JeffCa

Besides the difficulty of packing a new ZP canopy, most of the arguments I've heard against newbies buying new are financial, and are based on the assumption that more expensive gear means fewer jumps. Not everybody is in the same situation financially, so if one can afford it and understands the depreciation issue, why not? However, I did what you're suggesting and got a no-frills container, just new. The Shadow Racer and the Rigging Innovations Genera are entry-level options that are custom-fitted to the buyer's body and canopies, and are very affordable. "So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

So when somebody posts, let's say, 31 threads about downloading movies within a couple of hours, what's the best way to get that taken care of as quickly as possible? Should we be PM'ing the mods to get their attention? "So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

If the website is too slow, you could always entertain yourself with some free movies online. If only somebody would post and point us to where we could find some. "So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

I replaced helmet with AAD, but cannot figure out why somebody would be cycling with an AAD. Is it supposed to deploy airbags or something? Actually, there is a kind of AAD for bicycles: http://www.hovding.com/how_hovding_works/ "So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

Guy at our club hit the plane's tail on a wingsuit jump. I guess that's an exit injury. "So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

From one (very recently retired) teacher to another, I question your professional attitude as a physics professor if you have these kinds of comments towards people trying to think out the concepts for themselves, instead of just being lazy and going to the back of the book for the answer. Yes, looking up the answer is the lazy solution here, contrary to what you might think. Seriously, we're trying to consider it for ourselves, there's no harm in it, and you keep coming here telling us to stop and check an old thread. I would never tell my students to stop thinking for themselves and just look it up. They can look it up after they've thought about it themselves. I am aware of the old thread, but have liked the way this new thread forced me to think. If you think we're wasting your time, don't read it. "No class, we won't be doing the tickertape cart experiment this year, we'll just be looking up what should happen. It would be wasting our time to do or discuss anything that has already been done. Read the lab report from last year's students. No, no, don't try to think about what might happen if a wave passes through a double-slit, that would be lazy and it has already been done. Look it up." "So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

I'm not in the know about the skydiving business, but as a small business owner, I want to get a comment in. OP, I'd have fired you too. You don't know when to stop. You are showing no respect for the decisions and judgment of the 3 relevant authorities. You don't respect the decision of the DZO, who was also your boss. You don't respect the decision of the governing body, the USPA. You don't respect the decision of the equipment manufacturer, Strong. I think you've shown very questionable judgment by bringing it here. I thought you'd have blacked-out the faces in the photos and video of the TM and the manager, but you didn't. The title of the thread, combined with your comments would probably leave yourself open to litigation if it impacted his job in any way, considering that he has already been cleared. In that respect, you're lucky that the potential customers of the DZ and TM are unlikely to be reading this. So yeah, maybe you're right and this guy could be bad news, but you must have been poisoning the work environment, and wouldn't take no for an answer. This would be grounds for your dismissal. I don't hate you. I could see myself doing something similar as you did when you spoke up, but you've taken it too far. I just wouldn't want you working for me. "So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

Conversation I had at the DZ last weekend with new member I'd never met before (same experience as I have, about 140 jumps): R: "Jeff, why don't you have a camera on your hemet?" Me: "I'm below the 200-jump minimum recommendation from the USPA." R: "But they don't enforce that here, so you can use one." Me: "I'm below the 200-jump minimum recommendation from the USPA. And I don't really want one anyway." R: *blank stare* ..... *turns away to talk to somebody else* "So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

I've been toying with the idea of going here for a while now. Is it just me, or did the price spike recently? I could swear it used to be in the $350 range, now they're advertising it at $550. Am I imagining that? Also, I know where this is located, but why don't they give their location anywhere on the site, except on the calendar (which is for some reason full of scuba diving course listings)? Did they start to travel around with it? "So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

As a Canadian, I don't mind wearing a hockey helmet, eh, and I've never thought I look cool. So would a good hockey helmet with something like this visor be a good replacement for my G3? I want to stay full-face, I need the mouth and nose protection. http://www.hockeymonkey.com/bauer-hockey-faceshield-concept-3.html "So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

Ah yes, of course, it's already accounted for. So I was overthinking. Thanks for the conversation, I concede. "So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

