Parachutes in Citabrias and Decathlons

I had a long conversation with the rigger about the effects of age on the canopy. He said the main concern was an increase in porosity, which would cause a faster rate of descent and thus an increased chance of injury on landing. Same with the weight rating.
 
A rigger is well within his rights to refuse to repack. What pissed me off is the rigger was going to cut my risers. That is against federal law.
 
Bob Turner said:
A rigger is well within his rights to refuse to repack. What pissed me off is the rigger was going to cut my risers. That is against federal law.
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I see the same thing in the Scuba industry. Some tank monkey in a local dive shop will do the non DOT required annual VIP on a tank and determine it is no longer fit for service and then want to drill a hole in it and/or stamp Xs over the numbers to make it incapable of holding pressure or is illegal to fill.

The problem is most of them have a one day certification class and are clueless about what constitutes an unsafe and or non correctible condition. They’ll mistake normal folds near the threads in the neck for cracks, or decide excessive flash rust that can be removed by tumbling the tank results in an unsafe tank. In the case of excessive flash rust, it has to be removed before you can inspect for more serious rust that results in pits, and whether the pits are deeper than the allowable limit, but they misunderstand that not so subtle difference.

Similarly some shops will try to condemn tanks older than 20 years. That for started when older 6351-T6 tanks started showing a low rate of occurrence of sustained load cracks. This was around 1998 and over the next decade eddy current tests were recommended every 18 months until 2007 when the DOT had enough data to determine that SLCs take at least 7 years to propagate from detectable size to tank failure and the DOT then amended the requalification process done every 5 years to include a visual eddy inspection. However the industry as a whole stopped using that alloy and switched to 6061-T6 alloy between 1986 and mid 1988, with a couple small companies hanging on until 1990. On the other hand some companies, like Catalina, always used 6061-T6 alloy. And of course this only applied to 3AL aluminum tanks as 3AA steel tanks are not subject to SLC (or to fatigue for that matter).

None the less many shops adopted policies where they refused to fill tanks made prior to 1990, and after about 2010 started refusing to fill any tank made more than 20 years ago. Including 3AL 6061-T6 alloy tanks and 3AA steel tanks.
logic and facts usually won’t dissuade those folks.
 
Well within their rights to refuse.
On the other hand, if they drill, cut, or otherwise tamper to make useless, they have trespassed, and in the case of FAA ceritificated equipment, broken federal law. Mess with a flight attendant, or a cabin door, and watch what happens. Same law.
 
Flew acro again with the back chute last night, and confirmed I hate it.

Looks like I am on the market for a seat chute. Let me know if you stumble across one. Softie Citabria shape preferred, but would grab a generic one if the price were right.
 
Still in the market for a Softie Citabria seat pack. Koontz and the factory are both 4 months backlogged, and new prices are thru the roof. I have a back pack that I can use for now, so I'm going to sit tight for a while and see if one pops up used. I'm watching barnstormers and the Google acro group. Any other suggested listing sites to follow?
 
Big Ed said:
Still in the market for a Softie Citabria seat pack. Koontz and the factory are both 4 months backlogged, and new prices are thru the roof. I have a back pack that I can use for now, so I'm going to sit tight for a while and see if one pops up used. I'm watching barnstormers and the Google acro group. Any other suggested listing sites to follow?
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try the Aerobatic Pilots FB group
 
Bart, thanks for pointing me to that Barnstormer's ad. Unfortunately they were all backpacks. He did have one softie "long" (seat and back) pack. I am not familiar with that setup, but not inclined to take a chance. Will keep looking for Citabria pattern softie seat pack as primary, but will consider a generic seat pack if the price is right.
 
Big Ed said:
Reaching over his shoulder for a switch during an engine out emergency is how John Denver died.

If you decide to unload that seatpack chute, lemme know.
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John Denver died due to a failure to refuel and a lack of understanding of the fuel totalizer system on board. Worse, it wasn't just a hard to reach fuel selector, it, was a fuel selector that he could not reach at all without unbuckling his shoulder harness, turning 90 degrees to the left (which other pilots reported resulted in pushing right rudder) and then finally reaching behind his shoulder to reach the poorly placed fuel selector.

The fact that I can reach my fuel boost pump switch while in a back style parachute, even though it takes a bit more of a stretch in the shoulder makes your statement irrelevant.
 
I find National backpack chutes to be comfortable enough - they have a slight wedge to them. There's a Softie wedge as well. With that said, I still get a pain in my upper back after 30 mins of acro. When I tried a seat pack - I could hardly get into the plane. My thought was that there was no way I could exit the plane with a seat pack chute ...
 
I have a chair pack in my 7KCAB and 30 minutes of acro is plenty. If I have to make a hasty, unplanned exit from my airplane before it is stopped, I can assure that I will fit through the hole in the side of the airplane where the door used to be;).
 
I no longer own chutes, but my Security chutes were as comfortable as my seats are. Of course my acro flights are never longer than a half hour.
 
If anyone wants to try out a Long Softie from Paraphernalia I have one (needs a repack: over 20 years old). Always stored in climate controlled room. 240#@200 mph. Acro harness and B9 snaps.
The neat thing about the long softie is you can have the rigger put part of the canopy in the backpack section and part in the bottom cushion area...Basically a custom design seat cushion. In the Hiperbipe I had a wedge in the back section and about a 1" bottom section. I'm offering this to anyone who wants to see how it works for ya in the Citabrathon type aircraft. You pay shipping or come by DTN and try it out...
Chris
 
Just pulled the trigger on a Softie seat pack advertised on BS. Thanks to Bart for spotting it. It's not a Citabria pattern, but the price was excellent for the age so I grabbed it. It is a "seat wedge", meaning the front is thicker than the back. I stacked a pile of towels on my seat to ensure I have knee clearance.

Pretty excited to get a seat chute. Am thinking of buying a Hooker with the money I saved. And maybe a ratcheting harness. 😜
 
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