erdnarob

To be precise, I never spoke about half brakes. I said toggles to shoulders first which is 1/4 to 1/3 brakes and that way you still have 3/4 to 2/3 of brakes remaining for the final. Letting go from half brake near the ground is not a good idea since the parachute will surge forward and down. Just ease up your toggles just a bit and do a full flare when you see you have started your flare too soon. Tell us more about your recovery and when you will resume your parachute activities. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Thanks 4000m, Hope you have good weather in Ireland. You are just illustrating that the 2 stage method is not too bad after all. I am happy it works for you. As you say it, it gives you a better chance to start precisely the final flare since the canopy is slower. Don't worry you will have plenty of chance in the future to flare in a single motion after more experience gained. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

I never felt good about using a RSL. Sort of an autonomy trip. I remember a cut away due to a line over and spinning fast when I undid the brakes. I deliberately waited 2-3 seconds after my cut away to recover some stability. I remember 2 things, something white and it was square (it was my reserve in the free bag) leaving vertically but I saw it on my right side which means I was still sideway with my right side up. However I had a beautiful and soft deployment. Now I have a RSL but it's a SKYHOOK because of its short vertical distance deployment (75 feet). Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

You should be able to reach your slider at arm extension. I am 6 feet high and have my Vector III with 23" risers. Maybe 25" would be better for you. You have to keep in mind that if your risers are too short you will not be able to brake your canopy as deep as with long risers since the toggle range is shorter. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

That can be the size being wrong or just that you choose an rig which is not confortable or a mistake in the rig making. Check that with a rigger and maybe you will have to return the rig for modification. Being confortable is important. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Mental and PHYSICAL preparation helps. That's why the army, the athletes, pilots...use it. When it comes to do a cut away followed by a reserve activation, why people are not trained with what is working well for the categories mentioned above. Skydivers are a very special type of persons and somehow difficult to convince even when it concerns their benefits. The best preparation for a cut away and reserve activation is to have the jumper put in a suspended harness. I train people (I can convince) that way. It doesn't take a big set up, just 2 hooks and an old pair of risers + a mattress or several pillows. The person doesn't have to hang up completely but can be on his feet just leaning forward toward the mattress. That set up provides an actual fall. In my opinion, that's the cause of the no pull in an actual situation since people probably become desoriented by that new sensation and got lost. Doing an actual fall on a mattress traines your brain about that sensation and prepares you better for an actual reserve activation. I can say that because when I train people that way, some of them start laughing when they fall on the mattress and forget completely to pull the reserve. After a couple of falls they do it perfectly. Remember that in a high stress situation, knowing what to do is not enough, you have to practice it physically. For the training in a suspended harness, with my way, we don't have to touch at all the reserve pin. People interested can contact me. Now a RLS use is a good tool but has some very bad facets either. Like if your 3 rings or riser fails on the RSL side, your are in the deep shit since your reserve is gone but you are still attached to the main by the other riser. If you have a spinning malfunction, having a RSL will not allow you to get stable for a good reserve deployment. The ony RSL which copes with those problems is the SKYHOOK. But being trained on a suspended harness is still the best way to cope with a cut away and reserve activation. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Hello OlympiaStoica, Are you from Greek origin ? Thoses 4 categories I mentioned apply to the majority of skydivers ie. the males since you know that females represent about 1 out of 7-8 skydivers. But there are exceptions for sure. When I say about a B license holder I have more in mind people having between 200 to 400 jumps. Many of those feel invulnerable and it is difficult to get them attending the Safety Day for instance. When they do something wrong (bad separation, low pull, not respecting the circuit...) they have always an excuse if you see what I mean. Something tells me this is not the case for you and good for you. If you still feel nervous at pull time I hope you feel a great happiness after your parachute is fully and well deployed. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

