teason

Originally done by a group called "Shocking Blue". (but you've gotta be real old for that

Ah, but can it do a static line opening at 14500', 130 knots, with 320lbs in less than 8Gs? I didn't know you guys participated in that particular test jumper abuse program? I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

The "ghost loops" that Jumpshack sells are for cypres installation and cost about $10 if memory serves. They are made from Type IV box weave and cypres cord and the loops are threaded through the cutters. When the bodkins are routed through the bottom grommets, they also go through the loops which later "Laso" the closing loops and pull them back through the cutters. They don't make very good "ghost loops" in the sense of what Rob is suggesting, when I've had to use ghost loops (required for an Excalibur with a round reserve and a cypress) I've made each loop like a figure eight so that I can temp the resulting bottom loop and thread my pull up cords through the top loop with out effort. I still prefer Steel Bodkins, I find the make for better pack jobs (allows you to better see all the flaps aligned and where you need to redistribute the bulk). I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

The knee brace can be great for sit flying, you can put a chest mount altimeter on it and it's like have knees for a dashboard! I tore my ACL in 95, used the knee brace as an altimeter mount and still see versions of the idea used around the DZ to this day. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

I think you totally missed the point. ..But yes I do. I built them so I kinda got real intimate with the design. By the way, I own 15 Javelins. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

Tonto, that was just shamefull equivocation, I would expect more from you. Well, you are talking about old Racer trainers here. Not only that, the re designation was in response to fatalities that happened to another manufacturer that used the same design with other webbing and the container can still be used ,with a harness change, just like that other manufacturer. (I've change 10 harnesses from that particular manufacturer at great expense and got back the same flawed design!) Just so that it is perfectly clear to everyone else reading, an adjustable main lift web design that is still in use by other manufacturers to this day is considered "not good enough" by Jumpshack. Jumpshack never had a fatality but another manufacturer had two. Jumpshack said don't use that design with squares, the other manufacturer just keeps on making them. Jumpshack changed that design before the fatalities happen because they realized there was a better design, the other Manufacturer had 2 fatalities and hasn't changed anything. That is the commitment to reliability. Compare how many SBs have been issued for Vectors and Javs to how many have been issued for the Racer. Bringing up the few Racer SBs without mentioning that they have the fewest overall is equivocation (telling half truths to deceive) and has no place in intelligent discussion. Jumpshack puts Function first. The Ad just asks you to do the same. What your opinion is about the RSL is totally irrelevant to the point of the ad. Others feel the double sided to be superior .... so what... the origional claim was that the ad said Racers were ugly, I tried to inform you otherwise and now we are talking RSLs. I actually respect the argument and feel it has merit in a debate about RSLs but not here. That is also an excellent, thought out point. So I guess what you're saying, to those who may choose Racers because we like the look, is that in a CRW wrap, the last thing you need is pretty gear. I like the way you think.... I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

Actually, Rob, the problem comes from how black fabrics are commonly made. Black fabric is often dyed by taking a colour and increasing concentration until black is achieved. For example, you can have a blue-black, red-black,green black or brown black. If you have a red Bic pen with a clear shaft, you'll notice that where the ink is thick, it's black. This is quite common in the textile industry and I've seen black parapack fade to brown and black type XIII fade to blue. I believe that true black is available but too expensive for normal fabric manufacture, if memory serves. Just some useless info I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

Ok..... not John, nor Nancy and nor anyone else at the factory thinks that the Racer is Ugly. Period. What the ad was trying to say is that when you are buying something that is designed to save your life, there is something more important than "what you think is pretty" but rather what functions the best. Racer has never had a recall and that is the type of reliability the ad is alluding too and it implies that safety should be the primary consideration. Whether you like Racers or not, if you know about gear you must agree with that perspective. By the way, these are (in my opinion) the best looking rigs I've ever seen. The Tandem is hands down the best looking Tandem on the market (I think ) and at 40 lbs the most comfortable. .....but hey, what the f*(& do I know..... I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

Wow, you must be psychic because I was just having this same conversation with another rigger about 4 hours ago. I was asking him if he wanted to go in with me and buy a bunch of safety stoes from the manufacturers so that we're never in the position of having to ground a rig or letting a stoe pass when it's starting to go, also known as the "ah........It'll be ok" technique. I like to get my stoes from the manufacturers. Technically, I believe you need a drawing to manufacture a safety stoe. All too often, riggers in the field will let things pass that they would correct if they had the resource to do so. In other words, you'd replace Velcro sooner if you have a sewing machine, matching thread and velcro in stock. If you don't have those things, you either have to send the gear elsewhere to be fixed or convince yourself that the velcro ain't that bad. That's why I'd like to have a bunch in stock, that way I'll replace stoes when they should be replaced without question or hesitation. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

