Spectrejumper

There's an article about AirAnn too. Plus my picture is on the Salute to the Big O page. Although that was actually my 400th jump, not 600th. I'm the one in the Factory Diver. Quite a month for the DZ.commers! Mike D-23312 "It's such a shame to spend your time away like this...existing." JMH

The Spectre is a great choice for a first canopy. I put 400 jumps on my Spectre 210 before I downsized. According to PD's website, 189 pounds is in the 'novice' category for a Spectre 210. You didn't mention how many jumps you have, or what you've been jumping up to this point, but I doubt you'd be disappointed with the Spectre. Mike D-23312 "It's such a shame to spend your time away like this...existing." JMH

Yep, that's what I mean. Your explanation makes it clearer. Mike D-23312 "It's such a shame to spend your time away like this...existing." JMH

It sounds like the pilot chute wasn't fully cocked. It's also possible that your kill line has shrunk to the point of not allowing the pilot chute to fully inflate. I read somewhere that a main pilot chute exerts over 70 pounds of force on the pin, which should be plenty even if you have to really struggle to get the container closed when you're packing. So there's my $.02. Mike D-23312 "It's such a shame to spend your time away like this...existing." JMH

I put my hands completely through the toggles on every jump. So does everybody else I know. I would be much more concerned about a toggle slipping out of my hand if I didn't. Plus I can't think of a reason why you would need to suddenly drop a toggle. Mike D-23312 "It's such a shame to spend your time away like this...existing." JMH

That's a great plan, if all your landings are going to be on the DZ in good conditions. The problems start when you get into one of those "oh shit" situations. There have been at least two fatalities this year where low time jumpers made poor decisions on off DZ landings. Jump numbers are no guarantee, but more experience might have lessened the pucker factor and helped these guys make better decisions. I don't want to come off as some kind of ultra-conservative safety nazi, in this or any of my other posts. I just hate reading about fellow jumpers getting injured or killed. I think somebody else said this recently, but it bears repeating: you've got your whole life to have fun jumping smaller canopies, as long as you don't break or kill yourself by going too small too fast. Mike D-23312 "It's such a shame to spend your time away like this...existing." JMH

All of that is true. I just wonder why people bother lying. I like to think that at least the A license accuracy requirements are somewhat enforced. Fraudulently obtaining a license is a disservice to skydiving. The licenses are meant to indicate a level of competence, they aren't just badges of honor. Demos or boogies or even certain landing areas at some DZs have license requirements because you actually need the skills those licenses certify to safely participate. Mike D-23312 "It's such a shame to spend your time away like this...existing." JMH

That's where the "in my opinion" portion of my post comes in to play. Mike D-23312 "It's such a shame to spend your time away like this...existing." JMH

That incident happened in Germany as I recall. The guy was convicted and sent to jail, a life sentence I believe. Mike D-23312 "It's such a shame to spend your time away like this...existing." JMH

I'm not sure I should ask, but what is involved in being "fruit-looped"??? I also want to offer this piece of advice to the newbies: you'll get on a lot more jumps with experienced jumpers if you just ask. I'm not trying to come off as a skygod, I only have 500 jumps, but many times it isn't until the walk to the plane that I notice a newbie is doing a solo or a two way with sombody only slightly more experienced than themselves. I'll jump with anybody who isn't going to try and hurt me, but I'm not gonna run around asking every person on the load what they're doing. Mike D-23312 "It's such a shame to spend your time away like this...existing." JMH

In my opinion (I'm not a rigger or canopy designer), the factory setting is the proper setting. I figure they designed and built the thing, and their settings will yield the flight characteristics they intended. That being said, if an experienced jumper prefers a different setting they should use it. From personal experience I find the factory setting works great. YMMV Mike D-23312 "It's such a shame to spend your time away like this...existing." JMH

Kelli wrote: >I mean how many newbies have actually hit the accuracy target? I hear alot of well I can do it if I have to it, or well the landing area is so huge why should I have to. After watching probably some of the best swoopers around doing stuff that to me was amazing, I was told that 99% of it is accuracy, being at point X at Y altitude, and if you aren't there, abort and find an alternate.< If you have a USPA license, you've at least been close to the target. Or you falsified your license applications. I commend you for getting some canopy coaching. Although in your post you say your landings were fine, I clearly recall a thread where you talked about how bad your landings were. Then you talked about how you downsized, got some coaching, and had good landings. The point of my little rant here is not to beat you up (you seem like a pretty heads up jumper), but to lead to a question. Do you think your landings got better because you increased your wingloading, or because you got coaching and started paying a lot more attention to your technique? I tend to think it's the latter. I also think it's why jumpers should spend more time on lightly loaded canopies that are forgiving of poor technique. A poorly executed flare or low turn on a lightly loaded canopy will get you dirty, and maybe cause some discomfort. The same maneuver on a highly loaded canopy will break or kill you. Mike D-23312 "It's such a shame to spend your time away like this...existing." JMH

The following is taken from the Sabre 2 Flight Characteristics article by PD. >>Stall Characteristics: As with the Spectre and the original Sabre, you may find that you can pull the toggles all the way down to full arm extension without stalling the Sabre2, especially if you are jumping a larger one. It?s important to remember that you do not have to be able to stall your canopy in order to land it correctly. Technically, a stall means the canopy has dramatically reduced its lift and increased its rate of descent. A stalled canopy is not really ?flying? any longer. If you want a soft landing, you really want your canopy to keep creating lift and maintain a low rate of descent until your feet are on the ground. If you adjust your steering toggles so that your canopy is easier to stall, it may actually become more difficult to land softly.

>I'm with Ben. I can think of a whole lot of situations where I'd just suck up and deal with it. But there is a limit to >what risks you accept as your own part of skydiving. > >As a purely hypothetical, far-fetched example: > >Your jump plane pilot flies the first load of the day still drunk and crashes the plane. You were aboard and are left a >quadripelegic. An extreme example, but is that one where someone should be forced to take some responsibility? >I think so. > >In general, I agree that we accept a certain amount of risk of accidents by skydiving. There isn't any sense in >trying to punish a fellow jumper or pilot for something that happened when they tried to do their honest best. But >for avoidable, careless crap that hurts people, I think they ought to be held responsible, if nothing else, for letting >their fellow skydivers down so badly. Well, I guess in your far fetched example I would agree that a lawsuit would be warranted. Then you get into a huge grey area when you talk about people "doing their best" and "avoidable, careless crap". Many people outside the sport would argue that everything we do is avoidable, careless crap. As most waivers will tell you, negligence is defined as failure to exercise due care. The waivers also usually say that by even agreeing to skydive you are negligent. The only way I think a lawsuit would be warranted is in a case of malicious intent, which I think is virtually non-existant in skydiving. One of the biggest problems in the US legal system, and US society in general, is that nobody wants to take responsibility for their own choices and actions. Where else can you put a cup of hot coffee between your legs, burn yourself, then sue the company that sold you the coffee because they didn't tell you it was hot??? This of course is just one of countless examples of the frivolous lawsuits filed daily here in the US. As far as the other poster who talks about "Bills still need to be paid and families need to be cared for.", I think that is part of the risk we accept when we decide to skydive. Mike D-23312 "It's such a shame to spend your time away like this...existing." JMH

I totally agree with you Phree. It wasn't that long ago that nobody would let you jump a Stiletto until you had 500 jumps. Now it seems everybody is rushing to get a highly loaded elliptical as soon as they graduate AFF. It concerns me even more that people are selling these canopies to jumpers who probably shouldn't be jumping them. I realize that much of our sport is about personal choice, and we're all big boys and girls, but I think there should be some responsibility. I guess I'll stop ranting now. Maybe I qualify for the coveted Canopy Nazi #3. :-) Mike D-23312 "It's such a shame to spend your time away like this...existing." JMH

