dragon2

What's a VG135? Vengeance? ciel bleu, Saskia

Hell yeah Seen them taken down so low the jumpers let go and then landed straight after, once with one jumper sorta aimed at the public (which were mostly jumpers anyway) ciel bleu, Saskia

Warning: very generic advice: you're likely wanting a canopy in the 1.0-1.2 wingload range, which in your case would be a 175-150 sqft canopy, 150 as an absolute smallest as wingload 1.2 is adviced for 200 jumps and up, definately talk to your instructors about which size to get (and look up wingload if you're not sure how to determine that). For your reserve, wingload 1.0 max is recommended so a 175 sqft or bigger would do you nicely. For your main, look at and try to demo intermediate canopies such as spectre, safire 1/2, sabre 1/2, pilot, triathlon, silhouette, fusion. ciel bleu, Saskia

The merit is fair, the argus sounds expensive, the rig totally depends on age, condition, freefly suitability, colors, options (killline pilotchute) etc. But also take into account where you're getting it from: if it's from some other jumper you pay less than if it's from The Case, Caroline Suits etc. If you're getting it from Skydivesupplies the price is usually more than fair, and if youre not, be sure to give Eric a call he's very good at newbie gear deals. Also does the gear include a yearly check? ciel bleu, Saskia

2 completely different canopies... The stiletto may spin up on you if you screw up on opening, the diablo WILL spin up on you if you even look sideways. Stiletto has a very flat glide, diablo has a fairly steep glide. Flare on stiletto is much much better. Of both, I'd get the stiletto any day. ciel bleu, Saskia

We've had at least 2 crappy sabre2's at our DZ, one sabre 2 150 opened HARD (like, gunshot going off) and in a turn always, no matter who jumped it, and a sabre 2 190 opened in a diving-type left turn always, had to be chopped on a wingsuit jump. Other sabre2s we here have are great. I think there's a lot of variance between sabre2s. Both our trouble canopies were early ones, maybe things have changed by now. I wouldn't buy a 2nd hand one before jumping it. For beginners though I can imagine some trouble brought on yourself, as the sabre2 is a fairly hp canopy that is more sensitive to opening attitudes than say spectre, safire, pilot. ciel bleu, Saskia

1. How does one become interested in the sport of Wing Suiting? How did you start? I saw the video of Loic Jean-Albert vs the skiiers I had 350 jumps or so, same instructor as Johan had cleared me to put on a penguin suit 2. Has your view of the sport changed since you have become involved seriously in it? It's become easier to join the penguin club, in many ways a good thing but it's very easy to buy a suit you're in no way ready for, and it's somewhat easy to go fly without any instruction or supervision. 3. Is there still fear before you jump or are you confident in your abilities? I'm always a bit tense if I haven't jumped for a week or more, for the first jump, no matter what type of jump. 4. Do you have friends or family who oppose to this risk taking? This as in wingsuit? No, however I did have to promise my mother not do do what Loic was doing in that video Mom, I promise. Yes, seriously. Or this, as in skydiving? Hmm, some more opposition to that, mostly from employers and the like. 5. When in the sport did you realize you were hooked to this rush? After the first time? yes. 6. What’s next? Is there anything crazier you want to try? Next is getting better at what I do (flying video for tandems, formation flying, canopy formation flying and wingsuit), not crazy as such, rather an ambition. 7. Have you ever had any close calls with disaster and if so how did it effect you? Got quite a few reserve rides, not much sweat there, a few weeks ago I had some problems with a landing, scared me more, also a close encounter with a glider under canopy at 1000ft and a gear problem just before jumping, both earlier this year got my heartrate up way high. 8. How much does it cost approximately per jump? Is this a financially tough sport? EUR 25/jump or so, but mostly I don't have to pay for my jumps, even so I spend quite a lot on equipment. It's tough financially yes, especially if you want to jump a lot and/or want to have the latest and greatest - if you want to keep up with wingsuit models alone that's quite a chunk of money per year... 9. How long do you hope to continue jumping? Are there any age restrictions? As long as I'm able, mentally, physically and financially. No age restrictions as such, not when you're already a jumper. 10. How many times a year do you usually get to jump? 200 jumps on average, more now that I'm getting paid to do tandem videos. 11. If you could describe wing suiting in one word what would you chose? freedom! ciel bleu, Saskia

A fusion is more of a sabre2 kind of canopy, but less mainstream. I like mine a lot

A few weeks ago I did my first unplanned low turn while doing a tandemvideo. Jump number 1720 or something. Spotting was done by the pilot with gps because of cloud cover eh haze. Open up canopy, above said haze, no clue where I am, fly towards some other TMs. Coming out of it at 1500 ft or so, it's a bad spot, way off, where the $%^& am I and where is my tandem, pick a field hmm not many decent fields to choose from here, I'm on final and I'm going to make it over that ditch with a lot of barbed wire, no I'm not the wind's picked up a LOT, ok 90o turn to the left, $%^& now I see there's a thin wire in the middle of the field looks like it has current running through, i'm really low now but don't want to hit that, ok flat 180o to the right going towards some cows that are in this field, land in the turn, slid in on my upper leg, shaken, muddy, but luckily I'm unhurt. This was a crappy spot, crappy weather but been there done that before, the difference is I was tired a bit and in the process of getting sick, at least that's my excuse for making so many bad decisions in one jump. But don't think it can never happen to you, and better have the skills (and the right canopy helps a lot here too) to pull crap like this off. ciel bleu, Saskia

He doesn't want the container. It's the exact same scam as been written about here a gazillion times already: he'll pay you, even pay you MORE than is needed (with a story about why), you then are asked to pay the extra amount back minus something for your trouble or similar story, after you do all that the bank's gonna call saying the original check was bad. Bye bye money. Don't think they actually want all the gear/other stuff it's just about the money. After you get a few mails like this, you'll be able to spot the scammers in 2 seconds flat ciel bleu, Saskia

OP was already given that link, the Atom 1 is made for 190-230sqft, so no a stiletto 170 won't be safe. The Atom 0 or the Atom 0.5 would be the 2 suitable PdF containers for a 170. ciel bleu, Saskia

Not annoyed by these, but they do come up often: What if both chutes don't open? Answer: you complain to the person who packed them. How far do you go up when your canopy opens? (after seeing some tandemvids) Anwers: you don't (and then they don't believe you...) How many people refuse to jump once they're in the plane? Anwer: well since our pilots are only trained to land EMPTY planes, not all that many How many tandemjumps do you have to make before jumping yourself? Answer: well, your TM is now doing his 2nd... And a new one: Say, those clouds (looking outside airplane window), are those REAL??? Ehm, I just photoshopped them, special ciel bleu, Saskia

Yikes, not something a cameraflyer wants to see... Anyone know how that opening went? ciel bleu, Saskia

Did you mean BIPLANE? Main in front, reserve in back, staggered a bit so not quite straight behind each other. ciel bleu, Saskia

Don't know what to call that kind of gravel, but it is good stuff to land in, certainly much softer than the grass around it. I landed a Lightning from half-brakes in it once, gravel everywhere but I was fine When it's frozen solid I don't like landing in the pit, mostly because of subsequently having to walk over frozen gravel, but otherwise it's a fav landing spot for sports jumpers, most if not all TMs like landing in it as do the accuracy jumpers. BTW I have never seen anybody raking it, maybe we have a kind of super gravel ciel bleu, Saskia

Ours is fairly big, I believe the story is they mistook the asked-for 10m diameter for a 10m radius, this apparently then took a LOT of gravel to fill ciel bleu, Saskia

Enevn when I had a 2out with a student 230 and a 250-ish student reserve (thanx to FXC fire @ 2.5k), they still downplaned on me after 1000ft of flying in a staggered plane. These were very similar canopies and they still wouldn't play well with each other. I'd never pick a reserve based on the main size, just pick a reserve you can land well anywhere and pick a main you like to fly. ciel bleu, Saskia

Funny how you just registered last week. I got the exact same e-mail from Sonny on both my listings. And REAL funny I just got a similar email from someone with the username Lukabas ciel bleu, Saskia

Aside from planned low downplanes, the reasoning I've heard goes mostly like this: If I'm in a jam (eh, wrap) and low, I want to be able to make my own decision when to pull my reserve. My take on that: if you're so low the AAD is gonna fire and going at a speed that triggers it, you do not HAVE any more time to do something yourself and any fabric you can get it a bonus! I did do a couple dozen AAD-less jumps and most of those happened to be CRW jumps, but with borrowed rigs. I can understand someone not putting AADs in spare loaner rigs that are not used by newbies (or people without a C license, per regulations over here). But not putting in an AAD in a CRW rig you regularly jump because it might fire when you don't want it to? For your own choice fine but I think that's a dangerous mindset to tell new CRW jumpers, somewhat similar to people not trusting RSL and telling 20-something jumpers not to buy a rig with one... These days, for CRW jumpers, can't see a reason NOT to jump with a modern AAD (cypres/vigil2/argus). And if anyone got away with not turning on their AAD in France you were crafty, as people were watching, also you were breaking competition rules. Not something I'd be proud of... ciel bleu, Saskia

How 'bout a scan of said photo? ciel bleu, Saskia

12 lbs? You're nuts. Really. I weighed the same as you when I started skydiving, never needed weights just needed to learn to ARCH. These days I do sometimes wear weights to stay with heavy tandem combos but that's it. You don't need weights to keep up with average sized jumpers, you need to learn to fly I'm not an AFF instructor but giving someone, especially someone of normal weight, 8lbs to wear during student jumps? Sounds like lazy instructors to me ciel bleu, Saskia

Get a reserve you can land safely anywhere, under any conditions, without problems. Then it's the right size Generally for a newer jumper (and for smart not-so-new jumpers) that's a wingload of 1:1 or less. Bigger is better in a reserve ciel bleu, Saskia

If the HC3 is the same length as the HC5, this won't quite fit I think. But if you measure the HC3 from lens-mount to back, I can give you a guestimate next weekend... ciel bleu, Saskia

If your TM's can pull it off, we had a few marriage proposals under canopy Otherwise the sheet thing works, last one I filmed was made of a airplane tow (whaddayacallems), see attachments. Make sure you put it in the right direction and in a good spot for the videoflyer to film, and maybe warn other jumpers to stay a bit away from it. ciel bleu, Saskia

Get goggles that fit (FlexZ are popular), and put them on TIGHT, ie you usually can see I've been wearing a goggle for the rest of the day Also your helmet should help keep them in place, if they still float up your really need to tighten them, a LOT. ciel bleu, Saskia