SkymonkeyONE

The Fokker F-27 Friendship is indeed the aircraft used by the Golden Knights demonstration teams. They have two of them. The aircraft has two very-large rear doors that slide horizontally into the skin of the aircraft on either side during jump operations. It gets pretty windy in the back when both doors are open. The F-27 has a quite-fast drop speed. It's pretty cool to exit both sides in a hard poised track and stay looking accross at your buddy (through the plane!)for a second before you peel away. A Fokker will hold more jumpers than a CASA 212 if there are no pallets or anything inside; it is quite a bit longer. Chuck

Welcome to the forums and our sport. Hope you stick around a bit. Be advised, though, that some of us JUST AINT RIGHT! Gotta love it, Chuck

The guys on Sonic Force up at The Ranch all had tye-dyed rigs and they looked BEAT when I was up there last Fall. The one I noticed in particular was Sonic's. This is the same rig he had on while jumping naked at Z-hills with the horns, pitchfork, and tail on in the Parachutist magazine last year. They started out as a red/white tie dye, but his was faded to pink. Not that a solid color rig that got left in the sun a lot wouldn't look bad too, it just looked particularly bad on his. As that was the first time I had ever seen the rig in person, I was pretty shocked it could be that beat up so soon.

The Dutchboy has a good point. It is best to do both of those things at the exact same moment on every packjob so you don't "miss" it. I personally do not cock my pilot chute till the main is in the bag and the locking stows are done. This gives me more room to move my bag around the main. As for the slider: I unstow it and set the brakes as soon as I hit the ground. Chuck

A Huey will do 12k, but when we used to jump them for free every weekend, we normally topped out at 10,500. Still, they were FREE and there are lots of handles on the Starbord side of a UH-1 for launching formations. Chuck

While posting to the wreck is fine and dandy, one big problem is with the news-servers adding your post in a timely manner. It used to be that Deja (now Google) was the best place to see EVERYONES posts; newsone.net was slow to post, or some posts never seemed to get to the thread. Now, it is exactly the opposite. Newsone will get your stuff to the thread much quicker than Google. During the "dark times" (post Deja buyout), I posted to newsone.net, so while the new "postable" Google is prettier to look at, I am not sure that I will go back to using that server. It's not like I post to the wreck much nowadays anyway. Chuck

That is actually not a bad technique. The one place I know that does something like that puts the student through SL training until what would be his first ten-second delay, then does AFF Levels 4-7 from altitude. The benefit of that is the person is already comfortable with low-level exits and stability, plus has PROVEN that he is capable of pulling his/her own ripcord or hand-deploy. Also, his first several jumps were basically no-brainers where only exit stability and canopy control were critical. The final three one-Jumpmaster "AFF" levels taught the rest of the basics: turns, instability drills (flips, barrel rolls), diving exits, etc. In all, a much better-rounded program in my opinion, but not what is generally taught at most DZs. Also, concerning body stability during a SL program: you are jumping with an Instructor, JM, or coach on every jump from your 15-second delay until completion of your 3rd "45" second delay so you get PLENTY of feedback. At Raeford, all your jumps which are designated 30 and 45 second delays are done from 13,000 out of the Otter. And NO, you aren't really pulling after that delay; you pull at 3,500. Chuck

Ask around and see if anyone has a copy of the video "Fly Like A Pro". I guarantee SOMEONE has it already. Borrow it and watch it. If there really is nobody there that has it, then you might consider buying it yourself, or going in together with someone else. It is a good film and I reccomend it for everyone at every experience level who has questions with their canopy control. Besides that, you have done the right thing by asking for advice in this forum. Chuck

A nice comprehensive list there. The main reason I checked it, though, was to make sure the reserve ride rule was correct. It seems that as of late the newer generation of jumpers has come to think that they owe BEER to the rigger who packed their reserve. It is indeed, and has ALWAYS been, a 1/5th of premium liquor of the rigger's choosing. Chuck

I agree with John. General neatness is important, but ironing your canopy out and digging around inside is just a waste of time. I have not had a reserve ride due to packing EVER in my 2,700 jumps, and believe me when I say I pack FAST. For anything eliptical, other than a tri-cell, I PRO pack. I Psycho packed my VX quite sloppily and it worked great; certainly much better than a PRO pack did. Anything semi-eliptical or square gets flat-packed, except for a small Sabre without a sail slider (which gets Psycho packed or thrown in the trash bin. LOL!) My PRO pack method which I have used on these mains I have owned; Excallibur 150, Stilleto 107 and 97, Alpha 84, Cobalt 85 and 75, Icarus VX-74 until I started Psycho packing it is as follows: Set the brakes; run the lines up evenly while walking up the center. Ensure the slider is against the stops and not inverted or anything. Shake the canopy left and right. Step to the left side of the lines, place the lines in your right hand; hands against the slider so no slack is above your hand. Count the nose out against your left thigh. Grab the nose and roll it or whatever you prefer. While still grabbing the nose in your left hand and the lines in your right hand, lift the nose up and "shake" the rest of the canopy down (as described in another response here); this sets the lines into proper groups. Put the nose between your legs while maintaining the lines against your belly-button area. Reach down and grab the center of your tail (data panel)and stick it under your right thumb. Flip the left side of the tail over to check your stabilizers, then BRIEFLY ensure that your tail folds are not flipped the wrong way; then pull the tail around and stick it around the nose (under your left knee). Do the same with the other side. Pull the left and right side of the tail around with your left hand and start rolling them together above the nose, but below your belly button (you will have to move your right hand slightly away from your body, but leave the tip of the nose between your legs). With your left hand, grab the rolled tail and the nose, release the knee-grip, maintain the lines near your right hip (with no slack behind you) and lay the parachute down right in front of you. Keep you left hand centered under the main with the nose right in the middle. Finally, release the lines with your right hand and put your knees where your right hand was. Roll the parachute under and squeeze out the air. Spin 90 degrees clockwise and put your left shin accross the main, in the middle. Grab the line/slider juncture and put in what is known as a "10 inch fold" on big canopies. In other words, put your left hand right of your left shin (which is keeping the parachute flat), then grab the slider/line juncture with your right hand; slide the canopy slightly under the line/slider juncture. Next, rotate back 90 degrees counter-clockwise and put both knees on top of that fold. With both hands, roll the fabric around the back of the main and "touch fingers". Pull the canopy up to your chest with both hands, then roll that bad oscar down and to the front like a SLEEPING BAG. Put the sleeping bag roll directly on top of the first fold, stick one knee on top of it, then BAG IT! Simple, huh? I can pack in just over four minutes in a hurry. The KEY to the job is not letting any slack get behind you or down into the main once you walk the lines up. DO NOT release the lines with your right hand for any reason until you lay the parachute on the ground in front of you and you put your knees on that same spot. This is MUCH faster than putting it over your shoulder and playing with it over and over while you dig into the middle and "straighten" your line groups. That key and maintaining the nose/tail wrap in your left hand and in a straight line while you lay it down are what keeps you from spinning. The bottom line is that if your lines are straight up to the main, and your stabilizers are pulled out, your shit is going to open...period. Quartering and folding your slider like a reserve pack job is just a big waste of time; just make sure it is against the stops. Digging around on the inside and making pretty S-folds is a waste of time; you just "shake it out". Anyway, I promise I would not steer you wrong and I really have not had a bad opening using that technique. If you are jumping a Sabre or an old Monarch for some reason, then put a pocket slider on that rascal before you get an opening so hard you shit yourself (like I did 8 years ago). So long as you have that, a flat-pack (roll-pack) is TERRIBLY fast and opens great every time. If you MUST be high-tech for any reason, then a Psycho will tame any hard (or odd) opening main. As previously posted, the step-by-step instructions for that are on the Icarus website. Personally, I would use the roll-pack on the semi-elipticals too, like the Hornet, Spectre, etc. Don't let anyone say you can't do it, because about half the Golden Knights competition team (RW and S&A) stack-pack their Stilletos because it's faster for them. My wife has packing tabs on her Stilleto 120 and she stack packs it. She gets great openings every time. Sorry for being long winded, but waiting for people to get packed so I can jump again makes me crazy! Chuck Blue D-12501

That "near by DZ" representative was smoking crack when he told you that SL was unsafe. It is VERY hard to get your parachute NOT to open jumping SL. I have had students perform every type of incorrect exit in the book and guess what... their main still opened. We do not allow students to progress to the next level without first demonstrating their ability to pull thier own main in a flat and stable manner. While SL might be considered stone-age by many, nowadays with the new ISP all training methods have the same degree of competency instilled in the students by the time they "stop paying" for instruction. The simple answer to the response you got from that DZ, though, was that they were pushing you into their prefered method of training. Some DZs just don't have the staff qualifications to teach other than their primary method. If you really want to learn SL, then I reccomend a smaller DZ. Chuck

At the place that I primarily teach at (the Green Beret Sport Parachute Activity), we teach our students to pack as part of the FJC. We "certify" them to pack their own mains before we even let them jump. This, we feel, instills confidence in their equipment. What this does is make the gear-rental part of the experience less expensive to our primarily-military student base. These kids just don't have the money to be paying packers anyway, so it's best to get that part of the training over as soon as possible. Just so you know, we rent complete sets of gear to our students (and up-jumpers without their own gear) for $30 U.S. all weekend. That's not per jump, it's all you can jump during that time. Compare that to what you are paying at your DZ. Not a bad deal at all. We also, therefore, don't gouge these guys by charging them extra to teach them to pack. Chuck

Check it out. Not sure which way you intended that the North and East Atlanta crew take, but Thomaston is not "on the way" to Elberta, Alabama. If they wanted to stop at a DZ on the way they could drop by my dad's DZ right on I-85 (exit 38 in Alabama) and throw down some canal swoops. NOT that I would stop for anything but gas and drive-thru food on a road trip to a boogie!! Their fastest route is over to Montgomery, then south on I-65. Thomaston is a decent place to skydive, but I wouldn't go there just to be organized by a member of Nemesis (a GSL 4-way team, for those who didn't know). There are some class people on the DZ, don't get me wrong, but if I weren't going to Perris for the swoop meet the next weekend I would probably go to Flora-Bama and toss some mullets. Beach jumps into the Flora-Bama bar KICK ASS! I am talking ROCK STAR status with the beach goers. By the way, when L.B. gets to Thomaston,(Air Rage videos; just moved to Macon from North Carolina) make sure he is hooked up. That guy ROCKS! Chuck D-12501

Yes, of course a pocket slider would slow down your openings, but the problem I have seen with most "hard opening" Alpha/Space/Impulse canopies is when they are jumped with the wrong pilot chute. There REALLY is a difference in F-111 and zero-p, and size matters too. Gunter Worlein would not sell an Alpha or Space (the same canopy) without selling you a pilot chute with the canopy. Jim Cazer (Cazer ParaLoft) made the F-111 pilot chutes for him, but we have found that small zero-p ones work just as well. Large zero-p pilot chutes are a no-no on Atair mains; FX and VX Extremes, too. Chuck

Frap hats definitely have their place. They are excellent for times when you are moving around small planes with sharp edges; they keep your head warm in mild cold; they hold your dytter; and lastly, they meet the minimum requirements of "helmet" when jumping at DZ's in which they are mandated. Once under canopy you can pull it off and stick it down your jumpsuit so you can swoop in with just your sunglasses on. Granted, they are not going to protect you if you fly head-first into a hangar or your buddy under canopy, but they will ease little head bumps on a four way exit. Besides that, old, stinky frap hats are groovy. Mine is 15 years old and the entire front seam is rotten, re-sewn, rotten again; lovely. I have my 1st-generation Dytter super-tacked to the outside. As far as protection goes, full-face is the only answer. I have a factory diver (non flip-up version) that I wear for 4-way, 8-way, and when it's COLD outside. If it's hot outside and I am doing 4-way, then I take off the lens and wear goggles over the top. I don't like landing with a lens down because it fucks with my depth perception and peripheral vision. I know some style and accuracy competitors that jump the ski helmets you were talking about, but some of them complain that because of the air vents they are VERY loud on the inside. Chuck

WHO said that the wait on a Cobalt is six months!? Try FOUR WEEKS in custom colors. My last one was to me in TWO WEEKS. In comparison, my old VX took three months. Either way, there are plenty of "straight and soft" opening mains, to include the Cobalt and Safire. The Crossfire would be my choice of Icarus canopy though; I am not a fan of Safire landings. Chuck

I have used it in two ways. The first was as an up and coming jumper, or when I was a kid on the DZ. Skygods were that top 2% of the sport whos name everyone else knew: Jerry Bird, Guy Manos, Tom Piras, Roger Ponce DeLeon, Roger Nelson. Those were (and still are in most cases) the guys that got on all the big-ways without having to "try-out". The guys that got paid to organize at the Freak Brothers Convention, etc. While some might come off as very abrasive to low-time jumpers or people that just don't get to boogies and jump meets, most are quite personable when you get to know them. Some are complete assholes no matter how well you know them, but they (to me) are the exception. The other way I see it used is to describe the 2,000 or 3,000 jump guy that, while a good skydiver and organizer, isn't REALLY all that. Guys with 3,000 jumps but still can't do better than a 12-point average in a four-way meet, but coming accross like they are Joe Trinko or Jack Jeffries. That, or guys that brag about being in really big formations when in actuality they only had to chunk a six-way off a ramp and wait for the REAL talent to swoop into the third ring. Whoopty shit! Anyway, these are the opinions of a 20-year skydiver who has seen many a "skygod" fly himself right into the ground over the years. No fear though; there is always a young buck ready to step into that empty slot. Chuck

It is my experience that married people who's spouses are also skydivers have a lot better chance of staying around the sport seriously. I grew up on a DZ. My Dad stayed there most every weekend; my mom did not go at all. They divorced when I was seven. There are exceptions to every rule, of course. My father re-married two years later and has been with the same woman for over 25 years; she is not a jumper. She HAS made two tandems and does occasionally come out, but has no reason to distrust my dad, so they don't have any problems with him spending his entire weekend out there. My wife and I both spend tons of time at the DZ. We keep our RV there and generally stay from Saturday morning till Monday morning. If she feels like staying at home and doing yard work or something else though, she has no problem with me being there "by myself". She knows I couldn't give a shit about "hooking up" as you put it. I am VERY hapilly married and everyone knows it, so if I were trying to show my ass, then I would be narc'd out immediately. Besides, what would I be getting if I cheated with some other DZ chick? A less talented skydiver than my 2,700 jump wife, obviously; no thanks. Do other married people make that mistake? Of course they do, and then they become divorced in short order. The DZ is a place to socialize and skydive. I have found few other sports or hobbies that have such a diverse crowd of individuals coming together to enjoy the same thing. Single skydivers are always on the lookout for someone who shares that same interest, so of course they are trying to grab them a skydiving mate. Nothing wrong with that. If you are not a jumper, but are married to a person who does and you are more and more jealous of their time spent there, then you are probably going to have a problem. If that person spent all their time on the DZ before you got together, then you can't expect them to just give it up. Your post was pretty ambiguous, but it seemed like you were fishing for an excuse to raise hell with your mate. Chuck

If you like the colors, then it's a good deal. Don't be discouraged because the main is no longer in production. There is very little difference between the Alpha (actually called "Impulse" overseas) and the newer Cobalt. I loved by Alpha 84 about as much as I do my Cobalt 75 and 85. You can wingload a Cobalt slightly higher due to the rib construction, but they land about the same, which is to say OUTSTANDING. Chuck

Gotta tell you guys that I thought that ad kicked ass. Maybe it's just my twisted sense of humor, but it just made me laugh. I could care less what it MEANS. I promptly cut the entire page out and hung it in the bar at the Green Beret Parachute Activity (aka: the Monkeydome). It was, of course, an immediate hit with our crowd. All those people that take offense to nudity and raunchiness on the DZ should take up golf or something. Political Correctness is not for Skydivers...period. Chuck

Former Golden Knight Style and Accuracy competitor (and now 82nd Freefall Activity manager) Neal Beverly went 5,700 jumps without a mal. The one he finally chopped? One toggle fell off his control lines on his Sabre 150 and he just didn't feel like landing with his risers at that wingload. I have 2,700 jumps and have never packed a malfunction. My two reserve rides were (1) a result of a NASTY CRW wrap (I chopped at 900 feet), and (2) a parachute that was assembled on the risers incorrectly. Not bad. I always pack my own rig and I just throw it in the bag; not neat at all really. You would think that with everyones horror stories about having to chop their elipticals due to spins that I might have had a main spin in my 20 years in the sport; I have not. Chuck Blue D-12501

I have never had a beer explode in or outside an airplane. Never exploded while stuck down the front of my jumpsuit either. Of course I was just carrying them around so I wouldn't lose them. LOL!

If you are in the United States, it is legal for you to commence skydiving at the age of 16 so long as you have parental consent. You are not legally (by order of the gear manufacturers) able to make a tandem jump in the United States until you are 18 years old. That being said, there are plenty of dropzones that refuse to train anyone under the age of 18 for liability reasons. Conversely, there are places that don't really give a rats ass about the law and will train people under 16. Likewise, you will find places that will do tandems for anyone big enough to fit in the passenger harness, though of course they are not going to advertise that fact. Anyway, good luck finding a school. I started when I was 17 myself, but could have started sooner if I would have kept my grades up! Chuck Blue

In response to: "Tack the tab to the riser with E-thread with a fisherman's knot as I did when I used Slinks." Exactly. That or tack both sides of the riser, creating a sort of channel that the tab cant spin out of. Concerning your slider flying down over your toggles: Well, yes, that would make things much easier anyway, as I don't unstow my brakes till after my slider is pulled down, collapsed, and stowed behind my head Chuck

Were your actual loops made out of type 17, or are they the thinner 1" material that toggles are sewn out of? Also, as questioned in the first response, did you just pull out the stitching or did the webbing itself break? If your loops are type 17 and they actually did break, then there is a very high probability that the risers themselves (if type 17) are deteriorating also. Definitely get your local rigger to check it out. I always have at least one extra set of risers laying around "just in case". I used sew my own dive loops, moving them around if I didn't like the way they were. Luckilly, I never had a set fail on me due to excessing sewing. If you just pulled the stitching out, or your loops were made out of the thinner webbing and tore over the bar-tack, then you should be good to just re-sew them. Chuck