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Turblance effects canopy flight, but I don't believe that a typical gust significatnly effects a canopy in regards to turning altitudes and recovery arcs. So is someone going to start a turbulance thread? It can be summed up by "don't fly in turbulant conditions, it can kill you." When you quoted what I stated did you assume that I thought gusts changed turns or the altitude lost in them? I did not. Gusts don't change turn altitude or anything of the such, they just make it dangerous to jump. And what other thread are you talking about? ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

The new editor has already come and gone. I think USPA is now looking for "another" new editor for Parachutist. That is kinda sad... I was just gonna say that I liked the new look of things that I noticed in the last couple. I always thought the articles were pretty bland looking considering how visual skydiving can be. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

The only way that wind has an effect on canopies is in turbulence. In a turn if your topskin is exposed to the direction the wind is coming from and a wind gust occurs (a dramatic change in wind speed over a short period of time) it can cause your topskin to temporarily collapse because there is period of time that it takes for your body (which, as the weight in the system that keeps everything taut) to adjust to that gust, and because of the greater mass of your body it takes longer than the topskin. So the skin goes slack for a few moments. That can lead to other problems. Thats one of the reasons swooping in really turbulent/gusty air can be a bit more scary. Or at least that is how I have understood it. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

I dont see how that is a valid example here... well... yes :) if you can get the canopy to open in the first place :)) (hey, what kind of answer did you expect with a question like that?) let's just say 20 mph. I think it will add speed to the way the canopy will dive in the first second or two of the turn. There is no reason to use less wind. The canopy, and your body, doens't have any way of knowing how much wind it is in. You would have lots of track over the ground and actually landing would be difficult, but the canopy would open and if you were jumping over clouds you would have no idea what so ever that there was even that much wind. It doesn't have any effect. x

that's pretty much EXACTLY what i was saying in my original post (but in other words :) Canopy will fly the same in an "air mass", but NOT in relationship to the ground. The issues is that, wind only has an effect on where you are on the X Y coordinate plane. Your Z plane (altitude) is not affected by the wind unless there are up and down drafts. No matter what the wind how the canopy flies in the turn will always be the same. Your position over the ground will be drastically affected by the wind however. What exactly you have to do in order to compensate and hit the gates depends on how much wind there is. If you don't care where you come out of the turn over the ground you don't have to do anything different. It will however look pretty damn scary because your frame of reference (the ground) isn't moving like it does on days w/o wind. The reason people have the perception that wind affects how the canopy turns is because of how we "know" what the canopy is doing. We use the ground as a reference. Therefor if our reference object appears to be doing something different when there is more wind, we in turn assume that the canopy is performing different. That just isn't the case. The baloon is the best example. If you swoop a balloon, it will ALWAYS look the same as you execute the turn. You would never have to compensate for wind to hit a balooon. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Thanks for those interested. I think I have what I need, will let someone know if I used thier picture. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

So... Anyways... Have you guys jumped the new camera yet? How does it work compared to the sony models that we have seen? Does it have a Lanc port for a cam eye? Is it as small as it looks (looks to be about the size of a PC-350 *discontinued*) And anyone know if we are gonna see a wideangle that can handle HD resolution anytime soon w/o really bad quality loss? I would like to shoot in HD but not at the cost of top mounting which would require me to buy a new helmet. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Anyone got a good picture of jumpers exiting out of a casa (first person) that I could use on a t-shirt for my DZ's boogie? I recently lost my hard drive to a crash and was stupid and never backed up so I don't have any good pictures. Its a small project (we will be lucky if we break even on the t-shirts) and I don't have any money to pay the photo owner, just looking for someone who thinks it is cool to have thier photo on a T-Shirt. (I will be turning the photo into a sillohet for silkscreening) I might be able to send you a t-shirt if you let me use your photo. Looking for something that shows the whole wing width and jumpers coming out of the back for like a bigway or something. Dunno, pm me if your interested. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

I like quite a bit of Chopin pieces... Piano soothes the soul....

Your best course of action is to work out a plan with an instructor at your local DZ who knows you and your flying style. The advice given on here regarding this topic is at times so way off base there is no point in soliciting it. Please speak with your instructor about this specific topic. Blue Skies and many safe jumps! ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

All I can say is that 100% doesn't look anything like ANY rookie team I have ever seen in the US. I competed in A class and we weren't anywhere NEAR that good. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Derrick, why don't you ask Stein to jump his Crossfire 119 and then report back here? Maybe I will do just that. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

For what its worth, I own a Sager laptop and have had nothing but problems with it. The thing overheats, the shell cracked, it gives me problems constantly, and hate the fact that i purchased it. I like the ability to be portable so will probaly buy another laptop it just wont be a sager. Your going to get more power cheaper from a desktop, they don't have to spend money to make it small or trade off weight for power. Don't get me wrong, I think there are many great laptops out there that are good as desktop replacements, I just think you can get more for less in a desktop. For what its worth, I am a full time computer nerd with a degree and everything, working in the IT field. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Ok, lemme try to explain with a mythical airport. The runway runs north and south. Jumpers exit, deploy and land EAST of the runway. Airplanes have their traffic pattern WEST of the runway. No issue. Happens everyday at drop zones across the country. What this guy proposed was that BOTH airplanes and jumpers use the SAME airspace. Pretty bad idea. Doesn't the traffic pattern change sides depending on if they were landing on 18 or 36? Or does this situation have to do with how far away from the runway we are talking about? I guess what I am wondering is, is this more a matter of the proposed distance from the runway rather than specifically which side of it? If they were closer to the runway then they would be (in theory) inside of the pattern and out of the way? I don't know? ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

