Kris

JT, that was pretty funny. I am keeping that jump on my ProTrack. Drenaline, I have a first-generation Mindwarp. Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

Gale, stick your arms forward (think Superman flying) and bring your feet in toward your butt. Once you're over the hump and you start pitching up, start going back into your normal box-man arch to maintain stability. Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

Big congrats, Lisa! Enjoy your new toy! Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

Exit: 4200 Max: 131 Avg-1: 53 Avg-2: 52 Avg: 53 FF time: 53 seconds Deployment Altitude: 100 Feet How does a 5'8 220# guy who falls like a homesick bowling ball get low speeds like that? Well, I guess an explanation is in order. Since I have had an ear infection the last week that finally appeared to clear up on firday I decided to do a hop n' pop for the first load to make sure my ear was OK. I went through my pre-jump mantra: Check of 3's, snug down my new sunglasses that I am jumping for the first time (worked great, btw) and put my helmet on. As I'm checking the spot out of the C-205 there's something nagging at me in the back of my head but I can't think of anything that I forgot so I jumped. Did a couple of loops, flew a sit for a bit then leveled out and threw at 3K. I was worried about loosing my sunglasses as the strap I bought didn't seem to hold them that snugly. That was the least of my problems... My Stiletto opened up like a bomb had gone off. I knew the packjob was extra messy and that the slider might have moved down while I was putting it in the bag but I really wanted to make the first load. That was my first mistake. The next mistake became clear as I felt a violent force around my ears. It was my helmet ripping off of my head because I forgot to secure my chin-strap. Yup, there it goes, off into the wild-blue with my Pro-Track and 2-hours of custom paint. My sunglasses hadn't moved an inch. Luckily, the canopy opened on-heading, if not a little bruisingly fast and I was able to keep the helmet in view on it's descent. Lemme' tell you, it's a rather sickening feeling watching a piece of your equipment go in. It got double sickening as I watched it start to spiral over a pond behind the hangar. It looked like it might have made the edge of the bank so I kept my fingers crossed. I landed, threw my gear in the packing room and set off into the cow pasture of doom. I found the helmet about two minutes later. It had impacted right at the shore in the muck, top-down. Besides being a little muddy there wasn't a scratch on it. It left a dent 8" deep in the muck. My ProTrack is held inside the internal pocket with some normal velcro. It hadn't budged and worked perfectly for the rest of my jumping that day. And you can bet I was checking my chin-strap before exiting. Big thanks go out to BoneHead Composites and L&B for making some truly great products!!! Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

One thing to look for on the cheapie IEEE-1394 (Firewire) cards is to make sure it is OHCI (Open Host Controller Interface) compliant. Almost all current IEEE-1394 cards are but there are some older ones on the market. If it isn't compliant there are some editing programs that won't work with it. Adobe Premiere comes to mind... Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

Awwww Crap! Guess I'll have to meet you at the Ag's boogie in September. Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

I have the ATI Radeon 8500DV in my PC and I love it. It's perfect for capturing from my JVC via firewire and outputting back to the camera. The composite and S-Video in/out is flawless as well. I am using it with Adobe Premier 6.0 with no problems but the Ulead software that comes with it is pretty decent as well. For the money you definitely can't beat the features. For gameplay the frame-rate is phenomenal. Can you tell I really love this card? My only complaint is no 3D support under Linux. Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

The Heatwave 150 that was in a DZ rig at my old DZ and another jumper's Heatwave 120 were both fine with no problems. I guess I just happened to get the one that was made on a Friday near quitting time.

I loved the Heatwave but it had a problem with a built-in right turn that was getting progressively worse. By the time I sent it back to the dealer I had to give it 4-5 inches of left toggle to keep it flying straight. Steering lines and line trim was checked by myself and several riggers with no problems found. The problem was in the construction. I couldn't wait 5 weeks for a replacement canopy (ordered it with custom colors) and there was a Stiletto in stock with my exact colors so I paid the difference and got it. The canopies are remarkably similar but the Heatwave had some pretty amazing oversteer compared to the Stiletto. I really liked the Heatwave and would still be jumping it today if it wasn't for the problem with the one I had. Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

BWAHAHA! That's the Cliff Claven theory of "Only the strong survive." I hadn't heard that one in awhile. Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

I have owned both canopies. I currently have a Stiletto 190, I had a Heatwave 190. My loading is about 1.35:1. The Heatwave is definitely a high-performance canopy with all the quirks that come with ellipticals. Definitely talk to your jumpmasters / instructors at your DZ to see where they think your canopy skills are at before trying it out. Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

