sparkie

I'm sorry, dont mean to make fun of you but I tend to visualise stuff i read and..... ROFL!!!!

good topic, I learnt a lot again. A LOT of newbies like me use 5-6 seconds delay @ our dz. Or so they tell me when the subject comes up. I went on to looking where the group b4 me was but also min. 5-6 secs delay. Looks like I sort of picked up the 45degree method. After going over the powerpoint presentation I see why this is wrong and will apply some form of ground speed calculation from now on. Thanks, you just made this newbie less dangerous to the other jumpers at my DZ ;P

ROFL

what are you guys all complaining about? I'm the one living in Holland. Shitty weather is a rule here, most of the time the weather is gonna get worse during the day OR it starts off that way. it's like beeing on scramble alert as a fighterpilot...."yes we have a few hours of good weather!!!" Drop everything and get to the DZ b4 it turns to shit again. I hate this maritime climate! This weekend it says "sunny periods". Just hoping it will actually be so and not like last sunday when the forecast (for aviation mind you) was actually a practical joke to mess with ppl that practice outdoor sports. I was jumping out at 3k, just under the cloud cover (8/8) and got a mouth full of hail/snow. There! I said it. Now im frustrated again and my "head vain" is popping up also.

thanks for the input. I was able to test some stuff out this weekend. exited and opened at 6000 (due to shitty weather that was max) I noticed my toggle lines have slack when i reach and pull the fronts down. (i pull front down about 30cm (more or less). The pull force is not the problem btw. Still get the same unstable turning at about the rate of a flat turn in half brakes. I think its just the size of my canopy and the low WL (1,05) after all. Definitely not short toggle line related coz i tried stalling and it didnt work with toggles full down (i have long arms). It only stalled somewhat when i let up a bit then slammed back to full brakes. O, well only some 140 jumps to go for a better WL ;P

Most student rigs arent made to freefly with anyway. Apart form your particular problem with the size of the rigs, the bridles are usually not protected (all tucked away from exposure to the wind) like on freefly rigs and closingflaps often close the "wrong" way so that in a sit it can catch wind and open. Leg straps can crawl up towards your knees if there's no cord between the leg staps to keep them together. I didnt feel safe doing anthing other than belly flight and the occasional back or frontflip on student gear.

I found the 360 req. a bit steep for B licence indeed. I will ask some more expert advice while learning to poker, I believe there is a noob table?

Doesn't one get a massive slammer if it opens when you clear the baglock? I think I would have done the same what he did btw, try and clear it.

for the B licence canopy reqs one must do some front riser turns. I've been playing with fronts a bit but when I pulled one one the fronts of my canopy just buffeted (on the side where i pulled) and not really doing any turning (kind of like what you get in turbulence). (I fly a pilot 210 @ a staggering 1,05 load or so) Is there a technique like pulling more or faster or is my canopy just too big or something? When I get around to it Ill ask one of the cracks / instructors at my DZ, but I live in Holland = shitty weather and need to know now coz I'm bored. (PS sorry for the msn talk but its hard to type all letters when using an expert two finger system. Yes I'm lazy)

Understanding "why" something happens if you do "this" is always good, but instead of a chart I would suggest you just try it out. That way you get a feel for it. A lot of this is A licence stuff so you might as weel get that ticked off at the same time ;P. Just ask an instructor for instruction before. This part of the A licence reqs I found very usefull btw. A lot is about survival skills, like braked (flat) turns (avoiding stuff at low alti) or the rear riser turns (avoiding stuff right after or even during opening)

You have no idea of what happened... You sound like you think you were there or somthin... lol Ok, so maybe you were, lol. I know I should have known where we were and I was trying to look out the door for recognizable landmarks, but for whatever reason I wasn't able to... I'm sure part of it was that I was sort of stressed about exiting so low. I usually begin to pull by 4k, so exiting at 3.5k was definitely weighing a bit on my mind. In the end everything was ok, but I was just wondering what others would think, regarding me leaving the plane without knowing exactly where I was... And if it was typical to not have any pre-jump or in-flight communication between the first person exiting and the pilot... Any more than "Jump on Green"... Just get yoyrself a bit more familiar with the terrain around the dz. I was a gliderpilot for a very long time so I know the area very well (back in the early days ;P we did not have gps and had to navigate by comparing the map with the ground) I found that that helps A LOT. Dont worry too much for now I'd say. Keep looking out the window the rides up and soon you will know where the dz is even if you dont see it. Not seeing it at exit isnt always a reason to abort exit imo. You could be drirectly above it or just off tthe centerline with the door on the "wrong" side. edit: OMG the typos I made before I even touched the Jaegermeister!

hilarious when they pull the main out from the package it came in. No bigger than what T-shirts are wrapped in.

