Kris

Mike, If I'm correct, triple-risers are used on very-high-performance canopies or with extreme wing-loadings. The idea is that by taking the toggles off of the rear risers and allowing them to rest more to the side it decreases deformity in the canopy during agressive flight. It's basically in the same tool-box as stowing your slider behind your head to reduce drag and loosening the chest-stap after opening to allow the canopy to spread out a little further. Kris

Great advice Mike! Mr. Mike Farmer was the JM who graduated me off of student status and one of the best friends and JM's I've ever had. Now that I have my own JM rating, he has been nothing but a source of great advice. Now... here's my advice: Always try to keep perspective and remember what it was like when you had very little experience. I used to think that the guys at my DZ with 100-200 jumps were like Michael Jordan. Now that I'm there with the same amount of jumps I realize that I still don't know a damn thing but I know how to keep others safe and I know how to ask for help when I need it. Keep your head screwed on tight, swallow your pride when you need to, admit that you're not perfect but try to be through constant learning, never show your own fear to your students, ALWAYS err on the side of safety and you'll be fine. Kris IAD/JM

Heh... If you want to hear something really scary, Luigi Cani has successfully landed his Icarus Extreme with a 4.7:1 wing loading. Damn, 1.36:1 is enough for me right now. Have fun with your next Mr. Bill attempt. Glad to hear that you were keeping your eye on "Sluggo" during the last attempt. :) Kris

I heard that Merrick broke his leg at the World Freefall Convention. I hope I heard wrong but if not, does anyone have an update on him? Kris

You just had to bring up the spanking I got from the demented blonde amazon stripper, didn't you...? [Dr. Evil Laugh] So, when is your birthday again, Pammi? [/Dr. Evil Laugh] Kris

Talon, Sabre-210 and Raven Dash-M 249 is the rig I currently have. It's being sold next week and my new rig is: Purple & Jade Mirage w/ stainless everything and hip rings, soft reserve handle & the new freefly BOC pud-like thingy. (Scientific, eh'?) Heatwave-190 in Neon Purple with Jade ribs & slider Raven Dash-M 181 and I don't care what color it is as long as it isn't purple. I don't want any confusion. :) No CYPRES yet, but I'm working on it... Kris

Hey, Ms. Deva, if the Brandon you referred to is Brandon Chouinard, tell him his pal from Oklahoma Skydiving Center told him to be safe and to remember NOT to flare with his front risers again. :) Heh, you may also want to ask to see his video of an attempted hay bale swoop that ended up with him skipping across the ground for 70-feet and ending up without a scratch. :) I think he's down to 5 or 6 lives now... Kris Damn, I'm evil.

Umm, surface tension from water on the surface of the table? Other than that, you've got ghosts. :) Kris

Hey Sis! Thanks for the Kudo's. Let me know when you will be near Hinton again, I might just have to drop in and say, "Hi." And thanks for the congrats from you, Pam. I hope I won't do too much damage with my rating. As for the Heatwave, I just ordered it, it will be about 3 or 4 weeks before I get it in. And good on you, Clay for keeping heads-up and getting yourself down in one piece. Thanks guys! Kris

