okalb

Chad, The top stow Mod does make a big difference as well. For some reason Sunpath will not offer this as an option even though people keep asking for them. Sally regularly adds top stows to javelin D-bags. Just bring it by the shop and she can do it. It doesn't cost much and really does make a difference. -OK Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

Tons of people who have never had a cutaway have a tendency to try to rip velcro rather than peel it. You don't have a very strong grip in the pillow and if you try to pull, your hand can slip off rather than pulling the pin. I know this has happened to people. I don't know any that have gone in from it, but it wasted precious time. I also remember something about Finland or Sweden banning them a year or so ago when a girl went in. My recollection was she tried to pull rather than peel and couldn't get a good enough grip due to the pillow. The whole thing was on video from the perspective of her camera. I don't remember all the details but it was posted here somewhere. Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

I use a hackey. I like the freefly handle in theory, but I am a pretty big guy and I have never felt comfortable grabbing the freefly handle. I find it to be an odd angle for a guy my size. Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

Pretty close to the javelin Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

Link no worky! Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

Yeah...what she said! Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

Don't go to Z-hills...that place sucks Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

OK, I am not trying to lecture you here, but there are still things that you don't understand. You have 77 jumps and are jumping a very docile canopy. There is absolutely no reason for you not to have an RSL. You think that you want to get stable before pulling your reserve after a cutaway. I'll tell you what. If you find yourself spinning on your back (which won't happen under your canopy) and you actually cutaway then get stable before pulling your reserve I will pay for your repack. I guarantee you won't. VERY few people do on their first mal. You will most likely pull your handles as fast as you can. Also, You can say all you want about the RSL causing problems, but as far as I know, nobody has ever died from an RSL fire (except the Racer double RSL system). On the other hand, there are countless deaths that an RSL probably would have prevented. The bottom line is there are reasons why people shouldn't use an RSL. I actually don't. But, you don't fit into any of the categories that would justify not having one. I am not trying to lecture you, but I really don't think you know enough or have enough experience yet to make the decision to not use a potentially life saving device. All that being said, you can do what you want. Just try to refrain from confusing other people about things that they and you don't fully understand yet. Keep in mind that to someone with 10 jumps someone with 77 jumps seems a lot more experienced than they really are. Once again I am not putting you down. We all had 77 jumps once, but try to leave the advice to people who are a little more knowledgeable about the subject. There are plenty of people here with LOTS of experience that can better explain things a lot than you probably can at this point. For now, just jump and have fun. I am really sorry if this comes off as condescending. It really wasn't meant that way, but I just continually read posts from newbies who think that because they have had a discussion or two with some experienced jumpers, they now have such a great understanding of the topic (whatever topic it may be) that they can preach their gospel to others. At 77 jumps, pay attention and try to learn all you can. There are lots of very experienced skydivers who have the "we didn't use them when I was a newbie so you don't need it" kind of an attitude. Times change...technology changes and if something that could potentially save you life with very little potential for problems is availble why would you not want to use it. I can list lots of people who are very experienced even current and former world champion skydivers who jump with RSLs if I thought it would change your mind. Anyway, I will stop rambling now, I just wanted to give you some things to think about. Flame away all! Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

While I agree that the decision to use an RSL or not is his, I firmly believe that he doesn't have the knowledge or experience to be advising those even less experienced than him on matters of safety. Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

Sorry but at 77 jumps you have no business giving advice on a safety device as important as an RSL. If you choose not to use one, that is your business. But a newbie giving safety advice to a newbie is just plain silly. At your level with the canopies that you are jumping there is absolutely no reason for you not to use an RSL, but that can be argued til the cows come home and obvioously you have already decided what you think is best for you. Please think before you give people advice. What is even funnier to me is that you missed the real safety concern. Other people may disagree with this, but I am not crazy about the idea of a newbie buying a rig with a pillow reserve handle. The greenies may have a problem with this post...if they do I appologize, but it needs to be said. -OK Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

I would vote against that as well. it is a complete waste of money. Hate crime laws make no sense. You prosecute someone for the crime they commited, not what they were thinking when they did it. Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

The draw is done in the evening before the competition begins so that nobody is able to practice the jumps before the competition starts. If they were allowed in the tunnel, they could practice the jumps from the draw and have an unfair advantage. -OK Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

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By your rationale, taking a canopy class is of no use because it only concentrates on one part of the skydive. Also, it is clearly not required to become a good canopy pilot. It does however speed up the learning process and hopefully make you a better and safer canopy pilot. Could you learn yourself by trial and error and watching other people...sure, but why not use the newer training methods that are available today. The same holds true for the tunnel. Sure you could learn everything on your own that you can learn in tunnel. Doing it in the tunnel substantially cuts down the learning curve. It also costs substantially less money than trying to learn it in the sky with a coach. Most of the people who have thousands of jumps and a great skydivers that have never been in the tunnel learned the hard way because that was the only way at the time. There are better ways to do things now why not take advantage of them. Sorry, but sitting on a plane and drinking with airspeed doesn't mean you know anything about how they learned to do what they do. I am pretty sure that if you asked most of them they will tell you that the tunnel has played a HUGE role in their ability to do what they do. As a matter of fact, a current airspeed member was brought on the team when she had less than 1000 jumps under her belt. That is thousands of jumps lower than the rest of the members..why was she so good. Well, she spent several years working at the wind tunnel. Just like you can show me people with thousands of jumps that have never been in the tunnel, I can show you people with under 100 jumps that can probably fly circles around them because they train in the tunnel -OK Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

