chuckbrown

Exit at 12.5 & in the saddle at 11.5? What's up with that?!? Next time exit at 12.5, in the saddle by 12.4. Welcome to the Dark Side.

The reason Scott Miller's e-mail has pissed off the CRW community is that he portrayed CRW as full of reckless jumpers who won't hestitate to put a low time jumper under a dangerous canopy. His message to new (to CRW) jumpers is stay away from the CRW Dogs because they're likely to get you hurt in pursuit of the Holy Wingload. Higher wingloadings are killing people in the sport these days, but it isn't happening in the CRW community. Other than Bubbles, I haven't heard of one other serious injury or death because of landing a Lightning or any CRW canopy at any wingloading. Scott Miller's broadside to the CRW community was completely misdirected and completely out of place in response to this incident, specifically, and with respect to CRW in general. I guess he decided that pond swoopers shouldn't be getting all the glory for jumpers landing and going to the hospital. A 180 turn at 50 feet was never a wingloading issue & he should have waited until he had all the facts before foaming at the mouth. According to someone who watched the landing, her canopy hit before she did. Does anyone seriously think a 1.0 WL would have made a difference? Fortunately for the CRW community, most jumpers are introduced to CRW at their local DZ after watching how careful and competent the local CRW Dogs are.

No. My canopy's out immediately doing CRW. My RW jumps are pretty low risk, and I'm extremely altitude aware. Having said that, if I did big way RW at boogies or a bigger DZ, I probably would have one.

Jump if you enjoy the feeling of an ice pick being stuck into your brain and the sight of blood coming out of your nose. Sorry to be so obtuse, but stay on the ground until you feel better. Besides the boogie season is just starting.

I've noticed this happen in a stack configuration with non-collapsible PCs. Looks like a cobra back there, and appears to be caused by the body burble of the top jumper; I've never seen PCs act like that in a planed formation. As far as HP CRW, USPA should put those videos on their website for a "Don't try this at home" lesson. When HP canopies go bad, they go bad very fast. I've done HP CRW and it was wild, but it was done with people who knew how to do CRW.

Nope. Why f*** up a good time.

This is a classic reason why gear sales should be run through a rigger/dealer unless you're completely comfortable with the other party. If I know the seller personally or by reputation I won't use a rigger/dealer; however, if I've never heard of the seller, the deal goes through an intermediary. Good luck in catching the creep. If you have a name, I can do a public records search. PM me.

With a parabatic grip.

I know someone who put a few jumps on a collapsible before he knew you had to cock it. It's probably good he was dumping high. In most cases, you're looking at a reserve ride.

Way not cool.

I think if the little bottle sez "May cause drowsiness, do not operate heavy machinery" the answer's pretty clear. If Aleve or the like can't take care of the pain, you probably shouldn't be jumping. I really hope Tinkerbelle was messing with our minds.

Try and grab the PC bridle (I've cleared PCs in tow this way), but don't waste any time -- one try then go to EPs. Even if you don't get the bridle, the act of reaching can allow air to catch the PC if it's caught in the burble. As far as EPs, my personal opinion is to cutaway first, but there is no right answer to this question. Either way, there's a risk of reserve/main entanglement.

Farm country near Lancaster, Pennsylvania. We won't put them out in winds in excess of 10 mph.

My home DZ runs a S/L student program with all round reserves. I don't know how common this is with other small DZs, but I would suspect that many DZs don't want to spend the money to buy square reserves when the rounds work just fine (and are more forgiving in a 2 out scenario -- like when an FXC misfires).

It's even more moving when you see it in person. On a bright, crystal clear morning, the release will bring tears to your eyes even if you didn't know them.

Good point. I love doing CRW in front of a crowd.

Well, I wasn't having a flashback (damn!!!). There is a document called FAA 8700.1 which governs the issuance of waivers & certificates of authorization for airshows, including certain demonstration jumps. I have it in .pdf, if anyone cares. This document permits the FAA to condition a certificate of authorization to require that CRW break off at 1,000 ft. for Level 2 landing areas and 500 ft. for Level 1 landing areas (I won't go into the distinction here, but stadiums are Level 2). This provision isn't a prohibition on taking CRW formations lower, e.g., landing them, but if your jump requires a certificate of authorization, it's probably a smart idea to make sure that the FAA knows what you intend to do beforehand. They can't get you for the demo jump where you landed the stack, but they can refuse to approve your next application. In response to my post above: I want my membership dues back from USPA!

Below is the response I got from USPA. I guess I was having an acid flashback.

The Wall Street Journal's on-line edition pretty much reached the same conclusions before this letter. Namely that the bombings did not fit the profile of the ETA, but did fit the profile of an AQ attack. (Wish I could go clicky) Since Spain is a major partner with the US in fighting terrorism, it makes sense that the country was targeted. Fucking animals. No, sorry, I don't want to insult the animals. Assholes.

There are some guys from the UK looking to buy Lightnings direct from the US. Apparently, the exchange rate is running in their favor. Congrats on the new toy.

Maytown Sport Parachute Club - 1968 Located 5 miles SE of Three Mile Island in beautiful central Pennsylvania What goes "clippity-clop, clippity-clop, bang?" An Amish drive-by shooting.

Alright, I'm done researching this. I seem to recall reading somewhere (my first mistake) that CRW on demonstration jumps must break off no lower than 1,000 ft., unless you're a DOD-sanctioned team. I've tried to find where this rule is, however, I'm drawing a blank. It's not in FAR 105 or the Advisory Circulars dealing with parachuting. In reading Section 7 of the SIM, there's a specific section on CRW for demos that implies you can take formations below 1,000 ft. Does anybody know if this is an actual regulation? If so, can you give me the citation for where it appears. I'm also posting this on the Mailing List.

You should also read the thread in Safety & Training under Lake Wales CRW injury. If you're comfortable jumping at 1.1 there's no reason to go up in size to do CRW. It's more important to do CRW with similarly loaded canopies. If you're not going to use a Lightning, Triathlons are good for CRW, as are Spectres.

Whatever you do don't listen to any CRW Dogs about jumping with holes in your canopy. Better to get it fixed right away.

Too many movies. Dump the reserve (less likely to malfunction). Top dock them if you do CRW (it's been done). No you can't flare the bottom canopy but you can slow your speed & decide where to land them. Don't die. My dreams used to be about "going in" and getting up and walking away. Now there pretty much about really cool jumps.