Aviatrr

Actually, it was ZHills.. Mike

That's ok....that's SOP for me.....especially when I try to run all the way to the packing hangar with my canopy still inflated above my head.. It sucks when I am running downwind, it's more of a sprint.. Mike

I know exactly what Shiner Bock is....actually, I was in Dallas about a week ago for a week, and drank many many pints of Shiner Bock at the local Bennigans.. I was in Dallas, actually the town was a few miles north of DFW airport(i forget the name, my memory isn't good right now, my buddy Jack Daniels is helping me with the pain right now).. I was there for recurrent training for the airplane I fly at Simuflight at DFW airport.. I turned several people on to Shiner Bock while we were there.. GOOD STUFF! Mike

Would you mind demonstrating to me what exactly it's for? Mike

Believe it or not, there was a CReW guy that got saved by his Cypres.. As the story goes(I wasn't there), there was a VERY nasty wrap in a big way.. Somebody got their reserve hacked off with a hook knife, this guy chopped, and thought that it had been his reserve that come out and got hacked off......so he tracked for the nearest pond hoping to survive.. I bet he was suprised when his Cypres fired and out comes his reserve.. I guess he never pulled the reserve handle - just assumed it wouldn't do anything.. Mike

We know you're not kidding....but the real question is....was Laura in on this, too? Mike

There is actually, or at least used to be, a DZ on the north side of Lake Okeechobee, that was actually at Pahokee airport.. I don't know if they were a USPA member DZ or not, or if they are still in business.. Mike

Damn....sounds like a money hungry bitch to me....and doesn't seem very bright to me.. Hey, is this Pyke's alter-ego? Mike

You sound like a woman I almost married... Mike

DAMMIT! I thought you emailed that picture JUST FOR ME....now I find that you posted it on the message board....TEASE! Just remember what sis said.. What exactly does that mean, you ask? It means DON'T WEAR PANTS...or shorts...or underwear...just go naked, or it will be irritated.. Mike

Unless it doesn't work.... Mike

And he's a shit-hot canopy pilot......that guy amazes me every time I watch him fly that little canopy if his.. Mike

Get a freefly suit. It will help you not only during freeflying, but with your height/weight, it will likely help you during belly flying, too. I am 5'11 and about 190lbs, and I use my freefly suit for belly flying too, unless I'm jumping with a bunch of other bricks. Your fall rate is probably fairly fast in a regular RW suit, as is mine. My freefly suit allows me the speed range to belly fly with just about anybody. As for the container....there are many different types out there, and if you are buying new, it will be freefly friendly. I don't know of any manufacturer that is now making rigs that aren't freefly friendly. If you're buying used, talk to a rigger. Some will be freefly friendly, some will not. In my opinion, you don't really need a specific main canopy for freeflying since you will not intentionally deploy your main while freeflying - unless you're a dumbshit like me, that is. I have deployed several different canopies in various positions(including sit/stand) and speeds - some are ok, and some will knock your dick in the dirt. I don't recommend trying it - it's just that I'm not very bright, so I have. The only main canopy I know of that is advertised as freefly friendly is the Cobalt - and I will Dan or Chuck chime in on that one since I have never even jumped a Cobalt. As for reserves - I think that the PD reserves are an excellent choice, because they have a lot of reinforcements. PD reserves are drop tested at 180mph and 1.2 times the maximum certificated weight for the canopy. I'm told by some PD test jumpers that they will withstand much more than that. The Raven Dash-M series is also reinforced, and tested to fairly high weights/speeds(I don't know specifics). I feel that one of those two types would be the best reserve choice for a freeflyer - but that's just my personal opinion. I don't plan on deploying my reserve while freeflying, but....shit happens, and you never know - I want the odds stacked in my favor. If you come down to Deland, let me know - we'll do some freeflying. There are some awesome freefly coaches here at Deland, but there are also awesome coaches at other DZ's down here. If you come down here, I suggest spending enough time to visit several DZ's.....they're all different and very unique. Mike

I must admit - my Crossfire flew great, had no adverse traits even in heavy front riser maneuvers, and landed great....right up until yesterday. Prior to that, I had no problems with it. Icarus' theory right now is that there are some canopies out there that left the factory way out of tolerance. I took my canopy down to them today, and they shipped it via FedEx overnight to Europe to check everything on it, and then jump it. Simon seems to be doing his best, but since he is not 'the man', he kinda has one hand tied behind his back. The decisions are not his to make. I honestly believe that he, along with many others, is very concerned about this issue, and is not taking it lightly. He and I spoke for quite a while today regarding what happened with my canopy, theories that Icarus has right now, and what they plan to do. The first group of affected canopies that were addressed in the safety bulletin have all come from the Tenn plant, and the new ones added today came from the New Zealand plant. I was told they have had no problems or reported problems with the canopies produced in Europe. Simon explained the building and QC process that is used in Europe, the equipment they use, and what else that specific contractor manufactures(lots of foreign military stuff). It seems that a lot hinges on what they find with my canopy in the next 24-48 hours, and a decision will be made then as to what to do about it. Do I feel that Icarus did everything that they should have done? Certainly not - and I told Simon that. I was not happy with how this has been handled, but I did, and will continue to, answer all the questions I was asked, and help however I can. Am I doing this because I like Icarus? Nope. I'm doing this because I don't want to see anybody else hurt or killed. Period. I have no attachment to Icarus(I no longer own an Icarus canopy, I took a refund - I had the canopy 31 days as of the day of the incident), and I could tell them to leave me the hell alone - but what would that accomplish? I know you weren't attacking me in your post, but I felt I had to pass on what I learned today. This is just a fraction of what was discussed today, and I am very eager to see what they find with my canopy and what is done about this whole issue. All I have to say to people jumping Crossfires, affected or not, is beware - especially if your canopy was manufactured in one of the suspect plants. I sure as hell don't want to see anybody else hurt over this issue. Mike

Hell, I grew up in Southern California, and for some strange reason, I speak redneck pretty well......and of course, my winter gloves have Shoo-Goo all over 'em..

In my experience, many places keep close track of it, and others just don't care.. I've gone to a DZ after being away for a while, and had 'em ask me for my new USPA card because the computer flagged me as having an expired membership.. Mike

Either get some tackified gloves(such as Neuman's - but they're expensive), or take the redneck way out....go to Wal-Mart, buy something called Shoo-Goo, and slather it all over the palms of the gloves.. It's the same thing that many people use on booties to keep 'em from wearing so fast.. Mike

Well, if they weren't able to cutaway from a spinning mal because of the forces on the 3 rings, I don't think they would be around to tell you about it. I had a spinning mal on a Stiletto 150, at 215lbs out the door. I dumped high, so I tried to remedy the situation for longer than most people would be able to. I finally chopped it when I burned 1500+ft fighting it and made no progress. I had an easy, one handed cutaway with mini rings and mini risers. There were hard riser inserts on that rig. Mike

So you like line twists and spinning, eh? I've had a Spinetto spin up a few times, and was able to get out of it and get the canopy flying straight again, but burned a lot of altitude doing it. Only had to chop one. As for your comment on going with the Vengeance....well, that's supposedly a higher performance canopy than the Stiletto. From what I understand, they dive like crazy in risers and have a long recovery arc. Hey, why don't you try a Crossfire? Mike BTW, that Crossfire comment was not serious, in case you didn't realize that...

Funny you should say that....several of us had that exact conversation today.. Mike

DAMN! I've gotta come visit you guys! I love tracking dives! It's kinda tough to get a group together where I jump to do one.. Mike

I think it depends more on how drunk the women are.. Mike

My thoughts exactly.. Mike

This is a copy of the message I posted over in Gear and Rigging. If you know somebody that jumps a Crossfire, point this message out to them. Mike

There was supposed to be an update to the Sept 14 Safety Bulletin issued on or before today, but so far has not appeared on their website. Well, I may have a part in that, but this post is more a warning to people jumping Crossfires. I have a Crossfire 139, loaded at slightly over 1.5. My canopy was manufactured in Aug of this year, serial number begins with 969. My serial number was not listed in the 'good' or 'bad' section of the bulletin, so I contacted Icarus a few days after the bulletin was issued to see which category mine fell into. I was told that it was NOT affected, and I should disregard the bulletin. Today I was jumping at Skydive Deland, and I was NOT using front risers below 500ft. The winds were about 10-15mph at the time. The winds were out of the east, so we were landing away from the buildings. The nearest things that could've caused rotors were the trees on the other side of the airport. At approximately 20ft, on a straight in, full flight appoach, the left side of my canopy(not from the nose, from the side) rolled under. The left end cell touched the bottom skin of the second or third cell in from the right side. Of course, the canopy began a hard dive to the left when this occured. The canopy then re-inflated when I was a few feet off the ground, and reportedly then went into a V shape. I hit the ground very hard, and according to one witness I did a "picture perfect high speed PLF". Sure seemed to me like I was just tumbling uncontrollably, though. I didn't think I was going to walk away. I ended up walking away with nothing but a sore neck and seriously dirty jumpsuit, rig, and helmet. My camera was running at the time, but, unfortunately, there were no cameras other than mine running. I did not actually see what the canopy did, but the above is what I was told by 8-10 people that witnessed it - a few as close as 30ft in front of me. These were all very experienced jumpers, instructors, and riggers. Everyone agreed that I was in full flight at the time(I started to wonder afterwards), with the only prior input being a slight left toggle(maybe 3-5") correction due to the fact that I shifted in the harness, which induced a slight right turn. The canopy collapsed about the time I let the left toggle back up to full flight. I do not remember attempting to flare to slow the descent, but on my video it appears that I did. The winds may have played a part in the collapse, but I definitely do not feel that was the primary factor. I was about 20 degrees off the wind line(wind was coming from 20degrees left of the nose) due to people on the ground in the landing area. For those of you that are familiar with Deland, the arrow that is east of the peas was moving around a bit, but the flags on the edge of the deck and across the taxiway were all in agreement, and did not show the wind shift that the arrow seemed to be showing. After the incident, I contacted Simon at Icarus. It was at that point that I was told that my canopy IS affected by the safety bulletin that was to be issued today. Like I said before, I was told it was NOT affected by the original bulletin, but it was discovered since then that it IS a "bad" canopy. I wish I had found this out prior to today - I would've been on my Sabre instead. The new bulletin, which according to Simon will add at least 20 more canopies to the 'bad' list, and remove a few from the same list, has not yet been issued on the Icarus website. Simon wants my canopy immediately so that they can test it. I am going to be in that area tomorrow, so I am going to drop it off while I'm down there. I will also speak with them further about this issue. At this point, I am not very happy with the fact that my canopy was known as a 'bad' canopy, but no effort was made to notify me or publish the serial number stating such. The only thing I can think right now is that the wind shift(if, indeed, there was one) caused a change in AOA on the canopy, causing the left side to quit flying. Everybody that witnessed it said that it looked bad enough that they figured I wouldn't be getting up. I was damn lucky. Mike