jerry81

Quick answer; yes, you can do rw in a ff suit. You're talking fun stuff, not team training and competiotions, I assume? And b), you could add grippers to a ff suit, booties would be harder. It would still be a different material and a different design and wouldn't 'function' as a real rw suit would, though. Maybe you can find one of those at an awesome price too if you look around some more.

Right, and playing the piano is just wiggling your fingers. As good as your contributions usually are, this kind of logic is just to simplistic to be taken seriously. As with virtually every other activity, physical or mental, some people will have better predispositions for becoming good canopy pilots and some won't. Some of the latter would still manage to get hurt despite following the chart. I think a combination of education and regulation would work much better if you wish for all to be safe.

OK, for the sake of argument; are, in your opinion, the people who survive exceeding those recommendations more talented than most or just extremely lucky? In general, I think strict enforcement of those rules would result in a)a percentage of people, who'd be ok at a certain (higher) wl getting there a couple hundred jumps later (not a big deal, imo) b)a percentage of people who really shouldn't fly at higher wingloadings hurting themselves a few hundred jumps later. c)a percentage of people who would otherwise get hurt on smaller canopies acquiring the neccessary skills on larger ones and surviving the downsizing. So are the numbers worth enforcing because of c? (I don't really disagree and expressing agreement is, as I understand, not necessary) (To save everyone the trouble, my wl has been 1.6 for the last 200+ jumps, but I won't outright claim I'm an exception to the rule...yet. Make what you want of that.)

I don't subscribe to that logic anymore since a properly tightened legstrap on my properly-fitting rig slipped Do you have stainless steel hardware? t Yes, but a loosened leg strap would have meant an interesting opening as well. Fact is, my rig fits perfectly, but on the ground it is possible to move the leg straps around a bit if I bend just right, even though they're properly tightened. Even though it's probably very unlikely to ever happen in freefall again, I don't want to take chances. BTW, put your rig on and try it. I'm sure it can be done on most custom-fitted harnesses, it's just that people usually don't bend that way.

Ditto. t I don't subscribe to that logic anymore since a properly tightened legstrap on my properly-fitting rig slipped halfway to my knee in a weird sitfly maneuver. It could be the fact that I can bend much more than normal people (and not only in the usual places), but the bungee is on my butt to stay. For wingsuit flying I think I'll add some sort of a low-profile connector to it, although I suppose french links are one way to do it as well.

Hey, I recognized a certain long-haired skinny fuck from my part of the world in that flick! Nice to know he was doing fine a month ago- I'm sure they've deported him by now.

From "50 Leonardo DiCaprio Facts" (I googled for that page, honestly! It is not in my bookmarks or anything...): Sounds almost like he pulled a Lutz...

A list of dropzones in Germany. It's a start.

BASE jumping.

Give your system a thorough scan with a spyware-detection program or three. Make sure you're there when the results are displayed and all worms, dialers and their registry keys are deleted- I find the experience quite enjoyable. Then switch to Firefox and consider running some sort of anti-spyware program in the background while you surf. Something anti-viral might do it too- I'm using NOD32 and it smashes any pop-up crap that gets past FF while I'm, uh, looking at smiley faces and mortgage rates...

The following is a lesson in how even first-hand accounts of incidents can be completely off: We watched the video of this mishap several times tonight. It was the reserve that was open and what appeared to us as a lineover was actually caused by the lines of the (uninflated) main across the canopy. This means the aad fired at about the same time as the jumper finally found the pc handle, the reserve opened first and the main (possibly its pilot chute, this is not clear from the video) got entangled on the left side. After a few spirals, the main slid off and inflated, which then quickly led to a downplane. The student himself gave roughly the same story as I initially posted (lineover on main, followed by an aad fire). I apologise for the confusion. If it was still possible, I'd change the title of this thread to (now even more appropriate) "One extremely lucky SOB". (edit @Winsor: Seems it was more like a cannonball that he dodged...)

Yes, it was definitely the aad that opened the reserve. There is a chance, though, that it happened just as the main was deploying (wouldn't be the first time that an FXC fired higher than it was set) and the reserve pc dragged behind him for a while before pulling everything out. The FXC is set to always fire when the descent rate is above 65fps and never fire when it's below 40fps. The lineover on the main looked about 3 cells from the edge and while it definitely wasn't a high speed malfunction, it was dropping noticeably faster than a normally flying canopy of that size.

Click here! BTW, pulling the slider all the way down, together with loosening the chest strap, makes your canopy slightly more efficient as a wing. So technically, it's not the slider behind your neck that makes you cooler, it's the longer swoops. And of course, having it down there means it's not flapping while you fly which in turn means less chance of the grommets rubbing against the lines. Much less annoying, too.

