darkwing

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Everything posted by darkwing

  1. darkwing
    I've got lots of jumps on a spectre at 1.3 and it is mighty fine. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  2. darkwing
    Some DZs are quite hungry for packers (ours for example). It can be tough to be mobile as a packer, and especially as a manifestor, as an element of trust for packers, and the training period for manifestors can take a while to develop. You would be better off using some contacts to find a DZ and plan on staying there for a while. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  3. darkwing
    10-way speed is coming back! There is also a meet at Lake Wales at Christmas, and I have heard of a couple of others. There has been talk that my DZ may have one this year. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  4. darkwing
    single piece of cable with a metal fitting compressed to hold a loop in the middle. This metal clamping is called a "swage." (one syllable, soft g). Then I believe a sturdy tape goes through the cable loop and is sewn securely to the handle. I'm sure someone will correct me if I am wrong. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  5. darkwing
    ouch! When, where, etc? It probably isn't US, as that isn't a color pattern I've seen on American canopies. Is the a/c a MIG of some flavor? I vaguely recall seeing film footage of this biff. The canopy looks weird, but that is how rounds look at that point in the opening sequence. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  6. darkwing
    OK, here's mine. Of course it is better than anyone else's. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  7. darkwing
    have a rigger look at it. There are often tell-tale signs for rigger vs. factory reline jobs. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  8. darkwing
    Don't you mean Mike Gennis? He was on Mirror Image earlier too. Not a clue about the kid though. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  9. darkwing
    I'd love to get copies of old nationals competitions. Has anyone contacted USPA about this? I'm particularly interested in 1978-79. Ground-based video. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  10. darkwing
    I was a skydiver before I was a scuba diver. I had to quit scuba because I lost my balance for 3 months due to an inner ear problem. Skydiving is better anyway, but I'm very glad I got to see some of the underwater world (Red Sea...) -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  11. darkwing
    Thanks for the excellent video of your season. I always like the now traditional biff and fubar sequence at the end. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  12. darkwing
    Keep your project in the realm of the do-able. I'd recommend avoiding issues such as canopy aerodynamics. Maybe get an accelerometer and measure opening forces. Or perhaps consider airspeed as a function of time from exit (this is more interesting than most people think) fwiw, I am a physicist. Best of luck. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  13. darkwing
    I've been to major DZs with pilots who have thousands of flights, and seen load after load get crappy spots, I mean really crappy. There was a thread recently where this was discussed. It bothers me greatly that the view now is that the pilot might not be interested in listening to the jumpers because the pilot has GPS. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  14. darkwing
    It amuses me (as an old fart) that some people seem to think that you can't learn or do RW without booties. Nonsense. Sure they give a handling advantage, mostly if you are doing a lot of moves (i.e. 4-way), and sure they help a bit if you are going low, but for the majority of jumpers, casual, and novice, and experienced, they just aren't a big deal. Certainly not necessary -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  15. darkwing
    Hydrogen issues asside (I agree with Kallend) grinding a ring as you describe sounds like a REAL bad idea to me. I'd seriously like to hear some justification from whoever did it. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  16. darkwing
    How big were these cylinders? Scale makes a big difference I think. For this information to be meaningful they would have to be about human size, and going about freefall speeds wouldn't they? -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  17. darkwing
    The term "better" is kind of dependent on what criteria are being applied. I've got over 500 spectre jumps and demoed a sabre 2. I'm sticking with my spectre. If at all possible you should jump them and define "better" for yourself. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  18. darkwing
    We had one at our DZ a couple of weeks ago. It was sweet. I'm currently a Havok owner, but if I didn't wear glasses I'd go for the FreeZR. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  19. darkwing
    213, paid for by me. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  20. darkwing
    Many years ago on a long flight to another DZ for a boogie a guy was asleep in a sleeping bag in on the floor, so the pilot floated him up into mid-air in the cabin. Can you imagine waking up in freefall stuffed in a bag? Everyone but him thought it was very funny. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  21. darkwing
    In fact it might be fun to go to the thread on urban legends and use the funniest of these to humorize your interview. I'm sure you will do a great job. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  22. darkwing
    I use a red marker to color the cord on it, so it looks like MINE. I also drilled a hole in the flat end, so that even if it gets separated from the colored cord, it still has a distinguishing mark to show it is MINE. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  23. darkwing
    Unfortunately you are going to get referred to several threads that contain conflicting information. Part of the problem is that every time this comes up, people want to get 3 years of physics classes compressed into a paragraph, and it just doesn't work. You will get some convincing information that is wrong, and some unconvincing information that is right. I give up. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  24. darkwing
    On the downside... I've done and seen enough TV/newspaper/magazine stuff to come to the bitter realization that whatever you say and do, be prepared for them to butcher it and take things out of context. It doesn't always happen, but 90% of the time it does. Don't blame yourself for it. -- Jeff My Skydiving History
  25. darkwing
    I was at Lake Wales then. It wasn't just 2-ways that were told to space 3 seconds apart. My groups of 6 to 17 just ignored the "recommendation" to go at 3 second intervals. We also conspired with groups before and after us to do the same. The spots also sucked big time, for quite a few loads, and it wasn't due to groups taking too long. I am increasingly distressed when big, busy DZs insist on things that are contrary to safety. Exit spacing, and crappy spots being the two primary issues. And please don't lecture me on "you didn't have to jump if you didn't want to." I don't, and like the author a couple of posts above, I can and have voted with my feet. -- Jeff My Skydiving History