Ron

You should read the second part again. You have seen people land a reserve *with* a pilot chute in tow. If you saw a person land a pilot chute tow... Then you saw a fatality. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

4way - France 8way - France 4 way female - France "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

My opinion: You can't land a PC in tow. Too many people have tried. STOP the skydive and then fight what you have. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

You would be correct. It is sometimes pretty damn funny who pulls and who totally forgets to pull. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

What State are you in? "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Ah, all those that say it is stupid.... well so are high performance landings, freeflying, hell skydiving itself. I will not go into a "web based" lecture on how to do this.... that is not a good idea. But if you want to do one, they can be fun as hell. I have 10 or so of them, all playing Mr. Bill. Talk to the most experienced jumpers at your DZ, the S&TA etc. And see what they have to say. Is it more dangerous than a regular jump? YES. But so is a two way being more dangerous than a solo. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Doing a handles check on a tandem is required for some systems. Sport jumpers do not have that same requirement. You can do a handles check.. It hurts like 3 seconds of footage. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYNxk1DgerI&feature=feedu "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

That is why I suggested to buy used. Once you have a few hundred jumps, your knowledge will be significantly more than you have right now. New gear is expensive and the value drops faster than a new car. Used gear tends to hold value better. So if you by "X" and decide you like "Y" later. You will take a big hit selling the gear you bought new. So find a used rig and spend some time learning what you want and what you like. Then you will be in a much better position to spend money on what you want. I made the same mistake buying a SLR camera years ago. I bought a model and it was good at first, but then didn't have the lens options of a better brand. Luckily, I bought it cheap, but for a few hundred more I could have bought a MUCH better camera. The 200 I spent on the lesser camera in the end was a waste. Buy used, learn more, THEN buy the new kit you want. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

As long as the AFFI can stay with the faster fallrate, it is no issue at all. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Just to keep balance.... Hands down Jav. But, if this is your first rig.... Buy used. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

My favorite "logbook" story involved me being at a DZ near a military post that I was at for a school. Anyway, I didn't bring anything since I didn't think I would have much free time. To my surprise I had weekends off. So I borrowed stuff from a buddy and headed out to a local DZ. I showed up with a US team rig, jumpsuit, goggles, alti, and a USPA card showing gold wings and several Instructor ratings..... But without a logbook they were not going to let me jump. I offered to unpack and repack the main, answer any questions, offer to let them call my home DZ... Nothing was going to work. They said no. Right then I look at the counter and they had a Parachutist (see attached). I say, that's me on the right side. If you look inside you will see it lists me by name as one of the jumpers. The counter person looks at the photo, looks at me, looks at the photo, looks inside, looks at me, looks at the photo, looks back at me and says, "can you make load 2?" "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Well, in half your time in sport I have managed to almost have double your jump number. DSE has almost your jump number in about 1/7th your time in sport. Another example of your "all talk, no action". Its not hard to jump for lots of years if you only do a handful a year. Too funny. But, keep it up... It is funny as hell to see you proclaim yourself a WS expert and argue with a real WS expert. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

For others... If you are going to do this trick, make sure you practice the flare before you land. It is very easy to flare and stall any canopy, worse when you modify it. A stall is violent, and a stall on landing normally hurts like hell. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Years ago they were not supposed to count. Back then the "A" license was 20 jumps. With tandem growing in popularity, the rules were changed and tandems now counted. The "A" license went to 25 jumps. As for who would sign your logbook for that jump..... I would. If you have a certificate, you have just as much info as a logbook entry. Anyone could forge a logbook entry. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

And there you go again.... Full of talk and no action. You talked like you could do anything... When challenged to back it up, you ran like a little girl and hid. Now you are trying to talk tough.... See a pattern here? When you actually act the way you type.... Let me know. You *might* be worth a giggle to listen to then. For you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlJMk4VKYTE&feature=fvst "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Got it you talk a good game but are unable to back up that talk with action. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