Saw it a few hours ago. The only reason this is not in incidents is dumb luck, since the string of mistakes is pretty apparent: A jumper with around 50 jumps, on student status (different rules in this country), first jump with a hand-deployed pc- I watched him do practice pulls on the ground, he said he practiced reaching for the handle in freefall (jump was from 2000m), but he apparently had trouble finding it when it was time to pull and opened somewhere between 500 and 700 meters (watching from the ground, it seemed closer to 500). The canopy (Skymaster 270), in accordance with Booth's Law #1, opened slow and with a lineover, which the jumper fought to correct until the aad (FXC12000) deployed his reserve (unknown, probably in the 250 range, since that's what most of our student rigs hold). I assume it was the unstable main that caused the canopies to go from a biplane to a brief side-by-side to a something resembling a slow down plane in a couple of seconds. The downward speed didn't seem high enough to be fatal, but I'm sure it would be enough to break a leg or two. Thankfully, instead of hitting a nearby road, the guy rode the mess down and landed in some trees from which we retrieved him unhurt in no time at all. The canopies took a bit longer, but from what I've seen there hasn't been any damage to them either. Besides the obvious lessons, I'm curious if there have ever been any experiements with two-out situations where one of the canopies is 'aerodinamically challenged'. I've thought about it and it seems to me in this case, the possibility of a stable configuration is pretty small. Am I right?

I'm sure one could easily become dependant on the audible under canopy. I think it's important to learn how a certain altitude looks like and always remember to check the beeps against what your eyes tell you.

The latest Neptune upgrade added a set of canopy alarms- you get two, three and four beeps at three preprogrammed altitudes. I have mine set so the first alarm sounds when I'm beginning my setup, the second slightly above the optimum altitude to begin my turn and the third at an altitude where I can still pull off a turn without having to dig out hard- basically a signal to abort if I haven't started the turn yet. Personally, I love it, both as an added safety and as a training tool for altitude perception.

I'd say that depends. I got a battery for 50$, a friend sold me his old cypres with about 2 years left on it for 130$, and if I trade it in after it expires I get 60$ off the price of a new one. So that amounts to 60$ per year for an aad in my rig.

Good for you. The last time I deployed in a cloud, it was on a 'normal' skydive, my goggles were fogged over and I spent about 300 feet before I came out waiting for someone to fly (or fall) into me out of the mist. I can't say I was really appreciative of my surroundings...

I rode in a plane where the pilot carried a can of air freshener. If the stench of excited skydivers got too bad, he'd just start spraying it into the cabin, which of course didn't improve the conditions by a lot. He also never looked where he was spraying it, so if you were unfortunate enough to be sitting up by the cockpit, you soon learned to cover your face when that can came out...

You'll be alot easier to flame if you organise your thoughts and sentences so people can understand what you're trying to say. This way, most will probably just call you a troll and turn away. I'll leave it to someone more experienced to explain in depth how to learn swooping with minimal risk, but I suggest you first re-think your approach to it and your attitude. Right now, you come across as a good example of how one can get seriously hurt despite a low wingloading waiting to happen.

Well, that depends. I'd definitely be disappointed if the whole setup turned out to be exactly the way any one of the numerous christian denominations portrays it. OTOH, if the man and JC were to appear one day and say "Yo, dudes, these 'organised religion' matters have gotten completely out of hand. Come over and we'll explain it once again!", I'd at least be compelled to listen. It would make for an interesting theological debate if nothing else.

With that, I agree 100%. But I disagree with your title- I think it's important to ALWAYS assume that others don't see you and won't do a thing to avoid you or make your canopy ride easier.

You're wrong. A good leader will hold his own ground no matter what. Changing one's behaviour when faced with different circumstances is neither good sense nor diplomacy (where'd you get that idea?). It's flip-flopping. Attempting to make the best out of a situation that's not entirely to one's liking is not intelligent- it is a clear sign that one's backbone is missing and that one puts their country's best interests before their own integrity and reputation, which is bad for any politician to do. Additionally, most of the leaders who do this are probably also liberals or socialists, which means they are stupid poo-poo heads and you shouldn't really care what they think. Next time, we'll explain why anyone who tells you populism in politics is growing more important is a dumb liberal. Be sure not to miss it.

Yeah, yeah, the cow is back! Sometimes I wish I still did so many drugs as in high school. ...beans, lots of beans, lots of beans, lots of beans...

Well, if you feel the need to repeat what I said ("Of course this poll falls short of 'official' or including everyone in the world..."), sure. Interesting that you of all people should discard information because of its questionable validity and means of acquisition. No surprise, but definitely quite amusing.