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IBob

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Everything posted by IBob

  1. IBob
    Yes. Unstable openings (opening while unstable), every jumpmaster's bad dream. For which reason the training back then focused hugely on maintaining a stable position (spread wide and arch back) and didn't normally progress beyond static line until the student could demonstrate that. In training we used to cut a little skydiver out of paper, bend him into an arch and drop him: regardless of attitude he will flip into a face down stable position and fall that way. Nowadays they do AFF (advanced freefall) courses where the student exits at altitude with 2 instructors holding them stable from the first jump. Youtube has some horror shows as to what sometimes happens when the student is let go on subsequent jumps. Arching and relaxing is an easy position (it's the laziest of sports)...just happens to be the opposite of the foetal position that fear is recommending at the time.
  2. IBob
    Having said that, given modern methods, I'm sure the manufacturers will have made real progress in optimising openings. Also an aircraft canopy has no modifications (holes cut in to generate horizontal movement), and is attached via a single point (where a jump canopy is attached at two, potentially uneven, shoulder points), both of which will contribute to more reliable openings.
  3. IBob
    Round canopies can open very slowly, or fail to open at all. It was unusual but not that unusual in sport jumping and there was often no identifiable reason. It used to be assumed that meticulous packing, with every gore laid out absolutely identical to within fractions of an inch, would help prevent this. But slow motion footage of openings shows that, once out of the container, the canopy may move around in all sorts of ways prior to opening. Back when all canopies were round, one jumper at our dropzone routinely did twice as many jumps as anyone else. And to do that...to land, pack and be ready....he would 'trash pack': just a basic standing one sided flaking of the canopy, then pull on the sleeve (as distinct to the standard, which was to tension and split the canopy into L and R and fold each side carefully on the ground, then fold in and pull on sleeve.) He never had a malfunction or bad opening in the 2+ years I was there.
  4. IBob
    I have much the same as perrynz above. And once I put on more than 1/3 flap (I have Mark Kyle 3 position flaps) I then run out of up trim and have to hold the nose up. I believe that is normal, and I have come to like flying slow approaches like that.
  5. IBob
    Wish him a speedy recovery....)
  6. IBob
    ???????
  7. IBob
    Christin, I have old style discharge tube wingtip strobes, ordered with my kit when I knew no better. But I would not go that way again as they are relatively useless in daylight. Following fatal midairs here, especially one at our local field with the reports and studies that then raised, there is an increased realisation of just how challenging 'see and be seen' actually is. I hear you on the budget, but it is not something I would be looking to economise on. As an aside to that: we are taught that effective visual scanning can only be done by shifting the sight in a series of steps, pausing at each step to process. In reality, how many pilots actually fly like this? I must have sat next to dozens of pilots over the years, and I can't say I have ever seen this in action: the most I have ever seen is periodic sweeping checks. Anyone?
  8. IBob
    PS well done spotting them proud rivets! And...I actually wrote to ICP more recently about the Savannah manual.....endeavouring to point out that translation is best done by native speakers (in fact, prior to the interweb, professional translators translated only INTO their native language). To which I received a polite reply from the technical manager........in broken English. Well..........I tried.........(
  9. IBob
    sfG for my Sav build, I found it useful to put the parts listing (with it's exploded diagrams) into a separate manual, so that I could have both that and the build manual open at the same time. I also benefited hugely from build pics posted by others on this site....so much so at times that I also had an old laptop on the bench where I could look at the pics. Also in the first part of the build there was another builder in the area: initially I was ahead of him and he would ask me about stuff, then I took a break and he got ahead so I was calling him. I also messaged Mark Kyle on occasions, and he was always helpful. And finally I would bounce stuff off the then Australian agent, who was hugely knowledgeable. But I didn't bother him unless all else failed. All of which is to say I think it is far harder if you are working in isolation. And much easier (and less error prone) if you are in contact with other builders.........
  10. IBob
    The Savannah manual calls for countersunk A4 rivets fitted flush there.
