jdfreefly

Recently, a company made their third post on these forums in as many months, requesting skydiving footage. This time, they posted in the incidents forum. The party/parties involved have now posted an apology. I don't think that is good enough. Go to this site and read this article and the paper it links to: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/30240.html Then go to this site: http://www.grbtv.com/index.html Any questions? Methane Freefly - got stink?

It seemed like some of the comments that had been made might confuse a newbie into thinking a crossfire is a crossbraced canopy. I have heard people refer to it as a crossbraced canopy before. Most likely due to the name. Also, the front looks crossbraced due to the partialy closed nose. Just wanted to avoid confusion. Methane Freefly - got stink?

Seems to be some confusion here. A Crossfire(1 or 2) is not a crossbraced canopy. The crossbraced canopies I know of : Icarus FX Icarus VX PD Velocity Percision XAOS The crossbraced canopies tend to have an angle of attack such that, once put into a dive, they will stay in it until flown out. This makes them ideal canopies for swooping because you can do a much longer diving aproach on your swoop. It also makes them horrible canopies for people learning how to swoop. Methane Freefly - got stink?

If you know someone who is going out there to organize or fun jump, go with them as their personal packer. Kathy pays for a concession, this is true. You shouldn't put up a sign, but if you are just packing for your friends, no big deal. They will make new friends and some of their new friends will want you to pack for them too. Before you know it, you'll be turning people away and sending them to kathy. Methane Freefly - got stink?

One of the locals was out at crosskeys one weekend test jumping one for a company that does military contracts. It had locks on the risers so you could ajust the trim while packing it so it opened more like a parachute. Once you had a malfunction free opening, you released the locks and the trim changed to that of a paraglider. It was really cool. I wanted to jump it. He wouldn't let me. Methane Freefly - got stink?

As a soon to be done tandem instructor, I appreciate the story. However, I think this would be better off posted in Safety and Training. Methane Freefly - got stink?

I was delivering pizza in a shore town in south jersey. There was this house that always had partys, half the people living there were girls, half were guys. One night, when I delivered, one of the girls, who was really hot, asked me if I wanted to stop by when I got off work. Needless to say I stopped in after work. The girl turned out to be a druggie loser, but I became drinking buddies with one of the guys in the house. One night, drunk out of our minds, I notice a Parachutist magazine sitting on the table. I enquired and he answered. Not only was he a jumper, but he worked at the dropzone on the weekends. I went and did a tandem a couple of days later. About a year after that, it was America's Cup at Crosskeys. I lifted my head out of the tandem canopy I was packing, it was already my 20th tandem pack that day, looked at him and said, "all I did was deliver a fucking pizza!" He still laughs about that one. Over 900 jumps later, and almost 6 years. Life is good. Methane Freefly - got stink?

Heath Richardson at Crosskeys is on the PD factory team and is sponsored by Javelin. He has been jumping the stow-less bag for quite a while now. He loves it. It has been a while since I asked him about the openings on it but the last time I did he said they were actually better. Methane Freefly - got stink?

I just renewed my my USPA membership. Even used the online form to do it. This is the 5th time I have renewed, but this year was different. Every year, I would fill out my paperwork and send it in. I would always skip over 2 boxes. One was the box for the airport defense fund. The other was for donations to the US team. This year, for the first time ever, I donated $10 to each. Not a lot of money. Actually pretty insignificant. I almost skipped over them again this year. Then I remembered driving past the dz on an unseasonably warm day in September. I remembered wondering when I would get to jump again, if ever. I rembered the day that flight restrictions were lifted. The hugs and relief as friends rolled into the dz who lived in New York. And that first jump after the attacks. I paused, and then filled in an extra $10 for the airport defense fund. I was getting ready to keep going. Then I rememberd a conversation with Mike Gelardi. He and his wife had represented the US team several times. He explained how, for a couple barely scraping by on skydiving income, it just didn't make sense for them to go again. I thought of Mark Kruse, a man with more jumps and knowledge than anyone I have met, pushing for people to buy t-shirts so his crew team could go compete in the world games. A man who has probably given away more knowledge for free than he has been paid for. I put down another $10 dollars for the US team trust fund. $20...Not a whole lot of money. The price of one jump at many dropzones now, or four pack jobs on most packing matts. But if we all did it...add it up. It means a lot of money. Drop zones like Kapowsin could stop living in fear of being shut down. Being on a US team could become more of a priviledge and less of a burden. From now until I become so old my children declare me incompetent and take away my check book, I will donate to both of these, every year. ps - After writting this I feel guilty that I only donated $20. Methane Freefly - got stink?

Bill, In no way is this a challenge to your knowledge. This is what I have heard: 1) When the old squares first came out, it was true that flying in half/quarter brakes helped to keep them pressurized. It was explained to me why this was, but I cannot recall the explanation. This is no longer true of todays canopies and flying in half/quarter breaks only robs you of airspeed and thus depressurizes the airfoil. This in turn makes it more vulnerable to turbulence. 2) When jumping in turbulence with a high performance canopy, speed is your friend. The faster you are moving, the more riggid your wing becomes, the less vulnerable it is to turbulence. This speed SHOULD NOT be achieved by a hard front riser maneuver. The best thing to do is a gentle front riser carving maneuver to build up speed without deforming the airfoil. This is advice given to me by people with over 10,000 jumps and could still be incorrect. Still, the safest option is to stay on the ground when in doubt. Methane Freefly - got stink?

