Rdutch

Quit trying to find a loophole go get a girlfriend like the rest of us! Ray Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

Depends, in Florida about 820ft, In Indianna 870 at Colorado 920, in Perris 890. Thats just what I set my neptune at, I variate a little here and there based on wids ect. Everyone has a turn style that they prefer and they all work, my style seems to give me a lot of power comnig out of the turn for long distance runs. It definitely is a high strength turn where Im giving it everything I have for the final 90* of the turn. im sure that you could use harness to help there but Im more used to just pulling on my risers. Ray Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

I hear there was an engine failure on take off last weekend at a Florida DZ. Any word on the cause? Also what happened. Ive heard stories of engine failures on take off, and Im curious what happened on this one. Ive heard of all that can go wrong if the pilot doesn't handle it just right. The pilot of this plane must be a very good pilot to handle it with no damage to the plane, and to safely land with everyone on the plane. Still no word on any injuries. But I heard the plane was ok. Just curious what happened and how everything turned out. Also if anyone knows, what would be the difference if the left or right engine quit? Is there truth to the engine tourqe flipping the plane theory? Id think that a big factor would be drag if the prop wasnt feathered immediately. Blue SkEs Ray Ray Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

Deep brakes, almost to stall. Then let the brakes up and listen, when the recovery is at its fastest point slow start to turn, carry it through slowly almost to 180, then with all the strength I have finish the last 90. This style starts with very little riser pressure, so you have to be carefull not to put too much input in and turn fast. Then end of it has a lot of riser pressure, it takes a lot of strength to finish the turn while maintaining the dive. I dont use any harness. The key to my style is to not turn too fast. Blus SkiEs Ray Ray Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

When I used to build composite aircraft, we used Kevlar for reinforcement on some area's. They actually make kevlar shears, basically it was a zig zag scissor. From what I remember they were something in the area of $65 a pair. The hardest part was to not fray the material. Impregnated with resin and cured you could sand the stray fibers off. Also we used to tape the material on both sides before we cut it. Its been 8 years so my memory isnt the best. I do remember it was a lot harder to impregnate Kevlar with resin than carbon or fiberglass, I would use a brush to wet the area before I laid the kevlar, and then wet it after laying it. You can also buy Kevlar pre-preg strips in different widths. this is a little easier to cut to size, and a lot easier to work with, but also a lot more expensive. The advantage of this method is you dont need to buy resin, mixing cups, ect. Good luck. Ray Ray Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

She used to work for packing Kathy, and she travels all over the country packing. I dont know her last name, but she is a packing machine. Last I heard she only packs of events and is living in the NE somewhere. Sorry I dont know her last name. If you know her ask if she used to pack for Fastrax, and if its her can you let her know Ray from DeLand is looking for her and give her my email (Rayfalling@hotmail.com) or send me contact information. P.s she is big into Yoga if this helps. Thanks. Ray Ray Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

So you must have a hard time finding somewhere to jump, most dropzones have no turn rule. Ray Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

What a coincedence, thats the most ridiculous reply I have ever read. Everything I wrote was based on experience. Nothing I suggested or used as a reference is something I havent seen work firsthand. Many of the things I pointed out have nothing to do with hook turns. The risk of canopy collision is there no matter what canopy size you fly or landing style you choose. But since you seem to be an expert Id like to see your idea of how to help make canopy flight safer for everyone. Nothing I said was a RULE, it was an attempt to get an intelligent conversation going on the subject and hopefully help make the canopy portion of a skydive safer for everyone. Ray Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

Just a question, the idea I thought of was couldnt you kill two birds with one stone. Isnt power generated by steam generated by concentrated solar energy and water? So if you pumped salt water from the ocean to run the plant couldnt you easily create fresh water from the steam. This would help the desert locations with a fresh water supply, and not use up the precious fresh water available. Any idea on how much water a day a system like this would use? Im sure if they use local fresh water they would recycle it. I just thought it would be a good idea, especially in countries like africa and places with a desert environment with close proximity to an ocean. Just wondering? Ray Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

