Calvin19

A few times I have exited an airplane at night, for fun, well below 300'.(yeah, three hundred)

-SPACE-

Hey Mothra, the "BEER!" rule for whenever someone does something "for the first time" or says the word "first" is all in good fun. It is amazingly one of the less annoying stereotypical skydiver habits.

.???? The Petra may have an obvious ellipse, but it's design is nothing like the bullet, or most any paraglider based speed wing. Bullets have a symmetric ellipse, taking advantage of both leading edge and trailing edge curves. The Petra has a very leading edge dominant ellipse. From what I understand the Petra is a completely new planform. -SPACE-

Anything you want, until someone who cares notices.

what are we talking about here? skydiving canopies can launch just fine. so can kites. Hell, I have tried to launch a STEERABLE ROUND off a STEEP slope and failed, but I know I can do it. It's all about what you want to be teaching the endless supply of muppets that muppet see, muppet do. I have been teaching speed flying for two years now, and from my experience I would say that skydiving gear is counter-productive in comparison. But that's just me. -SPACE-

Nick is impressively consistant. I believe he told the venue (his home turf) he would need more gravel at the ends. Other competitors would barely clear the pond with out getting wet, while Nick was running out of gravel on the far end. -SPACE-

Not to pull the thread drift too far, but airlocks IMO are counter-productive to avoiding heading loss (which is what kills people, not collapses). Ram air canopies are naturally able to breath and collapse to absorb minor turbulence. To delay the collapse only makes the results more intense, and less likely to maintain control through a collapse. Honestly, anyone flying a canopy, being it parachute or paraglider or speed glider, should be afraid of collapse-induced heading loss, not collapses. An "air locked" glider or parachute simply maintains internal pressure, collapsing means the glider's lifting surface is unloaded, causing the suspension lines to slack and the wing to fold. If it did anything but diminishing the safety or stability of a ram air canopy, the paragliding companies would still be using it. Trust me. -SPACE-

I think we are all on the same page I have jumped paragliders and speed gliders from aircraft, and have ski launched and foot launched many different parachutes. "no inferior gliders, only inferior pilots" is a little broad, but I agree with the meaning behind it. The decision to fly inferior equipment would only be made by an inferior pilot. This exception is made for some of best canopy pilots* who learned good foot launch skills and want to take their wings out for some intimate granite surfing(tm) *because at this point it is no longer inferior equipment, just very demanding equipment. -SPACE-

My point was it is bad for a noob to rely on wind. I have noticed that a lot of the people I meet defending the idea that skydiving gear is just as capable, only fly and launch in consistent headwind areas or on skis. I prefer zero wind myself, but there are some launches I have done that would never go without wind, skilled caddies, or a frame. If you can make skydiving gear work, go for it! but noobs sticking to a vestigial glider just because they "like/know the way it flies" regardless of it's significant downfalls in reliability and performance is bad. On high wind flying, it scares the hell out of me too. But a lot of these basic speed glider models are VERY good at flying in those kind of nasty winds. -SPACE-

+1. Two fatalities just came to mind. Can´t really agree with this statement. A beginner should not take off in strong winds. A beginner should be carrying a radio-shack quality wind meter and pick something under 7knots. Below 15kts at the top is NOT strong winds. The difference between 3kts headwind and 0 is HUGE. less capable gear? Less capable pilots, not picking the right site, not enough take off practice, no training from instructors. What´s he doing with a slider on anyways. -SPACE-

You have 4600 dork zone posts and 42 jumps? Holy shit.

Word. Don't turn too low and flare, the rest is art.