What exactly do you mean that parachute forward speed is 20 knots BEFORE interaction? I'm aware of the reference frame principle. I have a physics degree myself, but not a good understanding of aero and fluids. If everything is constant for the entire skydive, then you're right, it's simple. But reality is messier. We have different winds at different altitudes for example. So what I mean by "before interacting" is that I'm picturing a layer of wind flowing horizontally without any obstruction, measured at a certain velocity. Then a parachute descends into it from above, as it moves through the vertical column, and then you've both altered the speed and direction of the wind as it flows around the canopy, lines and jumper's body. It will also take time after entering that layer for the jumper to approximate the reference frame of the wind. But yeah, probably over-thinking it, this wasn't the intent of the original question. "So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

Please, do think about how you can cross that bridge well before it happens. Knowing what your options are (and what isn't an option) is very valuable, because you do not have the time to thoroughly think through every possible case when it actually happens. I have thought about it. I know that if I try to cutaway the main without disconnecting the RSL, my Racer could kill me. First thing to be done in 2-out situation is to release the RSL. "So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

I'm one of those. Got my first A-licence in Australia, then after graduation jump, didn't jump again for almost 10 years to the day. But I'm back, just not in Australia. Another time you consider quitting: You just bought your first rig. You went all new, because you had saved the money and could afford it. People had told you that new canopy would be a bitch to pack, but you figured you could handle it, and it wouldn't be THAT bad. Then it arrives and holy crap! You're lying on the canopy trying to get the air out, but it just won't behave! It's 37C (99F), with humidity about as high as is physically possible, and you're dripping what seems like bucket-fulls of sweat off your forehead onto your new canopy, which doesn't help the situation. It's already been over an hour since you started the pack, and the canopy is still not in the bag. You're wondering why your DZ doesn't have any fricking packers for hire and why it doesn't have an air-conditioned packing area. Multiple loads have already landed, packed on the mat and left, leaving you there looking like an idiot. The other jumpers are laughing at you. As you approach the 2-hour mark, one of the instructors comes over and puts you out of your misery, packing it easily and once again making you look like a fool. This is the day I wanted to quit. But 35 pack jobs on my canopy later, it's beginning to behave and my pack times are now within reason. "So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

Sure, why not. You see, speeds are kinematics, they're the result. If you know that windspeed is 20 knots and airspeed is 20 knots in the opposite direction, then you defined the kinematics, there's no way they don't sum up to zero :) You're still in the idealised system. A parachute forward speed of 20 knots, combined with a windspeed of 20 knots BEFORE they interact. Then they do interact, and there are other effects because this is not an idealised imaginary scenario with no masses, etc. When I jump in the air, I don't start to blow away at the velocity of the wind, because I have mass/inertia. If I was massless, I would move at the windspeed. It takes time for wind to accelerate the object with mass, and there must be numerous other real-world effects caused by the materials, lines, disruption to airflow, interaction between suspended mass (jumper) and wing, etc. I want to suggest that we're simplifying this too much. This is not a high-school level problem in which we can draw a few vectors and make a conclusion. In the absence of our ability to create a controlled test, we must account for all of the variables, then make a computer model to try to simulate it. Computational fluid dynamics is an entire field on its own. That is apparently what one guy has attempted, and it shows the windspeed affecting descent speed slightly. What variables were included in his model? I don't know. Did he miss anything? Almost definitely. But what? Do you think I'm wrong and this truly is a simple problem with a simple solution? Am I over-thinking it? Edited to add that I do see both sides of the debate (the simple and the complex), I just can't decide which one is correct in the real-world situation. "So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

According to Canopy Glide Simulator with canopy 220ft WL 0.8, flying up-wind, with no brake input: - stronger the wind - slower vertical speed. Vertical speed varies roughly 10% between 'no wind' and '13 mph wind'. My guess is that this concept is correct, even if there are errors in the size of the variation. The assumption that many people seem to be using is that the airspeed of the canopy is always exactly the same, regardless of windspeed relative to the ground. My thinking is that this cannot possibly be correct. Would it not have to assume the idealised case that the aircraft (parachute and pilot) system is essentially massless, and that it has no form that disrupts the wind around it? Like it just blows completely freely at the exact speed of the wind, without providing any kind of resistance or disruption to the flow? Assuming a canopy that moves forward at 20 knots, will a 20 knot headwind actually give the canopy exactly zero groundspeed? I don't think this would be the case. There must be some reduction in the power of the wind from the real physical properties, the mass and form, of the aircraft (which blows faster in the same wind, a feather or bowling ball?), so the headwind would result in somewhat increased airspeed for the canopy and a corresponding increase in lift. Does this make sense? "So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

I made the same decision. Got an Optimum 218 with a Pilot 188. I figured that the odds of me having a 2-out are very low compared to the odds of having a regular reserve ride, so I made the decision to go with the bigger reserve and I'll cross the 2-out bridge in the unlikely event that it ever happens. I think even if I downsize the main, I'll be keeping the same reserve. "So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

The topic is how many jumps are needed to stay current, and should one quit if they can't jump frequently. The surprise at the end is just a bit of silly humour that Dave from Skydive Radio had been joking with him about. "So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

We know there are people who just freeze up on their first jump. You know the ones who do absolutely nothing after the canopy opens? No unstowing the brakes, no inputs, just riding it to landing. It happened at the DZ where I got my first training, but years later. I saw it in the news and the reporters were all over the DZO about why their training was inadequate and the girl ended up in the trees. He shot back that she didn't do anything at all. I felt bad for him, it wasn't his fault. Knowing the LZ and how absolutely enormous it is, the only way you could get to the trees is to have frozen. Has anybody been able to pick out, in advance, which students will freeze up? (Stupid question perhaps, because then they probably wouldn't be allowed to jump.) And let me be the first to mention Scott Lutz. "So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

Wait a minute.... your profile says that you have 39 jumps over 2 years and that your disciplines are freeflying and swooping. "So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

Which makes you sound like you don't know what you're talking about. There is no reason to do that in your profile. We're all skydivers. Tell us the model and size accurately, we can count non-rounded numbers, it's OK. It will build your sky cred. "So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

My experience with Jump Shack has taught me that they are really passionate about the issue of reserves not coming out when they're needed. They go on about it more than any other manufacturer does. If they told you it would be OK and did not qualify it with a "probably" or "but", I'd say you'll be fine. "So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

To be fair, if you'd actually read his post you'd realise that it was his buddy who bought the N3 - he started the topic because he was considering buying one himself. He's trying to do the right thing by getting to know the gear before purchase. I think Sparky was being fair, even if his comment wasn't directed at the correct person. Between the 2 of them, neither knew how this piece of equipment they were struggling with worked, neither seemed to know that you can't hear things in freefall, and neither seemed to know what those "audible pockets" in their G3s are for. And the guy who asked the question doesn't know that he doesn't have a Pilot 190. This suggests that he probably didn't research or select the gear himself, and just let somebody else choose for him. At least we hopefully stopped them before they returned the N3 as defective. To the OP, you and your friend do need to learn more about the gear that you use. Being new is not an excuse for being clueless about the gear that you wear, and you don't need a rigger's ticket to learn the basics. There are plenty of resources to do this: 1. Threads on here were helpful to me. In many cases, the manufacturer will answer you directly here. 2. The manufacturers' websites. 3. There are plenty of great videos on YouTube from DSE (a moderator here) at the PIA conferences in 2013 and 2011. He interviews the reps from various companies and talks about their latest products. These videos were gold to me when I was researching. 4. There are several books available to read on the topic of skydiving and gear. I've read at least 3; "The Skydiver's Handbook", "The Skydiver's Survival Guide", and "The Parachute and Its Pilot". And FYI, you probably have a Pilot 188, the same canopy that I fly. Calling it a 190 makes it seem like you don't know what you're talking about. You didn't list your reserve in your profile. Is that because you don't know what it is? If not, find out now! Yes, people are going to be harsh about this thread. But let this be your wake-up call. They are doing it because they sincerely want you to improve and have more understanding of the gear you use. "So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

They screwed up my issue with an AltiTrack. I got an email from Mads admitting they botched it. Ironically, it's because they were so eager to quickly replace my product that they failed to notice the letter enclosed that told them that wasn't what I wanted. So I guess they definitely had their intentions in the right place, just so eager to replace immediately that they didn't read my note. "So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

I don't think I've ever seen a blatant advertising thread backfire so badly. Here is a company I've never heard of before, and now I know all of this. As I prepare to put in my order for a new freefly suit tomorrow (with an unnamed different company that delivered on their delivery date the first time I used them), I'll be thankful I'm not experiencing this. Good luck to all who are waiting! Maybe a few years from now they'll have their act together, but absolutely must be avoided presently. "So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth