SkymonkeyONE

A Plane with Hans in it?? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I anticipate that there will be at least 15 accomplished wingsuiters at Dublin to fly with. We (BirdMan) will have demos there and at least four BMI's milling around, but I am going to the boogie to work tandems and won't be the primary POC. That's going to be either Tammy or Gimp. I would like to make SkyFest again, but am unsure what my schedule is right now. I think it will be a much better boogie this year. A HUGE plus will be the fact that they have a paved runway there now. It was impossible for an out-of-towner to get and maintain a lock on the dropzone in flight last year with all the thunderclouds and the nondescript terrain below.

This bears repeating. Also, you need to be very cognizant of your legs at pull time. REALLY make sure you are arching and that your leg wing is fully collapsed at pull time. If your legs are apart and you are not arching, then you will be head-down at pull time. Exits? Side doors are a simple poise. If you are blowing exits launching from inside the plane, then just rotate outside like any other floater exit. Arch into the wind and watch the plane fly away. Tailgate? Poise off backwards to start, fully flate while arching into the blast and watch the plane.

$2.12 a gallon on post (Fort Bragg). $2.17 plenty of other places around Fayetteville, NC.

Actually, I don't read it that way at all.

Chester is where almost every skydiver in that area goes.

Those "canopies" are available in sizes 10, 12, 13, and 14 square meters. They, according to the article, are not designed to keep you off the deck. Instead, they are designed to allow you to loft over low spots and sail a ways after a jump. This both is, and is not, "ground launching" as Jim and Duane are practicing. These Gin Nano's are not skydiving canopies, but I am sure that you could rig one of the larger up for such use if you wanted, just like the original GLX's. Another example of a group of people taking an already-small niche (paragliding) and further breaking it down in order to get their chunk of the pie. Purpose-built canopies such as these (Gin Nano's) would not be suitable for dry-weather ground launching as they are much too small. Likewise, a GLX "california ground launching canopy" would not be suitable for this sub-discipline in the strictest sense of the definition of Speed Flying. Too big and slow to keep you on the deck and out of the air. The canopies in the video linked to at the top of this thread are not Gin Nano Speed Flying canopies. They are skydiving canopies being fairly-poorly glided down a slope. The dude flying into the tree had me totally cracking up. Chuck

I totally agree and wasn't really busting on Dawn. My point is that a person on this site asked a question and nobody with the knowledge bothered to answer it. They did, however, take the exact same amount of time to tell the guy that it could be found elsewhere. THAT, I think, is pointless. A better response, in my opinion, would have been to answer the question AND post the link to their own site (which contains MUCH more detailed info, video, etc). I don't think that's asking too much, particularly when you are going to "waste" time responding in the first place on this site. Again, not bagging on Dawn particularly, but just trying to make a point. Chuck

Again, worth repeating.

Good point, Yuri! You are exactly right about those two models.

Bryan, I am the KING of rebuilds now; at least on Aerobirds. It's fascinating how much damage one of these things can sustain and continue to be airworthy after a bit of hot glue and gaffer tape! I had one Extreme wing that was broken totally in half that flew just fine with a bit of CA and tape. What helps in those cases is the fact that they have that graphite reinforcing rod. Broken Challenger wings can be fixed by afro-engineering a similar brace. It's pretty easy to over-stress Challenger wings doing high-G aerobatics! We have each snapped at least one clean in two and witnessed the fantastic resulting crashes. Lovely. As we have a ton of old fuselages for both Challengers and Extremes laying around, plus motors from both, yes, we have tried mixing and matching guts with varying degrees of success and some complete failures. What you cannot do is put the larger Extreme motor and guts in a challenger and get it to lift off. Too much wingloading. You can, however, do the opposite: run the smaller motor and guts in the larger Extreme. It's a dog, but it will fly. The only electronics that ever got truly fried were the ones where we intentionally over juiced them by running batteries from larger planes. I have considered, just for shits and grins, running separate speed controller and servos and attaching them via rods instead of the monofilament line they currently use. I may do that next time I destroy the airframe on my P-51 (prior to putting it in the new-in-the-box Stryker airframe I have. There are like five used customer-built 60-size gasser planes for sale at Hayes right now for $400 and under, including all electrics minus the radio. I am so tempted....... Chuck

Many, many dropzones have a "script" that all video guys must follow and in those instances there isn't much need to coordinate with the guy prior to the jump other than telling him where you intend to land. At places where that is not the case, I will talk through exit positioning (front or rear), my type of exit (poised forward or front-looping to the rear), when to expect my drogue throw, when I am going to pull and what signal I will give, and finally, where I am going to land. Chuck

That's funny!

This is tremendously bad news!

I am not sure what you guys are talking about here; those are skydiving canopies. One of them was a PdF Springo. Chuck

Definitely not with the tail extension. Also, not if the instructor didn't also have one so he could stay "up." Every person I have talked to about that suit said the pull was not an issue at all and that, and stability, are my criteria for suitability in this case. Chuck

Why not also just post the stuff here since that's what the poster asked for?

Paige, this quote bears repeating. As in any discipline, there are quite few people out there who will toot their own horn, yet have no real skill advantage over any other practiced individual. Guys who somehow manage to get people to pay their bills, yet have no gold medals hanging on their walls at home or any other proven competition experience. Guys that can't fly their asses out of a paper bag in the air, in a wind tunnel, or under canopy. The bottom line here is that sometimes "name" doesn't mean squat when you are looking for the best instruction. I can think of people in every "current" skydiving discipline who have parlayed their self promotion into careers before they had the requisite skill set to be coaching, instructing, or organizing. Oddly, in almost every case, this phenomenon has led to that individual becoming qualified on your, the person paying their fee's dime. It's most certainly the case in regard to tunnel time and tunnel skill. Your previous post stating your preference out of those two people who were mentioned was right on time. It's your duty as a consumer to pick the best qualified person for the job. It's also your duty as a consumer to report your findings to others so that they can make informed choices. Tunnel time is expensive. It's ludicrous to pay someone as a "coach" who is simply going to use your tunnel time to screw around and better themselves without being able to articulate any lessons and make you the best flyer you can be. Buyer beware in this discipline. Chuck

Generally, I would recommend any model that has wings which "do not get in the way" at pull time. More specifically, I would recommend that a person not start on any suit which which must be flown with the equipped grippers held. I would never recommend that anyone start on a SkyFlyer of any designation, nor a Vampire. Beyond those two, I would not hesitate to take a student up on any other offering by any company so long as they met what I consider to be the requisite amount of skydiving experience.

Sorry I missed you this weekend, Kevin, but I was otherwise-tasked with some bike club events. If I were you, I would move the tightening wheels down to the next-to-bottom holes and run the control lines in through the bottom holes. That will give you max deflection. Joey's Stryker airframe is trashed, but still airworthy. The electrics inside will go right into three other three-channel HobbyZone/ParkZone planes though, including the P-51that I fly. I can't believe he hasn't pulled that plane out of the tree yet! The Blade CX is the supposedly-easier-to-fly "trainer", but I am going to blow that off and just get a CP like Kevin Orkin did. Chuck

You haven't really offered anything that most of us don't already commonly practice. If you are getting your flocks all strung out, it's generally due to two factors: -people dragging ass on exits. Taking WAY too much between jumpers. -not having enough people outside the plane on side-door-equipped plane exits. -first people out making their first turn before the last man exits when exiting from a "standard" jumprun with a box flight pattern. Chuck

That airplane is ARF, not RTF as it requires some building. Even if it is a four-channel airplane, you can fly it like a three-channel and just not touch the rudder. As far as general flying and basic aerobatics (inverted flight, loops, victory rolls), I don't really see a need for rudder control on a plane with real ailerons. It would sure make taxiing easier though. I would just use the right stick (elevator and aileron) on that plane at first and then ease into using the rudder later. Jeff, I am pretty sure I am going to be able to talk Tim D'Annunzio out of his four-channel gas plane for next to nothing seeing as he has not even assembled it since he got it at Christmas. Yes, I am sure I am ready for a gas plane. I am well past the "stupid crash" stage now. Chuck

When I was a kid we used to go up to Lake Estes, Colorado in the winter and ice skate and watch rednecks on snowmobiles race around. The Estes rocket plant was right next to the lake, on the "uphill" side.

Brilliant

I had always thought a crossbraced sub-300 foot tandem would be bad-ass for some dropzones. I could absolutely get away with one! Who made the one that was mentioned, I wonder? Chuck