SkymonkeyONE

Real men can hang with electric TWO WAYS and not fry.

I have a wife and we both have cameras.

In the storm?

And that's all that is...your opinion. In MY opinion, it's perfectly valid way to describe canopy "feel". It's a general perception of the combination of speed, turn rate, and flare power. For example, a Stilletto 97 flies MUCH smaller than a Cobalt 95 or a similarly sized Crossfire. Much twitchier and much less power at the end of the flare. I would never consider jumping a Stilletto 65, but had no problem whatsoever manageing a Cobalt 65. "Feel" is a product of canopy trim, fabric porosity and airfoil efficiency. There are still a lot of Hornets in the air. They are a lot like a Pilot and are built in the exact same factory. Yes, some did/do open fairly hard on occasion, but that's totally fixable with either a larger slider, an H-mod, or a pocket mod on the slider. They are fantastic entry-level/intermediate canopies and can be had for a song on the used market. The canopy (at least in name) was discontinued when Aerodyne ate PISA. Chuck

Actually, the tunnel rats who are required to generally be in there anyway are fine, free coaches.

A truly dedicated poster - or hard core DZ.com addict... The fool is BOTH

Yep, that's the same Pete.

My wife really likes hers as well.

Hey Pete! You mean you dug out your suit and actually made some flights? I thought you were permanently chained to the yoke?! Chuck

I start sitting up as soon as I get the waveoff and then rotate my feet the rest of the way under (until I am on my back) as the droge releases and the tandem pair is pulled up, up, and away. I will sometimes spin in a circle on my back during the tandem opening sequence. Chuck

That does not matter at all. The key thing is grabbing both risers at the same height up the risers.

The ability to land a canopy on rear risers is a critical task in my opinion. We teach rear riser turns and flares at altitude in the ISP for a reason; you may have to use them one day. Chopping a straight-flying, fully inflated canopy because a toggle comes off in your hand is nuts. Likewise, the inability to correct a turn caused by a stuck toggle baffles me as well. It is incredibly simple to land a lightly loaded canopy on rears. It doesn't feel much different than landing with toggles. I had a 100 pound, 16 year-old female first jump student a couple of years ago that had no problem whatsoever landing her Navigator 200 student main on rears, right in the main landing area. The reason she did so? She was concerned that the sound of the toggle-keeper velco shearing when she went to clear her brakes meant that the risers were failing! If you have not played with your rear risers, then you need to. Get out on a hop and pop or simply get out last and dump high then do the following: -prior to clearing your brakes reach up and grab your rear risers at full arm extension, then turn left, then right, then flare the canopy. Repeat until comfortable -after clearing your brakes reach up to full arm extension and perform the same actions. Do repeated practice flares until you feel comfortable. -lastly, when you are comfortable with the up-high work, do a straight-in approach, into the wind and land your canopy. Be prepared to do a PLF (feet and knees together, knees bent) If you are scared to do the actual landing under your current main, then simply borrow a large student-type main and do it under that. Once you get past the fright of doing it under the larger main, then downsize till you can pull it off under what you currently fly. I would not fly a canopy that I could not safely land on rears only. That said, I don't have any problems whatsoever doing this under either my Velo 84 or my Sabre2 97. It is an absolute lifesaving skill. I am not willing to chop an otherwise fully-functional main and neither should anyone else. This is really simple stuff and you can get all the "at altitude" practice you need just after opening on every single jump you make. This all goes back to the recurring discussion we have on the boards about people in way over their heads in regards to canopy choices. If you are simply living through your landings then you are asking for it. It does not take much to master the input controls on a canopy, but most people are simply not willing to go outside their tiny little comfort zone. Chuck

The A license was only 20 jumps until just recently; the same time they made the C 200 and the D 500. That's not accurate actually. The A license was 20 FREEFALLS until that change.

Never heard of you, now BEAT IT! Just kidding, April. You still in Tejas? Chuckie

You funny, boy.

I jump my Joe Bennet-built removeable slider on every single jump on my Velo without fear of being spanked. I find the incredible ease of getting it off in one pull (and out of the way) totally worth the extra MINUTE it takes me to re-rig it on the ground. I jump it from full altitude and at terminal velocity on almost every single skydive in my duties as an AFFI and tandem vidiot. No fucking with slider stowage, no noise at all under canopy, nothing at all blocking my view around me as I descend into the pattern and setup for my turn. Totally worth the small re-rigging hassle in my opinion. Likewise, if you are going "full" RDS, then it's really the only smart way to go. I tried "partial" RDS (lines attached to rear of non-removeable slider by means of RSL shackle) and had two instances where I could not release the system; not acceptable. It takes me less than five minutes to change from "removeable slider/deployment system still on top" to "full RDS". I keep my Vectran RDS lines folded neatly in my inside mudflap on my Wings W1-2 EXT. Chuck

Handcam is neat. I could have absolutely sold the video from my second attempt; it was that good. A tiny PC 109 camera and a .3 lens don't hinder me in the slightest. Handcam is also very cool for cat A (old level 1) AFF from the reserve side too! Chuck

I would just like to address one major flaw in your post: the thought that most "good" swoopers can't make it because they have other "commitments". Ultimately, if you want to be a competitive swooper, you have simply got to get out and compete. Many, many is the time I have heard the local beer-line swooper say that they could blister my ass, but alas, none have been able to even qualify at the entry level under any of the three past competition venues (with two exceptions in my state). If competition interests you, then you will make time to compete. If it does not, then you cannot whine about your "inability" to compete at a championship. The CPC is the training ground for larger events. True, you can still go up to The Ranch and pay your money and compete at the PSN. You can also do some of the other "non-sanctioned" events aroudn the country if your local CPC schedule is prohibitive. What you cannot do, though, is complain that you are unable to compete at the CPC championship without meeting the league criteria. That's like complaining about not getting invited to SkyQuest even though you did not participate in NSL four-way at the regional level. Anyone can compete in the "standard" class in canopy piloting at Nationals, yet I was pretty fascinated at how few people participated. Hell, if you are already at the venue competing in another discipline, why not show everyone what you really got, or don't got, whichever the case may be? Once again, making gates and navigating a course is nothing like swooping the beer line or dragging a toe across your local pond. I wish 1/10th of the people who told me they wanted to give competition a try would do it. I have found it very rewarding for the past five years at the pro level. I don't win and never will, but potential for learning more from the absolute best on the planet, the pure spectacle of witnessing guys go 200 feet farther than you on every swoop, and the friendships gained on the road make it totally worth it. Screw inconvenience. Chuck

If you are saying that most "normal" flocks, even large ones, are led by a backflyer then you are mistaken, at least in the USA. Perhaps you meant something completely different, but that's the way I read your post. Chuck

The CPC is the entry level. There is absolutely no need to fly a crossbraced canopy to compete in the series and every course is navigable under a "standard" canopy.

what would you have done prior to a BMI rating being established? I started before a BMI was established. I did though learn from a very experianced skymonkey1 I already had the BMI rating, LeRoy.

I really liked that.

I thought I spelled it out pretty good in my first post, but I will expound: Often is the time when a first flight student blows an exit and then winds up pointing in the wrong direction (like back under the line of flight at Rantoul where we get out first). This, regardless of "other" jump experience. I cannot count the times that I have had to fly up and "corral" them back in a safe direction; it's routine. Likewise, it's very common for amped-up students to forget to do a practice pull up top. Being able to fly up alongside and give them the PRCP signal, then demonstrate it, gets them back on track. Getting them to do PRCP's prior to the actual pull is very important safety-wise in our opinion. People get scared during initial wingsuit dives for a number of reasons: "I can't move my arms!" and "it's time to pull and I hope I don't screw it up!" are the most common. Most people get over the first thing nearly immediately, but many, many people get very sketchy at pull time, no matter how thorough the ground class. Being able to fly right alongside them, smiling and shooting them hand and arm signals as well as prompting them into a better flight configuration really does wonders to relax them and, therefore, enhance the safety of the event. In conclusion, the instructor's ability to close on a student, get him flying efficiently, and making sure he is pointed in the right direction are all valid safety points. We do not require people with over 500 jumps to fly with a BMI, but we do require that anyone demoing one of our suits at our booth sit though the ground class (unless they can show documented proof of prior wingsuit experience). Most "experienced" (over 500 jumps) skydivers, however, choose to do their first flight with a BMI. Reason? They want to have someone next to them to "go to school" on so that they can more rapidly get the suit flying efficiently. We absolutely require that any 200 to 500 jump current skydiver jump with a BMI if they want to jump our demo suits. Chuck Blue D-12501 AFF/SL/TM-I, BMCI, PRO

The stuff is sitting next to Barney ready to be loaded. Randy Cash is driving or flying up here to fetch the plane for the weekend. Dave will need help setting up the courses on Saturday morning, so help a brother out. Yes, they will, I assume, be flying the Cessna for hop-n-swoops on Saturday. You could probably fit on the Otter as well and get out low during the four-way stuff.

You guys do what you like, but we will happilly continue to evaluate our candidates airskills before we give them our rating. If you think that there is nothing you can do in the air as an instructor to un-fuck someone you are sadly mistaken. No, you are not going to tackle them in the air if they zoo out, but the things you can provide really make a difference in the experience. The simple act of being able to stay relative with a flailer in the boxman position tells me alot about a candidates flying ability. Likewise the ability to use ones cognitive skills to evaluate a student's flight, give corrective hand and arm signals during the flight, and then properly debrief him/her on the ground is paramount in my opinion. I have trained HUNDREDS of first flight students and trained around 25 BMI's. Perry has the skillset to stay with anyone in any perfect or flailing attitude, so I find it odd that he would not enforce the same standards on all he deems suitable to be PFI's. Sorry to drag this thread off topic, but that just needed to be said. Perhaps I will detach the instructor-training parts of this and create another one.