sparkie

bit off topic but i remember that there was a study that stated that people will generally read only the beginning and the end of words, because they are so ingrained in memory, seeing the first and last part of a word the brain reads it as the correct word even if sometimes people misspell some letters in between. I cant help but reading troll if i look at the name t(umble)roll Is he subcounsciously trying to tell us he's trolling? Could also be that I am completely losing my mind...in fact...that would be very possible..ack i should have never created man!

For swooping the stilletto is not a good choice. get a sabre2 or similar. Fully elliptical canopies are much more responsive than your current canopy. That presents challenges on landing and openings that you are nowhere near ready for. Get into swooping AFTER a couple hunderd jumps! with the aid of a coach. IMHO 1,3 at your current jump nr is high, 1,5 would be an accident waiting to happen. It can be tempting to get to the hp canopies with a cool wingload as fast as possible, but in the end you either get yourself killed or hurt, or at best you dont fly the canopy to is full potential because you dont have the experience/skill

I think this might be another solution, it's a bit more expensive but you will look even better with it! http://cgi.ebay.com/Soviet-Original-SPACE-helmet-EVA-GSH-10-Eagle-Rare_W0QQitemZ120494081778QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item1c0e01c6f2

please tell me you are not seriously considering wearing that?! you will be mocked! Hasn't anyone told you by now that the whole skydiving thingie is like 90% looks the rest skill. but seriously......dude!

old news man. I've hacked my logbook a long time ago. I now get double EXP! for every jump i make. I also have all the canopies unlocked.

do you really expect a serious answer? stick with it, and answer your own question.

besides the obvious..(few glasses of jaegermeister before the jump) i think what simon said is a very good way of getting rid of tension. Sometimes you just seem to forget to have fun. I noticed that i really had some "see the light" moments on those jumps that a bunch of us were just goofing around. What also helps (me at least) is to sometimes just jump solo and then just totally relax your body and see where that takes you. Or just enjoy the scenery under canopy.

i didnt see any bad opening in your vid... seriously you call that bad? this is bad http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGGw6Ol_zLI you're spoiled

if that's so than doing drugs is also exercise ;) I'm telling you, it's an addiction.

So a Pilot 150 will fly faster and be more agile than a S2 yet still be forgiving. Is that what you're saying? A pilot is lighter on the toggles and goes into a turn a little faster, s2 needs a bit more input. The s2 is more versatile imo. Pilot is not a good canopy for learning to swoop. Not that you should be doing that at this time or in the near future, until you get more jumps. in my experience swooping becomes relevant around 1,3 wl and more, before thet you're just lifting yourself into the riser ;) If you plan to go into swooping later on i would suggest the sabre 2 - katana - velo path if you are into PD canopies. Katana not before 500 jumps btw the pilot has such a short recovery that you'd have to initiate the hookturn ridiculesly low. ps imo swooping attempts come into play not before a few hunderd jumps and currency any idiot can pull on a front riser, but getting what comes next right takes experience 2ct's

the gym?

also called addiction

i had my galbladder? (not sure if i rape the english language there), but it was removed the "easy way" through a small hole made under my bellybutton, i dont know the english word for the type of operation. I jumped after 6 days or so. no problems. Most doctors cant give you more than a blank look when you ask after how long you can skydive again, others just tell you to wait weeks and weeks, just to be sure. Just take it easy the first few days after the surgery. Btw i did some hop and pops the first couple of days, i figured that would not put so much strain on my stomach.

Woo woo, let's also revert back to horses and wagons. progress sucks. FYI i put on all my lights and equiptment, and let my car run on the driveway for an hour. bah humbug

look, it's really easy. Just buy the smallest rig out there, put the smallest velo in it and then just act as if you're jumping it. Walk into the hanger with the gear on and the main out, time it so that you could have been on the last load. Let it be packed then put it on and act as if you're going on the next load...find a quiet place, get the main out again and do it all over. Do that until you have enough jumps on your actual rig/ main and then start actually using the small rig. That way you will be cool from only a few jumps! Make sure you get the cool gizmo's like swoop pants, shades, beepers etc etc. Some teva's maybe but i think those are 2006 and out of style now. hth ;P

maybe this will helphttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i16HryVyRaI canopies are made to open ;) (just notice that this guy is always taking care of his slider placement right up against the stops, slider against the stops is important)

more a bonfire topic

I think it depends on too many factors unknown by the forum visitors to burn you or commend you ;) At least you checked for traffic, and are thinking about it. (rant)Unlike s/o i witnessed this saturday at my dz, decided to land downwind halfway through his turn to final at about 60ft, he was lucky to walk away only smudged. He didnt bother to look where he was going with his jerky uncontrolled low turn and i was glad there was noone in his path, and this was a >150 jumps person so he should have know better. (/rant) to give some kind of answer to you q: if there was little wind, i personally wouldnt have changed my landing pattern. Not only do you increase your own workload, but that of others (if there) as well, and maybe you, or one of the others can't handle that yet. hth

