#32 - Answering Your Questions Live

You're listening to the, send it podcast with Andrew rolls on world talk radio, uh, right on bra bra alpha three.

Okay. So I've had a ton of questions come in around skydiving and rigging the last couple of months. So. It's been a while since I've done one of these, one of these rapid fire question and answer sessions. So let's go through, uh, you know, some of the questions that have been sent to me by email. Let's do it.

Are you still rigging? Uh, yeah, I am definitely still rigging. Um, of course I've got a lot of time now into the rigging certifications and I've got my own loft now with, uh, four foot high off the ground tables that are eight feet long, but, uh, I'm not doing as much rigging as. You know, some of the others out there reason being is I've got a new job and assemblies and repacks and all that stuff can only be done.

Now on the weekends. I just don't have time to do it anymore during the week. So you're probably gonna find somebody else out there that can get things turned around, uh, much quicker, that rigs full time. And I'm sorry, but I, I just don't have time to do, uh, do, uh, rigging and assemblies and things like that, except on the weekends.

And that's. Somewhere down the line when I can get to it. Do you still skydive? Uh, yeah, of course I still skydive. Um, but things have definitely slowed down. That's for sure. Considerably since last year I, uh, and I'll get into this. On another episode, I broke a, a right riser, um, the front end rear riser.

These were new velocity sports equipment risers that, uh, that broke prematurely. What I'll say on that is is I no longer re. Service or jump their gear. You know, I've been waiting on, uh, some, some manufacturers out there to come in and fulfill a couple of container orders before I'm able to fly again, lead times right now are really, really bad for new equipment, but they are what they are, velocity sports.

Um, you know, they have some major quality control issues right now. A lot of the dealers though, they'll sell those because, um, they can make more margin on 'em than say a sun path or a vector. That's the only reason that they're. Who is one person that should be in the Scott having hall of fame right now, who's not, I would say Michael fury, the man was a legend in this sport.

It's mind boggling that he's not in the Scott having hall of fame by now. He was the, the founder of glide path international and he was very, very influential. In terms of engineering and adoption of, uh, of modern day Ram air canopies, both, uh, seven and nine cell, which everybody jumps today before there was performance designs and any of these other major canopy manufacturers out there, um, Mike was out there building and testing this stuff.

And while, um, there's been a lot of changes, um, and improvements in canopies made over the last 30 years, a lot of the. Canopies that performance designs made that were full F one 11 were based on, uh, mics, Pegasus and Rader Ram air canopies. I am buying a new harness container system, which options should I choose?

Um, and I said this on another episode, the most important thing is to, uh, select a. A, uh, container with a right side RSL system with split housing, the Collins lanyard, and a, an Amar system. And I like the sky hook because it's, it's very simple. It's easy to connect and use, but there's others out there, right?

Again, you want the split housing and the right side RSL because of the riser opposite, the RSL attachment point break say. You know, upon deployment, right. It automatically releases the opposite riser, keep in mind. And I've shared this before that for a right sided BOC. Most of that load from all the literature and, and the video I've read is, uh, is placed in that left riser.

Right? If you throw your pilot sheet out, you sink your left hip and with a left sided RSL connection, you know, then you're putting RSL on the, uh, on the most load bearing of the two riders, which is just something, I, I don't know why people do that or, or why people continue to manufacture containers with the RSL connected on, on the left side.

Right. And also too, there's a trend. And, you know, I can, I can create another episode on this, but you'll also find that most, uh, containers with the left side of RSL do not have the, uh, the split housing. And that's because the, uh, the cutaway handles on the. On the right side. Right. I also like the, uh, E D cutter on the bottom of the reserve packing tray.

If you've got a situation where your a D fires, you know, now you've got your closing loop cut. Right. And it sits below the, uh, the reserve free bag and, uh, all the flaps, right. There's nothing impeding or potentially impeding those flaps and bag from getting out. And so I like that a lot. So again, I, I prefer my AAD D cutter to be put on the bottom of the reserve packing tray and as a bigger jumper too, it's important to me that, uh, a company has the most up to date technical standard order, um, TSO that they possibly can get.

And I think that's D right now, which, which supports weights of up to 300 pounds. With all your gear on. So those are some of the things I'm looking at when I, when I buy a container. So that should kind of tell you, um, what kind of container I jump and, and why I recommend, um, certain containers over others.

I also like the dynamic corners and, um, you know, it is a little bit challenging with the dynamic corners. If you've got a. Full where you got a slightly oversized canopy. You've gotta actually build that corner before you can get the, uh, the side flaps and the main packing tray to close, which can be, you know, a little frustrating.

