Tonto

Is your hardwear Stainless steel? Stainless slips. You can follow others advice about beeswax, bungies and S folds, but they're all bandAid fixes. Also bear in mind that rubber bands are friction hungry and can damage the webbing over time. t It's the year of the Pig.

FlexZ's for me. I have a proDytter mounted on them, and they last me around a year. (350 - 450 skydives) t It's the year of the Pig.

They're only a risk if the gear is incompatible. 20 years in the sport. Felt they were a knee jerk reaction to a non exsistant problem and knew the risk from about 6 years ago. The only risk a breaking riser poses is to those with an RSL, and a $5 Collins lanyard would solve that. t It's the year of the Pig.

Cutting away is not recommended in a water landing senario. (PASA MOP's) t It's the year of the Pig.

It's standard in South Africa. I understand there could be some issues in a 2 out situation, but this is prescribed by National Safety and Training. In the 10 plus years since it was done, I've not heard of a negative side effect. t It's the year of the Pig.

Hi Gus, My closure loop is on the bottom flap. I'm not worried about it snagging anything. If it were attached under the reserve container, I'd want to keep lines away from that area and so wouldn't feel as comfortable about turning the bag through 90 (Pin to grommet) or 180 degrees (Grommet to bottom flap.) Things seem to be working out fine like that. The rig I'm using to jump wingsuits is borrowed, so I'm reluctant to go doing mods (other than the bridle/pilot chute) on it. t It's the year of the Pig.

Well, I thought about it. I think if the rig has a closure loop attached near the bottom of the reserve container, it would be a bad thing to do. If the closure loop is on the bottom flap.. I can't see any issues with it. If I have some, I'll PM you if I survive. If not, I guess you'll read about it in incidents! t It's the year of the Pig.

I've had 8 Tandem cutaway's. The RSL has only worked 3 times out of the 8. There was a student fatality in SA about 10 years back where the RSL failed. Student RSL's are now attached with a french link instead of a snap shackle. You did the right thing - and that's what counts. t It's the year of the Pig.

Sorry about the ambiguety.. I have no mod done to the corners of my main container. It's a standard Mirage G3. I do turn the bag 180 degrees and have the lines on the bottom of the reserve container though. t Edit: 18 degrees to read 180 degrees. It's the year of the Pig.

Great. I'd think the son of the creator of the universe would cut the flawed creatures he made a little more slack, but no... Have an insecure moment - and off to hell for all eternity with you! Glad I don't follow YOUR god. I'd imagine a little tollerance training wouldn't go amiss. Imagine if every teenager who was embarased by their parents were treated the same way. Jesus. Literally, and in vain, "JESUS!" t It's the year of the Pig.

I only have 45 Wingsuit dives.. I have yet to have a linetwist. I'm jumping Classics (and one GTI), on a Safire 135 loaded to about 1.5 (Conservative in comparison to my normal gear.) I have no corner mod, and a 117 inch bridle, 28 inch pilot chute. t It's the year of the Pig.

Poor bastards... none of those nice 20mils we have over here for you... t It's the year of the Pig.

Skydive. More. Africa - Done - every day. t It's the year of the Pig.

At the time of those stats, A licence was 15 jumps, and that's what I meant by completion of the program. AFF here is 10 dives, followed by 2 throw-out conversion jumps, and then the student begins 7 compulsory coached dives in basic FS tehniques. Our A licence (and D licence) recently changed to the new FAI requirements of 25 jumps, (and 500 for D) but this has only been in effect for a month and I have no stats on that. Here, our B licence is disipline specific, and many students don't qualify for a B in a particular disipline until they have 150 jumps plus, mainly cos they do a little bit of everything, and so end up knowing a little bit - and not enough to pass the airskills tests. t It's the year of the Pig.

I won't do the test. I may have some idea's you don't agree with.. but if anyone agrees to this test - it's too late to get them to wear a helmet. I see something similar in martial arts or personal conflict. There have been some mean looking dudes I've had to take down in my time working as a bouncer and a bodyguard. They looked "rough." One of my teachers once told me - "beware the pretty fighter." The reasoning is obvious. They can go into a situation, neutralise it, and protect their good looks while they do it. I'm not saying I can do that - but I just don't do 9 ways with people wearing Doc Martins. I don't. I do AFF - which even at it's worst is simply an arial 2 way game of tag combined with basic sparing techniques, some very basic freeflying with people WAY more competent than me - and some wingsuit stuff - mainly solo's or very small flocks. So I swoop - but it's not exactly like I'm jumping a crossbrace and pushing the limits on every dive. My landings, in a word, are "boring" or "repetative." t It's the year of the Pig.

Hi Tim. It doesn't piss me off that helmets are a good idea. I see people down on gun threads. We all know that when faced with an armed assailant, that having a gun would be a pretty good idea. But I don't carry a gun, and many other people don't either. Same thing with the helmets. I'd rather NOT smack my head into stuff - regardless of whether or not I wear a helmet - and I have a lot more control over that than I do about whether or not I'm attacked. I do wear a helmet on my very infrequent freefly dives, simply because my skills suck so badly in that environment that I'm unlikely to be able to avoid a collision. That's the brutal reality of it. I'm a student, and students wear helmets. I'm not down on others wearing helmets. As an AFF I, I choose the best fitting helmet for my students I can find. I check the clip prior to exit, and make sure any loose strap is tucked away. I agree - a helmet - almost any helmet, is better than no helmet. I've also seen people saved from more severe injury by them. I think that bigger, lightly loaded canopies would reduce injury. I think that not freeflying, or not doing formation skydiving would reduce the likelyhood of freefall collisions. But mostly, when I hear people asking me to smash my head against a wall, or to jam it between door and door frame with and without a helmet, I simply think "No." t It's the year of the Pig.

Hey Simon, Were you taught by Tim? He's the closest we have to a 'BMI' here in SA. He taught a former AFF student of mine about wingsuits, and he's the guy who got me going at JSC. A dude is coming over from Switzerland around easter with an S-Fly, and he's exactly my size and weight, so I'll give that a go. I've also just bought a 2nd hand classic. When I go for the next suit, I'll be able to pay back by lending it to others as others lent theirs to me. Are you going to the boogie in Margate? 14 000 ft and less than 3 miles from the beach should make some cross country wingsuit dives possible under the right conditions! t It's the year of the Pig.

It's ignorance. Everyone is aware of the fact that the cold calculated use of a .50 BMG rifle would be devistating. Imagine someone like the Washington Sniper armed with one. (truth is he'd have been caught much sooner..) But... Nutters... like most people that are intent on killing other people for a cause - are usually too keen to rush out and kill, and don't even take the time to develop the skills and properly prepair themselves or their weapons systems. Now boxcutters... Those should be banned. They've been used by terrorists to cause massive loss of life and damage to property... It's the year of the Pig.

72% of my AFF L1's complete the program. In 2002/2003 about half the members of my club were former AFF students of mine. t It's the year of the Pig.

Hey Karen, I recently thanged from tripples to standard for the same reasons after 3000 dives. My hands still do wierd little adjustments on the swoop that I now KNOW have no effect, but it's a habit. I've only JUST started rear riser flares after a year getting into front riser turns, and standard risers just take your hands to where they need to be. Tim's advice of converting is the way to go. Free new risers, and no compormise. t It's the year of the Pig.

Spot on. She's a long way from even trying this though. I'm just ruluctant to buy a suit that won't work in that range. The more I learn though, the more I realise it's all the old "range" issue. In AFF, I can stay with 110 to 220 lb students in the same medium jumpsuit, as long as I dress the little one's tight and the big ones loose. Once the other person learns to fly a bit - it all becomes easier. Thanks to everyone for their help on this thread. I'm still somewhere between a GTI and an S3... but that will work it's self out over the next few weeks, I guess. t It's the year of the Pig.

I don't doubt you're right for a second. I did only 20 in my 1st year, but here I am... 19 years later.. t It's the year of the Pig.

220 dives in two years is hardly obsessive... Unless it's easy to get high on your addiction.. t It's the year of the Pig.

I have a Cypress. It was a gift. I have a bonehead mindwarp it was a gift. The Cypress is in one of the 2 rigs I use. I use the helmet when I freefly cos I suck. I wear gloves in winter. I always use shoes. t It's the year of the Pig.

I'd buy a tent, a good sleeping bag, and a ticket to Eloy. Even doing 1000 dives a year at $16 a jump, and buying new gear every year wouldn't make you broke... t It's the year of the Pig.