rhys

I have no experience whatsoever with the Nova. I was purely going on the information that bill had offered. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

Due to a discussion in another forum. I thought a poll to see what the differences of opinion would be. It is important that we know these kind of things to help us make informed decisions in such conditions. Personally I would rather be under canopy with more loading on a turbulent day. As a tandem instructor I would rather have the 100Kg customer than the 50Kg customer, and I would take the 300Sq ft canopy rather than the 364. what would you do? Sometimes there can be turbulence on calm days but mostly turbulence comes hand in hand with wind. Bare this in mind with you comments and include certain conditions you may have in your area. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

The nova would have better penetration due to a signoficantly less percentage of surface area. = higher wing loading the Silhouette would be more stable in turbulance as it is tapered = less drag. No? "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

Elliptical canopies have smaller wing tip vortaces. wing tip vortaces = drag more drag = less penetration. true? "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

Correct me if I am wrong? but a sabre2 is slighty tapered/elliptical and a ZP exe is as squre as you can possibly get. Tapered canopies have much better penetration than squares. also 'I believe' more loading = more stability. but I only have 4500 jumps "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

Quotewhat a crock of shit!!! I was joining in on some atmo big ways at a boogie in 2005. Anyone could join, in everyone was encouraged to join in. we did, we had fun and that is the size of it. Flat flyers and freeflyers that think they are skygods and refuse to try other disciplines because they are scared of looking bad are the snobs of our sport. atmonauti can be tried by all levels of skydivers (excluding students) and the best thing is that jumpers of all levels have a good chance of being part of the dive. This is not the case for flat flyers and freeflyers. If you sink our it is easy to get beck and if you are floating it is easy to get down. You sceptics need to broaden your horizons and stop being such prudes. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

27 now i'm 33 "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

Lies! Where this may be true for rigid aircraft parachutes and paragliders rely on internal pressure in order to maintain lift. Internal pressure is what keeps a canopy inflated. Higher loading = higher internal pressure = more stable in turbulance. Are you saying you would rather be on a 7 cell canopy loaded @ 0.6 than a 9 cell crossbraced canopy loaded at 2.0 (assuming you have the skill to fly one of those) in turbulant conditions? "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

Does anyone here have any experience with these? I am flying a Icarus 300 tandem main for work and as a light weight tandem instructor I find the smaller size to be much safer than the 330's and the 365's. the reason for these thoughts is that a high percentage of our customers are small asian girls and our combined weights are often less than 120kg's. Going backwards in 20knt winds is not my idea of fun. Speed is your freind when it comes to landings. Loading is your freind when it comes to turbulance. If I land off at my current dropzone it would be highly likely to land in sugar cane that has Taipan snakes slithering around in there. If you get bitten by one of those you should have your last thought before you go into spasms and die! fuck that!!! "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

I too would appreciate such a forum. This sport/discipline will be bigger than skydiving as a whole in years to come considerng the amount of companies producing gear for the new sport. It may well entice some more traffic from the paragliding community also, I envision the paragliding speed flyers, taking up skydiving to forfill the ever increasing need for speed in the form of high perfomance approaches. so I 2nd the motion. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

The NZ$230 for a DVD and stills combo equates to US$178. More than competition I think a defining factor maybe the scenery. In Tanzania we were Using US$ and were charging US$199 for DVD/stills combo and were gaining an 80% strike rate. Having good scenery is definately a good drawcard. Someong mentioned that they do not like super wide angle lenses and they make it easier to produce the videos?????? My ass. I have just started using a 0.2 black eye for outside with my sigma 10-20 set on 10mm for stills. If you do not stay tight on exit and throughout the freefall the subject will look like a dot. but if you get it right it looks awesome with all the scenery (if you have scenery) in the footage. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

I agree, but the responsability lies with the DZO to make sure they have a standard to rise up to. I started selling photos and videos @ 270 jumps but I had to be able to produce consecutive rolls of 24 exposures of film (yes film) before i would even be considered as a camera flyer. If I gave less than 20 good photos the client recieved a refund and I didn't get paid. It doesn't matter if you have 200 jumps or 8000 jumps if your quality is good it is good, if it is shit it is shit. And I still think a video and photo combo is well worth $200 if it is good quality. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

