freeflyguy

Here here (hear hear???), Go get 'em Chuck. Static line is cool. I was in the otter the other day, on the same level as a 182. It threw out a first jump static line dude. He did a nice layout and it deployed at some point in his rotation. Yahooo!!! Not exactly a stable exit. But oh well. But like I have said, after five times tied to the aircraft, you free fall anyway. And at least at our DZ, you get constant attention from everybody, until long after you graduate, at 20 jumps or so. I have jumped with "Graduated" AFF guys at 8 jumps, and they still don't have a clue how to land. Some DZ's need to keep up the training a little longer, my opinion. I heard of one DZ that only does AFF and Tandem. Once you graduate AFF, you can't really even jump there anymore. Sadness.

Another good one is leave the brakes stowed, then stall it with rear risers. You can fly it around spining backwards or wherever it takes you, but it stays kind of inflated.

The girl I bought my Safire 139 from bought a 120 Lotus. She says that allthough it is faster, it is more docile than the safire. She seems to be very comfortable with it and really likes it. Not a lot of help, but something.

Cool post. We all make mistakes, but only the wise adimit it. Still, at our DZ we call landing direction before we get out of the plane. If you don't like it under canopy, you go to the alternate landing area. I know a lot of DZ's go by the first guy down. That can create confusion. Although it does make sense on multi turbine DZ's. Carry on. j

Beer!!! I made it, and had a ball. 3 of us dressed in freefly suits, and one dressed in a Gorrila costume with a cardigan, mask and all. We circled the target for 10 minutes, figured out a landing and approach, so all was well. I was first out, since I was loaded a bit heavier than the others. As soon as I had a good canopy, I noticed they had moved the "X" onto the putting green. Uh? So much for landing plan "A". So I used landing plan "B". Improvise. Set up over the pond, right turn to base, slow braked left turn around a fir tree to a short final, noticed a hump on the fast approaching green, punched it up and over, and skidded down the back side, ran it out and all was well. The other two chose to weave through the putting flags, but still came up good. Then the "Golfing Gorrilla" did his flailing exit, popped a good stilleto, and spun toward Mother Earth. All the while the anouncer was telling the crowd how we were the gorrilla's teachers, and that he had a whopping 20 jumps. He missed the target, by a mile, and dissapeared behind the trees. We got some worried stares. Then the the Real whuffo Golfing Gorrilla comes walking out of the trees with an open rig and branches stuck all over him. Our skydiving gorrila landed on the driving range. I think the drama of it all my have been lost on the high dollar golfing crowd, NBA celebrities included, but we had fun. Then we packed, loaded the van, went to the nearest airport, flew home and bailed out over our DZ. 2 free jumps, and a banana. Not bad for a fun days 'work'

I get to do my first demo jump tomorrow, Swooping a golf course. Yahoo!!! I promise not to crash into the nearest body of water. As tempting as that may be. But after all, they do call them 'water traps'.

Pretend you are in OZ Look straight ahead, at a reference point, you will be able to see your hands in the proper position out of your periphial vison. If you start to spin, Click your heels together and say "There's no place like home, there's no place like home." That tells you where your legs are. Then keep arching, fly right and have fun. Static line is cool. Besides, you only do 5 static lines, then you freefall anyway. AFF is just different, maybe better for some, but that is cool. I almost feel like doing another static line, just for the hell of it. After 350+ jumps.

You know, one thing I thought was odd about them. The three ring set up was located higher on the shoulder, more right over the collar bone. I can't say what this means, or how it changes things. It is just different than most rigs.

hrmpphh. I saw a lot of Voodoos on a lot of good freeflyers this weekend at Skydance. I think most of those guys came from Byron, and it has a connection to Voddoo. Anyway. They seemed like a good tight rig, kind of a funky different shape. But that is all in your taste. Verdict, buy an Infinity. hahhahh hhhhhahhah

Muddy waters. heh heh. That is funny. But the fx is kinda 7 cell, but more 21. But you knew that.

Just to clarify. I probably shouldn't have even mentioned a cypres in this discussion. I agree, it has nothing to do with an rsl. Totally a different deal, and last chance back up at that. What I mean on a RSL is this. 99 times out of 100, an rsl is a good thing. it will open your reserve immediately, and you will be fine. But personally, I would prefer to wait that extra second or two before I pulled my second handle. There is a slight chance that it would cause a problem with your main. Very slight. But like I said, if I have time to cutaway, I will have time deploy the reserve. It seems that I have read that the incidence of a RSL causing a main/reserve entanglement is almost never or not at all. So in all, it is a good thing. There is many an incident of someone cutting away, and not deploying a reserve.

You may have been head low on opening. That would give you a good swing when the canopy opened.

My take on it is this. If you have a cypress. You may not want an RSL. I would never completely trust the cypress, but on the other hand, it will probably work. If I have time to cutaway, I will likely have time to stabalize and deploy the reserve. I would like to wait a bit before I did so. If I don't deploy, the cypress will. However, if I make a bonehead move, without a cypress, and cutaway too low, I would rather have the RSL to deploy as soon as possible. My thoughts.

