yet? -=-=-=-=- Pull.

I could copy the one on there...but there is no guarantee that one was made correctly...I guess I can e-mail TSE. Mike I've seen it in print that copying anything that tends to stretch (or shrink) during normal use is improper. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

I'm with you on this "being a nerd" issue. I have thus far resisted making a post explaining "breaks vs brakes" and "flare vs flair". (Your post itself is asking for "wonder vs wander" .) And don't even get me started on apostrophe abuse. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

To me this sounds like a meat vs. vegetables issue. Practicing flat turns, learning to use rear risers as a backup, intentionally landing downwind or crosswind, etc. are "chores" from one standpoint. Things you don't do because you want to as much as because you have to in order to increase future survivability. Getting into front risers leads more to fun stuff. There are exceptions to this, of course - the challenge of crosswind / downwind landings can be fun, and front risers can help you improve some imperfect scenarios up high, but chores vs. fun is how I see this. Somewhere around 25 jumps it's understandable that a student could be downsizing, since most people don't stay on 290 square foot designed-to-be-docile canopies forever. What he's downsizing to and when he does it would be between him and his instructor(s), but I sure hope his instructors are making him well-rounded and paying attention to how he's handling it. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

I'll get it done. I promise. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

last time I looked, the dime already had a perfectly good president on it. We could put him on the 75-cent piece. I don't think that had a president on it. Personally, I want to be on the 69-cent piece. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Deleted entirely because my comments were not appropriate for "General Skydiving Discussions". I thought I was in "Talk Back". Move along, nothing to see here.

OK, my favorite Crazy Ivan repost is from the future: it's when he reposts this post about which was his favorite repost. And I'm already here shouting up and down about how great that repost will have been! Or will have wased. Soon. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Has anyone heard of this little "detail" about the incident? It should be a major outrage! I'm not saying I like it, but can you explain what crime(s) you think the photographer committed? Perhaps soliciting multiple counts of attempted murder, solicitation of multiple counts of destruction of property, solicitation of terrorism, and solicitation of disruption of international trade? Or being an accessory, if the freelance photographer assisted in any way besides offering to take pictures? If the photographer showed up and offered to take pictures (for his own gain) of the commission of a sizeable crime that was probably already going to take place, does that make him an accomplice? I hope the photographer got the names and numbers of the people he was hanging out with. I'm sure there are a lot of people who would like to meet. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

I vote against putting Reagan's likeness on anything else. I'm not against Reagan, but I think he's got enough stuff named after him. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

All weapons look ugly from the wrong end. The OICW just looks ugly from both ends - 50% worse. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

I totally agree. I have a personal rule against worrying about my packjob above 4k AGL.

There are two ways back to the ground from inside a plane that's not treating you well. I'm guessing (based on a limited sample) there are lots of variances in pilot style. So I consider it a skydiving challenge to "hang on" until the pilot gives me the door. P.S. I like saying "DOOR!". That's why I volunteer to spot. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

How long had it been since you last et? In my early skydiving days I liked to get in the plane hungry because it gave me something to take my mind off the flight ("ooh, I'm hungry" instead of "ooh, I hope this plane don't crash") and so I wouldn't have anything in my stomach to sick up in case I couldn't take the plane ride. I think this made me suffer a lot more nausea (usually immediately after canopy opening) than I needed to. Now, I make sure I have a good breakfast of food that agrees with me before I hit the DZ, and I bring a lunch that will do the same. I can't tell for sure how much of my improved comfort is just getting used to the plane and how much is being properly fed (not too much food, still ), but I know it helps not to be starving. BTW, no harm in coming back down with the plane. They get paid, nobody got hurt, and you can try again. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

I think RSLs are like airbags. They kill fewer than they save. Net result is fewer deaths overall, and some people die of a cause that didn't used to exist. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Get a cardboard sign and sit at the offramps. "Clean, sober, need repack and cypress batteries. Please help." -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Oh, that's going on my list of fun stuff to try for later. -- My rigger says that a couple of line twists just enhances the experience. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

I have Parachute Manual Vol 1 and I've read Vol 2 (gotta get a copy of it). I'll check into that catalog(ue). I'm not a packer. I just pack recreationally, if you know what I mean. Good news is it wasn't the rig owner who got slammed. Bad news is it was the DZO. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

OK, this is the post that finally made the band-tightening thing "click" for me. I was at a loss for how I would do a second lark's-head knot (I think that's what the rubber band knots are) when I put the band on the bag. Hantzt's phrasing ("wrap the tubes or rubberts two times around the loop") made me visualize, duh, wrapping the band an extra 360 before it passes under itself for the lark's head. "Double lark's head", not "one lark's head and then another." I probably would have figured this out a lot sooner if I didn't schmoke so much crack. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Yeah, this is why I haven't packed a slammer before that one - I usually find the first two locking stows are tight enough because that's where there's guaranteed to be the highest number of individual lines, and that's where the bag tends to bulge the most. On the one that opened hard, the lines were just too small, the rubber bands too large, and the bag wasn't bulging. So the locking stows (like all the others) were pitifully loose. While we're on the subject, is this a good understanding: If the canopy gets out of the bag prematurely, i.e. while the lines are not yet straightened and beginning to really load up, a hard opening is possible because the canopy can spread "ahead of" the slider's influence by pulling un-stretched line on the riser side of the slider through the grommets without any resistance? This results in the canopy opening too far while the airspeed is too high and the user gets . The bit about the canopy slipping lines through the slider grommet prematurely is the critical bit, because I guarantee I had the slider open and against the stops when I packed that one. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

If I were a rigger, which I'm not, I would refuse to pack reserve cables that exceeded the maximum kink specifications for the type of cable used. I don't know if there are rules saying that a reserve kinked more than "X" shall not be packed, and I bet there's no clear line between "almost too kinked" and "definitely too kinked", but I'm pretty sure I've seen specs for reserve handles telling what cable they're made of, and specs for cable telling what they're supposed to look like to remain in service. I'd rather risk pissing someone off than risk killing someone. But, this is just talk, since I'm not a rigger. -=-=-=-=- Pull.