mircan

Not quite so often. It`s more expensive than the 182 or the Piper... The owner of the AN is making 3 times more money per hour by dusting mosquitos than he makes by dropping skydivers. So he is not interested in renting it to us, except in special occasions... Figure that. But... I`m supposed make some AN-2 jumps tomorrow. Two of my friends reserved it for their "special" jumps. 600th and 300th. 600th is supposed to be raft dive, but somehow I`m not sure what will come out of it. I`ll post some pics. dudeist skydiver #42

sorry for livng in a crappy country and not having turbine arround every day. As a matter of fact AN climbs like a 182, can carry 12 people to 10k feet, lots of space and you can fu*king stand in one. You have room even to sleep in it (when you get tired of slow climb). So I can call it one of the best non-turbine planes. Ever. dudeist skydiver #42

Same here. Finally we got some good weather. Alhough I had to work on saturday I still managed to get my jumps. On no turbine DZ i might say.

The glass is often covered with mud from grassy landing strips, so it`s the good old look through the door. dudeist skydiver #42

Maybe underloading it? Although Icarus recommend WL in that range on Safire 2. My Safire 2 did things like that. When it was brand new more often, now, from time to time. I had 2-3 end cell closure. I load it 1.6. 130 jumps on the canopy since new. That is just my 2c. I`m not so experienced. Also, I must concure with rest of the guys. Please don`t crosspost. Blues! dudeist skydiver #42

Wow!

One from me. dudeist skydiver #42

dudeist skydiver #42

I have jumped classic accuracy and i can tell you: - you have to have big-ass canopy for this kind of jumping, - i don`t think that just advice on classic accuracy will get you to become better in accuracy with "modern" canopies. Technique of approach (read: sinking from above in deep brakes) is much different than technique of flying with other types of canopy. OTOH, for me (I have made a couple classic accuracy jumps ) jumping this discipline and those canopies made me develop some skills that helped me later when I transitioned to jumping with today`s parachutes. Flying in brakes, braked-flat turns, sinking the canopy in small area, overall accuracy, meteorology... Just for the record, last weekend I went to small classic accuracy competition with my Safire 2 loaded 1.6. and was still able to hit accuracy pad two times out of four: 6cm and 9cm). ...but I was there for heli jumps not seriously competing. my2c dudeist skydiver #42

I teach college kids Photoshop, Corel Draw and Flash. In the mean time I freelance DTP: books, magazines, covers etc (besides tandem editing). I do some web page graphics and some basic/medium 3D. * in this country you have to know about everything which makes you really, really, really good at nothing Any job opportunities over there? dudeist skydiver #42

Why is that strut so beaten up? dudeist skydiver #42

Because, I could get my hands on German version which is synchronized (they speak German) and I wanted to watch version where they speak in English which I understand, obviously. The game was great (at least if you have sense of humor like me) and Uwe Boll (the director is a nutcase) so I figured it can`t turn out so bad... dudeist skydiver #42

Did anyone watch "Postal"? In English. I played the video game (Postal 2) and loved it. Thoughts? dudeist skydiver #42

Although it is from last weekend, for me it looks like it was taken in 1987. somehow. dudeist skydiver #42

Couple of my friends and me went to the other DZ last weekend. My friend rented a rig and "enlightened" by my experience from weekend before checked hard links. Guess what? Three out of four links were unscrewed by the point that you could easily turn them with fingers without applying any significant force! dudeist skydiver #42

http://www.parachutemanuals.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=27&func=select&id=53 At the bottom of the page. dudeist skydiver #42

Yeah. That`s what we do too. Time consuming and major pain in the rear section, but we did find it. (actually two times - two cutaways). And you have to be "popular" (read: have a number of friends that are willing to help) dudeist skydiver #42

Even better, you feel only ONE wing flapping. And the TI is already shouting ...set, go! Fun never stops

Same here: - wing clip (plastic) broke off while I was hanging at the Cessna strut which resulted in some very weird body positions during freefall (now I`m using RSL-style ones). - CF card died and I noticed at the end of a 6 jump day :-p - battery died on jump-run, - tongue switch died on jump-run, - airplane engine died just before jump-run, but I still managed to get my video, - the thing with black goggles on sunset load, - 200 lbs student stepping on your foot on the exit... - ...which resulted in being late on exit and nearly got hit in the face by drogue, - accidental switch from TV to "Depth of Field" setting, - Your Cameye starting to flash "5 minutes tape left" warning, while you are starting your final turn before landing and the sun is already below horizon, leaving you to land blinded at one eye, - some tape that you used to secure tongue switch of your still camera getting loose and dangling in front of your video camera during freefall, - people that you film opening their parachutes at 7000ft without warning while you are above them, - tandems throwing up allover the place (during climb, on landing...). That`s what I remember from this year so far. Edited to add: - my goggles broke on jump-run while I was clearing them from fog so I had to jump without them which left me half blind to left eye for the rest of the day But it was last load... dudeist skydiver #42

I`m with you 100%. dudeist skydiver #42

1. The links came from the manufacturer (with the canopy). I guess that the company that makes the parachute knows what hardware is the best for their product. What I mean is If Icarus says that Vectran is right choice for canopy, I`m not going to reline it with Spectra. 2. On my last canopy I had soft links and I liked it. Even when considering my statement above I planned to install them. It happens that I ordered new H/C that was due to arrive in a couple of months and I was going to jump this Javelin until it does. 5 months and 100+ jumps later I`m still jumping this old Jav... I really did not know that this type of equipment failure happens this often. dudeist skydiver #42

Reviving this thread... Last Saturday metal link on my front left riser got unscrewed, opened and bent (pic_1). I did not notice it in the air. I think that link opened somewhere during canopy flight because I reviewed the video and it seems (to me) that the link was not open for some time after opening (pic_2), plus I pulled the slider down over links and behind my head after opening. Canopy is Icarus Safire 2, links provided by manufacturer. I connected it 110 jumps ago and I clearly remember that I tighten the screws like in the manual (finger tight plus 1/4 turn). My biggest mistake was that I did not check screws when packing it. Sure it was connected when I did line check, but I did not check if the screws are tight or not... I was lucky also because there was turbulence that day at about 300 feet on final which shook me pretty well. Someone wrote that this could lead to loosing lines. Maybe yes, maybe not, but it would not be a pretty scenario to loose line group at 300 feet. I learned my lesson: Check your links! dudeist skydiver #42

That worked for me. I found some thing at the plane to look at (a sticker, instructor`s face...) and just kept looking at it while i jumped. As tbrown said, when you see the bottom of the plane for the first time, then you are going to be relaxing more. Worked just fine for me. OTOH, sometimes now when I`m dropping SL students I tell them this trick. Lot of them watch my face on exit but the second they let go, they stop looking at me and start looking at the ground (with everything else that follows...) dudeist skydiver #42

Borovo Naselje, near Vukovar (where the big shit was happening). dudeist skydiver #42

I`m with you 100%. On the other side, we have a Queen Air that we sometimes jump that is registered in US. Flies with no fuss. No one asks too much questions. He even has 18% discount on AVGAS (because of the foreign registration he pays no tax)... Maybe I should start a (rant) thread: "Why is it so easy to fly US planes in South-East Europe?" Blues! P.S.: Rob, I`m glad you`re OK. dudeist skydiver #42