Sky_doggy

Hi all, I can offer a little insight. In my past life I designed an autopilot and this experience has given me a very healthy respect for the design challenges for AAD's. For the autopilot I used a barometric sensor and in the first iteration I used an accelerometer. I needed both to be able to detect slow altitude changes versus something caused by turbulence. I ultimately had to change to a MEM's gyro but that is a longer story. What I can say that is pretty easy to get a few feet of resolution with a barometric sensor, but it takes a bit of fooling around to filter out noise. For an AAD this would be a bunch of work, because it could potentially move in and out of the shadow of the skydiver's body. This coupled with having to deal with pressure change effects in an airplane along with a 101 things I haven't begun to contemplate makes the hardware and software design of an AAD "interesting" to say the least. I know we all want our AAD's to work flawlessly in every situation, but it's a pretty tall order.

+1 (Coming from a noobie)

Hi Thomas, The instructors at your DZ would be the best folk to guide you on this. Cheers

Hi All, This clip made me smile, but I do want to echo Jon's question. Hypoxia sneaks up on you and you don't even know it. It is serious stuff Take a look at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTNX6mr753w&feature=related I have a background in aviation and I can say that night vision starts to decline at 8k and things start going down hill after 10k. Have fun and be safe

Hi, Take a look at http://flight-1.com/sport/certification/ If you are prepared to travel to a DZ close by I am sure you will find something in their calendar that works for you. I did the Flight 101 class a few weeks ago and I can highly recommend these guys.

Dave, Thank you for the background. I hadn't thought about the issue of line wear. It wasn't until I did a Fight-1 canopy flying course that I paid any attention to collapsing the slider. It was somewhat amusing the first time when I pulled it and trapped my brake line, I won’t do that again. I have a background in aviation and the reduction in drag was an assumption by me. As you say, for the speeds I fly a canopy it’s a pretty small factor. Thanks again.

Hi all, This issue I am having is that when I pull on the cords to collapse the slider it pulls it down the riser enough to trap the brakes. I only did this once, it was enough to make sure I was smarter and un- stowed the brakes and do my canopy checks before messing with anything else. I know that this is thread drift but I am wondering if collapsing the slider offers any drag reduction, unless it is tucked behind your neck. I do know that a round object presented to the relative wind presents a lot of drag compared to a thin section. If you look at the struts or gear leg faring on an airplane you will see that they go to a lot of trouble to present a small cross section to the airflow.

Hi, I have soft links. I'll ask around to see if anyone has some unused covers. Thanks for the tip

Hi, I have a Jav 4 container and I am flying a Pilot 188 at the moment. The problem I am having is that when I collapse the slider is that the grommets are so big that sometimes it pulls the slider down the risers. Someone told me that I can get riser covers that will stop this happening. If this is correct could someone tell me where I can purchase them from. Thanks.

Thank you!

Hello, Could someone help me with a size comparison. I am told that PD calculate their canopy area differently to other manufactures. Is this correct? If so, I am trying to understand the relative difference between a Saber2 170 to a Pilot 188. Thanks

Hi All, I just completed the first module of the PD canopy flying course. For noobie's to the sport I would highly encourage you to take this class if you get the chance. For me, I really "didn't know what I didn't know" Their we're people in the class with 300~400 jumps that felt the say way. The next day I did 4 jumps and put myself within 10 paces of where I wanted to be and stood it up every time. It was the best skydiving money I have ever spent.

Thanks Chuck.... so here is my data point. I took up the sport last year at 57 y/o. I repeated level 4 once and completed my A license in 25 jumps. Quite frankly being a bit older makes me a bit smarter. I plan to stay at 1:1 forever, I have on several occasions driven out to the DZ, looked at the winds and gone home, skipped loads where people are saying hury up, we are leaving, and I have ridden a down because the clouds closed over and I couldn't spot. I watch all of the 25 y/o kids make a different call for those senarios. I have since done an hour in the tunnel, and yes it helps a bit, but it doesn't translate all that well to the 'big sky'. I am with Chuck, perhaps you need to look for a different denominator.

Thank you. These video clips are very informative. Paul

Hello, I was wondering if someone could educate me on the various types of lines used on canopy's and the advantage / disadvantage of each type. Thanks, Paul

Love it, thanks for the post !!!!

I am new to the sport and mostly a "List Lurker". I do read through the Safety & Training and the Incidents forums to see what I can learn and hopefully not become a statistic. I also a pilot, and I read through the NTSB reports from time to time and unfortunately there is not an equivalent data base in the Skydiving community. The NSTB has the advantage that its findings cannot be used in litigation and I can't imagine that the USPA or any other group would create a database unless they had similar protections. It's a pity really because if there was then the sport would have facts and actual data around all accidents and would have the opportunity to design safety and training programs that target the actual problem areas rather than "best guesses". We have an expression where I work... "In god we trust, everyone else bring data". At my DZ I have seen one fractured spine (still learning to walk), a permanent brain injury, a fractured hip, two spine fractures and a general assortment of ankles, knees & other stuff. Despite this I have not seen any of these incidents reported, so no one gets the opportunity to learn from them. I recently changed my profile to be anonymous so I my DZ could not be identified from my profile. I did this because I figured if the people involved were not going to make there accident public then it wasn't my place to do so, however there may come a time where I would like to open a discussion on an incident I have seen.

If I started jumping nekkid I am pretty sure there would be more fatalies on the ground. Why? 'coz people would look up and say "oh my god, that's 'orribe" and then have a coranary.

Does anyone have a theory why the skydiving accident rate in Sweden seems better than the US?

I couldn't agree more. I am a noobie and I am fast forming the opinion that this forum is just a "clash of the titians"... titians being whose has the biggest ego with the most to say. I followed a posting where a guy made a bad decision and landed on a roof. There was much to be learned, but by the time all the titians (aka skygods) had weighed in, the thread was just diluted. The lesson for me from that that thread was if I ever do anything dumb don't share it. Quite frankly, I think the moderators really need to give some serious thought about how this forum is conducted. If you guys really think that it is okay for people to behave in such an obnoxious manner in the belief that it might save someones life, you need to think again. There is a bunch of people like me who will absorb and learn from a reasoned discussion. I think you are loosing your target audience. For me, I find myself reading less and less, desite the potential of learning something that could help prevent me having an accident. So, i will now hunker down and hide in my nuclear shelter lest the skygods find me. I am after all just a noobie who knows bugger all, and how dare i speak up. Just my 2 cents worth.