pilotdave

Did I say anything about lack of spotting ability or getting a different canopy? I really tried to make it clear that I was talking about you and your twin brother, who were late divers on a bigway and the organizer, billvon, led you out on a bad spot. Dave

Ya know I originally wrote 7-cell and 9-cell in my post. I changed them to spectre and sabre2 specifically because I KNEW someone would bring up the 7-cell velocity. But anyway since kallend refused to answer, I'll give my non-answer. It depends. I haven't liked most of the 7-cell canopies I've jumped, but it's too canopy dependent. I don't think it's even worth making generalizations about 7-cell and 9-cell canopies anymore. Gotta compare specific canopies. I don't think there's any real practical difference between modern 7-cell and 9-cell canopies when it comes to getting back from long spots. Some canopies do better than others, but technique is far more important unless you're trying to win a glide distance competition or something. Dave

Weak response. Not even funny. Disappointing. Anyway, obviously they're talking about long spots. You know, when someone other than you does the spotting because you're a late diver. And they spot too far upwind. And now you and your spectre need to go really far to get back to the DZ. And your twin brother is flying next to you under his sabre2 at identical wingloading and size. Given that both of you are experts and will use optimal technique to maximize glide ratio, who will make it closer to the DZ and therefore have a shorter walk back? And don't say you'll land at the bus stop right below. Got another boring, obvious, deflecting-the-question response?

It was a civil case between two companies. Nobody was found guilty. Maybe this will lead the way for a criminal trial, but nothing has changed at the moment as far as USPA would be concerned. USPA agreed to stay out of these matters. Dave

I compared your comments to ASC jumpers. I didn't compare spaceland to skyride. I can see the difference. And the similarities.

Honestly, you're saying all the same things as every ASC jumper that comes on here to stand up for skyride. "How does it affect you personally?" "They have a great DZ..." Blah blah blah. You don't have to agree, but some people find spaceland's policy to be BS. You'll always side with the event organizer. You know what they're going through. You understand the tough decisions they need to make. We get it. Anyway, some people posted that the BOD was looking into this. Anyone got an update on their opinion? Dave

Oh that's funny. Hope he's got a witty british-style response! Dave

I did some searching through pics I've posted on my website, and I honestly didn't find a single proper student landing. I was sure I had some, but if they flared to their crotch, their feet were apart. If their feet were together, they're legs were bent for a butt landing. If their legs were ok, they're arms were to their sides. Couldn't believe I couldn't find even one good one. Let me know if you want the one above higher res/non-watermarked. BTW, it ended with a perfectly executed and complely incorrect butt slide.

Here's one from yesterday. Looking for a student flaring. Dave

Thanks for the warning. We'll be sure not to buy gear from this unnamed person who sells gear on dropzone.com. Dave

If Red Bull opens a dropzone and wins the bid to host nationals, great! It's still the USPA national championships, no matter who hosts it. If the MegaDZs stop bidding for nationals, there won't be any more nationals. USPA would probably have to split it up into a bunch of separate events so smaller DZs could host. You could easily move Style and Accuracy to a tiny cessna DZ right now. Swooping is already separated. But ummm, is that looking likely? Seems like the same DZs tend to pass nationals back and forth, with some "new" DZs coming along and improving their facilities so they can join in the fun. What makes you think this is going away? And what makes you think they're losing money on this? Dave

Which is really where the skyhook has the advantage over a regular RSL or no RSL at all... when it works! I don't know why his skyhook disengaged in his cutaway and acted like a regular RSL, but if the skyhook feature had worked, it would have given him a much cleaner opening. Spinners under high performance mains are where the skyhook really shines. But of course it has to work. Trying to get stable after cutting away has killed a lot of people that thought they could do a better job than an RSL. Dave

Since you teach both SL and AFF, I'll believe you when you say that SL students do better under canopy than AFF students. My question is WHY? After 25 jumps, they both have 25 parachute descents. Why is the SL student better than the AFF student at that point? What have you taught the SL student that you haven't taught the AFF student? I can understand that the SL student focuses on the exit and then the canopy flight... for the first few jumps. The AFF student has a lot more to focus on. But do you teach more about canopy flight in a SL FJC than an AFF FJC? Do you give the SL student more to work on under canopy? I can understand that, at when they get licensed, a student with 40 jumps in the SL program is going to be better under canopy than an AFF student that gets licensed with 25 jumps. But equal jump numbers... why should one be better than the other? Dave

This is true when there is absolutely no wind. I've seen light wind, but never in my life no wind. But like spence said, if there's really no wind, exit order doesn't matter as far as separation is concerned. If there's wind and you do a downwind jumprun, you want the fast fallers out first and the slow fallers out last. I don't care how ya exit, I care how many seconds you're going to spend in freefall. Dave

