Blis

On the next jump he will be smarter and see what the upper winds are and if the jump run makes sense before making it...

magellan and skipper will get the V-ribs too...

If it had zero jumps it might have some value... It's 25-30 years old design made most likely of 0-3cfm fabric that flies slightly better than used umbrella. If we add to that formula your very small experience in landing parachutes there's a very real possibility that you will hurt yourself badly and even in best case scenario you will start to dislike canopy piloting because your canopy sucks badly... All in all, get a newer canopy...

There are literally hundreds of DIY cnc routers built and being built. All the mechanics and software are compatible with our industry, just need to replace the router bit with a hot-knife (laser is bit advanced for DIY designs and safety issues are harder to handle)... I'm fairly sure I could build one for less than thousand dollars if I really wanted to...

First thought that comes to mind is that you should get away from the mindset that pattern altitudes are absolute, for example 1000ft to begin your downwind leg might actually be 800ft or 1100ft depending on the ground wind conditions (and canopy choice). Secondly we're not limited to strict to 90 degree turns, there's always some variation (say, 70 to 110 degrees)... Now, picking apart those landing patterns one by one... Blue one seems fine, cutting the base leg shorter you could hit the yellow circle very nicely. Same goes for the green one, shorten the base leg and maybe make turn into base leg less than 90 and turn to final more than 90. That way you will land on middle of the grass (but not on the circle) Red pattern, move entry point to west next to no-go area. Make a lot longer base leg with short final towards the circle. Yellow pattern is obviously the most difficult, I personally would forget that approach totally and just land crosswind. If you insist on that pattern then I would move entry point just after the runway, next to tandem area. Fly downwind leg between tandem and swoop area after which turn into long base parallel to swoop area. After you pass the swoop area turn onto final (maybe turn more than 90 to make it closer to middle).... Hope this helps...

Be extra diligent with rehab and physiotherapy and remember to keep up with it even after you can start skydiving again...

I've had lots of experience buying, selling and using Dolphins. They changed somewhat over the years. Newer ones at least have bridle cover flaps, but they still lack handle security. FF friendly containers have much more secure pin protection and much better riser covers. The lack of these protections make Dolphins unsafe for FF. I'm not telling you not to try sit jumps with yours. I'm merely trying to make sure that the OP or anyone searching the topic in the future does not rely on your advice. Many of these lessons were learned they hard way. I really hope that does not happen to you. I would agree that if you are going to do any serious head down flying a FF handle for the PC is a must modification. I would point out that none of the more expensive "mainstream" containers ship with a FF handle by default. If you are doing some sit flying and your rig (including the Velcro) is in good condition the protection offered by the newer Dolphins seems about the same as that offered by the other containers that don't have the FF handle modification. Being freefly-friendly is about so many more things than just FF handle (or lack of it), it's about pin coverage, bridle coverage, how well the flaps fit and so on...

Stuffing the reserve tray might not give best results, also reserves in mirage tend to pack like a brick even when sticking to sizes recommended... I personally wouldn't even bother trying, if you want bigger canopy get a low bulk one (speed 2000/nano/optimum).

^This. It's unlikely that there are any pesticides or fertilizer or any other chemicals on the crops in enough concentration to do any damage. Most of that stuff is applied a lot earlier in the season and has either washed off or been absorbed. As was said, give it a good shake to get rid of most of the crap. A bit won't really matter and will blow out the next time you jump it. It takes a lot of dirt to require washing the container. Mostly I just brush it off with a stiff, natural bristle brush. You'd be amazed how clean it will get that way. And yes, I too thought this was about a farmer's claim to a DZ about crop damage. My original DZ had a "Corn Field Landing" jar. Anyone who landed in the crop field had to toss in a buck. At the end of the season, we gave the contents to the farmer. He always appreciated it. It's better to wait for the dirt to dry and then vacuum it. Brushing tends to drive some of the dirt farther inside the fabric which isnt a good thing... Washing requires a full disassembly of the container and two to three days of time so it's better left after the season if needed...

Dont waste your and everyone elses time getting a coach rating if you dont wish to train students. Later on you can coach other license holders if you so wish but leave training students (that's what you need the coach rating for) to people who are motivated to do so. It's safer and more productive to everyone that way.

From the looks of it the TRAP system looks perfectly fine and it will probaply work as well as skyhook... If you want mirage with MARD it's your only option as far as I know... Also, how often do you plan on cutting away? three times before inspection should mean years of use...

For the reference, here's a picture of the set-up... https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_0CVT0c-vl5cWNOMkR6XzVUR2s PD reserve slink installed in place of rapide link and the yepzon is in the same loop. There is enough slack in the Slink to allow free movement of the yepzon and considering it's shape I find it hard to imagine something getting stuck there. Good call on the battery though, never thought about it. Then again I would imagine cracked casing/leaking battery is something that might be easier to notice when you're actually seeing the device on every packjob.

It's OK canopy for a beginner, especially if you can score one for good price. You might end up having couple rough landings before you get the flare dialed in but shouldn't be anything too drastic... Packing, all the canopies are easy if you know what you're doing and vice versa. If you get something old and well worn it will be easier than packing something brand new but if it's the right size for container it's no biggie...

So, What is the opinion of other riggers on replacing the rapide link on bridle-main canopy connection point? I've been thinking about it a lot and cant find any concrete reason to not do so and I like the idea of having less metal in contact with the canopy. Main reason for this would be to install a Yepzon locator on that same slink and save me the trouble of sewing a pocket inside D-bag... so, opinions and ideas?

It must be horribly tight....

It will be tight but will fit, however it's worth keeping in mind that UPT does not recommend tight reserves...

Replaced a 106 pd-r with a 120 sq.ft speed 2000 in a v306 vector... The speed was softer than pd-r... So, 126 OP most likely packs bigger than 135 speed 2000... Why not get a speed 2000 anyway? I personally think its better than optimum (no sticky fabric, much better price/quality ratio)...

Here is a well proven solution to "reduce bag rocking"... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNM17BSajNc

I wouldnt do that for couple reasons, it looks really sketchy and seems to invite out-of-sequency deployments and secondly because it takes much more time to do than the usual stowing method... I personally prefer semi-stowless with side to side stowing in the pouch (no 8's)...

It's probaply even worse nowadays, everyone just wants to bring their camera with them from jump 1...

I know some people have so short brake settings that they're practically flying on (some) brakes all the time which kills the speed. Then they complain about a poor flare, most i've seen got fixed by adjusting the steering line length so that the canopy can actually go to full flight and suddenly, a lot more flare power...

Why on earth would you be spiraling or toggle monkeying a student canopy below 500m? by that height a student should be well on his way to enter to landing pattern at right height... Also, if cypres firing in a plane is perceived as a big risk then there should be a frank discussion about weather conditions you will be taking your students after which you could refresh you and dropzones pilots about how to land with skydivers in a plane...

Your cpu is just very slow, I'm running i5-2500k at 4ghz and my render times are around 10-15mins on CPU only... this is with source material at 1980x1080, 60 frames with avhcd codec (meaning 5minute video is 2gb'ish)...

It's the easiest way to exit a plane, you're already in a decent freefall position when you release the strut... Couple cues to help you keep it are look UP and keep your eyes there, ARCH hard and stay symmetrical... Backflips are propably a result of looking down or lack of arch....

It's the way you rotate toggles when setting brakes, usually you end up twisting the other every time you pack...