QuoteA great post. A few additional comments: >Skydivers attempting a straight in landing turn to final the lowest, >and remain in final the longest this creates a window from a low altitude >for a long amount of time, I understand the basics of this theory, but it seems to be akin to saying "the faster you drive through a dangerous intersection the safer you are, because you are in the dangerous intersection for the shortest amount of time." There's something to that, but IMO the additional risk from the higher speed (or more aggressive manuever) outweighs the savings.Quote I was just trying to describe the difference in landing techniques, where the straight in landers are in final for the longest amount of time at a low altitude, and the hp turning landings are in final for less time and from a higher altitude. I was trying to show how its bad to mix the two landings, and encourage ways to provide seperation. The canopy size idea is based on many years of experience with it working in DeLand with 4way teams, we usually pick which team goes first based on canopy size or desire to get to the ground. I have had occasions where we had the smallest canopies by a large margin and have teams that insist on landing first no matter where they exit, in that case we let them go first instead of trying to race them to the ground. Some of the more experienced freeflyers adopted this method also, and exit canopy size vs group size, and established landing orders within the group. This has worked very well for many years now. Thanks for taking a minute to actually read the post, it seems some people just read a post looking for what they can argue with, instead of finding the positive parts in it. I just wanted to show a few ways/ideas that could in one way or another keep people safer in the air. Ray Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

Im sure this isnt new news, but I thought it was quite interesting and wanted to share, and see what people think. Its a good idea for places like Las Vegas and many other sunny locations. I wonder if they could kill two birds with this method and use saltwater making it a desalination plant as well as power plant? Of course it would be complicated due to the corrosive nature of saltwater. Anyway its worth a read. http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2007/2007-03-30-02.asp Ray Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

If this means sharing the same landing area at the same time (a reasonabe interpretation of hos words), I believe it to be incorrect and dangerous, for reasons that have already been explained over and over again. Just relying on knowledge, experience and training has also been shown not to prevent collisions. Actually I went through many reasons why we wont share the same landing area at the same time, and how to make sure we dont share the same landing area at the same time. It obviously wansnt a reasonable interpretation of my words I clearly went through great detail with many ways to provide adequate seperation. Of all the incedents that occured that "I" know of, if they had even thought of "clearing your airspace, seperating your groups, and designating a landing order" they would have been here today. It wasnt the "turn" that killed these people. Turn aside, my point on the post was to encourage people to provide adequate seperation under canopy and not land all at the same time. I still cant figure out why even without swoopers everyone has to land at the same time. The most dangerous time of a skydive "recent events have shown" is under canopy, so how hard it it to take some time and find a way for everyone to land safely. B.T.W. almost every close call I have seen in my life has been with people landing straight in, or 90* turns on big ways and all of them "Highly" experienced pilots. Ray Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

"Swoopers and fun jumpers can share the air together; it just takes a little time, education and willingness." Trying to "share the air" is a recipe for disaster. If you are going to swoop, it behooves you to do so where there is precisely zero sharing of the air. So you said you landed an airliner after a cessna 170, isnt that "Sharing the air". Did you and the cessna rush to the ground and fight for a laning space? No you flew a pattern and provided adequate seperation. There is no difference with canopies. The unfortunate attitude with skydivers is: Open up and get to the ground. Ignore the turn debate, this is a dangerous concept, skydivers opening up and blindly spiraling to the ground is dangerous. Open up, find your slot in the landing pattern make sure you have clear air and land in the same direction as everyone else. You as a pilot should understand this. I never siad that doing hook turns in crowds is a good idea, I just provided ways for people to seperate themselves and make the air safer for everyone around them. Hook turn or no hook turn these are valid concepts and would be a good idea for everyone to "think" about. I never said it was a rule but its a good concept. Ray Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

Canopy collisions happen when two or more people are attempting to land at the same time, near the same place, or lets call it the same landing window. While everyone after opening is trying to land, the time to final is the time I’m mentioning. Skydivers attempting a straight in landing turn to final the lowest, and remain in final the longest this creates a window from a low altitude for a long amount of time, canopy size also has a great factor in this window. Pilots doing high performance landings turn a lot higher and remain in final the least amount of time; canopy size has a minor factor in this. Another factor in this is turn degree, a larger turn degree means a higher altitude, and this creates a window of greater altitude and a small amount of time. When you mix these windows (with the same desired landing area) the risk of a canopy collision increases. How do you avoid crossing these windows? One way to do this is with similar groups, canopy size dictates exit order, i.e.: two 4way teams, one with sub 100 canopies, and the other with 135's. Obviously the sub 100-canopy team should exit first. On bigger groups this gets more difficult, but not necessarily. The old standard is that a 10 way exits before a 4 way because a 10 way takes more time to climb out. While this is a good idea it isn’t cast in stone. It is much safer to have a 4way team that is all jumping tiny canopies and performing high performance landings exit first, instead of exiting after and finding themselves in the middle of a landing pattern of 10 big canopies that intend to do straight in landings. Of course when using this method exit order = landing order, it should be this way with any scenario. Close calls under canopy happen all the time, they happen with low time jumpers as well as experienced jumpers, they happen with pilots attempting straight in landings as well as high performance landings. What is the cause: Failure to provide adequate separation under canopy! Today’s canopies perform better than they have ever before; the range of descent is adjustable by the pilot in extreme ranges, from flying in full brakes, regular flight, and spiraling down. What is lacking is EDUCATION in the range that a canopy has available, and how to provide adequate separation under canopy. How often do you see an entire load land in under a minute? With the time from group separation before exit, and the time it takes to fly under canopy to your landing, there is plenty of time to figure out a flight plan and clear your air for landing. The most annoying thing is when you find your slot for landing and someone from above spirals down under you and cuts into your landing window, by the time you reach 1500 ft you should be near or in your pattern and have figured out who you are landing after. Lack of this standard can be traced back from AFF where you are taught how to fly a pattern and flare. Proper procedures can be added to AFF to address your entire canopy flight. It happens in pilot training and should happen in skydiving. Large group formations are another instance of this problem, in this instance I fully agree on a rule on landing. If you do 270-degree turns on a 30 way, into the regular landing area, you’re an idiot. But safety in big ways isn’t only limited to big turns. Racing each other to the ground is something that happens regularly in big way formations. Now I’m not saying that people are actually in a race to see who can get to the ground first (but it does happen, there is always someone that has to boast "I always land first"), I’m talking about the strange desire for everyone on a big way to rush to the ground and land at the same time at the same spot, and usually in many different directions. I personally would be under brakes letting everyone jihad each other and find some nice clear airspace to land in, even with my sub 100 canopy. A great idea on big ways is to establish a landing order. The jumpers with the smallest canopies land first, and in return the jumpers with the largest canopies land last, it’s never good to spiral down with a big canopy into the landing traffic and try and find a slot. Just as it isn’t very smart to exit late in the pas and spiral down and pass everyone that exited before and is lower than you, regardless of the canopy size you jump and especially if you wish to do a big turn. It just takes a few minutes to figure out a landing order during the dirt dive, and very easy to enforce, and set a hard deck for spiraling. Proper separation, and finding a slot in the landing pattern can work; I’ve seen it work for years. It just takes cooperation from everyone. Experienced High performance canopy pilots typically use this approach, and competitive canopy pilots have to use this approach, land out of your exit order and you get a 0! Most of the time under canopy the "Swoopers" line up above and behind somewhere in your pattern and wait until the person below has initiated his turn and is clear before starting theirs. This includes the swoopers that are doing hop and pop's or landing from a fun jump. Exit order is usually selected by canopy size, and you would be surprised at how much separation there is with 5 jumpers on a pass. Now we all know that sometimes pilots that perform high performance landings will have to get out in the back of the plane, maybe because their dropzone has a freeflyers exit after belly flyer rule, or they are performing a wingsuit jump. If you wish to do a high performance landing it is your responsibility to either pull high enough to allow the traffic after you to land, or do your swoop somewhere else. It’s a trade off for safety, if you have to swoop, then you have to pull higher. Want more freefall, then don’t swoop. And of course once open, ride your brakes! You need to use your judgment to decide when it is safe to swoop and when it is not. High performance landings can be safe but doing them in a crowd is just a bad idea. Turn debate: there is a debate that turns are safer or more dangerous, in reality there isn’t much difference between a 180 or a 270. Your still flying blind until you reach your desired heading, the only difference and possibly what makes a 270 safer is you have a good view of where your going to go, your looking at your final heading before you even start your turn, and a great view of your left and right of your flight path. With a 180 you’re doing a blind turn where your heading is directly behind you. Also 270 turns are usually carving turns and you’re leading with your eyes, so you have a greater chance of seeing any traffic and with the carving turn a greater chance of avoiding it. I know you can do a 180 carving turn, but that isn’t the normal case. Flying a good landing pattern greatly decreases the risk in doing a turn landing, this gives you a good view who or what is around you, if someone is below you or inside your pattern while flying your pattern and you cant see they are clear of you before your turn, don’t do a high performance landing. If you are set up for a 270 its fairly easy to just do a 90 turn onto your heading. Swoopers and fun jumpers can share the air together; it just takes a little time, education and willingness. Ray Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

Where did you get that idea, the 4way teams in Deland do an excellent job of seperating themselves and landing in order, while even doing a high performance landing. Teams make sure they have seperation between each group landing, and land as a team. thus my reason for thinking a general ban on 270's isnt the answer. We govern ourselves to make sure that the teams with the smallest canopies that will land first, exit first. Also mostly when training we get out on our own pass, this is why I think a general ban of a 270 is a bad idea. I pay my money for a jump, that jump not only includes the training dive, it also includes the landing. Now I understand that there is a time and a place for things, like if your on a big way load you would be a complete knucklehead to try and do a big turn landing. Most of the canopy pilots I know are grat at self preservation and work very hard trying to fly safe. Completely banning something is NOT the answer, education, and finding a solution is. Ray Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

That would definitely work in Perris, DeLand has a different set up that Perris, if you want to do back to backs in DeLand you basically have to land as close to the hanger as possible, and run to the hanger and get your gear on, they dont like you being late for a plane load, and dont like the plane waiting. Also getting a truck to pick you up in DeLand after every load wont be happening often. In perris they have a lot more staff available. Did the PD Factory Team do 90* landings? or land at the pond? If I jumped in Perris and the truck would pick me up to make my next load Id swoop the pond every jump. I do think there is a solution to all of this, but it isnt simple, I think it will take effort from all sides, and be a big change to everyone. everyone wants to land right in front of the DZ for various reasons so to make the swoopers have to land far away will inconvenience them, Or to make the old school skydivers land far off has the same effect. At Dropzones like Perris and AZ they have the availability to have seperate landing area's. The only good excuse that you could use in DeLand to want to land in front is if you are trying to do a back to back, then there isnt any other option. But most of all I think BANNING something isnt the solution. OF course there is a time and place for everything, if I was doing a 100way, id damn sure land straight in, and probaly on the other side of the dropzone. But just for example sake, if my team is getting out on our own pass and we are the only ones landing, we have a set landing order within the team, where is the reason for a 180 only rule? Ray Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

I use the (quite successfull) method of putting my arms and legs together and just hanging there, while all the mentioned methods work, you do risk getting confused and kicking the wrong way, or while fighting it, making it worse. I developed this method after doing heavy drops with PD for high speed deployment testing. I noticed that almost every one of the stationary weights spun up on opening, they always came out of line twist very fast. Since starting that style I have recovered from some serious line twists qute quickly, even from two high g spinning malfunctions. Im not saying this method is foolproof, or even suggesting people change what they have been taught, there is a lot of years of experience that went into the kick and spread technique. I just wanted to let people know of this option. Ray Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