I believe the root problem is that the PC pulls the bag and inertia wants to keep the canopy in the container. The only thing that keeps the canopy in the bag when the PC pulls the bag of the back is the elastics, particularly the locking stoes. PC over sized means a more rapid deceleration of the bag placing more stress on the elastics, High airspeed means a more rapid deceleration which once again put more strain on the elastics, loose or missing stoes which place a strain on those elastics left. Other things that can contribute to a bag strip is also a large (heavy) canopy, which is why we use 80lbs elastics instead on the standard 40lbs elastics on tandems, and using wornout elastics. If we want to reduce the chance of a bag strip, we have replace locking stoe elastics which start to show wear, ensure proper line bights and use the correct elastics for the lines/canopies we're using. Finally, I can see how a canopy that is undersized can "fall out" or slip between the stoes on opening but I haven't had any exposer to that type of incident. Just thought I'd clarify the factors because when I'm packing other peoples mains, I'm often shocked at the multitude of various sizes and types of tube stoes and elastics on jumpers d-bags and I've seen too many people use elastics that are holding together by about 5 molecules of rubber! I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

Y'know, I really can't fake a smile like this! I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

That's why I have 4 Racer Tandems, the size makes them perfect for our 182B. I once took a 250lbs 6'10" student out of our narrow body with our 6'4" pilot who's all legs. Can't imagine doing it with something wider. I saw a Micro Sigma in Deland, it really didn't seem smaller than my 2k3 Tandem. But hey, I'm biased I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

Didn't really claim he was the first, just that he did one, I saw pics and that the governing body got pretty bent out of shape. I'm curious how many jumpers have actually done a chuteless jump? I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

Actually, Greg did it the safe way, harness under the jumpsuit attached to the rig which was deployed before he puts it on. Of course "safe" is a relative term. A real "chuteless jump" was done by Bill Cole up here in the great white north way back in the day. Seen pics, freaky as hell! One has him coming in to dock sans gear, old time body position! Well, freaky to us young punks. CSPA was real pissed! I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

Definitely low pile office style! Plush feels good on the feet until you find that needle you dropped a couple days ago! Sometime rigging involves itty bitty items like small screws, washers (like on an FXC mounting plate) and the ever painful needle! I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

The term we apply to that is "sail effect" where the parachute is blown back on itself. Can certainly make for twists. By the way, to the guy who blames all S/L twists on body position, twists are also exacerbated by bag design, relative wind (sail effect), the way worn elastics break at sub terminal speeds and even slider placement (you can make a canopy do a fairly consistent 180 line twist by putting the slider on the tail and dumping in forward throw as in an IAD). I have seen thousands of student deployments on video and high speed still shots. Lack of body symmetry is only one of many contributing factors in a line twist and although a likely cause, you should never come to the diagnosis of poor body position on a S/L-IAD jump without seeing the exit! I've seen students performance diminish with an uninformed conclusion that can create exit anxiety and problems that were not previously present. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

They actually called me! I had some harsh words! Any hoo, I believe Pitt Meadows does. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

Hey Rhys, We had major thermals all last year at our DZ due to a farmer soft tilling a quarter section (1/4 mile squared) The real problem I found was that depending on the landing pattern, you often wound up s turning the piss out of the canopy with no idea when you'd get back into a normal decent. The canopy often surged at 50-200 feet, giving a nice, scary forward speed to where ever you were pointed at the time. Getting the surge during an S turn was quite harrowing if you were faced out at the time. I often ended up setting myself up for landing in areas where you could overshoot or undershoot if you had to. Another dynamic was that on a no wind day, thermal gusts tended to be unpredictable. Having a huge landing area was the only reason we could tandems safely on hot days! Of course, we had an extreme situation. Besides, seeing thousands of butterflies at 5000' was quite amazing! Oh, and for the record, if it's jumpable, clouds don't suck you up, the thermal releasing pushes you up. For the clouds to suck, you'd have to have a massive bitch of a storm with internal convection that you would have to be either retarded or not very bright to jump next to! Ther is no way you'd look at a storm like that and say "ah, it's not that bad". They leave very few questions unanswered! What causes massive towering clouds is initially the thermal (which are akin to soda bubbles) breaking off and rising (they rise because warm air is lighter). When the warm moist air hits the dew point, is begins to drop its moisture creating the tower of cloud you see building. Surface convection is driving this type of cloud formation, not the cloud itself. At our DZ, the "house thermal" would start building these amazing towers over the DZ on humid days that would go from 6000'-10000'. It was the most spectacular tandem jumping I'd ever done. We'd get out about 1000' from a tower and enjoy the site all the way down! Now, clouds that have their out convection system are a whole other kettle of fish. Glider pilots get caught in them because they can launch when it's clear and fly the same thermals that can get the nasties going. A couple hours later.... In Skydiving, if you are jumping in conditions that would get you caught in a big nasty, then you should have seen it coming long before take off! It sounds to me like you had thermal activity that day which made late day storms very likely. A storm was probably 10+ miles away and moving fast. When you laded, it sound like you caught the gust front (I've never heard of thermal gusts being as high as 28 knots! Gust front that high are quite common) Don't worry, you were not getting sucked into a cloud. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