With an unmodified round you are correct, the jumper will drift at about the same speed as the wind. However, any modifications that create FWD drive will change that. So if the spit is traveling at the same speed as the wind.... You could easily fly into it under a square and even under a modified round. And most people on here will never jump a round. So if they "spit into the wind", they will be spitting on themselves. I can also recommend not pulling the mask off the Lone Ranger, and I'd stay away from Jim. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Best thing to do IMO. I think most people have (or should have) a max wind limit they will jump in. For ME, that limit is whatever speed is the MAX I can get out of a canopy in full flight. So for *ME* if my main will do 25, my max winds are 25. But it would be MUCH safer to limit that to say max -5. So with a 25 MPH canopy that would be 20 MPH max winds. My main will do over 30 and I normally do not jump if the winds are 25. And this depends on the area. If I am in AZ where the tallest object near me is a 4 foot cactus and I have miles and miles around me of fairly open fields.... I am more likely to jump. But put me in a place where there are few outs and lots of bad areas, and my wind limit goes down. Also need to look at turbulence. In Dallas I jumped in 28 MPH winds. But it is a very open area. In Zhills I normally stopped around 22MPH. Frankly, I just do not enjoy jumping in high winds. The key is comfort. If you have any doubt it is always better to jump next weekend than get hurt and sit on the ground for a few mths. With experience, your comfort level will dictate what conditions are OK... always side a little bit on the cautious side. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Talk to UPT (Vector/RWS). They have built big student rigs before. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Cool... But only one of the three is not a "student" canopy... the Silhouette. So if you can get one in the size you want, that is what I would recommend. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

No, the new 1 is just like snow/offset, but you go back to the snow. It has both pieces doing a 360 back to the top instead of a 270 to the offset. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

The solo is all ZP accoring to the website: "Made completely from ZP fabric to maintain consistent performance." And only goes to 270sqft. So that would rule it out based on your desire for a hybrid that is "290-300sqft range".... Now personally, I would not care about the hybrid part. The Silhouette is slightly tappered and not designed as a student canopy. But only built normally to 260sqft. The Nav is a hybrid... But is a true student canopy. For fun I grabbed it one day and put a jump on it. It was pretty nice. But given your comment of: "but is not so sluggish and poor performing that I hate jumping it". Makes me think: 1. The Silhouette if you can get it in the size you want. 2. The Navigator due to your desire to have a hybrid. 3. The solo. But you should really test jump them if you can. It will be difficult with the Silhouette, but the Nav and solo should be easy to get. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Nah, remember that all experience is relative to the person background. What you may think of as a fast canopy may be slow as hell to the guy that rides a crotch rocket to the DZ on one wheel. That does not mean that the ability to control the canopy transfers... Just the feeling. So, just open a bit higher and play around on the canopy. 1. See how much altitude you lose in a full turn 360* turn and compare it to a half braked 360* 2. Practice a few flares up high to see how long it will take for the canopy to react. Listen for the drop in airspeed. 3. Try to see if you can stall the canopy so you know when it will stall (A 7 cell should stall more gently than a 9 cell everything else being even... but it could still hurt you if done wrong.) 4. Look at the ground and see how much penetration you are getting for a given drop in altitude. (In most cases, a 9 cell will have a better glide ratio than a 7cell.) Take it easy and enjoy it.... The Tri is a good canopy. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Then that is the only area that you failed that jump. Something happened and you refuse to learn why. It is only your refusal to try that caused that failure. This is nothing but hysterics. If that is going to shake you up so bad that it could have killed you.... I hate to think how a malfunction will tax you. Yet you are complaining about protocol, and refusing to communicate with the one person who could answer your questions. Nope, thats about it. Anything else is unimportant in the grand vision. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

IDK.... I have not jumped a Storm canopy. But I tend to trust PD when they say something. All the data I have seen and heard says that the Storm is a little higher performance than a Spectre. They say it has almost the speed of a S2. And they say it has a good range of control... Meaning the difference between fast fight and slow flight is larger than you would expect... An example is how a Velo can go slower than the same sized conventional canopy.. so much so that it is shocking if you are not ready for it. But it could also mean that they managed to speed up the top end and it will still stall at the same speed on the low end. This document http://www.performancedesigns.com/docs/StormCFStormFAQFlightCharacteristics.PDF Shows some good info.... I did not see the section you were referencing. It seems like the Storm is a canopy that is faster in full flight than a Spectre, but slower than a S2. That it turns slower than a Stiletto, but lands better than the Spectre. So it seems like a upgraded Spectre with a better glide ratio that lands better and can be flown in deeper brakes. One of the characteristics that I personally didn't like with the Spectre was its glide ratio when I am far out due to an AFF that took longer in the door. Seems this canopy maybe worth a look if I decide to get a wingsuit. But honestly I am thinking of getting two more Velos. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334