Aviatrr

I wear gloves for cold weather jumping.. I have a couple of baseball batting gloves that work great.. They have vent holes in 'em, so you can wear 'em summer or winter.. In the winter, just add a thin liner under the baseball gloves.. Mike

This must have been a fluke.. The cabin normally does not depressurize until within 200ft of the ground - and when it does, it just descends at the same rate as the airplane.. Cabin climb/descent rates when pressurized are normally 200-400 feet per minute.. The CYPRES requires a vertical speed of about 6800FPM to fire(which is 78mph).. If an airplane is descending at over 6800FPM within 1000ft of the ground - your CYPRES firing is the least of your concerns.. When your CYPRES fired, did your eardrums nearly burst at the same time? Only thing I can think of is either; A) the pressurization system did something really funky, which you would've felt in your ears and everybody would've been complaining and/or screaming, or B) your CYPRES screwed up and fired with a much lower vertical speed than required.. Mike

Who told you this? I've never had a problem with SWA.. I think whoever told you this was just screwin with ya.. Mike

Well, I've only got 5 jumps on a Tri, but I didn't have any problems with psycho packing it.. The Diablo also behaved well when I psycho packed it.. Mike

rec.s has some good people, and some good info - but, unfortunately, you have to wade through a lot of crap to see it.. Newsgroup filters do wonders over there.. Mike

Professional photography/videography is another.. I'm not sure if you would consider instruction a discipline(AFF, Tandem, etc) - but those guys work their asses off in the air.. Mike

There shouldn't be any problem.. Take your rig(in a gear bag, preferably) as a carry on.. DO NOT volunteer any info regarding what is in the bag except to security personnel - and then only if asked.. Don't make a big deal out of it, and everything will be cool.. Mike

That's ok.. American women probably hate you too..

Hey, what did you expect? We were driving British cars..

Correct.. The psycho pack generally tames hard opening canopies.. It's also MUCH easier to get a canopy into the bag when psycho packing over pro packing.. I use psycho packing most of the time - especially when the canopy is a tight fit in the D-bag.. Mike

No, no, no.. That should read.. Targets, meat missles, fresh meat, and passengers.. Mike

I have to agree with Chris on this one.. I don't let 'just anybody' pack my rig.. I pack my own 99% of the time.. On occasion, I will use a packer - but it's rare.. When I use a packer, it will either be a rigger or somebody that I know and has lots of jumping experience.. I always prefer to use a rigger, though.. I have never had a self induced mal - both were caused by packers(large tension knots in lines, step through).. Mike

I have packed a Sabre 170 in a T5 - very tight fit.. I would imagine I'd be able to get a 190 in a T5 with lots of pushing, pulling, and swearing.. According to Sandy Reid, the T5 is designed for a 150ZP main and 160 reserve.. In my T5, I have had a Hornet 190, Sabre 170, Sabre 150, Stilleto 150, and Extreme VX99.. (no, I wasn't jumping the VX - a friend borrowed my rig and put his main in it).. As for the reserve, in T5's I have seen up to a 176 in a PD reserve, and up to a 210 in the Tempo.. I have the 210 in my rig.. Mike

Well, on most of the loads that I've been on, everybody answers to "HEY ASSHOLE!".. Mike

It depends on what type of canopy it is, and what size Talon.. I have a Talon 2, T5.. It's sized for a 150 main.. I can put a Hornet 190 in there, a Sabre 170, Crossfire 169, Spectre 190, but all are VERY tight fits.. Packing canopies that large into my D-bag require lots of pushing, shoving, cussing, and drinking afterwards.. Call Sandy Reid at Rigging Innovations.. He can tell you whether it should fit or not.. Mike

Uhhh.. I don't know who was featured.. My company is Flight Options(www.flightoptions.com).. There are 3 other major fractionals - Netjets(aka Executive Jet Aviation), Flexjet(aka Bombardier Business Jet Solutions), and Raytheon Travel Air.. Which was it? Mike

Hi. My name is Mike, and I'm an alco.....oh, wait - wrong place.. Seriously, I'm a Captain on a corporate jet(British Aerospace Hawker 800, if it matters) for a large fractional ownership company. We currently have about 400 pilots and 85 airplanes. I love my job. I get paid to play with big, expensive toys. The more expensive the toy, the more they pay me to play with it. Plus, I get every other week off.

