FrogNog

I sum up what they're doing as: attempting to make money by being an advertising middleman, and nothing else. Unfortunately, some people at either end of the middle (customers on one side, and dropzone owners/workers at the other) don't find this savory. That, combined with some economics issues, leads 1800SkyRide to conduct what I would call "information management", and that's where things have gotten ugly. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Downsizing will reduce the amount of time you spend in the air under canopy, yes. But it's possible you might find the overshooting problem doesn't go away, because a smaller canopy of the same type will fly faster forward and down, but should follow the same glidepath. If there is no wind, you would land in the same place. If you are flying into or out of the wind, there will be a change. If you were being kept up by thermals (rising air), then the smaller canopy will have a higher descent rate, and the combined effect of your canopy naturally descending in the air and the air itself rising will result in a "more downward movement." You might still be rising, but not as fast. Or instead of staying at the same altitude, now you might be getting closer to the ground very slowly. How things are going to change partially depends on what was really going on before. I know in no wind, the Skymaster 290 I used as a student (.75 lbs / sf) would fly forever.

This advice scares me a bit for a few reasons. First, in low or no wind, all canopies that I know of will fly a flatter glide at a certain mid-range brake setting. (Could be 1/4 brakes, could be 1/2 brakes.) Second, the reason going to deep brakes makes canopies fly a steeper glide (again in low or no wind) is because it retards forward speed so heavily that the canopy almost stops flying. In this configuration the canopy is near the stall point and typically has low pressurization and unless it was designed to fly stable like this, it will probably be more susceptible to collapse from turbulence or behave unexpectedly. In medium or greater wind, slowing the forward speed changes the landing point by allowing wind to become more of a factor. But your advice didn't mention the effects of wind. I hope a student doesn't try a deep brakes approach too near the ground before they know how much altitude it takes for the canopy to completely recover (as a student I found out almost the hard way that it can easily be 100 feet) and what to do if they get into a situation where there isn't sufficient altitude for a recovery to full flight, or before they know precisely where the stall point on their canopy is, what an incipient stall feels like, and how to recover from an incipient stall as safely as possible. Somethinelse, did you talk to your instructors about possible thermals in the landing zone, and if so did they say they were likely to be present under the conditions at the time? You could also talk to them about your concern about turning low. One of your instructors suggested the 360 turn under certain conditions above a certain altitude, so we assume they think it is safe, but you can ask them for details about it like "how do you define a gentle 360 turn?" and "how do I make sure while I'm doing it I'm not screwing up?".

Another possible reason for the 5-year stated lifespan of Firefighting equipment could be the same thing as the 5-year stated lifespan of motorcycle helmets: they may still work fine after 5 years, but there is the possibility of improvements in safety performance after 5 years. Not sure how much I believe the "5 years" timeframe, though.

It is just me, or does the dismount, where the top jumper pulls back on the front risers, look super sketchy? I'm glad they pulled it off, and for all visual appearances it's a grand stunt, but I'm thinking that landing might have been one "oops, we didn't think about that" away from heroes. Hey, maybe I just don't know that pulling the front line groups like that during landing is harmless. (Glad he wasn't holding onto the rears - that could have been really exciting.)

I thought I heard they do this - a harness with lead in it to take the place of the rig people aren't wearing. Not sure if this is everyone or just RW teams or what. I don't think they want canopies in there, though. That would get messy.

Quite true. A trick from an old amateur banister slider: travel with windex and paper towels. When you find a wicked banister you want to ride, whip out the cleaning supplies and remove the human slime that typically makes banisters slow. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Remember it still had the right hand seat in place. With that removed as operations permit, the is more room avaliable. That's one of the rules of skydiving: no matter what size the plane, they'll always put one more person in than will fit comfortably.

I like dive loops that are a continuation of the riser because it makes me feel confident they aren't going to rip. Yeah, I know, I'm not that strong, but there are parts of my equipment I look at and convince myself are strong enough, and there are parts I look at and say "Damn!". I also like dive loops that are just as wide as narrow risers. If they are narrower I tend to get unnacceptable finger pain from what I assume is high riser pressure on the (relatively large, tapered rectangular) canopies I jump. I haven't tried super-wide dive loops yet but if I can grip all the way around the loop with my "dive claw" grip, I don't think that would be a problem. The canopies I have been jumping also seem to have long control ranges, so the higher the grip part of the dive loop, the better. Otherwise I have to lengthen the brake lines so far I don't think I can get the canopy to stop as well in zero wind. (I know the dive loop can only be up so high, so I'm checking other canopies to see if I just need a different model canopy for my needs.) One kind of dive loop that I find inferior is the mechanical-advantage dive loop. While they halve the felt front riser pressure, they double the toggle input per front riser input if the toggles are kept in the hands, which I always do unless I'm doing something weird way up high, or I'm packing or cutting away. Personally, I use two or three fingers on my dive loops. I always wear gloves (thin in Summer, thicker in Winter) and have long, narrow fingers. Just in case you care.

