Albatross

Sorry to hear that you got hurt but blaming Bonehead is just weak. You saw the halmet, you crahed, you got hurt. Bottom line is that what we do is dangerous and Sometimes the safety equipment that we wear can hurt us in very perticular instances. I think that you should be happy that you were not really hurt and leave bonehead alone. Too much of this and they won't make equipment for skydivers. Chris

When i look back it causes poor body position. Chris

WHen I LO I get to jump for free. The 3 ways i can think to jump for free are: Get a great team deal, Teach or video, and LO. Chris

Sure tracking is part of freefly. I never track after a 4-way or a 60 way we all just pull in place. My god some of the most fun that I have had is tracking races on big-ways, cork-screw tracking, flips in my track or just parallel tracking after a killer jump. Chris

While it is on, press the mode so the 1111 comes up. Press and hold the mode until the 2222 comes up. Press mode to go through the altitude settings then get to the "SET" Screen press set until you get to the power mode where it says Eco. Then hold both buttons. You will see it count down from 500 to 0 let go when it is at zero or it will just go around and around. Chris

I got some good advise from the Airspeed guys when I first started. There are 3 aspect to an exit: Presentation, timing and placement. They are important in that order. Above all else present. FOr the front float and front diver in the begining that often means actually looking at the wing. Then there is timing. Just look at where you want to be relative to the other people in the formation and time it to put yourself there. Remember that you will not go up but if the tail launches down and the point sees the IC and OC leave then the formation will stretch. Last look at the launch ov videa. Often I see a good formation out the door but it gets stretched and then the rebound pulls the point or tail under. Chris

I fyou are really serious and have the $$ I would wait. Rummor has it that there is some new technology out there that will make the current design obsolete in the next few years. Much faster, variable diameter bettter flow... Chris

The "Mantis" is not a specific position but a way to presurize your legs and upper body. If you watch the best body piolots in the world (Shannon Pelcher, Tomas Huges, David Vg...) you will see that they are actually starting to get bigger so that they have more surface in the air stream. That means that they are actually falling fairly slow. The position actually offers the possibility of a MUCH wider range of fall rates. Chris

If you want to learn how to swoop do it on the 135. The 1:1 wingloading will give you a decent swoop but more importantly it will force you to fly the canopy to its limit but still give you a lot of safety margin. You will be able to pull yourself out of mistakes with the 135 that you might not with the 120. Also the 135 will be much easier to resale thatn a 120. Finally, if you look at the profiles of most top swoopers they spent hundreds of jumps on canopies loaded at 1.0 to learn the proper techniques before downsizing. Chris

I have found that it is easier to carry rigs onto planes if you use lugage instead of gear bags. THe lugage will not hold as much but will fit in the overhead and or be hard to protect your baby Chris

It is not bad English but bad typing. I rush the typing of the post because I am at work. I was saying that I LO at Perris regularly. I will be a Elsinore tomorrow and would be happy to help you or anyone with any 4-way or RW stuff that I can. IF can't help you I will try and find someone who can. Chris

I will be glad to help you witha ny of this. If you want to belly fly I will be glad to help you at Perris when I am doing newbie LOinor at Elsinore this Sat after the Poker meet. If I am still sober enough. Chris

Demian At Perris the RW training for A licencing is done through the schools. If you want more RW training there are several rated coaches and AFF instructors who will coach for pay and a few that will do it for slot or less. Currently 2-3 weekends a month there is an LO that will take up low time jumpers to work on body position (transition from the AFF hard arch to a more mobile dynamic position) adn to work on leg drive, turns, vertical movement, and sideslides. Come look for us (Josh hall,Erin Murphy, Pam Stevens, Chris Riley) we are all 4-way jumpers(look for people with all black jumpsuits that say Perris) and do LO jumps when we are not training. PM me or send me an e-mail and we can chat some more. Chris

I would have to say the new container, main, reserve set that came in the mail this week. Chris

Quade too much of this and we will have to send you to Jerusilim But I agree. Our sport is big enough to support all our different perspectives. Chris

Mel if you still have a bank account you obveously aren't trying hard enough. Chris

The answer to all your qestions is yes. You need to adjust all body surfaces to obtain a proper mix of lift and speed. You can arch or dearch to adjust the fall rate and bend knees and spread you legs or arms for forward speed control. Chris

Actually if you are using the booties at all they will make you more floaty. If you are that size and not 6'7" then you are probably dearched. Removing your booties is actually a way to help you fall faster. Chris

Jumps go up most mornings that it is possible. If you are goingt o be in town during the early part of the summer be prepared tobe fogged out. Chris

Send it back and get a Merlin Pro-Comp suit. the Suit rocks and it is cheep. Chris

Rotation in the meeker is caused most often by a combination of timing and presentation. As was mentioned if the OC "falls" off the plane they move down into the quadrent that the tail should be in nd the whole thing spins. Unfortunately for the OC this is often caused by the tail or the IC and the OC takes the blame. When you see the exit on tape watch the exit slowly (ie frame by frame) and see if the following happens. 1. tail goes down and rotates their right side down. Often novice tails rise up with the rest of the team and put their center point above the OC. This will cause a spin and will often make the tail cut into the wind (ie their side and not belly facing the relative wind) you should see the tail's container for a second as they drop out of the frame. 2. The IC should slide their hips through the "hole" created as the tail launches down. This will place the IC "below" (to the tail side of the OC). Make sure that the IC just goes down not up (similar to the tail). 3. OC should focus on placing themselves above and out side of the tail and more importantly on presenting their hips to the relative wind. Many OC try too hard to get up and end up cut because they jump but do not present. 4. Finally Point is placing their body on top of the centers and makeing sure to present. to help the OC point can "curl" (like a bicpe curl) the OC leg up. Finally if their is a little spin the Outside fliers (point and tail) can counter it right out the door by sticking their outside arm forward. Chris

O.K. Lets try and get specific here. Is the grip being pulled out of your hand down or rotating aways from you. Where is everyone going after you loose the grip? Is the formation spinning? On video is the OC or the IC cut into the wind? Does this happen on a stairstp dimnond exit? Can you post the video? When I flew point I thought about putting myself above the OC on exit. That meant that I had to wait until she launched and that I had to step forward to a position where my shoulder was directly above her hip/knee. The 1 step forward made the grip much easier. I have also seen that if the tail is not getting out and "contering" the rotation that sometimes the formation just rotates out of the point's hand. Does that help? Chris

You mean that jumpsuits come in colors besides black? Chris

Let me put my 2-cents in from the perspective of a team member. The camera person is a social team member and a critical part of your group. You will spend alot of time with thtis person and need to like them or at the least get along. However, despite what the rules say the camera flier is not a true team member. By that I mean, they are not paying for jumps, do not have to fly the slot, and done have the input into many team decisions the same way that the others do. Ideally you have some one like Quade: Great to hang with, nice guy, really smart, kick ass camera flier, does his job and stays out of the way. The only time that we hear from him is the occational "I just glad to be here." He is like having a friend around to joke with, he never causes any issues or has any problems. The only way that he could be any better as a camera flier is if he could fill in as an alternate or he payed his own way As for the experience level of your camera flier, I think that it depends on your level of seriousness. If this is fun endevour and you are not highly competitive, get a new camera flier and keep the $$ and let them learn. If you are competative get someone who is good becuase without good video it is tough to learn and debeif anything. Chris

No. After you finish AFF you are concidered cleared for solos. To get a lincence you have to ahve 20 jumps, 2 RW jumps after AFF with a coach, completed and jumped your own pack job and accumulated 20 min of freefall. Check the SIMs for all the other requirements. Chris