jerry81

I find the freefly handle on Microns makes packing the pilot chute in the pouch a little more awkward, but the handle itself seems secure- the few milimeters of exposed pc fabric are covered by the handle anyway and unless the canopy is way too small for the container, it shouldn't move. One thing to note- if the tuck tab does come out on a Micron, the handle is still going to stay in its place whereas on a Wings, the 2" tape connecting it to the pc allows for something akin to a floating pud mal to occur. Personally, I like Micron's ff handle better.

A new national FS record was set on September 23rd at Skydive Venezuela, Higuerote. 32 Venezuelan skydivers broke the previous record (28) on the fifth attempt- sunset load on Saturday. Jumps were made from two Antonovs 28 from an altitude of 15.000 feet and there were no problems except a chop on the last warmup jump on Friday and some short delays for the regular skydiving operation that ran alongside the record attempt. I'm not quite sure if the record is officially recognized, but it is definitely the biggest all-Venezuelan RW formation to date... Participants in the new record: Alberto Alibrandi Alberto Winckelman Alejandro Angeli Alejandro Betancourt Ali Hage Anibal Dao Armando Arriechi Carlos Redondo David Muñoz Donaldo Pacheco Fabiana Serfati Gabriel Toth Giancarlo Trimarchi Guglielmo Giuca Israel Medina Jesus Sojo Jonathan Cohen Joshua Rodriguez Juan Jose Denis Julio Planchart Julio Quintero Julio Sarria Luis Adolfo Lopez Mendez Luis Alfredo Lopez Mendez Luis Ramon Garzaro Pablo Gimenez Pedro Luis G Pedro Ramos Raúl Quiñones (main organizer) Richard Yacoub Rosemarie Carrer Wladimir Abbat Cameraflyers: Daniel Viñals Luis Rotundo Attached is a photo of the record formation, taken by Luis Rotundo. A few more pictures can be found in the photo gallery on our webpage- www.skydivevenezuela.com. Thanks again to everyone for participating and congrats on the accomplishment!!

Here's one I'm not really happy about: attached is a picture of me in freefall. Not the guy in center frame- I'm the little white blob in the lower left corner. This was the sunset load yesterday and we were really pushing it- the plane needs to be on the ground before the official sunset and it seemed so tight we weren't even sure if there would be time for a go-around if needed. Full load, lot of groups and the loadmaster (with whom I was jumping) tells the people "3 seconds". I guess this wasn't so bad, coupled with a fast plane and the fact that most people just took the order as "don't take too long in the door". However, him and me were third out, after two flat 2-ways that had about 5 seconds between them. Our plan was an over-under impro freefly jump and the last time we did it, I pulled a 'sudden exit' on him, which is a fun way to make sure your partner is on the ball right from the exit. Well, this time he did the same to me- exactly 3 seconds (checked my video) after the second group exits, as I'm still kneeling by the door looking after them, I hear "OK, go!" as the guy steps past me and out. So I went, thinking "Crap!". But still, I went. You can see us in the second photo... We had a nice jump, did some tight eagles and kept the right heading. The first two groups were pulling a little higher (4k), but I believe we were still the first to open. I was checking the airspace like mad right after and I definitely didn't like how close (horizontally vertically they were at least 1000 feet above) the second group was when they opened. The rest of the load apparently took a little longer getting out (as expected) and the last few groups got a 180 and it all worked out well. But seeing these pictures that a friend took yesterday, I feel that I've slipped a little. Maybe not much, but a potential link to something more serious anyway. Just a personal reminder that I thought was worth sharing.

It might be just the way the picture was taken or resized, but on the very last one, it seems like the right brakeline is twisted way to hell, no? But who cares when you have a reserve on your back...

Which of these two options sounds better to you: having to land out or having a mid-air collision with another skydiver? If you already made a mistake by getting out in a bad spot, don't make it worse by flying into what might be someone else's airspace. Additionally, an open canopy has a much better glide ratio than your body in a track, so pulling slightly higher will give you more options when you realize you're far. As for the landing areas- if your instructor hasn't explained the 'accuracy trick' to you, ask about it (or do a search for it on these forums). One thing I learned the hard way is, if you think you might make a landing area you also might not. I landed in some low trees on jump 55 and got a few scratches getting the canopy down. You could have landed in powerlines if your assumptions turned out to be wrong. If you are not sure if you can make the landing areas in front of you, look behind as well. Assuming you're facing into the wind, places behind you might be a surer bet and walking back feeling like an idiot beats hanging from a tree feeling like an idiot or worse. Trust me on that.

Quoting this because it's worth repeating.

Hehe, not that many, now. Actually, working as a packer, I received more complaints from people who wanted it to open "just slightly faster this time" and the 'harder' openings I was writing about were merely harder, not slammers, with the exception of when I was experimenting with different packing methods on my canopy. It's a 120, but the slammers I got from it were probably close to slider-off base openings...

Slider control is easier demonstrated than described, but anyway: when I teach packing, I tell people to keep one hand (normally left, since it's non-dominant for most) around the lines at the top of the canopy and pushing the slider against the stops during the wrapping and laying down part. Then, when coccooning, I prefer to keep a knee on the lines where the hand was before, so now you're using your leg to keep the slider in place while you get the air out. For folding, I put the hand back around the lines and keep the slider against the stops until the moment tha flap goes over and you start the first locking stow. Hands are of course interchangeable, the key is to never let the slider move away from the stops. I notice that a lot of people lose it when they put the canopy on the ground, don't control it as they squeeze the air out and then stuff it in the bag like that. I agree with the guys in the other forum about 85%. A majority of slammers can be attributed to poor slider control. Then of course you have the general chaos and construction factors. My canopy, for instance, will slam me if I leave the nose out, regardless of my slider control. Push it well into the center, and it's happy. On a Katana and a few Sabre2s that I packed and jumped, doing this seemed to result in weirder and often harder deployments, while leaving the nose hanging out (as PD suggests) improved them. Anyway, the best way to learn would be to get someone to show how they do it, but I hope I at least gave you a general idea of how my method works...

