skybytch

It's going to take you 5 years to get to 50 jumps? Read your SIM, the requirements to do a night jump are all laid out in there...

I agree. At the B license level, most jumpers are still on fairly light wingloadings - ie canopies they can misjudge the flare on and still have a reasonably good landing. By the time someone is ready for a D license they are probably on a smaller, faster main that is less tolerant of less than perfectly timed flares. For a first landing in the dark, a more forgiving canopy is a good thing. And having to "get it over" early is likely to breed more jumpers who love night jumps.

Temperatures are supposed to be close to perfect all weekend.

Remember that pack volumes often depend on humidity levels. What kind of fits in the humidity of Florida may not safely fit in the dry heat of Eloy or Perris.

The one that fits your body type best, has a "look" that you like, comes from a manufacturer with a good reputation for customer service, will be in your hands in a time frame that you consider to be reasonable and has features that you want. Unless of course you want to be told what to buy, in which case you should buy an Infinity, cuz that's what I jump and I only jump the best.

Correction - You landed it like shit. If "they" land like shit, they wouldn't be popular with such a wide variety of skydivers.

Depends. How much effort do you want to put into it? The easy way is to put it on consignment with one of the larger gear dealers. You get less money out of the sale, but all you have to do is get it to them and wait for a check. You also don't have to deal with scammers. If you have the time and desire to deal with potential buyers yourself you'll get more money out of the sale. Please do a good job of verifying that a potential buyer is qualified to fly it before you sell it to them. This is another area where having a dealer sell it for you can be really helpful, as they likely have contacts at a potential buyers dropzone and can quickly verify experience.

Any canopy, regardless of it's reputation, can and likely will occasionally slam the shit out of you. I think a Spectre with Dacron lines is the softest opening main. I've jumped Spectres with microline and while the openings were slow, they don't compare to the openings with Dacron. Fat lines aren't fashionable though...

Are dz's making bank off of the currently available canopy control courses? If so, you've got a point. For Dave - Because some people will abuse a program does not make creating that program a bad idea. We don't eliminate the speed limit because most people speed, do we? An "official", comprehensive syllabus and a piece of paper that says a person spent a certain amount of time with a real expert (assuming, of course, that said experts would be willing to serve as canopy I/E's) would help to standardize the information that is being put out there. It would encourage more people who are passionate about canopy flight to help make the sky at their home dz safer by passing that knowledge along, while giving the canopy "student" some assurance that the "coach" knows something about canopy flight.

Until there is some way to "certify" the people teaching them, there can't and won't be consistency. Compare Brian Germain's course to Flight 1's - and those are experts. How can qualified local basic canopy skills instructors be developed?

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far far away, those types of ads would never have been allowed here... I love AdBlock Pro.

"Twilight Level 4" - a silly name used at that dz for a recurrency jump.

Airtec used to say that their smileys and loops should be used on all rigs, even those without AAD's, because they are "better." Wonder what their stand is today on their loops being used on non-AAD equipped rigs? Could it be argued that they made those items industry standard by their previous actions in encouraging those parts to be used on all rigs?

There is no requirement for an AFF rating to teach a basic canopy control course. There's a basic outline of Flight 1's course in the SIM. What's stopping YOU from putting a course together?

To add to this - please feel free to ask any of the instructors to watch loads land with you anytime they aren't working/jumping, regardless of the wind conditions. I'm not a current I, but if I'm out there I'd be happy to stand in the landing area and talk about what's going on with you. Something else to consider - go to the dz even if the weather report says the winds are going to be a bit more than you want to deal with right now. At this point in your career, you can learn as much or more about skydiving on the ground as you can in the air. A day spent talking about skydiving with other skydivers and watching other jumpers land is soooo valuable even if you don't get on the airplane all day.