Sometimes you just close the container and then after you got it closed and pin, you can dress up those side flaps. But, um, you know, for me, I, I definitely like the dynamic corners. I don't know. I've gotta run some more tests and research and things like that. The, the whole idea, it's nice to have a, a semi STOs deployment bag.

Think it's a lot easier to pack a semi STO list than it is a traditional, uh, deployment bag. But, um, you know, they talk about snatch force and they talk about heart openings and they talk. Line stretch and those kinds of things. And each stove I think, is supposed to have 11 to 12 pounds of a pull force on it.

And I don't know, I just think as a bigger jumper there, the potentials there for harder opening with a semi stoles deployment bag. And I haven't done a lot of research on that. I I've jumped them. I've had some hard openings on both. I don't know. I'm more inclined to, to, to go to the classic deployment bag and, you know, you've got your stoves and the, you know, those stoves break under tension, I think as, as you increase the wing loading and, and you know, you get, uh, up there.

I think it's just, it's really important to have a nice symmetrical in sequence deployment. And I'm not sure you always get that with a semi Stellas bag. What are your thoughts on the red bull plain swap? Yeah, I didn't catch any of that. I guess it was what, several months ago where they, um, started promoting this thing and, you know, they asked the FA if they could do it, and then the FAA told 'em they couldn't do.

And then they started again promoting the thing and, and then they ended up actually doing it. And they told everybody that they had the FAS permission to do it. And I don't know, um, I, for the life of me, I don't understand Akins. Why, you know, here's a guy who he ran over his nephew, was it five, eight years ago, backing a tractor out of his, uh, out of his home driveway where he was supposed to be babysitting the kids.

He got sued and lost as. His contracting business. His brother-in-law took it away from him. If, if I did that, that I'd be cooling my jets and laying low. And the last thing I'd be thinking about is a plane swap. You know, if I had killed someone like that, I, I just, it boggles my mind, but yeah, I hope the FA doesn't give 'em their pilot's licenses back.

I think they can appeal and, and maybe get it back next year, but I hope they don't ever get it back. And what also looks really. This guy, uh, Luke Agans is a S P regional director in the, uh, I guess it's the Northwest region and the us P on social media, they were hyping this event up to the very day it happened.

And I don't know if they relied to by, um, uh, Luke Akins or they knew all along.  and they just turned a blind eye to it. And yet other people that were elected U S P directors, um, that were just promoting this and sharing it on social media. And like I said, I mean, this guy's still gonna be serving a leadership position within the us P after he has his pilots license revoked and was insubordinate to the FAA.

I just don't get it. So I know I didn't watch it and no, I really don't care, but I don't have any sympathy for 'em. And I think that, uh, you know, do they deserve whatever they get? This next question comes. Adam Adam masks, will you be at 2022 Summerfest? The short answer to that is no, I work full time and don't have time to do those kinds of things.

Moreover, you'll never see me at skydive, Chicago, and I'm not sure why it's even called skydive Chicago, because it's actually located in Ottawa, which is an hour and a half. For Moha in downtown Chicago. I've never understood that, but, uh, that entire establishment down to the very last rubber band was founded, um, on, on drug money by a convicted drug smuggler dealer and, uh, and, uh, guilty tax Eva, Roger Nelson, who's now dead by the way.

But yeah, I tend to patronize and support, uh, businesses that are founded by good law, abiding citizens who do things the right way. And can who continued by the way to operate their businesses, the right. You know, not some kind of criminal enterprise, um, in Scott, Chicago is, is one of them. So I'm gonna have to pass.

What is the next big thing in skydiving sport wise? I don't know, but gear wise, what I'm waiting on is, uh, performance designs to cut the ribbon, so to speak and, uh, allow customers to place orders for di sublimated canopies. This is going to be a real game changer. When you can put any logo you want on your canopy.

Um, you can fully personalize it and not have to worry about the extra. So in fabric and adding bulk to the, uh, to the main packing tray plus cost wise, too, from what I've read, uh, should be far less expensive is, um, with dye sublimation, you're printing the graphic design on the fabric and not having to pay someone to, to cut and sew it on.

Right. Arizona air speed. The, uh, the famous four way team has had their, uh, di sublimated performance designs, canopies that they've been using for what a year now, maybe more, but, uh, I feel this is gonna be a real game changer, but we're just gonna have to wait and see how long it takes for the folks at, uh, PD to roll this out.

