rigging65

And how do you plan on keeping them from becoming dependent on a devise that CAN and DOES fail, even if it's failure is infrequent? We have people that will not ever jump without a Cypres because they feel they cannot be safe without one...even though they've always deployed for themselves and handled their malfunctions on their own. Dependency is not good...IMO the only way to break away from dependency is to prove to yourself that YOU CAN DO IT WITHOUT THE DEVICE! For students, jumping without an alti is not a great idea, but they've got to learn how to be their own, independent pilot sometime...better earlier than later! A Cypres is a wonderful device, but who says it can't fail either? At the end of the day, you and you alone make the calls that save or endanger your life. The only device you can count on it yourself, so learn how to use it! Everything else is just backup.... "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

My apologies...you are correct sir! "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

Ok, I'll give on this one some, mostly because I didn't spell out some important points in my last post. Most of our new jumpers don't buy all new gear off that bat. In fact, we have a very large used gear program at our shop, so we almost always start them in used canopies (for obvious $$ reasons). However, since harness size is a big deal, and it's often hard to get a properly sized harness with a properly sized container set in used gear (without resizing the harness which = more $$), we do often have folks buying new containers but used canopies. I agree with you that the idea of overstuffing a container, even a little bit, with a brand new ZP canopy while still learning how to pack is bad news. I take issue with any professional packer who can't get a new canopy into a container only one size too small though. It's simply not that hard with good technique. Now, I've heard of packers charging more for brand new ZP canopies over 220 sq.ft. or so, which I also think is bull, but whatever. Obviously, learning to pack with minimal frustration increases the number of jumps that person is going to make, as well as their overall level of enjoyment...which is what we all want.

I'd say this is probably a pretty accurate statement, reflective of a large portion of the community. Something else to think about though: Any protection is better than none. Chin and jaw protection are a great way to avoid getting knocked out. IMO Jumpers tend to think that 'something' on their head constitutes "protection", and to a degree it does...sometimes to a very small degree, but none the less. I think the biggest reason jumpers don't take head protection more seriously though, is simply that there aren't all that many injuries/fatalities on the books that a helmet would have prevented, so it doesn't way as heavy on everyone's mind as maybe it should. You have to remember, pretty much everything ProTec makes is actually meant to take a blow, most skydiving helmets aren't. They just generally aren't made with shatter lines in the padding to absorb shock like bike helmets are, nor are they all designed with maximum coverage...they're designed to 1) Look cool 2) provide some level of protection...in that order. See, you're still thinking like a normal, safety conscience human-being, not like a skydiver "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

I think some of this depends on your plans to downsize. For our young jumpers who are buying their first set of gear, and decide to go with a new container, we generally recommend starting with one size smaller container than what they need for their first canopy choice. (This assumes that they're brand new and will almost certainly be downsizing rather soon...for some reason, this doesn't seem to work well for women...I think they're just smarter than men when it comes to canopy size) The idea is this: New jumpers tend to change canopy sizes more rapidly than up-jumpers. Now, let's not turn this into a too-young-to-downsize debate. Since many jumpers will start with one canopy then move down within a season or so, going with a slightly smaller container to begin with means it will be of use to them for longer. They can start with one canopy, move to a "proper" sized canopy for the container, and then get at least one smaller size canopy in the container later on when they're ready. I just hate to see people buy gear and then have to sell the whole thing off at the end of the season and take a loss on it because they can't downsize within their current container set. FYI - Velocity Sports (Infinity) works very well with their dealers to make this happen for their customers. "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

Have you ever spun a weight on the end of a string around and around and let it go? Do the weight and string tangle? No. They fly straight away...same as you will when you cut away from a spinning main. There are reems and reems of arguments for and against, but look at the last 10 years or fatality reports. Many of the low cutaway/low reserve pull and low cutaway/no reserve pulls wouldn't have happened. All this has said before, but skydiving is a sport of odds/risk management. Anything that's going to increase your odds statistically, IMO is a good thing. "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

We got screwed twice with deals in Russia. Not the same set up, rather with stolen CC numbers. We took it in the shorts on that one. I would suggest wire transfer. "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

