indyz

Yeah, I think the card is unlikely to help but it can't hurt to throw it in the bag anyway.

I had a brake line hitch around a rear riser block on a CRW jump (a combination of bad block design and sloppy excess brake line stowage). After 10,000 feet of messing around I cut the line and landed on rear risers. That same day I pulled my knife after a riser became caught on my helmet as a result of my lines going slack during a wrap. I was being choked by my own helmet and couldn't locate the buckle, so I decided to cut the chin strap. Fortunately it cleared as I pulled the knife out of the pouch. Then on the last jump the day, I got another jumpers bridle hung up on the handle of my chest-strap mounted hook knife. I managed to clear that one without doing any cutting. Good times.

Keep your rig in a gear bag or carry-on sized suitcase to protect against spills, scrapes, and unwanted attention. Don't put anything else in with the rig if you can avoid it. If you have a Cypres, carry the xray card. The TSA has written procedures regarding the handling and inspection of parachutes. They should only inspect the rig in your presence and shouldn't open the reserve container. If you have questions or concerns, ask for a supervisor. Bring a pull-up in case you have to re-close your main. I've carried my rig on dozens of times and only had issues one time, when I put a weight belt in with the rig. They also opened the main container for a swab test once. 95% of the time it goes through without a second glance.

4-5 if I'm lucky. Usually a few winter weekends down south for CRW and one week-long trip.

Friday was extremely windy and no loads went up. Saturday and Sunday were chilly with occasional weather holds due to clouds. We made two attempts at a 30-way on Sunday morning. The first built to 29, the second built to 26. Hairy Bob was organizing a Wisconsin POPS CRW record, but due to weather and people having to catch flights home no attempts were made. The freefallers did manage to set an new state POPS record of 30.

95 kilos is a pretty low weight limit compared to most US dropzones. I'll admit that I'm far from the world's strongest or most physically fit tandem instructor but a day of 200 lb students is just another day, while I wouldn't make it through a day of 230s.

You can't swap it for the stock bag on a new rig anyway, or at least you couldn't when I ordered 16 weeks ago. I had to pay full price (I think $120) for the stowless bag and received both bags with the container.

I've carried-on my rig in a small roller bag probably a dozen times in the past couple of years with zero issues. The only difference I've seen is that in maybe 25% of flights some people are forced to gate check.

It's from a photoshop contest. The theme is "unlucky day". http://www.worth1000.com/contests/5598/contest

I was trained to use two-hands-per-handle. I switched to one-hand-per-handle before my first cutaway, although in the back of my mind I wasn't completely sure it was the best choice. I committed to one-hand-per-handle when I got my tandem rating because tandem rigs require it and I wanted to be as consistent as possible. I've had five reserve rides, all one-hand-per handle: three spinners, one tandem tension knot, and one CRW entanglement. On four of those I had no trouble at all. One of the spinners, though, was a little scary. It was a basic 2-way RW drill jump with an extremely experienced jumper. We ended up breaking off late, which led to me pulling a little lower than I normally would. I threw out and my Velocity 111 opened hard and with multiple line twists. I was immediately on my back and spinning. Based on my altitude, the severity of the line twists, and the violence of the spin, I made no attempt to kick out and immediately decided to cut away. I found the cutaway handle easily but had difficulty with the reserve handle. I was wearing a full-face helmet and my risers were crossed in front of my face, so locating it visually was impossible. I found the harness webbing and followed it up and down without luck. At this point I decided I was too low to keep screwing around and had to take action. I was going to cut away and hope that eliminating the crossed risers and g-forces from the spin would enable me to find the handle. If not, well, the Cypres would probably fire. Somehow at the same time I found the reserve handle with my left hand. I cut away and dumped the reserve. I never looked at my altimeter before I landed, so I can only guess, but I was probably under my reserve below 1000 feet (but not low enough to fire the Cypres). A two-hand-per-handle'r probably would have located the cutaway handle, attempted to visually locate the reserve handle and realized it was impossible, cutaway, found the reserve handle, and been under the reserve a lot higher than I was. In retrospect, I spent far too long attempting to locate the reserve handle. I should have given it one or two tries, then chopped.

And on the other hand, I have well over 1000 jumps on Infinity risers with no issues. I know other companies make great risers as well, but I won't be switching from VSE any time soon.

Blah blah blah free thing went away complain complain complain. Suck it up. It's gone. It probably isn't coming back.

Nausea on tandems is not uncommon. Even after a couple thousand skydives, I avoid doing tandems from the student position because it makes me sick. I have never had even the slightest hint of nausea when I was in the instructor position or jumping solo. If you are planning on doing another tandem, you can help prevent nausea by staying hydrated and eating something before you jump (don't stuff yourself, but don't jump on an empty stomach either). Dramamine may also help. The instructor can help by making sure the harness is adjusted properly. Some people also find that helping to steer the canopy can keep motion sickness under control (sort of like how the person driving the car never gets carsick). If you want to do AFF, just go for it. Nausea isn't likely to be a problem for you.

Works fine for me.

Congrats, my first cutaway was from basically the same thing, except I paid $5 for the privilege of having the malfunction packed for me. I remember that thread and I think you misinterpreted some other people's advice to come to that conclusion. More jumpers than ever are wearing cameras but incidents involving camera entanglements are still very rare. You are wasting quite a bit of time and altitude "fixing" something that isn't a problem. If you are concerned enough about entanglements to unbuckle your helmet during a malfunction, you are probably better off simply jumping without an RSL.

That's why I put "save" in "quotes." And reporting is completely voluntary since Cypreses began being retrofitted to field-replaceable cutters over a decade ago. Edit: Aw hell, I can't believe I let myself get into an argument on the Internet. I've said my bit as clearly as I can say it. Unless something new develops, I'm out.

That is exactly the point I was trying to make: most Cypres "saves" happen to jumpers who are fully conscious and physically capable of pulling their own handles. When you consider that reporting a save is completely voluntary, it is probably even worse. I'm guessing most "saves" as a result of stupid mistakes go unreported, whereas true saves (injured or unconscious jumpers) do get reported.

Mine is primarily a backup plan for when I fuck up. Safety against being knocked out is a distant second. If I have a Cypres fire, I will almost certainly be fully conscious and physically capable of pulling my handles when it happens. I will probably have been so focused on turning points that I didn't hear my audible, or I was smoking it down trying to clear my airspace during a poorly-executed breakoff, or I fought line twists for too long, or I couldn't bring myself to give up on a spinning AFF student. Skydivers tend to severely underestimate their own fallibility while at the same time grossly inflating the odds of being knocked unconscious in freefall. The Cypres saves list is eye-opening. Being honest with ourselves about how and why things go wrong is an important step in becoming safer.

Even containers that are closed very tightly rarely need more than 10 pounds of force to extract the pin. There should be almost no noticeable delay between reaching bridle extension and pin extraction. My container closes tightly and I have no problems with a 32" F-111 PC. A 28" ZP should be fine. Some things to look for: - Check the condition of the closing pin and grommet on the last flap. Damage can significantly increase the amount of force required to extract the pin. - Ensure that there is adequate excess bridle between the pin and the container. The pin should clear the loop before bridle starts getting pulled from under flaps. - If you use a kill-line collapsible pilot chute, make sure that the kill line hasn't shrunk excessively and that you aren't partially uncocking the PC while packing.

It is just a simple larks head knot, no sewing. Any rigger can do it.

It's in the manual on PD's website: http://performancedesigns.com/docs/Reserve_manual.pdf

$30k is 6000 packjobs a year. It would be tough, but I bet the best and busiest packers make that. Somebody off the street? Probably not, but you might be able to work your way up to it. Of course, you would be busting your ass on the prime jumping days, living in a van, and hoping that you don't get hurt because you can't afford insurance. OR you could take a $30k job with benefits, live in the cheapest apartment you can find, and pack parachutes Saturday to pay for your jumps on Sunday. In a few short years you'll have a $60k job and your ratings and paying for skydiving will take care of itself.

I picked "What the hell is a round canopy?" because it fit best, but it isn't really accurate. I can pack a round, but I don't have the room at home and demand is so low that I never even bothered to buy the tools.

Just a note, Gabe passed away in December 2008. At the time he was still dropping by East Troy semi-regularly to watch the jumpers and tell stories.

I go by the Sigma manual (the only system that I'm rated on) and reconnect after loosening. Not loosening the lowers at all makes landing difficult. I forgot to do it once after a reserve ride and didn't realize it until I was flaring.