jheadley

Conundrum has very nice eyes, she should post a pic. Also shannon had really nice eyes too.

"chad had taken out his AAD sometime before the accident because he was going to do a regular water jump (not wingsuit) into the blue hole...but that jump got weathered out." That's from the thread about the fatality in belize. This man only planned on jumping without his CYPRES for a little while but when he needed it, it wasn't there. You only need it once to save your life.

Last week a guy at my dz had a PCIT and tried to reach back to pull the pin manually. His CYPRES saved him. In his case, it was a misrouted bridle, and all the pulling in the world wouldn't have done anything. Don't waste time with a pilot chute in tow, although from 7K you would have some time to try to fix it, but still I think the whole "reach back and pull your pin" idea is not a good EP, as proven above. I think if you can see your pilot chute fully inflated behind you, then it's especially pointless. Doesn't a pilot chute have around 100-200 pounds of drag force? A lot more than your arm.

Like said before, BODY POSITION BODY POSITION BODY POSITION I have about 300 jumps on 2 different Sabre 2's, and was very pissed off by the constant off heading openings (180+ degrees), then I demoed an elliptical. I got line twists on half the jumps. Obviously my body position was not as good as I thought. I learned to straightened out my body position and when I went back to the Sabre 2, I had MUCH better openings, usually only about 90 degrees off during the final inflation, which I could quickly correct with a harness turn. Also I had usually been either leaving my nose straight out, or rolling 4 and 4 in, or just making one fold 4 and 4 in, and I kept getting the off heading openings. In the past 10 jumps, I haven't been rolling or folding the nose at all, just gently pushing it into the packjob a few inches (NOT stuffing it all the way in), and focusing on cupping and quartering the slider, and in the past 10 jumps, I'd say 7 or 8 have been completely on heading with the other 2 or 3 just a 90 off. I don't know why but it's working for me. The fact that I've had 8 openings on heading out of the past 10 is incredible considering in the previous ~290 I hadn't even had 8 on heading openings total. A sabre 2 IS a semi eliptical canopy, so it is more sensitive than most others. Keep your head level, shoulders straight, feet and knees together and level. There was an article by Scott Miller about improving openings by improving body position in a recent issue of Skydiving Magazine. Also make sure your line stows are good. I really think people spend so much time on flaking the canopy and all that stuff that they neglect the importance of good line stows. I'm demoed a lot of different canopies and I keep coming back to my Sabre 2. I really think It's great.

An AFF student asked me other day that his instructor told him that a pilot chute had 200 pounds of drag force, so does that mean if you weigh less than 200 pounds can you land under your pilot chute.

I took one, biggest waste of money ever.

That's a pretty broad indictment of packers. I've actually had a packer *shorten* my closing loop because it was too loose (and yes, she even asked before she did it). Drove me nuts when I packed it next because I can't get it in the bag quite as neatly and tightly as she does, but she definitely had my safety in mind. I tend to pack for myself about 70-75% of the time, so the closing loop length's gotta work for me, too! Fact is whoever's packing the rig (whether it's a paid packer or the jumper) often grabs whatever bands are around. As I said earlier I have my preferred configuration, but if there's only large bands available when a non-locking stow breaks, I'll use one and double-band it. (But I usually try to prevent that problem by carrying a good supply of both large and small bands with me). I'm a packer and I had a guy complain when I shortened his closing loop because the rig didn't look as good.

