murps2000

A jet pack. It can be your jump aircraft and rig all in one nice package. Plus no more waiting for loads, and no more packing. If a cheap enough one ever comes out that can run for a while without using all of it's fuel, I'll be the first on my block to have it. I wonder how much H2O2 is a gallon these days...?

and most importantly try not to look gay while you swoop. We all know it's not what you do, but how good you look while you do it. (mooth) *** You know, we've butted heads on these forums before, but I have decided that you are cool.

No-brainer, dude. It is axiomatic that if you are going to be near X-keys, you should bring your rig.

yay a pissing contest I know, good times isn't it? *** the thing that causes the collapses is rapid transfer from one to the other I know I have experienced it... if you do things smoothly...there will be less of a chance of this happening.... I tend to fly right before my turn in like 1/2 brakes and then while I am releasing the brakes...I start a mooth harness input and get my hands in the dive loops....then I start my riser turn.... the trick is to maintain positive pressure on the lines.... *** Yeah, i agree. I've done that kind of thing landing tandems, and it makes it easier to get a more powerful flare. But I just don't think it's a great idea to do it in turbulence. I also don't think it's so bad to use fronts judiciously in turbulence to maintain airspeed and canopy pressurization. But not half- brakes, release, then hang on fronts. Personally I try to start my turns to final from full flight whenever possible. I figure why slow down right before I plan to accelerate? Also, I've yet to own a canopy on which riser pressure exceeded my ability to pull before I was going as fast as I wanted to go, but then I've never done more than a 360' approach. It sounds like your application of a mooth harness turn while getting ready to use fronts would be a good technique, tho. I agree, mooth is best.

How about going to the home page of this website and reading the article called "Collapses in Turbulence" by Brian Germain

And WTF would be the point of that!!? It was a yes or no question, but you answered it with another question. My intent was to illustrate that first generation zp canopies of proven design, such as the sabre 1, are capable of more than the average skydiver. I enjoy more responsive canopes with longer recovery arcs that don't require super-human strength to hold in a dive.*** Have you ever jumped a sabre 1?

You can wonder where is that advice coming from.... That's from the book that you've suggested If the advice is to let your canopy surge from half brakes while simultaneously pulling front risers, it isn't coming from Brian's book. I'm all for people exploring the full range of what their canopies can do. But again, I suggest that this particular move not be done near the ground in turbulence. Ram air wings that rely on line tension for stability will cease to function when the angle of attack passes from positive to negative. Performing this maneuver will put the wing closer to this condition. A little downward gust at the wrong time and a collapse is a distinct possibility.

How long can you hang on the front risers? Try to start doing double front risers from brake surge: -"Mark" you altitude. -Pull you breakes to shoulder level from full flight and release it at one. -Pull down and keep both of your front risers down for 4-6 seconds and releas them slow and gently. *** This is from another post, but if you take this advice, I suggest you don't do it near the ground in turbulent conditions. Going from brakes to a front riser dive dramatically decreases your angle of attack and line tension. This increases the risk of collapse. Get "The Parachute and it's Pilot" by Brian Germain.

I just looked at my reserve data card and it has his signature on it 19 times. The first and only two-plane skydive I was ever on was organized by him in 1998. I could go on and on, as I'm sure others could. He was an excellent rigger (the best with a reflex) and a good friend. Many a skydiving lady will be crying tonight...

I hope your fear of the ground remains..

Chimay, Orval, or any other true Belgian trappist ale. Also Rogue's Hazelnut Brown Nectar, which is unbelievably good if you can find it.

I bet your Nitron opens much better than a Sabre 1, but do you think that you could fly a Sabre 1 of similar loading to the edge of it's performance envelope?

A number of SR-71 ejections occurred after in-flight problems rendered the aircraft unlandable, but still controllable. In these cases, smart pilots generally descended and slowed the aircraft before ejecting. *** Did SR-71 pilots use pressure suits?

They are the best swoopers I have EVER seen. *** These guys are pretty good, too.

I guess it wasn't clear from my post, but she didn't have a PC in tow. After the out of sequence deployment, the bag was out of the container, but it horseshoed because the main PC was still in the pouch. Then the main PC was pulled, either by her (correctly), or by the relative wind. It was a leg mount PC, so it's highly likely she could have pulled it. The main was then completely deployed, but it malfunctioned (I believe a baglock, which, is common after a horseshoe followed by main PC deployment). After that the reserve was pulled without a cutaway, for whatever reason we will never know. I wouldn't be surprised if she was getting low at that point after fighting with a horseshoe, and just went for silver, but that's purely speculative on my part. If it were a simple PC in tow, however, I would agree completely with your assessment. I'm with the go straight to silver crowd on that one. As far as the catapult is concerned, I was on the fence about it for a good while, because again, it was never designed to deal with a deployment into a still attached main, and I never planned to do that. But I bet Denise never did either. The catapult does work well if your primary reserve PC gets entangled with you, but even if you don't have one, you still have the option of attempting a hand deploy of the freebag. What the rigger in question pointed out to me was that on a normal reserve deployment, the catapult and primary reserve PC don't deploy together in a straight line. If they both catch air (and despite the "hesitator flap" on a reflex, it is very possible that they will), they deploy at different speeds and not necessarily in the same column of air. That's not a big deal if you've accomplished a nice, clean cutaway, but if you're towing a mess of shit, I can see that length of bridle between the two PC's as being decidedly inconvenient. I hope I'm a little more clear, now, and sorry for the hijack. I do very much agree that you can do everything right and still die, but it very rarely goes down that way. Even if the jumper made no mistakes, often someone else down the line did.

I'm not sure...Can you tell us more about Denise's situation and why you think her actions were at fault? Most PC in tow situations have two courses of action: 1. Cutaway and pull the reserve. 2. Pull the reserve without cutting away. Both can save you or kill you. To be honest I am not sure which is a "better" course of action. *** Well first, the disclaimer. I didn't know Denise, but a good friend of mine jumped with her a bit back in the 90's. And I certainly don't want to reopen old emotional wounds that have long since healed. I've always had a blast at X-keys, and the people there are way cool, so if anyone takes offense, I apologise. Also, if anyone who was there wants to correct me, please do so. With that said, I took more than a passing interest in this incident because it generated a good bit of controversy over the catapult. In addition, word was at the time that anyone who had a catapult equipped Reflex wasn't allowed to jump it at X-keys. (For those who don't know much about the Reflex container, the catapult is a secondary reserve pilot chute attached farther down the reserve bridle, and the rig could be jumped with it or without it depending on the owner's preference.) Since I had my catapult installed at the time, I called the DZ to get the straight dope. I was told that they only recommended it be removed based on the conclusions of the rigger who examined Denise's gear. I also inquired about what exactly happened, and this is what I was told: 1)For whatever reason, she had an out of sequence deployment, resulting in a horseshoe mal. 2)The main pc (leg mount) was deployed 3)The reserve was pulled, but the cutaway was not. 4)The reserve never got out because the bridle and catapult hit the trash, and then wrapped itself around the freebag, with the catapult tying a "larks head" around the lines. The catapult got much of the blame for this fatality, and after actually speaking extensively with the very same rigger who examined the gear a few years later, I believe it did contribute. But according to the first person I spoke with, the handles were pulled in the wrong order. I also spoke with the Reflex manufacturer at the time and he said that the catapult was never designed to deal with this situation, and that if it were, it would have to be ballistically deployed. Now, I pretty much think there was jumper error at some point during the skydive, but I can't aver that because I wasn't there and I don't know what kind of skydiving she was doing at the time. I don't know what caused the out of sequence deployment, and I don't know at what altitude she took her corrective action. This is why I removed my catapult. Everyone plans on chopping whatever they have to before pulling the reserve, but in the real world things don't always work out. Sometimes you get down and dirty and the only thing you have time left for is the silver. In that situation, I think the catapult is not as good as a single, conventional, spring loaded pc. So back to my original statement: I'm not sure if this fits the criteria. But I'm also not sure if it doesn't.

7. 6/23/1998 Cross Keys, NJ Description: PC in Tow, reserve deployed, entagement. *** Was this the Denise's reflex "catapult" entanglement? If so, I'm not sure it fits the criteria.

He has progressed to be a very good canopy pilot. He didn't go cross braced but that boy can sure fly a Stiletto when he wants too. *** Man, you got that right. He and that video guy Matt over at Davis do the baddest stiletto swoops I've ever seen. They made me realize that I never maxed out the stilettos I flew.

I know that blackhawks can run on pretty much any type of fuel in an emergency. I really don't understand how it can work, but the list of emergency fuels is pretty much every fuel the military uses or might have access to. Doesn't make it safe for regular use, but they'll run.*** True, it doesn't make it safe, but does point out that the consequences are much less severe if it is accidentally used. It doesn't surprise me that military aircraft can run on a variety of fuels, but I wonder about civilian turbines. Back in '93 or 4 when I was in A&P school, we had J-34s I believe, that were off an old p-2 neptune. They augmented the radials that were on it, and were designed to run on avgas so that two different fuel systems wouldn't be needed. We used 87 octane auto fuel in them when we ran them on the test stand. I'm not a practicing A&P, so I haven't really messed with any turbines since then (other than the occasional glance and smile when I exit).

I'm aware of what will happen to a reciprocating engine running on turbine fuel shortly after the application of takeoff power, but what about avgas in a turbine? It can be used in an emergency, correct? I agree completely that both engines run best with clean, proper fuel. I agree that porter's kick ass, too, if money's no object.

I know where you went in Pa, and I've jumped there for years. Don't waste your time going back. The list of reasons why is long, but let it suffice to say that the "burg's" best days are in the past. It's really too bad. '98 was a FUN year to be there. They also have what I'd say is the best manicured landing area I've ever had the pleasure of sliding to a stop on. (well, except for "poop hill" and "Carl's bad canyon") If you train at Orange you will like the place. You will probably like it a lot. Great night life, much nudity, and a good Twin Otter with stradle benches that I wish were in every other Otter. If you go there as an experienced jumper, but an outsider, you will find that they are safety nazis to everyone except for the "in" crew that's already there. Don't let that necessarily turn you off to the place. I've met some really cool and talented jumpers there. Jake & Jen, Trey Trey, and Dan Wayland come to mind. I've been to West Point and Louisa, and they were both pretty cool places in their own ways, but that was during the Clinton administration, so I can't say what they are like now. Delmarva was where I started so you may think I am biased when I recommend them, but I'm not. It was a great place when I started in '97, and I jumped there off and on for several years, but it really started to suck around 2002. That was just because it got taken over by some Brits who just killed the vibe after a few years. Thankfully they went back accross the pond and Delmarva now celebrates it's independance from the British in much the same way that most Americans do on July 4th. I left the place in '02, and didn't return until 2004. I worked there that season, and it was a great year. With new management and some new faces as well as some old ones, a great vibe developed again. I don't jump there now because it's 3000 miles away, but I keep in touch with a few jumpers there, and everything seems to indicate that it has gotten better. They have good, experienced instructors, and a very welcoming group of up jumpers there who will be happy to jump with you after you get your A license. The only thing that sucks is the summer beach traffic. If you go there, however, talk to a short, loud mouthed tandem instructor named Kenny and he'll tell you about every shortcut and traffic by-pass there is between the DZ and the Bay Bridge. You can also get good coaching from Grant, party with some old schoolers in the back lot, play hackey with Donnie, and Drink Grand Marnier with Dave-O. Okay, now that I read what I posted, maybe I am a little biased...

Did you do a little twist job on your ankle, or something? Your damage sounds identical to mine. Seeing my foot pointing toward 2 o'clock relative to my leg was a bit unsettling until I jerked it back into place a fraction of a second later. Then it just hurt. Attached is my very similar x-ray, then a nice photo of the removal of the big screw, and finally, said screw. (Incidently, as a professional metal fabricator, I have to say it is the finest piece of stainless I have ever held) I got my damage on April 1st (Ah, the irony) of last year at the GLC. Jim and Duane both picked me up at the ER in Lake Isabella. Great guys, those two. From what I hear, though, I think Jim may want his crutches back.

By pitting your landing gear down early, you partially unload the canopy, and raise the stall speed. *** You mean lower the stall speed, correct?

On my dream sheet for USPA: 1. A liability waiver like the skiing industry. Bad idea. It has not been proven to lower insurance rates for ski resorts. USPA seemed to think it would for DZ's in Virginia, which is why they tried to pursue legislation to that effect. Outwardly, it may seem like a good idea to eliminate participant liability in extreme sports. However, when you remove civil liability, criminal liability remains. In other words, if you swoop into some joe on the ground and kill him, would you rather get sued by his family or charged with manslaughter because they have no other recourse? Remember, that might mean jail time. Good idea. Bad idea. It's a good way for someone to lose a limb or die. Additionally, it is pretentious for any of us to suggest that we, as VFR traffic (that is all skydivers are) can safely navigate clouds without presenting a hazard to IFR traffic. We have no transponders and no IFR flight plans when we jump. ATC doesn't know where we plan to open up, and cannot see us to steer other traffic away. If an aircraft overflies a DZ in IMC (i.e. clouds), and the pilot has filed an IFR flight plan, he/she has every right to expect that skydivers will not be in that airspace.

I thought that is what the airport defense fund. I was told in a private email that the fund was used only if the airport was doing something illegal.*** Interesting irony in the name of that fund. In 2003 a large portion of it went toward lobbying for new legislation in Virginia. It was a misguided and wasted effort and also one that we as individual members had no control over. Meanwhile I know of two GM DZ's that were struggling with access issues during that time. They, too, got zero help from USPA. It is the biggest problem I have with that organization. I don't know if it is that they are ignorant of how to deal with access issues or perhaps they don't figure it to be worth the effort unless it's one of the bigger DZ's.