As long as you're within the repack cycle of your home country you're ok to jump in the US. FAR Section 105.49 Foreign Parachutists and Equiptment. We have a lot of Canadian jumpers at my DZ, so we checked this out quite a while ago. Mike D-23312 "It's such a shame to spend your time away like this...existing." JMH

>>point is: #1 concern on a reserve is to make sure the rating can handle your weight at the highest speed you may use it. # 2 concern should be am i comfortable landing it. i think some people fixate on having a reserve much larger than their main becaues they are scared of how it will land....it is silly that most people would not think to demo a reserve... try before you buy. it will help you feel confident in your choice of size and, the first time you land any canopy should not be under less than ideal circumstances.

Well, it's been an up and down year for me. No pun intended. Well, maybe a little. :-) Good stuff: Six of my friends lived through really ugly accidents. 245 jumps, most of which really kicked ass. I hit 500 jumps. Ordered my new canopy. Four weeks to go-Woohoo!!! I get invited on all the big ways at my DZ. No Mals, No injuries. I got a new car. I got a new job. Bad Stuff: Six of my friends almost died in accidents. 1 car accident, 2 skydiving, 2 small plane crash, 1 wind tunnel The weather sucked this fall. I'm still single. :-( I guess when I put it in writing it was a pretty good year. Next year I plan to jump more, get my tandem rating, get my coach rating, and hopefully find a girlfriend. Mike D-23312 "It's such a shame to spend your time away like this...existing." JMH

I just sold my Spectre, my Sabre 2 should be here Jan. 10. Woohoo. I put about 30 jumps on a demo Sabre 2 in September and I was sold. Nice openings, very responsive, tons of flare power. I can't wait for my vacation in Feb. so I can put some jumps on my new canopy. E-mail or call PD and they'll send you a demo for two weeks. It only costs $30, plus return shipping, which was around $18 from NY. Just a note of caution: if you demo one, you'd better be prepared to order one. I probably would've asked to buy the demo if the colors weren't ugly, I really hated to send it back. Just my $.02, YMMV. Mike D-23312 "It's such a shame to spend your time away like this...existing." JMH

You guys might want to check out the Crater suit by Bodysport USA. I saw their ad in Parachutist about the 'computer projected fallrate' program they use and figured it would be a good suit for me. It helps out a lot. I'm 5'11", 225. The suit comes standard with swoop cords, but I almost never use them. Only when chasing tandems. It's like having air brakes, which is pretty cool. It's kinda hard to do formation flying type stuff when using them though. I guess I'd probably use them if I was docking late on a big way, but I'm always in the base anyway. Oh yeah, if anybody ever tries to give you shit about always being in the base, remind them that without a good base there is no skydive. Mike D-23312 "It's such a shame to spend your time away like this...existing." JMH

"Those must be space pants, cause your ass is out of this word." Mike D-23312 "It's such a shame to spend your time away like this...existing." JMH

The best advice I've heard is if you can't land the canopy you've got, get something smaller. Man, it's hard to convey sarcasm on the net. Seriously though, there's a great article on PD's website regarding wingloading. It thoroughly explains why a light jumper flying a tiny canopy is not equivalent to a heavier jumper flying a larger main at the same wingloading. Mike D-23312 "It's such a shame to spend your time away like this...existing." JMH

Just another plug for Roy at Rigs and Things. He really helped me out getting my Factory Diver. There were many delays and excuses from SkySystems, but Roy kept after them and even gave me a discount on the helmet since I had to wait so long. It was a pleasure dealing with him. Mike D-23312 "It's such a shame to spend your time away like this...existing." JMH

Hey Diva, do you jump at Chambersburg?? Mike D-23312 "It's such a shame to spend your time away like this...existing." JMH

I just checked my owners manual and it says Super Raven 249-M. I assume the -M after the size means it's a Dash M. Mike D-23312 "It's such a shame to spend your time away like this...existing." JMH