DancingFlame

You made wise choice. Congradulations! But, did you mention what size are you ordering? I'd recommend a 170...

Oh no. Again? How many times did you jump Safire1/2 and Sabre1/2? Why do you talking about things you never experienced? I put some jumps on Safires. Now I'm jumping Safire1. It has better flare than Sabre1, opens great, flies really fast and a bit more ground hungry than Sabre1. Can't compare Sabre2 with Safire2, never jumped them, but Safire1 is much better that Sabre1. Why the hell Safire2 will be worse than Sabre2?

Hi! PM me, there were some problems with Aerograd website, I'll gladly answer all of your questions!

How many times did you jump Safire2? I would say Sabre2 has no more flare than Safire1. But control range of the Safire1 is a WAY longer than Sabre2's. I have to hold toggles near my knees to completely stall the Safire1, while Sabre2 stalls with toggles on the chest level.

Oh, come on, don't lie yourself and all people here I'm damn sure anybody will choose to teach young cute ladies against wise polite man. It is nature and wi'll never change that Like AndyMan says, we are much more than walking penises, we are flying penises! - What can change the nature of a man ? (PlaneScape:Torment)

You can. But I'm not sure which decision S&TA will make, he is not that stupid One can see other jumpers cars going for skydivers landed far from airfield more often. Helicopter usually goes for skydivers landed on the ther side of Oka river. Yes, they can be organized for some extra $. But all aircrafts and chopper are not equipped with oxygen, so one should not even think of really high altitude. Standard is 4.000 meters, up to 5.000 without oxygen (higher will be too dangerous).

Not sure about Borki, but in Kolomna stuff really keeps thing in order. S&TA is watching over you Gear checks, hmm, sometimes S&TA himself does pin check (especially for newer jumpers that really NEED it), but usually other skydivers help each other with the checks. Spots: never had bad one, GPS works fine and pilots are real professionals. Well, I saw one load landing on the other side of the river, then I saw Mi-8 helicopter going for them (wherever skydiver may land, Mi-8 may land also) S&TA watches every load going to plane (last line check), he also says who goes first, who goes then and who finishes. So, exit order is known to all jumpers on the load. Every jumper/group of jumpers should remember the one who jumps before him/them. Separation, well, wait some seconds before you go after some formation, others will do the same after you. In some special cases (8-way or bigger) one of the instructors onboard will slow the next jumper down until it is safe to jump. Yes, it will be. Especially on weekends, you may expect a large crowd. It is the best flying machine I ever jump from! Inside the Mi-8 even tall jumper may stand straight and his head will not touch the roof. There is a place for a little stadium inside the helicopter. It has a good heater (oh, Mi-8 was the warmest place in winter!), well, there won't be need in that in July. It climbs really FAST, even faster that LET-410. It operates smooth, mostly I event cannot say are we standing at the ground or we already climbing. About the wind tunnel: I saw it operating, but tests showed it is not ready to take skydivers. Rumors say it will be ready in June, but one should take that with grain of salt. Price will be US$250 for an hour. You'll never see any naked woman in the tunnel, but you may try to find some outside, summer is going to be hot

I'm not sure, but that were the news I heard on the DZ. On 9-10th May I'll ask DZO about showers and wind tunnel and post here more precise info. There were a lot of workers on 1-4 May (will be ready to the end of May), setting up second LARGE packing tent and some small houses (not sure, but looks like kind of shower boxes). Wind tunnel has a web page, www.windtunnel.ru, but it is in Russian (guess why ) That depends. When the sun shines, temperature is about +30 C in the shadow. On a rainy day, +20 C is expected. I believe there won't be cold days in July. In May, hmm, these days were already warm enough, +25 C. But cyclone may come, +10 - +12 C, and rain all the time. This web page http://www.gismeteo.ru/towns/27625.htm may give some rough predictions, but they may mispredict something.

Aerograd Kolomna made 45 (or 47?) loads this Sunday. How many loads were made in Borki ? And one more interesting thing: WIND TUNNEL at Aerograd !!! Yes, it is almost ready, at least I saw video from the tunnel. Small working area (only for 2-way, well, may be 3-way), and for bellyfliers only, but it WORKS! I saw 2-way training session. From what I heard, price will be ~$250 for 1 hour. One thing missing in Aerograd, is warm shower. It will be built in summer.

Correct. It is the landing direction.

I'm sure, you gonna like it! Kolomna is a good place for skydivers who can't speak/read Russian. Loads are announced in English, and there are always a lot of people speaking English. At least, you may always ask me and I'll translate anything for you. Whoa! Fantastic plan, I wish I ever have possibility to have such boogie tour !

Yea, An-28 is a bit noisy It can dive and it can land really fast. That depends on the pilot. Most pilots fly safe, they do not want to hit some bird-man or crazy canopy flyer, so they have to do long landing patterns. But does it matter? I land, grab my chute, go to the packing room and see An-28 landing. I'm not THAT fast to pack before it is gone for another load Mi8 helicopter is a dream of any skydiver. Except for exits, it is not very comfortable. Small side door, tail gate is usually closed. You should do that, you'll like it, I promise

Why go smaller DZ? Visit Aerograd Kolomna. Some winter photos are available here http://dimm.wdcb.ru/public/KLMN_14_02/ Spring photos of Aerograd: http://www.taki.sitecity.ru/album_1904152747.phtml Price: $9 for jump ticket. Aircrafts: An-28 (yes, that was An-28 on the picture), Mi-8 helicopter (I LOVE it!). Up to 64 loads per day. You are welcome here!

Dream rig is that one I own. Element H/C. Ever heard of it? one of the best H/C in the world I think. Solid and comfortable, freefly-optimized, costs only $1100 with ALL bells and whistles (Mirage with all that options would go above $2k). I really love my Element, so do Maria Riabikova and Vasilii Rodin, world champions in SkySurfing, and many other people. Icarus Safire (thanks Chrys Myks for that one) Smart reserve (hope will never need that) Cypres2

Whoa! You've loaded it a bit high for your jump number! I'm not a canopy nazi. But you are far beyond the recommendations. Don't want to see a new post in the Incidents forum (knock on the wood). As for Spectres, I've jumped 150 for ~30-40 jumps (w/l ~1.2). Soft on-heading openings, flat glide (really better than Sabre's), crisp turns with a lot of altitude loss. Riser pressure is high, I was unable to do more than 360 on the front riser. Canopy is easy to land, all my landing were stand-ups. Recovery arc is short, last turn should be done lower than with Sabre to get a good swoop.

Brrr, I've imagined the most stupid skydiving injury: to be hit by the falling videographer helmet while standing on the ground and talking with S&TA

Radio-controlled skydiver You should not rely on your radio. I've jumped with radio just ONCE. Then, my instructor asked 'Do you need this?', I asked him back, 'Whatfor is that thing?' (Yes, I was complete whuffo that days). Then he looked at me and said, 'Well, then, just fly your canopy!' And I flew it. 14 student clear stand-up landings, all in 3 meter radius circle! Instructors were impressed by my canopy control skills (yea, I know, my RW skills still disappointing ). So, you shoud rely on yourself. Until you think there is an instructor that will help you to land you canopy, you won't get amazing landing (nothing personal!!!) And let you instructor to land where he supposed to.

This problem is easy to solve. Just pursue DZO to buy a BIG RED ARROW - like one in Aerograd Kolomna http://dimm.wdcb.ru/public/KLMN_14_02/112_1227.html All skydivers must land as this arrow points to. This arrow have some compressed air inside and it weights pretty low. So, when wind strong enough and changes direction, arrow turns 'automatically'. In no winds conditions, S&TA turns the arrow by himself.

Russian Mi-8 helicopter fits best for skydiving purposes Every thing you need, from tailgate to left door exit. Climbs really fast (at 13.000 in 13-15 minutes). Descends fast - chopper lands before large student canopies do! 26 (!) seats (no belts yet, and I don't understand whatfor they may be useful). Well, it costs. Minimum required number of skydivers ($10 per ticket) to make some profit from load is 18. Or, 3 tandems.

I would recommend to buy a ProTrack. This tiny box costs a lot, but you won't be disappointed! Your jumps will always be logged (by ProTrack), you will not forget to write down any of your jumps. Well, because this things costs a lot, you would care for it and never loose one

Well, I would say Omni, Safire, Sabre etc. are kind of rectangular canopies. Under 'elliptical' I understand 'fully elliptical' ones, like Stiletto, Crossfire, Cobalt. My instructor says sometimes it much safer to downsize than to go elliptical. Downsizing affects speed when going elliptical affects turn rate and canopy dives. Correct me if I'm wrong, but from I saw, most incidents happen when canopy cannot go out of dive.

Ha, Want to see more photos of naked tandem? Here they are: http://photo.skydiver.com.ua/view_album.php?set_albumName=albun03 Well, that's another tandem. But it doesn't matter, does it?

Thanks, slug, I will take you advise and practice my out-of-DZ landings! Actually, I have 2 out-of-DZ landings. One of them was downwind (or no nowind? 2-3 mph wind). I enjoyed the swoop and did perfect stand-up landing. Well, that potato field owner was... hmm, a bit angry

No instructor will allow you to go elliptical before you made your 300 or even 500 jump. Large elliptical is for heavy-weighted professionals and not for light novice skydivers. I would recommend you to sell elliptical canopy.

Well, you are not stupid at all. 185 is your weight with or without your gear? W/L ~1.1 is not radical until you do some weird things low I'm jumping Spectre 150 since my 50th jump, my exit weight is about 180, and I've already done all items from famous billvon's downsize checklist (I'm not going to downsize - I'm not THAT crazy! Just curious how difficult is to do all that things). Every jump I ask one of my instructors to watch my landing and point me on my mistakes. If it is possible, I'd recommend you to do the same! It doesn't cost much, well, some glasses of beer and brings you tons of experience.