Skydiving is supposed to be fun! Overanalyzing your "mistakes" or "failures" isn't fun. Stressing out over it isn't fun. What I'm going to suggest isn't easy and it probably won't be an instant fix; but it will work if you work at it. When you start in with the "I have to do this, I have to do that" self-talk, just stop. Reframe it. Remind yourself that you and your body already know how to do whatever it is that you are supposed to do on the next jump. You have the dive flow down pat. Other than a good dirt dive and ONE mental run through in the plane, you don't NEED to think about it. So every time you start to think about it, tell yourself "I got this" and think about something else - the pretty flowers, what you are going to have for dinner, how hot that guy looks without his shirt on, etc.. You may find yourself saying "I got this" 100 times before you get on the plane and 100 more times on the way to altitude. That's fine. The more times you do it, the more likely that your brain will believe and your body will cooperate. Go have FUN!!! Smile as you spin. Laugh as you stop the spin - hard to believe now but you will ENJOY spinning in the future. Stick your tongue out at your instructor. Focus on what is fun while you are doing it - NOT on what you "have to do to pass." Same with post-jump mental activity. Think about what was fun, not what you might be able to do better at. Relive that fun in your mind instead of the "failures". If you couldn't tall, there are two words I really hate when it comes to teaching skydiving. One is pass. The other is fail. These two words have kept so many people who could have been awesome skydivers from even getting off student status, becasue they got frustrated and gave up. IMHO, both words should be tossed out and replaced with FUN!

Mow the yard? Take out the trash.? Wash the cars? Wit 25 jumps in 18 years - you have no business on those canopies. With an answer like that, he has no business posting in a "topical" forum.

Overpriced by about $600.. Pass. Do you know the size in square feet of a Raven 3? If not, how do you know it's the right size reserve for you? Do you know your MLW length (that would be harness size)? If not, how do you know that harness will fit you? Do yourself and your wallet a huge favor. DO NOT BUY YOUR FIRST RIG OVER THE INTERNET WITHOUT ASSISTANCE FROM A KNOWLEDGEABLE AND EXPERIENCED SKYDIVER - and by that I don't mean asking here about every rig you find. Is there a gear dealer in your area? Might cost a bit more than piecing something together off the classifieds, but a gear dealer is more likely to sell you something that you will be happy with in the long run. And far less likely to completely jack you like the seller of that Talon appears to be trying to do.

Sure you can. Talk with your instructors about doing a no-pressure relaxation jump, one where the only things you have to do are exit, smile, pull and flare. Have two instructors jump with you. One can stay docked so you don't have to worry about spins while the other flies in front and makes you smile. If you look good, they can let you go, but that's not the point of the skydive. The point is to have fun without the stress of having to "perform." One of my students was ready to give it up because she couldn't stop a spin. We took her up on a relaxing "fun" jump and it did the trick; she nailed her next attempt at Cat C. Might work for you too.

As long as your instructors aren't giving you the bowling speech and your wallet can handle the cost, then tenacity is a good thing. I know of a guy who did like 25 AFF jumps; he couldn't stop a spin but he was altitude aware, pulled on time, landed safely and had the money to spend - and eventually he figured it out.

Twenty one years. with at least one jump in every calendar year since my first.

Hey now. Lots of jumpers have 34" or shorter inseams. Just because you're freakishly tall doesn't make me freakishly short.

What he said. You may not notice it on a 220; much of the time you'll be able to get away with it. You will notice it on a 190 or smaller. Your choice, of course, Understand that getting your flare dialed in now, before you start jumping smaller canopies, will pay huge dividends later. Unless, of course, you enjoyed being broken after a less than ideal flare...

Assuming that the canopy isn't completely ragged out (ie out of trim, thousands of jumps, should have been retired two seasons ago), that's a good indication that you aren't finishing your flare. If the canopy is so old that it can't be landed standing up in no wind by an average student, it really isn't suitable for student use anymore, don't you think? At what you load a 260 at, you should be able to completely stop it in no wind. If you can't, some more work on effective flare technique might be advisable.