And this is an argument for pro or con?

I dont have a lot to compare with. Bought my Pilot 210 right after only flying sdudent mains. Just like to say that it is very beginner friendly, started using it at around 30 jumps and managed to land okay with zero wind conditions. Says more about the main than about my "skills" I'm jumping a 168 now @ 130 jumps. I only made 1 jump on a 190 before going to the 168. Easy to land (wl now 1,3) for a novice, good flare power. Edit: I recently demoed a sabre2 150. I have to agree with some of the other posters, that the pilot can become a bit boring compared to a sabre2 for instance. And while the openings are great, they dont leave a lot of time to work out problems before chop altitude, because in my case it takes about 800-900 ft to open. Hook turns can be done as far as toggle pressure goes, but due to the quick recovery you have to start really low.

You ARE hard on yourself! My AFF course dates back a few months. Had to repeat 1 level. Could have been more because I felt like I would never learn to fall stable. For me it "clicked" when the next jump I was so fed up with myself for beeing so stressed out all the time I decided that I would actually enjoy the next ride, regardless of how the exercises went. I let out a yeeehaa cry on exit, apperently that was just enough relaxation....suddenly I had a stable FF and no more uncontrolled spinning. Try to do something like that and focus on the fun part. My instructors (great guys btw, very laid back) told me that you have to enjoy yourself and if the exercises go as planned thats a bonus. You are not a hopeless case if the instructors havent told you to take up bowling instead yet. Just try to relax, if you are on the other side of the huge mental hill you see now, you start to wonder why on earth you got so worked up over it. Just look at the other crazy ppl in the plane, that always makes me grin.

well, I'm still kicking it with a pilot 210 @ 1,05

I think with bellys usually growing forward, there will be no problem with the harness. And Leg straps can be adjusted. And conservative canopy choice is probably best. I'm roughly at a WL of 1,05:1 and still need to pay extra attention on no wind days.

helped me a lot, i've been a gliderpilot for 16 years. I didnt really have to think about stuff like landing pattern, landing into the wind, stalling and flaring. When under canopy I think of it as a really really bad gliderplane

Did that....did not enjoy that, even kicked it twice.

heh, 1st time i pracced EP with hands on both handles in FF, I went into a nice headdown

I was instructed like this: "cutaway.....pull reserve" Now, if I had a hard pull on the pc, and it would not come out at all and i had the "clarity of mind", í'd just pull reserve. In the PC in tow you are stating, it would, in my opinion, be wise to cutaway first, because more exerienced jumpers and instructors pionted out to me that when you dump your reserve the tension may come off your main container a bit, enough to release the pc/pin. Then you'd have a two out. edit: most important thing ofcourse is to get something out, cutting away first while at 500feet wont help much

where i jump (holland) i 'm not even aloowed to jump a wl >1,1 and minimum size of main @ 170 1,1 till you have a higher jump # (cant recall when that is atm, i think 100 jumps then its 1,3 etc ) These rules seem to make sense to me. I now have a Pilot 210 @ 57 jumps WL 1,05 (though i try and get it up by the usage of lots of beer heh) On windy days I feel i could land a smaller main fine but, on NO wind days i am glad to be at 1,05 only

Dude, i took like 3 hours the 1st few times and was amazed that that crappy ball of fabric i jammed into the bag, on which i had to sit then to get it to be smaller than the entire rig ;P, came out okay. I have done about 40 pack jobs on my own ZP chute and it takes me 15-20 minutes now if i pack regularly. Due to dutch weather conditions i havent been able to jump in 3 weeks and last weekend i opened the chute again to keep my pack skills up, took me 1 hour again including kicking it twice. My rigger informed me (whith a dirty grin) that it gets routine after about 100x ;P aarg Just jump it and keep packing.

ROFL, this site is no good for ppl that tend to visualize stuff they read.

a week after giving birth it tasted sweet ;P dunno further on, or if i get that drunk again anytime soon ;PPP