miked10270

Yeah, Speedy.... Stupid Zippo Lighters... Supposed to be windproof! Mike D10270.

Hi shark, Turning points on a HaLo can be a bit difficult, the container you're jumping with tends to get in the way! Still, you can score it as a 5-way? HaHo Crew? Sounds brilliant to those who haven't jumped that marvel of technology called the GQ360! Mike D10270.

OK... Confession time... I felt I had to post "something" as my fiftieth (thats 50th for all my colonial friends, you know... like Hawaii... to count to "50" you get 2 friends, take off their shoes, and add up your fingers to their fingers and toes ). Interesting that our Great Leader transpires to be South African. I can now understand his character. Some years back I went there and happened to stopover in Amsterdam en-route for a few days (& yep, I'm pretty sure that the Dutch airport police still have my pic on the wall... they also have a plentiful supply of surgical gloves)!! I was struck by how "laid-back" the Dutch were as a people. Then I flew on to Johannesburg and it was there that I learned that the reason the Dutch in Holland are so relaxed is that they exported all their psychos & lunatics to SA in the 18th & 19th centuries! After all, any sane man faced with his girlfriend wanting a nice engagement ring would just nip down to the jewellers, not dig up half the country to get the stuff to make one! Still, that's Boers for you! Mike D10270.

Some time ago, upset at my "newbie" status, I demanded a "free upgrade". This was in the best traditions of such fine US institutions as Hertz, Delta & McDonalds who'll give anyone an upgrade just for the asking! So... What does it take to get the upgrade? Do I have to post yet another jingoistic diatribe against former colonials? Or the French? Mike D10270.

Hi Craig, That's fine, so we'll all get to see it in the next "James Bond" movie? Mike D10270.

Hi Alan, As you may have gathered it's yes to the Cypres & NO to the RSL on my rigs. I view the Cypres as my "last chance if I'm incapable of deploying for any reason but I did have a slight problem with it a few years back. First 2-way sit-fly jump, exited in a train and it was going brilliant so my partner moved in front of me and spun me. Break-off at 4,500ft and I found myself in a FAST spin, back to earth and I COULDN'T get belly-to to deploy!!! finally got stable but LOW!! Went for main but saw alti (1,200ft) so I dumped my reserve with my other hand still on my main handle (figuring that I'd probably have both canopies out - thanks to the Cypres - if I did pull my main). Grounded for the weekend... The only good part of the dive was that I only had a 100 yard walk to recover my freebag and my Cypres didn't actually fire! Mike D10270. PS. Yes the Cypres & RSL are different things that serve different functions. IMHO the Cypres solves more problems than it causes... The RSL causes more problems than it solves.

Oh yeah... Skydiving clothing

Hey Flyboy6K, Get the whuffos at your work to check out fatalities in aircraft! 99.9999% of people who die in 'planes are killed when the 'plane descends (actually it's when the 'plane STOPS descending(!!) & gets to the ground. The sensible solution is to leave the 'plane before it starts to descend!? Mike D10270.

Just to clear things up, PLF is the acronym for "Parachute Landing Fall" The position is feet & Knees together (the legs naturally take on a slight bend at the knee), feet pointed out about 30 degrees away from the side you're going to land on, hands down to groin, chin to chest and teeth clenched. The overall image is "this is going to hurt" (and you're usually right)! You then land and roll / tumble in a cloud of dust / grass / mud (depending on your DZs climate). You then get up, keeping your teeth clenched until you've bought the beer! Mike D10270.

Hi there, One of the most common malfunctions is a "line-over" (it's not a line over the canopy, it's (invariably) a brake line that's got in front of the nose during packing (so maybe it should be more accurately termed "nose-foul". Anyway, every time you dress the canopy to width by rolling the sides around the nose you can risk bringing a brake line around in front of the nose[shock]. with the "Wolmari" pack, you dress the canopy to bag width by folding it into thirds (give or take) AWAY from the nose & toward the tail. As such, any "migrating" brake lines are moved toward the tail and away from the nose. In addition, I personnally find it "less confusing" than the Psycho-pack and it doesn't need the bridle extension or cause potential problems with a kill-line PC. Mike D10270.

Hi there, Best advice I can give you is to seek out a rigger or instructor you know. Buy secondhand 'cos your needs ARE going to change over the next 100 jumps or so. Comfort is everything! Make sure the harness fits you. Mike D10270.

Hi Zennie, Are you sure that what you see as a "love tap" isn't just some irate skydiver banging hell out of his container to get it into a shape that resembles the manufacturers picture? Mike D10270.

Hi there, If I remember correctly, Kittigre went ransonic in a feet to earth position with the drogue and the apex 1/3rd of his 28ft round canopy already deployed (this was to stabilise him). He wasn't really a skydiver (even by the standards of the day) and this was a test for military high altitude bail-out for pilots (so it had to be something within the capabilities of a pilot, not a brave & brilliant skydiver). I'm also sure that there was "docudrama" made by hollywood in the early 1960's about this which went into the problems they had with body control in high altitude freefall... like you don't have any control over about 45,000ft (at least, none that's worth having). the big problem was that folk were going into uncontrollable spins (like 200+ RPM) and losing consciousness! If these folk ARE going into pure freefall from 125,000ft then my guess is that they're going to go supersonic. I don't see that as a significant problem at that altitude (guess), but I wonder how they'll do when they transit to subsonic as they pass into thicker air. I also want to know who's going to fly video . Right now I'd like to see some input from a ballistics expert? Mike D10270.

