EvilLurker

I have a rig with a PD-210, loaded at about .8:1 and it's like you're describing, if you go downwind in anything over about 10mph, you're pretty much screwed. I've landed that boat vertically with no flare and stood it up without taking a step a couple of times, it's a very low sink-rate canopy. Mine's got around 250 jumps on it, total, I imagine a ragged-out F-111 like that might not be as forgiving. Front risers into the wind don't buy you much, in my opinion, except you land short with tired arms. A PD 9-cell will sure get you back from some long spots, though, I almost always go out last and never failed to get back (yet), even when I detoured to chase a guys cutaway main and watched it land. In their own way, they're great, but wind penetration is certainly not their strong suit. I still kinda love that big boat, though, I'm just careful that I don't get it downwind in anything over a gentle breeze.

What I learned to watch for (from asking my rigger long ago) was to: (1) Tie your risers together at the big 3-ring to keep them even until you make the last line stow (2) Avoid pulling any suspension lines around when dressing your stabilizers to avoid a line-over (3) Make sure your slider is quartered correctly and tight against the stops as you make the first S-fold, then keep your knees on it until it's bagged (4) Make sure you clear the fabric around the D-bag/PC grommet so you don't get a friction burn in the top skin (5) Check your kill line to make sure you have it cocked just before you close the main flap (6) Take care with your PC folding technique and use a sequence that isn't going to "ball up" and get stuck in the pouch. Don't have any excess bridle flopping around and replace any worn velcro that secures your bridle before it gets unreliable That's about all I can think of, at 120 mph that canopy really wants to open. Edited to add: Always take the twists out of your brake lines to avoid tension knots and pay attention that your brakes are set correctly and the excess line is neatly stowed.

I've put short stows on my last packing band many times when I felt I had too much line left and have had good results. My risers end just at the bottom of the reserve container. I never left 24 inches of line in my packing tray, I'd say closer to 10 and I'd take a "half-stow" to achieve that. I only had minor line twists (about 1 1/2 twists) once in 100 jumps doing it that way. 24 inches of free line would scare me, personally, I want everything out of that packing tray ASAP. Just my opinion, though, I haven't studied much video of openings.

I think if you count hard openings as a "malfunction", the primary cause is poor packing. This would include collapsible pilot chutes not cocked, line overs, misrouted bridles, handles too far in the pouch to find, improperly stowed brakes, most bag locks and tension knots. Probably some of the premature deployments could be traced to packing, also. If you're flying a canopy that's not a radical elliptical design, and you pay close attention to packing technique, you'll most likely be able to make a LOT of jumps without a malfunction. Part of the packing technique is a good inspection to find equipment problems before they lead to a malfunction. That;s what I saw, anyway.

If you're going to make a water landing it's a good idea to disconnect the RSL, too.

Yes, practice with it up high until you have a good feel for the flight characteristics and take it very easy on the landing approaches. You'll have a pretty fair chance of surviving long enough to become a good canopy pilot with it and at your WL it's not overly radical. That Stilleto 120 idea was scaring me, bro, it could really get you into a bad situation very quickly, IMO. Good luck.

I've always found the skydivers I enjoyed being around the most were the type that were willing to help the newer jumpers out and were not afraid to tell you if they didn't know the answer to something. Most don't take themselves too seriously and have a good sense of humor. You won't find many "skygods" with that attitude. Yeah, that type.

FYI I jump a PD 9-cell loaded at ~.8:1 and I never get end cell closures, so it stops being a problem somewhere below that loading. Wind penetration is poor, but I don't have a collapsible PC, which would help. I'd describe the toggle pressure at my loading as "moderate".

You got me there, I never have more than one twist and nothing close to a tension knot. Very weird, you had better keep chasing the twists out before you pack, I guess.

A Sabre2 150 would be a much smarter choice, IMO. I'm not going to say you're not going to get hurt under that one, either, but at least you're going to have to put some effort into doing it. You'll have that loaded at about 1:1, so it will be exciting for quite a few jumps and when you decide to sell it, you'll get a very decent price, assuming you take care of it. Be careful until you get used to it, bro, it's still a handful for a low-time jumper. You should really try and demo one before you buy, if possible.

One possibility is that your slider wasn't seated against the slider stops tightly. That will give you a wicked slammer pretty much every time. If you're jumping student gear, the harness is probably a bad fit, and that makes a hard opening seem even worse. Make sure your line stows are tight and replace any stretched-out bands. Dacron suspension lines will soak up a lot of the force in a slammer, but you lose some "cool" factor. Take great care with controlling the slider when you're packing, and if you're in doubt, redo the pack job. Yeah, it's not uncommon, but it's hard to determine exactly what the cause was after the fact. I do have a PD 9-cell that has never given me a hard opening, but I doubt you'll want to jump an old design like that. That's probably true, there are a few canopies that seem to have a bad reputation for random slammers.Before you buy your own gear, you might want to research which ones.