Well, yes. That's why the Slink. You set it, you leave it and damn near forget it. I pack for myself maybe *maybe* once every 2-3 months, so its my failsafe since most packers won't check the rapid link for tightness. OK, that does add up. I must admit that rapide link "care and feeding" instructions suggest using marking paint to check for loosening, so clearly they aren't guaranteed to stay put. A Slink that takes a proper set wants to stay that way until it rots.

Did you call Sunpath and ask them? No offense intended - but they probably could tell you what it looks like.

When my Hornet 190 is at incipient rear riser stall, it looks like it's trying to pack itself. The wingspan stays about the same but the chord shortens as the nose and tail start to come together. I was surprised at how docile it was. But I had been warned by one of my instructors that a brakes-stowed full-on rear riser stall can take a LONG time to reinflate, so I should do it way up high - higher than normal screwing around stuff. I still haven't gotten the balls to do this yet. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

I can get a couple extra inches of toggle pull by rotating my wrists down. On some canopies I jumped, this was exactly what it took to push them from "mushy flight" to "stall-whoah-hey!". When you pull the toggles all the way down, see if you can rotate your hands so your knuckles point toward the ground. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

I think if rapide links are unthreading themselves during skydiving use then they aren't tightened correctly or they're broken. But if there are any rapide-knowledgable engineers around, I'll listen to some disabusement. And I would be very, very shocked to hear any hard opening could ever cause the d-bag/pc attachment to receive enough shock to suffer damage. The only way I can see this link getting a lot of tension during opening is if the PC is still attached to the airplane, or someone packed up a 60" pilot chute for you as a joke. When a regular hard opening occurs, nothing above the canopy (a.k.a. sky-anchor, during a hard opening ) is supposed to get whacked. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Sure, I name all my canopies: Skymaster, Hornet, Sabre2... -=-=-=-=- Pull.

What did the CCI say when you asked him?

I find that if I rotate my wrist so my alti is between my hand and the ground, it reads about 500' lower than if the altimeter is between my hand and the horizon, where it reads about 500' lower than if my altimeter is exactly on the far side of my hand from the ground. It's pretty cool, actually - at pull time I can adjust what altitude my altimeter displays.

Are Racer rigs compatible with some sort of "no-open pull force check" device? I figure they probably are, but I don't know. Just curious, and trying to see if there are more options for a rigger to get his technique correct than "don't be an idiot", such as actually testing the stinking pull force after it's packed.

Get some more money and buy a 182. Some pilots here can probably give you details on which year you want so you can get the cool factory features, and what aftermarket stuff you really want - like wingtip extensions and the more powerful engine. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Are you on the Verizon TO Verizon dealie, like I am? I think another post is coming on... -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Ivan is right. For $100 to $200, if you know what to get, you can get good Doom 3 video. I'd recommend another $50 on a little surround sound system, too. I forget which one my friend got but it has been excellent at scaring the piss out of us in that game.

A square 170? Seriously? I think I heard about a square 370 pilot reserve rig, but this sounds a bit sporty for some of the larger pilots. (No offense meant, Bob, but we both know you don't want to jump a 170!) Back to the core discussion, I think the odds of survival are good if they get something large and studentish out and don't screw with it. If they leave the brakes stowed and don't hit an obstacle, they'll have about as good a landing as I did on my first jump, when I managed to kill my radio, was unable to link up with the ground instructor waving a pair of the DZO's sweatsocks instead of flags, and finally per my FJC training flew my pattern and landed in half brakes with a PLF.

I follow you. I'm now jumping a Sabre 2 and I noticed their labels have that table of exit weight for the canopy size and "skill level" of the jumper. The tables I have seen on some PD canopies seem conservative when looking at the terms they use (e.g. "Expert"), but when compared to USPA A/B/C/D licenses, don't seem overly conservative. So I don't know what I think. I don't think this question has any easy answer. Many previous posters have pointed out many holes. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

And what you like. I like a bigger handle, personally. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

I would recommend you jump whatever you can safely borrow from other people and jump, to try things out. That is an important way of finding out what you want. In terms of "what is safe," you have to talk to your instructors, who will have seen your abilities. These forums may help you get an idea of what kinds of canopies are more of "beginner" canopies, but there are a lot of variations in their characteristics that even if they can be described in text, you should fly and feel them yourself to see what you like. -=-=-=-=- Pull.