ZigZagMarquis

Folks cutting away their main for "fun" and then using their reserve. Sure, it happens, but you gotta ask yourself how smart that is... i.e. trade a "good" parachute for, yes, a carefully packed reserve, but as yet not a good, inflated, flying, parachute... but that's a whole other subject. While I agree with you in general, there are some valid reasons to cut away a perfectly good main. I'm too lazy to look them all up, but for instance I'm sure that you cannot become an instructor (in the Netherlands) unless you have had at least one cutaway - whether intentional or not. Well, yeah, but if you need a cutaway to become an instructor... used to need one to become a Strong Tandem Instructor (maybe still do)... but most all folks I know of that had to do one to get their Tandem rate went and did it on a terch-rig. Okay, what other "...valid reasons to cut away a perfectly good main..." can you come up with? I'll be upfront about it. I'd like to hear what you have to say... I'm anticipating a good laugh or two, no offense.

Good point... I was starting to feel left out because the best I can do is produce my Selective Service Registration Card and all-in-all I think Bozo and Nick are pretty good people. Anyway, WRT to the Master Parachutist badge... if I'm not mistaken, the Senior Parachutist badge (?) - Jump Wings with a Star ABOVE the canopy and the Master Parachutist Badge - Start with a circle (wreath ?) around it ABOVE the canopy both post-date WW2? Up until then, it was just the Parachutist badge and then maybe starts (mustard stains) on the shroud lines, or on the wings, to denote numbers of actual, no-shit, combat jumps (i.e. jumps into a combat zone). I'm certainly not an expert, but I think there were some individuals that got 3 or 4 combat jumps in WW2 and I'm sure I ran across the story of an individual (started out enlisted, finished up as a Warrant Officer... if I'm remembering the story correctly) that got 4 Combat Jumps in WW2 and one in Vietnam, for a total of 5 Combat Jumps in his airborne career. I don't think anyone has been awarded more then 5 Combat jumps... mostly because I cannot find on the internet how that would be denoted on their jump wings, but I could be worng.

Don't know how much success the "Cutaway ELT" has had. Would seem to be little to none. Bet ya Steve Fossett wishes he had a functioning ELT. "Loud Battery powered siren"... CONs: Weight & Complexity... yet another skydiving gizmo that needs care and feeding. Your first line of defense locating your main / freebag after a cutwway is to follow your trash down... with two disclaimers... 1) If you student that finds yourself under a reserve, screw following the trash down. Go make a good landing on the LZ under your reserve & let the staff worry about where the trash lands... 2) If you're an experienced jumper following trash down, don't screw yourself into a bad landing to follow it. Your second line of defense locating your main / freebag after a cutaway is for your buddies to help you out and follow the trash down OR at least keep good tabs on where it goes and note some geogrphical references WRT where it lands so y'all get go find it. Two more things... 1) What comes around goes around... so if you're fat dumb and happy under your main and you see someone else under their reserve, be on the lookout for their main & freebag and follow it if you can. The owner may not see it and you may need someone to return the favor for you some day... 2) Refer back to #2, above. Your third line of defense when it comes to getting your main / freebag back after a cutaway is... and I gotta break with SAPS here (Skydivers Against Pink Shit)... is to have a canopy with a good portion of it being day-glow colors... i.e. Neon Yellow, Pink, Orange... sometimes even Red, Blue, Purple canopies seem to "blend" really well after getting to the ground.

FOUL! You can't go pieing mama ahead of time for her 500th... but you can pie her for her 100th, 200th, 300th & 400th... remember, there is no statue of limitations on a pie...

No, but I'll definitely have a lot of exposed skin. Bruises won't look good in my photos, silly man! Wedding photos? What good are they??

LMAO!!! Oh that was a good one!!

Bummer. Can't do anything about the weather... but... Hmmm... 2 thoughts... Soooo, you're officially a Soccer Mom. Consider pulling your kid out of Soccer and bringing him to the DZ and teaching him to pack. Its a much more valueable life skill anyways and he can earn money for mom to jump. ... see what I said about making the kid pack to earn money so you can jump... or, if he's earning his own money, you can stop spending yours on things like food and clothing for him and use it to jump... What? Is this going to be a nude wedding?? I'd have thought your S.O. would have been used to the skydiving mystery bruises by now?? Doesn't matter. There's no time limit on a pie.

*confused* 486 jumps now and want to hit 500 before January? Heck, y'all could do that before the end of Sept or before the end of next week even! ... but I guess, technically, that's before January... Anyway, so far the "Yes's" are waaay out in front on this pole.

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Jump long enough... and sooner or later you'll have a cutaway & reserve ride. "Pack fast, pull low and date your rigger's wife."

I was guessing lots of line twists on the reserve too, but was wondering... did they do a single riser or two riser set-up on belly reserves ever? ... I thought I heard of such things and was thinking maybe that's what it was in the orig pic, but then thought lots of twists more likely what it is.

