el_chester

A friend had a similar thing happen to him on a Katana 107 (and has pics which I will ask him to post here). As I recall, the picture was somewhat similar to the one that started this thread. Basically one line from more or less the middle of the parachute went first to the stabilizer, then through the slider to the riser. The only way he was able to re-create it on the ground was to have a line wrap around one of the "poker chips". -- Be careful giving advice. Wise men don't need it, and fools won't heed it.

back in '96 i had 72 jumps and had a very similar mess: did a 4 way, turned 2 or 3 points (was very happy!) when ... I feel the bag on the back of my upper legs ... look back and see lines, bag, risers tangling behind me ... look up and see my friends faces scared - very scared ... signaled to pull as they backed away (not a difficult thing to do for low-timers...) ... next I pulled out the Pilot chute (leg-mounted) ... the thing developed into a bag-lock ... while in a feet-down position i cutaway and pulled the reserve handle ... and looked up to see a "beautiful" round reserve ... I kept the handles (not a conscious effort - it happened) ... i was descending faster than the heaviest-loaded guy on the plane (the instructror) ... did not try to do a plf but instead tried to stand it up ... and luckily didn't hurt myself with such a stupid decission ... (almost stood it up) so... I was very lucky to do the right thing... i had no idea what had happened to me until i spoke about it and realised it... so... there and then i learnt that - my training had been insufficient - the equipment i was renting was shit (one could put the pin into the loop without much needing the help of a pull-up-cord!) - i had to learn a lot if i wanted to keep myself alive in this sport (would never again count on my luck!) so... im glad you did the right thing - now go learn about equipment, and demand safe equipment from your dz or change dzs - (I did change dz after that) -- Be careful giving advice. Wise men don't need it, and fools won't heed it.

Mary, what a pleasure to fly with you all through the bigways last weekend! I hope to see you soon, Chester Team MeXtreme - Mexico -- Be careful giving advice. Wise men don't need it, and fools won't heed it.

My sincere condolences to family and close friends, as well as to our whole skydiving community on the loss of a great person. May you all find peace in knowing how much love surrounds him. Chester Mexico City -- Be careful giving advice. Wise men don't need it, and fools won't heed it.

My heartfelt condolences to his family and friends. I hope you find peace in knowing that he was well-loved and respected in the skydiving community worldwide. As flyangel put it: "It wont' be the same to be at a big way event, and he's not there." Not only was he there, he was VERY good, and dispensed good advise to newcomers with a big smile in his face. I am glad I had a chance to meet him - good people stick in one's mind forever. This is sad, sad news. My heart goes out to those closest to him. Fly free, John - blue skies forever. Chester Mexico City -- Be careful giving advice. Wise men don't need it, and fools won't heed it.

The runway one of those otters operates on during the winter does not measure that much, lies at 4700ft ASL, and is not paved. And there's sometimes up to 3 people in the hole... I don't like what I am writing! I had wondered about this too. Thanks for bringing it up! -- Be careful giving advice. Wise men don't need it, and fools won't heed it.

Well, based on this thread, there are at least two cases of it having happened. I am not aware of lost hook knifes being a common occurrence so I'm going to guess that there have been significantly less than a million tries. Ivan My hook knife (chest mounted) was either lost or stolen recently. I doubt it, but if it was lost during an opening - I was a lucky one too... -- Be careful giving advice. Wise men don't need it, and fools won't heed it.

N/A

I own a Neptune and a ProTrack. I would actually prefer to go the Neptune-Paralog way. I wnat to be able to get the jump profiles on my mac computer (Apple). I DO have the (horrible) VitrtualPC software that came with Office, but havent been able to set up the comm ports right yet. Is there anyone out there who has made this work? I could not make the Virtual PC see the Protrack through JumpTrack and don't yet have Paralog or the infrared USB adapter to make this work with the Neptune - don't wanna buy either until I know it will work. Help greatly appreciated. -- Be careful giving advice. Wise men don't need it, and fools won't heed it.

Some people say canopies get bigger and bigger over time. i can't understand the logic behind that. I doubt the packing volume will significantly change over time. The only thing is that a new canopy will hold air better and thus it might be a bit bigger in pack volume if not all the air is squeezed out. Also more dfficult to pack. I may be wrong, and if so, please correct me. -- Be careful giving advice. Wise men don't need it, and fools won't heed it.