Ok, now everybody has to visit 10 websites and request Mr Colin Romberger be put on their mailing(real mail, not email) list.. The more twisted the subject, the better.. Mike

I have done most of my jumping at turbine DZ's, but I can still spot.. I can't understand how somebody can get a license without demonstrating good spotting skills.. Most of the places I jump have GPS - but I'm sure as hell not shy about calling a go-around if the spot sucks.. Only times I have landed off was during big ways where pull altitudes are staggered and on a low reserve ride.. Mike

I can freefly with any type of helmet, or none at all.. Doesn't matter.. I have a Z1 that I use occasionally, but mostly I use my Velocity(open face freefly helmet).. I have a camera mounted to my Velocity, so I almost always jump it.. Don't let anybody tell you that you can't freefly with a full face.. It will NOT affect your flying abilities.. Mike

....you can't imagine doing anything important without a camera on your head.. Mike

I recently had a Spectre from PD for demo, and put about 20 jumps on it over the weekend.. I like the canopy overall, but there were a couple things I didn't like.. While many people say that the Spectre glides better than many nine cells, I don't feel that's the case when compared to most modern ZP 9 cells.. I noticed a much steeper descent than under a Hornet, Sabre, or Spinneto.. The other problem is that it seems very ground hungry.. I know - it's a 7 cell, so it's to be expected....but 500ft altitude loss on a 180 degree front riser turn seems a bit much to me.. My first jump on it, I started my 180 riser turn around 300ft......got about 120-130 degrees through it, and knew I wasn't gonna make it all the way around in the altitude remaining.. Oh well, crosswind landing.. I haven't decided if I will get a Spectre or not.. It has many good qualities - great openings, great landings, easy to sink into small spaces.. Of 20 jumps, 19 openings were soft and on heading.. I deployed in a belly to earth position, a slow flat track, a full track, and even after transitioning from BTE to sit.. No problems.. The one opening that was not good had many line twists, and began to spin.. It was easy to clear the line twists, then the canopy flew fine.. The canopy will surf after a nice front riser turn(loaded a bit over 1.4), but will also sink into a very tight area in deep brakes and make a decent landing.. It's a tough call.. Great canopy - but I'm not yet sure if it's the one for me.. Mike

Wait a second.. Am I reading this right.. Are you saying you really did all of this stuff......IN DRAG?! Damn..

I don't have any idea who this is in response to.. If it is in response to my post - re-read my post.. I did not say I would try to land a line-over, I said I would cut the offending line.. How, exactly, would a cut line(which would likely be trailing behind the canopy from the attachment point) - under no tension - cut through a cell? We could play the what if game all day long.. How about this one.. You have a line over, you could easily cut the offending line and land the thing, but you decide to cutaway.....and your reserve is baglocked.. Or you have an RSL, get an unstable deployment after chopping, and have a reserve bridle wrap around your body and you burn in? Thousands of scenarios - let's not try to play every one out.. I know what I would do in such a situation - period. Today, my canopy(actually a demo from PD) opened into about 8 line twists, and immediately began to spin.. I pulled at 4.5 after doing some video, and was under the spinner around 3.7.. What would you have done? Chopped immediately? I had plenty of altitude to deal with it before I got to my decision altitude.. I could see no specific reason for it to be spinning(such as a step through - which would be useless to try to correct), so I worked on the line twists first.. I was about halfway there when I came through 3k.. By 2.5, I cleared the line twists, grabbed both toggles and unstowed the brakes.. Guess what? Flew great.. After reviewing the video, the line twists were distorting the right hand leading edge - effectively the same as a front riser turn.. Not everything is cut and dry.. Mike

If it works for you, fine....it's your call.. In my opinion, you're just opening yourself up to another problem altogether.. As you flip forward, and your PC is trying to pull the pin straight out(as you are head down 1/4 of the way through a front flip) rather than up - you have a serious chance of a deployment as you are flipping yourself right through where all the lines are going to be.. What happens when you entangle yourself in the lines, and are unable to cutaway? No thanks, not for me.. On a throw out, with a PC in tow, I will pull both handles, then grab the container down low to try to keep the main D bag from coming out after the freebag leaves and 'loosens' it up.. On a pull out.....well, I wouldn't have this problem, would I?