Geoff

This is true. I went from a Spectre 135 to a Safire 129 and it was a helluva lot faster. I later found out that Safires are 7% smaller than most other canopies of the same placarded square footage, so it's more like a 120 really. Also, only the Safire and Omega are measured like this, not other Icarus canopies. I'm now getting a Crossfire, but I don't want to downsize, so Icarus have told me to get a Crossfire 119, to stay the same size as a Safire 129. Geoff

I hate to ask this question - but it wasn't a bungee kill-line, was it? (I really hope not.) and was this guy's PC ZP or 0-3cfm ? Any idea what size? Thanks if you have any more info. We should take the opportunity to learn a lot from this. Geoff

I'd really be impressed if they generally agreed within 200ft!. Look around at the other altis on the plane, and you'll see variations of at least 500ft once you're at 12000ft or so AGL. Geoff

Dunno about the risk of injury, but I recently started experimenting with palms-to-sky rather than palms-to-ground flying (after about 100 head-downs) and found it a lot smoother, easier to balance, and greatly easier to move your arms around e.g. to take a grip. No significant change in fall rate. Maybe your fall rate increase and the shoulder strain mean you were really grabbing air hard with your palms? Geoff

... and don't forget to forward those virus warnings to everyone you know, and that amazing list of coincidences between Kennedy and Lincoln, and do send an e-mail to that poor dying kid, and, and, and......

That's not the real flight number. Someone just made it up. Pretty poor taste, I think. Geoff

Thanks - that makes a lot of sense. So would lighter slider grommets be better? - I think I have stainless steel currently, and I think brass ones are lighter. might be remembering wrong, though. cheers Geoff

Are you suggesting that there's some connection between the design problem and the incident at the Ranch? All informed opinions (i.e. from people who were there or have seen the video) posted in the various fora so far indicate that in this case the canopy collapse was caused purely by turbulence, which could have had the same effect on any other type of canopy. Thanks if you can clarify what you mean. Geoff

A question: What causes the tiny points of wear, and eventually tiny holes that often seem to occur on the upper tail of a canopy? What can I do to prevent or minimise this? I always cock my kill-line before putting the canopy in the bag and there's no exposed metal connector link inside my bag, unlike some designs. I use a fairly standard pro-pack, but I don't normally put in the short s-fold in the region of the slider as some people do. Just one big single S shape. Any ideas? thanks Geoff

Yor choice of words suggests that you're more interested in influencing opinions than hearing them.

Don't buy a new Sabre. It's an old design and has been superceded by the Sabre2. Very few people have jumped a Sabre2 yet, but it sounds very good from the little I've heard so far. If you get a used Sabre, get an oversize or 'pocket' slider fitted to prevent the occasional hard opening. Cheers, Geoff

Good for you! I continually despair of hearing people saying Sabres open fine if you just roll the nose, roll the tail, pull the slider out, use long line stow bites, avoid tube stoes, use an F111 PC, sacrifice a goat or whatever. A canopy should simply not be that fussy! The only reliable solution is an oversize or pocket slider. Geoff (with a recurring neck problem caused by ..... guess what)

Shades might be OK for belly flying, but I think you'll have real problems keeping normal shades on your face if you're freeflying with open-face headwear - because of the much higher wind speed, and the air tends to get under the edges of the shades. It's never worked for me. Then again, there are several types of goggles which are pretty cool and modelled on shades - Sorz, Blaze, Ultimate. Geoff

I know first-hand (i.e. at my home DZ) of 5 or 6 premature deployments linked to poor bridle protection on older Javelins and other rigs. These have led to a only a few minor injuries in the cases I've seen, but the potential for the jumper to have their neck broken by a hard head-down opening, to become entangled, or to collide with others is pretty obvious. You may get away with it for hundreds of jumps, but I would say you're taking an unacceptable risk. Just MHO. Geoff

The old saying .... 'Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.' Lost freefliers I know (including myself) have been on jumps like the one you describe. Maybe your post will enable a few people to learn without the bad judgement.....

??????????? I was talking about an Oxygn, and I've not seen an Oxygn with a drawstring. Do some have one? Geoff

Several people in the UK have this mod - Andy Ford at Weston is a champion of it, and is doing this mod for other people. You're not Fordy, are you.........are you?

