sparkie

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Everything posted by sparkie

  1. sparkie
    Am i missing something?
  2. sparkie
    I don't have a life... ROFL
  3. sparkie
    If you dont go over the 1.1 WL much and have a conservative canopy and dont make agressive low turns and instructors that know you do not advise against it i'd say go for it ;P I weigh 220 lbs ext weight. @25 or 30 jumps i went from student canopy (280 sq ft) to a pilot 210 till I had about 120 jumps or so and then went to a pilot 168. Now the pilot isnt the most agressive canopy and i am not into high performance landings yet but i can see why most people here caution newbies (like myself ;P) when it comes to downsizing. The canopy i have now loses A LOT more alti when its turned. I went from WL of 1,05 or so to 1,31. There is a lot of potential danger in that 0,26 extra WL. Since imo your choices depend on your currency, learning curve and experience I think its still best to talk to instructors that know you. keep in mind that i have >100 jumps and therefore I know it all
  4. sparkie
    my pilots (210 1st then a 168sq/ft) have always opened great. A bit on the slow side even. (about 800 ft) Having a sport rig helps too, because student rigs are not that comfortable
  5. sparkie
    have you checked up high if you can stall your canopy? If not, you may not be getting max flare. I had some trouble landing 0 wind days with my pilot 210! (wl about 1,05) When I rotated my toggles in my hands so that i shortened the brake lines in that way (10 cm or so / 3 inches) i had no more trouble landing.
  6. sparkie
    Pilot = nice soft openings ;P. I had the exact same setup as you do. Went on to a smaller pilot 168 now. My rig is all black btw with blue icon text.
  7. sparkie
    By over analizing I was thinking of an AFF student @ the DZ i jump that went so far as to go asking "what if both parachutes fail?" several times. He quit before finishing his AFF. Nothing wrong with analizing but the above I classify as over analizing, and he was indeed looking for a reason to quit. I had that incident in mind, and may have put you into a "box" a bit hasty. Well, welcome to the rest of us addict then.
  8. sparkie
    I think that people that over analize skydiving and it's safety like you are, are looking for a reason to justify quitting it. I do not mean to offend you but you might want to re think if you want to continue skydiving.
  9. sparkie
    I weigh 220lbs exit weight My student main was a skymaster 280. I bought a pilot 210 at 30 jumps (wl 1,05 or so) that went very well, though i was glad i didnt go any smaller. At first no wind landings were challenging. I now have 130 jumps and jump a pilot 168 at WL 1,3. (I put 1 jump on a 190 in no wind cond. before that) jumped the 168 2 times now in low wind and it went fine. It actually lands easier than my 210 because it has more energy to convert to flare. Also i pulled high both times to do some stalls etc. and made a very conservative approach and landing. Just be careful in the beginning, use common sense and dont make turns too low. you can also ask one of the instructors that knows your skill level best.
  10. sparkie
    Speak for yourself, I'm over 400 years old and can only die if my head is cut off
  11. sparkie
    How many formation dives have you done? Over here (holland) usually your 8 th jump is the solo jump...... I'm trying to become a freeflyer too, but i've done a bunch of FS jumps also and found out that there was MUCH to learn there...That in itself was fun enough for me to at least become proficient at RW. I think your mouth had a bit of a premature opening when the words boring came out.
  12. sparkie
    those cumulus clouds are a real treat for gliders too. Make sure you dont wrap around a poor guy's wing ;P, Although these days the gliders often have "bug" wipers on the leading edge of the wing. I never enter a Cu cloud on purpose...it's turbulent as heck...you cant see poop...been there in glider...wasnt fun..you dont know who's under the cloud when you emerge from it. When I wasnt jumping yet in my early gliding days I strayed into DZ space once lured by a Cu. Scared the shit out of me when I saw a skydiver up close, quickly mea culpa'd and fled the scene. Thats why i try never to go through the clouds. I mean, if I, in all my wisdom, made a mistake as a gliderpilot, a mere mortal might do the same. (a mere mortal might have typed this piece w/o the typos also, but that another thing)
  13. sparkie
    LOOOL hm, maybe woman should come equipped with a cutaway pillow too?! Ofcourse I dont mean all the wonderful woman that read these forums.
  14. sparkie
    i was taught: below 1000ft go str8 to reserve and dont cut away first. (as much fabric as possible theory) I'm guessing thats why you felt 1000 as the "hard deck" ? IMO the forum isnt really the place to second guess yourself in this case and with your # of jumps. Although some of the guys here have an awefull lot of experience and they mean well. I would just stick with your instructors comments and leave the finer points people bring up here for later, when you have a better understanding of them yourself. At least thats what I would do. Better spend your energy on the next jump, using what you have learned, instead of dwelling on one that didnt go as planned. Just my 2 ct. @ 80 jumps ;P
  15. sparkie
    That exactly what i did when i had around 25 jumps, hurts like hell on the ankle. Lately I've added tensioning my legs a bit and pulling them a (very little) bit up, knees bent so my feet are trailing behind. This way I really hang in my rig and if flare is a tad late the knee joint is forced into the direction its made to go ;P
  16. sparkie
    Atmosphere/ attitude. Did my tandem there (got one for my bd) nice friendly crowd, skilled and laid back instructors. some of the people are crazy though! they jump out of airplanes!
  17. sparkie
    As far as focussing on stand up landings goes: pay attention that you dont "reach" for the ground with one foot (as I did in the beginning). the harness shifts if you do that and that also will result in a turn of some sort, plus, often when "reaching" one tends to raise the hands just a little resulting in more lift loss and in my case a sore ankle ;P. I was told to hang in the harness as long as possible before putting feet down to stand. good luck ;P
  18. sparkie
    i bought a pilot 210 fairly after 25 jumps. Very nice canopy, very friendly, VERY nice openings amazingly soft. Tho the first time it scared me somewhat, because it took longer than the student canopies i was used to. Can be (as any other zp i suppose) a challenge to pack in the beginning. For a rig I got the Icon sport, solid rig and freefly safe (dont forget to have a bungee added between the leg straps) although FF is a bit early perhaps. hth
  19. sparkie
    stay safe
  20. sparkie
    Not a good pilot. 5 seconds of inaction could be death, a stall with a wingdip or even a spin is not that hard to recover from if you take the right action. If he wanted to quit flying after a stall I would not want to be in the plane with him at the stick...ever. What if he stalls at 300 ft? Does he even love flying? (sorry ppl, im actually quite mad at ppl like that) 'Someone like that is carrying up to 16 jumpers who are helpless up to 1000ft, at the mercy of this unstable chickenpoop -edit- with up to 16 jumpers i didnt have a 182 in mind. (would be a challenge to try it tho)
  21. sparkie
    heh, didnt know that. And I thought flat packing looked funny ;P
  22. sparkie
    My SECOND paying customer passed out about 100 feet above the ground. I was able to kick his legs forward and stand it up. The pic is priceless! LOOOL ;P gj
  23. sparkie
    I'm wondering what the point of your (first) post is.....besides trolling that is. maybe if you fill in your profile people will reply, although I doubt that.
  24. sparkie
    I'd try and get your licences and get qualified to jump with others if you are not already. (guessing no because you dont have your A yet) I had a bit of s slum (veeerrrry short, like 2 minutes or so) a while back so I started focusing on getting "stuff" done every jump. I now have my A and well on my way to getting B and qualified to jumping with others. Goofing around with others in FF is loads of fun and can bond you to more people faster than solo-ing all the time. hth
  25. sparkie
    LOL who told you that fable?