Joellercoaster

That actually sounds useful. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Also every elliptical canopy that's not a Crossfire or made by PD is a Stiletto copy (even those that came out beforehand). Both of these are entirely untrue. The Hornet is closer to a Pilot than a Sabre (to which it's a totally different shape), but it's not the same thing even though there is some historical relationship between the companies and designs. Where do people get this stuff about the Sabre though? -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

EXACTLY. It's easy to inspect what is there. It's also relatively easy to miss what isn't there. This is a good lesson for all of us who inspect... ANYTHING. This. My first thought about this was "would I have noticed?" I can't honestly say the answer would be yes. (I have friends who I am sure would have noticed, but... not many.) We can all get better. And we should. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Never say never, but that looks no worse than the press stud on the outside of a Factory Diver. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

I'm not sure I'd say 'reasonable', though it may be possible. By rule in the UK, first jump students must be under 0.8, and other students have to stay under 0.85. This wouldn't totally prevent him jumping - but we're probably looking at converted tandem canopies, here or even in the US. Good luck to the guy, hope he gets it working. [edit: I'm sure they can find him some tank-like AFFIs who could keep with him and keep him under control, should he decide to do AFF. I feel like the fall rate side of things is the last of his worries.] -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

There are at least two different serial numbers in those photos. It's hard to tell how many canopies there are... can you fill us in a bit? -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

That may be true, but flare is still just as subjective as any other aspect, and the answer is the same - demo

This was probably awesome logic back in the days when canopy performance degraded through jumping because they were made of low-porosity nylon. But those days, minor nitpicking aside, are long gone. ZP canopies don't get ragged out in quite the same way - they wear out eventually and break, but they don't lose their flare after 400 jumps any more. The idea that a reserve is more docile is true as far as it goes, but substitute different for docile and you can see where the problem starts... now I'm unstowing brakes at 1200ft, breathing hard and shaking with the adrenaline of my first chop. I'm about to land by a road in a crosswind, on the smallest canopy I have ever flown, and it flies and lands differently to the ones I've jumped the last 300 times. Fingers crossed! -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

The Pilot isn't that old! It's newer than the Sabre2, isn't it? And the Sabre2 was not an update of the Sabre, it was a whole new canopy! Also, I can't wait for the Stiletto2 -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Interesting, huh? So in the UK, we are probably at the "more rules" end of the spectrum, when it comes to skydiving (although not about everything - different countries have different things they care about more, like the US with cloud, the Netherlands with canopy sizes, Australia with accuracy and their rather excellent B-Rels). We can find it a bit confronting the first time we encounter "here plane - go skydive, be careful". But the rules are just a particular skydiving culture's codified safety habits. Safety habits are good. So I tend to behave as though I'm at a BPA dropzone anyway when I'm there. I've had the following conversation a few times: Me: "Can I get a flightline check please?" They: "You know we don't have to do that here, right?" Me: "Yup." Same with always wearing a helmet, same with opening high, same with wearing restraints, not jumping a wingsuit for a bit longer (back in the day) and so on. Self-responsibility and self-reliance are great; personally I like the skydiving culture I've come from and its rules have taught me a lot of useful things for when I need to exercise them

When I started jumping (admittedly not that long ago compared to a lot of people here), this was definitely true. But it feels like a long time since I saw a non-ZP main that hadn't been totally jumped to death. The odds of finding a PD-190 that's been living in a closet for a decade and only has a couple hundred jumps on it, making it still worth thinking about buying, seem long. Do they still exist? Maybe it's a US thing. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Since you are in the UK, Symbiosis make a decent suit at a decent price, and have been in the FS suit game for decades. (Some FF suit manufacturers are getting into the FS suit business but from experience, I'd say it takes them a few years to work it out. The only ones who have really cracked it IMO are Sonic, and they are eye-wateringly expensive.) I don't know anyone with a Jedi FS suit, though I've seen their FF suits around and they look good. If you're buying second-hand, of course "fits you and is cheap" are probably the criteria above brand. But Tony, Bev, Parasport and (less so but you see them) Rainbow are all popular in the UK. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Something to consider: Your flare height (and indeed the rest of it) is always exactly the same, no matter what the wind is doing. You need to develop a sense of flare timing that is independent of your forward speed... as the Flight One instructor will have taught you, unless it's turbulent, the ground winds are not relevant to your landing procedure. You are flying through the air, whether or not that air is itself moving across the ground does not affect how you fly. The ground is just the ground, it doesn't really affect your flare - just the way you put your feet down. I only really absorbed this a couple of weeks ago, and it's radically changed my landing experience. On Monday I was jumping in zero winds; on Sunday in 20kts, and both were good. And I flared the same. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

I would suggest, that if a canopy requires you to front-riser it to land well, and you don't get anything in return (ie., you don't do CRW so you want the other flight characteristics), then you should consider a different canopy. There's a reason nobody else jumps Lightnings -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

This is great advice. People have this idea that canopy size is a one way progression. It's really not. I wish I'd known that earlier... premature downsizing, looking back, has really hurt my progress as a pilot. You have this feeling that "well I'm on this fully-elliptical 150 now, guess I'd better learn to fly it." Actually I would have been better quicker if I'd put it back in the attic for a while, gone back to the 170 and learned to fly, period. On-topic: I am thinking about learning to swoop. Like the OP, I don't intend to be the fat-270-to-final, ridiculous-cheststrap guy. But I'd like to at least know how to do it. If I do, the Stiletto 120 is going in the cupboard and I'm going to find a Sabre2 150 for the duration. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Take what I say with a grain of salt, since I'm mostly a competition FS jumper (not into bigway, and not even a mediocre freeflyer). But. I have FS suits for FS, and a freefly suit for freefly. Freeflying in the FS suit sucks, even with the booties tucked away. The grippers catch air and pull me around, there's unbalanced friction between the front and back... it's just generally harder than it has to be. Flat flying in the FF suit sucks. The lack of booties makes it feel weak, and taking grips on a person without grippers (or those flat hybrid freefly grippers) is just annoying. If you're really certain you want to freefly, I'd suggest trying to get hold of a cheap but proper FS suit for learning to skydive in for a while, and save your pennies for a really excellent freefly suit (edit: and these are a lot of pennies!) until you're ready to start that. Then you can either sell your FS suit, or hang onto it for those sunset two-plane belly loads -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

It depends on who they are. Some coaches coach for a living and charge a fee (and those are sometimes worth it)... the vast majority that I know of though will do it for their slot, and the beer is a bonus Traditions vary on the etiquette for the "graduation" jump that requires three other jumpers - some people will pay their own slot, others don't, and nobody is wrong there. (For an example: If you are my student, then I will pay my own slot on the graduation dive, as a sign that I have confidence in you and the instruction I have given you. I have never yet been wrong. But if I've never seen you before and someone has said "take this guy up, he just needs the graduation jump, can you sort it out?" then you're definitely paying my slot - I've had enough of those go wrong now that I take someone else's assessment of the student's ability with a grain of salt.) One thing I would say is, get in the tunnel with a coach. It's cheaper than skydiving and allows you to learn the technical bits in a more relaxed way. Then get on the plane and rip through your FS1 hassle-free! -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

+1 I just did Flight 101 at well over a thousand jumps, and whaddya know - my flare height was not ideal, and pretty inconsistent. Feeling tons better now - I'm going to do it again in a few months and see. Hybrid Triathlons are somewhat finicky to land, in my limited experience of them. Silhouettes, as did you, I found really nice to land. Sometimes the canopy does matter. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

While you are still a student, they have to be an AFFI - although during your consoles they encourage you to jump solo, just to get used to the whole skydiving thing in a simple way. After that, before you have FS1, they have to either be a rated FS coach, or a (C-licensed? memory is hazy) jumper approved by your CCI who is jumping with you specifically to coach you. Whereabouts are you based? -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

The problem with little Cessnas (182 and friends) for big folks is trying to exit head-high. Hurling yourself out head-first over your hands is much less awkward I feel for TIs, though. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

One important thing for everyone, not just the large - the best guarantee of stability out the door is the rectangle of the "four points" - hips and shoulders - being perpendicular to the oncoming ("relative") wind. From a poised exit, this means the hips and shoulders are all heading directly sideways out the door, so they hit the airstream together and in the same plane. So think about sidestepping directly away from the fuselage, keeping your body facing the direction the plane is flying - the direction is more important than the power. There are plenty of other ways to be stable, but this is the very simplest. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Hey... you are still a student; don't feel too frustrated - a lot of people have stability issues, and video and instruction fix many ills. Psychologically though, you can help yourself. I am 6'5" so I know where you're coming from with small doors; as a large economy size gentleman your priorities are 1) get through the door without hitting anything, and 2) present correctly when you hit the airstream. Your size only really affects the first one. So get comfortable in the door, in a position where you feel balanced, as close to the outside as you can. Obviously if you start outside the plane it is easiest (get used to this, big folks do a lot of dangling outside) but as long as you are comfortable it should go ok. The second one is a matter of practice, but also relaxation. If you try and thrust or force or "spring" your body out the door, it is harder to hit the wind at the right angle. So be firm but gentle (a weak exit doesn't work either). Your arms and legs are longer than normal people so they will give you more power - don't make big movements straight away. The single most important thing straight out the door is your hips. Get your hips forward and down and your head up and back; this is where your arch comes from, not your arms and legs. At first the air is slower than at terminal so your torso is what matters - for the first half second of your exit you can keep your limbs close to your body, your knees well bent and think about gently extending them and maintaining your hips and shoulders perpendicular to the line of flight. Once you have this down, you will find that the exact same principle applies to diving exits - they're just upside down, but the important stuff is the same. TL;DR: Relax, get smoothly through the door, don't make big powerful movements. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Please don't take this the wrong way, but: how do you feel now about your STA and the TI's willingness to let you jump with that tandem, compared to the recommendations (and in some cases requirements) of the manufacturers, which called for a different decision? The recommendation is mostly there to protect the passenger but it's there to protect you too. Glad you had a football field to land in! -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

True. But also, potentially higher stall speed. I have jumped a couple of canopies loaded maybe a little more highly than they should have been, and they flared great... until they didn't -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Depends on a lot of things you can't tell over the Internet. But in principle, the price is in the ballpark, so you're at least not wasting your time looking into it more closely. It's a pain, but paying to have it shipped to you and inspected by someone local might be worthwhile, on the condition that you ship it back if it's not good. In principle you could have someone trusted by both parties near the seller do it, but the problem with being new is you don't have many contacts yet. But you could ask at your DZ to see if anyone you know, knows someone at the other end - it's a small fishbowl we all swim in around here. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?