Yesterday when I got to the dropzone there was signs all over stating MANDATORY landing rules, same old stuff: land in the same direction as everyone else, land into the wind ect, follow the first person down's direction ect, then the shocker "Turns over 180* are prohibited!" Looks like if I want to make a fun jump I'll have to drive to Zhills. There has been a big push to try and get everyone to land in the same direction at DeLand, many people (Including members of Majik) have suggested following SD Arizona with the landing area runway approach, where the landing area is one direction only, but the "highly experienced" people in charge cant land crosswind so that idea was shot down. The letter that was posted at the dz, didnt explain everything, like hop n pops ect. Im curious how they are going to try and talk Shannon Pilcher, Ian Bobo or Jay Moledzki into only doing 180's when they land. Rumor was there is supposed to be a designated area for people doing bigger turns, and since the person in charge of the decision to ban big turns lands in the main landing area I doubt that it will be right in front of the dz. I guess teams will be late making their back to backs, having to run from the student field to the hanger and back to the plane. Im sure a lot of details are left out, but the note was posted without explanation. Banning 270*s I.M.O is a stupid idea, whats next, if a freefly group and a belly group are close on opening are they going to ban freeflying? Or if a wingsuit gets a good spot and flys himself into an off field landing are they going to ban wingsuits. Coming soon, dropzones across the country close down to open much safer golf driving range's. Ray Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

Thats why I never took up smoking, as a kid I took a swig out of a pepsi ( hyper kid pepsi wasnt allowed in my house ) that was on the table, I think I was 9, and you can tell what I got in return, after that every time I looked at a cigarette all I could think of was that pepsi. I couldnt even hold them for friends for years. Ray Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

How do you combat fatique? After our best jump ever yesterday at teh fsl meet (A 20 point skydive) we had a 2 hour wait for the next load, the energy levels of the team were considerably down, actually it was noticed across the board with the other teams also. So what are some of the best ways to keep focus and energy levels going after a long period between jumps. Ray Ray Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

You go ahead and swoop right into that student who inadvertantly drifted into the dedicated swoop cone (maybe his radio broke or whatever). But it's ok, you have "right of way", I'm sure he'll yield to you before you fly through his canopy - he'll see you coming at him (from above and behind, just behind his Manta). Lower jumper has right of way. This is completely different from the point that "right of way" is not carte blanche to fly stupid or in areas they shouldn't be in. I dont know your point, But if your swooping after a student then either a: your a your very good at flying your sub 100 canopy and actually know that you can get extreme lift from it and know how to fly thermals and took forever to get down, or b: you were on a second pass or different load. But I agree fully on your lower jumper has the right of way, this is a highly forgotten rule. I cant count how many times I heard he was in my way! And the swooper had a close call because he didnt change his approach. A Bad swoop is a lot better than a FATAL swoop! Difft note: For years I filmed 4way and flew a velo 84. I would always land last (not after students or tandems of course, but last of the fun jumpers/teams in my exit group) just to let everyone land and I would be clear to do whatever landing I chose, usually after exiting first, this shows that the small canopy excuse is a bullshit excuse that people that dont know how to fly their canopy use when they cut someone off. The thing I think should be addresed is mainly exit order should be a factor in canopy size. In Deland we have an unnoficial rule that we use. The teams with the smallest canopies get out first, it makes no sence that a team gets out second when they are going to land before the first team (this of course goes down to the people dont know how to fly brakes theory but that is most 4way teams (sorry:)). But always if a group exits before you then you should give them room to land first. Trying to beat the group before you to the ground not only makes it danerous for you, it makes it dangerous for everyone around you, EVERY team I have been on had a designated landing order, open up, find your teammates and set your pattern, teamates with smaller canopies then the larger or just set a team order, then first team to exit lands first, second team exits second, its not hard and it can save your life. This applies to (in theory because it no one but teams thinks about it) freefly teams and even fun jump groups, take a second on the dirt dive to figure out landing order, take a second in the plane and on the ground and figure out who is going to land first. Even on big ways figure out your landing order, (what a concept? you have two sub 100 canopies and a bunch of 170+ canopies, the small canopies should land first in a set order, even turn habits can come into play here: (say I have an 84 and I do a 270 you have a 90 and do a 180, you follow me because I will be turning higher than you and flying into your landing/flight area, so just give me a few seconds to keep us both safe). You know your exit/docking order so why not take a minute and figure out your landing order, its the canopy ride that will kill you. Under canopy its not very hard to find the people that are landing before you and ride above/behind them and follow. If you were in an airplane you would follow a landing pattern why should it be different with a canopy, were not flying rounds anymore, todays canopies have a huge amount of range. People that are supposed to land first dont waste time and get to the ground following your leader (this helps with landing direction also) and people landing last take your time. Now there is a exit order theory on seperation, easy fix, more time before exit, Freeflyers fall straight down, belly flyers move more, the answer: more exit time, and im only talking a few more seconds, if a 3 way freefly with sub 100 sqft canopies is exiting before your group of 5 belly flyers with 200sqft canopies, have the belly group give you a few more seconds and exit after, in all reality, the freeflyers will be open already and decended enough to be no problem,and the belly flyers will take more time in the door anyway. With the difference in fallrate and the canopy decent the smaller canopies wont be a factor. If you think its a problem break off and pull a little higer (we do still have lower pullers exit first right?). Some dropzones have been exiting freeflyers first for years, whie others (Deland (old school) still insist on exit size exit order. But it has been working both ways for years, and this only matters in high winds with a jump plane moving at 70 mph it would take a very high wind speed to make a difference. The only factor so far is canopy size, and pilot skill (pilot skill fixed with education). Oh yeah and skydiver skill, a freeflyer that cant fly headdown will cover a lot of air in a bad track/headdown, make him give more time before exit. I have on other occasions let a team with bigger canopies than my team land first when they are complete idiots and land in 5 different directions, and spiral like madmen to the ground, not the solution but it kept me safe! Overall canopy size should be a consideration for exit order (of course in a big way you dont have a choice, then you do the smart thing and figure out your landing order inside the group). Limiting turns at a dz isnt the answer, make sure the people doing the turns know how to seperate their landing order (and exit order). We can all find a safe way to jump and land TOGETHER it just takes a little education and consideration. Trying to be the first to the ground exiting from the middle of the plane is just a plain old DUMBASS idea! Exit order= Landing order no questions asked. Canopy size doesnt make a difference, if you cant fly your canopy well enough for this to work, land somewhere else/buy a bigger canopy or learn to fly the one your jumping! Just like we expect people that dont "high performance land" to land somewhere else, we all apply! And the canopy size excuse is no excuse learn how to fly your canopy slow, I can beat a heavier person in a slow decent contest with a 150 with my velo 84. Blue SkiEs Ray Ray Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