Hi there, Another thing just struck me (OK... I've been thinking about this thread quite a bit ). I suppose that freefall sex would be a predominantly male fantasy... specifically the bit where having "done the deed", it's socially acceptable to turn away and bugger off at speed (purely in the interests of deployment safety)! Mike D10270.

Hi there, I think you're ALL missing the important point here guys (& gals). While it's important to get the spouse to accept what you do, we don't want a convert. If there's one thing worse than having a skydiver in the family... it's having multiple skydivers in the family! First it's a recipe for financial disaster, second there can be MAJOR arguments about who's going to watch the kids while the other skydives, etc... Comments... Merrick... Pammi? Mike D10270.

Hi Pammi, From what you said, I've now got an image of the bomb-bay in the B-17 they use at Quincy, sort of coupled with the penultimate scene from Dr. Strangelove, you know, the one where the Texan Bomber Pilot climbs onto the bomb and releases it by bouncing up and down on it until the bomb releases with him still astride it whooping like he was on a rodeo bronco! The things some people will suggest just to get a free jump from an unusual 'plane!!!? Mike D10270. BTW I'm pretty sure it climbs at somewhere about 750ft/min.

Hi there, Just to expand on the wing loading thing: 0.5 - 0.7 lbs/ft2 = docile handling & suitable for students. 0.7 - 1.0 lbs/ft2 = more responsive & suitable for newly qualified. 1.0 - 1.2lbs/ft2 = sharp handling - generally this is the point where the mainstream manufacturers have designed the canopy to fly and have tested it. 1.2 - 1.4 lbs/ft2 = very responsive & the canopy will fly you into the ground & seriously hurt you if you allow it! 1.4+ lbs/ft2 = this canopy will kill you if you're not competent at these wing loadings! ALso, above 1.4lbs/ft2 what were nuisance factors like line twists cease to be a nuisance and can become a malfunction with the canopy spinning so fast (& losing height) that you can't clear them so you have to chop! Hope this helps, Mike D10270.

ROFLMFAO!! I'm sorry, but I was reading your original post and this image just popped up in my mind: couple making love on floor in something without a door (the image is actually a C-206) & just at the height of passion the person who's on top gets his/her reserve popped - the reserve goes out the open door and you have perhaps one of the fastest withdrawals in human history! Sick, I know... But for some reason extremely funny . mike D10270.

Yeah... any job carrying responsibility can cause burn-out, especially when what was your hobby suddenly becomes your whole working life with responsibility for another's life. Generally, it's the brilliant skydivers who become instructors, regardless of whether they have whatever the "X-Factor" is that makes a good instructor. Idon't mean good teaching manner or the ability to teach... I mean the ability to shoulder the responsibilities of instructing, being liable and responsible for your students safety while being pressured to "Jump the student" & make the DZO his money [sad]. Not for everyne. Mike D10270.

Yeah... The Search is good, jut a shame it isn't bigger or occurring in more places. Mike D10270.

Yeah... Gotta agree that a tailgate is FUN

Hi there, Airlocks: The pros; More rigid & consistent airfoil so less compromise on shape. Unlikely to collapse. Can't wrap in collision (bounces off). Tolerates higher wing loading. Longer surfs. The cons; Bigger pack volume. More expensive. Doesn't collapse after landing. UTTER SHIT TO PACK!! Mike D10270 (who still wants one!).

Hi there, Bear in mind that ideally you should have a bridle extension of about 2 inches longer than bag width between bag & canopy attachment when psycho-packing. Personally I don't roll the nose on my Sabre, but the slider does get pulled forward and the tail gets rolled big-time & all the way up. To bag the canopy I use the "Wolmari" pack method and I get lovely consistent on heading openings. BTW, if you have problems getting the whole pack into the bag, one trick is to make the "second" S-fold first and bag that (so you have a 10 inch tail of canopy still out of the bag). then stuff the tail into the centre of the bagged canopy... Same result but in an easier order! Hope this helps, Mike D10270.

Hi there, Yeah... the Chaser was a TSE rig that bore a remarkable similarity to the Jumpshack Racer, just as the TSE Zerox was very similar to the RWS Vector (ok, they were slightly modified copies). They were significantly cheaper and quality had improved over the years. At present TSE produce the Zerox, Crew Zerox (picture a RWS VIII with a Voodoo style reserve pin cover flap) and the Teardrop. The Teardrop is the only one that's TSO'd but TSE state that this is a financial consideration. They sell enough Zeroxes without the TSO. Personally I've had a couple of TSE Zeroxes in my time and haven't had a problem with them. TSE are great ones for issuing safety notices but to be fair they do tend to issue them themselves and, for example the type 17 reversed riser bulletin was followed by other manufacturers with the result that ALL type 17 reversed risers were termed unsafe, not just TSE's. Give TSE a call on: +44 1262 678299 Fax: +44 1262 602063 Email: TSE@skydive0.demon.co.uk Website: http://www.thomas-sports.com Hope this helps, Mike D10270. PS. I hope this doesn't start a flame regarding US Vs "foreign" gear [sad].

Hi there, THis might not be exactly what you're looking for, but try the following: http://www.bpa.org.uk/code/forms.cfm and select: F112A Tandem Inspection Check List. Hope this helps, Mike D10270.