How does seeing Natalie Portman naked identify someone as a geek? Seems like it would identify you as normal. Or beyond.

rhino, I gotta say. You crack me up. Physics are kind of indisputable laws. But whatever. I have been top docked by a vx74 loaded at close to 3. I load at 1.5. That doesn't say a lot, except a high Perf canopy has a lot more range than you are giving it credit for. Carry on.

If you mean the one made by Northern Lights, I had one before my newer Infinity. I think I put about 150 jumps on it. The only complaint I can think of is in a stand or maybe a sit, sometimes the reserve pin cover would come open. But that quit doing that, after a repack. Other than that. It seemed to be a good design and good quality. A 1997 model is new and 200 jumps is not very many at all. Mine probably had 6 or 700. It was a very nice starter rig.

Too prepared. No. I was talking to a guy the other day. Amazing cannopy pilot and skydiver. His folks own the DZ, so he has been around it his whole life. On his 16th birthday they let him skydive. He did static line. 9 jumps that day, and on the 9th, did a 15 way. 6000+ later, he is still prepared and smoking it. Education isn't experience, but it is a close second.

The pilot may understand a GPS. But if he doesnt know the winds are doing 50 miles an hour the opposite direction of yestereday, you are going for a walk. Our Otter pilot always posts the winds at 4 different altitudes, and knows what that all means. He is a good guy. Sometimes the first group out the door will question his spot, wait, and then go, making everybody else long. With him, when the light comes on, get out.

Scuba is bad. I love the same feeling. Flying. Especially when you fly up the hull of a wreck, then fly through the cabin. a trip. Sorry fellas, I love to skydive, but there is more to life. John Pennecamp state park in Key Largo. Cool. only about a 30 foot dive, but you boat out to the middle of nowhere, fall over the side in what appears to be open ocean, and Wow! Caverns, tunnels, monster groupers, rays. It is like a maze. And only a short drive from Miami. Blackbeard sailboat cruise to the Bahamas. Included booze and food, 4, 5 or 6 dives a day. Wake up in the morning, stumble out of your rack, put on the bc, and trip over the side of the boat. Nothing but relaxing and diving. If you don't mind being cold. A million places in the Puget Sound (Seattle), for marine life and terrain you have never seen before. ANY wreck, be it ship, plane, train or automobile (Houses are fun too) It is a kick. I gotta go, haven't been for a while.

Since your all yammering about safires. I'll say too. I like mine. If you keep flying/flaring until it stops. It works awesome. I suppose if I would quit going downwind over the pond, and do normal into the wind landings, I would never have to run it out. I say it is a great alternative to a sabre, with a taste of eliptical. If Icarus can make it better then, YAHOO!! But it is fine. I had a ball on my sabre too.

riggerrob had some good thoughts. Especially that one about reaching for the ground. I saw two people do that on a gusty day. With obvious results. I steady breeze crosswind land isn't really any different. Just more speed. I kind of like doing it. Just don't get spooked and reach or try a radical correction if you get rocked sideways. Keep landing the parachute smoothly, and it will. usually...

It flys!!! Andy finally got his main. It is the 21 cell 84 XAOS (chaos). I didn't really examine it in flight too closely, but it seems to actually be a different design. One thing they are trying on it is that the lines don't cascade. All of the lines come all the way down to the risers. It has 8 lines on one and 6 on the other. There where supposed to be some micro mini lines, but apparently they didn't make it to manufactureing in time, so they are a normal size, non vectran. It is a prototype though, so they are thinking the non cascade might be causeing too much drag. They will be tweaking on it in Perris. Flying wise, he seems to like it, and figures he will get it dialled in. It has been wet allready though. Heh heh. He has jumped it 20 some times, opens good, and flys nice. I saw it open a couple times, looked like it was nice, soft and not to spinny. He said it opened much better than the VX. One thing, is he has been flying a vx74. In order to get the same distance out of this, he has been wearing an extra 20lbs. So a bit smaller canopy might be optimum, for him. Anyway, that is an impression of the new precision XAOS

I saw one (a sandal) scream by me in freefall the other day. Well, it was going up. Or appeared to be. I haven't jumped them, but make sure the front part, toe area, doesn't tend to get blown back or fold under. It might be irritating if it did it in freefall, but will trip you when you land. That coming from somebody that does jump with them.

ah, not a dumb question, now you know. If you buy new, just the canopy and slider. Risers, and d-bag should come with the container. Pilot chute is extra, or with the container.

George did send Andy his new reserve. I watched him jump that the other day. Sheesh, who needs a fancy main when you can swoop a reserve that you have never jumped before half way across the DZ. It is fun to watch. We have a lot of good canopy pilots at Kapowsin. A lot of us end up wet (pond), but that is part of the fun. I'll keep you informed. Oh yea, I jump a safire loaded at 1.5. I generally get a fair head of speed on the landing, although I am more cautious over the land then the pond. My impressioon is the flair is fine, but it drops off at the end, causing me to have to run out a bit more than some other canopies (stiletto, crossfire, sabre). It seems like they are able to slow down a bit more before they lose lift. I think I can see where a little redesign would make it better. I like it though. A nice transisiton from a Sabre.