Ive sent a few emails on this subject and no reply, maybe they are so busy building it they dont have time to check their email. Ray Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

Not so much as dye, more like paint. The line doesnt absorb the color. But its a very good coating and takes some time to show wear. Ray Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

Nope, I already went through security in Orlando, The weight belt went through the xray as usual. Being led of course it just showed up black, they did what they always did, picked it up looked at it and gave it back to me. The security thing happened at atlanta while waiting for my transfer. Wouldn't you need to explain it any way when you set off the metal detectors each time you passed threw security? Ray Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

I used to fly with my rigs about three times a month. I would always carry one on and check the other (I was always jumping the day after I arrived and had my rig lost for a few days a number of times when checked). Also I had a 50lb weight belt I would wear. Usually this worked out well, until I went to Perris for Nationals and had to check both rigs because of travel arrangements. I always printed out and laminated the tsa forms covering skydiving gear and placed them under my reserve flap on the checked gear. When I arrived in Perris and went to check my gear after flying from Denver to LA/Ontario apt I was surprised to open my gear bag and find both my rigs main and reserve open and the canopies in a big mess. I repacked my reserves and contacted the airline who gave me a travel waver for the value of the repack of the mains and reserve. So checking your gear you risk annoyances. I would check one and carry the other or let her carry one also. Funny story be carefull in Atlanta when you have a 50 lb weight belt under your shirt, I tucked it under my shirt because I was sick of explaining about it, and I was about to eat a slice of pizza, A lady saw it under my shirt and alerted security, just about to take a bite, my hands were held down by three security officers looking for a detonator, and my weight belt was removed, they were embarrased to find no explosives and only lead. My pizza was on the floor and all I got was "Were sorry" and some questioning about why I feel the need to wear a 50lb weight belt when I travel. Ray Small and fast what every girl dreams of!