riddler

I've been a coach for more than two years with this same canopy. I'm not considering changing it for coaching. I plan to change it for AFFI. Make sense? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I've been able to see prop planes at 500-1K that might be a threat to jumpers. I doubt I could see a jet when it's 5-10K - too high, too fast, no good profile, and the sky or horizon as a background. Flying at 500 MPH toward you at about the same level, you might see a dot if you stared right at it for a few seconds. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I've never been as low as 1500 when fully deployed - that's just what I've decided should be my personal "floor". I'm typically fully open at 2500. 1800 is probably the lowest I've ever been fully open, and I pulled at about 2800 to get there. But it's why I started thinking about this. I don't think 1500 is too low to be fully deployed considering 2,000 is my minimum pull altitude. I also have a 1" pocket on my slider, and I suspect that's the first thing that hooknswoop is going to take a hatchet to I don't really count seconds - I look at my Neptune after I let go of the P/C, then right again after opening (and making sure no one is coming straight for me). It reads 900-1100 difference pretty consistently. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Not an AFFI (yet), but what I see in this thread is kind of a testament to everyone's faith in AADs. I guess it's more about statistical probabilities than anything. But the assumption is that if you drop a student, the AAD will save them. Probably it will. But there's also a chance it won't. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

AFF Instructors only, please. How many feet for your canopy to open? I did a few practice jumps this weekend, and found myself deploying much lower than normal. I always assume my CYPRES will fire at 1,000 (even though it may be lower), and so I always want to be in the saddle by 1,500. One jump this weekend put me at 1,800, and it was an "easy" jump. My canopy normally takes 1,000 feet to open, and I never pull below 3,000 for that reason. I want to change this to open faster, because I can easily envision a scenario where I have to go low to pull a student. What's a good opening distance to have for an AFFI? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

What she said. I've known people that have broken feet/legs from dragging. I don't think it's a bad thing in the right circumstances - I would have no problem sliding my feet along the nice grass in Eloy. At Mile Hi, there are some big gopher holes that a few people have broken feet/legs in. A few people have stubbed toes on frozen cow shit in the winter. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I've induced line twists on a Navigator canopy, loaded at less than 1:1. I spun about 7 times , and made it wrap itself up above my head. It can be done - take it easy on those multiple spins. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Least common question: Which way is the wind coming from? I'm guessing the answer is always "from the South." Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Where I started jumping, the DZO was a cheap %$# that tried to get the students to pay him for everything on a cutaway - buy all missing handles, etc - this is after charging $25 PER JUMP to rent the old and worthless gear. The new DZO has new rental gear, but I don't know what the new policy is for cutaways. I really feel that the cost of the gear rental should cover the losses after a cutaway. You don't want to train students to throw away handles, and have them rethinking that at altitude just because they don't want to pay for them. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I guess one place to find out about Cuban Fiber is from sailing forums. One reports some mysterious "shrinking" problem. But they don't elaborate. Maybe it's the salt water? If it shrinks in sunlihgt, that would be very bad for canopies. How much does it shrink? Here's another that extolls the virtue of the fabric for kiteboarding. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Just wanted to remind those that haven't seen the Incidents forum yet. It's easy to start speculating here in this forum, but it just may be a bad idea, because the media does watch here too. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Remember that when we post here, we are effectively speaking directly to the media, because they do read this site and have reported based on what has been said here. Information on incidents might be best waited on until after we get the official report. In the meantime, we can keep an eye on the Incidents forum. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I was at stingray city last year - not much more than a bland tourist attraction. I got a little overzealous with feeding them squid, and my fingers got sucked down a few times - those things have some powerful plates with which to squish one's fingers I dove all three islands, and the wild stingrays we found in the sandbars and coral reef were MUCH cooler than the overgrown pets at stingray city. This Great White video is probably the coolest shark video I've ever seen. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

A girl once told me I have royal toes ?? I have no idea what that is, but it sounded kinda pompous. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

1:5:0 Saturday I was the teacher. Three coach jumps with a student trying to get his A. Was kinda nice to go to the DZ and not pay for any jumps.

Hmm - I remember it was cold last time we were all in the tunnel. But not THAT cold Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Well, goo thing you married her, then Congratulations!! Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

http://www.ameriquestmortgage.com/resource/htm/about/videoWH2.htm Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I'm really in it for the long-haul. A good S.O. is someone who can stick with me, even when things get tough (and sooner or later, they will), knowing that we can both commit to making things better. Of course if things don't get better (for example two-years with my alcoholic ex), then it's time to re-evaluate. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

You forgot the improbable perception that they can all make money. Google is screwing themselves. I wouldn't pay $2 to acquire the POS called AOL. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Swweeet!! Those are the bomb. But they're a tad expensive Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

This is only for jumpers that are in the military, correct? I mean I love wind tunnels and all, but I don't think I would do boot camp to get into one. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

It's probably a better statement to say that Apple makes poor software, but it's a hell of a lot better than that M$ crap. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

iPod - good and bad. I have a Mini - the nano is pretty impressive. Like everything Apple, the hardware is VERY nice and has a good "feel". iTunes sucks, IMO, and you are required to use it with iPod. There are a few alternatives out there, but they don't work so well. Also, you can NOT transer iPod songs back to your computer - it's a one way street. So if, like me, your hard drives fails, you are stuck with the songs on your iPod, and can't get them back to the new hard drive. Why, you may ask? Well, this is Apple's concession to the RIAA, they think it will prevent people from illegal song-swapping. Yet another example of corporate special-interest ruining otherwise good technology. To be fair - you have to blame M$ for this, not Apple - this is THEIR concession to the RIAA. For once, I agree with Bill. Already, several cell phones contain built-in MP3 players. And digital cameras are already seeing a hit to low-end camera sales, because people are just using the built-in cameras on cell phones. Only a matter of time before MP3 players are history. Just get a cell phone with it built-in, and it's one less thingy in your pocket. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

We're working on it, dammit! I've only flown two tunnels, but I would say that the "best" one is where you learn the most and have the most fun. The difference is really getting a dedicated coach - training with a good coach in any tunnel will get you more learning and better overall experience than training in any other tunnel without a coach. Also helps to go with friends that you know for fun. And I didn't answer your poll because I haven't been to all the tunnels. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD