Jimbo

and... Imagine you're flying in the pattern, being conservative, and some jackass who can't control his teeny-tiny Velocity comes screaming through your canopy. You cutaway and the RSL gets the reserve out just in time. Did you screw up? I'm neither advocating the RSL nor lobbying against it, but sometimes I feel like we need to level the playing field. The RSL isn't just in case you screw up, I think there's at least one situation where it can and does save lives. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

Interesting.... You have two contradictory statements here: So, you won't jump an RSL because there have been a few cases (statistically insignificant I'll bet) where they've caused a death. You will on the other hand, jump a metal D-Ring for a reserve handle, but you know that they snag/get grabbed/whatever, and are responsible for premature reserve deployments (some of which have also killed). Interesting... How is the AAD going to help if you cutaway at 600 ft? How is the RSL going to help if you just don't pull? Ron, you know as well as anyone else (I hope) that the RSL and the AAD are two SEPARATE safety devices for two SEPARATE scenarios. I understand when I hear newbies say that don't need an RSL because they have an AAD, or that they don't need an AAD because they have an RSL, but YOU? Come on Ron! Then, finally, you've got this: It's interesting (since all have their pros and cons), the thought processes you're using to justify the safety devices you will and will not use. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

Given the neighborhood he lives in he probably doesn't have to worry about a civil suit either. Public opinion will most likely determine the course of action from the DA's office. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

BillVon's list of canopy stuff: Finally, there's probably a LOT that you can still get out of your current canopy. Seek out professional canopy instruction and you'll see that you're probably only skimming the surface of your abilities and the abilities of the canopy. Until you've mastered the larger wing there's not much sense in downsizing. You won't necessarily get longer swoops from the smaller wing, what you will get though is significantly less margin for error. Good luck. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

There's nothing wrong with Vectran, I'll take Vectran over Spectra any day. Who has packed the canopy? Get someone with a lot of experience packing brand new ZP to pack it. The slammers might just be due to the slider getting away from who ever is packing it. Ask someone else to put a few jumps on it. This will rule out anything you're doing as the culprit. Finally, call the manufacturer. I think you'll find that they're quite helpful. The only thing you can do here on the internet is bitch, and that's not going to fix your canopy, is it? - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

32 and getting younger every day. So what's your theory? - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

If I'm not mistaken there has been at least one significant injury or death on a tandem skydive each year for the last 3 years. Am I mistaken? - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

No way! Why? The majority of the whuffos don't care about skydiving and never will. They don't need it to make them happy. There's nothing wrong with that, nothing at all. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

This is often said by people who don't understand statistics. What are you basing this on? Statistics? - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

It's not, I have two Icarus canopies and they've both been GREAT to me. I am just curiuos how a canopy can have an inconsistent flare. I'd understand a canopy that had a consistently shitty flare, or a consistently great flare, I want to understand the inconsistent part of this. The pilot is the only thing I can think of that might be inconsistent (assume stable line configuration and flying in clean air). - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

Normally I tend to stay out of the "me too" posts, but I thought it was important since we're either praising or bashing one of the manufacturers. Anyhow, I bought a Crossfire2 a while back and there was some confusion on the order, Simon called me personally (from NZ if that matters) to take care of things. He didn't have to, it said a lot to me that he did. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

I've got $10.00 says ya can't. But damn, I'd like to watch you try. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

I pulled this out of another post in the Canopy Control forum. I don't get it. How can a canopy have an inconsistent flare? It's the same lines, pulling on the same tail every time. Unless the lines stretched or have shrunk, how can a canopy have an inconsistent flare? Shouldn't it be the same flare (good or bad) each time? - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

I made 250ish jumps last year, I've made just a few more than 100 this year, most of them in the last 2 months. The weather just wasn't there in the beginning of the season. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

Yeah, which is a fucking miracle! That boy's gonna get a talkin' to when we see him again! "I can't" and "No, I don't want sex at least 4 times a week" What the fuck is up with that man? - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

Many people lose parachutes at the tops of tall trees, that's certainly related to skydiving, at least I think it is. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

It may be insignificant, but it is required, is this correct? It stands to reason then, I think, that as the bottom skin fabric degrades that performance of the canopy will degrade as well. Well now, you know I'm not going to come to your loft, or at least that it isn't likely. You've got the machine there and apparently a video microscope as well. Could you post the numbers from the machine and stills from the microscope? - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

- Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

While it may be the top skin that generates lift, isn't the bottom skin required to maintain pressurization of the canopy? No pressurization, no canopy, right? That's interesting. Can you provide me with evidence to back this claim up? Even if you can simply provide numbers without a source I'm interested in seeing them. Thanks, looking forward to your answers. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

No need for a physician, just smile!

How? I can't imagine that having a fabric known for significant degradition over time would extend the life cycle of a modern canopy. Please explain this to me. No premature degradition when compared to other 0-3CFM materials? No performance degradation when one takes into account the pourus bottom skin? - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

I'm guessing that you're in a position to answer this question; what is the impact of the 0-3CFM bottom skin to the expected life cycle of this canopy? Will this canopy last as long as an all ZP canopy? I would imagine that when the bottom skin begins to wear out that the canopy will feel lose pressurization and begin to feel sort of mushy. Am I wrong? - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

I made about 30 jumps on student/rental gear varying in size from 280 -> 210. At around jump #30 I bought a Safire 189 that was really a Safire 173ish. I loaded that canopy pretty heavy for someone with my number of jumps, around 1.4. I had plenty of bad landings under that canopy and probably broke my tailbone. Had I known about the size issues witht he early Safires I wouldn't have jumped that canopy. After about 450ish jumps I downsized to a Crossfire2/159 at about 1.55. After a few jumps on this canopy last weekend I can tell that it's going to keep my busy for a long time. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

It's not about jump numbers, there is no magic number at which you can downsize safely. It is however, about skill level. BillVon has a reasonable list of skills you should posess before you downsize, search the forums and you'll find them. Edited to add the following: There are plenty of jumpers every year feeling confident under their current canopy who injure or kill themselves shortly after downsizing. It's good to feel confident, better to prove your skills. I put over 400 jumps on my canopy before downsizing, before I realized that I could complete BillV's list of skills. Now that I have, I realize I've got a whole new world of things to learn. - Jim - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

* bump * - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.