. . . . . . . . . . -- Be careful giving advice. Wise men don't need it, and fools won't heed it.

Nice - Thanks! -- Be careful giving advice. Wise men don't need it, and fools won't heed it.

Thanks. I am quite picky about bad spelling too, so I like your advice. (sig line changed, BTW) There are no USPA-certified riggers at the DZ I jump except the Skydive Chicago pilots who fly their otter for us, but since each pilot is coming for a few weeks at a time, I am researching this as a plan B alternative should one of them not be able to do it before my trip. -- Be careful giving advice. Wise men don't need it, and fools won't heed it.

I posted this on the "general" forum, but then noticed this might be a more appropriate forum. -- Be careful giving advice. Wise men don't need it, and fools won't heed it.

Will be arriving there on Sat. Apr. 02 at about 6pm Do you know of somebody who can do it either overnight or half-day Sunday so I can start jumping ASAP? I will also contact the DZ, but from previous experience I know some DZs will only direct you to a certain rigger, who might be overbooked, charge more for a prompt job, and then also take more time. Thanks! -- Be careful giving advice. Wise men don't need it, and fools won't heed it.

I guess you've never seen the Russian team then Very true Lou... (I haven`t seen the French yet) BTW, those Russians are a great bunch to hang out with, I happened to end up living in the same house as them for a week a couple of months ago, and they're great. -- Be careful giving advice. Wise men don't need it, and fools won't heed it.

this.was.not.set.up.just.caught.as.it.happened.

Damn! I had read your posts in the mexican forum about how close death was on "dead's day" but hadn't actually seen the video in detail (just one of the times it was shown at the DZ, but hadn't paid enough attention)... my dear Dx, that looks SCARY to my uninitiated non BASE-jumping eyes. Why are you so proud to show this? Is it the video or the webpage you're proud of? The webpage is kick-ass!!! Congrats on it. As for the video... I will not say that was cool... I don't think it was. I'm glad nothing really bad happened! Keep it safe man - you guys are great, I would hate anything to happen to you. -- Be careful giving advice. Wise men don't need it, and fools won't heed it.

there's advertising that appears as quotations of people who use aerodynes product. these ads appear below messages in my inbox one of these said "smart, a well buint and well reinforced reserve" (or something like that) the link URL is off by one letter -- Be careful giving advice. Wise men don't need it, and fools won't heed it.

Oh yes... I am doing everything I can to get there too... around 200 out of my last 250 jumps have been big-way oriented, as well as most of the tunnel time I've done. I'm either gonna fly my way into it, or have tons of fun trying. I prefer the first option, though... -- Be careful giving advice. Wise men don't need it, and fools won't heed it.

Cooool!!!! Congrats, Val!!! I had a similar reaction when I learnt I was gonna be on the TSR this year and then again on the Perris September sequentials! I could not beleive it. Being trusted in the sky to do things right by people one admires is sweeeeet news. I plan to be at Perris during the JFTC dates to support a member of my team who has been invited, as well as everyone else. And of course to play in the tunnel and jump with the many friends who are likely to be there supporting and cheering for you. Merry christmas and congrats again. -- Be careful giving advice. Wise men don't need it, and fools won't heed it.

Merry Christmas and may 2005 be filled with love and many jumps, 'cause if there's many jumps that means there's also health and wealth... -- Be careful giving advice. Wise men don't need it, and fools won't heed it.

