Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: notesfiles - hp 1.2 08/01/83; site hp-pcd.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!houxm!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!hplabs!hp-pcd!kas
From: kas@hp-pcd.UUCP (kas)
Newsgroups: net.rec.skydive
Subject: Re: Additional Boogie Tales
Message-ID: <41800041@hpcvlo.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 27-Sep-85 22:30:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: hpcvlo.41800041
Posted: Fri Sep 27 22:30:00 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 2-Oct-85 07:22:19 EDT
References: <41800036@hpcvlo.UUCP>
Organization: Hewlett-Packard - Corvallis, OR
Lines: 139
Nf-ID: #R:hpcvlo:41800036:hpcvlo:41800041:000:8109
Nf-From: hpcvlo!kas    Sep 27 18:30:00 1985



Hey Dane,
     I remembered one more (short) story that might be worth telling.  As you 
know, I took delivery of my new gear back in January of this year.  A couple
of weeks later, when I finally got around to jumping it, all the other jumpers
at the DZ oooh'd and aaaah'd over it, until someone noticed that my break-away
cables were not threaded through those flexible housings.  In fact, there 
weren't any housings!  The cables were just threaded through the channel sown
into the container that the housings usually reside in.  When the DZ operator,
who is also the resident Master Rigger, saw it, he was much surprised and
wondered if it was safe to jump that way.  My argument was, "Hey, it's brand
new.  Maybe they figured out that the housings serve no particular purpose, so
they don't use them anymore".  Against his better judgement, he agreed it must
be "right", because the reserve packing card was appropriatly signed, with the
notation "Assembly, Inspection and Pack".  He allowed me to jump it, but said
he was going to check with the manufacturer to make sure all was kosher.  Well,
we both promptly forgot all about it.  Over the next few months preceding the 
Boogie, I made several jumps on the rig.  On a few jumps, I noticed that the 
break-away cables had a tendency to work their way part way out of the loops
which hold the 3-ring release together.  It was a bit unnerving, but they 
never came completely out and jettisoned my main.
     Anyway, when I got to the Boogie and went in for my gear-check, the rigger
just about puked!  He said, "Why did you take out your cable housings?".  I
told him I didn't, and that the rig was new and had arrived that way, so I
assumed it was right.  He said no dice, I couldn't jump it that way, 'cause
it WASN'T right.  Then he pulled out the packing card and had a cardiac arrest
on the spot -- it was HIS signature!!!  HE was the rigger who had assembled my
rig!  Well, after he blubbered and mumbled and cussed alot, he said he would 
try to find some cable housings for me.  None of the riggers had brought any 
along, so he finally decided just to cannabalize the housings off another rig
(a demo rig, or something).  He had them on in about 15 minutes, swore me to 
secrecy, and we all lived happily ever after.
             *
            / \
       |---/---\---|            Ken Scofield    C-9355
       |   Gone    |            Hewlett-Packard PCD
       |  Jumpin'  |            Corvallis, OR
       |-----------|
			{ucbvax!hplabs, harpo, ogcvax}!hp-pcd!kas

****************************************************************************

To: rice!hp-pcd!hpcvlo!kas
Subject: Re:  Chapter Nine
Status: RO

Ken,
  Boy, that is absolutely amazing!  What a coincidence to have the assembler
of your rig discover his own problem.  As I was reading your story, I didn't
think that the missing cable housing would have caused any problems.  But
that sure would be a nasty suprise to have maybe one side release on it's 
own and leave you in a spinning function.  Anyway, you would have been 
mildly irritated if they had shut you down all together due to this problem!

  We must not be living right or something!  Just about the time that I
recovered from that case of menangitus, my wife had a severe nausea attack
that required a trip to emergency as she got dehydrated.  This developed
further into severe pains in her lower right abdomen -- yep a bad appendix.
She was rushed into emergency surgury (remember, she's 5 months pregnant)
and had the offensive organ removed.  Surgeon said that the appendix would
have lasted another 2 hours before rupture!  Chances of losing the baby
was 25% under normal conditions, 80% if there was a rupture.  Luckily, the
baby made it ok.  Donna was in miserable pain for a few days, but is 
doing much better now.  

  So, I have not been able to make any jumps lately -- and it looks like
I may have to wait a month or so until Donna is feeling well enough to
look after Brad while I jump.  Sigh.

  I'll keep my ear on the wire ...

Dane

*************************************************************************

Dane,
     Geeze, some people have all the (bad) luck.  Your wife must be wondering
what she did to deserve such a fate.  I have a pretty good idea what you and
your wife are going through.  My wife (Donna) is missing a significant amount
of her innards, too.  All three of our kids had to be delivered by C-section. 
After the third one the doc did a hysterectomy (sp?) and an appendectomy all 
in one fell swoop, since she was already opened up.  The hysterectomy was 
preplanned, but he took the appendix out "because it was there".
     Believe it or not, I got to watch the whole thing!  For the last few
years, our hospital has allowed fathers to "participate" (i.e., watch) during
C-section births, but family members had never been allowed to watch any 
other kind of surgery.  It used to be that the mother was knocked out cold
for a C-section, but nowadays they can be awake from the waist up, so they 
can see the baby immediately, etc.  The one drawback to this is that the mother
is fully aware of what is going on, even though she can't feel anything.  This
causes some women to get a little "hyper", knowing she's being sliced open.
The nurses have devised a little scheme to get the father out of the O.R. asap
by handing him the newborn, and taking him to the nursery to weigh and measure
the baby.  What they didn't count on was a curious husband who wanted to see
what a hysterectomy looked like.  After depositing the baby in the nursery, I
turned around and went back to the O.R., fully expecting to be kicked out. 
As it turned out, Donna was in fact going a little hyper, and when I walked
in, the doc immediately sensed that she calmed down.  So, he didn't say a 
word.  I just sat down on a stool, and chatted with Donna while I watched
the proceedings.  It kept her mind off what was going on.  The doc actually
commended me, saying that my reentry to the O.R. was a better solution than
putting Donna completely "under" with general anesthesia.  Interestingly, I
just about puke whenever I see those movies depicting all the graphic details
of childbirth, such as are shown in pre-natal classes.  But watching the real
thing, including the hysterectomy, didn't bother me a bit.  In fact, it was
fascinating, and I kept inching closer to get a better look.  

     Anyway, I also wanted to make another comment on the missing housings.
As you mentioned, the lack of housings didn't seem to effect the operation
of the break-away cables.  I practiced a couple of times (on the ground), and
they worked fine.  The rigger that repaired it said, however, that with a 
very hard opening it is possible for those cables to get partially yanked 
through the grommets on the risers, thus crimping them and making them 
difficult or impossible to remove.  The ends of the housings are equipped 
with smaller grommets to prevent that from happening.  They also protect the
cables from being snagged or wiggled out, which is probably what was happening 
to mine on those occasions that I found them partially extracted.
     If you can believe it, I still don't have my main canopy back!  The folks
that do the repairs on those things can only test jump them on weekends, and
the weather back there has been lousy lately.  Maybe this weekend...

							Ken
*****************************************************************************

Well folks...
    That is the end (finally) of my Boogie Tales and other (un)related subjects.
If anyone else out there in netland has gone to any boogies (like Freak Bros.,
etc.), I would be interested in hearing any good stories you may have.
    P.S.-- I do have my canopy back now, as is evidenced by my story about the
beach jumps I recently made (see title: "Beach Jumps").

             *
            / \
       |---/---\---|            Ken Scofield    C-9355
       |   Gone    |            Hewlett-Packard PCD
       |  Jumpin'  |            Corvallis, OR
       |-----------|
			{ucbvax!hplabs, harpo, ogcvax}!hp-pcd!kas


Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com