Spizzzarko

We did it a little different for our swoop lane. We sunk the PVC into the earth, and used some plastic hose in the noodle, and the hose extends down into the pipe. That way every thing breaks free if hit hard enough, and there is no risk of someone getting punctured by anything!! I have seen people using Re-bar to hold their noodles up. That's just asking for someone to get impaled!!!!!!!!!

No, I'm going to get a few hrs of shut eye, and then drink heavily "All Night Long" as Lionel Ritchy put it. Going back and forth between days and mids is a kiler. I work a couple days and then I'm off for a couple. My sleep schedule keeps juggling back and forth. It sucks. I don't see how fire fighters and paramedics do it. I guess you just get used to it though. I like my bed time at 2030 and get up at 0530. That seems to work the beest for me.

There's nothing like having a pair of pendulous funbags swinging to and fro above your face... But I'm going to have to agree with y'all about the shape thing. The last thing I want to see is something lookin like a couple of oranges in a pair of tube socks. Shape, wether natural or store bought, is the key factor in attractivness

What's wrong with farting in someones face? I find this to be a rather enjoyable part of my jump. I always feel much better after I do it...

You'll just get some goof off who will manage to break two or three of them trying to swoop a lane, and then you'll constantly be replacin the poles... Although they do give quite a bit. TRUST ME I KNOW!!!!!

AS for you ruling the world, I just let you borrow it for awhile. Happiness is submission to Spizzzarko...

I have seen the video too. He told me it was a spectre that he used. I believe a 135. I think he even convinced the resort to buy his canopy for him.

Brotha, You are no-where close to feeling as feklempt as I am right now. The Air Force has me doing SP augmentee right now. It's a 14 hour night shift, checking ID's at the gates. I get to carry an M-16, but I havn't had the luxury to shoot at any one yet. I'm just itchin for some officer to get unruly with me!!!! hahaha I'm tired so I'm going to drink my beer and go to bed. Is it so wrong to drink a beer at 0700?

Chris, Your words of advise make me all feklempt inside... Let me just catch my breath here... Ok I'm back toghether now.

Check it yall, What I think he's trying to get at is this, If you take your swoop so far that you have to make a giant stab to get to the point where your toggles are starting to fly, then you have gone to far. To get the most distance you want to be as smooth as possible on any controll input. If you go a long way on the rears then you are sacrificing the distance that you will do with your toggles, by making that giant stab. Try to think of it this way... Fly your rears untill they become in-efficient, then transfer to toggles. This point will happen a lot sooner than you think. Also if you are going the distance with your rears you run the risk of stalling it. A rear riser stall onset is much smoother than the onset of a toggle stall, but it happens at a much higher airspeed. What I mean by being smoother, is that it really gives little to no indication that it's going to stall. The more you jam on the rears (IE being low or in the corner) the higher the airspeed is going to be when it stalls. Give it a try up high. Do a front riser turn and then jam on the rears like you needed to make a big input (IE being low or in the corner), and watch your pilot chute go straight up above your canopy. TRUST ME when I say you don't want to rear stall these canopy's close to the ground. It sucks when your flying over the ground at 50MPh one second, and half a second later your sliding across the ground at 50mph, all along thinking to your self "What the hell just happened?". Baby Steps people. Experiment up high. When you think you've got it, practice some more.

That's what I have seen, but not to many people here use them, know about them, or are willing to spread info about them, with exception to skymonkey one. I tried to get some info about them even in the rigging forum, but no one could help me out.

We are looking for data here, not groundless opinions. You can go to rec.skydiving for that... Thanks for keeping the forum professional.

I feel you get a loss in distance of your swoop if you start to load your FX much over 2.0.

In Texas BBq isn't really a sport persay... It's more like a way of life. Look at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo... Theres a GIANT BBQ that goes on for about 3 days just prior to the start of the rodeo, and if I remember correctly it starts just after the cattle rides get into town. I'm sure Aggie Dave will back me up on this one. It's awesome to go to this BBQ, because the food is good, and theres a cloud of bbq smoke that just evelopes the entire area. It soaks intoyour clothes ans your skin. The family dog wont quit following you around and sniffing you for about two days after you go. MMMMM BBQ (drooling).

