maxdog

I’ve been asked to coach an up and coming CF team based at Headcorn and they speak very highly of the place. Unfortunately I can’t give my opinion of the DZ as I’m not allowed to jump there as only “local” jumpers are allowed to do CF at Headcorn…. PH36 Canopy Formation Team. www.skydive99.com www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/PH36-Canopy-Formati

Our team suggested this to the British Parachute Association (BPA) competitions committee last year but we were ridiculed, even though only 2 or 3 teams ever turn up to competitions. I think the comment was “we tried that 20 years ago and it didn’t work” In our opinion and after speaking to less experienced or casual CF jumpers it’s a just what is needed to get more people involved. Often the casual jumper will only do 15 or 20 crew jumps a year and to expect them to enter a full sequential competition when they’ve hardly done any offset docks is very discouraging and is asking for trouble. We did run a 2 way rotations competition at this years UK Army championships and had a lot of interest, much more than the regular “official” BPA events. Maybe one day the BPA will join the 21st century and start to listen to its members who are actually out there travelling around the country and competing. PH36 Canopy Formation Team. www.skydive99.com www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/PH36-Canopy-Formati

Thanks for all the advice. The 160 Lightning arrives next weekend and I’ll let you know…..I may even post a few packing photos. PH36 Canopy Formation Team. www.skydive99.com www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/PH36-Canopy-Formati

I’m about to buy a 160 Lightning, which I’d like to put in my aerodyne Icon I6 container for some light CRW (It currently has a 188 Pilot in it). I’ve asked Aerodyne and they say it may be a bit of a squeeze, whilst PD say I may have to shorten the closing look all the way! I’m using a 176 in a borrowed rig at the moment, so I don’t have a 160 to try for size, so has anyone tried a 160 Lightning in a Icon I6? Will it fit ok? Also, the used Lightning I’m looking at has a D-bag, whilst I’ve only ever seen them with tail pockets. Is this a problem? PH36 Canopy Formation Team. www.skydive99.com www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/PH36-Canopy-Formati

I’ve had an Icon/Pilot/Smart since June. It’s just had its first repack and a couple of minor problems came to light. I’ve just e-mailed Aerodyne so I’ll let you all know what their customer service is like ... PH36 Canopy Formation Team. www.skydive99.com www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/PH36-Canopy-Formati

I’m looking for a new pair of summer gloves and came across these on the interweb. http://www.lookma.de/Starting_Page/Products/Gloves/gloves.html They look promising, but I've never heard of the company.... Does anyone have or have you seen a pair of theses before, or know of the company? PH36 Canopy Formation Team. www.skydive99.com www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/PH36-Canopy-Formati

In the UK a flare gun or very pistol would be classified as a prohibited weapon, possession of which carries a mandatory five year prison sentence, as would possession of any ammunition. Importing one into the UK would be seen as a much more serious offence…. However single use distress flares and rockets are legal…. PH36 Canopy Formation Team. www.skydive99.com www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/PH36-Canopy-Formati

Is this just designed for tandem passengers? the following is an exclusion from the "Policy for Annual Jumpers" I was thinking the same thing, so I emailed the company and have just had this reply. “Hi Mark, Thanks for your e-mail. You will be please to know that the answer to your question is yes, you would be covered for personal injury/death if the plane crashed while flying for the purposes of skydiving. The only exclusion to this is the pilot, as they are not covered by this policy. If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us. Kind Regards, Oliver Extreme+ Team” On the face of it, it appears a good policy. For £5 a month your next of kin gets £100,000 if you die, and I’d have got a cheque for £750 for busting my leg last year, and £200 a week while I was off work. You also get £1,000,000 for medical expenses, but as I understand it you’d have to pay upfront and claim it back, and there’s no 3rd party cover. PH36 Canopy Formation Team. www.skydive99.com www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/PH36-Canopy-Formati

I’m often up at Hinton (but not this weekend), PM me and we’ll sort something out, and it’ll only cost you a beer. PH36 Canopy Formation Team. www.skydive99.com www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/PH36-Canopy-Formati

Has anyone tried an AerodyneIcon container with the “Spacer Foam” backpad option? Is it worth the extra $125, and is it as durable as the standard backpad? (Unfortunately none of my local Dz shops have one that I can have a look at or try.) PH36 Canopy Formation Team. www.skydive99.com www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/PH36-Canopy-Formati

I don’t think I’d recommend Empuria as a good DZ for students, to much water around and not enough safe places for an off landing after a bad spot. You also have to watch out for the crazy Spanish & French freeflyers…. Skydive Spain in Seville however is excellent. It’s courses are run to BPA rules, most of their instructors rotate between there and Hibaldstow, and it’s got a massive landing area and turbine aircraft. (a Dornier G92 in the winter, SMG in the summer, and both at the Christmas Boogie). You also get at least 15,000 every jump! Freefalladdicts are also based there and again their instructors are excellent. PH36 Canopy Formation Team. www.skydive99.com www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/PH36-Canopy-Formati

