ZoneRat

Just a little thing that happened to me once... I was demoing a canopy that was set up with Slinks and a string type collapsable slider. My regular canopy at the time had regular links and bumpers. I was in the habit of pulling the strings down towards my head to collapse the slider. When I tried this on the demo it brought the slider half way over the toggles unexpectedly. I solved it, but it rattled my cage a little. Since then I pull those strings out to the side rather than down regarless of what canopy I fly. Just one of those goofy little things no-one thinks to tell ya. So I thought I would. Have fun! “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

Z-1 as shown. For FF I use an old roller hockey helmet with the cage removed (Bought used at Play it Again Sports= 20.00). For camera, O2 sidewinder. The roller hockey helmet provides the best impact protection... except for the chin. I've seen folk wearing ski helmets that work wonderfully for SD. Might look into that if you're in the market. “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

Don't lose faith. You'll get the hang of it sooner or later. Everybody does. ... and you will too.

I wear in 60* weather a fleece neck cover, long underwear, tshirt, jumpsuit, winter neumans, and helmet...and still I'm cold. (yes..I know I know..I'm a total cold-wimp) I bought some tight, nylon running leotards/ long sleeve runners undershirt at Academy Sports. Keeps the wind out well and adds almost zero bulk under the jumpsuit. Over that I'll wear thick cotton/ fleecy long underwear from Army surplus beneath my jumpsuit when it's really cold. Worked ok at -10°F at altitude not long ago. “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

Anyone that tries a new glove set up can not only practice touch on the ground, but in freefall as well prior to pull time. Just a thought. I wear Neuman's and if it's really cold, I'll wear batting gloves beneath them as liners. Works fine. I've heard people wearing disposable latex gloves beneath their SD gloves as well. Might try that before cutting the fingers off your gloves... or after, for that matter. “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

A DZ is a business. The industry has standards and accepted practices. I fully expect DZ's, gear mfg's, etc, to be aware of those standards and practices and to run their business accordingly. If not, they are acting with negligence. If loss of life or limb occurs and the root cause can be proven to be negligence, then there should be a lawsuit. Fear of lawsuits act as a check on negligent practices. Standards and practices must be maintained. Or people die. If enough people die, the sport dies with it. “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

0:12:2 7, 4-way training jumps 1, Sorta-Big-Way, 20 jumpers. All Competed. 4 Camera Jumps with winged FS camerasuit 1st time for that camera stuff. It's interesting. 1st time to forget to turn on the camera “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

It rubs the lotion on it's skin... LMAO! Yeah. That was good. “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

It's in a gearbag 2' inside the door to my house. It's feelin' a little tired. It did 8 jumps today.

I remember a conversation I had with a law student many years ago. We were talking about sports wavers in general, not SD wavers in specific. He made two interesting points that I think might apply. 1. You cannot sign away your rights before the unfortunate event occurs. Only after. You can sign the waver, but the "Waving Rights" part, he said, is legally weak. 2. Assumption of Risk: I think this is where the waver gets it's teeth. By signing the waver you are showing that you understand that there is risk and you are willing to accept it. When waivers include language about the possibility of DZ negligence, it is attempting to broaden the scope typically associated with comon ideas regarding basic Assumption of Risk. It may work, it may not. Kallend, as always, brought up some interesting points. There may be times when negligence outways Assumption of Risk. Would I sue if I had a bad spot, landed off in a Rotweiler farm? Nope. Would I sue if a well intentioned packer packed me a hard opening that broke my sternum? Nope. I think that falls within the guidlines of Assumtion of Risk. Would I sue if I were visiting a New DZ, whose pilot was a drunk and DZ staff knew it, did nothing, and that pilot, drunk at the time (though I didn't know), flew the plane into the fuel tank and I was horribly burned and disfigured as a result? Oh hell yeah. I cant see a waver covering for something like that. “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

A great way to practice flaring on the ground: Climb up a set of stairs to the height where you'd typically initiate the flare. Walk down the stairs. Keep your eyes about 45° forward and down. Slowly flare as you do so timing it so that the flare is finished on the second to last step. Do this several times at several different rates of decent. It's good to speed up and slow down some as you decend as well. This sorta muscle trains you to moderate your flare based on different conditions... Like getting a different canopy from jump to jump or having different winds, catching an unexpected thermal etc. Try it before you mock it. It's a great little drill. “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

You may find this helpful. http://www.ilmailuliitto.fi/laskuvarjo/ktk/Safety_Report_2002.pdf There's a tread discussing it somewhere. Here's an applicable quote from it: Fatalities with jumper still having serviceable equipment (all 33 countries) By careful estimation it appears that 96% (64 of 67) of the fatalities happened with the jumper having at least one good parachute on his or her back. It also appears that 60% of the fatalities in 2002 (40 of 67) occurred after the successful deployment of the main parachute. “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

