dragon2

Why didn't you chop it? ciel bleu, Saskia

Are there any funny effects on the canopy flying right behind another guy? (more familar with the effect on sailing, where there is only wind and no gravity) Yeah there's turbulence behind a canopy, up a bit (because the canopy is moving down), and slightly to the sides. Something to be wary about, I'd suggest trying some CRW if you haven't experienced this yet ciel bleu, Saskia

I sometimes jump other people's rigs. I usually jump a 135 or 120. If I'm stupid enough to grab a rig that has the wrong canopy in it (the rigs all look alike), it can be anything up (down?) to a velo 90. If I don't know what canopy it is I was told to chop instantly and go for the reserve (PD 126 or PD 113) because even a slight assymetrical flare would turn me into the ground. Dunno, I can land a vengeance 120 fine, I think I'd try the mystery canopy out for a bit if I had the altitude. If the opening didn't scare me first (I often jump birdman so a velo or even a small vengeance wouldn't be a good idea) I know I can land a PD113 just fine, might be the smarter choice to land Don't really fancy a crash course in landing a velocity ciel bleu, Saskia

Over here, it's mandatory to get a "harness test" every 3 months, if you haven't got your C yet (which you can get when you have at least 200 freefall jumps, 4 written exams and a bunch of pratical stuff and of course your B, and you have to renew your C each year else you lose it). The FJC ends with a harness session as well. Don't know about every jump for AFF, but people here get checked out on their EP's regurlarly, at least till they have 200 jumps (and most people get their C with way more).. ciel bleu, Saskia

I'm no swooper, I just film them, but that sounds weird... AFAIK, more degrees = higher altitude, with variations (quick turns vs slow carves, different canopies, different WL). If a swooper starts his 630 turn at 950 ft, that would be one hell of a carve for a 90? Doesn't make sense ciel bleu, Saskia

All Dutch DZ's: http://www.parachute.nl/paracentra.html A lot of European DZ's: http://www.wuza.net/indexww.php ciel bleu, Saskia

We have a new TM here that had the same happen to him a couple months ago First paid tandem = first chop = beer! ciel bleu, Saskia

I didn't write that, that was a quote from someone else (like your post above). Oh BTW, in general I agree, but I have so many cutaways that if I ever have one with an rsl again (usually I jump camera so no rsl), I might or I might not. If the reserve is already open, it's open, and I know I can find and pull my handles ciel bleu, Saskia

It'll fit ok, although it may be slightly on the smallish side, and you def can't go any smaller than that. http://www.parachutes-de-france.com/sources/html/clients/fr/produit_t/97.html (check electra/springo) ciel bleu, Saskia

Hmm doubt that, I talked to them last weekend and I remember something about it being available to the general public sometime early next year. Edited to say: their website says April 2006 too. ciel bleu, Saskia

You should have gotten a talking to You saved your life by deploying your main, granted it was too low, still YOU saved your life. Your backup device fired because you happened to do it too low.. Just a talking to, and the fact that this scared the crap out of you will be (and I am sure was) enough. Oh it scared me alright, and of course I did get a talking too. Although maybe not why you'd expect: the biplane flew for a long time but then developed into a downplane which I chopped. I got grounded for 2 weeks because of that chop, even though I'm still 100% sure I was right to chop: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1904975#1904975 ciel bleu, Saskia

Yeah I've been grounded once. For 2 weeks, for pulling at 2.5k when I had 50 jumps, resulting in a 2-out (FXC fired). At 2k I had a biplane, at 1k it was turning into a downplane and I chopped. I got grounded for the chopping actually Did it serve it's purpose? Well no, I didn't think chopping a downplane (the main was standing almost straight before me) was wrong, even though the instructor that grounded me didn't see the downplane develop, he just say the biplane and the single reserve (my coach saw it though and he said I did just fine). Pulling too low, yeah, that was a mistake, but still, I don't like grounding for a mistake like that. I think it's better to get up on the horse again after scaring yourself like that, if you learned from that mistake. Esp if you don't have many jumps, a long grounding only makes you more nervous. If you do something stupid after being told not to, like people turning too low like they sometimes do when landing in front of our hangar, maybe, ground them for the rest of the day or something. However, if you keep pulling low, or turning low, and not learning from your mistakes, then yeah, a long-term grounding might help keep you safe and I'd be in favor of that. ciel bleu, Saskia

Saskia, I can find out what the rules are, this is just what someone from Sweden told me, maybe in a special situation you would just get away with a warning (they have a three warning system or something too.. three warnings and you're done skydiving in Sweden too..) Your cypress fired because you kept fixing something for too long? To me that sounds like you lost altitude awareness, which should be talked about too.. There's a lot of scenarios possible here, and it's not quite a black and white / yes or no thing. I just think that this jumper that literally got saved by her cypress because she did not execute her EPs AT ALL because she was waiting on a device to do it for her, should be grounded.. she should go bowling. Nah I meant people that didn't wait for the cypres, didn't keep fixing something when they should've cutaway and didn't simply pull too low. But people that ended up with a cypres fire anyway. Sorry if the wording wasn't clear... BTW I ended up with a FXC fire once (2 out), after pulling at 2500 k when I had 50 jumps (admittedly, I puled too low, but should I've been grounded for life for that?) ciel bleu, Saskia

If you take a delay, it's not really a hopnpop. But the other jumper should have given you good separation, and not fly backwards over jump run. However an off heading opening can always happen, therefore the separation is important. ciel bleu, Saskia

I know in Sweden, she would be banned from the sport, FOR LIFE. Cause.. theoretically you are dead. I think the rule there is if you land conscious from a Cypres save, you can sell your gear and you will never be allowed to jump in Sweden again. Someone local there correct me if i don't have the facts straight. Personally.. device dependence is a very dangerous thing, what are the emergency procedures we all get taught in ground school? Cutaway, pull reserve. One of my friends had a cutaway a couple of weeks ago, and the RSL beat him to pulling the reserve handle.. BUT.. he did grab the handle anyways, ready to pull it out, but he was already under a reserve. ALWAYS execute the emergency procedures.. ALWAYS. This jumper should be grounded. Always? What if you have a "reason" to pull that low or not at all? For instance, I've had someone tell about they're almost double total for instance (rigging error, 2nd reserve pin couldn't release without damaging the reserve housing, which she did!), or people that are otherwise busy the entire time to fix the problem trying to get the reserve (or any canopy) to open. Personally I don't see any reason to ground people like that, they didn't "wait" for the cypres fire, kept fixing a problem they should've cutaway from for too long or simply pulled too low. ciel bleu, Saskia

First of all you really need firewire not usb. Usb is only for photos and compressed video, no good for dvd's. for the rest, do a search, there are a couple threads about which editing software and which dvd software you can use, depending on skills and budget. ciel bleu, Saskia

Teuge, The Netherlands hangar: http://www.para-teuge.nl/new/site.php?item=72 platform: http://www.para-teuge.nl/new/site.php?item=73 ciel bleu, Saskia

The dutch national crw team rigs are jav's with reversed risers. With permission from SunPath. ciel bleu, Saskia

You can cutaway just fine without chopping your wings, only getting rid of linetwists without getting rid of your wings first can be a problem ciel bleu, Saskia

I find your advice a bit strange, a Springo is an elliptical canopy similar to a Stiletto but twitchier, for which you need 500 jumps in The Netherlands. Would that be approved a first canopy?? And you'd be underloading it so what's the point of jumping one that big anyway. As for all square, not many canopies are anymore. I'd go with a 170 or 190 intermediate canopy, like Spectre, Triathlon, Sabre (2), Pilot, Safire (2), Electra, ... ciel bleu, Saskia

Reserve? I've chopped 1 pair of normal risers, 1 pair of mini risers and 4x the same pair of reversed risers (PDF, on a PDF rig). I could've sworn there is no difference in pull force, and I'm a wimp really. Only the regular risers took some pulling, only got it the 2nd time, after peeling (duh). The rest, no problem, even with twists all the way. There probably was some difference, I just didn't notice having to pull at all hard to release, also in non-stress situations (intentionals, and chopping while at the same time telling my spectre I don't jump one for nothing ). Non scientific of course, but also, no problem. ciel bleu, Saskia

AFAIK, it's a legit site, and I don't get any virus warnings. Are you sure it was a VIRUS and are you sure it was because of this site? Virusses don't often come from webpages, maybe it was just a harmless script or something. There's some javascript on the first page forinstance, it's harmless, but it might be seen as adware. ciel bleu, Saskia

When you start it up after a battery change it shows the software version. You can also go to "demo" in the menu, one of the screens shown there is the bootscreen. ciel bleu, Saskia

Too late, the link now points to a news item about "The great sex inquiry" ciel bleu, Saskia

It's not stupid, unless you want to use it as a beeper If you want to use it as a speed indicator, say for birdman or speed jumps, and want the most accurate results, you need to wear it on your leg or hip. ciel bleu, Saskia