tso-d_chris

600.00 assuming they pack around 70 chutes that day - right ? More than that.

Racer, Infinity and Wings. There may be others as well. For Great Deals on Gear

If the pilot allows the jump, he (or she) has no one to blame but himself if the jump gets him into trouble with the FAA. If he can't see the cloud cover, or has no knowledge of the FARs, he has no business flying. For Great Deals on Gear

I think it has more to do with the fact that there are so few containers available for anyone who wants a small, zippy main and a sanely sized reserve. For Great Deals on Gear

For those that make the smart decision to jump with a big, docile reserve canopy, that is good advice in most cases. Not so straight forward is when the jumper loads his reserve very heavily. There is no substitute for proper execution of emergency procedures. For Great Deals on Gear

The difference between a round parachute and a square parachute extends beyond their shape. A round parachute simply catches a bunch of air, and uses a large amount of surface area to slow the descent. These usually fall close to straight down when there is little wind. A rectangular parachute, often called a "square," works completely differently. It is an inflatable wing that actually produces lift, very much like an airplane wing. While this type of parachute, called a ram-air canopy, does not produce enough lift to allow the jumper to stay in the air, it does produce enough lift to slow the jumpers descent to allow a soft landing if flown properly. For Great Deals on Gear

Walt, you should post your own version of the joke.

1. Find an excellent tracking coach of the same body shape and size. What works for them should also work for you. 2. 2-way and 3-way dives are excellent for learning. If you can't do it well in a 2-way, you won't be able to do it in a flock. For Great Deals on Gear

To me, the two significant advantages of the Powerbook over the iBook is the Firewire 800 and the Gigabit Ethernet. I realize the Macbook isn't the same as a Powerbook, but it is priced similarly, so I expect similar functionality. I'll just have to wait for the new iBooks, or their replacements. That's fine, I personally prefer the durability of the iBook case. I'm sure the Macbook Pro is a fine product, and I am not trying to knock it. For Great Deals on Gear

Huh? Physics says that a person attached to a spinning main will fly straight away when detached from the main, due to centripital force. Just like a ball or rock attached to a line does when you swing it around your head and then release. I believe you are referring to centrifugal force. The spinning mal has a certain angular momentum. Immediately following the cutaway, the jumper and the canopy separate, and the jumper is thrown away along the tangent line of the previous arc of rotation. However, the angular momentum is conserved, split between the jumper and the canopy. Experience tells me that the jumpers new axis of rotation is orthogonal to the axis of rotation of the original spinning malfunction, but I don't have the equation at the moment to verify or disprove this, only experience from cutting away from several spinning malfunctions. There are, of course, other factors involved, such as drag. I'm not sure how large a role it plays, but that effect will increase with the square of the jumpers velocity at time of cutaway. For Great Deals on Gear

If you trust the canopy manufacturer enough to build the canopy, you should trust them enough to build the lines. Having said that, there are many master riggers that are more than capable of meeting or exceeding manufacturer's quality standards. There is nothing wrong with using a good, knowledgeable local rigger. For Great Deals on Gear

There is a Holiday Inn and a Days Inn nearby, and a Howard Johnson's that isn't too far away. There are usually rooms available in local rental houses available by the night. Tents are also allowed on the DZ. The dropzone also has a bunkhouse for a couple dollars a night or so, but I don't recommend it except as a last resort, even when it is available. For Great Deals on Gear

tie dye! For Great Deals on Gear

Yes I did! They worry me to. Learning to flat turn and flare turning is very important, and IMO should be learned prior to getting an A license. For Great Deals on Gear

Not once conservation of angular momentum is taken into consideration. Experience (and Physics) tells me that no matter how hard you arch after cutting away a spinning mal, there is still a good chance you will tumble, which can be very bad during a deployment. Still, pulling is more important than pulling stable, and RSLs save more lives than they take. For Great Deals on Gear

You are getting the wrong lesson from your experience. The lesson should not be that a higher wingloading is better. The lesson is don't jump worn out canopies. They simply don't perform well. The student canopies weren't landing you hard because they were big, but rather because they were old and worn out. For Great Deals on Gear

Not as many as you. I have eight. My ratio of success appears to be significantly lower than yours. None were terminal, but a couple were a lot less subterminal than I would have liked, but the main was gone, so it wasn't an option. I see your point. Okay, I still think people are more likely to go straight to silver when low if they drill that way, but you bring up a valid point that practicing does not guarantee that is the action they will take, due in large part to the fact that that particular emergency closely resembles a normal deployment situation, differing only by altitude, and not necessarily a lot of that. For Great Deals on Gear

Thanks for sharing that. There seems to be a limited amount of experimental data on the subject. For Great Deals on Gear

I assume this has happened to you. Before it happened, did you drill finding yourself low and going straight to silver as part of your reserve procedures? I would be inclined to believe that most people that go for the main never looked at being low as an actual emergency, requiring an immediate reserve deployment, prior to finding themselves in that situation. Emergency procedures don't do much good if they are not practiced. For Great Deals on Gear

They must have measured some incredibly large raindrops. 15 mph is a bit closer to actual terminal velocity of a raindrop. It does, of course, vary with the size of the raindrop. For Great Deals on Gear

Are you serious? You are right though, an apology is in order and Mirage should make it. The bottom line is even when a factory rep. (Chuting Star Loft) measured him the factory still could not get it right. I think any reasonable person that has gone through what he has would be pissed too. And in the end at best he will have a rig that has been reworked 3-4 times, not to mention the rigging and other cost that he has incurred. I agree. For Great Deals on Gear

Flaring too high / going to half brakes too low (assuming a flat turn/ flaring turn is not intended) is not an uncommon mistake for students and novice jumpers. It is a good example of what can lead to injury (or worse) under a small canopy is merely a bit embarrassing under a large canopy, especially if they remain heads up enough to perform a good PLF. For Great Deals on Gear

I've always heard that glide ratio is independent of wing loading (winds notwithstanding). L=Cl*r*1/2*v^2*A D=Cd*r*1/2*v^2*A where L = Lift, Cl = Coefficient of lift, D = Drag, Cd = Coefficient of drag, r = air density, v = velocity and A = Area Implies: L/D = Cl/Cd How does the wing loading affect L/D? For Great Deals on Gear

Refinement requires no problem, just a desire to improve things beyond the status quo. It is tough, if not impossible, to buy a poor rig today. I have no doubt, however, that the containers that will be on the market in ten years will be superior in nearly all aspects. Like I said, if there is no potential for improvement, it would be pointless. However, "we've always done it that way" is not reason to believe a different way would not be an improvement. Refinement is a good thing. It's unrealistic to believe every gear improvement is going to have a big effect as, say, the 3-ring release system. Even small improvements are improvements. For Great Deals on Gear

Really? To me, that's a deal breaker, and I'm a die hard Mac fan. I guess I'll have to wait a bit to upgrade to the Intel powered Macs. For Great Deals on Gear