Sorry for taking this thread off topic. Z-Hills and Deland both have excellent student operations and I have no preference other than the fact that z-hills is my home DZ. As for the SDU program, I really don't have enough info on what they do to be able to comment. I will say that tunnel time will help a great deal with your AFF as far as stability, turns and confidence go. Over the years at z-hills they have sent tons of students who were having trouble with their flying to the tunnel. If you do 10 minutes in the tunnel with someone who knows that you are going through AFF you will probably be doing all of the maneuvers required to graduate AFF by the time you are done with the session. I can speak first hand of a student who failed AFF level 3 six times. We took her to the tunnel for 15 minutes (roughly the cost of 1 level 3) and the next day she aced levels 4-7 and graduated. You don't need to do tunnel time while a student...it is by no means necessary, but if you have the opportunity to do it, I strongly recommend it. Also, SDU is not required to fly in the tunnel. You can either work with one of the numerous tunnel coaches or just book a few minutes of time and when you get there tell the tunnel instructor that you are going through AFF they will work with you on the skills that you need. Hope that helps -OK Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

He claims to know plenty of kick ass skydivers who have never been in a tunnel. My only response to that is this: I know plenty of people who are kick ass skydivers with thousands of jumps who have never been in a tunnel before as well. I have never met one who would not benefit from flying in the tunnel. It makes no difference how good you are, the flying in the tunnel will make you better. The guys from Majic and Airspeed and Alchemy and all of the other top teams are fantastic skydivers and most of them already were fantastic skydivers before ever flying in a tunnel...so why do they all spend so much time in the tunnel now...hrmmmm...I wonder. -OK Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

C'mon Ron he has made over 40 jumps and has been skydiving for a year, so obviously he knows enough to make a statement like that. Especially since he has never been in a tunnel. The fact that EVERY "modern" champion in both freeflying and RW have come to rely on the tunnel as an extremely valuable training tool means nothing. -OK Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

I wish I could say that it was the worst hit I took, but I took a hit 2 years ago that grounded me for a month. I still get sore from it sometimes. Organizing is a full contact profession. But its worth it. I have lots of fun when people aren't trying to kill me! -OK Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

Now that is comedy. That is what most Democrats had to say about Clinton lying about a blowjob. But according to Republicans lying about getting a blowjob from a fat chick is about as bad as it gets. Glad to see everyone has their priorities straight. Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

I couldn't agree more except that in this case it had more to do with the airport manager not getting the kickbacks from the dzo that he was asking for. When the dz refused to pay he decided it was time to run us off the airport. He won and the dropzone no longer operates at that location. Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

A few years ago my old DZ was having problems with the airport manager who didn't want us skydiving on the airport. He was constantly doing things to try to make us miserable. One day the plane full of 19 jumpers was just pulling away from the loading area and an FAA helicopter landed right in from of it blocking the path. The FAA guys made everyone get out of the plane and they checked everyone's reserve data cards as well as all of the pilot's paperwork. We were all kosher so they left. Airport manager was hiding off to the side the whole time laughing. Not sure what he told the FAA to get them to do that but he sure got their panties in a bunch. -OK Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

As far as I am concerned it is almost as bad a name as Icarus for a canopy. -OK Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

I don't mean any offense and I am in no way putting down the products of performance variable since I know nothing about their products, but could you think of a worse name for a gear manufacturer. Wouldn't "performance consistent" be much better. I mean the last thing I want in my gear is variable performance. -OK Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

All of the z-hills staff took the class together last month. Part of why we took the class was to learn new teaching techniques that we can use when teaching canopy control to our students. I was by far the least experienced person in the class. There were several people with 7 or 8 thousand jumps in the group. We all had a great time and learned a ton. You are never too old to learn new flying/safety/teaching techniques. I was so impressed with the class that I convinced all of the fun jumpers that I usually organize on the weekends to take the class. Scott is coming to z-hills this weekend to teach them all. I would recommend Scott's class to anyone no matter how much experience they have. This weekends classes has jumpers ranging from 75 jumps to over 1000. I am sure they will all be happy with the course layout and Scott's teaching skills. I also want to add that Skydivecity at Z-hills was nice enough to cover the cost of the entire class including the slots for all of the staff last month. TK wanted to make sure all of the instructors and staff were giving a consistent message. So he thought it would be good for us to take the class together. Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

OK, I really didn't want to do this, but since I brought it up I guess I have to. My experience with them has nothing to do with a neptune, but with an alti-3 altimeter. Someone brought up the fact that they do altimeter repairs and checks at boogies for free and that is great. My first complaint came from the fact that when you send them an altimeter they charge $50 to do the same repair that they do for free at a boogie. So my altimeter was no longer reading the correct altitude (probably due to me dropping it one too many times) I send it to them to be cleaned and calibrated...blah blah blah. When I first emailed them they told me it would take 6 weeks to get it back which I thought was odd since they do it on the spot at boogies. I asked if I could get a loaner from them while I waited the 6 weeks. They did not respond to my email at all the first time and the second time I was given a very rude absolutely not response. Ok, nothing I can do but send it to them, so I did. I waited about the 6 weeks to get it back and payed the $50. When I got it back, I did a jump on it and it was still reading wrong. I spoke to them and was told that they checked it and it was fine. I did another jump with 2 altimeters to compare and it was wrong. They said to send it back. I sent it back and they told me that it would be $50 for the cleaning and calibration. When I reminded them that they just did it and it still didn't work, they said that it was working when they send it to me and it would be $50 to fix it again. I fought and made a big enough deal that they finally did it without charging me the $50 the second time, but I was still without my altimeter for over 2 months and was extremely unhappy with the way I was treated. I will never buy another product from them again. I have since stopped using my alti-3 as it needs to be calibrated again and I refuse to give them another $50 of my money. That is my story. -OK Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana