Geoff
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Everything posted by Geoff
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Yep - when you hit your hard deck.
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The cobalt does not have a straight leading edge. it's tapered front and back. Arguing whether a canopy is 'fully elliptical' or 'semi-elliptical' or whatever is really a waste of time - the terms have no precise meaning when applied to canopies. It's all just marketing talk, and depends mostly how radical an image the manufacturer wants to project. There's a good explanation here. Geoff
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700 jumps, 448 posts = 1.6 Is there a prize if your jumps / posts ratio is the same as your wing loading?
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I assume this would make it illegal for anyone except a rigger to perform the monthly disconnect/ flex/ inspect/ lubricate/ reassemble recommended by most manufacturers. Doesn't sound practical to me. Geoff
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RichM. Yes it is a tired subject, but you do understand it correctly. Geoff
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Glad it all turned out OK! er..what? The wind won't make the canopy lose altitude any faster or slower (just like a goldfish won't dive any faster in a bowl of water that's in a moving car), unless you're talking about turbulence causing the canopy to collapse? Is that what you mean? Serious shit if so! just curious Geoff
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I'm with the 'monkeys flying out of butt' side of the argument. Another way to look at this is to consider the wingsuit to be a 10 sq ft canopy. Will a 10sqft canopy ever be landable? Maybe not impossible, but that's a helluva challenge. Then you have to consider how sub-optimum the design of a wingsuit is compared to a canopy. No brake lines, limited ability to flare, shape highly constrained by the human body it has to fit round. Even if the suit has airlocks and crossbraces, the designer has very little control of the planform, airfoil, and control system, compared to designing a canopy. The only way this might happen is in a highly specialised landing environment. A snow-covered mountain slope and kevlar suit sounds the most plausible to me. Even then I would call that a crash rather than a landing. Geoff
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Why is Toggle hooking considered the devil??
Geoff replied to Viking's topic in Swooping and Canopy Control
Do you find that riser turns are more susceptible to instability (buffeting) due to turbulence? (I'm assuming the brake lines are long enough) My personal conclusion is that there's a window of turbulence level where use of front risers is in advisable, but toggles would be OK (except for the other valid safety issues with toggle turns raised in this thread). This is just my experince based on about 400 jumps with risers turns, but maybe only 30 or 40 with toggle turns. Various canopies: sabre150 and 135, spectre 135, safire 129, now Cobalt 105. Brakes plenty long enough in all cases. Other opinions? Geoff -
You may not need it. I have a Mirage built for a 135 (even a tight 150 apparently) and I currently have a Cobalt 105 in it. No problem. Geoff
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Misrouted chest strap is the most common mistake in kitting up. I've spotted it on other jumpers about 3 times, and someone spotted it on me once (in 700 jumps). I would guess that most jumpers with more than a few hundred jumps have done it once. Very easy to get wrong. Fairly dangerous, but probably not quite as dangerous as people think. If your rig fits well, you probably won't fall out anyway. But of course that's no excuse for not getting it right. I have heard of one very famous and experienced US jumper jump with his chest strap completely undone just for a giggle and to freak people out. (no names - it may not be true, but his equally famous and experienced team mate told me) A good incident to learn from, but nothing to be ashamed of. Geoff
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Doesn't seem to take into account the non-cascaded centre A/B lines on my Cobalt 105 (A5 and B5 I guess) - unless I'm not reading it right? Surely the length of the non-cascaded line is not just the 'overall' figure of a cascaded line because the cascaded line isn't straight? Just interested - I don't need new lines yet! Regards Geoff
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try http://www.skydivekenya.com that website is actually about a boogie in Kenya, but there may be some contact details for more general skydiving. Geoff
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Well I downsized from a PD 210 to a Sabre 150 (loading at about 1.1) after only 40 jumps. Then turned low to face upwind instead of taking the cross-winder. I biffed in fairly hard - enough make all the spectators look up at the sound of the impact and wince at the sight of me bouncing forward through the risers. I was very lucky to walk away with only bruises and sprains. BTW I count that as 2 separate mistakes. 1- downsizing too fast 2- turning low. Stay safe y'all!
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Very helpful - I'll probably order one as a replacement for the hackey on my Mirage. Thanks for the answers, dudes! Geoff
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I'm not sure of all the facts here, but here's my best recollection as no-one else has replied. I don't think skydepot exists any more, and that the Viper is not in production. Try atair http://www.extremefly.com - they produce the replacement canopy a couple of generations on which is the Cobalt. They may be able to help with the Viper or more likely sell you a Cobalt instead. Maybe someone can correct me if this is inaccurate. Geoff
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Hi I'm interested in opinions from anyone who has experience of the new tuck-in pud-style handles being offered with throw-out BOC deployment systems (not pin-pull). e.g. on Mirage and some other rigs (Wings I think). Specifically: (1) Is the handle more difficult or slower to deploy - does it require twisting to get the stiffener out from under the bridle flap? Ever had a hard pull or other problem? (2) Is it really that much more secure than a hacky? Is the system more tolerant of slightly loose spandex than with a hacky (3) How does the system wear? - is it still secure after a few hundred jumps? (4) What would happen in the event of a horseshoe malfunction? - bridle out, pin out, maybe bag and canopy out, but PC still in pouch? Would the PC extract cleanly? Thanks for any opinions. Geoff
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Does it worry you about the values of your employers / coworkers that gruesome images of war would be OK, but naked women are offensive? Anybody seen 'the People vs Larry Flynt' ?
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Well yes it's a silly article. but the piece of research may be correct - that there's a correlation between alcohol consumption and wealth. Whether one causes the other (and which way round) is another issue entirely of course.
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You sure you're looking for dropzones?....with planes?....not just high things? (I'm trying read between 'em)......
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Just a few thoughts.... Air Care (part of Thomas Sports) are very low-cost and no-frills but certainly do the job. Symbiosis suits (Rob Colpus and co at Headcorn) are a bit more up-market - more fabric and style options - stripes, chevrons, etc.- done 300+ jumps on mine and it's just starting to show signs of wear. No complaints about my suit, but I've heard of some taking several months to arrive. Original Lizard stuff seems more fashion-conscious - funky colours and patterns. Not in the UK - but Matter suits are made by the guys at Ampuria and are very cool - and they're made by freelfiers, but they're quite pricey IIRC. Geoff
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I've not heard of these, but sounds like a good solution - can you describe? or do you have a picture/drawing? Thanks if you can elaborate Geoff
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So the queen mum meets lady Di in heaven and says "how do I get a halo like yours?" Di turns to her and says "f**# off gran, its a steering wheel!"
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March?
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Manta 288, PD 190, 210, etc. (student and rental gear) - 40 jumps Sabre 150- 200 jumps Sabre 135- 150 jumps Spectre 135 - 50 jumps Safire 129 - 200 jumps Cobalt 105 - 50 jumps Total around 680 jumps And the most difficult / dangerous downsize was definitely from the student gear to the Sabre 150. I felt out-of-control for a good 20-30 jumps, and had my only (fortunately minor) skydiving injury due to a panicked low turn. I personally think tiny canopies can be acceptably safe as long as you downsize in sensible steps. Sudden large steps are the big danger. geoff
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As a student I was taught - "Whatever canopy you have at 1500ft, that's the one you're going to land". I think that's good advice for beginners. More experienced jumpers can attempt to make more complex judgements - low freefall cutaway, attempt canopy transfer if extremely low - whatever, but there are plenty of cases of even highly experienced jumpers getting hurt or killed because they tried something fancy and got it wrong. Geoff