darkwing

ah yes, Bill Blair. I landed on the windshield of his van at a 10-way competition in Challis, Idaho in 1974. We held a 9-way until about 1600-1800 feet waiting for #10 to get in. He did as I recall. I opened at about 600 feet and made a bad decision trying to land in the parking area. I bounced off of his windshield, breaking it, and landed on a blanket the judges were using. They were impressed. I bet Fred Sand, at Lost Prairie, could identify others. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Also see this thread , "So you want to be a rigger" which should be sticky, but is not.. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

The metal ring is to prevent the top of the canopy from getting sucked through the grommet on the top of the bag. If this happens it almost always results in major canopy damage. Often I see both a connector link and a ring, but whatever you have, it better insure against the aforementioned problem. You can certainly use a soft link to take the place of a hard link in many cases though. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

In my 30+ years of jumping it is clear that almost everyone is very cavalier with their personal belongings, money, and gear at the DZ. That they feel comfortable doing this is good. Of course, on rare occasions we hear about something disappearing. Personally I attribute those to whuffos, or out-of-towners. My friends certainly know where to look for my money, gear, and car keys. I think that is an unstated standard, partly as a show of trust, and partly in case something bad happens to me at the DZ. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I rarely used a tape folder, as I found them to be a pain for most uses. Your use strikes me as one such. Fold by hand instead, and you may find a small flat-blade screwdriver handy to help poke the tape into position when you go around corners. If you must use the folder, then you are on your own. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Both are good, but they are very different from one another. First and foremost, talk with your instructors. My view is that if you have been jumping a year and have 9 jumps you should be conservative and go with the Spectre. It can be all the canopy you need for many jumps. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I removed my nose cover hundreds of jumps ago. It was always in the way. I just apply anti-fog every morning, and all is well. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

You might contact Jack Walter at Blue Sky Adventures, in St. George, SC. Phone 877-ripcord. We have had both the 675hp Caravan, and currently have a Grand Caravan. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I have about 500 jumps on mine, and a friend has about 100 on his. We are both quite pleased with them. The user above who commented that it didn't fit should have changed the padding around, as in most modern helmets, the fit is mostly in the padding. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Your question is far more open ended than you think. Maybe the simplest answer is that if you have two otherwise identical designs: same airfoil, same planform, same aspect ratio, same area, etc. and build one using 9 cells and the other using 7 cells, the 9 cell version would be a more efficient wing, but would have more pack volume, due to seam and line bulk. There is very little you can say about intrinsic differences other than that. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

You are all lightweights. This past summer I drove 4,000 km one way to Lost Prairie, Montana, from Charleston, South Carolina. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I'm not arguing with the empirical results, but I have larger variations than that in one day without any weight changes. Having said that, starting with the assumption that 3 lbs give you 2 mph probably is a good starting point. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

The physicist part of me says there is no magic formula. Too many variables associated in complex ways. Try until you get it right. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

watch videos and mimic their moves. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

The FAA allowed us to take 40 jumpers at the Nationals in the late 1970's as I recall. The advice of others to contact Jack Guthrie or bill Dause is good advice. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I believe this to be an absurd statement. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I started jumping at Star, ID in 1973, and Wally was pretty much as recovered from his stadium jump as much as he would ever be. He died in the late 1980's, as I recall from "natural causes" which I interpreted to mean he lived a really rough life, and it caught up with him. I never heard the story about him jumping with a group and forgetting to pull. I don't think he would have done that. Wally's house (known as the Monte Vista house, because it was on a street of that name) was certainly legendary as a crash pad. No doubt much to the dismay of the other residents of that otherwise normal neighborhood. I spent many nights there. I think we jumped in there once or twice too. That whole era (primarily the early 70's) spawned a group of jumpers who are still around. Unfortunately, the jumping community fragmented and now the Boise area has 3 Cessna DZs, when it could easily support one turbine DZ. I will add a footnote to that time and place: another prominent jumper, Crazy Ed Pancoast, cashed in his chips about a month ago, by his own hand. Eddie was the first freefall photographer I ever met. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I'll pretty much guarantee to you that if your log your jumps you will be very glad you did in 30 or 40 years. If you don't log them, you will wish you had. Write down stuff about the trip, the day, and the people, not just the jump. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Probably a problem with Flash on your browser. I hate flash web pages, but that one works for me. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I don't understand your comment about "significant disadvantage as wingloading increases." I don't see any connection to wingloading for this. When engineering a canopy at some point you have to decide on the number of cells. The most obvious trade offs are aerodynamic advantages of a smoother airfoil with more cells, but with more cells you have more seam bulk, construction time, expense, and drag from more suspension lines. Regarding propacking, there is no problem with even-number of cells. The canopy tail still has a center, and if you didn't look closely, you would notice no difference regardless of your packing method. I have about 250 jumps on 6 & 8 cell canopies, and there really is no issue I ever noticed that is inherently problematic for them. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I met Greg Yarbenet at a big boogie (probably Freak Brothers) in the mid-1980's and we spoke at length. I recall he said that he tried to patent it, but there was some prior art on a german canopy for the 1930's that rendered his version unpatentable. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I have built and jumped canopies with 5, 6, 7 and 8 cells. There is nothing special about 6 & 8. They open and fly just fine. Here is a photo of me jumping my 6-cell at the 1978 Nationals. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I'd like to hear the real deal from javelin. If a manufacturer says a rig is "grounded" it could easily be interpreted as meaning not airworthy, and no rigger could legally pack it. It would be very difficult for a rigger to defend packing something the manufacturer said not to. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Also expect it to bleed profusely. Don't let it touch anything you don't want to have dye transfer onto. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I suspect there isn't a manufacturer who hasn't occasionally built a misfitting rig (or jumpsuit). How often it happens is one issue, perhaps more importantly is how they deal with the problem. The implication of your posting is you bought one that you feel is way too small. Please give us the details. -- Jeff My Skydiving History