johnny1488

Looks like Maggot from last weekend! Or was that Maggot's new ground crew/pick up attempt? Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

Videographers make $50 at my dz. And no they dont pay the slot. Tandem instructors get $30, $40 with the pack job. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

never be the first kid on the block.... Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

Why? Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

There are no underloading problems that I know of from underloading a Crossfire2. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

They way I recommend setting the brakes (fine tuning, it can be different for everyone.) Do a hopnpop from at least 5k. Make sure no one is in the air with you. keep the toggle s in your hand like normal. Grab the front risers and do a good hard turn. During the turn (and before) look at the tail of the canopy. Do the turn, gradually addig front riser input. At some point it sounds like you are going to see the steering lines start deflecting the tail. See how much more you need to pull the front riser to get the desired dive. You will be able to guesstimate how much brake line you are going to need to add. As for the longer control range of Icarus Canopies. As you advance in technique, this will be less and less of a factor. As you get th initial part of the flare down, getting all the low end lift will be very easy. If you are a bit slow on the initial part of the flare, it will be tougher. And the 2 or 3 inches you will probably add is not a whole lot when you look at 2 or 3 inches of toggle movement. The canopy should not be colapsing at any point in the flight. Do some turns like was advised without the toggles also, UP HIGH, and feel the difference in the turn. It will probably be a lot. Hope this helps. Give me a shout if you have any other questions. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

Once its started to recover, no. But keeping it in a dive before it recovers can be aided with strenght, technique, or both. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

ooohhhh now this complicates things! Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

The differences you would feel on those 2 canopies (Crossfire2 129 and Safire2 129) would be marginal. The real difference between the Xfire2 and Safire2 comes into play at about 1.4. The Safire slowly drops off in performace losing low speed lift and the Xfire2 takes off with longer recovery arc and speed building characteristics. At just over 1:1, you might not notice that the Xfire2 dives a bit more or stays in a turn a bit longer. But you might notice it if you get into a bit of "trouble". The Safire2 might give you a slightly larger "safety margin" that could outweigh the slight performance benefiets of a Xfire2 at that loading. Give them both a shot, but if you want to er on the side of caution, the Safire2 will be a lot of fun at that loading and size. Feel free to ask me any questions you might have. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

We have a McNasty to our east and a McFriendly to our south. Our DZ had a "barn raising boogie" about 10 years ago when his burnt down. All the jumpers hung out and helped him put up a new barn. On any given load he is happy to let us land there (we call it the student field for its conditions on directional windy days) and lets us wait with the bus to pick people up. Just dont scare the horses!! Amazingly enough, they are not all out to get us!! Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

Its not the speed (I have 2 gigs of RAM), its how it works. Everything in OS X is drag and drop. If you want to move something, you do it. If you want to change something, every program has a preferences screen. Every program seems to be laid out the same way. Windows seems to be a huge cluster fuck of who knows what. As for the Virtual thing I am surprised at how well it runs. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

Are the newer windows that drastically different in operation? Or just looks and bells/whistles? Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

And man, does it suck!!!! I just installed Virtual PC on my powerbook and got to using Windows 2000 professional for a while and man is it a pathetic excuse for an OS. Is it just cause I am out of the loop on windows or is it user intensive just to move files around and navigate the system. I had an app that had a file on the desktop that I wanted to move to another folder and couldnt figure out how. So who has time under both mac and windows to that can tell me I am missing a whole bunch about windows that makes it sell insanely throughout the world. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

Peter posted a link in another thread not too long ago. Very infomative!!!! http://fun.bowmans.com/poker/ Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

Go to an apple store and mess around with a Mac and OS X. I think you will find it (as other suggested) WAY superior to Windows. And with the new intel chips you can run windows if you NEED to, but the more you work with Mac, you will see that slipping away. I now cringe at the very sight of windows, but am getting an emulator cause I need to run a PC program. If I was buying new right now I would get an intel Mac, but I have a powerbook G4, so no upgrade for me right now. Go with Mac, you'll like using computers again. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

I will send him that link. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

The rig I saw it on was a throw out. I dont think I would pick it but I thought the idea had some merit. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

What are your thoughts on the yellow cable for the main closing pin? I first saw it on a Scottish buddies tear drop. I have mulled it over for some time to try to come up with a real downside to it and Im not sure I can aside from the possibility of getting kinked, but how likely is that? I mean it seemed it would have been harder to dislodge it by accident. Any thoughts on the cable vs the curved pin? Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

I have also been on a jump or 2 that I purposely left my AAD off. But I would hardly call those arguments against AADs. Like all of skydiving, jump within the limitations of your gear and your gear should treat you right. You're examples are clearly outside the expected limitations of AADs. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

no Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

It actually shrinks more than anything. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

What is the benefiet in that? I am pretty confident that I wont knock myself out on a solo but I turn my AAD on anyway. What good does it do to leave it off? Are you planning in pulling under 1500? Cause I think thats what you'ld have to do to get it to fire. Why not just adjust your pull altitude and leave it on all the time? Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

The last thing I would call the recover arc on the Xfire2 is mega short. PM Dave (Dharma1976). He posted this exact same thing a few months ago when he thought the riser pressure was high on the Xfire2. He now thinks its very very light, and the canopy hasnt changed. Pound for pound, the Xfire will out dive the sabre2, regardless of riser pressure. Send me a PM if you want some specific info, I have about between 7-800 Xfire2 jumps. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

I have seen people move the brake setting on the demos, so like ZZ said, please check the length of the brake lines. You should be getting PLENTY of powerfull flare well before your toes!! Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

Showing your "age" ranier. Its someone doing freestyle!! Ask Sonic, he can tell you the photographers name and probably how to contact them. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome