jheadley

*sigh* This is why I don't post more often. What a constructive reply. I'm not trying to provide a fantasy solution to a real problem, I'm trying to find the reason for the problem.I'm not saying it doesn't ever happen, I know friends under both sport and tandem canopies that have had trouble cutting away. I'm just saying that it seems there is something else going on. Like Bill Booth said, if there is a hard cutaway, then something else is going on besides just the increased G force increasing the cable pull force. Incorrectly made 3 rings, stiff risers, pinched cutaway cables, dirty or non lubricated cutaway cables... A spinning mal would just amplify all of these (completely preventable) problems. Some TIs just plain forget to peel the handle off the velcro! If you've got a dropzone with 10 tandem rigs, think, how often do you clean the cables and flex the riser webbing? Most people don't do it enough, or at all. Instead of immediately blaming hard cutaways on fast spinning canopies, we should try to figure out why the hard cutaways actually happening. The mechanical advantage of a (properly made) 3 ring release seems to be more than adequate. For a hard cutaway on a strong tandem, you just found part of your answer on why they have hard cutaways in Mr. Booth's reply.

Do you think swooping will ever get to a point where one actually is going 90+ during a swoop? 90+ vertical speed =/= 90+ horizontal speed. Even if you go at 120 through the gates, I really hope that your vertical speed is (almost) zero at that moment I understand that, but what I'm saying is that the speed cypres doesn't seem to actually fix the problem. People thought that a person would never go fast enough (have a vertical descent rate of over 78mph below 750 feet) in a hook turn to activate a cypres. Well eventually the sport progressed enough that they did, and someone died. Now they made a new cypres with a slightly higher activation speed. How long is it going to be before that speed is reached during a hook turn and another person dies?

VERY good advice. Even though I'm considering a 135 for my next canopy purchase, I've demoed 5 different 150's (my current size), and just ordered another 150 demo. It's the only way you can compare accurately one canopy to another. In fact I think I've found all the performance increase I need in a XF2 149, going from a Sabre 2 150. You may find the same thing.

Some pictures from the last few halloweens

Here's a thread about 4 ring releases we had about a month ago http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2422383;search_string=four%20ring%20release;#2422383 The issue I brought up was not addressed though. Sparky gave a table listing various loadings on a 3 ring release and how much force it took to release it. Even under a very heavy load, the force shouldn't be that bad. With his table, with the extreme example of a 2000 pound load (I don't know a lot of physics but I believe that'd be equivalent to a 500 pound tandem pair spinning at 4 G's) with tandem sized 3 rings, it would only give 11 pounds of pull force, half the max pull force allowed for a reserve. That's 2000 pounds one a single 3 ring relase though. If 2000 pounds were distributed over 2 of them, like on a parachute, I don't know if that changes it. I know in physics a lot of things don't scale proportionally.

Eye witnesses are saying it's a small fixed wing aircraft

I think it may be more like that kid a couple years ago who comitted suicide when he crashed a little cessna into a building. I'm not counting on it being an accident since the airspace is so restricted, why would a plane be there anyway? Maybe a news helicopter though?

The fear of lung cancer is maybe 10% of the reason why I don't smoke. Even if smoking were found "good" for you, I still wouldn't because it's smelly and disgusting. I get sick to my stomach every time I'm around it, or just get in a smoker's car.

My college advisor was Cindy Crawford, and one of my Poly Sci professors was Richard Rich.

I'm always drunk or have the symptoms of being drunk in my dreams (staggering, crawling, unable to stand up or move, unable to see well, unable to speak well). Do you think that means anything? I'm a light drinker in real life. Serious question.

If any of you are around college age, when you male friend asks abou skydiving, just tell them that it's too dangerous and XTREEEME for them. That'll just make them want to do it more

A picture from last year's halloween boogie.

Doesn't tom cruise already have a D license supposedly?

It seems like the general trend I've noticed is that the chance of a line-over is greater with a larger canopy. As to whether it's just naturally more prone to lineovers, or it's just easier to pack them, that's debatable, probably both are true. I can't think of anyone I know or have heard of personally who has had a lineover on a canopy under 200 square feet.

I like the freefly handle on my Javelin. It feels more secure than a hackey. Although I do admit it did take me some time to get used to it.

I did a couple jumps on a Spectre 150 and LOVED it, after 200 jumps on a Sabre 2 150. It's got probably 90% of the performance of a Sabre 2 with much nicer openings.

I lost the docking station to my PC 109 and need a new one. Sony sells them for 75 dollars. Does anyone know where I could get one for cheaper? PC 109, great camera except for that stupid docking station.

Who knows, you might even get to meet the infamous Ryan Turner.

I sent my neptune away to get a cracked screen replaced. Less than 2 weeks later, I had it back and they gave me free neptune armor and a new battery. Good service.

This is my favorite boogie of the year. Skydive The Point has some incredible RW jumpers.

Would this explain how on some canopies, if it snivels for a very long time, it finally inflates with a bang because of the increased airspeed in the upright position?

Here's a neat ground-to-air video of one too http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=3811&string=bag%20lock

I packed and inspected a demo Katana 150 yesterday, it seemed like it had maybe 100 +/- jumps on it, and the mesh on the slider was already showing signs of wear and tear. Maybe the fact that it's a demo means it gets abused more than normal?

Also having a reward card just gives you a reason to buy more stuff, even if you do pay it off every month. So more $$$ for the cc company. I have a reward card, but only use it for gas purchases, since you can never buy too much gas.

http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=1937&string=tandem%20cutaway That's a video of a tandem having a streamer. You can see it falls slower than the videographer. I think it'd be similiar for a solo under a sport canopy.