skybytch

I dunno. Seems easier to say "the container is not safe to freefly with" instead of "you are increasing your risk of a premature deployment of the main or reserve and possibly a horseshoe malfunction if you freefly with that container." Changes to container designs were made in response to shit happening. After the container design changes, that shit doesn't seem to happen as often. You're right. My ratty Vector with the worn out Velcro everywhere and ROL deployment system never failed me when I did a stand up at the bottom of an RW jump or backloops or even the one time I attempted to backfly. So why would I not freefly with that container? Because I wasn't in an orientation other than belly to earth for more than a second or two when I was doing a standup or otherwise flailing around. Freeflying involves exposing the back and bottom of the container to the wind for 50+ seconds, and that wind is much faster than it is when you go from belly to a stand up and back or when you do a loop.

Handy thing, being able to take it to Bob when Joe says it's unairworthy...

I wouldn't fall asleep if I were you....

I wish. I'll be taking midterms until 3 tomorrow.

Give manifest a call and see if any tandems are scheduled before you drive out. If not, convince one other fun jumper to come out and the Cessna will fly. Rumor has it that the summer Wednesday evening bbq's will be starting up tomorrow.

Hee hee. Back from the beyond... I'm currently reading The Western Heritage, by Kagan, et al. It's a gripping, moving, emotional rollercoaster of a ride, lemme tell ya. Tomorrow I'll be reading Modern East Asia: From 1600, by Ebrey, et al. An equally gripping, moving and emotional ride through the same era covered in The Western Heritage.

I'd figure the container to be worth about $100, reserve about $200 and the main from $300-500 depending on jump numbers, so yeah, assuming that your rigger gives everything the thumbs up I'd say you got a pretty good deal. Be aware that the container is not safe to freefly with and that the reserve will land and open at terminal best if it's not loaded over about 1.0. In other words, if you intend to freefly soon and/or you weigh over about 155 pounds, it wasn't such a good deal...

When freeflying first started, most jumpers wore a fullface, a Protec or a leather frap hat. The Flyboyz (an early team out of Perris) started jumping Gath helmets (surf/water sports helmets) in the mid 90's. Shortly thereafter, Bonehead introduced the Mindwarp and marketed it as a "freefly" helmet. Soon after there were a variety of open faced skydiving helmets available.

What he said, with the following addition. Don't know what your wingloading was like on your last jump but. If you know you don't have canopy control figured out it makes more sense to fly a canopy sized such that you can fuck up under it and still walk away. Same thing if you have previous injuries to protect. Hope you heal fast and well.

Would you buy/wear a wicking tshirt with a skydiving related logo/saying on it? There's a million dollar idea, folks - run with it.

Me too. Watched someone with about 50 jumps who is current almost land in trees on Saturday in the exact same conditions. Be thankful you jump at a dz where they give a shit, alex.

Yup. Where it was jumped and how it's been stored should also be considered. That's why I said it's only a rough guide.

Probably not, as every one of us has at least one person in our lives that will never jump for that reason, even though we would love for them to do it. Being able to fly is part of what makes it fun. Another part is the people, although that can also be the worst part (it really sucks when your friends die). For me, a really big part is that it's both physically and mentally challenging. Skydiving is not safe. What part of throwing yourself at the ground at a high rate of speed relying on some fabric and lines to save you sounds safe to you?

In the US market, a rough rule of thumb is to figure the price of the canopy new, less $100, less $1 per jump. So if it was $1200 new a reasonable price for one with 100 jumps on it would be around $1000. This is assuming that it has no damage, and is only a rough guide. As was said before, a canopy is really only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

An excellent point. People routinely spend thousands of dollars on dirt bikes and gear. With gas prices the way they are now, I'd bet that a day spent riding would be close in cost to 4 or 5 jumps when you figure in getting out there and back again.

Reflex manual in full can be downloaded here Racers and Reflex's aren't packed the same way.

Didn't need to in high school, don't want to get kicked out of college, so nope. No cheating on exams for me.

Oh, I prefer that this plane be bi. She's more likely to let me play with her that way.

I keep hearing rumors about a biplane...

Depending on the age and number of jumps on the Spectre that could be a real good deal. I'd figure values to be $200 tops for the container and $400-ish for the reserve; at those values you'd be getting a Spectre 190 for $600. That's a great deal if it's not ragged out.

And there hasn't been one in California since I got back either. So there ya go. It WAS because I was living there.

The Meiji Restoration.

Hurricane Jeanne did quite a job on the city of Sebastian in late September, 2004. It is entirely possible that it happened only because I was living there though, so assign whatever weight you'd like to the above statement.

Dunno what your injury is, but did they give you a muscle relaxant as well? The combination of Vicodin and a muscle relaxant was the only thing that worked for my lower back pain; Vicodin alone was no better than an aspirin.

HBD Lynn! You have my permission to smack him around as much as you want all day. Yeah, I know you don't need my permission to smack him around but I don't have anything to give you for your birthday so...