There were a few accidents that ended in a fatality, and a few that ended in severe injuries that almost certainly could have been avoided with proper equipment. It's kinda like BASE jumping with skydiving gear, sure it works, but there is WAY better and safer stuff out there. Even if you are not giving advice, I would rather not see skydiving gear in "ground launching" videos on youtube, just like I would rather not see skydiving gear used in BASE jumping videos, if for nothing more than to discourage the widespread misconception that a skydive canopy is just as safe as a speed glider. The use of a skydiving canopy in perfect strong headwind conditions is great, the problem is when people hike a place to find that there is less wind than normal, and still try to launch less capable gear. I have had a couple people call me from the hospital after crashing a skydive canopy ground launching from that exact scenario, asking to buy a speed wing. As for "more dangerous than BASE jumping", I strongly believe there is no way to quantify danger in these kind of sports. The best attitude, experience,luck, and proper gear will win. Accept and understand the risks, the personal responsibility, and if possible, Stay safe, -SPACE-

While I somewhat agree with you here, I am going to go out on a limb and assume you did exactly that. I'm pretty sure it's obvious you have mad skills. Collapsing the slider before launch was an especially nice touch. I have read your posts, I think you should take a few steps back while giving advice. I have no problem with what you are doing, being the first person ever to speedride Heavenly or whatever, but you should probably avoid giving noobs your pennies. "ground launching" is pretty dangerous. A few idiot skydivers as well as a few of the BEST (original) speed glider pilots in world have died doing it. I have launched quite a few wings, and in most cases, skydiving gear is dangerous and unsafe in comparison. What is worse is the skydiver habits that go with it. Skydiving parachutes have their place, and if you prefer the way those wings fly then they are ok. One needs to understand that a similarly sized purpose built speed glider in almost all cases is more capable in almost all categories, especially in reliability and safety. I don't think you are endangering anyone, keep flying your hills.

-SPACE-

Low experience. Multiple camera angles. Buzzing friends / spectators for video. Poor launch technique. Skydiving gear. Dude, you're really pushing it. On top of that, you're giving poor advice. Don't. yep -SPACE-

Let us do the math, I'm 27. Been flying for 13 years, and in the last 6: -Best friends since I was 5 that have died in giant fireball plane crashes: 1 -VERY close and/or romantic friends that have died in nasty plane crashes: 2 -Friends other than above who have died in giant fireball plane crashes: 3 -Acquaintances who have died from skydiving: 3 -I lost a commercial pilot and medical certificate before I was 26. -I crashed a paraglider, was in a coma for 3 weeks, and every step I take hurts. +I still have an awesome -open- minded girlfriend of 6 years. +I still have a ton of awesome close friends, I would like to avoid losing any more to the sky. +I still fly airplanes, tiny parachutes, big parachutes, wingsuits, tracksuits, speed gliders, hang gliders, and paragliders. +I still can dive, jump, sprint, drive, and use. +I have an awesome family that I taught to deal with the way I live and they came to love it. +I have enough money to jump when i am not working +I have a car and it usually has enough gas to start. +I have a place to live with aforementioned girlfriend, a cat, and getting a few fish. +I am certified to fly a bunch of different ultralight machines. I'll call it a tie. But I am still alive, still ripping, and can share and teach what I love with friends and clients. I call this a win.

I am not attacking the OP, just the idea in general. As skydivers, who did not see this coming? At what point did someone start saying "hmm... someone ELSE should put padding there". This is not a matter of child safety, it is a problem of personal responsibility. What did you expect to happen? "Yeah, we should probably just NERF (pad) the world"

Doing amateur CRW, ~3 sec exit separation, 0 sec delays. had an opening impact, our canopies hit pretty hard but nothing bad happened. continued jump as planned. good times. -SPACE-

you say that because you are jealous you don't have his photoshop skillz Just pissed that he gets ALL the girls. -SPACE-

That guy is an idiot and no one should ever believe anything he says. that video is fake and photoshopped.

I would say no, it does not make anything but similar sports much "safer" HOWEVER, I would venture to say that learning and/or doing ANYTHING active that involves some amount of skill improves the ability to learn and do all other active things. -SPACE-

I think a lot of it is that PG in europe is strictly governed and 'legally' governed(as opposed to industry standard clubs like USPA and USHPA, because in all reality it's just a club)when compared to the US and FAA rules. There was even that recent letter from the feds in parachutist about our multiple canopy fatalities. -SPACE-

I think I need to get ridiculously addicted to something, throw my life away, almost OD, then join AA just to see how awesome god really is. Is there an easier way? I'm a huge fan of black tar heroin.