Anyway, ladyhawke, to summarize, if you're really really wanting to do this, IMO, your options: 1) Find someone with a terch-rig that knows what their doing and get trained up on it... its not just another jump. 2) Call up PD and get a Reserve - Demo, maybe 1 size larger then what you have now, pack it up in your rig in place of your main & go jump it to see how a reserve style canopy flies / lands. 3) Wait, and in time, you'll have a reserve ride... I can recommend some packers if you'd like to up the chances of that being sooner then later...

And don't forget the 9cell reserves out there Seem to be quite a few Predators around here lately, for some reason I knew someone was going to say that! ---------- Lets see... "My first chop was a month ago..." = 1 case of beer "...it was my first save." = 1 case of beer + a bottle for your rigger (still counts even though its yourself). So... 2 Cases of Beer + 1 bottle for yourself...

Hmmmm... Skymama... baked beans... makes me think of the "baked beans" scene from the movie Tommy... mmmmmm

You'll notice a marked difference between the way a reserve (PD160R) and a Safire 2 - 170 flies. For starters, reserve canopies are F111 and also mostly all 7-cells (edit... to add "mostly all" before someone jumps in and says there's still some 5-cell reserves out there in service still). They don't perform like a ZP main and are not meant to. They're meant to get your ass to the ground safe. Possibly, the two most noticeable things you'll note if you demo a PD160R is that it has a steeper approach (7-cells do that) and it will not be as responsive in the turns as you've maybe become used to with your Safire. Back when most folks flew F111 mains too, it was a bit easier to express how a reserve flew vs. a main, but since most folks are ZP babies now, the first time they ever fly F111 and/or 7-cells is when they get under their reserve. Good flare (expect the flare point to be deeper then on your Safire... practice up high) and be ready to PLF. Others will be along with plenty of advice too I'm sure, but if you're really interested, call up PD and see about getting a reserve demo. Since you have a PD160R, they might advise jumping a demo reserve one size larger since they get jumped more or they might not.

You don't see them very often, which, I guess, in a way is a good thing, but the jump wings that I always have respect for (are the guys) wearing ones with mustard stains on.

All of my cutaways have been intentional... its not like I pulled the cutaway pud & reserve ripcord by mistake after observing my main had a mal... But seriously... if you're going to do it, you should do it on a terch-rig and be properly and extensively trained before doing so, IMO. When I was a newb, with even less jumps then what Lhawke has now, I recall asking a very experienced jumper (former Navy Test Jumper & gear mfgr) about doing an intentional cutaway on a terch-rig... his response was a resounding NO as he had seen even very experienced jumpers pull handles out of sequence on terch-rigs and get themselves in trouble... he went on to say something like, just wait for it, you'll get a cutaway and reserve rid on a regular rig sooner or later... for me, it was sooner, I had my initial reserve ride on my 20th jump. There may be something in the BSRs about this, but I don't have the energy to go look right now.

Awh! We wouldn't pick on ya if we didn't like ya! This all is kinda like the skydiving equilivalent of when ya were a little girl kid and little boys used to run up to you on the playground, punch you in the arm and then run away.

Come on... Pie Rules are even more ambiguous then Beer Rules!! Basically... Pies have no time limit and can be administerd for what ever reason a bunch of drunk skydivers with paper plates and whipped cream can think of... the only reason Pies don't happen more often is the potential for swift and violent retaliation...

Complete this sentance: "Skymama is coming up on 500 jumps and should be pied because..."

Look for, okay, but would you really tell a student to try to follow their trash down? It's not their stuff, is it? t good point.

Don't worry, we'd help you "wash" it by tossing you in the pool (or shower) after pie-age... ... anyway... 6 years in the sport and you're just now closin' in on 500 jumps?? That, in and of itself, should be a PIE!

Okay... just my opinion... but if you're a student and you have a malfunction and have to cut-away and go to the reserve, a reputable DZ / DZO is not going to make you pay for any damage or replacement costs... the key word bieng reputable. But, anyway, try not to worry about such stuff too much. Concentrate on your TLOs on your student jumps, practice your emergency procedures and deal with a malfunction, if it happens, as it comes.

Well, I suppose y'all can pie anyone for pretty much any reason y'all want... but remember... "He who lives by the pie, dies by the pie." or "What goes around, comes around." I've seen some of the biggest instigators towards pieing other folks get tied to a post or tied to a chair or cornered in the head and get pied into oblivion with all sorts of stuff like "cat food pies", "mayonnaise pies", etc.

Look for, okay, but would you really tell a student to try to follow their trash down? Maybe its just me, but since the OP is a student, I wouldn't want him or her to get the idea that while on student status they should try to follow their trash down if they have a cutaway. I still think they'd be better served being told to concentrate on landing their reserve safely and on the DZ as much as possible and let the staff worrry about where the cutaway & freebag went (again, I'm talking students specifically here).