tso-d_chris

Wow. Definitely worth the wait. Some hard core footage at the end. For Great Deals on Gear

I thought I was the only one! Very cool so far, though. I wonder how it ends. For Great Deals on Gear

Probably. Probably. One of the best ways to avoid retaking many levels of AFF is to make the jumps in a fairly short amount of time. You don't want to forget what you've learned previously, and this is less likely to happen if you remain current. Of course, you don't want to go too quickly, either. You wil be exposed to a lot of information; it will take some time for all of it to sink in. If waiting until next spring will allow you to take the course in a more timely manner, it may well be your best choice. Welcome to the sport. For Great Deals on Gear

Did you check out their site of the day? Too funny. For Great Deals on Gear

Occasionally I come across an application that I find extremely useful. One such app for Mac OS X is XShelf. One of OS X's shortcomings, IMO, is that to copy or move a file, you need to have the source location and the destination location both open. XShelf changes that in a very user friendly manner. Interestingly, it has more functionality in Tiger than in Panther, even though it has not been updated for Tiger. (If anyone knows why this is, could you please explain?) A link I find myself using often is http://bugmenot.com/. It often allows you to bypass mandatory registration to view a website. Sometimes it works, sometimes not, but when it does it saves a lot of hassles. Any others? For Great Deals on Gear

Cangrats, Dave. You can fix tickets for skydivers now, right? For Great Deals on Gear

The irony here is that the parachutist predates the airplane! For Great Deals on Gear

I've jumped regularly at small single Cessna DZs, and I have lived five minutes from a Super Skyvan, Super Otter, and a way fast Porter. I've also jumped many other jumpships. My personal favorite is Skydive Missouri's wide body 182, which gets to 10K in about 13min. Doesn't mean I don't like tailgates or turbines, I just don't dislike Cessnas. The smaller DZs have been more fun and personable. The larger DZs have a better party atmosphere after the sun goes down. It is usually much easier to make a lot of jumps in a short period of time at a big DZ, as well. There is more information and coaching available at large DZs. There is more free information and coaching available at small DZs. At smaller DZs jumpers are more motivated to bring new jumpers up to speed in order to have another person to jump with. At larger drop zones you are more likely to find professional skydivers that won't gear up without a paycheck. Spots are usually more within the jumpers' control at smaller DZs. The pilot is within earshot, and GPS is less likely to be relied upon than at many of the larger DZs. The student training has more to do with instructor experience than with DZ size, or even training method, IMO. I've seen excellent and not so good instructors at dropzones of all sizes. I think it is inevitable that if a DZ reaps the benefits of being large for an extended period of time, they will lose sight of all the benefits they reaped from being small. It's not so much that one is better than the other as it is they offer different things to jumpers. For Great Deals on Gear

I would not choose a different model unless you have the oppurtunity to try it on and find that it fits even better. Not all helmets fit the same. It is generally not so much which helmet is best so much as which helmet fits best. Bonehead makes a fine helmet, as do other companies. If it fits well you will likely be happy with it. For Great Deals on Gear

Are people always saying to do a search before starting a new thread? For Great Deals on Gear

If the canopy is desceding more quickly without increasing the overall velocity, lift has been reduced. The faster descent rate implies a smaller force exerted upward (lift). For Great Deals on Gear

Here is where I misunderstood your statement. I considered forward speed the magnitude of the horizontal component of the canopy's velocity. Still, same speed with steeper glide means the canopy is not producing as much lift as with a collapsed PC. For Great Deals on Gear

Yes. Over six months has demonstrated an large amount of patience on your part, assuming the component in question doesn't have to built custom for you, in which you should reasonably be looking at normal wait time X 1 plus wait time for rush order X 2, from the time you placed your order. Just my opinion, not redeemable for cash. For Great Deals on Gear

Prior to the canopy coming out of the freebag, those things have no bearing. At that stage of the deployment the canopy has yet to be exposed to the relative wind. For Great Deals on Gear

non-collapsible PC's generally do not affect forward speed, but do affect L/D (which means a steeper glide.) On a very lightly loaded canopy, a collapsible PC doesn't help much and can cause problems for newer jumpers (who are the sort that generally jump very large canopies.) It's up to each jumper to decide if the risk (i.e. forgetting to cock the PC) is worth the benefit (i.e. a better planeout once they downsize a few times.) *** True, lightly loaded canopies benefit the least. I think it is better to learn to use a kill-line as early as possible. As GravityGirl pointed out earlier, there is more risk associated with introducing it later, after habits have already been developed. You view it as something extra because you (probably) didn't start with one. But if it were there from the beginning, cocking the kill line would be an integral part of the pack job. For Great Deals on Gear

If a reserve deploys properly, there is full line stretch before the canopy comes out of the freebag. It matters not at that point whether there is a slider or cross ports at all. For Great Deals on Gear

I saw a set the other day that were apparently weighted, so that the never spun, even when the car was moving. At least they didn't look like every other set out there. I still won't be buying any anytime soon. For Great Deals on Gear

Not too much. I'll have to try. Thanks for the tip. For Great Deals on Gear

I agree, but it is still missing some functionality, IMO. Or, maybe I just haven't found the features. I would like to be able to classify songs into multiple genres, instead of just one. I don't like the one size fits all crossfade. I would like to be able to easily cluster songs so that they are always played together in a specific order, even on random play. Overall, I think iTunes pretty much kicks ass. For Great Deals on Gear

It's a scam. I get similar replies to classifieds often, usually from someone claiming to be from Nigeria. For Great Deals on Gear

In the past couple days I came across a freeware/shareware program that allowed full ipod management without iTunes. It may, however, have been Mac only.

I've has good luck with it in OS X. For Great Deals on Gear

That sounds interesting. I have heard 10% reduction in forward speed with an uncollapsed PC, which sounds a little bit high. I'm curious, were the canopies being swooped, or were they straight in approaches? Was the angle of descent measured? I always miss out on all the cool science experiments. I agree. Most jumpers don't know how to utilize the extra bit when they need it. Better canopy training is helping to remedy this. The need for that bit of extra performance doesn't arise every jump, either. Lack of spotting education is helping to change this. If I had to recommend a new jumper get a collapsable pilot or canopy coaching, I'll likely recommend the coaching. But if they are trying to decide between a kill line PC and a non-collapseable PC, I'm gonna advise for worse case, just as I would for a reserve, and recommend the kill line. Someone once said that its nice to be good, but its better to be lucky. There is some truth to that. Someone else said that we make our own luck. There is also some truth to that. Skydiving is inherently dangerous, and you never know when the sport is going to present its next No Shit There I Was, Thought I Was Gonna Die T-shirt Moment (TM). I personally don't want to handicap my canopy to simplify my packing. I can take my time packing.

You are correct. Oops. I edited the post. Thanks.

Was not intended to be hostile; I apologize if that is how you interpreted it. I just fail to see the consistancy of your argument. A pilot chute in tow is a malfunction that is nearly always preventable. Personally, I like to cock my PC twice during each pack job. That way, should I fail to do it at either time, I have a built in backup. It only adds a few seconds at most to a pack job. Plus, there is a lot to be said for pin checks. Besides, I'm not convinced skydiving gear should be idiot proof. The less jumpers have to think about their gear, the less jumpers will think about their gear. Gotta call BS here, Bill. Absolutely no difference? How did you reach that conclusion? Where, exactly, is the critical wingloading where a collapsable PC makes a difference? There is none. All canopies benefit from a collapsed pilot chute. Admittedly, the benefit is greater on smaller canopies, but the detrimental effects of an inflated PC is noticeable at even low loadings. I don't remember reading anything about collpsable PCs being necessary. For that matter, neither are helmets, goggles, altimeters, shoes, etc. They all put the odds just a little more in the jumper's favor, though. Even collapsables on lightly loaded canopies.