Arizona Freeflight was was under contract with Flite Suit Company at the time of that shooting, unless I'm mistaken. So, they're probably Bomber Freefly Pants. "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

We make a retro-fit kit for our suits here at Flite Suit Company. They're called Bootie Zips. They are held in place with two long zippers and a securing tab at the top. The proto-types that we built were very secure and flew just like they were built-in. We've had some requests over the years for this sort of thing and decided to give them a shot. They work, what else can I say? "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

This is absolutely true. In fact, the ProTec is about the only helmet out there that really offers any impact protection. Face it folks, skydiving helmets are about abrasion protection, not impact protection. The more expensive helmets on the market do a better job of absorbing a blow, but nothing like a motorcycle helmet or even a bike helmet that are made to take both blunt force and glancing blows. Since we MUST look cool while skydiving, you're not likely to see anything with real impact protection any time soon (although Para Tech has one coming out that looks good...based off a motorcycle design). "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

If you love the Stiletto, why not just get another slightly smaller one? If you're not loading over about 1.8, the Stiletto is still one of the best canopies out there, plus, you already know how to fly it. Sometimes change is good, sometimes it's not necessary. Not that the Crossfire 2 isn't a great canopy, but so it the Stiletto. "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

Let me begin by saying that I've always been a huge fan of the Talon 2. Love it, absolutely love it! Unfortunately, I had one of the early Voodoos, which was crap...even after RI rebuilt part of it. It was one of the bigger ones, so I don't totally hold it against them. I think they released it before they were really ready to. Now there's the FS. Unfortunately, it's basically a Voodoo with some tweeking. It's very stiff and I'm really not a fan of what they've done with the bottom end. It seems like they overbuilt it to try and compensate for fit/fill/shape issues. Whatever. IMO, they should have held onto the Talon 2 and left it with that. I'm just not a fan of any of RIs rigs after that point. Bring back the Talon 2!! "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

Sounds like an unfortunate theme.... "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

To our customers who decide to purchase gear online, we generally recommend that you have the gear sent to a shop to be looked over by a rigger before you pay for it. Most everyone selling gear online understands the need for this, at least that's what we've found. You end up paying for shipping, but that's a hell of a lot cheaper than buying something and finding out it's no good for you. On the other hand, there are several shops (ours included) that have very large used gear selections that have all been checked out by riggers before they are posted to the lists. I'M NOT TRYING TO SELL GEAR HERE, I'M JUST PROVIDING INFORMATION (so don't flame me!) ... Many large shops post lists online, for your viewing pleasure. Action Air Parachutes (www.actionair.com) has a very complete list and any of our staff would be more than happy to talk with you about anything we have. All of our consignment rigs come with a fresh reserve repack (no cost to the purchaser), and current for all ADs of SBs (again, at seller's cost). I'm sure that many other shops do the same! Enough said abotu that... Sometimes having a go between for on-line gear provides that extra bit of security during a non face-to-face transaction. "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

I'd say stick to a very detailed function/inspection routine for everything that a regular jumper can get their hands into (exterior container, 3-ring, risers, links, lines, canopy, bridle/pc). Alot of times, less is more with this kind of stuff. Be sure to set up a large block of time for Q&A (or send out an email ahead of time and ask them to tell YOU what they want to learn about...this seems to work really well with interested groups). "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

I've never flown anything with a better opening than the Xaos. I have a 21 and there are some other 21s and a 27 out here as well. Overall, I think it's got the best flight characteristics as well. Now, I'm heavy so I fly big ones (135s). I've had the crap knocked out of me by a 120 FX and was told "yep, that's going to happen" by the Mfg. Same with the VX. Same with the Velocity. Some folks say that the larger the sq.ft., the fewer of the production canopies will open well (I was told by Icarus that they'd simply "keep making me canopies until we found one that doesn't spank you"). Do I really want a canopy under those terms? Sounds like they can't get it right to me. With that said, I've never spoken with anyone who dislikes the Xaos, for any reason. Can you say that about any other canopy out there? "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

I think this makes alot of sense. I have sensitive eyes to the point that I don't wear anything on front of them when I land. I have excellent vision, but I really have troubles if I leave my glasses on during landing...and they're not cheap lenses, so it's not that. Now, granting that I fly a fast moving HP canopy, perhaps the sensation of very rapid movement is more than my tiny brain can calculate if the data isn't coming in perfect. Also, I'm sure you'd get better with practice as the body would most likely adapt to the change over time. I'm not about to go and try this loaded at 2.1 though

The courses we run always include both Round and Squares (with an emphasis on Squares). Both types are most certainly on your test..... "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

We did this for a while. Called it the "Junior Rigger's Course" (as opposed to our Senior Rigger's Course). I basically did a reserve repack to quickly show the process to the class, then went over 3-ring construction and hook-up, complete main canopy inspection, function and design of a kill-line p/c (so they'd know what it looked like when it wasn't in proper spec. anymore), basic exterior rig inspection, and did a Q&A after that. It went over pretty well, but it's kind of a tough row to hoe. If you do it on a Saturday, you loose people because they would rather go jump. If you do it on a Friday (like we did) folks have to take off work to make it happen...which is also tough. Our class was about 4 hours long. I think it might work well if you had a group lined up, then waited for a bad weather weekend during the winter and let them know a day or two ahead of time. To be honest, we basically discontinued the course because of lack of interest. Seems most folks would rather be jumping or making money than learning about their gear...oh well, seems to be a trend lately, doesn't it? "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

I don't know if I'd go so far as to say it makes your swoop longer...ok maybe a little baby bit, but nothing really worth depending on. Since you have guide rings on your risers, it doesn't matter a ton which direction you pull on the toggles. Sure, there is a bit riser deflection, but IMO it's a minimal change. A true rear riser/break or pure rear riser approach lets the canopy plane out without hanging any extra fabric in the wind to slow you down right away (and reduce your distance). Of course, it's easier to stall a canopy with rear riser inputs (as compared to your toggles), but they can certainly be used to increase your swoop. I think there are alot of other things I'd work on first, but that is one way... Third leg risers, on the other hand, force you to be much more conscience about how you're flaring, as the inputs translate up the lines and can cause directional change (skating) while flaring...this can be good or bad. So much fun stuff, so little time! "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

Yes it was...I'm not sure how that's relevant to that section of my post, but you're absolutely correct!

Amen! "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

I'm actually a bit bigger than you are, so don't worry about being a big boy, there are lots of us out there! Pretty much any rig will work just fine for you, although, technically, you are overloaded on many TSO'd rigs available right now. Considering there is a safety factor of about 10 built into most systems, you shouldn't have a problem. My personal favorite is the Infinity, but really just about anything that works for all those "little people" will work just fine as well! Have fun! "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

We've done a bunch of pocket sliders over the years, they're not too hard to make and they can certainly help. Unfortunately, there is no real solid spec. on them, but I threw together some VERY approximate measurements for you on this .jpg. I hope you can see it clearly enough. The "Square" side is actually what attaches to the slider (leading edge, DOWNWIND side). The "flared" edge is attached about 1/2 inch back from the "leading" edge of the "square" side. Bind the inside seams and lay a single needle line down the middle to for 2 cells. Be sure to reinforce all your joints with bartacks or zigzags. If you run into problems, PM me and leave me a number and I'll give you a call. ryan "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."

I'd say the most important thing is to try and recover the ability to control the canopy's heading first, before you do anything else. If you open up with a spin going on, grab the rear risers and correct it (assuming you don't have line twists, of course). Then (after checking you're airspace) you can investigate what actually happened. If it's just a break-release, pop the other one out and move on. If you can't get that handled, then you move on to other options. You must retain the ability to maneuver at all costs! Collisions happen as a result of failing to meet this criteria. The point is, rear risers are easy to jump on and gain control. Plus, if you can get the wing level, you're not losing altitude while you decide what you're going to do or what needs to be fixed. We teach our students that rear risers are the FIRST thing you grab after opening. Only after all is well and good, and your airspace is clear, do you screw around with toggles. "...and once you had tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you long to return..."