crotalus01

1. 142 2. 4 malfunctions, 2 cutaways 3. First was jump #52, linetwists I could not kick out. Second was a stepthrough that passed a controlabilty check so I landed it (my fault, I packed in a hurry to make the load). Third was 9 broken lines on deployment that put me on my back in a violent spin, and fourth was my reserve on that same jump which had multiple linetwists that I finally got kicked out at about 300 feet. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...

My second tandem was a training jump before my AFF (I was in Hawaii and didnt want to start AFF until I got back to the mainland). I pulled the ripcord on that jump. Turns out a packer misrouted the ripcord and nothing happened when I pulled - the instructor pulled the opposite side ripcord when we got no opening shock, but in that small amount of time I did look to see that I had the ripcord in my hand. So yes, I buy that he looked at the ripcord in his hand. Dont think it was faked at all. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...

Thanks for the info. I was just trying to recalculate my WL. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...

Okay, so the bottom line is that I am now jumping a 170 even though Icarus measures it as 189 square feet? As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...

I recently switched from a Sabre 1 190 to a Safire 1 189 after my Sabre tried to kill me and was shredded in the process. I know the Safires have odd square footage numbers, and was wondering what the actual sq footage of the 189 is - I have heard it is closer to 180 sq feet but wanted to see if anyone here knows. Thanks. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...

Best advice given here IMO is to pack it yourself.I transitioned from a Sabre (original) 190 to a Safire 189 after my Sabre opened so hard it broke 9 lines. The first 10 or so jumps on the Safire the openings were horrible - off heading, diving, etc. Turns out it was all in my packing. On my Sabre I had to roll the nose really tight to keep from getting slammed - well, rolling the nose like that on a Safire makes one side inflate before the other, leading to the squirrely openings. I experimented a bit with different packing techniques and now have exteremely soft, consistant head-on openings. Best bet would be get with PD and see what they recommend on packing... As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...

Anyone know what days they are open, and what kind of plane they have? Been to the website but no info there, and no contact info other than a phone # (no answer). I will be in the area in about two weeks and would like to sneak in a jump or 3 if they are open while I am there... As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...

Thanks for the link Andy, I had already read that manual before we started flying close. All we are doing is bumping end cells, we decided the risk of trying docks with microline and trailing pilot chutes was more than the reward (for now). If I ever get enough money to attend a camp I will. For whoever asked about cutaways, I have 2 - one low speed with no RSL and one high speed (multiple broken lines and spinning on my back at 2600') with an RSL resulting in 9 complete linetwists on my reserve. I got them out in time to avoid some powerlines and stood it up in the middle of a soybean field. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...

Thanks guys. We have a small boogie this weekend, maybe I will get lucky and someone with some experience will show up. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...

Thanks for the guidance...Noone else will touch this question it seems... As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...

I jump at a DZ where noone is much interested in CRW (or downright scared of it). A buddy and I are wanting to try some simple stuff - I am flying a SaFire 189 at 1.3, he is flying a Nitron 135 at 1.3. We have done several hop and pops from altitude and have bumped end cells, flown close etc - our forward speeds are almost the same, he sinks a bit more than I do but nothing that cant be fixed using brakes. What would be the best way for us to try some simple CRW like a 2 stack? Just commit and fly his center cell into the back of my legs and have me grab his canopy and hook my feet into his lines? I have read plenty and watched several videos, and have a good idea what to do but wanted to ask you experienced folks. Important point - both of us are broke and cannot afford to travel to another DZ where some experienced CRW dawgs are at. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...

Just make sure you are not still spinning up when you try to spread your risers - I stupidly did that while still spinning and got my right hand wrapped over 3 times. Fortunately I was able to stop spinning up and was able to get my hand free and get all the twists out (I was briefly knocked out from the opening and still groggy when I tried to spread my risers while still spinning - was jumping an original Sabre 190 that has since blown up and been retired). As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...

There was no call to treat him abusively like that. Skygod attitudes like that suck ass. I disagree on both points. How uncommon sense is to shake the sand out through the openings (nose) of the canopy ? It doesn't take a skygod attitude or any jumps to figure out that sand comes out through where it came in. reply] I guess you have never gotten sand into anything. It doesn't just shake out, or just blow out. The shit is as bad as velcro. I guess you missed it is an airlocked canopy which would prevent shaking the sand out of the nose with any ease. Sometimes folks here should stop being canopy nazis and just answer the question asked or shut the fuck up . To the OP - sorry dude, no ideas here. If I was you I would just jump it and let the relative air blow as much sand out as it can. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...

Thanks for the ideas, guys. I will post tomorrow after I jump and let youse know how it went.... As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...

Vectran lineset, less than 200 jumps on lineset (was told around 150 maybe 200 max). Once it opens it flies great, flares great. No turns in full flight unless I give harness or toggle input. So you think rolling the nose may be the contributing factor for the openings I have had? I will get a buddy to pack for me tomorrow, stress to him to leave the nose alone, jump it and see what happens... Thanks for the advice

I recently bought a new (to me) SaFire 190 after my Sabre 190 blew up on me. I have about 15 jumps on the SaFire, and every opening has been a nasty, off heading spinner. I thought maybe I was doing something wrong while flying the opening so I got a friend to jump it - same result. When we reviewed his video, it showed the left side of the canopy completely inflated well before the right side, causing it to dive hard and try and spin up until the other side opened. He told me he threw out at 4,500' and finally had it flying in control at 2,300'. The lines have been examined by my rigger and appear to be okay, the canopy has about 150 jumps on it and was owned by a CReW dog, so I am pretty sure it was not a squirrely opening canopy. My question is, could I be causing this problem with the way I am packing it? All my previous jumps (besides AFF) have been on a hard opening Sabre 190, and I have been packing this canopy the same way I packed my Sabre - roll the hell out of the nose and tail. Any suggestions? As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...

Just wanted to say THANKS to Mike for getting Luigi to teach the canopy course - It was awesome. I learned so much about flying my canopy, and I am much better for it. If you can get Luigi back at a future date I would take the course again. Thanks Mike!!

What is the total number of jumps to complete the canopy course? I am very interested but want to know I have enough $$$ to cover all the jumps. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...

Why bother? They will either experience it for themselves or not (mostly not in my experience). As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...

Not relevant to AFF necessarily, but a waveoff most definitely can and does save lives...I know from personal experience as I am sure many others here do. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...

Did you end up finding the cutaway main canopy? Same night, or in the morning when it got bright again? Found the main and freebag the next morning - it was too dark to look for it by the time I landed my reserve. In retrospect I kinda wish it had gotten lost. Jump 123 was a hellacious slammer (bag strip I think) that resulted in 9 broken lines, a torn port and me spinning on my back - I did manage to keep my handles on that one, even after having about 8 linetwists on my reserve... As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...

Remington 870 12 gauge pump pistol grip. Best home defense weapon ever, especially if you Form 1 it and cut the overall length to 16". As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...

The "training center" issue aside, didnt USPA have this same basic concept with the Falcon and Eagle awards? I understand they were done away with due to lack of people applying for them. Why not just ressurect those awards (maybe modified a bit), and do away with the training center designation? As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...

Excellent advice but just to clarify - I was spinning on my back with multiple broken lines and knew I was low. It was an immediate 1-2 punch right and left. No chance (or even thought) about arching hard, getting stable etc. For as large a canopy as I (used to) jump it was a really hard and fast spinning mal. And I walked away

Don't know how you learned.. But I was taught : Look and grab R Look and grab L etc etc... by not looking, you could grab something else... Actually I was taught look grab, look grab, peel punch, peel punch. At the time however my hands went straight to the handles no problems (in gloves no less). Maybe I just got lucky, but I do make it a habit to touch my handles multiple times before each jump so I think muscle memory may have played a role. At any rate, I walked away from it with nothing more than a sore neck/back and some bruises