rhino

I replace mine every 500 jumps. No questions asked.

Amazing animal killed for no reason.

Now we are getting somewhere.. Let's get the fundamentals of swooping defined.. What do you think they are? I think it starts with slow speed flight and accuracy. I think it starts with using front risers not to swoop or gain speed but to get out of the air under a bigger canopy on high wind days to keep from going backwards. I was on a Falcon220 in Texas. The only reason I didn't bust my ass in a cow field is because I was able to s-turn with front risers and get my airspeed high enough to not be going backwards on landing. That's what people should work on first? I don't hear any of these people saying what they used front risers for first? If they started in double fronts just to swoop they missed a step and are wrong. They should first be learned to get out of the air quickly for safety reasons. Stage 1 a. Flat Turns with minimal loss of altitude (doing nothing but flying around on the slow speed edge of the wing and getting very familiar with it's tendencies) b. Accuracy in "full flight" (hitting the p's) c. Sinking in on the p's, "slow flight" d. Front risers ONLY to get out of high winds e. Planned primary and secondary flight pattern based on traffic (if you fail to plan you are planning to fail) d. Walking the intended landing area and checking for obstacles, picking up debris. e. Knowing wing direction (uppers and lowers) and knowing where rotors might be coming from. f. Not flying over anything they won't be happy landing in. and on and on and on and on... This is just stage 1... Jumper should be able to have 20/20 standup landings before we get into stage 2. 100% stand-ups with no exceptions. Let's hash this out and get a progression laid out that we can all at least partially agree on. Rhino

Sucks to be you. I wish you knew what I know. Without the faith that I have learned and come to know as truth their would be an emptiness in my life like no other. I went to a church I have never been to in my life about 6 months ago and a man walked up to me. A blind man. He grabbed both of my hands and said "God wants you to know that he will be the father you have always longed for if you would only let him". He walked away. I found out later that this man is an actual profit. Interesting. No one but God knew what was on my mind at that time and I had not shared that sadness with anyone, ever. God is very much alive. God is very much real.

AND if he gets in the corner he is low and slow under a wing that won't turn a corner if told to do so in time. It's not safe. Under what he is flying he should not be doing more than double fronts and let up at 50 feet or so. Learning to fly the canopy with extra energy on landing.

IF you go over 1.8 you are going past the sweetspot of that canopy. Go bigger and put on weight if you need to.

Here it is. Not me flying the canopy but I'm pretty positive it's the same one.

No prob. We all need to be reminded what's important. What matters. To me it's my kids. Love my kids. I exist for them.

Remember to look down or up at your youngster today and to tell them how proud you are to have them as your son or daughter. Appreciate them. Hug them, kiss them, smother them! Make a fun day with each of your children and have THEM show you how to have fun. It isn't about what YOU feel like doing. It's about our kids having FUN!!!! Enjoy your kids! They are only kids once! We are SO VERY LUCKY to be parents. I thank God a hundred times a day for my children. I am so very proud of all of them and I feel lucky to be their Dad! Good Day All! Rhino

Well shiver mee timbers.. lol Another very good point. If I were anything below 1.8 today I would be jumping an airlocked canopy. IT's just safer and better in turbulence.. At the lower loadings of 1.2 or less I would be on a seven cell like a triathlon. Rhino

Understandable. That's why I push coaching. Progressing at the rate I have would not have been possible without Charlie Mullins and Derek V. (hooksnswoop). The problem is people starting to swoop take advice from too many people at once. I picked my coaches. Charlie was (obviously) the best at what he was doing "Mullins DZ use to be my home" and Derek (hooksnswoop) had a perfect safety record flying a vx60. Not only that he was "is" one of the most intelligent (IQ AND Common Sense) people I've ever known. He didn't JUST say get under a wing at 1.4-1.6.. I was given instructions and drills on planning my outs. Where to fly. Where not to fly. Walking my runway before swooping. Primary and secondary swoop lanes. When to abort (if ANYTHING doesn't feel wrong). Not to swoop if I am feeling under the weather. So many things MUST be right and all it takes is ONE thing to go wrong and it's over. I take canopy flying VERY seriously. Do the math, at 800 jumps (600 being hop-n-pops from 14k) I probably have more canopy time then most people. That's not bragging. I WORK at flying my canopy. I love it. It's the only reason I jump out dem planes! I would like nothing more than to some day be a canopy coach and teach people the same things I was drilled on early. I understand completely that I am an absolute EMBRYO in swooping. I'm a white belt for Gods sake. I have everything to learn and very little to offer. All I do when offering advice is passing the things I learned from people like Charlie Mullins (vx59) and Derek (vx60). I am speaking of what I learned from them. And not a damned person on this forum can say they didn't and don't know what they are doing. Luck. Hard work. Humility. Common Sense. Good coaching. Self honesty. Great depth perception. Preflight routine. Plan. All necessary and equally important. (that guy) needs to have a plan. A coach. some patience and a ton of common sense. And with a little luck he won't bounce and his bag of experience will fill up before his bag of luck runs out. Rhino