The only thing you could do is to keep on jumping. After a while and more knowledge and skill about your equipment and technique, the nervousness will go away. But this nervousness should be replaced slowly by a sort of soft feeling of being alert. A bit of "fear" before jumping means you are aware of the potential danger involved. From my point of view, it is the best way to stay alive or if you want, don't take anything for granted. Each jump is different then stay alert for each one of them and never become complacent. Psychological spirit of the jumpers is as: 1) A novice skydiver (A license) is marveled and eager to learn 2) An intermediate skydiver (B license) knows everything in the world about skydiving and nothing wrong can happen. 3) An advanced skydiver (C license) is astonished s(he) has gone that far 4) A master skydiver (D license) is surprised s(he) is still alive Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Many years ago there were no stand up landings at all when using PLF at landing with round parachutes since the motion was almost a vertical one. Things changed slowly when ParaCommander type canopies came up. Those allowed the jumper to have a significant forward speed and because of the existence of that speed, vertical descent could be transfered to an almost only horizontal speed when using the proper technique allowing the jumper to do stand up landing (provided the loading was OK). At that time there were only one or two canopy sizes (normal or jumbo Paracommander). Now with ram air canopies, the forward speed is even more important and therefore we have the possibility to transfer the vertical motion into a completely horizontal one with an extra support for a soft landing provided we walk or run forward (still with the proper technique). Why do we do and like stand ups ? Because it is the sign of a well controled flare and landing. It shows that one masters his/her canopy and technique and it is way more confortable than slipping in the grass and get your jumpsuit and rig all stained and dirty. Some DZ are relatively clean with nice grass but some other DZs are not that neat for PLF. Then the answer to your question is that stand up landing is : more confortable, less damaging for your rig or yourself. But if you feel OK to do PLF, there is nothing wrong with that but that can be interpreted as you still have to master your canopy and technique. Modern technology is there to help us and makes the life more confortable. Why not using it to our best benefit? I am a heavy jumper and I understand what you mean very well but with the proper canopy size and a good technique, you will love stand ups landings. Don't give up, it takes a while sometime. Landing is an art. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

A video is a very useful tool especially when taken from sideway. I saw a video of my landing one time and I could really see how high I did my flare and how far down my toggles were at landing. Most of the digital cameras now have a movie mode and the video doesn't have to be very long. Another trick I have used too and ask the beginners to do as well is speaking loudy to themselves just before the flare. Things like : Symetry with toggles, toggles at shoulders, full brakes, toggles way down...That helps the beginner to concentrate on what they are doing. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Very interesting post. You know we all want to give the students the best and sometimes, it does't work that well with some of them. Then with the "advanced" student who has some difficulties to flare (a ZP parachute) which is faster than big student F111 canopy, we have to find a way to get him do the job OK. Theory is fine but we need to provide him with tricks, pedagogic means or whatever to have him being successful. This is the goal of my thread. I have tricks and the 2 stage method for landing a ZP new to the student is one of them. I just wanted to see what the other instructors do. The student I am talking about has his solo certificate and has already 24 jumps. Thanks. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

The canopy used by this "advanced" student not requiring the radio control anymore is for instance a Sabre 210 which is a ZP canopy and a bit faster than a student F111 280 canopy. I know what you mean by the fact it depends on the student since some of them are unfortunately badly coordinated and will hurt themselves whatever the canopy used. But here I am looking for an average approach which should fit the average student. Thanks. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

I took the habit to post on this forum the questions I am asked on training at my DZ. The question today is the following: When teaching a beginner (off radio control) how to flare a canopy he is loading at 0.8-0.9 lbs/sf, is it better to ask him to apply 1/4-1/3 brakes at 40-50 feet to slow down the parachute then apply full brakes at 7-10 feet to flare for landing OR ask him to do a flare in one single step by applying full brakes (from full speed) at 8-12 feet for landing. The 2 step method makes a less powerful final flare but slow dow the canpy then allows the beginner to have more time to judge the exact moment for flaring while the one step method if done at the right time is certainly the best but can lead to serious problems if done too early (possibility of a stall) or to a hard landing if done too late. I would like to have feedback from instructors and interested people on that matter. Thanks Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Agreed 100% with you. The apparent crown top of a pilot chute is really a potential hazard for a line snagging. Lines now can be very thin and with summer humidity decreasing the pack volume, many times you can see pilot chute tops protruding on that kind of rigs and by looking sideway you can see the material of the pilot chute as well (sometimes coming out). When analyzing a problem you have also to take in account how many rigs of a particular type are on the market. I mean a rig which is not that popular is likely to have less problem than a popular one. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

It's me few years ago and trying to slow down for the cameraman. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Yes, they are koi or japanese carps. I love them. The tube with a "small" ending hanging on the left is only convenient to change 1/3 of water every week and act as a gravel cleaner as well. I add also Big Al and Kent water conditioners to neutralize chlorine. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Jeez, people are really good observers. Fish tank, risers not even. Well Jerry, I slide the cartboard slightly up but now after spendind the winter in the South...of my basement, the fish are back into their pond outside and seem very happy especially at 5 o'clock when I go to feed them. Why I say that, because the fish tank has to be moved by "wife request". Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Here is my post corrected. Too bad for the risers not even. Actually it has been corrected. Thanks Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

As a rigger of many years, I have designed and made several rigging tools. This winter when visiting a friend of mine who is a rigger too, in his basement was a flaked reserve hanging on its hook ready to be put on the ground. I helped my friend lay the flaked reserve on the ground in order to disturb the flaking and line placement the least possible (3 folds of material each side (A-B, B-C and C-D) and lines staying in the centre). Suddenly I had idea to make a big envelope out of cardboard to squeeze the flaked reserve to keep it clean when you lay it on the ground. Then I went to an office furniture store and bought an already made cardboard envelope for 10.00$ (see the attached pictures). I just had to glue some Velcro and that was it, I had my new tool. So far I have packed several reserves with it and find it very convenient to keep everything well placed. When the reserve with cardboard envelope is on the ground you just slide off the cardboard toward the top of the canopy. Don't worry, I will not apply for a patent for that device. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Try the Internet. Remember however that smoke canister with white phosphorous is prohibited for jumping. What I find which works better with a more dramatic effect from the spectators is jumping with one or more 30-40 feet bright color tapes of 1.5-2" wide. You can roll it or them and they will take very little place under your jump suit. You can attach one end to your chest strap and when open, you unzip your jumpsuit and throw away the roll of tapes. Be careful to land at such a place in order to avoid any tape snagging on an obstacle. Have also a way to quick release the tapes. The beauty of that method is you can use the tapes again. Any fabric store will provide you the material to do so. You will have to cut the material into tapes and you can attach them with a simple knot or stitch them together. Smoke is very dirty for a parachute and can cause a burn (hole) in your canopy at landing. A friend of mine got the smoke canister rebound in his canopy at landing and burned a big hole in it. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Sorry I just re read your post, I understand you are flying with an Embraer Regional Jet (ERJ) and not a Bombardier RJ. Well the overhead shelf on the ERJ is still less high than the BRJ and has no big containers at the front. Therefore your best way is hoping you put your rig on a seat or like I did (back from O'Hare) put it under the front seat. But before anything try to be convincing at the gate. People anwsering you on this post seem to have flown with bigger airplanes where the overhead shelf is way higher, no wonder they didn't have any problem. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

The Bombardier Regional jet overhead shelf is unfortunately not high enough for your V353. Mine is a V348 and just fits provided it is in a very thin bag. But the Regional Jet has two big containers on the right side in the front of the airplane and I used one of them the time when back from Detroit. If the person at the gate tells you you cannot do it, insist telling this is a life saving device (a parachute) costing more than 7000.00$ and that you don't want to have your parachute tossed as any registred luggage because your life depends on it. If you conviced her (at the gate) the personel of the airplane will find a way to please you. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

I have now my second Vector III and more than 500 jumps on them without any problem with the main flap. Any rig flaps represent a potential snag problem for lines. That's why it is recommended not to leave more than 2 feet of unstowed lines between risers and the POD. (should be between 18" and 24") too short can cause line twists and too long can cause line snagging. Your choice for getting a Vector III is alright since this is the most advanced rig now on the market. You will love the magnets since they provide you with always the same openings (provided you pack OK). No more hard opening caused by a riser tuck tab releasing a fraction of a second before the other one. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

It happens to me with a Katana. Fortunately the knot was high enough (caught on the top channel for the steering line) and the canopy was flying straight. I decided to land it that way by using the toggles. I did some try way before landing and landed sliding in the grass OK. When pulling on my right toggles (the one with the knot) by doing so I was pulling actually on the right rear riser. A good advice, double check your brake set up. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.

Just for comparison purpose, generally in Canada the age of majority (18 years old) is recommended by the CSPA in order to skydive or do a tandem as a passenger. In Quebec (not the same kind of law than the rest of Canada) with parents consent people of 16 are able to do skydiving. Amazingly, in Ontario the age to buy alcoholic beverages is 19. But on the other hand in Canada the age to fly an airplane solo is 15 while you need to be 17 to get your pilot licence. In all provinces you can also drive a car alone at 16 and have your driver's permit as well. Just try to see any logic on that. That's what happens when government try to rule something. It takes a rule for everybody despite that some people above the age of majority will never be able to drive a car properly especially during the winter. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.