erdnarob

You are so right. I was on final approach years ago at Sidney NY with a Cessna 172 and suddenly I heard a strange noise. A twin engine aircraft was overtaking me from bellow. He sure didn't see me and I never saw him either. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Don't worry, you are not an exception. Telling you to relax is one thing but you need to monitor that. One trick which can work is the : Hummmmm, hummmmm, hummmmmm like a Boudhist monk. Humming it (with throat and mouth) makes you remind to relax. Also try to think about your extremities like fingers...at ears level and toes and bend them to remind you where they are in the space, that can help you to be symetrical. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

If you don't need prescription, want a good peripheral vision and look like a skygod, buy the ADDIDAS for skydiving. Can be mounted on wide strap or ear holders like ordinary glasses, they are well vented. If you need prescription glasses, take the same ADDIDAS with correction lense inserts (you have to provide a prescription from an optometrist). Since you will have to be coached, it is better you wear them with clear lenses. I think you get those ADDIDAS with both types of lenses : tinted mirror and clear lenses. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

The nylon 3/4" tape wears the closing loop but not the one shown on the picture (UPT Vector) (I have one too) and not the Vigil tape like pull cord. Both seem to be made from the same material. Their material is soft and the edge not sharp at all. Try one. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

For many years I was using 550 lbs nylon suspension line sheating we often use for main closing loop. Now I am using a Vigil pull up cord which is made of a very soft but resistant material which is not hard on the fingers. I have few of them. If you provide me with your mailing address I will be happy to send you a couple. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

The man who has two hats (sic) and who has "parti pris" against Vigil if you see who I mean. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

I see, what you mean is SSE (Or Steve Snyder Enterprise and/or PARAFLITE). They of course were the tops players (RELATIVE WORKSHOP AND PARAFLITE/SSE) at the time. I have had the chance to visit both of them in the 70's at DeLand and Pennsauken Pennsylvania. I personaly met and talked with Steve Snyder's, a great man always innovating. Unfortunately after having bought an old SABRE fighter airplane and flew it, he crashed it and die. I have had several Paraflite canopies: Strato Cloud, Crusair, Cirrus and Nimbus plus my first square reserve, a 5 cell SWIFT 170. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

I checked into the Paragear catalog and there is nothing on the Pilot about the packing volume. But similar canopies have the following volume : Icarus Safire 169 has 452 cu. in.; Sabre 170 has 451 cu.in. Since Aerodyne gives you the choice if you buy your Pilot 168 with HMA lines it will pack a bit smaller than with Spectra lines . The best way is to ask your container manufacturer's. He knows the volume compatibility. Good luck. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

My first UPT rig (Relative Workshop) was a Wonderhog and was equiped with a staging loop. It was in 1977. Muff brothers # 2187. Eh You As.h.le Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

yeah but smoke generator means generally heat. You don't want to recover a burnt canopy isn't it ? Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

> At least somebody realistic. If you are too high and have plenty of clean landing space ahead, keep on straight forward. If you are going toward dangerous obstacles, S flat turns is the way and you hope that your are alone in this situation. Being too high on final should be exceptional and happens generally to beginers who are not on BIG WAY. If there is a good wind it's completely different. You can apply 1/2 or 3/4 of brakes and stay like that or do the same and place yourself alternatively at 45 degrees with respect to the wind. 5 seconds to the right then 5 seconds to the left and so on. That will make you staying almost stationary or even backing up a bit while getting lower. My personal "trick" is to avoid heavy traffic and space permitting going to land further alone. On a big DZ like DeLand a recovery truck is there within a couple of minutes even before you have the chance to undo the slider, set up your brakes and pick up your parachute. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Actually I never heard about that method of using both risers on the same side to fly a canopy sideways and never used it myself either. It seems to me it was just the only way (as far as I could understand aerodynamics) to achieve the desired effect ie. Flying sideways. I have to try it but I have doubt about the efficiency of such a method and I think doing it should be a pain in the a.... Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