The nearest DZ to Gib is probably skydive Spain just outside Seville. It's just a couple of hours drive along the coast road and up the E5 motorway. PH36 Canopy Formation Team. www.skydive99.com www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/PH36-Canopy-Formati

I’m in the process of ordering my new rig and it appears to be considerably cheaper to fly to the US and collect it than to have it shipped over to the UK. Something about paying UK Tax and import duty etc. Has anyone ever done this or have any advice? Any problems with customs? PH36 Canopy Formation Team. www.skydive99.com www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/PH36-Canopy-Formati

When I was there they were very busy, jumping all day and in the bar all night , but they will reply. You could try the forum on their website, a lot of their ex-students use it and they may know. If this is your first rig you may wish to consider used kit as you’ll probably want to downsize from your large student canopy in a few hundred jumps, and this could you quite a bit of cash that you’ll need for your training. But speak with your instructor first. PH36 Canopy Formation Team. www.skydive99.com www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/PH36-Canopy-Formati

I was planning a trip to Seville (can’t go now as I’m broken) and was assured that the SMG will be staying. It was away for a service at the end of July, but was back by August. I think there was originally a plan to fly it back to the UK as a spare for the nationals as Hibaldstow was having problems with their Dornier, but I think that’s all sorted now….. PH36 Canopy Formation Team. www.skydive99.com www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/PH36-Canopy-Formati

I had a broken steering line last Sunday, I tried a rear riser flare, didn’t think I could do it well enough in the gusty conditions so I chopped. Unfortunately I had a build in turn in my reserve and smashed in my knee on landing. At least you walked away from your mal PH36 Canopy Formation Team. www.skydive99.com www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/PH36-Canopy-Formati

It is one of the Raven Dash-M’s that needed the mod, and this had been done before I got it. As it was a used rig I had it fully checked by a master rigger before I parted with any cash, and she confirmed that it all appeared ok and that the mod had indeed been done correctly, as have several other riggers who’ve repacked it since. I’ll defiantly be in contact with Precision Aerodynamics, but even if it all checks out ok I think I’d want someone to rig it and jump it as a main before I rely on it again. It’s not a nice feeling to have a problem under your reserve, especially after your first cutaway! PH36 Canopy Formation Team. www.skydive99.com www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/PH36-Canopy-Formati

It’s a raven dash M and about ten years old, I don’t have any other details at the moment as a friend has it and is going to drop it off at a riggers for me this weekend, but I’ll try and find out for you. One theory I’ve heard is that the hard opening loosened one of my legstraps causing a harness turn, and if the canopy had a turn already this could have made it worse? It’s a 218 sq ft canopy and I’m 200lbs in the door, so I don’t thing I’m overloading it. It’s a previously owned rig, but as far as I know from what I was told when I got it and the repack documentation, it’s the first time it’s been used. PH36 Canopy Formation Team. www.skydive99.com www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/PH36-Canopy-Formati

After doing a reasonable two-way jump last Sunday, I turned and tracked at about 5000ft, stopped tracking and turned slightly to check separation, before opening at about 3500, all as normal. Then BANG, my main canopy (a Triathlon in a Mirage G3) opened like I’ve never known before! I was a little dazed & shaken up, but I was with it enough to check the canopy, which unfortunately appeared to have several lines flapping about loosely above my head. I grabbed my steering toggles to check if it was controllable and the right one just came off in my hand-the brake lines had snapped. By this time the canopy was starting to turn, even with the remaining brake released, so after an attempt at a little rear riser and considering landing it like that for about a second, I decided to go for my first cutaway. So, I cut away, (much harder than I expected, possibly because I was spinning?) attempted to get stable and pulled my reserve when I could see the ground below me. (Once I’d decided to cutaway it all just seemed to happen, so the training does work.) The reserve (a Raven) opened like a dream, and with a little relief I started to do my canopy checks once again. After grabbing both brakes and releasing them I appeared to have a right turn built into the reserve canopy. I managed to get it flying straight by pulling the left steering toggle down to just above my waist and leaving the right on full drive. I was just a little concerned at this point, so not knowing what was wrong, or if one half of the canopy was about to collapse or stall I decided to take it extremely carefully, point it into wind with a very very slow turn and just leave it fly down as at was. Unfortunately at about 500ft I realised I was heading for the old concrete runway, but as the wind was fairly strong (15ish knots) and gusty, I decided that landing on concrete was a better option than trying to turn, and perhaps stalling or spiralling a partly disabled reserve canopy in from 300feet, so I just let it fly! I was fine till about 6 –8 feet when a gust caught me and took me over sideways. I did my best PLF and rolled several times, but unluckily my kneecap hit a pebble and shattered, but apart from that I’m fine. I’m sure that if I’d managed to land on the grass I’d have walked away a bit stiff and sore, but as it is I’ve a couple of pins and a little wire in my patella, and the odd scrape here and there and will be off for 2 – 3 months. any ideas? PH36 Canopy Formation Team. www.skydive99.com www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/PH36-Canopy-Formati