I sure would like some clarification on why this is not ok yet almost every dropzone I have ever been to is on an airport w/o a control tower. I guess I don't know what I am missing here. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

I don't wear much jewlery at all if ever, but when I am lucky enough to get married, I wont wear a ring while skydiving. I value my fingers and life. The less things I can do to complicate jumping the better. I would hate to die in the name of vanity. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

You got me there! ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

I want to pick up one of the new canon printers that has the Chromalife 100 ink, they are coming out with new models so I am going to wait a bit. As for the other things of note, excepting the monitor calibrating tool, which i don't have money for, i am looking into it. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

I'm with Cora... the whole thing is a lot of fun. Though, for the sake of this poll I voted "The landing" because well,... swooping is the shit. In fact, its so much fun, I think ill leave work soon and go swoop. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Were you on load 2 sunday? I was on that one... I was third person out on the first pass.... We were hoping to be farther in the lineup to make the swoop pond, but oh well. I only made that one jump then headed back to the home dz for the sunset load. Travelling by cessna 182 rocks! ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Any idea who in heavens name told him that?? Yes, and I'm not going there Your previous post gets at the root of the incident and helps explain how some things can be avoided. I sure hope that something is done about the really bad advice of jumping right into 270s being handed out. It's good to hear that he changed his attitude some. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Especally since someone can change quite a bit in two years. As in this case, in which the thread was started two years ago. I know that personally the last two years have been a journey for me and I had a lot of growing up personally and in the sport. However, if people want to throw stones, they will. That is why I made the statement "If he didn't change" because I know people can and can not change. It all depends on the things they experience. If he had straightened things out and was not acting in a manner that was well beyond his experience then it comes down to the plain and simple fact that even when you do everything close to right you can get hurt. It just seems like an easy correlation between his "I can do anything, I am just as good as ron, don't get in my way, I wont mess up" attitude that he had when he posted in this thread and what happened in his incident. If he changed and still got hurt, that sucks, but either way, I hope he heals up quick and doens't have lasting injuries, and learns from this. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

I had some prints made at a walmart and they turned out better, all be it on much lower quality paper. I changed some things in how I do my post processing and also found out that I can just leave the pictures in Adobe RGB when I take them to walmart to be printed and I will keep a richer looking color. Going to do one more test run at Target (its closer to my house by a large margin, uses Kodak paper, not fuji, and is higher gloss) and see what I get. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Mark, I've jumped both and currently own and jump a XF2. The Katana blows the XF2 clean out of the water in terms of overall performance. Its opens about the same as the XF2, the front riser pressure is super light, the rear riser pressure isn't that heavy either. The toggle stroke is shorter on the Katana, but its all around faster. Not just the obvious trim making it feel faster. Its faster in the swoop. After 600-700 jumps on a XF2, I've got the swoops fairly dialed in. With 3 jumps on a katana of the same size I swooper further and faster then I can with my XF2. Kinda surprised me, actually. The openings are very comfortable and managable. Very much like a Crossfire2. IMO the openings are much better then a Stiletto. Easier to control during the opening and much softer then the Stiletto. Obviously, this is my opinion, go demo the canopy to see if you like it yourself. Oh, I'm also saying all of this and I'm not going to buy a KA. I'm getting a Velocity next, but the KA is definately a nice canopy. Just want to agree with dave here. I have a couple hundred jumps on my Crossfire 2-139 and had an oppertunity to put 4-5 jumps on a Katana-120 and besides the downsize the canopy was MUCH more agressive than the crossfire. I have jumped other 120 sized canopys and it wasn't like the katana. Like dave said, w/o many jumps on it and being dialed in, and being not being aggressive (smaller turns), I had a better feeling swoop on the katana than I do on my own canopy. If I had money I would switch right now. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

As I was reading this, I was going to do the same. I think that the saddest part of about his incident was that he was told it would happen and banked on his bucket of luck not running out before he was experienced enough to save his own ass. Time and time again jumpers will continue to make bad decisions and seriously hurt or kill themselves. A total lack of thought and consideration to the efforts of many who have died and many who have gotten lucky and learned from it before them. Maybe this will be a wakeup call for this guy. I sure hope so. He made a whole whopping 200-300 jumps from when this thread was started in 2004 till now and in that time he decided it was a good idea to downsize from his saber2 @ 1.2 to a Crossfire 2 @ 1.55. A XF2 @ 1.5 can get you in a LOT of trouble really quick, I know I have been jumping one for the last 200+ skydives. I don't think that the canopy he was jumping was unreasonable at his jump numbers if they have a good head on thier shoulders and learn some things along the way. Time has shown that he lacked the ability to actually learn from the people who were hopefully attempting to mentor him. If he didn't change his attitude from back then, it makes perfect sense that he was bound to hurt himself eventually. As the saying goes... There are old skydivers, and there are bold skydivers, but not many old and bold skydivers. I am also fond of, if your going to be stupid, you better be tough. I hope that he does ok with his injuries, heals up, learns from his mistakes, and goes on to be a great skydiver someday. Be safe out there! ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka