erdnarob

I would say, by solidarity, you should stay with others. If the bad spot creates a hazard (like being over the sea, lake, town, forest, mountain... and having the wrong wind to come back at the DZ, try to let other people in the formation know by showing them the ground and hopefully, separation will occur earlier to open higher. Opening higher is not the solution to everything. If you have a malfunction at high altitude, you are more likely to lose your main parachute and your reserve free bag for good. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

When doing a cut away, the risers are always symmetrically pulled when using a Skyhook because there is a straight line of forces provided by the cut away main parachute, the Skyhook, the bridle, the freebag (still connected to each other until the free bag is released) and the reserve deploying. You can see that well illustrated especially in case of a spinning malfunction on videos. Risers are pulled symmetrically which is way safer for the reserve deployment. I never realized that until I had a seminar (using videos) with Bill Booth at Skydive Expo at DeLand Florida last March 2010. Now, when not using a Skyhook, things can be different. You rely on the reserve pilot chute for your reserve extraction. This pilot chute is always going straight up while your body can be sideways in case the main is spinning. I remember a malfunction I had in the 1990's (no Skyhook). I got a line over then release the brakes. Things went really bad with a fast spinning. I cut away and on purpose, waited 2-3 seconds, before pulling my reserve in order to get flat. It seems that my body was still not flat enough since I saw a white square shape on my right side (I was spinning counter clockwise seen from above). That white square shape was my reserve inside the free bag. In that case, no way to have the risers symmetrically pulled. However nothing wrong happened and I got a nice and soft deployment. It was my first square reserve ride. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Swinging back and forth in free fall like you mention is a common minor problem for many beginners therefore nothing really wrong. In free fall try to think about letting your body feeling the air, not fighting against it. You may also raise your arms a bit. To monitor that, think about putting them at ears level, that should help. Increasing a bit your arch should help too. For your turn now, that comes from a lack of symmetry. One leg higher than the other for instance. Again to monitor it one trick is to think about flexing your fingers and toes. This will tell you where your limbs are located in 3 D and then allow you to correct their position. Tell us if it works.

If you do CREW with your canopy don't go for small lines since they can literally induce cut on yours arms and legs in case of a wrap. CREW people generally prefer Polyester (Dacron) lines which are thicker to grab on. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

If it's not done already, make sure to have anti twist tubing installed in your cut away yellow cable channels. That will guarantee you an easier pull in case of a spin generated lines twists. Better yet, if you have a Skyhook equipped rig, a single action will be sufficient since the Skyhook pulls the the reserve pin and the bridle and give you a fast opening with your risers staying even or parallel. A reserve opening using the pilot chute does not guarantee that the risers will be even in the case for instance that your body is sideway (very likely to happen if spinning). The pilot chute goes vertically but being sideway will make the reserve risers not even which can cause reserve opening problem. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Beware of your eyeballs when you change from a DZ to another one. Landmarks can be very different in shape and size and having a glance on the ground doesn't always give you the real altitude and can be far from it. Things which happened to me about that: 1) Orange Massachussets : years ago I was doing a style series there and when finished, I look down to see a enormous sandy bowl (target). I pulled right away, then looking at my altimeter I could read 5000 feet. At Orange at the time they had the biggest bowl I have ever seen (about 300 feet diameter). 2) Rantoul Illinois at the WFFC : I was doing a 8 way FS and when I started to track I looked down to see the town, the streets and cars below me, again I pulled immediately to find myself open at 5000 feet or so. 3) On a night jump (Winchester Ontario) years ago, I was doing a 6 way FS and when tracking with an extra two seconds because of the lack of visibility and relying on the few lights on the ground I pulled. The other jumpers did the same to find out we all opened at about 1200 feet. A little story (true or not true) to illustrate the same idea : A jumper from California was used to pull when he could see the color of the oranges on the orange trees. One day he was jumping and when waiting to pull, he was expecting the color of the oranges to show up. Nothing happened since the growers had picked up those oranges. The result was a very low pull. I believe the best is to have different devices like an altimeter, a beeper and your eyes and ....you pull according the device giving you the lowest altitude. Is that makes sense ? In other words, don't trust just one device to give you the altitude. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

I understand your frustration. OTOH it's to us with years of experience, accumulated knowledge and qualifications to not let go and continue to provide clear, well thought and complete explanations. We have to trust the common sense of the readers who can make the difference between straight, honest and serious answers versus empty shell or joke type answers. After a while, we know who is OK. Since error is human, when I put a post on this forum, I can totally missed the point sometimes. We also don't have to forget that this forum is an exchange of point of view media. This forum is quite unique and free for all and it's normal that some people with little knowledge try to make their point. Several of them are sincere while some ones have a questionable approach. And after all we know for a long time that a skydiver having a : A license: is proud and looking forward to learn more B licence: knows everything in the world about skydiving C license: starts to understand that there is still many things to learn and to master D license: is happy to still be alive after so many adventures in the sky Thanks for expressing your feelings, you are right but we don't have to give up. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

I have seen the Basik Seven rig at Skydive expo in March 2010 at DeLand and talked a lot with its maker, Mr Bunker. It is a beautiful rig (see the 2 pictures) where the reserve container is at the same time the reserve freebag, a unique feature in harness/container design. Mr. Bunker told me that because of that feature, the launch of the pilot chute is way higher than 5 feet since the spring has almost no flaps to be pushed away. The pilot spring is made of quite thick gauge wire which guarantees a powerful launch. A launch of 5 feet and more will make the pilot chute go thru the burble of the jumper and will decrease the chance of a pilot chute hesitation when remaining time is vital. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

When possible, I always make the first jump on a canopy with a sub terminal delay (6-8 seconds). Even if the canopy has been checked at quality control, error is human and it seems to me that if there is a error, opening at sub terminal will make the opening force weaker with less consequences. Everything new: cars, airplanes, boats...are normally used the first time not at full capacity or speed. Better safe than sorry. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

As I have mentioned in another post, I have my analog altimeter (Altimaster II) for more than 35 years without any problem. It has been calibrated a couple of times and all I had to do is changing the lens when scratched. On the other hand I use two beepers, a Time Out (my favorite but not anymore in production) and a Protrack to get details on my jumps. I don't think so that using two altimeters is necessary. After a while you will get used to one altimeter and a beeper plus your internal clock and last but not the least your visual evaluation of the altitude after opening. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Recently at my Cessna DZ, a girl from France who is settling down in my region had twice her own Cessna 182 exit adventure. Even if she had already 270 jumps she was used on exit exclusively from a Pilatus Porter, a small turbine airplane with a huge right hand sliding door and no step protruding like a Cessna 182. At the first jump she made, just outside the door of the C182, she presented her body the wrong way and fell from the step. Since she wants to get her Canadian licenses, I made an evaluation jump with her involving few manoeuvers in free fall. She started climbing outside of the C182, same thing, she was gone like a leaf in the Fall. For a second, I didn't know what to do then I proceeded to take my position in the door and jump while getting my foot caught in the thick floor mattress. Anyway, when I managed to dive out she was maybe 4-5 seconds away. I did my nicest max dive down and was in front of her within 1500' according to her. Anyway we did all scheduled manoeuvers in free fall and finally, the dive was a success. This just to illustrate that a Cessna 182 exit is probably one of the hardest ones to do. In order to maintain altitude, the pilot not always slows down enough. If you succeed to exit a Cessna 182, most of the other airplanes will be a piece of cake to exit from. So far I have jumped from 43 different types of airplanes. Each one has its own requirements. Just to mention few ones, I have jumped from a tail dragger Tripacer, a Boeing 727, a DC-9 airliner, a Hercules (the best) and many choppers as well. I tried once a Firefly Hot air balloon. But always when not being used to an aircraft, better to get few tricks from knowledgeable people. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

I have been grounded for a month at Perris Valley when I opened too low after doing a 40 way. I was on an outside loop of the formation with 4 girls which was quite challenging for a big guy like me. I did well by the way. However at the break off at 5500 feet, I followed my loop middle girl lead and started to separate at an angle. My jump suit has a lot of material at the arms and I was on the swoop cords but when tracking my "wings" were collapsed and I could not keep the level with the girls having them above me. It was also the first time I had to track for more than 20 seconds. I checked the girls above me at least three times when I heard my beeper continuous alarm at 1500 feet. I pulled right away. The problem is when my Sabre 2 deployed (taking 500 ft or so) I reached the AAD firing altitude and got a reserve deployment making my two chutes in a biplane configuration which I landed without any problem (I didn't undo the reserve brakes). Later DZ officials asked me what has happened and they asked me if I knew the consequences. I told them that I remembered my waiver I had signed up which specifies that in case of AAD firing I had to wait a month before jumping again at this DZ. There is no excuse to pull too low but I wanted to explain the circumstances of that "adventure". I hope to return to Perris Valley as soon as possible. It is a well organized and friendly DZ. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Hello again Skyflower. My home DZ is a Cessna 182 DZ and I have more jumps from Cessnas 182 than any other airplanes. I am explaining here my way to dive out of a Cessna 182. Since I am a big guy, anybody can do it since the space available is not a problem. When the door of the Cessa 182 is open, I put my left foot in the lower left corner of the door while my right knee, slightly out of the door, is at the right lower corner of the door and holding the two vertical edges of the door with my two hands. I launched myself (getting propulsion from my left leg) toward a direction which is at 45 degrees from the fuselage and about 45 degrees down over the step WITHOUT USING THE STEP AT ALL. Remember than in the air, the step of a Cessna 182 is almost one foot lower than at the ground since the airplane leg doesn't support the weight of the airplane anymore. Think about keeping your body flat and passing low over the step. If you think high (to supposedly "avoid" the step), you rig will likely hit the top of the door or the wing and you will get unstable. Now, you have to believe it works. People are reluctant for it because they are afraid to hit the step. Using the step with the foot very often makes you leaving going up and brush your rig on the wing. I believe my method is the cleanest and fastest in order to exit a Cessna 182. Now if you want to exit a Cessna 182 facing the relative wind : You go at the very end of the step supported by your left foot only having the right leg dangling away. You swing your right leg to the rear then to the front to gain momentum then really hard to the rear again while letting go with legs and arms apart looking at the airplane (not down) to get you chin up and maintaining a good arch. Another way to exit a Cessan 182 is to go at the end of the step and climbing with the help of two hands on the strut away from the step. You let yourself hanging up from the strut. Keep your legs apart and let go keeping arms and legs apart and looking at the airplane chin up. This is the way first jump students leave the Cessa 182 using the IAD (Instructor assisted deployment) method. Again come back to us for comments. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Hello Skyflower. The problem (kicking the legs at exit) you mention is quite common. It happened to me when I was beginner. Lets see what is going on. I understand you kick your legs at the beginning of the free fall but not after few seconds. Basically, there is nothing really wrong or abnormal. At the exit, the surface of the body is not always perfectly opposed to the relative wind. Therefore, your fall is affected. Then, people tend to correct that by making seemingly awkward moves in order to get stable and kicking the legs is one way to do so. Try to get some tips to have a better presentation of your body with respect to the relative wind at exit. This is different for every airplane and exit speed. Then you will learn to exit for a specific airplane. Example: exit from a Twin Otter (door on the left) : If you dive out, make sure to launch at the door from the left foot keeping the right shoulder slightly higher than the left one. That will put you flat on an imaginary geometrical plane which is at 45 degrees or so with respect to the left wing. This plane represents the relative wind at exit and being on or parallel to that plane guarantees you a stable exit. Now for the legs : as several people told you, just let you fly and relax (easier to say than to do) keeping your arms up and apart. Please don't use the mantis position of your arms at exit but only later. To really get rid of your problem just keep on jumping and after a while you will wonder why you were kicking your legs before. I would like you to come back on this forum when your problem will be solved and make your comments for the benefits of all.

Obviously I was talking about the pro packing. Thanks for the details Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Extremely shocking those broken reserve pins. Reserve is our last chance. We have had that problem several years ago and a service bulletin was issued in order to have some series of rigs getting their reserve pin a 4 quadrant 12 lbs radial check. The result was that each individual pin was checked that way by the manufacturers. Obviously, it is not always the case. I am glad I am away from that kind of pin by having a Skyhook. The pin of the Skyhook is thicker, is not swaged and has more or less a square (with corners rounded up) cross section. A friend of mine who is a master rigger changed for than kind of pin despite he doesn't have a Skyhook. Those round pins are used for seventy years and were designed first for metal cones on military rigs. My idea is that, it is maybe the time to change for something ticker like the skyhook type of pin since the tension on the reserve single closing loop now can reach 200 lbs +. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

If a riser hits your neck, that means you are not stable at opening. This is the main reason why skydivers wear a helmet, to protect their head from a riser slam. At opening time a riser is like a steel bar. At opening the total force on risers can reach up to 2000 lbs (see Jean Potvin's studies at university of St-Louis MO). Therefore, after launching the pilot chute, come back in a box position and look at the horizon to open stable. Don't look at the pilot chute going up. That twists your head and upper torso putting you partially sideway and unstable. Now for the slammer you describe, make sure at packing to put the slider grommets well against the stoppers and recheck that again when bagging (by "combing" the lines up) since the slider could have moved a bit. Just one inch of slider down can provide you with a slammer. Sabre 1 can be hard at opening, you also can get softer openings by rolling and creasing inward the 4 noses of each side. But never put those 4 noses of each side inside the middle cell. The factors contributing to the opening shock are the following: 1) size and material (F111 or ZP) of the pilot chute 2) size of the rubber bands (they have to be tight enough to avoid a lines dump) 3) the type of canopy (elliptical canopies open softer than rectangular ones) 4) the type of lines (Dacron lines provides softer opening than Spectra or HMA lines because Dacron (polyesther) can stretch more). 5) the size of the slider 6) the way you pack (described above) 7) your position at opening time (described above) Try working on that and tell us if you see any improvement.

I have seen people packing like that. The most important is to have the 3 flakes of material (each side of the canopy) between A and B lines, B and C, and finally C and D lines well spread away from the middle of the hanging canopy where the lines should stay. Order is the rule. At inflation, everything, lines and material, have to spread out in place without any obstruction. Failure to do so may result in friction, burns or tear of the canopy. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

I heard the big Spectre canopies are sometimes bucking like you describe. If this continues, see Performance Designs. It seems to me that you might have too much brakes and this can be the cause the bucking. For the benefit of everybody, come back to us when the problem will be solved. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

You just discover the reality. Low turns are dangerous but have sometimes to be done hopefully with the proper technique. Low turns are necessary when converging traffic occurs just before landing. They have also to be done just to avoid unexpected obstacles or avoiding a hurt jumper on the ground...etc. Now what is the proper technique ? If you turn by just depressing one toggle, your parachute turns and get a bank and the rate of descent is increased by a factor of 1.5 to 3 depending on how hard is your turn. If you hit the ground with increased vertical speed, it's going to hurt. Then don't do that. If you really have to do a low turn, do a flat turn. To do so, have both toggles at shoulders/chest level and lift one toggle opposite to the turn you want to do. eg. Flat turn to the left : put the two toggles at shoulders, then lift more or less the right toggle depending how fast you want your turn to be done. That technique allows the parachute to slow down first then to remain flat (no increase of vertical speed) when turning. Now, since the need of a low turn can happen suddenly, your worst enemy is your reflex of depressing one toggle and start sinking literally into the ground. To avoid that kind of situation, practice first your flat turn above 2000'. When you are proficient to it and with the supervision of your instructor or competent coach, practice flat turn at lower altitude and later do the flat turn at 200' if you have the green light for it. That training is to have you developing a habit to suddenly do a low flat turn when you have absolutely no alternative. Be safe, be careful and tell us about your flat turn practices.

Mirage people gave me the answer to your question at Skydive Expo (March 2010 at DeLand). Their DRX needs a new metal piece of hardware to be designed and manufactured specially for them. They are waiting for it to be made and tested. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

You should take the advice of a rigger who has a lot of experience to make your rig choice. Among the three rigs you mention I would chose the Mirage because of the AAD cutter position (above the pilot chute). The Javelin has the AAD cutter at the bottom of the reserve pack leaving a long cut loop (in case of AAD firing) to zigzag between the flap grommets making the pilot chute less efficient. The Javelin Pilot chute spring is too weak to jump high enough to go thru the burble making more possible a hesitation of the pilot chute when time counts the most. I don't know enough about the Infinity which looks great. But without considering the cost, my ultimate preference is the Vector III with Skyhook and magnet riser covers. No rig matches it so far. Tuck flaps are not the best to maintain in place riser covers. According Bill Booth if a tuck flap releases a fraction of a second later than the other one, the risers and lines are not even anymore during the deployment and a very hard opening can be the result and is able to send you at the hospital. Magnets are consistent time after time. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

You rig looks very nice but the Wings container wouldn't have been my first choice for the following reasons : 1) the AAD cutter location is at the bottom of the reserve container making the maximum length of a cut loop (in case of AAD firing) to zig zag between the flaps and therefore because of more loop length and more friction, decreasing the pilot chute efficiency (not a thought but having seen it at different occasions and having made an experiment on it) 2) the pilot chute spring is too weak and is not launching the pilot chute high enough in order to go thru the burble then making a hesitation of the pilot chute more likely to happen (hesitation means loss of precious altitude). Other popular rigs have the same problem. 3) because the last flap (pin protector) is sort of caught by the ripcord cable, you are not able to open it. That makes the window for the AAD display console to be installed on the back pack and therefore prone to break more easily the AAD display console window. (I have seen it) Why you expect bad thing about the Vigil 2 ? People who told you so are probably just used to the old technology of the main competitor who asked their AAD users to send it back for a compulsory maintenance and therefore getting more money from them. With your Vigil 2, you can send it back for maintenance whenever it is convenient for you (during the low skydiving season for instance). Your Vigil 2 has three modes you can choose from (PRO, STUDENT, TANDEM) and the chosen mode stays printed all the time when your Vigil is switched on), the Vigil 2 has also a possibility of correction altitude of + or - 6000 feet, twice the correction of the main competitor. (a friend of mine has jumped in San Salvador at a 3700 feet ASL runway. The problem was that they were going for a beach landing (sea level)). The group figured out that they couldn't use the competitor's AAD altitude correction (Max. + or - 1500 feet at the time) and they had to switch off their AAD. With a Vigil 1 or 2 they would have been OK then protected. Your Vigil 2 is way more modern that the main competitor's AAD in the sense that it shows you in clear language what it is checking (CUT OK, BATT OK, CTRL OK). The Vigil 2 provided you with three programs SET UP, INFO and CONFIGURATION which allows you to choose your units for display, your mode and make a review of your last jump. A optional interface can even let you download your last 16 minutes of freefall (15 or 16 jumps) and print a graph altitude- distance of your jumps. Now the AAD cutters. All AAD manufacturers have had their share of problems with their cutters which are made by other specialized manufacturers. Vigil was not an exception and they have solved their problems. Your Vigil 2 is the best modern AAD available at the moment. That doesn't mean no problem can happen but it's just the same for all the manufacturers. The Vigil 2 has also the longest lasting batteries which are good for 2000 jumps or 7 years which is due to a very efficient energy saving electronic architecture. Recommendations : read your Vigil 2 User's manual carefully. And when your skydiving day is over always switch it off otherwise at + or - 150 feet difference with respect to where you switch it on (ie. returning home and forgetting to switch it off) it will stay on "thinking" it is airborne. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Without any doubt, the Altimaster II and this is the explanation : I have an Altimaster II since 1974. I have changed the lens a couple of times. It has been recalibrated first by SSE Enterprises and later by Alti 2. I have used it in all kind of conditions of warm and very cold temperature. I even have used it in a vacuum bell jar to illustrate the decrease of the barometric pressure making the altimeter to show altitude in a high school physics video. My red special edition Altimaster II is quite well known. Some years ago at the Batavia (NY) Boogie I have lost my lens in freefall and my dial as well. The lens hasn't been screwed on properly. Back home, I phoned Alti 2 for a lens and a dial. The price was 42.00$ + shipping. I decided to get a lens only and for the dial I went to a clockmaker. He gave me for free a dial a bit bigger than I needed. The only problem was that the dial had Roman figures. This problem turns to become a attractive and unique feature. At home I adjusted the dial diameter and its thickness to fit it in my altimeter. The original dial had a hole cut in the middle showing the 4 axle rubies. I cut the same hole with a flat wood drill and please see the result on the picture. And the best of all, it is still working fine. In an airplane, this altimeter is not getting unnoticed by people sitting beside me and I have always a lot of compliments for it. Note: To check if the lens is well screwed on, you tap on it with your nail and the sound has to be mat or low pitch. Use some vacuum grease on the thread before screwing it on. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

I would like to know both from riggers and jumpers if they think a rigger should write down on the reserve packing card the tested pull force of the reserve pin. When I started as a rigger many years ago, most of the reserve packing cards were indicating the pin pull force. I kept on with that habit but many times now, when I pack a reserve for the first time, I can see that many riggers are not doing so. My point of view is that an indication of the pin pull force can provide a good idea about what to expect. Some jumpers do not have strong arm muscles and are likely to be more comfortable with a pull force between 9 and 14 lbs while most of the skydivers I guess would prefer something between 15 and 22 lbs. We also have to remember that a few days after the packing the pull force decreases by a couple of pounds. The hot and humid weather has the same effect and it is not rare during the summer to see the pilot chute making a bulge on the outside flaps of a reserve container. In other words, is there a reason why a good amount of riggers are not writing that info on the reserve packing card and how the skydivers feel about it ? Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.