mnischalke

Yeppers. All the experience in the world won't mean shit when you're unconscious or broken, dangling under a heavily loaded F1-11 7-cell. I guess I am glad companies like Mirage build containers to house your little mini-turf surfer as well as a somewhat adequate-sized reserve. My thought is: If I wouldn't BASE a certain-sized reserve off the big span in WV, I have no business thinking it's an acceptable last-resort canopy. mike Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills--You know, like nunchuk skills, bow-hunting skills, computer-hacking skills.

The way I see it, that's all the more reason to begin the high performance flight progression on a larger, more docile wing. mike Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills--You know, like nunchuk skills, bow-hunting skills, computer-hacking skills.

And landing the thing at a 1.8 w/l, unconscious and off-field might really suck. Seriously, what could possibly be a valid reason for anybody using this size reserve? Vanity is the only one I can think of, if you can even call that valid. mike Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills--You know, like nunchuk skills, bow-hunting skills, computer-hacking skills.

Hmmmm.... I think it might be a little easier just to ship my Fox back to Kalifornia and have both vents and valves installed. mike Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills--You know, like nunchuk skills, bow-hunting skills, computer-hacking skills.

Well, I guess I misspoke. I should have said the credit card company's skydiving and BASE rigs. (one of each btw.) No rich kids here. BTW, can I have that canopy back now? I keep rethinking my need for vents. mike Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills--You know, like nunchuk skills, bow-hunting skills, computer-hacking skills.

In the last six or eight months, I've flown United and Delta, carrying on both my skydiving and BASE rigs. The skydiving rig was not in a container, but the BASE rig was in a backpack with wheels. Each time, they were only concerned with the skydiving rig--more specifically, the Cypres--but only gave the base rig a passing glance. They didn't mention the hook knives on either rig. mike Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills--You know, like nunchuk skills, bow-hunting skills, computer-hacking skills.

First off, the Silhouette is a semi-elliptical canopy, in that it has a tapered tail. My first 150 jumps were on a Silhouette 210 @ 1.1:1 (after 10 on a Spectre 230). I am guessing that would be somewhere in the range of your prospective wingloading. 100 of those 150 jumps included the use of front risers for landing. The inputs ranged from double fronts to 120s. The upper end of my canopy's surf would be anywhere from 60-80 ft, depending upon the approach and the winds. The canopy has an excellent glide ratio, but I wasn't too fond of the short recovery arc. The canopy would plane out quite rapidly after releasing the speed-inducing input. On the other hand, a well-timed turn resulted in many "hands-off" or toggles-up landings. I would only use toggle input at the very end of the surf to set down. I am not really sure I even needed to, to be quite honest. This can be really cool when your feet are a foot off the ground. I didn't like it when I released the risers too early and found myself surfing 15 ft off the ground, waiting for it to stall so I could sink the rest of the way to the ground. The recovery arc issue was probably a good thing for me, as it made me pay very close attention to important variables of the approach. There are a lot of great canopies out there under which you can learn to swoop. Your choice is just going to depend on the flight characteristics you desire and feel comfortable with. I found the Silhouette to be a great choice to start, but that's just my experience. hope I helped, mike Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills--You know, like nunchuk skills, bow-hunting skills, computer-hacking skills.

Did you call ADI? I am pretty sure he'd be able to tell you exactly what you need to know. Personally, when I decide I can no longer stand the scratches on my Hawkeye, I will probably fill, wet-sand and do a basecoat/clearcoat urethane finish on it with a decent amount of flex additive. BTW, what is a "fogged-in" clearcoat? Is that like using overspray and charged particles or something? mike Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills--You know, like nunchuk skills, bow-hunting skills, computer-hacking skills.

Isn't that a primary docking point? I've heard it's great to grab a hold of with your feet so you can drag the lower canopy around for a bit. Sometimes it will even hold on to your foot all by itself. But, that's just what I have heard. mike Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills--You know, like nunchuk skills, bow-hunting skills, computer-hacking skills.

I seem to recall seeing a study on seatbelts and their locations on jump A/C somewhere. Anybody know what I am talking about? mike Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills--You know, like nunchuk skills, bow-hunting skills, computer-hacking skills.

Wow, I won't ride in an A/C without seatbelts, and if you are the type who refuses to use seatbelts and see me on an A/C, please let me know, so I can scratch from the load. Picture this: You're in the back of an 18+ passenger A/C as it's going in. You're not wearing a seatbelt, so you get to ride the kinetic wave to the front of the plane as it comes to an instantaneous halt. You kill two or three of your fellow skydivers in the front of the A/C, but you get to live. Besides the physical pain, how do you think you might feel for the rest of your life? As for getting out, like Billvon, I am quite confident with going to the reserve at 400ft, given the pilot gives me the go. My Cessna pilot also knows this, as we have discussed it at length. If he needs to rapidly reduce his wingloading and can manage the c/g change, he knows I am there for him. mike Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills--You know, like nunchuk skills, bow-hunting skills, computer-hacking skills.

JP, I think if you use this method, you won't be able to see the slack in the line, as the tapes will only let you pull the kill line as far as the tapes themselves. My usual practice during packing is to pull the kill line itself--until taut--from where it exits the bridle and enters the PC. Then, I let it fall back into the PC and smooth the bridle out. Look inside the pc and you will see exactly how much slack there is in the kill line. mike Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills--You know, like nunchuk skills, bow-hunting skills, computer-hacking skills.

what he said... mike Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills--You know, like nunchuk skills, bow-hunting skills, computer-hacking skills.

I know that higher winds also cause your perceptions to change during the turn as well. Your normal sight picture on a no-wind or light-wind day might have the ground moving at a certain speed beneath you. In those same normal conditions, if you see the ground moving less, or not at all, your mind would probably tell you that you're getting into the corner, so you alter your inputs with maybe added harness to speed up the turn while conserving some altitude. On a windy day, I have found that I have mistakenly recognized the corner sight picture, because I am heading straight at the ground, when in fact the moving airmass is tricking me. I get around to my intended heading faster, and what do you know, I am high. I know this perplexed me for a while until someone with a lot more knowledge pointed it out to me. mike Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills--You know, like nunchuk skills, bow-hunting skills, computer-hacking skills.

I used to do it all the time (after being introduced to it at Scott Miller's course), until I got an airlocked canopy--now I just fly backwards a lot. Stalling is lot of fun, given plenty of altitude to recover, and a smooth even release of input. Rear riser stalls on an open-nosed breather canopy are cool because you can watch the top skin fall onto the bottom skin as the pilot chute goes over the nose of the canopy, with a little more pressure, poof, the canopy drops right behind you, and you get a little more freefall! On toggles, you get a mini round as the endcells come around to meet. You get to fly a round, without flying a round! Like I said, they are a ton of fun. I will also say that a lot of people don't do these things. As canopies get smaller/more heavily loaded, recovery becomes a little more sketchy. oh well, keep having fun! mike Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills--You know, like nunchuk skills, bow-hunting skills, computer-hacking skills.

I did my first canopy course with scott @ around jump 30. I highly recommend it! Scott is a wonderful instructor and a great canopy pilot. Have fun and soak it all up, you'll need it! mike Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills--You know, like nunchuk skills, bow-hunting skills, computer-hacking skills.

You are totally welcome to come up to Skydive Orange in VA and try my Samurai 150 at any time. Just give me a little advance warning. Otherwise, I might be visiting Cedartown within the next 6 weeks, and you'd be welcome to put a few jumps on it there, if ya wanted. Mine does dive more than a stock one because of a slight trim mod, but it'll certainly give you an idea of what it will be like to fly your very own Samurai. mike Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills--You know, like nunchuk skills, bow-hunting skills, computer-hacking skills.

Like I said, I don't recall the conversation exactly, but I think the word degrade was used. I do remeber being quite surprised. mike Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills--You know, like nunchuk skills, bow-hunting skills, computer-hacking skills.

At the pd factory, I seem to recall being told that the fluorescent colors degrade faster in sunlight than any other color. mike Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills--You know, like nunchuk skills, bow-hunting skills, computer-hacking skills.

Call me a reserve Nazi, but I hear a lot of talk about low-timers downsizing their mains too soon, but reserves somehow are okay to downsize. I have heard a lot of your garden-variety Canopy Nazi's (not pointing to any in particular) saying that you should be able to land your main in somebody's backyard, et al, but somehow a reserve choice is given little more than a few words of caution. In fact, a reserve is a totally different animal and needs to be treated with an even higher level forethought and attentiveness. After all, it's probably the only thing you got left keeping you from cratering. Only one person in this thread has mentioned the real danger of a small f1-11 7-cell reserve: Landing unconscious. So, here's my question, as a self-appointed Reserve Nazi: Do you feel comfortable having your canopy-of-choice land your unconscious ass in someone's backyard/pool/barb-wire fence/tree/rock garden/driveway (or wherever else it happens to drift)? Seeing 20/20 and all now, I think one of the biggest potential mistakes I ever made in skydiving was stuffing a Raven-1 (loaded @ 1.25) in my first rig with my whopping total number of jumps at 10. Granted, my F1-11 7-cell landing experience is currently limited to that of my 265sf Fox BASE canopy (@ .75:1), but I can tell you that flying and flaring canopies of these designs and fabrics are totally different than ZP 7- or 9-cell canopies. The sad thing is that only recently have container/harness manufacturers realized that making bigger reserve containers might not be such a bad idea. Ugh... anyway, so how do you feel about that 160 landing you? mike Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills--You know, like nunchuk skills, bow-hunting skills, computer-hacking skills.

Ya know, I am very curious to know what the certification process actually costs. In a real quick search, I found these prices (in USD) for UVP-E (ex-paratroop, 5-blade prop): 17 passengers max + cargo: Sn 861712, built 1986, 1052 TTSN, L/R engines 299/469 SOH: $180,000. Sn 861713, built 1986, 698 TTSN, L/R engines 717/717 SOH: $185,000. Sn 861714, built 1986, 995 TTSN, L/R engines 1032/859 SOH: $184,000. Sn 861715, built 1986, 916 TTSN, L/R engines 630/1291SOH: $180,000. Sn 861717, built 1986, 714 TTSN, L/R engines 137/137 SOH: $200,000. Really, those prices are not bad for potential jump planes. mike Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills--You know, like nunchuk skills, bow-hunting skills, computer-hacking skills.

I hate to sound like Big Air/Brian's personal cheerleader today, but my advice is to order a copy of his book The Parachute and its Pilot. I am pretty sure you'll learn everything you'd ever want to know about canopy flight/design and then about a ton more including mental aspects of the stuff we do. There's a thread somewhere around here about the book, or just pm him for more info. I think you can get one for free if you attend one of his seminars. While you are waiting on your copy of the book, I suggest priming your mind by reading the Big Air owner's manual. Trust me, it's not just for owners of the lotus and the samurai, although, it might make ya think about airlocks... cya! mike Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills--You know, like nunchuk skills, bow-hunting skills, computer-hacking skills.

Yeah, I believe that's the case. A little over year ago, I got my Lotus 170 with the prototype lineset that has become the LotusMAX. When my Samurai arrived last fall, I ended up selling it to the first person I let jump it. He fell in love right off the bat, so it didn't last on the market too long. I know of a few other canopies which had the new lineset added to them in last year, but the changeover hadn't happened at Big Air's manufacturing contractor until this year. Brian's LotusMAX press release is here, if you are interested. mike Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills--You know, like nunchuk skills, bow-hunting skills, computer-hacking skills.

Have ya flown the LotusMAX? That is an awwwwwwsome canopy. mike Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills--You know, like nunchuk skills, bow-hunting skills, computer-hacking skills.

I used to do the pull through the window thing, but I think there's a chance for kinking using that method. I now stand on the lip of the bag and pull the kill line from where it exits the bridle at the pc. I pull it all the way out until I can pull no more, and then I smooth the bridle out and let the loose kill fall inside the pc. This method works great, as I know the kill line is fully seated at the link end. I also can see that I am loading the two center tapes rather than the kill line, because I can see that the center tapes are taught, while the kill is limp. When the kill no longer has slack, it's time to replace it. Simple eh? mike Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills--You know, like nunchuk skills, bow-hunting skills, computer-hacking skills.