My first and only full-face is an Oxygn (not A3 - the one with the internal alti port). I also wear contact lenses and use a pro-track. I'm really very impressed. It fits snug and comfortable. You must try some on to get the right size, though. I leave the visor (the buttonless version) up until about 10 seconds prior to exit and flip it up again after opening if the weather's cold or humid. Easy. It's very quiet and I can hear the pro-track clearly. Not had any fogging problems. Never had the visor open prematurely. I've done about 200 jumps with the original lens and it's just starting to get that very fine 'crazing' and take on a slightly cloudy appearance, but it's still perfectly good to use. I expect it to last at least another 100 jumps. It's perfect for RW - you WILL get kicked in the face ocassionally as your skills improve and you fly tighter. I don't honestly think it's ideal for freefly. The visor can pop up if you're in a stand due to the increased wind speed. (not happened to me cos I don't wear it for freefly, but I've seen it happen to others.) Hope that helps. Geoff

In the UK it goes roughly like this. 200 jumps to become a static line instructor - called a CSI or Category System Instructor 200 jumps to jumps camera 800 jumps to become a tandem instructor 1000 jumps to become an AFF instructor There are a load of other requirements as well. These are just the minimum jump numbers. For all the details look at the BPA ops manual available by following the links through http://www.bpa.org.uk which will eventually lead you to http://www.zct.co.uk/bpa/opman.htm Hope that helps. Geoff

The stance of Icarus and PD concerning cross-braces was that they're only needed to keep the canopy rigid at very high wing loadings, and so you would get no advantage at low loadings. You'd also have the disadvantage of larger pack volume. however, I notice that Parachutes de France is bringing out a less-radical cross-braced canopy called the Ninja. I haven't seen any reviews yet, though. A similar question applies to airlocks - will all canopies have airlocks in the future? Personally, I think that's more likely than all canopies having cross-braces. The advantages of airlocks in turbulence or when flying at very low speed would seem to apply whatever the wing loading (maybe even more at low loadings) and whether swooping or not. Geoff

Another good reason to cutaway first is simply that you don't have to make a decision. One drill for all malfunctions. Like you say, this is a controversial sibject, but most people agree the most important thing is to have a single plan of some kind and stick to it. Geoff

A friend of mine sent his new Crossfire back to be re-trimmed after initial stability problems with front risers. The canopy handles fine now, but the lines are still cascaded. I have also heard indirectly (on rec.skydiving) of others having the same problem, and it being solved by a re-trim or re-line. I am in no doubt that at least some Crossfires have left the factory incorrectly trimmed. Whether that's a design flaw or a manufacturing or tolerancing issue I don't know. Until a week or so ago I was about to order a Crossfire. I'm now taking a break to reconsider - NOT because of the accident at the Ranch (which appears to be due to turbulence), but because I've now heard that the trim problem my friend had was not an isolated one. Has anyone else had this problem or know any more facts about it? Incidentally, I'm also considering a Cobalt, but strangely, here in the UK, I can get a Crossfire for less than a Cobalt. Did you know that Dan? Thanks Geoff PS please don't turn this into another thread about the accident at the Ranch!

I've worn soft contacts on all of my 500+ jumps, and I'm reasonably blind without them (-4.50 prescription). Lost a couple in freefall with goggles on, both in my first 30-40 jumps. Maybe my eyes were bulging with tension or fear then! but I've had no problem since. Once I accidentally flicked a lens out while putting my goggles on in the plane. Jumped one-eyed and landed fine. I've also had my goggles come off in freefall a couple of times and continued the jump with screwed-up eyes. Perhaps surprisingly, I kept my lenses no problem. I always have some spares at the DZ just in case (mainly so I can drive home safely afterwards). Overall, it seems a lot less hassle than goggles-over-glasses or prescription goggles. Hope this helps Geoff

Personally I wouldn't recommend a Silhouette unless you find a bargain used one. It's a good canopy but it never really found its place in the market and there are better designs around now. I suspect the Silhouette will become even less popular as the Sabre2 takes off. If you buy one it could be difficult to re-sell later. Packing an all-ZP canopy can be a little awkward to start with but you get used to it real quickly. Hope this helps. just MHO. Geoff

Sorry I wasn't clear. I know there's no law specifically against BASE. The argument I received back on the BB said that even the other laws (aerial delivery, trespass etc) were being incorrectly applied to discriminate against a misunderstood minority (the BASE community). The point seems to be that legal / illegal is a matter of opinion, and in their opinion they do legal BASE. Geoff