Safire always a nice diving canopy. Sorry I'm getting people mixed up on here. That canopy might not feel mushy to you now.. If you knew what a canopy at 2.0 felt like you would know what I mean. The smaller I've gone the easier the canopies get to fly. My opinion. Where I am at now for example.. I thought the Crossfire2 at 2.0 was responsive. Well it was very responsive actually. VERY. The FX86 I am on now beats it by probably 20% in all avenues. As I progress I'm amazed at the capability of these wings..

Bottom line people.. Everything that goes up will come down. Our government is out of control. The ego of the past half a dozen or so administrations pretty much dooms the us govt. Everyone wants to take a shot at the bully and that's what we have been. bullies in the eyes of most. I love my country. I don't love how it is run. Russians would have never thought their country would have fallen and broken apart. It happened. The US could easily fall and break apart. It could happen. I don't think it will it could. We are a country of resourceful and resilient people. We could and likely survive as a country of people through anything. Now.. While our govt isn't perfect it's better than most. I LOVE my country. I'm ashamed of congress and the white house and the way that they have conducted themselves..

Then you need to upsize. The fact that you are getting into tight spots under bigger canopies without swooping speaks to your judgement and training. DO NOT downsize. Take a canopy course and learn to fly slow. Learn to flat turn. Learn what the rock point of your canopy is. The questions you are asking are good but insecure in nature. If you don't understand some of the basic things that are being said in here you are by no means ready to get under a higher wing loading. GO BIG.

He's not swooping so it isn't an issue. Shorter recovery arcs are dangerous in my opinion. I don't care who disagrees. At 1.6 I can start my turn at 4-500 feet. At 1.2 I'm 2-250 feet with a mushy canopy over my head and very little altutude to work with. I bounced at 1.2 under a triathlon. Got my ass chewed because I was flying a canopy that wasn't meant to be swooped. Recover arc was much too shallow. We'll just have to agree to disagree. I don't think at 300 jumps if his record and training is good 1.6 is too much. However like I said. If he's not swooping their is no reason for him to downsize like that or even be under that loading.... When I got serious about swooping I was instructed to go between 1.4-1.6 wing loading for the recovery arc. Not killing myself while going through that process was due to common sense and the coaching I was getting. Coaching is EXTREMELY important. Rhino

If you aren't swooping their really isn't any reason for you to go smaller. 1.2-1.3 where you are should do you fine.

Depends on his coaching and standup landings. Has he mastered slow speed flight yet before going fast? Just started jumping my FX86 at 2.2 this weekend. All I did was a TON of flat turns, stalls, sinking and riding the slow speed rail.. I have to know when it can do. Drop it in a back yard if I need to. At 300 jumps I was on a Diablo110 at 1.8. Had all standups and great coaching. Who is coaching this gentleman? What has he learned? How many hop-n-pops from altitude has he done to get the feel for his canopies? Swooping at 1.23-1.3 to me is very dangerous. 1.6 on a sabre2 is perfect with a longer recovery arc and better performance from his canopy. 1.6 should do him fine with a plan and coaching. IF he head is in the right place.. That cool video shit kills people! Rhino

Put 4 jumps on the fx86 today. Nice canopy Flies kind of like a Diablo with that thin bottom end and all. Speed is good. Harness turns are more. Dive is about 20% better than the xf2-97 was. Bottom end seems good but will know for sure on a no wind day. Openings are a tad on the WAKE UP side. snivel, snivel, snivel BAM.. lol Front riser pressure is extremely tolerable. Not much different at all than the xf2 I was jumping. Over all the FUN just got injected back into my canopy flying.

Any reason you can't use a slink to attach the canopy to your d-bag?

The canopy is beautiful and crisp. Needs a reline at the end of the season for sure but other than that very nice,

Picked my son up today from his moms.. Door step to door step 125 miles.. 51.7 mpg average for the trip.. Mostly highway. Awesome!!!!

Serves the little punk ass right....... http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,162684,00.html

Opinions are like assholes. All of us have them and some stink more than others. I'll pray for you anyways.

Tijuana

Prayer without faith doesn't do any good.