My point was that he should go first because he is going to fall slower, not because he's going to exit on his belly. We maximize separation at deployment by allowing the winds aloft to carry us away from each other. This requires the slower fallers to exit first (assuming jump run is into the wind). The time we leave between groups may need to be adjusted slightly for details like "throw." But I don't think you can reliably plan for that or adjust the exit order to maximize separation due to differences in throw. Dave

Which is basically what I said: "You should understand how the system works and what its limitations are." But I was responding to diablopilot's comment: "I simply make the point that it adds a large amount of complexity to the system and it must alter the way one skydives if they choose to use one." It is no more complex to jump a rig equipped with a skyhook than it is to jump a rig equipped with any RSL. Packing the reserve may be a different story. It may not be rocket science, but diablopilot believes the complexity is a major con of the system. You don't need to spend a week with Dave DeWolf before you buy a Vector 3 or Javelin. You don't need to understand the closing order of the reserve container before you can take it up for a jump. Understanding what the colins lanyard does (and doesn't do) is important. Understanding the pros and cons of an RSL is important. Understanding the difference between an RSL and a skyhook is even more important. But understanding your gear to the same level as your rigger? GREAT! But also not realistic on day 1. You CAN (and most of us DO) jump gear that we don't know every detail about. You don't need a PhD on the Vector 3 (it rhymes!) to jump one. We learn about our gear over time. Dave

If everybody knew as much about their gear as their rigger, we wouldn't need riggers. The skyhook adds complexity to packing the reserve, not to operating rig. Dave

I guess you didn't read "You should understand how the system works and what its limitations are." I understand you're now suddenly opposed to RSLs because you got linetwists on your reserve. Not sure why you would specifically not recommend the skyhook though. Did anybody figure out why yours didn't work properly (but still worked as well as a regular RSL)? You should know how the gear works that you are jumping. But even if you don't, how does having a skyhook change your skydive? Can you name some cons of the skyhook? I highly recommend reviewing incident reports from the last few years. Compare the number of low cutaways (where an RSL/skyhook could have made a difference) and the number of deaths due to reserve linetwists. You're welcome to your own gear choices and opinions, but please base them on facts. Dave

diablopilot may (WILL) have a different answer, but I'd say a skyhook is perfectly suited for all experience levels. The complexity it adds is mainly for the rigger to worry about. You should understand how the system works and what its limitations are. But it does not generally change anything. Your emergency procedures stay exactly the same. But if your body position is imperfect when you cut away or you mess up and cut away lower than you should, the skyhook might make all the difference. Dave

It may have an effect on exit separation, but not exit order, in my opinion. But still, most of the time, it should be trivial. There may be exceptions... a perfectly executed 2-way head down exiting before a solo sit that goes out facing the relative wind, for example. The exit order should probably be swapped. But moreso because the head down group will fall faster than the solo sit. But sure, there are other considerations when it comes to exit order. I just think people have a false impression of the importance of body position on exit compared to fallrate. Dave

Exit order should mainly be based on fallrate. Someone that is going to be going back and forth between belly and freeflying should exit after belly flyers and before freeflyers. You'd probably want to give that person extra exit separation too, since he'll probably be all over the sky. If I had the option, I'd want him out before me. Wait, that pretty much describes me when I try to freefly. Get out after me.

What discipline did that world champion compete in? Dave

Putting up your windblade next to "sponsor" wind blades might not fly. Putting up your wind blade on the grass next to the packing tent your brought with you and set up in an approved area to "mark your territory" is something different. The DZ can make any rules they want. I'd just hope that USPA wouldn't choose to host nationals at a DZ that won't let a team put up their own shade tent provided to them by their sponsor because the sponsor didn't pay a fee. Setting up an unauthorized booth at a trade show is something different. Displaying the name of your sponsor, which is probably in your team name, on your shade tent is not in the same league. Got my GetHypoxic sticker while in the video line at nationals... Isn't it silly that handing out stickers won't be allowed at this year's nationals? Dave

Some texans are getting a little defensive about this, huh? Spaceland folk are starting to sound like ASC folk. Scary stuff. Dave

How many teams have another DZ's name in their team name? If they put up a wind blade from their home DZ next to their packing tent, who cares? But I didn't even see anything like that at last years nationals. What I saw were some of the bigger teams with displays at their packing tents from their real sponsors (some non-skydiving-related). Maybe those teams will lose their sponsorships next year when the sponsors find out the teams can't advertise on their own packing tents. This is not an issue of confusion between official event sponsors and companies trying to pretend to be event sponsors. We're talking about packing tents. This is like telling a NASCAR team to put a tarp over their trailer because Tide didn't sponsor the event. I realize that everybody loves to defend the practices of their own DZs, no matter how shady they are. But let me be clear, these are shady practices and I hope USPA was duped and didn't know about this when they placed nationals there. My guess is that this idea came from a marketing company the DZ hired. Hopefully the DZ will realize the mistake they're making. Who benefits from this? I assume they can charge official sponsors more for exclusivity. Sure doesn't benefit USPA members. Dave