I work at a dropzone that rents a hanger on a relatively busy municipal airport. There's a little gazebo with picnic tables and a coke machine that I hang out at on nice weather days to get on the internet on my laptop. I get a wireless connection from the medevac building, I've talked to them about it and they're fine with that. Today a woman came up to me and told me that I had to unplug my computer from the electrical outlet in the gazebo. She said that she was the one who had to pay for the electricity and that I couldn't use it. I immediately pulled out my wallet and offered to pay her to use it (I actually pulled out a 10 dollar bill, for the couple cents of electricity I was actually using, to try to please her), I think that's fair enough for me to pay to use someone else's electricity. She refused and still just said I had to unplug it, in a very unnecessarily nasty manner, and then walked away. Oh well, I just unplugged my computer, and stayed there for another 30 minutes or so running on battery power. This woman never told me who she was, I don't know if she was the airport owner, or just rented a hanger, or what, but I plan to find out and try to talk to her about it in a reasonable manner. My first impression of her was basically "Wow, what a bitch", and I'm sure she doesn't think too much of me either, so that may be difficult. However I don't know her story, and she doesn't know mine, so really neither of us have no real idea what the problem is and the whole thing may just be a misunderstanding. For example, in the beginning the MedEvac guys thought I was just some random guy who came to the airport to steal their internet connection but when I explained to them that I work at the dropzone and live in a tent on the airport they were ok with me using their internet. It's funny how you can develop an impression of someone in just a few seconds of meeting them, when you really know nothing about them. This woman really just acted like a bitch to me when she was yelling at me, but I bet that if we had met under different circumstances earlier she would have been a pretty nice person. I'm sure she has a family and friends who love her and think she's a great person. I think it's like that a lot when people don't like each other. Some people are just complete douchebags, true, but I think most people are pretty good people and feelings of dislike just come from misunderstandings. I think if people could just communicate their thoughts and feelings better there wouldn't be as many fights and hard feelings. So tomorrow I'm going to try to find out who the airport owner is and see what is actually going on, instead of just coming to the conclusion that this woman is a big meany.

I took advantage of HiPer's free demo program and tried out a Nitro 135. I originally requested a 150 but Beezy explained to me that they fly a size big so I tried a 135. I'm not really sure if I believe it really flies big though. The stall speed is definitely much lower, and the canopy will shut down to a complete stop on even a no wind day, but I think a 135 sized canopy that "flies big" would still slam you into the groud just as much as a normal 135 if an accidental low turn were made, so be cautious with your downsizing if you try one. Anyway, the demo 135 that was suppose to be sent to me ended up being bought by the person demoing it, so beezy sent me a brand new 135 right out of the factory, never been jumped. The material that the canopy is made out of is different from most, it's more "waxy" than it is slippery, and it's VERY easy to pack even when brand new. The lines were black HMA lines, which I liked and didn't like. I understand the tiny little lines decrease drag but since I'm not a super-swooper they didn't really matter to me. The non-cascaded lines make it very easy to replace lines, but they also make making clean line stows more difficult and the lines seemed to like to knot up when walking the lines up while packing, which got me worried about tension knots but I have since learned that that is not the same as a tension knot in the air. The slider kill line system is kind of strange, it's sort of like a drawstring used to close a duffel bag. I've read that you'd get used to it and like it but after 26 jumps I still got annoyed by it. Openings are nice, consistent (~600 feet) and usually on heading. Nicer than any Sabre 2 I've ever jumped. Toggle turns are fun and quick, but not as quick as a same-sized Stiletto. Length of the recovery arc seemed to be a little shorter than a Sabre 2 135,but definitely longer than a Stiletto 135. It seems like it'd make a good canopy to learn how to swoop on. Moderate front riser pressure, but easy to keep in a dive. A little bit of front riser oversteer, but not a big deal. One great thing about the canopy is that it is extremely stable in line twists. Flies completely straight for mild line twists and the most severe one I had, it was just a very slow turn. No diving or spinning like the Stiletto (Or Sabre 2!) I think this is a great canopy for someone looking for a first eliptical, since it's nice and fun to fly but is also relatively tame. Also Beezy Shaw is very pleasant to deal with, whether on email, phone, or in person. The customer service is excellent. For reference, I wingloaded the canopy at 1.5, have 400 jumps and the past 150 on a Sabre 2 150. I've made 10 or so jumps on various Sabre 2 135's Stiletto 135's, and Samurai 136's. I put 26 jumps on the Nitro 135 in a 2 week period. If I'm going to rate a canopy as 5 stars (like most people do on reviews) then it means it's practically perfect, so this is why I only gave it 4 stars. The Nitro is a great canopy, no doubt about that but there is room for improvement. I will definitely recommend it to people, though.

Regarding HMA lines, I demoed a Nitro and put 26 jumps on it, it definitely seemed to knot up a lot, and I did have a tension knot on a jump but it cleared. However like they said it may be because of the coating on it. It was brand new and didn't seem to knot up as badly when I packed it for the 20-25th time as the 1-10th. Also I have a Sabre 2 150 right now that I'm flying. This question was more out of curiousity than anything else. I plan to stick with my current canopy for a while longer. I'm taking a very slow progression, I've got about 120 double-front riser landings, and am only beginning to try turning approaches.

It's pretty much generally agreed on that for good swooping, you want a canopy with a long recovery arc (e.g. dives a lot). But what about when you're *learning* how to swoop? I've heard a lot of different opinions. Some say that you still want a long recovery arc so you can turn high, straighten out, and carry that extra speed to landing. Others say you want a short recovery arc, since when you make a mistake, like everyone does when they first learn anything, and turn too low, you will be able to dig out of it faster. I know a competitive swooper with 6000 jumps who says the best canopy to learn to swoop on is a Stiletto, because it has such a short recovery arc, however from reading this board, most people would disagree with that. There seems to be a balance, though, like with pretty much everything in life. An extremely short recovery arc would give you a bad habit of hooking it low, but also nobody really recommends learning how to swoop on a Katana or a Velocity, or any canopy with a whole lot of dive. Thoughts?

keep in mind that's if you're actually busy I'm a full time packer and I made 20 dollars last week. So far this week I've made 15... You may only make 6 dollars an hour working at McDonalds but at least you have work when it's rainy/cloudy/windy/slow business/etc.

At Sky's the Limit in PA it's $6 for canopies 170 sq feet and under, 7 dollars for 171+, and 10 for tandems. (Begin huge debate.... nnnow... )

8-9 minutes fast, 11-12 minutes comfortably. 5-6 minutes if I really need it quick. (Yes I do time myself with a stop watch )

I think that depends on the person. I know people with 1000's of jumps who shouldn't be coaching anybody and others with 100 jumps who would be great at it. Before they changed the rating structure you could get a static line JM rating at 100 jumps (C license back in those days). I was teaching first jump courses and tossing first jump s/l students out of the plane at just over 100 jumps and 9 months in the sport. Personally I think the coach rating is a safer way of getting people into instructing than how I did it, since technically those that a coach is working with are self-jumpmastering. I got my coach rating 8 months after getting my A and while I still in hindsight think this was too early, especially because my flying skill was not there yet, what I do think it helped me with a lot was that my own experiences as a student was still very vivid in my memory, and I was able to relate to a student well and see things from his point of view (e.g., sensory overload, tunnel vision, door fear). I believe being able to relate to what a student feels and how he/she thinks is very important to be a good teacher. I've met coaches who have completely forgotten what it's like to be a student and they get frustrated working with them, and they are negative and critical of the student, and it makes me sad .

On the other hand, I've met some USPA coaches who also have no business jumping with students (for example, myself at 120 jumps, when I got my rating) I think this new rule is ok as long as the D license holder has at least 100 or so RW jumps and has a briefing on the rules of flying with students.

Quote It is most likely that the riser cover was torn by the speed and ferocity of the opening. Instead of a nice smooth extraction, the risers went from stowed to unstowed in .0003 seconds. This could easily be the cause of the spin after opening but not the hard opening its self. This would indicate that the canopy was almost fully open at line stretch. Or became open almost instantly afterwards. Quote What he meant was that the cutaway cable housing on the riser was torn almost off, not the riser covers on the rig. The rigger thought that it may have been from the slider shooting down the lines so fast, it went past the risers and ripped off the cable housing.

The BSRs say that a student needs "a functional automatic activation device that meets the manufacturer's recommended service schedule" on all jumps.

(In my non-expert opinion...) How good are you at putting the canopy in the bag? If the canopy is bagged poorly the tail can unwrap and the slider can creep down the lines. The slider grommets need to be completely against the stops. The slider just a few inches down the lines can cause a hard opening. I've always heard leaving too little line between the last stow and the risers could cause line twists, I've never heard anyone say it could cause a hard opening, and I don't really see how it could. I saw your lines, it was pretty strange. All your suspension lines were in great shape but your two steerings line were really worn and frayed. The previous owner may have never untwisted the lines, which would cause premature wear. So a worn line and a hard opening = broken line. Congratulations, and good job on not relying on the RSL.

doesn't she have a camera suit on too? (watched in in a plane...)

I was on a jump at Dublin where a guy got a pin check in the plane and the guy checking it said he couldn't see color in his pilot chute window. They showed it to the organizer and he pulled about 2 inches of kill line out and he still couldn't see any color. The guy decided to ride the plane down, which was a good choice, but he asked if it could be repacked in the plane. People said he couldn't but I thought I could have at least pulled out the pilot chute and manually tested it, then repacked it quickly. Popping the pin, cocking the pc, closing the container and repacking the pilot chute may have not been possible, but just just pulling out the pc, seeing if it will catch air, and the packing it again I think could definitely be done. Is this just something that should never be done in a plane? This was in a CASA that was a little over half-full, and the problem was actually found around 7000 feet (we exited at 15000) Also, one guy kept yelling at him, "Turn your CYPRES off! It'll fire when you ride the plane down! Turn it off!" Will that actually happen? I can see if he had a student CYPRES or an FXC he may want to do that, but a regular CYPRES I know fires at 750 feet at 78mph, and I really don't think a plane has a vertical descent rate of 78 mph at 750 feet, it'd be about 4 seconds from impact. I'm not a pilot but I think at 750 feet a CASA would be leveled out and gently descending in it's landing pattern.

I've seen people with hundreds of jumps who see the crossports for the first time and freak out, so don't feel bad. Heard this one the other day, "So if I graduate this "AFF" program, can I jump with my snowboard after that?"

my club loves nicknames, everyone has one but most of them are sort of lame, but my favorite one is Groundhog, who one time in freefall saw his shadow below him on a cloud layer, and thought it was another person so he kept trying to track away from it but it kept following him.

I've got spreadsheets that track exit altitude, deployment altitude, distance traveled in freefall, distance traveled under canopy, what planes I jump out of, what dropzones I jump at, what canopies I jump, and also what types of jumps I make (RW small group, RW large group, freefly, RW video, CRW video, etc.), and probably some other things that I've forgotten... They're not fancy formulas or anything, though.

I just saw V for Vendetta today and while I thought it was a very good movie, I'm amazed I haven't really heard anything about it, since it seems like it'd be very very controversial and would actually anger a lot of people, for one Americans and also British people who have lived with terrorism for decades and recently had a terrorist bombing in London . For those who haven't seen it, it takes place in England around 2020. England has become a completely totalitarian and oppressive fascist government, much like in "1984" and there are lots of Nazi references in the movie also. The hero is basically a "terrorist" who's mission is to blow up the British Parliament building and take down the government. He says, (roughly quoted) "A building is a symbol, and destroying that building is also a symbol". This had me thinking of the World Trade Center. I believe the terrorists chose that building because it was one of the main symbols of America and Capitalism, and destroying it was also a huge symbol. There's also a famous quote, "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter." The government calls this man, "V" a terrorist but he sees himself as a freedom fighter, I believe. The government in this movie is so terrible that I think most people would think that V's fight is morally right, but it makes you think. There are lots of terrorist groups around the world that consider themselves to be freedom fighters. Also, in the US, Timothy McVeigh said he was defending the Constitution when he blew up the Alfred P. Murrah Building. I firmly believe in the 2nd Amendment and I believe that it is the duty of a citizen to remove or change a government that is too oppressive, either peacefully or through force, but the question is when does that point come? I certainly don't think we're there yet in the US, but there are some people, like Timothy McVeigh, and groups, who do. I know a lot of V's killing was just for revenge but I definitely do think the main theme of the movie was to question whether it is morally right to take down an oppressive government through violence. (Also I know that Timothy McVeigh and the other terrorists I mentioned kill innocent people, so they're not perfectly accurate real world examples but you get the idea of what I'm trying to say) Also... Natalie Portman is a hottie even as a cueball!