Everclear. Not for drinkin (unless you run out of everything else)... For fire breathing. “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

[Mo-town voice]Hey dere bebe. How YOU doin? Here a song that mebe hep wit yo adiction... "There's nothin' like da real thang baby... there's nothin like the reallll thang..." [ /Mo-town voice] “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

Brent, I want to thank you for your TAS/ IAS post. Very nicely written... Your examples were excellent. I can see where IAS/ TAS would really effect spotting on a high alt jump. I can also see where your explaination of those two concepts would be a great primer when helping someone understand why a canopy will fly differently at a Colorado DZ vs a sea level DZ. And, I think it gives me the piece of the puzzle that allows to complete my "Why? Why you do dat?" post earlier up. There are several concepts that have been brought up so far in my part of this thread. I'm gonna think on them a bit and post a set of tentative conclusions. That should be good. “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

Quite right, but your happy cone is rather big. An aircraft flies in straight lines (or maybe there is a hook turn in there). This means that in reality the jump run cannot use all of that cone. If the pilot knows there are swamps and crocs to the left of the cone he can fly the aircraft more to the right of the cone. A good spot can turn into a bad one if the jumper has a mal. Both good points. I would prefer a spotter, Pilot or otherwise, who hedged their bets. “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

Ok. I'm going to do some research on Hooks and 308's statement because I don't want to take another swing at what is likely a very dead and beaten horse... I smell a laymans trap there. I find the phrase 90 knots "Indicated" interesting. Seems like that means speed of wind over wing rather than distance travelled (otherwise, I'd still have a valid point up there... I think)... but I'll try to look it up in a thread somewhere. I respect your time enough to do that before I answer back. But regarding the art of spotting... (black art?): I can see where canopy types make a dif. Same with load compliment. And I can see where different aircraft have different capabilities/ requirements regarding how much time you have vs need to exit jumpers so they can deploy in the Happy Cone... But topography like lakes and rivers? A good spot's a good spot. Right? Just more pressure to make sure it really is right. Because there's more at stake when a jumper lands off. Might get eaten by a croc, or land in a river or somethin'.. Mountains... I can see that making a dif topographically speaking. But a swamp? The Happy Cone probably doesn't care what's beneath it for the most part. I'd guess. (btw: I really do appreciate your helping me in this. I'm not trying to just argue... I do want to understand.) “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

Why? Why you do dat? Bernoulli effect, right? Groundspeed no matter. Right? Need wind over wing surface to create low pressure zone hence lift? Guessing crosswind JR not as fast wind over wing as into-the-wind JR? Right? Maybe? I *thought* I understood that stuff... layman style at least... Not convinced I fucked up there. “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

Ok. No. Wait. You're right. It makes more sense when I run it to extremes. Upwind JR. Say the uppers are haulin' and the load gurus are recommending a 12 second count. The zooload belly fliers take an extra 4 seconds setting up their meeker. That means an additional 33% more travel is covered over the Happy Cone. The same run at Cross wind: Recommeded exit sep is 4 seconds because horizontal drift is no longer much of a factor. The meeker takes 4 extra seconds to set up. 50% more travel is covered over the Happy Cone. Possibly more since the plane may have to fly faster at the cut to maintain airspeed over the wing surfaces. (But I'm guessing there). Wouldn't take many of those before you'd need a second pass. I'm startin' to get it... “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

Yeah, but wouldn't you eat that time with additional exit sep time? Looks like a wash to me... “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

The size and shape of the cone That's probably what I'm missing... I'll dwell on that a bit. Thanks DD. I knew you'd come through. “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

Really? That's the only reason? Money? Bummer. Hmm. Are you certain it effects how many jumpers can get out in one pass? (Attached). I'm missing something obvious again. I can sense it...lol “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

This is something I probably should already know... but don't. I understand that technically, jump run can be in any direction relative to the upper winds. Typically it seems to be into the wind or occasionally with the wind. It seems to me that a jump run that is perpendicular to the upper winds would minimize the dangers of jumper horizontal drift. Jumpers would tend to drift more parallel to one another, rather than possibly over one another. Why isn't a perpendiclar jump run the norm then? Is it more difficult to orient the jump plane at the cut with winds to the side? Is Pilot spotting with GPS easier/ more accurate when running with/ into the winds? I'm sure there are very good reasons. I just don't know what they are. Thanks in advance. I've been rolling this around in my mind for a while... Robin “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

I get nervy every time I try something really new. 1st jump at a new DZ always wind me up a little. My 1st jump off a balloon wound me up. 1st CReW jumps. Night jumps still get me goin'. etc. I've got a (beer) camera jump coming up... For the first time in a long time, I've started having SD dreams again... “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

In the right hands that staple remover can become a McGiverish life saving device! "Saved by de pincers from hewell!" “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”