yarpos

forget it Rhys they clearly have no clue ....... regards, Steve the older I get...the better I was

I am not familiar with Sparkies work, so I am merely basing my statements on facts known to me. What's his credibility in making such a statement ? Does it have any more weight than testing gear that is 20 years underdeveloped as of today ? BTW, he continuosly demonstrates lack of knowledge of modern BASE gear, which is the gear that RB guys proposed to use for the demo. So much for "knowledge and experience of modern equipment"... I beleive what he said was that he spent 20 years testing gear , not that he tested gear 20 years ago. He seems to have plenty of credibility around here and displays in depth gear knowledge and common sense. Your comments about BASE gear may be relevant but I have no clue. Unless I am mixing indentities up I think the spark-ster owned up to perpetrating a skydive with a very similar profile, so he may have something to bring to the discussion. regards, Steve the older I get...the better I was

just in case you are too broke, too young or too something else to tandem: it is flying on air, totally free from everything. Flying with your body and not in something (at least for the freefall part) no sensation of falling except if you leave something relatively stationary (ballon, BASE) amazing visuals.....exits, sunset loads, flying down to formations, tracking across the sky, inverted world, canopy openings, swoopy landings...... contains extremes of pleasure, pain, happiness and grief, and is extremely addictive and all consuming for some. I have never ever regretted spending many years and $'s that could have gone on more "sensible" things. Pure pleasure just being in the sky. regards, Steve the older I get...the better I was

I dont buy that, my neighbours brothers second cousins sister said the DB Cooper Jr was in the container. regards, Steve the older I get...the better I was

yes it was back then , through the 70's. Poor choice of words on my part....invented as you point out but not offered/available on sport rigs way back then, at least in my part of the world. regards, Steve the older I get...the better I was

can only agree with what you have said, but it just leads me to a different conclusion. But thats life aint it?

so based one a sample of one (an event you apparently comfortably survived as you are posting here) you disconnect a proven safety device. your line twists more likely came from your body position in preparation for cutaway than anything to do with the RSL......or sometimes they just happen. A seven cell can tolerate line twists and still fly fine (as you apparently found out). You seem to have fixed a problem that doesnt exist (or perhaps has minimal consequences) and placed your self in a situation where a useful back up is not working if you ever get caught out down low. regards, Steve the older I get...the better I was

I didnt have a happy relationship with aircraft in the early days. Jump 2 - C172 engine stopped as we lifted off. We bounced back onto the thankfully wrong runway. Water in fuel. Years later visiting the US, two emergency exits from twin beeches in Lousiana and Coolidge, both thankfully at reasonable hieght and near the DZ. Both the planes got down OK. Shortly after back in Oz, student pulled through the rear door frame of an Islander when his front mounted reserve popped in the door. Student damaged but lived, plane damaged (looked like it had been attacked with a giant can opener). Everyone got down OK. Got to watch a few others from the ground which I found to be a far superior vantage point. regards, Steve the older I get...the better I was

"So what are the odds that even the most careful skydiver will drop the ball?" FWIW for me its been 1 in 600. I am very conservative and have two incidents were I was lucky to survive. One I "deserved" if that is the word , a very low reserve opening after hanging on to a mal for for too long. The other was more random... falling beside the prop of a chase plane on a formation load that ended up sliding under us on climb out, with me last out. The first one I learnt a big lesson from, the second one got me in a lot of new conversations with load organisers and pilots....always a good thing anyway

just my opinion but I think you are greatly over thinking this (and I doubt the data is available)..... set your standards, find out whose advice to value, dont compromise on safety and you have a good chance of not being a stat. Having said that the sport has many variables and you are introducing additional risk into your life, all of which you cant control (e.g. crash on take off, moron spiralling into your canopy at 300ft). These risks are real and can be reduced by some of the choices you make but cannot be eliminated. regards, Steve the older I get...the better I was

is the person of average weight as well (whatever average means in your country)......if I was making a really rough guess I would say 15 to 20 fps , so 30 secs under canopy would be maybe 450 to 600ft.....he would have been the guy with the big eyes when you picked him up regards, Steve the older I get...the better I was

to put it bluntly I think people who say this are lying. Think about the situation......I'm at

Would that respect account for the rate of handgun homicides being larger than, say France, Germany or the UK? Or the total rate of firearms deaths in Switzerland exceeding that over every other country in western Europe except Finland? Or that Geneva's homicide rate exceeds that of Berlin, Paris or London and is only slightly behind Belfast? yes I think the comment about the general culture stands in spite of the stats. It really depends on who the incidents involve , and how far it affects daily life. Its hard to imagine a quiter, safer environment....can also get boring. Sadly they also have a vey high suicide rate. Re the overall rates being higher than others in Europe, maybe so , higher than some lower than others in all EU, but they are all off a very low base compared with the US. Re Geneva, anything that happens there doesnt really extrapolate to being representative of Switzerland. Its dominated by internationals and hordes of French day workers as its basically wrapped in French territory except for a narrow strip up Lake Geneva. regards, Steve the older I get...the better I was

what a load of crap....a sickie is only part of the lazy bogan culture.....I havent had a sickie (lying about illness to have a day off) for 20 years. 9 weeks leave , give me a break.....you would have to work shift work which you conveniently leave out. yes we have universal health care, for which we pay hefty taxes.....and if you have any brains you take out private insurance anyway as there is a queue for the universal care regards, Steve the older I get...the better I was

not really scary, if there is a reasonable moon out(say more than half) the amount of light reflected from the ground is quite high and its surprisingly easy to see and land. One thing to remember to expect is your own shadow coming to meet you in the closing stages of landing. It can look odd and has been confused by some with another canopy on a collision course, resulting in unecessary low turns. regards, Steve the older I get...the better I was

Did you blink, Chief? www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3396595#3396595 Regardless of which, Switzerland is not comparable to the USA for many reasons: The % of households with firearms is actually comparable to that of Canada (27.2%) rather than the US. There is strict screening of army officers who represent the majority of gun owners. Guns must be kept locked. Ammunition is rationed (72 rounds), required to be stored in sealed boxes, to be inspected regularly, and to be accounted for. The vast majority of firearms are NOT handguns. When handgun murder rate is compared, Switzerland looks piss-poor compared to tbe rest of western Europe (nearly as bad as the USA). John , not sure were you get your info from sounds like it relates to rules of the Swiss army for troops keeping their rather nice FAS90's at home. This has very little to do with the general gun regime. I lived there from 2001-2005 and the public gun ownership system is extremely liberal. Even as a foreigner I was allowed to own a number of Soviet and Swiss semi autos and half a dozen hand guns. There is (or was at the time I left at least) no legislation about guns being kept locked. Most people did but this was left to individual responsibility and common sense. There are many pistols in circulation there and many (mostly govt subsidised) shooting facilities at which to use them . The major differences I noticed there is that most locals have actually had formal weapons handling experience in the army (diluted now as military service is not mandatory any more and there are so many foriegners living in Switzerland) and also there is a generally law abiding and respectful culture there, more so than I have experienced anywhere else. regards, Steve the older I get...the better I was

sounds dramtic but its off a very low base , crime rate in OZ is more like UK, Canada. Europe.....and we culturally havent had high rates of gun ownership in any case, so the bans didnt actually remove a lot of CC or home defense weapons. It did drive the bad guys further underground though. regards, Steve the older I get...the better I was

Que? handguns have always been banned here? I dont think so......concealed carry for the masses is banned but you only need to get licenced to have a handgun. Tom, the SIG 556 is a quality item. I lived in Swissyland for 4 years and shot them regularly. Very accurate out to 300meters, and commonly used for competitions at that distance. Dont know anything about the US version. Had to sell of all my semi autos when I moved back to Oz, very sad...... regards, Steve the older I get...the better I was

"Anyone who seriously has a problem with a PAC door or prop blast is a suffering a condition known in the medical trade as being a huge pussy".....gold! regards, Steve the older I get...the better I was

there was also a system (pull out) that left the pilot chute inside your container and has your BOC handle to open your container and then withdraw the PC into the air. I always prefered this system. Downside was that a dislodged handle left you with a total...which I had once due to poor maintenance. In general I liked this system as I knew my container was open and when I let go of my pilot chute the opening was quick and positive. Failure mode (rare) left a clean container and no trailing pilot chute. And no I dont want another pull out vs throw debate, the world has moved on... regards, Steve the older I get...the better I was

yes its great isnt it? of all the things India could be spending money on this would certainly be a top priority. regards, Steve the older I get...the better I was

had the same problem when I started, for me it was just trying to hard for the perfect "relaxed" position...and in the end I was as relaxed as a sheet of plywood. People will say relax a lot, but its hard at the start to put that advice into practice while the environment is new and you are chock full of adrenalin. On the first jump I got it right (after some coaching) I consciously relaxed my arms and legs and let them blow back (or up, depending on your perspective)....it felt very different and much more in tune with the air than what I had been doing before. I found it helpful to look out at the horizon or a distant landmark (to avoid ground fixation and tenseness). From there on simply falling on heading was like riding a bike, you just do it without thinking how. Above all keep going as the loop you are going through is a very common one and is usually easily surmountable. Congrats on your AFF progession. regards, Steve the older I get...the better I was

where triggered your question? setting aside all the stuff about high ground winds which wasnt indicated in your post, the logic behind exit orders is pretty well set, what the uppers are doing doesnt really change anything as they apply equally to all exiters. The RW/FF exit order is about freefall drift , which will be greater if the uppers are high so all the more reason to stay consistent. regards, Steve the older I get...the better I was

There aren't any examples in history of a rich, but unarmed country exerting great influence in the world. The Swiss have always had money, but have always been 'neutral.' The Jews supposedly have money, but have been persecuted and killed for two thousand years. Until they got the bomb, they were being attacked every 5 years. The oil nations have built a lot of palaces and BMWs, but very little infrastructure (aside from Dubai). The real world is by and large a zero sum world. Your gain is someone else's loss. It's hard to get that without a military force. Russia is invasion proof - the nuclear deterrence is something that didn't exist before. So they don't have the same future as Poland - rich, but easy to steamroll. And it remains true that a nation whose primary export can decline in value by 40% in months will have difficulty maintaining a constant economy. just one small point , as we seem to be all over the shop topic wise.....the Swiss having money and being neutral is a relatively turn of events, in their early days they were not rich and bloody ruthless in eliminating enemies. Personally I think the US has been morally gone as a super power for many years and as things unravel over the next decade will become economically less significant. Not sure it matters apart from bragging rights. I have many friends there and I hope it stays , from the inside, a great place to be. regards, Steve the older I get...the better I was

thanks for the thought but I have sufficient thank you, just trying to help others.....given recent events since that post I stand by my suggestion regards, Steve the older I get...the better I was