If you're going to do that religiously, this might not be that helpful, but I've found that if I reattach my toggles to the risers as soon as I land (before I drop them and allow them to spin), and make sure I don't put any twists in while setting the brakes when packing, I never have any twists in my brake lines. About every 5 pack jobs I'll walk them down to make sure, but I never find more than one rotation. Getting into this habit takes the "I wonder?" factor out of the equation, if you know what I mean. I'm glad your mal didn't get any worse and you landed it okay. It's not a bad idea to visually check your lines (especially your steering lines) as soon as you're open and in clear airspace. I had a half-hitch in my lower steering line once and it took longer for me to recognize it than it should have due to my poor habits. I learned, because it got pretty interesting clearing it before my hard deck.

Well then, I forsee a lot of pain in your future if you buy a Stilleto 120, my friend. Sad but true.

I guess if you weigh 90 pounds or less, you might be okay. If you're much bigger than that, call us from the hospital if you survive.

That's what I was taught and I never had a problem with "ground rush". I don't look down at my feet until I'm already well into my flare, I'd say 3 feet above the ground. It does sound like you need to work out a better point to start your flare at, though. I can't help you there, but you should be able to talk somebody at your DZ into videoing your landings and giving you some pointers. Just remember NOT to release toggle pressure once you're into a flare, that will get you hurt. Also, if you're currently flying an F-111 canopy, you'll need a different technique when you go to ZP.

Okay, I misunderstood. You mean the weight's on your hips when you're standing up, right? When you're belly-flying the weight will be centered somewhere near the center of the "loaded" part of the vest (depending on how the weight in the vest is distributed). My vest has the weight biased towards the bottom, plus the pockets for extra weights are over my kidneys. I'd say it would be an improvement if the center of the weight were a little closer to the pelvis, but it might not be that big a deal. Are you noticing you have to fly with your hands forward or your legs tucked more when wearing the vest? Do your turns start and stop crisply without overshooting? It's nice if you can use the same body position with and without the weights. If you can, you're good to go. Not everyone has the same center of rotation, so it's hard to give an exact answer. How the weight feels when you're standing isn't really telling you much, I don't think.

I've got an older Infinity (DOM 6-97) with hip rings. I'd have to say it's a huge improvement in comfort on those 30 minute Cessna trips to altitude. If you're only going to be jumping from turbines and sitting on bench seats, you might not appreciate it as much. I never regretted the extra money I paid for that option.

Other than it feels like somebody is stabbing you in the face with icepicks. I think it's because the tops of the raindrops are pointy, eh?

I'd say that's just what you want, as long as it doesn't interfere with your rig or pose and danger of covering your pilot chute handle. You wear it under your jumpsuit? Take a look at video of yourself doing 360's and center the weight right at your center of rotation if you want the least effect on RW, I would say.

For anything other than good RW skills, I'd pick the guy with 10 years and 1000 jumps, especially if the jumps were made at both large and small DZs. Those small Cessna DZs teach you a couple of things I feel you can miss out on at a big turbine DZ: the ability to spot and the knowledge of weight and balance and (most likely) more jumps from low altitude. It's also a lot tougher launching a good 4-way from a Cessna than a Super Otter or Caravan. I tend to think you pick up a lot of knowledge from being on the ground with jumpers, packing and BSing, for 10 years, also. I'm sure there are exceptions, but I'd say that generally someone with 10 years in the sport is going to be more "experienced" but likely not as good at "high-performance" RW, swooping, freeflying, etc.

I'd say that if you're wearing weight, you want it close to the hips, because that's your center point of rotation. The further away from the centerpoint, the more effort it's going to take to start and stop a turn. Try putting 10 pounds of weight on your head or feet and start/stop a turn, it will be slow. That said, I bought a weight vest. I think landing with a belt would be better, too, since the inertia wouldn't try and pull you over onto your face as much. That's just opinion, though, I never used a hip belt.

Try keeping your eyes on the plane/JM as you exit and for the first 3-5 seconds (until you're off the "hill"). That worked very well for me. Make sure you've got a good arch (your JM should be able to give you feedback on what they're seeing, what are they telling you?) Hang in there, you'll get it.

I had a nightmare I fell out of a Huey without a parachute. As I passed through the haze (couldn't see the ground) I pulled a .45 Colt out of my webbing and shot myself in the temple instead of impacting. Quite a realistic dream. I went out and signed up for a FJC a week later and got my A license through the IAD program. Never had a dream like that again (I did have a few dreams about streamers, though)

I can do both at the same time and maybe teach that cutie to make sure her cutaway cable is seated in the risers correctly to boot. That's the beauty of it.

That's the reason I was given, too. It seems that at one time there were some rings manufactured that were not properly treated and got misshapen. I doubt anyone is going to run into these bad rings at this late date, though. I still do it, just to make sure there's no grit or grass trapped between the rings and the webbing, but if Bill says it's worse than leaving them alone, I ain't going to argue. I probably mess mine up with hand oil feeling them in the plane to make sure the cable is seated through the loop, but there's no sign of damage yet, and it gives me a warm fuzzy.