Martini

My bad, you are correct concerning climb angle. My brain was locked into the original discussion of climb rate which has no horizontal component. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

I see what you mean, a standing wave (wave shows no motion relative to the ground) is a special case where lift is not stable with the airstream it is stable with the ground. Generally that isn't what we're talking about in terms of "wind" and lift, it is an exceptional case. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

Climb rate has nothing to do with horizontal speed over the ground or horizontal airspeed, only vertical speed over time. If the aircraft is in a wave it will climb eqally well in any direction. Your analogy in the river is based on horizontal movement over the ground. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

That applies to takeoff not sustained flight. Aircraft has not stabilized in the airstream. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

Must be the same guy I talked to, a jump pilot who insisted that his climb rate was better when going upwind. The DZO agreed with him. I hope that plane doesn't stall on a downwind run. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

***Time is cool and sounds awesome, but your not really going to far if your just concentrating in delay.*** Definitely best time does not necessarily equal best distance BUT my best time happened to be my best distance (around 5 miles) due to nice tailwind.

+1 Sometimes you eat the bear..............

3 minutes on an S-3, neither my V-2 nor my Raptor has come close but I don't jump much these days. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

On one of my canopies the lowers aren't stitched, top and bottom the fingertrap uses the stitchless knot, it is doubled. Can't see anything wrong with this method other than it's not "the way we've always done it". It isn't easy to see the stitchless knots unless you're really looking for them so it can make inspection more difficult for someone other than the original fabricator. http://www.jumpshack.com/default.asp?CategoryID=TECH&PageID=Nosewtrap&SortBy= Sometimes you eat the bear..............

I'm in Hawaii right now, the only worry I have is if my beer will get warm before I finish it.

About the engineer? Sometimes you eat the bear..............

Other than the obvious I don't get it, likely my lack of a sense of humor. Edited to add: I just noticed that you are an engineer, that explains everything. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

My solution has been simply to use very light tension on the bands and 18" freestow below the bag. The only real tension is at the locking stows and they're not awfully tight particularly the outside/corner stows. I also found that using linesets that weren't badly out of trim helped a lot. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

My understanding is that all connectors for lines and risers, for instance paraglider carabiners, have the openings turned inward because they are more protected from damage, rubbing etc and in the event they open or the locking device fails the link is less likely to catch a line or other loose item. Also as monkey mentioned they offer a smoother surface to slider grommets. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

I got my Xaos with SS grommets and it opened OK but the grommets were too small to easily pull down past the toggles. I got a new slider with brass grommets that are larger but the openings were significantly slower. My 21-98 will easily snivel 1500' if you pack with any slider showing past the nose, a friend with an identical canopy eventually cut a 3 or 4 inch hole in the slider (brass grommets) to speed up the openings. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

Why do you think it will open like a bomb? Sometimes you eat the bear..............

See, that's what I'm talking about. Around here if you say "Maillon" that means "yes I would like mayonnaise on my sandwich". Sometimes you eat the bear..............

How about not using a blade at all? The energy spent trying to mechanically cut a material that is used for armor and cut-resistant materials might be better used as a hot knife to melt the loop. A high current on a thin wire becomes red hot very quickly, a tensioned cord will melt through cleanly in an instant, a small spring could keep the loop and hot wire in contact without creating enough force to trap the loop mechanically. Even if a Cypres cutter is instantaneous (which it isn't) and a hot knife cutter took 1/4 second (which seems unbelievably long) the difference in freefall distance at 120 mph is only 44 feet. So set the hot knife system up to fire 50 feet higher than a Cypres if 44 feet seems excessive. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

So here's the results I got experimenting, maybe more info than we need but also some new discovery. Testing a 5/8" grommet with two wraps of main slink I was able to pull the bridle through EASILY, like two seconds of wiggling using about 20 lbs force. I don't have a reserve slink so can't comment about that but a main slink on a 5/8" grommet = failure. Checking out the 9/16" grommet with two wraps of main slink confirmed my original test, no way is that bridle going to pull through. If gradual softening causes serious deformation failure could occur but right now that appears unlikely. Two things to add here. If my 9/16" grommet had a reserve slink in the bridle the bridle opening could be so tight that wear from the kill line might be an issue, with the main slink the opening isn't very tight but keeping an eye out for unusual wear will be a good plan. Also I found that tucking the slink tab into a bridle loop caused the two loops to be asymmetrical, that put the bridle end out of square with the grommet and definitely showed uneven wear marks on the bridle loops. I simply turned the slink so thet the tab is exposed, hopefully that won't create some other issue like a snag point. In checking out MrHixxx's idea using a 1" key ring it seemed to work well, even though there is no guarantee that the two bridle loops will remain opposed to one another I didn't see a problem if they slid together. The ring does hold the loops apart nicely and may minimize kill line wear. If you use the key ring be sure that the ends aren't squared off and sharp, good quality rings have well rounded ends and the ring is kinked so the ends are flush. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

Shit, now I'm gonna have to take this up with my big sister who, in a former life, was a French/English interpreter. Yup, I looked at your profile after I posted and got a self-satisfied chuckle over that. The engineer happened to be my boss. Haven't seen Rob in years, he's definitely a rigger I'd want to train with. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

Depends on which translator you look at, semantics anyway. Quick links is often heard. Didn't mean to get into such a discussion here but totally OK with being specific, I recently had to have a discussion with an engineer regarding the difference betwen anal and detail oriented. Technically I am wrong, possibly because I'm not a rigger and don't take things as seriously as I really should. Since the link we are referring to is by far the most common device it is called by several colloquial names. Also since I happen to like and regard Rob highly I occasionally enjoy giving him a little shit. And I have once again been drinking a little extra. Cheers.

Will it cost less than $2000 USD? Will it be available before Christmas? Will the delivery times be less than six months? You all think I'm kidding? Not. Also not giving PF a hard time, just wanna know. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

The wind will pass over the canopy sideways and make it less efficient... *** Not to beat the same old dead horse but under canopy, outside of gusts and radical canopy dives, there is no "wind". Wind relates air movement to the ground not to objects equalized to the airstream. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

Nice creative solution, what diameter ring are you using? Sometimes you eat the bear..............

Yes, technically a "Rapide" link. Commonly called a speed link because the French "rapide" translates in english to "speed". Since the true military speed links have gone by the wayside only Canadians still call Rapides by their formal name. Sometimes you eat the bear..............