rendezvous

I've always wondered about how the cell or line replacement works. When you undo the sewing on a canopy to remove and replace a part of it or the lines from it, doesn't the part that has stitch holes on the canopy make that much of the fabric useless or do you re-sew on it. How does sewing or unsewing on the canopy fabric really work.

Well what do you think about some thing like the Skyventure Arizona Airspeed tunnel camp compared to this SDU search program. I have 100 jumps and I want to take up some coaching that will help me imporve my RW skills.

In the static line learning method how much line is released before the chute is extracted, and how does the JM prevent this line from flipping around and catching some part of the plane such as the tail.

Ground temp.

Just wanted to get a feel for what others find as too cold to jump. Whats the lowest you would go out in to jump on a otherwise bright and sunny day ( snow or no snow )

I've had good stuff for a while now. I'm looking for a video or a DVD thats a good mix of skydiving and base related stuff but different from Good Stuff. Any suggestions ?

Not a good deal at all. I'd got one for 600 when it had 8 years left on it and it had just come back after it's 4 year check. Was still packed when I got it.

dude you must do the balloon. It's just so amazing.

I've had a couple of, off DZ landings they were all good even though some were tight, done downwind and cross wind landings quite a few times and I don't have a problem with them, and can fly the current canopy in with quite a bit of accuracy too.

If I was to practice getting some distance on landing by simply controlling toggle input before fully flaring would I get a lot more out of the canopy if it was 9 cell rather than 7 cell. At this point I'm not even thinking about swooping using turns. Max I do is a little front riser ( and too not always ) on a straight in approach and then try and get some glide out of the canopy. At 1:1 on a triathlon unless it's a no wind or a down wind landing there's not much horizontal distance that I get. From that point of view would it be better to switch to a 9 cell and practice on that. Again I'm not looking at anything radical here in performance. At the moment I'm only interested in fine tuning my basic piloting skills and get a little more performance than what a Triathlon @ 1:1 gives me.

I have slightly over 100 jumps and I've been flying a Triathlon 175 loaded at 1:1 for all this while. I've learnt to fly this canopy quite well and under different circumstances, well atleast enough to think about getting a canopy loaded around 1.15. In my case that would be amount to a 150 sq ft canopy. At my skill level what are my options. I'm looking at used canopies since I don't think I'm at a point where I want a new one yet. I'm also looking at moving to a 9 cell but would love to hear some opinions on the Diablo at that wing loadings. Right now it looks like my only options are either a Sabre or a Hornet for 9 Cells and specter and triathlons for 7 cells. How do these canopies compare and is there anything else available for my level.

Does anyone use a Talon 2 container ( T5 ) with a 150 sq ft. 9 cell canopy. How does it fit. I currently have a 175 Triathlon which just about fits into it.

If you have a doubt about your ability to handle a 150 then you aren't ready for it yet. If you are so unsure of how the 150 handles definitely fly the 170 a bit first. 150 will definitely be a little faster. How fast is a matter of perception, comfort and your skills at piloting a canopy amongst other things.

I'd say make it a section in the Air and Space museum at Washington D.C That way I think it would get visited more. People probably wouldn't plan a trip around visiting it alone but I'm sure if it was part of some popular aviation museum it would draw enough of a crowd as a seperate section. May be they should get together with other organizations and have a museum for all aviation sports. That could be a large enough concept to sell. I doubt if Skydiving History alone is a large enough banner to generate some meaningful revenue.

I have a TALON and that closes right to left.

Is it worth the money too. I think it's $1100 isn't it. The other option I was looking at was the Skydive University body flight course. Which one do you think would be more value for money.

you can take comfort in the fact that you are strapped to someone with a ton of experience who'll be responsible for your life from the point you step into the plane ... humm ! your life in someone elses hands, is that suppose to be a comforting thought ... oh ! well ! you do the same thing when you are in a plane, don't you. Just relax, enjoy yourself, these tandem guys are really good, so don't worry. Smile and go along. It's going to be a lot of fun. The anxiety and the fear is what adds to the fun and spices it up, so be happy that you are scared because you are then going to enjoy it that much more.

Has someone attend one of the Air Speed Tunnel Camps at Skyventure. What do you think about the Basic Camp for honing some RW skills. I have a little over 100 jumps and want to get some good coaching. I live in the New Jersey area.

Well I don't really multicheck like a million times but I do check different aspects of the gear a different number of times. I do a check of all the handles and the straps once whenever one is preparing themselves. I check all the handles once again at the 2 min call and then I check the pilot chute a couple of times while we are moving towards the exit and thats because it can unknowingly snag and be out after I did the last check. Whenver there's too much movement in the plane I check the handles again just to make sure nothing got pulled inadvertently. So I guess I don't do a million checks but I definitely do a couple of checks specially on the PC since I can't see it and like to know that it's in there when I'm about to take my position on the exit.

Read riggerrob's post above. There are probably enough people in your own back yard who are indulging in this. I agree your intentions are not to malign the foreign skydivers who come visiting but the connotations to your post point in that direction, specially towards those who belong to smaller or the 3rd world countries. If theft is a problem, a good place to start is by keeping an eye on everyone that visits a DZ, and by that I mean everyone. People from smaller or third world countries are equally passionate about the sport to be singled out this way, and more so because they have to deal with greater challenges in terms of logistics involved in getting a skydiving operation going. Most of them, inspite of all odds, are there in the sport because they are driven by an equally strong passion for the sport. They probably have more respect for it than a whole lot others at larger dropzones who are served the sport on a silver platter. It's where the skydiving populations are larger and the activity more pronounced that you'll find some thieves amongst the community because they are too use to everything comming to them easy, including a well established skydiving lifestyle. I'm not defending the fact that there aren't any thieves overseas. What I'm saying is, if you go looking you'll find plenty locally too, so it's not just to make a statement trying to single out a particular group. For thieves outside the skydiving community, well they don't have to come from overseas. They are there in your neighbourhood. Just go find them.

I think this post isn't quite exhaustive in analyzing all the possibilities. It's trying to put the blame on travellers to the US and specifically on those from less travelled to countries. Even though I won't rule out the theory completely I'll say this much, it's quite possible that there may be locals from the US, as in those you jump with on an everday basis or quite frequently or even those who just come visiting or know of the DZ and live in the area, that may be involved. They may be selling these rigs overseas to smaller operations or even individuals without their knowledge of it being stolen. For all you know they may even just be selling the rigs as scrap or something. The point being, there are numerous possibilites and it's not healthy for the sport or the comradery it generates by coming up with a single unsubstantiated theory and using it as a basis to make sweeping judgements on people in the skydiving community by region or as a whole.

Oh Dude ! you are doing just fine. Heck ! I failed level 2 where you do practically nothing with the instructors holding onto you. Level 4 was just like yours. Spun like crazy. Couldn't figure out why at that point. Later, in the debrief my instructor told me that my knee had dropped causing the spin. I was too busy focusing on the upper body to realize that I even had legs. so don't worry. Talk to your instructor about it. Ask him what went wrong and what you need to focus on. Make a mental picture of what you need to do and focus on and go enjoy the dive. Besides it's good that you've had to deal with this. Atleast now you know what it feels like and soon you'll have the confidence of knowing how to come out of it. AFF is about learning. You instructor is there so that you can make mistakes, learn from them and apply yourself with him being your safety net, atleast to a great extent. AFF doesn't mean you have to get it right on the first jump. Just work with your instructor and you'll be fine. And yes spinning and tumbling is part of the learning curve, so enjoy it. Once you know how to spin yourself and stop it, you'll miss that fear it caused the first time it happened unintentionally.

congratulations bill and thanks for all the updates and making the effort to keep us in the loop. It made it that much more exciting for us to be able to feel being a part of it.

and why not just put the rig on the scale and weigh it ...

oh thats such a familiar feeling to me. Lived with it all through my AFF and past it. Took me about 30 to 35 jumps to get over it. Even now if I'm in a Cessna 182 or 206 I still try to grab onto something just before the door is opened. Besides, there's one odd jump that gives me a queasy feeling.