I have a CYPRES on my rig but I will jump without one. I do like having the added peace of mind that it gives but I don't depend on it to save my life for me. That's what my handles are for. The CYPRES is there in case I'm not for some reason (unconscious, dislocation, etc...) Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

I'll see you there, April. I can't wait to get some jumps from that Skyvan! Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

2 (Burns on me from fireworks):4:1 Had an amazing weekend with the crew from Skydive Hinton in Oklahoma. They decided to go to the South Canadian river to set off some fireworks so me and three others decided to make a skydive into the area of the river where they were at. That was a first so my case of beer will be supplied next weekend. These guys know how to party, I think we went through at least $300 worth of fireworks, including the big mortar-type. It was a great show. The only bad part is that my canopy is filthy with river sand. Luckily, most of it came off with my skydiving today. Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

Check the FAR, a senior rigger can work on the lines. Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

Good subjective question.

So... I'm looking through the latest pics at ConsumptionJunction.com (not work safe) and I came across this one. Does the guilty skydiver want to come forward with the story on this? Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

If it's a demo, don't touch it. Contact the manufacturer, tell them what happened and see what they want to have done with it. Remember, it's their canopy. Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

As a matter of fact, just this morning I: Inspected the entire harness of my rig including all visible stitching. Inspected both main & reserve closing loops for signs of fraying. Cutaway my main and cleaned / lubed the cables and cleaned out the cable housings. Inspected my main including seams, crossports, lines, and fabric. Inspected & worked the ring webbing on my main risers. Checked the voltage on my CYPRES. Cleaned the crap out of my gear bag so that it won't stay in there with my rig. Anything else I may have missed? Thanks, Alan! Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

Fred, If you are thinking about jumping at the WFFC it would behoove you to spend some time at a busier turbine DZ for a couple of weeks before going. This will help to get you used to being in the air with a greater number of canopies and open your situational awareness. Make sure that you talk to staff or an instructor at the DZ before jumping about what their policies are concerning load order, separation, opening altitudes, traffic patterns and misc. rules. As an example, most Cessna DZ's are free-for alls while a turbine DZ may have rules such as no opening above 4K without prior permission, only left-hand patterns flown, freefliers out last, etc... This will help build your awareness and give you some survival skills. Also, practice flat & flare turns until your are sick of them. Then practice some more. Remember to keep your head on a swivel while under canopy. Before I went to the WFFC two years ago with 51 jumps under my belt I spent a weekend at Skydive Dallas and it was really an eye-opening experience and helped prepare me. As it was, the first load at Quincy was a zoo but it helped to have a little knowledge beforehand. The load organizers at the WFFC are top-notch and will help you get on small loads with an experienced jumper and one or two others of your skill level. Just my $0.02. Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

Welcome to the "Two Reserve Rides" club. I feel your pain, trust me. As for the handles, I have "Eject" on my cutaway handle. I am probably going to change them to "Please Go" on the cutaway handle and "Please Work" on the reserve handle when I send in my Mirage for some small work this winter. Kris

Well, I could either tighten up the brake lines so that I can get to the stall point but if I try to front-riser the canopy bucks because I am pulling the tail down. If I loosen up the brake lines so that the canopy doesn't buck I can't get quite deep enough into the control range to efficiently shut the canopy down at the end of the flare on faster landings. The longer risers put the the toggles (and canopy) two inches higher over my head giving me just a little bit more of a control stroke to work with. Kris

When I ordered my Mirage G3 last August I told Bill I wanted 18" risers (I have short arms). Since then, it has been a trade off between having enough slack to front-riser my Stiletto or being able to hit the sweet spot in the flare. I broke down and ordered 20" risers from Bill last week. They showed up along with my new PC yesterday. That measely two inches really made a difference! I put a few jumps on my rig today at Skydive Dallas. It was a typical Texas day: Hot and no wind. I had absolutely no problems shutting the canopy down to a nice one-step landing. I didn't have any problems collapsing or stowing my slider either. Just a heads up for something else others may want to look out for when making a gear decision. Kris

Thanks for the tips and advice! I did a few jumps today on my new 28" ZP PC that Bill Hallett from Mirage sent me. The snatch force was much higher and the hesitation is completely gone. The canopy still opens very soft but it is noticibly firmer. I want to thank Bill at Mirage for getting my free exchange PC to me in record time along with my new 20" risers. If you're reading this, Bill, I will be sending the old PC back when I get back from my business trip to New Jersey at the end of the week. Kris

Yup. I always make it a habit to untwist the brake lines on the last jump of the day. And although it's a fast pack job I clear the lines, stabilizer and tail completely and make sure I keep the tail well-grouped. Kris