  11. IBob
    Hopefully dey got a natif English speaker to translate Die Ventura Book.........)
  12. IBob
    With the riveting 'beads', suggest you make several as they tend to fall off and roll under the bench when you pull the rivet. And I think steel (mine were just MS reinforcing rod) would be better than aluminium, which does not slide freely. In retrospect a bit of soap on the stem would probably help when doing this.....though it's not something I tried.
  13. IBob
    You and every other builder, ever, sfG..........) BTW a few rivets will probably be in tight corners. Looking at what others had done, I filed as much as possible off the top of my rivet gun to make it less bulky there. And you can also pull rivets without having the gun straight: I drilled a rivet stem sized hole down the centre of some 1/4" steel rod, then cut it off into individual 'beads'. By filing an angle onto one end of the bead (which you then thread onto the rivet stem), you can pull a rivet flush with the gun at an angle. There are obvious limits to this and sometimes the stem breaks high, rather than in the rivet body, but that is easily cleaned up.
  14. IBob
    sfG, as discussed elsewhere here, the corrosion proofing of joins is very important. I primed everything, but initially used the black stuff and brushing or speed brushing did not work well at all, giving me uneven cover and a lot of black stuff pushed through the rivet holes. Were I to build again, I would definitely invest in the Paint Buddy. While they are not readily available in NZ or Australia, I would see the cost and inconvenience of sourcing from elsewhere as very minor in the context of the build, both in terms of ease and economy of use and making a proper job of it. If it is anything like the Savannah, you don't need many tools, but it makes a big difference to speed and quality of build if those tools are well matched to the job.
  15. IBob
    Looking at the height above ground: there's two guys dodged the final bullet.........
  16. IBob
    Stick with it Danny: Our local field has town on one side, circuits for the main strip are always away from town, so LH or or RH depending on wind direction. I trained here, this is just how it is and I never really developed any preference. So I suspect a good part of it is what you are habituated to. I fly a Savannah too, and a nice thing about the XL or S is that you can dip the starboard wing and have a look through the roof before committing to a starboard turn.
  17. IBob
    Yep, there was a guy used to do it in a Cub in NZ in the 70s. Dressed as a little old lady, would hobble out on a stick. Started his routine with a great deal of careering round the field before actually taking off. Grass fields, so he didn't drag the tips, but a pretty good show for all that.....)
  18. IBob
    You're right Marty. And gearboxes.
  19. IBob
    I wonder what the drive mechanism is to those props???
  20. IBob
    Looks like the one on the right is POC? Then the LH one they've ditched the lower struts and gone from pusher to tractor.....
  21. IBob
    Lancair, I think.
  22. IBob
    It looks as though they had a fatal on day one............(
  23. IBob
    Sounds like a horror show.........( Egos.................
  24. IBob
    I had the Aeroflot experience in the 80s, Vladivostok to Petropavlovsk. Midwinter at night, looking out over miles of snow with not a single light, thinking we're in trouble if the music stops. We had taxiied out past a whole long row of identical Tupolevs, perhaps the result of Soviet era overproduction? Some of them actually had canvas showing through their tyres. On our flight there was something wrong with the toilet seal, they had a curtain across the toilet bay which blew back at about 30degrees for the entire flight, to the accompaniment of the roar of escaping air. And, while many Russian women are beautiful, the two hostesses on an otherwise all male flight were grim individuals built like heavyweight wrestlers. They strode down the centre aisle without ever turning sideways, and anyone leaving an arm or a shoulder out got slammed with a very big hip. The impression was that they were there to keep order, there were certainly no drinks or food served. We came out about 3months later, unshaven, half crazy and full of vodka. So I don't much recall the flight back.............(
  25. IBob
    I visited Dunkeswell in the late '70s. The gliding club there were towing gliders off with old Jaguars (Mk8?) from the wreckers. They took the boot lids off and threw them away so they could coil the tow line and toss it in the boot after each tow. And when the Jag eventually blew up, they just went to the wreckers and got another one......cost about 10pounds, as I recall, as nobody wanted them.
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