Huh????? I was wondering about other people who are experiencing problems, not looking to post personal information of mine or any other rigger's customers. (only one cracked display is my customer.) Just looking for other experiences. Is anyone finding the shape of the display to be an issue. Why do you need to confirm incidents with vigil with more info than even Vigil asks for? When a display is damaged, we call up Vigil and say "I'd like a new display, please". They send one. End of transaction. The only thing Vigil wants from us is the serial number to ensure the correct components. Now, back on track. Antone else experiencing a problem on the Vigil displays? I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

In the event of a hard pull, your housings will compress. The shorter cutaway side does not compress as much and you'll get the right side cutting before the left. That's why a left side RSL makes more sense and probably why javelin switched in the 90s. The key is to look at the reserve risers for the velcro that the RSL attaches to, that will tell you which side to put it on. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

If you suspect a grommet, take a q-tip and rub it on the grommet in question. If the cotton on the q-tip stays intact, it probably isn't the grommet. I'd also consider the possibility of velcro damage if you have velcro toggles. (couldn't tell by the photos). Just a thought I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

Just wondering is anyone else has had a problem with the Vigil display cracking and breaking? The Vigil Display is rounded as opposed to the cypres which is flat and recessed into the head of the unit and I think that may be the problem. The Vigil display seems to be more prone to breakage because it is beveled out. Bodkins during repacking and leaning in the plane may be some of the factors but it's the design of the head seems to be revealing the problems we haven't seen with the Cypres. Right now, I know of three broken Vigil displays. Anymore broken units out there? Do you suspect another contributing factor? I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

That's assuming you own one of the three 182 jump planes in North America that has a working compass! What else does it do? Make the fuel tanks read accurately too? Maybe it can stop that DG from spinning at mach 2 Ahhhhh...... sorry, I guess you have to know the 182 to get those jokes! My apologies to all the confused jumpers who think a king air is cramped. The long and the short of it is that I don't think it's that big an issue even if it does affect the compass. An experienced pilot should know the topography well enough that the compass is not an issue and if he does need a compass, he shouldn't have gotten into IFR conditions. Love the magnets, like velcro that doesn't wear out or damage your risers and lines! I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

I think what you're trying to say, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you're saying that Skyride's strategies are effective. Skyride only steals websites that make them look good. Skyride successfully skims a a portion of internet traffic. Skyride is very aware of the importance of image and search engine positioning to get customers. There are things that we can do to address the Skyride threat by way of improving our own sites, concentrating on image and search engine rank. That is true and we shouldn't just throw up our hands and say "They're taking our business cause they are crooked!!!!" We also need to look to improve our own marketing. The only point that I think needs to be made is that Skyrides tactics, while effective, are unethical and we cannot have a truly level playing field until either they stop or we use the same unethical methods. As the latter is not an option for most of us, we need to stop them from their unethical behavour. That can only be done through such things as legal action, sanctions and other forms of leverage against the behavour. After all, it didn't matter how good my website was, when Skyride stole my site, added their phone number to it and placed the site in the same market we had a presence in, it profited off of misrepresentation. That is the wrong that we get emotional about. It the theft of our identity and hard work. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

Shorty helmets aside, the full face motorcycle helmet and large open face helmets are designed to brake your collarbones on a headon impact to protect your spine. Skydiving helmets won't do that and your neck would be crunchy jello (if you've ever felt it, it's something you never forget) They also are designed from materials that absorb certain amounts of shock, the helmet is essentially designed to brake. There have been so many motorcycle accidents that public policy demanded that research be put into the design of materials and structure and laws be passed on compliance. Skydiving helmets are driven by form, not function and to Whuffos, the skydivers don't die from preventable head injuries, they die from parachutes not working ergo no regulation on design and composites beyond what looks cool and is light weight. By the way, Skydivers do die from preventable head trauma, I've lost a couple friends that way. I can say without o doubt that if one of them had worm a helmet that had the same impact resistance of a motorcycle helmet, he would still be with us. Also, just as a helmet won't help on a bounce, a helmet also doesn't help when you go under the car that hits you or when you hit the ditch with such force that your brain is heavily contused when it hits the inside of your skull. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.