What a weird, busy weekend. I got my C-license in the mail finally, had to run from Tulsa to the Dallas / Fort Worth Airport to pick up our DZO on Friday night and took the JCC/ICC this weekend. I learned that with the help of four hours sleep, lots of Gatorade and migraine meds it is possible to squeak through the testing / lecture day of a JCC/ICC. Thank God I studied that week. On Saturday we had a vicious squall line move in within the matter of a few minutes. Within 15-minutes we went from sunny skies with a 10mph wind from the south to dark skies and a 30mph wind from the north. We had just gotten our last student out of a class of 26 landed about 5 minutes before the wind-shift. The NOAA info said it was going to skirt by us, yeah, right. Our pilot was at 2000AGL in our C-182 coming in for landing from the last student load when the gust-front of the squall line got him. The plane was only about 5-degrees of pitch away from being completely inverted and he dropped to 1000AGL in about 3 seconds then managed to regain control. Then he hit another gust and found himself instantly at 600AGL. He kept his cool, kept control and managed to get himself and the airplane down safely. Kevin, our pilot is "The Man tm" and the guy who I would want at the yoke when the shit hits the fan and he just proved it again this weekend. I finally finished and passed the JCC on Sunday and got my IAD/JM rating. Then I got thrown to the fire. I had already been cleared to JM return students and freefall IAD students before the JCC and there were two waiting who needed a JM. I volunteered because they were fun people and I hadn't made a jump yet that weekend. Another jumper just off student status was joining the load and we were going to do three passes from 3500AGL. I decided to put the semi-experienced guy out first since he's a big-boy and he wanted me to spot. I opened the door, spotted and was just about to tell him to dive when the pilot, Kevin, jerks his ass back into the student seat. I rose up on my knees to ask Kevin why he did that and as I rose up, I noticed that the jumper had disloged the bottom pin of his two-pin reserve and the reserve PC was peeking up. I immediately slammed the door shut and checked the rig. The other pin was holding and the pop-top was in place. I put him behind the pilot with his back in the corner between the pilot and the right side of the C-182 and radioed ground as to what happened and that we were doing a go-around while I checked the situation as to whether we would continue or land the plane. I made sure that the reserve PC was under control and could not get out as the other pin was holding. I put the first student (2nd jump for him) out and he actually kept his head up and watched me give him a thumbs-up as he left. God I love this sport. I turned back to the second student and could see the fear on her face, this was to be her second jump. I asked her if she was ready to skydive and she told me that she didn't think so, not after the reserve PC incident and not after the tandem cutaway she saw earlier. Oh, I didn't mention the tandem cutaway? spinning mal caused by a line-over caused by the canopy badly oscillating during opening. This is the second time it's happened on that rig, in two weeks. We're sending the main back to Icarus to be checked out. So, back to the girl... I take another go-around and try to calm her and I suggest that she just try putting her feet out and decide from there. No way. Since she finally said "no", I got to ride down. The JCC course director was still there and couldn't help but give me some good-natured grief. My first reserve incident in the A/C and my first student who wouldn't go. I finally got a sunset jump in later and got to order my new custom Heatwave canopy. I thought about getting a 170 in a 1.4:1 loading as the Stiletto 190 I had been demoing was easier to fly & land than my Sabre 210. Then another jumper offered to let me try his Heatwave 170 and as I reached to pick up his rig my stomach lurched. I listened to my stomach and to that nagging voice of reason that said with 120 jumps, let's stay at 1.3:1 and changed my order from a 170 to a 190. I can always downsize later... I really love this sport but this was one whacked out weekend. And man do I owe so much beer.... Kris IAD/JM

Gom Jabar? Are you trying to insinuate that he's a filthy Harkonnen animal or something? That's not very nice... Kris Ahhh, Skydiving, Geeks & Dune. It just doesn't get any better than this.

After I had bad line twists around jump #35 that caused my Sabre to put me on my back spinning I decided to remove the RSL on the next reserve re-pack. I didn't have to use my reserve on that jump. When I did have my cutaway on jump 76, it was a spinning mal. I chopped at 1600 then pulled silver. I was under my reserve at 1200. I just ordered a new elliptical canopy to replace my Sabre so I think I will keep the RSL off my rig. Kris

A canopy built for CRW will generally have: Dacron lines Non-cascading "A"-lines Retractable pilot chute Reinforced nose (extra tape?) All of the above are really good things to have when doing hard-core CRW. Also, remember kids, never take a CRW-specific, CRW-packed canopy to terminal. It'll make a Sabre look like a dream on opening. :) Kris

Well, He likes the openings and landings on the Heatwave but not the turns. Tony is now looking for an EXtreme VX 100-ish right now. That would definitely be some interesting CRW. I'll have to try it with him when I get my HeatWwave 170. NOT! Hell, once you pop the brakes on a VX or FX the descent rate is about 2000' a minute. Damn! That's over 30' a second. No thanks, I'll keep my appendages firmly attached and won't try any CRW with a canopy that allows 5-minutes of working time from 10,000' AGL to 0' AGL. Kris

PhillyKev, here's a better one... An IAD student on his second or third jump (forgot which) chopped a good main about five months back at my DZ. When he landed he told us why: The sound of the slider flapping was too loud, louder than on his last jumps, so he chopped it thinking it was bad. Heh, kids these days... Kris

Mr. Bill's ROCK! There are a lot of things that you have to be aware of though and watch out for. The DZO at my dropzone (Oklahoma Skydiving Center) is Mike Palmer, also known as Mr. Bill #1 and one of the first (if not THE first) to actually land a Mr. Bill. Here are some of his words of wisdom... 1. Do not use carabiner's or any type of strap to connect yourself to the other jumper. It's dangerous and does not count as a Mr. Bill. 1A. You should both have hook knives! 2. Pack the canopy for a SLOW opening. Think Spectre slow and then add a couple of hundred feet. 3. Mr. Bill (The passenger) should be facing Sluggo (the other jumper) with grips on the mud-flaps and with legs locked around Sluggo. Sluggo is holding all the weight here... 4. Get as deep a cut in the airspeed as you can. If you can con someone into IAD'ing you out of the aircraft, take it. You want to deploy before building up any real speed. 5. Mr. Bill, hang on like you're clutching the last lift-ticket on the planet. If all goes well you should both be under the same parachute now. If not, Mr. Bill is in freefall and Sluggo has a long canopy ride ahead. If you pull it off, Sluggo should bring his legs up so that Mr. Bill can use it for a step. Mr. Bill should be trying to climb up Sluggo so that he can eventually sit on the slider. WATCH THY ALTITUDE!!! It will go fast. Around 3000AGL or higher, Sluggo should flare the hell out of the canopy to stop it, letting Mr. Bill falls off into the windless abyss. If ou need anything else answered, don't be shy, give Mike a call at 918-225-2222. He'll be more than happy to let you know what you need to pull it off safely. Kris