But have you seen the chick with a frap hat in the Paragear catalog (page 142). I really prefer to see her with a frap hat than in a full face helmet looking like a fish in an aquarium . Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Just curious. How do you fly a canopy sideways ? The only way I can see is to pull on the risers of the same side just like in freefall you bank your body on the side you want to slip sideway. When flying an airplane you do a side slip by banking the airplane more than what you need for a normal turn. This method is used to lose altitude faster or when used with opposite rudder to keep the airplane parallel to the runway when having a cross wind for landing. But with a parachute ?????? Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Hi DanG. I always thought Velocity was a cross braced canopy from PD . Thanks for the remark. You are right. But the difference between speed and velocity has a meaning specially in a phycics course. However in both cases mentioned here, it's quite obvious that both the wind and the parachute have a specific direction. The context is important. Isolating a word from its context and the spirit of the message is gone . Glad anyway to see skydivers dealing with maths . Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Flying a canopy sideway means "crabbing" to use a general aviation expression or combine the proper speed of the parachute and the wind speed to get a resulting speed. We call that in mathematics: Vector addition of 2 speeds Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Hello Carve. I suggest you read my article "Staircase experiment" published on this forum. The mod for Skyhook was recommended only for Sport rigs like yours. Then you have the option to do the mod or not. The reason was that something happened with a tandem where an unintentional cut away was attributed to the bagged reserve falling after the AAD has fired. What happens exactely is not well known, just speculation. It is the reason why I performed that STAIRCASE EXPERIMENT with a VECTOR III 348 of a friend. If you read my experiment and its results, you will see there is no cause for panic at all. I have the mod kit for my 2008 Vector III 348 but I didn't already install it. I am not the only rigger and Vector III owner to think that way. The big fuzz came from people (EUROPE) who are developing their own M.A.R.D. (Main Activated Reserve Deployment) system. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Hello Masterrigger1. Thanks a lot for the info. the total length is then 360.5 cm which is 141.9 inches. The measurement I made was 142.5 inches which means the steering lines are OK. The problem seems to come from the risers which are 25" long, way too much for an average size person. I suggested the owner to order 21" risers. Do you have by any chance the spec of the rest of the lines ?? Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Since it is a Safire 149 made in 1998 it's a Safire 1. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

In the past I have tried different type of helmets and now and for many years I have a frap hat and this is why: 1) perfect fit and confort 2) maximum peripheral vision 3) light weight 4) allows you to protect your ears from too much freefall noise without removing it completely letting you keeping an aural contact with what you are doing. 5) best protection from riser strike or lines in case of unstable deloyment since nothing is protruding and can be caught by a riser or line. An unstable opening happens for instance when you cut away from a spinning malfunction. Your body is likely to be on its side while the reserve risers and lines will deploy vertically passing possibly near your head. Most of the hard shell helmets have a part covering the side of the chin and this part can be caught by a line or a riser passing between this part and the chin. I prefer not to imagine the result in a 3-4 G opening if you see what I mean. As far as I know helmet use in skydiving was not made for impact with other skydivers or obstacles, it was made to protect the head from riser and line. Those are like steel bars and steel cables at the opening. You will notice that the military parachutists do not wear the same helmet than the soldiers on the ground. They have a helmet with few or no protruding parts and I would believe it is to avoid to be caught by lines or risers. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Then what are you doing when too high and you obviously will pass the target with a ditch or obstacles 300 ft ahead ??? If you prefer I change 180 degrees flat turns for sashay. When I say final it is at 1000 ft not on short final. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

I am desperatly trying to reach Icarus Canopies. I tried NC and SDC. I don't know if they could be on holidays. I am looking for the line specifications of a Safire 149 (made in 1998). A fellow jumper got this Safire which was relined and we suspect there could be the wrong length for the steering lines and maybe other lines too. Also could anybody give me the way the Safire 149 is flaring (short range or medium range). I have jumped a Safire 209 in 1998 at the WFFC at Quincy but there was a lot of wind and I landed super soft with the toggles at chest level. Can anybody help me ? Thanks Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

I have a TIME OUT and set it up most of the time at 5000 ft (slightly above the separation altitude). After that I use my wrist altimeter or just count if tracking. But it will beep at twice the frequency at 2500 ft and will make a contiuous beeeeeeeep at 1500 ft for obvious reasons. I recommand you to use the 3 warning altitudes and if you feel like me set up the first one 500 ft higher than the separation altitude. That way you can clearly hear the first warning when being less "busy". I have to say that I am also wearing in my helmet a Protrack set up at the same altitudes. Why? The TIME OUT is louder and the Protrack is used mainly as a flight computer or log book. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

At my DZ, I have a tall wind blade (12") installed and at the top of it we have attached 20-30 ft bright color fabric tapes. That very sensitive set up gives the precise direction of the wind at canopy level when landing even for speed as low as 2-3 MPH. A wind blade seen from above at 1000 ft is not so obvious for giving the landing direction but with those tapes, what a difference. Now confusion is kept at minimum since you know that the tapes are light and "float" on the downwind side. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.