Tonto

I'm so glad we don't have seasons. My longest break from skydiving was from 14 Feb 1987 to 20 June 1987 - and that was after breaking my femur in 9 places. I never want my season to end, and I'm never ready for a break. I'm looking forward to Saturday! t It's the year of the Pig.

So no "What goes around, comes around" for you? t It's the year of the Pig.

30240 dives with 60 second delays = 3 weeks... so it's possible, I guess. t It's the year of the Pig.

Sure. Here you go. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=713169;search_string=Double%20malfunction;#713169 t It's the year of the Pig.

that's one in every 250 ... Yeah. WAY better than my reserve mal stats - one in 18. Mains are statistically MANY times more reliable than reserves for me - and always will be. t It's the year of the Pig.

Depends on your point of view. For Budhists, all life is sacred. For me - I just look at the persentages. 4.5 million, or a billion human deaths would cause no bottleneck in the gene pool. It would be nothing more than a health hazard. The death of 40 birds in a single park can. And there is no coming back from that - ever. t It's the year of the Pig.

I spent many years on gear which was... self maintained. I reached a point where I asked myself what I was saving - and at what cost. I earn, at the current exchange rate, about $42 per jump, and do about 300 AFF's a year. That's $11400. The bag, risers, pilot chute cost is I think around $200. I do about 100 fun jumps a year, mainly Birdman. To me - the PC and bridal are critical components on every system, but especially for Birdman. The 3 ring release is our escape route when things go bad - and with 17 cutaways, I like to be able to get away when I need to. I have line trim checked at 300 dives, and replaced at 600 dives, Cost for this (in South Africa, with my rigger) is $150. So at less than $1 a day, many need to ask themselves - just how cheap do you want to be? I think that I perform better during the skydive without the lurking gear fear I had in the past. Once a year fits in well with our 180 day repack cycle, and is also how often I replace the batteries in my Pro Dytter. One day down, once a year. Now that I've bought a 2nd rig, A G3, It'll probably go to once every 2 years if I share the load evenly between the G3 and my G4. It's not about the cost. It's about budgeting for the cost. In a sport like skydiving I fail to beleive there are those who cannot afford $1 a day. t It's the year of the Pig.

Dunna... but flipper said earlier in this thread.. "flew and landed better than the rest i have tried ....stiletto...vengeance...velocity" I've had a few people at our DZ ask what happened to them and said they were being worked on - and now I have people saying "you said.." and I have no answers... t It's the year of the Pig.

No such thing as an innocent bystander... So when ARE you experienced? 6, 10, 50, 500 wingsuit dives? What would make this easier to resolve, is if the USPA (and in my case, PASA) DEFINED what an experienced wingsuiter was. Is it someone who has experienced jumping a wingsuit? Someone with 10 wingsuit jumps but some instructional rating, like a coach, TI, SLI, or AFF I? Someone with 50 wingsuit jumps but no instructional ratings what so ever? I think we all agree that there is little a BMI (I use that term specifically since I know of no other wingsuit instructional rating) can do to SAVE their student - ala AFF - if things go pear shaped out the door. This means that it's important that those skills are correctly transfered prior to exit, and that, I feel, requires a structured aproach to the instruction. As for my status in all of this, I am a BMI. I flew from South Africa to California and paid to go on the BMI course. I have yet to charge more than my slot to give someone a FFC or to go on a coaching dive - so I think it would be hard to prove I was in this for the money. I think many agree that flocking with friends is the way this small section of the sport will go, and there's little point in being the only bird. I've built a flock of over 20 birds at my home DZ for the purely selfish reason of having people to play with, and I'm in the process of putting together a program that will allow me to spread this aspect of human flight over other parts of the country. Yes, I do AFF. Yes, I'm paid good money to do AFF - about $42 a jump. I still turn down LOTS of AFF to be able to jump with my new winged friends, and all the time I spend on other DZ's doing FFC's "for free" costs me the +- $400 a day I could be earning doing AFF. As skydivers, we yearn for freedom, and unless we're from the UK, resent over control. The USPA must have great faith in the safety of wingsuit flight or else they would not allow non rated people to teach this medium. t It's the year of the Pig.

Damn! I'm STILL stuck on 165lbs! Seriously, I think you're doing a great job with this. Keep it going! t It's the year of the Pig.

Any news on this? It's been 9 months. t It's the year of the Pig.

It's one size fits the PC which comes with the rig, as the PC is part of rig design. I suspect that many users then switch to other pilot chutes during the life of the harness - and that may/may not cause problems. I'm not a gambling man. I buy new bag, PC and risers for my rig start of each year. Now that I have 2 rigs - that may shift to every 400 dives or so as I do 400 dives a year. (Edit to remove confusion infering I replaced these components every 200 jumps, when in fact I replace them every 400 jumps.) t It's the year of the Pig.

I'm not a rigger. I think there is a limit of 22lbs for a reserve pull? 40 lbs seems like a bit of a problem. t It's the year of the Pig.

Umm... This boogie happened 2 months ago... Catch ya next time! t It's the year of the Pig.

Not as good as a Birdman jump from 20300... I got 236 seconds on that one...

That's the true strength of the Neptune. It continues to "learn" what we need from it, and the software is WAY more reliable than it used to be. t It's the year of the Pig.

So if 4.5 million US citizens were killed out of the current population (just one country) you wouldn't view that as "major devastation?" Or if 2% of the people who registered for the WFFC went in? Not devastating? Or if 2% of all those stationed in Iraq were killed tomorrow? No major devistation here? I would say a 2% loss in any single incident is pretty fucking devastating. t It's the year of the Pig.

I'm not going to make it... 4502 dives, 18 cutaways... t It's the year of the Pig.

With that logic we should ban driving, because "Given the number of injuries and fatalities" with functioning motor vehicles, something should be done! I wonder what your personal views are on Freestyle, freeflying, speed skydiving, Wingsuits etc. Are they not "Skydiving" enough for you? Too skydiving for you? The UK and the BPA are MASSIVELY over regulated. Signed off gear checks, compulsory hook knives, and yet last year the UK had it's fair share of fatals - and seems to be developing a suicide in the sport culture unseen elsewhere. Perhaps that's cos you guys don't have guns - but that's a thread for Speakers Corner. These regulations are the thin end of the wedge. 20 years ago, the canopy you're currently jumping - a Sabre 2 - would have been deemed "too radical" for someone with your number of jumps. You have more chance of excamunicating swoopers from skydiving than you do excluding sinners from the church. As others have said - not all those who die under functioning canopies are swooping. t It's the year of the Pig.

Clearly, somebody was NOT thinking. Each time your hook knife is removed to open a bottle, the likelyhood of it not being replaced is presented. I know the life of the stud that keeps it attached to your rig will not last the number of beers most skydivers consume. If you're going to sell a hook knife with your rig - it should be a hook knife only, so that it will remain in place for that very rare time that you need a hook knife. t It's the year of the Pig.

Wrong. Rounds have several malfunction modes such as inversions and lineovers that were so prevalent that reserves differed significantly from the mains of the day. And lets not start down the "Acid mesh" road. Acid? On round reserves? You betcha! Not so with square reserves, which for a time, in fact, until the advent of ZP, shared near identical charecteristics of their main counterparts. This was a debate 15 to 20 years ago. I know the UK lags on these issues and was, until recently, still using round parachutes for training 1st jumpers. Even in Africa we moved away from that 15 years ago. There is, in my opinion, no justification for use of a round reserve in run of the mill skydiving these days. An old saying from "Back in the day" was "A round will get you down but a square will get you there." If you jump a square main, would you really like to be on completely unfamiliar gear that you have never flown or landed before after your 1st mal? It's the year of the Pig.

Hey Andre! Who was the other dude on the team then? The one I ended up replacing? Are you still in touch with Chris? t It's the year of the Pig.

Bye! t It's the year of the Pig.

No. I prefer one of these... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102803/ t It's the year of the Pig.

While you sort that out, you may find this thread interesting... t It's the year of the Pig.