Sure it is, for more info call (719)333-2349 and ask for Chad.

That eloy pond is cold this time of year. But it's fairly clean... No Sars death hunta in those ponds. Trust me I know. hahahahaha

I beg to differ. I do agree that you change the shape of the wing with a riser input, but you DO cause a buckle or deformation of the wing that causes drag. Look closely at pictures of people using rears and fronts and you will see what I'm talking about. It's a little harder to see on cross braced canopy's because of the cross braces reducing the distortion, but it's there. I will also agree that the canopy does create a lot of drag itself. I believe that drag is increased 4 times when speed is doubled, but I could be wrong about that. Hook and Swoop knows better. As far as the harness turns goes you are not making the distortion in the wing that you are making with risers so it is more of an effeciant dive. Maybee hook or some aeronautical engineers can chime in and help us both figure it out.

Here at the USAF Academy we have to have a jumpmaster on every load who spots. I make the pilots go around if the spot isn't just perfect. It's kind of fun when they try to tell me the spot was good. "Ummm, Sir, I'm the one looking down here, and you were on the wrong side of the airfield, so let's just try that again... Ummm Yea, that would be great...."

Damn the Pilots!!!

and the best way to keep yourself from this is look down, and don't jump through clouds, or if you do, pull high to make it back. but sometime you make a bad decision, and shit happens Nicely put. It's nice as a video guy to get a spot warning from a tandem master. I also believe as an aff JM it's imparative to look down in the skydive to see where you are. As a JM or video guy it's un-acceptable to land off!

Oh yes you will feel quite a bit of accelleration when doing the surge approach. It all depends on how much brakes you are using. You don't need to fly it around near the stall point, but using less the 25% brakes won't give you much of a surge.

Stir the pot man!!!

You would be surprised at how slow you can fly your velocity. They create quite a bit of lift even in slow flight. Practice coming in at quarter brakes, and then to 50% brakes and flarring from there. I've landed my VX at 50% brakes. I still got a swoop out of it, but it shut down nicely, and didn't travel very far. It's just a different technique than what you are probably used to. Give it a try, you can only gain from the experience.

Instead of sinking it in like a clasic accuracy approach, I would use a braked approach. If you have ever done or watched classic acc (trust me it's cooler than watching paint dry), you would see these guys and gals pounding in on a soft tuffet repeatedly. It gets slightly more exciting when someone misses the tuffet. As far as landing in a tight area with a small canopy, it requires a different skill than swooping. I would use a braked approach, but I think it would be hard to shut down all of your forward movement with a smaller canopy. Look at the design of a VX and compare it to a Para-Foil Classic ACc canopy. The foil has huge cells, and is shaped like a Twin otter wing. A VX has very narrow cells, and is likened to an F-15 wing. They both create lift, but one is made for high speed flight, and the other quits flying at a relativly slow air speed. So instead of "Sinking it in" I would practice braked approaches. The make of a good canopy pilot is one who can land in brakes in heavy traffic. As far as landing out in the situations you described, we all choose our poison with the canopy we fly.

In all actuality, a harness carve is the most efficiant way to turn your canopy. Why is this so you may ask? Well let me explain. When you are pulling down on your three major controll inputs, fronts, rears, and toggles, you are creating drag by making a distortion in the wing that sticks out into the airstream. When you are only using a harness for controll input, it distorts the wing in a way as to not create any more drag than in full flight. As we have all learned from my last post, full flight is the cleanest configuration of your canopy. If you put your canopy back into full flight anfter a high performance turn up high and just listen, you will notice that your canopy will actually speed up a little. Why do I say listen? Well it's hard to tell minute speed changes with your eyes when you are high above the ground. As Aggie Dave, our vocal Texan has said, there is much speed created in a harnes turn. The more speed we carry into landing, the more distance we get in our "Swoops".