We sold videos photo combos for US$200 in africa and maintaned at least 80% strike rate. In NZ we could do up to 150+ people a day Combos are NZ$230 and a 15000' jump is NZ $395. Customers could jump @ 9000' for NZ$250 but the constantly que up to do 15000' jumps with photos and video. Maybe yoour products seem too cheap at that price, maybe they are cheap. Maintain good quality, garantee good quality and give refunds for poor quality then you will have a product that is worth the money. offer hand cam also for the cheapo's but generally people that want to jump from planes have some money and for a few of them price is no object. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

That would be stupid! simply charge more for the outside camera. I am suprised so many U.S. DZ's have survived for so long charging how little they do. Outside camera (vid and stills) is worth $200 but you still see DZ's charging less than $100. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

That is Gold! "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

I bet penty of people called the wright brothers idiots and the fist guys that parachuted. AJ hacket was called an idiot but now bungee jumping is a multi million dollar industry. Define idiot if you will please? I wouldn't do that stunt but it was quite calculated and it worked very well. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

Handicam is all good, there is room for it in our industry, small operations may need to offer it in order to survive and to give thier instructors a reasonable income. Outside camera is better if the camera flyer is skilled and puts effort into the product. There are shit camera flyers and there are tandem masters that make shit handcam videos. The best thing is to offer both and the customer can decide what they want for themselves. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

Without our 'help' the world would be in a much more stable condition, 1000's of animals and plants that took 1000's of years to evolve would still exist and the entire ecosystem of the planet would be in relative harmony. We have fucked it so to speak, but yes we can do many things to reverse our wrongdoings but it will take a change of mindset at the top level (corporations and governments). The New Australian Prime minister Kevin Rudd seems to be heading in the right direction. There is hope yet, but praying beside your bed for eternal hapiness will do fuck all. Aye? "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

Who's been poking a stick in the hornets nest? It's so fun isn't it. It seems more and more that I was right though in my gut instinct. This planet and all of existance while we are on the subject is in fact 'NOT' centred around human beings. Pretty plain and simple really isn't it. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

Not to cover what has already been said by Sysop, Groundlaunching is a term created by skydivers/parachutists. Speed flying has come more from the Paragliding scene. Paragliding was spawned by Ground Launching ram air parachutes but as its own sport took off in its own direction. (Flying as apposed to a controlled descent). Over the last couple of years there have been many Paragliding manufacturers creating 'Speed Flying' wings that are basically a very similar design to modern parachutes. Quite an intersting metamorpasis don't you think The term Ground launching is very non specific when you are talking about different Paragliding Disciplines so is only really relevant to skydivers. And Damn it is fun to do!! "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

Rifles can be violent too, BUT... rifles are actually a tool to accurately shoot a bullet to a target or animal. Hand guns are for concealing in your person and to use in self defence at short range or to attack another person. Handguns can be used for hunting also but are FAR less accurate and have less range so therfore are not as useful. Hunting has become necessary in New Zealand due to the overpopulation of exotic animals but in africa it is endangering native species. So a balance needs to be met. Handgunds have their place in the police force etc. but should not be as readily available to the general public IMHO. This is all I am saying. Guns aren't bad just the mentality behind those that think they are fine to have lying around the home etc. To get back to the origional debate. If guns are not voilent...... I could imagine Barney or some other childrens charachter flyng in a plane but could you imagine him rocking a Handgun? I would think everyone would flip out a little if he did wouldn't you? Is it OK for children to be exposed to guns while shopping for a skateboard? Not really. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

so the little targets don't have little pictures of little men carrying little guns so you can see if you shot them in the head or not?? Get a rifle if you want to be accurate. Then go hunting and give your gun a purpose and feed your family at the same time. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

So you don't see the connection with practicing by shooting a target and killing something. I might as well leave it there because you guys are obviously going to 'stick to your guns' but this stupid violent mentality is part of the reason US citiziens can be less than welcome in many places around the world. I feel sorry for Canadians and good natured US citizens that get thrown into the same genre as the knuckle head war monging idiots that seem to stick out of the crowd so much....did I just say that. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

you are confused again. If you buy a handgun and only intend on going to a range and practicing is like buying an aircraft and and only ever using a flight simulator. What positives come out of shooting your gun? "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

Hand guns are desined to kill people. If you bought one you obviously think there could be a reason for you to kill someone. otherwise why do you own one? what use is there for a handgun other than killing someong or doing target practice (so you can kill someone if you need to?) Hand guns = Violence. period "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix