Tonto

Any angle steeper than the glide angle of your canopy will work in no wind conditions. About 30 degrees (or 3 to 1) is a good start. If there is wind coming up the slope, this is ridge lift, and will allow you to launch on shallower slopes, and fly above the glide angle of your wing. When trying to launch, avoid the temptation to run down the slope while on brakes. Allow the canopy to fly until it has airspeed, and at that point a little stab on brakes should lift you away from the ground. Hope this helps. 1985 was a long time ago, but I imagine wind and ground have changed little since then. Good luck. t It's the year of the Pig.

Mission Impossible 3 - Chick Flick. t It's the year of the Pig.

I agree with the "Just ask" crowd. Anyone with anything worthwhile to add won't mind qualifying their experience. I'd be very leery of simple jump numbers or time in the sport though. While I may have "a lot" of jumps in some people's opinion, I know people with 500 dives and a lot of tunnel time who could skydive rings around me in FS - or freeflying. I also know a lot of senior jumpers with 1000's of dives out of the same aircraft at the same DZ that does GPS spots... who may not be the best people to spot an Otter at a boogie some place else. There are plenty of packers with 1000's and 1000's more pack jobs than me, who pack really well and would be worth listening to dispite having less than 5% my number of jumps. There are those with 25% of the dives but who have experience on canopies I've never even jumped, and I've seen senior jumpers with 1000's of dives given wingsuit 1st flight courses by people with 100's of jumps who had the info they needed. While jump numbers may still mean something to some people, they are little more than an indication of commitment. Who's advice you choose should be based on skillset, not on age in the sport. This sport is constantly growing and changing. In the same way my daughter had to teach my mom how to send an attachment with an e-mail when she was 6, so some senior jumpers need to be taught about new things - like the skyhook, or other things that simply were not around when they were more open to learning. Of course, I think the people who think they know the most will always have between 100 and 500 skydives. I still dream of one day knowing what I thought I knew then! t It's the year of the Pig.

Your one warning... t It's the year of the Pig.

While I agree with nearly everything in your post, I doubt you will find a clear answer to your question. This is a personal opinion and may or may not work for you. Many of those with 1000's of swoops saying "Go long" learned on canopies with stupidly short recovery arcs. I started toggle spanking 220 sq ft 7 cells at less than 100 ft. Sure, it broke me a femur within 200 dives, but I learned stuff. When I started re-learning to swoop using risers after 2000+ toggle spanks, I started on a Stilleto, moved to a crossfire, and then went back to a Stilleto/Safire combination. I'm not a super swooper, and the Stilleto will never do what a Velocity will do, but when my AFF takes forever in the door and I need to land out, the canopy works well for me. Next step for me will be a Katana, and I'll stick with that for at least 1000 dives before going to something like a Velo. I'm in no hurry. Been here 20 years and I'm still learning loads. If you want to learn to swoop - find a mentor. Then start. Slowly. Double fronts, single riser 45's, then 90's. Stay there for a while. It doesn't really matter what canopy you're on. You can swoop anything if you know how. There were a few canopies which really didn't like riser input that should be avoided. The Nova and the Jonathan spring to mind. Just about anything released in the last 10 years should work just fine. t It's the year of the Pig.

Some valid input from several posters here, and also a clear indication that those who mentioned wingsuit dives with the Crossfire 2 clearly didn't read your post in any detail. As others have said - Going from 1.1 to 1.4 is a big step. Changing to a more aggressive planform on a download is never a good idea. I don't see 300 dives a year in your profile, and with short durations in the sport, averages can change dramatically. Regardless of how conservative the pilot is, if the canopy is aggressive it will react aggessively to any input - whether that input is initiated by the pilot as a reflex to an expected low level collision, or passing through unseen wake turbulence. The penetration into wind and the fewer steps on landing are contradictory. Speed needs to be bled off on landing. The higher the speed, the more needs to be bled off. This (trim) speed is largely a factor of wing loading, not planform. I'm 44 with 20+ years in the sport, so I think I have an idea of what you want from your landings. As a wingsuit pilot, BMI and PFI, I'm jumping a Safire loaded to about 1.8. As an AFF I I'm jumping a Stilleto loaded to 1.8. There's no noticeable difference in the swoop performance between these 2 canopies for me. It's all about the person between the toggles. t It's the year of the Pig.

I stopped jumping this combo in 1988 cos there was better stuff on the market - and I'm in Africa. Buy your friend a beer. t It's the year of the Pig.

This isn't the bonfire... It's the year of the Pig.

So. Q. Red or Blue? A. Green. Right... t It's the year of the Pig.

If what you say is true, we'd all be able to see into the future. You need to have that confidence now, or else you would never enter into something that stands (at best) a 50% chance of working. Of the remaining 50%, some die, some stay married for the kids, some are not emotionally or financially independant enough to leave, and some are truely happy, but their partners are not. For a lucky few, it's as close to Nirvana as we get in this life. Would you sign up for a Tandem 1st jump course where half die and half the rest are maimed and the outcome lies shared between you and the partner you've paired up with? I'm 44 now, single in that I'm not married, but am in a committed relationship. I've been divorced for 10 years, so I clearly have not rushed into getting married again. This is what (I think) I know. There are no garentees. You live life forwards, and understand it backwards. It's about being the right person AND finding the right person. It's about solving problems, not about not having problems. t It's the year of the Pig.

Yup... Those things can make you look like you're in a fish tank!

Good luck... There are many, many threads started by contact lens wearers asking which goggles are best, and most gravitate towards flexvisions.. I imagine that since you're new to wearing contacts you'll soon notice that regardless of what others say, it's the shape of your face combined with the shape of the sunglasses that matters, so unless you get a suggestion from an identical twin, it's worthless. Worst thing that can happen though, is that they blow out, right? If that's no problem, experiment all you like. t It's the year of the Pig.

Prevention is the key. Make sure your PC is cocked. Make sure your bridal is correctly routed. Make sure that your PC, bridal, risers and 3 ring system are meticulously maintained and replaced well before they're likely to fail in use. Any financial saving you make here will be regretted about 0.2 seconds into your first PC in tow, or your main's refusal to leave in the event of a mal. These are the components that start your deployment, or that allow your escape if that deployment fails. Look after them. t It's the year of the Pig.

There was one that did involve overloading in Colorado in '99. A Raven I with a placarded max exit weight of 185 and an actual exit weight of 285. Terminal reserve deployment at ~9000 MSL broke a couple lines and resulted in a fatally hard landing. Blues, Dave Please read my post again, including the section in bold. t It's the year of the Pig.

I know Chuck Norris can devide by zero... but I don't know what he wears while he does it.. t It's the year of the Pig.

I'm sure that anyone who knows anything about carrier operations thinks about that movie the way we do about "Cutaway" and "Dropzone" etc. The F-14 was never designed as a dogfighter. It's role is almost purely standoff, usually from 100 miles away or more. And those Ray-Bans... Man. That movie is SO dated. t It's the year of the Pig.

It's called ear plugs - instant reduction in loudness. That's NOT a good suggestion for students. They're probably on radio, and often ask questions in the door, and may be quite distressed when they cannot hear the reply. Take care in your answers to questions asked by students. t It's the year of the Pig.

is it in a good spot to reach with either hand? Ha. I'm an old CReW dog. I wear 3 knives. I like my Mirage risers. It's been a long, long time since anything like this happened to me. Gives a new meaning to the term "fingertrapping" though. I think the last time this happened to me, brake lines were long, dacron (so no cuts) and velcro (which never worked for long.) I think the origional posted did well to stop the spin and thus prevent disorientation and altitude loss. I know many senior jumpers who wouldn't have the headspace to do that. t It's the year of the Pig.

You're right. All I'm saying is that those that choose should choose what they can handle. I think I've done that. In fact, in recent years, I've gone up in reserve size. Many of today's jumpers are completely unfamiliar with low perocity 7 cells or even 7 cells in general. I have about 700 dives on low perocity 7 cell and 5 cell canopies, and a further 800+ on ZP 7 cell canopies. Although currency is important, I think that I have sufficient base experience to allow a safe landing on my reserve. I agree completly that many, many jumpers do not consider that they will in all probability be lower than they intended to be when their reserve opens, under a canopy which cannot match the glide ratio or the flare performance of their regular main, and that they may be required to land that canopy out or while injured, or both. Placing the responsibility for that outcome on anyone other than the person using the reserve seems obtuse. It is the jumpers responsibility to survive the skydive. Sometimes the outcome of a skydive is determined years before the jump takes place. We should all be mindfull of that fact. t It's the year of the Pig.

While that may be true, the Oxford dictionary gives only one definition for the word "Maximum" and that is "Greatest amount possible." Since I and many others have exceeded the recomended max quite comfortably, I can only conclude that the recomended max is incorrect, or is aimed at some base/conservative market demographic for sound and responsible reasons. The origional poster used the term "Overload". Oxford defines "Overload" as "put too great a load on or in". Since I've survived all my reserve rides without injury, I must again conclude that the term refers to the weight exceeding the TSO max, thus my vote for not having overloaded my reserve. Of course, there are those who use an AAD who (I expect) desire to land without (further) injury when they are perhaps unconcious. I do find it somewhat puzzeling when I see these people loading their reserves at anything over 1.0 lbs per sq ft. Since I have no AAD in either of my rigs, I've determined that remaining consious is a prereqisite to surviving the skydive. Doubtless you have caught me in a mood when bellicosity appeals, and so I've chosen to base my argument on semantic definitions. I'm always surprised, however, in a society where some drive drunk or fuck strangers without a condom, that an issue such as this is even raised. How many incidents are you aware of resulting in injury as the result of a properly used "overloaded" reserve that was within the TSO max? I cannot recall one. A search of the incidents forum for the word "Overload" produces 33 posts from a total of 28142 for a result of 0,1%. A brief perusal of the thread titles indicates one reserve failure, ironicly at the DZ I jump at. I know overloading was not the issue in this incident. This is the old "Size vs Technique" arguement, except we're not talking about cocks, or guns, or martial artists. The truth is, a good big one will always whip a good little one. If a jumper has deliberatly chosen a heavily loaded reserve, the responsibility is clearly theirs when it comes to landing it safely. t It's the year of the Pig.

Not long after the spambots get it... (Edited e-mail address) t It's the year of the Pig.

I voted "Never" I jump a PD-126 which is TSO'd to a max of 254lbs. I weigh a little over 200 kitted up. I'm loading to around 1.6 and jump at a hot, high altitude (5000ftAMSL) DZ. I have 18 reserve rides. http://www.performancedesigns.com/reserve.asp for more info on PD reserves. t It's the year of the Pig.

Got my USPA rating in 1992, came back to SA in 1993 and did the PASA AFF evaluation course. Couldn't renew my USPA rating since there are no S&TA's here. I've remained current since then doing an average of about 150 AFF dives a year. If I go back to the US I'll need to go through the process to get my rating again, but I've learned something on every course I've been on, so I'm ok with that. t It's the year of the Pig.

Unless the fatality is killed in the aircraft or in freefall - they all die on landing. t It's the year of the Pig.

Bwahahahaha!!! Oooh! That was a killer. Thanks for the laugh! t It's the year of the Pig.