I can skip one week, but then i have to jump, otherwise i start having american psycho feelings.

i had the same thing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur3TXvuwGz4 first i thought the loop was too tight, but the problem was/is a new container and a tight fitting main. Try and pull the bag out by the bridle if you have the rig on the floor or something. I could just lift my rig off the floor with the pin out, before the bag popped out! I happens only on h&p for you? edit to correct nonsense ;P

Some students do have a healthy common sense! http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/skydiver_death Bizarre! R.i.p. to the TM

Not being funny but you arent qualified to decide if someone is cutout for the sport or not with sub 300 jumps. It needs to be an experienced instructor who makes that decision. And if I had the choice of landing in the top of a soft, TALL pine tree, or taking a downwinder, it would be a downwinder any day. Theres no guarantee you will stay in the top of a tree after landing, and if your canopy doesnt snag or tears, you will drop a massive height if its a tall tree and end up badly broken or dead. Therefore, a downwinder is much safer IMO But the trees were there long before he had to make the decision..... As for the "not qualified to see if s/o is cut out for the sport" comment, Agreed if it were a more subtle mistake. If someone for instance purposely tries to land IN the hangar I dont think you need to have xxx jumps to be able to see that person needs to find another hobby. I wouldnt have given the guy the bowling speech myself however. I think that job for an instructor, so if that is what you meant then we agree. In my gliding career i knew a guy who had more flights than i had at that time, but I knew he wasnt cut out for the sport because he was random on even the 101 stuff. I also voiced my concerns to an i. He later msitook the trim handle for the airbrake handle on final (with passenger) and when he saw he was going to land further in the 3000 ft long field (not even overshooting at that stage) he initiated a climbing left turn over buildings and trees.......with predicable results. I think even most students grasp the concept that a climbing turn + glider (no engine) + little altitude = not a long life Not making a call because you have less flights/ jumps = retarded and dangerous imo

true but i think the diff between student in the 1st story and the 2nd story is student #1 : indecisive student #2 : decisive No one is going to help you up there, therefore i really dislike the indecisive ones and would rather see that they take up bowling for my safety. Spraining an ankle after an exiting EP is different than brainlessly flying towards trees, hoping to make it over somehow. A landing is a landing, dz or no dz. You cant teach common sense imo. No common sense on at least a very basic survival level = skydiving is not for you....

That wouldn't be a 7-cell canopy with bottom skin vents by any chance? maybe!? i'm going with some jumpers tomorrow, take video and pics, just to get a "live"-feeling for it.. looking forward really much, even get to take my climbing-gear out again!

To quote another thread, this guy had < 400 jumps when getting an elliptical with a 1.3-1.4 wingloading. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR6oQtWItwU He learned the hard way how much of a handful small ellipticals can be. Oops! Fortunately if he doesn't have any complications in six months he can re-evaluate and get back in the air (after six months I still had a hole in my tibia where the bone didn't grow in) Your 135 will be a bit twitchier than a 150 even at the same loading. While people jump smaller parachutes these days, a 135 ellptical is no slower than when PD wouldn't sell one to some one with under 500 jumps with a 1.3 pound per square foot limit. It's a bad idea. Not intending to swoop won't save you when you land out and turn to avoid an obstacle you didn't see at higher altitude or get back from a long spot without much altitude left for your turn back into the wind. With 10,000 jumps, a bunch of parachute designs under his belt, and lots of experience teaching canopy flight Brian Germain knows more than you and your master rigger friends. http://www.bigairsportz.com/pdf/bas-sizingchart.pdf I love the "i'm not interested in swooping anytime soon" sort of lines. I used it myself and then later hooked myself in Also good lines are "dont worry. im just going to land it straight in, nothing fancy" It almost never occurs to people using the lines, that they're not ready for that stuff and do it anyway. This line works: If you have to ask...don't do it, you're not ready yet.