I tried a Pilot 140 (7 jumps) and the Nitro 135 (11 jumps), and borrowed a Sabre2 150 (2 jumps). This is in no way a comprehensive test this is just my observations, since I did few jumps on each canopy, and the sabre is bigger. I actually just experienced what I had read about each of the canopies, with few surprises: Openings: Nitro is searchy but always ends up on heading after the search (given that I used my own bag for a 135 which fit tight, I think it's nice that I never had any twists of any sort). Nice staged openings. The openings were soft but did eat a bit more altitude than I expected (600-800ft). I did not have a chance to play with different packing methods to make them faster, which I am sure is possible. (I used a packer most of the times) The Pilot has great openings. It is also great on headings, without the searching. Opens the fasetst of the three, but never hard. Very very nice. Sabre2. On both jumps I had very comfortable openings in a reasonable time, but the on-heading was not 100% there. The corrections were small and very easy to handle though. And I do know that 2 jumps is NOTHING, and this cannot be taken as a measure for all Sabre2 openings. Slow flight: The Nitro, in my opinion, did better than the other two when flying in deep brakes. It flew very, very stable. I did this on a couple of 20+ ways and even when I opened in the middle of the opening altitude for the group, I could float it easily and safely to be the last one to land. This being said, I floated the Pilot very nicely too in similar conditions, and loved it too once I had gauged what "too slow" was for this canopy. I did not try this on the Sabre2. Response to fast brakes: I made a point of doing a 360 front riser turn up high and then "stab" the brakes, to see response. All canopies recovered level flight fast, but it is my impression that the strength needed to pull out was a bit more on the Sabre2. Once again, I am no test pilot, so take that and my sub-400 jumps into consideration when reading. Front riser turns/riser pressure I have to study my video (always commented on it what I was doing and how it felt) to be able to remember the things that struck me the most. I do remember that the 150 was a harder pull on the risers, but I suppose (?) that size has to do with this. I am not currently concerned about the best canopy to swoop the fastest, as about one that is safe for the learning process. As I already knew, the Nitro has a longer recovery arc after a diving turn, and as such is a canopy that needs more training and previous experience if you are going to bring your diving turns close to the ground. Rear risers I only fooled around with rear risers on the Nitro (up high, obvioubsly), but not enough to bring it close to a stall. However, on a long spot, it was amazing how much glide I got back to the dropzone by spreading rear risers and pulling a bit on them. I had another canopy that flew similar to mine in full glide next to me, and she was using toggles to glide, and I could float just as well with just rear risers, and still in a very stable flight mode. This was a very nice thing, being able to flatten the glide without having to slow down as much as I would have with toggles. And I suppose that hundreds AND hundreds of jumps from now, if I get around to using rear risers during my landings, this must be nice. Landings: On all three I did straight in (no input), then double front-riser straight in and then on the Nitro and Pilot I did 90s with front risers. All canopies had plenty of lift to slow down once level, before putting my feet on the ground. I felt safe on all of them, and would not feel in danger by a tight landing area off the DZ. I was actually surprised that I did notice the extra lift I had heard the Nitro has when flaring. At the very end, it keeps flying when you think ist over, slowing you down more and more. Niiiiice... People say that a Nitro of a given size flies like other canopies of thee same size+1. I have to agree. And this suits me because for big-ways I am looking for an upsize from my current Stiletto 135 which I otherwise love. Also a Nitro 135 fits my rig. Although you might think I have decided on a Nitro, I haven't made up my mind yet - i want to jump a Sabre2 more times before comitting to a choice. The ubiquity of PD products (and probable better resell value) might tilt many people towards purchasing one of their canopies, but I still encourage demoing like I did - chose the canopy that is right for you. And the Pilot feels like a very good all-around canopy, which is also part of what I am looking for. So now that I can tell them appart from experience, I still have to make a decission about what I really want to buy. I am probably in no position to give you advise (see my sig-line), but I do suggest that if you are considering a Nitro, jump it and see how much time/altitude it takes to recover level flight on its own - maybe at 100 jumps you are not confortable with a canopy that holds the dive. -- Be careful giving advice. Wise men don't need it, and fools won't heed it.

Thanks HH this forum is sure to be of great use. I just did 40 mins with an Austrian tunnel rat named Fabian, with Rob Laidlaw and with Gary from Majic the past week in Orlando - what a great toy... I miss it already! (My pecs don't) -- Be careful giving advice. Wise men don't need it, and fools won't heed it.

Thanks everybody for the replies. Particularely those who PM'd to see if I was ok - that's nice coming from people one has met just a couple of times or not even met. I did go to an ortohpaedist (sp?) before doing anything, he did x-rays and everything is fine with my bones. I then went to a phisiotherapy massage which did wonders for the muscles. I have all of my mobility back. The pain is almost gone. From most replies I suppose most of the cases you've experienced or talk about are much more severe than mine. Mine was a minor thing, I'll be in the air again on Monday (Yey!, taking the week off to go jump!). -- Be careful giving advice. Wise men don't need it, and fools won't heed it.