Jimbo

It's on the front page and judging from the number of votes everyone seems to have an opinion on it, but no one is talking about it. So here's your chance, let's talk about building escape parachutes. Personally, I think they're a bad idea. My suspicion is that they'll kill or injure more people than they'll ever save. They'll interfere with rescue operations. People will die or be severely injured on landing. People will jump, but not pull. People will jump too early (before a legitimate attempt to rescue has been made). People will injure others already on the ground. Need I go on?

And if anyone's looking for a mesh slider... http://www.leadingedgebase.com/products/le_accessories.htm

I'm bored at work too... 1. Doin' it. 2. Purple Helmetted Love Warrior 3. Bearded Clam 4. Praying to the porcelain god. 5. Drunk 6. Dropping the kids off at the pool. 7. Bashing the bishop, punching the clown, ... I've got a million of these.

People here can't tell you what kind, color, or size canopy to get. Only you can make that decision, if you're looking for feedback that matters then talk to the people who jump with you on a regular basis. That said, if you can demo various canopies at various wingloadings then that's really the safest and wisest way to go. When it comes time to buy you'll be confident that you've made the best investment you could have. That, IMHO, sure beats ordering something and wondering if you made the right choice. - Jim

What are you doing in your living room when there are open canopies overhead? That's jumpin' time!

I've always wondered, what does FBO actually stand for? - Jim

Maybe it's me, but.. I've read this a couple of times and this really seems like Precision is taking a cheap shot at Icarus. Anyone? Is it just me?

Huh. So if my 189 were a PD canopy, it would really be a 175? And instead of loading it at 1.29, I'm really loading it at 1.4? At least as far as the rest of the industry is concerned. Interesting... - Jim

We've heard an awful lot of talk lately about the size differences between the Safire and other canopies of the same advertised size. My question, has anyone actually measured a Safire to see what the difference really is? Experienced riggers? I'd love to hear what you have to say. Just curious. - Jim

That is so cool. Enough said.

If you keep your eyes on the plane you'll most likely have a better exit. Looking up, at your instructor, helps to keep your body in the arch that is so important during basic instruction. Looking down, as you most likely did, is bad and causes your body to de-arch. Like your instructor said - look at him.

I belive that once you go over 12,500 you also need two pilots. Our skyvan flys with one, so I'm guessing it's under 12,500.

That sucks. I know a few people who are going to be pretty pissed off. Here's some info I found on rec.skydiving: That of course is followed by the usual rec.skydiving crap. Look on google if you want more. - Jim

That isn't to say though that you can't land a Stiletto on a straight in approach. I've seen quote a few landed that way, and often. - Jim

That may be. The more landing areas the better. I saw that collision - the experienced jumper fucked up, plain and simple. That canopy was on the ground before the 'experienced' jumper started his hook - he came in hot and actually carved right into the partially inflated canopy of the 'newbie'. That same 'experienced' jumper did something similar again tonight. Bullshit. The swoopers don't own the DZ and they don't own that little stretch of land right near the deck. The 'newbie' can land where he wants - it's the responsibility of the person above or behind to land himself safely. It certainly could have been avoided. The 'experienced' canopy pilot ought to look where the hell he's going next time. I could have accepted this as just bad luck had it only happened once, but in fact, it's now happened at least twice in two weeks. As mentioned above, it's the responsibility of the guy above or behind to safely land himself no matter what the conditions on the ground. Had this guy been paying attention to his surroundings or known the limits of his abilities this could have been avoided, both times. Multiple landing areas certainly don't hurt, really, the more the better. However, you can't use the recent incident you mentioned to support your argument.

You got the Channel 6 news lady! That's Awsome!

Cut away and go for the reserve. The possibility of having the main open after the container has changed shape are, in my opinion, too great. The idea of dealing with 2 canopies out doesn't appeal to me. - Jim

Sure I do - the point was that you can psychopack anything, whether the manufacturer recommends it or not. Whether or not it opens is your problem.

No need to wait until you get a high performance canopy to try the psycho pack. I've used or seen it used on Safires, Sabres, Spectres and a Vengence. No problems so far.

I've always thought that dropzones should offer some type of advanced canopy control school. Students go through AFF or SL and learn how to land a 280 sq/ft F111 square in ideal conditions, but that seems to be where most canopy skills training stops. Anyone else think that's a problem or maybe a gap or missing piece in the training puzzle?

There's nothing special about the canopy on a static line jump that would somehow prevent a situation that might occur on an AFF or other training jump. The static line system may actually be prone to a higher level of 'accidents' like this since the system deploys regardless of the stability/body position of the student. Skydiving is a dangerous sport, we all know and accept the risks, we all choose to do this.

Here's an article from a local paper describing the accident. http://web.sunherald.com/content/biloxi/2001/08/07/pageone/0807_skydivers.htm Not a bad article from the whuffo press either....

Wow. A double mal is never a good thing, but I'm happy to hear that both student and tandem master are alive and mostly well. - Jim

I've been curious for a while which 'brands' of main people around here have been jumping. So... here goes. Whatcha jumpin'? Aerodyne Research Atair Big Air Sports Flight Concepts Icarus Jumpshack North American Aerodynamics Para Flite ParAAvis Parachutes de France Performance Designs PISA Precision Aerodynamics Strong Enterprises I'm expecting that Icarus and PD will have the most 'share' of this poll, but I'm curious to see how the other manufactures fare.

Not sure what happened, but I managed to get the system to recognize me again. Had to do the following: * login * change password * logout * login All fixed now...