But, but again, the technology's already there. Oh, here's a good one. I have around 75 scabs, but still struggle with do fear. How do I overcome this? Uh, it's actually a great question. Uh, the more you jump, the more you trust your. And the easier it'll get over time. You know, it's not uncommon for people, even a hundred, 200 sky dives, still have a little bit of anxiety before they leap from an airplane.

You know, you're not, uh, you're not alone out there, but this is why it's extremely important. I've said this on other shows as well, too, for Scott IERS with the lower numbers who are new to the sport to, to jump a, uh, a flat trimmed docile can, that is lightly load. Um, and, and this is what builds the confidence I feel and your gear, which is just so important.

If you don't have confidence in your gear, you're not gonna want to jump out of a plane also, too. You're gonna be hit with important decisions. You've gotta make at some point when you're under canopy, right. Such as if you're gonna land off or, or if you're you're dropped off too far down wind. And, uh, you want to be able to have a canopy again.

That's um, that's. That isn't ground hungry and, and can serves altitude, right? You can be able to process and make decisions. Lastly, one other thing I wanted to mention when the time comes and you gotta cut away, which is truly isn't inevitable. And I think I've mentioned that before, um, this will also help build confidence as well too.

I'm not seeing go up there every hundred and 80 days before your repack and cut away. But I do think at, at some point, everybody, um, should, uh, have. A reserve ride and feel comfortable cutting away and, and going to their reserve canopy. What are your thoughts on the flight one canopy courses? Um, honestly for me, I didn't really take to them.

They may work for other people, but there's a guy that I like to work with. Who's regional and, you know, Within a matter of like three or four jumps after we talked, I just, uh, I immediately started proper flared technique and standing up my landing. So I'm not really a fan. Um, you know, I'll just say this, if I've got a couple of master's degrees and if they use.

If my professors used the flight one approach to teach me, you know, large classes, decent, but not great individualized attention. I probably wouldn't have been able to pass. Um, but they may be great for other people, but I just didn't, I didn't really take to those courses much at all. So that's that. What about the Brian Jermaine canopy courses?

Look, I worked with Brian Jermaine for almost is it 18 months and he helped me with confidence. And I think that that's what, what Brian's good at is, uh, is building confidence. You know, he definitely loves skydiving. I don't know if the man's ever had a formal job. Um, you know, other than. You know, doing the online classes and, and whatever.

Um, he's a little different in his approach. And I, I guess what bothers me with, um, with Brian is the fact that, you know, he's, he's got this, uh, big air sports, which is, is it's a, it's more of a label. Then it is a, a company that manufactures canopies. He doesn't have a laser laser table inside of his home.

He's a senior rigger like me. He does major repairs and major alterations, um, inside his home. And, um, you know, if you look at the code of federal regulations, CFRs things like the parachute rigor handbook, and even what the FAA got posted on their. Um, there's a lot of stuff that he does, he's not authorized to do so.

And I, and he may say, well, he's a manufacturer, you know, operating out of his house. He can do whatever he wants. And that's just, that's just not me. And it's gotten him in some trouble too. Right. I mean, there has been issues. Um, and he's even mentioned it to me before about bar tacking down lines and those kind of things.

And you know, if you don't do that, right, like his, like his own experiences leads to a cutaway. Right. And I'm not saying everybody out there is. But, um, you know, this is, this is coming from someone that spent a lot of time with him and a lot of money with him. And, uh, you know, there's, there's definitely things you can, you can learn from Brian and he definitely loves the sport of skydiving, but it's at some point, um, I think a lot of the stuff that he, that he posts is is just a facade and, and bullshit, quite frankly.

So, um, no, I, I, I wouldn't do a canopy course with him. I, I think there's something to be said for. Taken some classes from him and, and, um, you know, learning from other people that are there, but, um, just one on one coaching with him. Um, I, I can't, I can't recommend that. Here's a really random one right here.

Did DB Cooper survive? Um, short answer to that is no millions. If not billions of, uh, Federal resources and dollars have been spent investigating this case. And you've got Hollywood and you've got, uh, independent filmmakers, you know, making all these, uh, pictures and documentaries on this case. But whoever it was that orchestrated the heist, um, you know, one of the questions I've always had is, is, is why is none of the money if he, he was still alive?

Why has none of that money ever been put back in the circulation? Right. You know, and that money was traced. You know, why has it never been spent? You know, why hasn't it turned. Right. It hasn't. And, uh, another thing is, is, and this comes from skydiving and, and, um, and doing some jumping over the years, you know, there's just no way anybody could survive jumping out at that altitude and those weather conditions that he jumped out from that night.

You know, if you go back and look at some of the, the more recent documentaries, the weather was so bad that night, the FBI couldn't even run an investigation. They had to wait, I believe, at least to the, the following day. Right? And he jumped with a round canopy, which, you know, if you know the evolution and history of parachutes, you know, from full altitude, even when the Gores on these canopies are modified, they have very, very little drive or maneuverability and they.

They always yield a particularly hard landing. And he had no clue where he was being dropped out at. And there were 50 to a hundred foot tall trees below. Right. And even if the weather wasn't bad, you know, doing it night when it was pitch black, from what 10,000 feet with around, and that kind of terrain belong, there's just no way anybody could have survived being every year.

This comes up as people are searching for answers. But for me, it's always been pretty easy. I've read most of the evidence and, and there's just no way that he could have survived. Now what I do find cool are people that go back and they want identify who it was, even if they didn't survive. And I guess, you know, you've got websites now, like ancestry.com and my heritage, and there's probably others out there.

You know, it makes sense to, uh, take a sample off of, uh, you know, the, the cheap tie that he wore or. I think that the, the cigarette butts, they said there were what, seven or eight of 'em that he smoked, but pulling a DNA sample off the tie and sending it to one of those, um, ancestry, heritage sites, you know, and you could trace down the, the lineage there to see there was a match they had or who it might be based on, uh, the, uh, the year, right.

The year of the, uh, the tie and those kinds of things. But in my opinion, there's just no way there. Somebody after this heist walking around, uh, with the money, it, it just didn't happen. This last question comes from John. John asks, I am interested in becoming a senior rigger, which rigging course should I attend?

Yeah, I would recommend going to, uh, to mark Lancasters, uh, rigging school at, uh, Skyworks parachute service down in Buffalo, South Carolina. Um, Mark's got all the, uh, the type ratings and is a DPR E and was the right hand, man for. For Dave DeWolf, uh, in his, uh, rigging school for a number of years. And I also, I think a lot of Derek Thomas who runs the elite rigging academy in Zephyr Hills, Florida, Derek is, uh, the Derek Thomas of sun path and, uh, Thomas sports over in the UK.

So runs a very, very good program as well. I would not under any circumstances go, uh, take rigging school from the guy in orange, Virginia, nor would I take it from, um, the guy in Michigan or, or the guy out in. Whose name is in all the manuals. Um, there's just no way, um, knowing what I know now and the back stabbing and the lying and all that bullshit, the patent infringement and all that kind of stuff deliberate.

Right. Because everybody makes mistakes. Um, but it's how you, it's how you handle those. That, uh, you know, some of these people, they, they have big presence and, and publications and they have a big presence on social media or, and magazines and those kinds of things. But, um, in reality, they don't know shit.

Really there's only two I'd recommend around here. And one last thing I wanted to mention while I'm on the air is this bit about these radical politically motivated demonstration jumps. Some drop zones allow where the group or the individuals are out promoting their own groups, agendas that are again, politically motivated, one side or another.

I've got a real problem with this because you know, when I'm out there skydiving paying my hard earned money and trying to relax after work or on the weekend. The last thing I want to see or hear about as a paying customer is that group or that individual's ideologies on my face like that, flying all over the place.

It's distracting. And I don't understand why many of these drop zones allow it, or they, they turn a blind eye to it. And, and I applaud the ones out there that don't, you know, skydiving for me is, is pure and it should always remain. It's like a, a form of art or meditation, right. That a lot of people use to get off or, you know, take 'em to a special place where they can relax and not have to worry about all the problems or whatever else is going on in their life.

Right. They don't have to worry about that for the couple hours. They're at the drop zone and it's pretty selfish. For a group, people to use skydiving as a vehicle to promote and drive their individual or groups, radical political police. And I've got a real problem with it. And I've also got a problem with the U S P a, which claims to be a non-profit organization, but yet takes member funds and uses them to promote these radical extremist groups and individuals by putting them on the cover of their member, funded parachutes magazine, and then their social media coverage, who again, do not represent the views of all their members.

But yeah, I've got a problem with all that and it looks, it looks really. Bad. Well, I believe that'll just do it. That's all I've got left in the tank. Really enjoy these question and answer sessions though. So reach out to me and keep the questions coming till next time.

You've just listened to send it a skydiving podcast hosted by Andrew rolls on world talk radio, send it is the number one skydiving podcast on the planet. Bringing listeners up to date information on all things Skyport. Be sure to visit, send it radio.com to join the conversation, access the show notes and discover our amazing bonus content and articles.

If you enjoyed this episode, we'd love for you to subscribe, rate and give a review until next time, 3 3, 2, 2, 1 ones.