I jump at a Cessna DZ. I thought I could spot like a laser-guided smart bomb until I jumped with Pam & Merrick. That 10-minute climb-out with Pammi while watching Merrick and another jumper duke it out in the door can kinda throw the spot a bit long... :) We did make it back to the airport if not the DZ. Heh, you know I love you two... Kris

Glad that the "Shake n' Flake" is working for you Merrick. As for my Sabre 210, I haven't had a bit of problem since I also started rolling the nose 4+4 and stuffing in the center cell. Now that I do that, I have to bang the risers around during opening to get the canopy to inflate. :) Sigh, only a few more weeks until I can ditch the Sabre and get an elliptical... That demo Stiletto had me spoiled. No rolling the nose, plain-quarter of the slider and only wrapping the tail together enough to keep it together and it still took 500+ feet to open. . It was even easier to land on a hot, no-wind day than my Sabre is. Excuse me, I have to go bawl now... Kris

You can try one or all of the following: 1. Roll the nose 4+4 and stuff in the center cell. 2. Have a rigger put a camera-pocket on your slider. 3. Learn to psycho-pack. Kris I am so NOT going to miss my Sabre-210...

None of them should be a sew attachment. Your canopy should have a bridle-attachment point that will allow the pilot-chute to be connected to the canopy via a rapide link. The only sew option on the PC should be the handle (hackey / monkey fist, plastic barrel) itself if you wanted to change it. Kris

I love Tube-Stoes for my locking stoes but I use standard rubber-bands for the rest of the bag. Kris

Okay, I guess I'll put in my $0.02 here... I know Merrick, I've jumped with Merrick. I'm a staff-member and newly-minted JM at the DZ that he and Pammi jump at so I'm not looking to see them "femur-in" any time soon or do anything else to compromise their safety. Merrick thought long and hard about down-sizing and did a lot of introspection about his perceived skill and what we or others told him about his canopy control. Merrick is a stand-up landing, accuracy-loving, canopy-idiot and I watched very closely the landings he did on another JM's Sabre 170. Is he head's-up? Yes. Was he comfortable with the landings? Yes. If there was any question about his skill, he would have never have had the chance to try a 170, we wouldn't have let him. I have a friend that is looking to dump his 170 for a 150. It's not going to happen and it's not going to be allowed at my DZ as he only has 70 jumps and only jumps twice a month. He has more jumps than Merrick but doesn't have the currency that Merrick has. We have let Merrick know that his margin for error decreases significantly as wing-loading goes up and this is something he is comfortable with. The fact that he has done motocross before is actually a plus for him in the reflexes dept. Another skydiver that graduated about 18-months ago started on a Jonathon 170. That's right, the prototype for the Jedei. He has the canopy control and the reflexes. That graduate is now a tandem master with ~800 jumps. As for my input to Merrick, I started jumping a Sabre 210 off of student status. Big-canopy, right? Not when you're 260# out the door. I learned to respect that canopy and am almost expert in not getting spooked low and with working my flare and braked turns. I've lost about 30# since then and am now jumping a Stiletto 190 that I may purchase unless I don't like the Vengance 170 (Gotta have air-locks in OK with our nasty gusts) that I will be demoing. The Stiletto was recommended to me at ~120 jumps by our S&TA and the DZO after I had had it with the occasional slammer on my Sabre and I didn't want to look at a Safire after the brake-trim-from-hell stories I have heard. All we can do is give skydivers all of the available information and hope they do the best with it. If that doesn't work then it is up to those of us that have a say as instructor/JM's, S&TA's, experienced friends, etc to then step in based on our knowledge pool to make sure that we are all safe. Kris

I have always psycho-packed my Sabre 210 and have had nothing but great openings. Over the last two weeks I have been jumping a demo Stiletto 190 (f*cking great canopy!) and I psycho-packed it with no problems save one... Too much snivel! I finally fixed it by not rolling the tail as tight and presenting the center cell. I did put a few jumps on it after PRO-packing it and could not tell the difference. When it comes to getting slippery PD fabric in the bag nothing helps like a Psycho Pack. Kris

The Nova was the only collapsible parachute to go along with your collapsible pilot chute. If you ever meet a skydiver named David Feree, ask him about his old Nova. He has the x-rays to prove it and enough metal in him to make any airport security guard nervous after his collapsed on him at about 70' AGL. Kris

That's it, Sis. Come to Oklahoma, come to the dark-side. We'll get your landings worked out if it's the last thing we do. We can teach you, we have the technology, we can make you better, faster, stronger... Kriszilla