File>Export>Frame will save the current frame of your project as a bmp image...

Perhaps try straddling the air instead of sitting on it. Your stance seems wide enough- what you want to do now is bring the knees in slightly so you're kinda squeezing the relative wind, using the insides of your legs as control surface as well- get more drag below the waist and you'll be able to move your upper body more freely. Once you get there, start doing exercises with your hands- touch them in front, touch them behind your back, bring one forward and one back, switch, take a pull-up cord with you and pass it from hand to hand... Try to feel how this affects your balance and focus on countering instability with inputs from your legs first. Once you can tie a knot in that pull-up cord in any position imaginable (in front of you, behind your back, behind your head, under each leg), you should be ready for head-up grips as well.

Have you seen Virtus 2? You can download it from Skydivingmovies (BASE section). There's an interesting head to head comparison (WS versus a VKB tracking suit) about 4:20 minutes into the movie...

I took my cypres out last friday when I popped my reserve for a repack- it was a little over 13 years old, the battery was still good, it still counted down as usual and it would probably work properly if neccessary, but I thought about it and decided I felt more comfortable jumping without it than have a complicated electronic device that has passed its guaranteed lifetime installed in my rig... I've jumped with and without an AAD- started on a student rig with an FXC about 4 years ago. I'm 24. I see it as an airbag- useful device, potentially dangerous in certain situations or the unlikely event of a misfire, overall does a lot more good than harm, nice to have it, but I don't mind driving a car without one at all.

It seems tow-launching was sometimes used by accuracy jumpers back home, back in the day, to practice landings without actually jumping from a plane. I heard it a few times from a guy who was there. Saw the pictures, too. Pretty long rope and a release system at the harness. One danger mentioned besides the obvious was releasing the rope while it was still under tension as the harness end of the cutaway system would recoil right back in your face. Of course, this story was usually accompanied by the tale of the rocket scientists (skydivers, not whuffos) who tried it by tying the tow rope around the chest strap. The test pilot nearly died when the knot moved off-center, pulling his canopy to the side and diving him into the ground. So... ...this is a pretty good comment. I remember last time I saw a paraglider being launched with a car, the guy feeding the rope from the open trunk lost most of the skin on his palms. We told him to wear gloves, but he knew what he was doing...

Indeed. Tell more...

The jumping part of the meet has ended. I believe FAI rules require at least one round for competition, so what they did so far is the final results. My congrats to Luca, Paul and Manu (Italy) for bronze. Too bad about the weather...

Ugh, that's bad. I saw a similar situation live a few moths ago. The cutaway altitude was a little higher, the jumper stated the canopies looked like they were starting to downplane, but I'm sure his heart skipped a beat when the main riser caught on the side of the reserve for a moment before separating completely, just spinning him 180 degrees so he landed downwind and walked away with only some nasty scrapes. One thing that also kinda bothers me with this video is the crowd cheering what is obviously a bad situation and an even worse last-second decision. I'd expect at least one or two people yelling "Don't cut!" and "You bloody idiot!" when he did...

Worldmeet2006.com

Does anyone (close to the manufacturer or enough jumps on one) know what the wl range for the Neos would be? More specifically, if I was looking at a Katana 107 at around 1.85, would a similarly sized Neos (109, I guess) be an option to consider as well or is it happier at higher wingloadings?

Skydive Venezuela, plus some locations in the town of Higuerote. GE picture is about a year old and most of the infrastructure isn't on yet. I've included an image overlay (could be a bit better, but hey)- does it work? I'd say I was bored at work as well, but doing this kinda fits into my job description anyway.

You certainly can hang from one person. Grabbing at the harness hip junction or the hip rings puts the grip pretty close to the top person's center of gravity so if they arch like normal, it should be stable enough. (I did one like that as a hanger a couple hundred jumps ago). One-hand grip on the chest strap is another option I've seen done, but obviously, it's a bit harder. Of course if you have an anvil or just someone who can arch like a mofo, the possibilities are endless...

Get over it... Agree...some people seem impaired by nature and manage to present a greater hazard to themselves and others in the sky while being completely sober and some other people can remain just as safety-conscious as ever after their midday toke or whatever. But that particular horse has been beaten to a bloody pulp a few times over already.

That one seems like a 9-cell with cross-bracing in the center three. Isn't BigAir Sportz testing something along those lines too? And I also remember seeing a RAGE prototype with some partial cross-bracing. Cool stuff...

A Sidewinder maybe? Check here.

Could it be just interlacing? Check the original of the two pictures- do the lines in your footage look anything like that? I don't know how or if you can fix it in Windows Movie Maker, though. I only use it as a backup for capturing if Premiere's capture goes nuts on me.

I have maybe 20 wingsuit jumps with my voodoo. As others said, the main tray opens up a bit more than most containers- not quite open corners, but seems good for wingsuit deployments. I normally pack my rig with the bag half-rotated- not quite lines at the bottom, not completely grommet-to-pin to give it a nicer profile and this worked ok with the wingsuit as well. Not sure if the handles are considerably lower with chest rings, but they present no problem when connecting a wingsuit. Only problem I had was my canopy- although it behaved ok on most of the ws jumps, I would still feel better jumping something a bit more docile on those occasions...the container, as I said, worked just fine.