I had a great one once. A friend of mine (also a jumper) and I were going around looking at buildings and cliffs. We would argue over whether or not it was high enough to base jump from. I would always argue that it was, he would argue that it wasn't. Regardless of the out come of the discussion, we would attempt it anyway. Invariably, we would both bounce. Then I would grin and tell him he was right. We would then head to the next object. I also had one where I went in with nothing out and then pulled out my main before going in to the hangar because I didn't want anyone to know I had bounced with all of my handles un-pulled! Methane Freefly - got stink?

Well it appears that opinions vary. Mine was one of the first off the assembly line so maybe the trim is different. Also, the loading can drastically effect the way a canopy flies. Although, Rich and I have very similar loadings. I agree with Rich on the lower riser pressure and snappier turns both with risers and toggles. I also agree with him on the longer swoops. The only place we differ is in the recovery arc. It may also be worth mentioning that the demo I had was made in the US and was very jumped out. Methane Freefly - got stink?

I would have carved it if I had realized sooner just how far I was going to over shoot. The problem was that the distance totally caught me off guard. Also, I set up deeper (ie - farther from the fence) then I had all weekend. I didn't expect to run out of room. Methane Freefly - got stink?

Well I pulled it off. Perfect front riser carving turn into a double front riser dive. Slowly let up and damned if I'm not planing out right along the ground! Let out a whoop, so everyone can turn and see my "perfect swoop". Suddenly, there is a problem. I realize that with this much momentum, I am going to get about 20-30 feet more than I thought. Hmmm.... let's see, that would put me... right into that fucking fence. Well shit. That was really stupid. So i lay back in the surf, and start dragging my hands behind me. I briefly thought about just yanking it to one side but it looks like I am going to make it. I come to a skidding stop about 10 feet from the fence. Since I had to be a show off and scream out as I was coming in, everyone on the deck is watching me.....and laughing. My mistake was that I was swooping for accuracy by setting up towards the fence, and I was changing my swoop style..all on the same jump. Also, it is a rare occasion that the wind at our dz blows in the direction that it was on sunday, so it was an unfamiliar aproach. Aside from my pride, and a little brush burn on the palm of my hand, stupid didn't hurt...this time. Methane Freefly - got stink?

Rich, I own a crossfire2 119(loaded about 1.9). When I bought it, they loaned me a crossfire1 119 which I paid the demo fee for but they let me keep it for much longer than normal, basically until mine came in. I have a pretty good handle on the differences. The first thing I noticed was that the openings on the 2 were nothing like the 1. They were not as soft and not as stable. The next thing I noticed was that the recovery arc is not as long as the older model. The riser pressure on the crossfire 2 seemed to be less than that of the one. Although, 1 that I had had the line trim adjusted after the safety bulettin. I have heard that the adjustment causes a large increase in riser pressure. With the lower riser pressure I can keep it in the dive longer to adjust for the shorter recovery arc. Also, I can gradually let the risers up making for a more efficeint exit from the turn. People have asked me to compare the crossfire2 to other canopies. The best description I can give is to say that it is a cross between a crossfire1 and a stiletto. I should also mention that I have jumped it in bumpy conditions without any problems. Also, in light of the past problems with the old crossfire, I opened high and did everything in my power to make that thing collapse like the old one was suspected of doing. Nothing phased it. I like it and if you need a new canopy I would definately recomend this one. It will be a bit of a change from the crossfire1 but I didn't mind it. I think they should have come up with a different name though. It really is a different canopy and the name doesn't do a good job of indicating that. Methane Freefly - got stink?

Obviously the subject needs to be discussed over some beers and face to face. I have to say that I tend to find myself agreeing with both of you and disagreeing with both of you. Jason, the landings I experienced on my safire were not ankle burners, they were patela tearers. So while I definately agree that had my fuck up been under my crossfire 119, I would most likely be dead, I like what Hook is saying. Maybe instead of encouraging that buding swooper to ditch his 170 for a 150, we should be telling them to ditch the 170 square for a 170 eliptical. By we I mean the sport, I try not to give advice outside the realm of, "Don't you think that was a little low?" Good discussion guys. One thing is obvious, there are no easy answers in this discipline. We need to research this more. I propose that the three of us go out this weekend and swoop our asses off. Methane Freefly - got stink?

I agree with Hook on this one. When I was learning to swoop on my safire 149, if I hooked it too high or let off of the front risers too early, the result was a canopy that was so firm, trying to pull on the front risers again was like pulling on a steel bar, all that happened was I ended up pulling myself to them rather than pulling them down to me. Once that canopy crossed a certain point, there was no way to keep it down. This resulted me hooking it just to the wrong side of dangerous. The result was that I did hook it in. It was one of those freakish occurences where every one that saw it thought they had just witnessed a fatality. Just as they are getting ready to dial 911, the jumper in question slowly rises to his feat, dusts himself off, and thanks the lord for momentarily changing the chemical composition of his bones to something aproximating rubber. I learned my lesson. Take a look at my sig! Hell, I thought I was dead. It is an awfull and helpless feeling when you see that ground coming at you and you know it's too late to dig out. But I digress. The point is, that there are some canopy's that are not swoop friendly when lightly loaded. In my opinion, the safire is definately one of these. I am sure there are others. Perhaps, we need to get a better understanding of which canopys those are, so that begining swoopers can use one that will tolerate hooking too high. That is, after all, where they should be anyway(too high that is). Methane Freefly - got stink?

Hook, The safire was a 149 loaded at about 1.45. I had such a problem with the plane out and drop affect, which I think is worse on this canopy than any other I have ever jumped, that I used to hook it too low and dig out just to avoid it. Horrible habbit which I got over. The crossfire2 is what I am currently jumping. It is a 119 loaded at about 1.95, depending on what part of the season you weigh me in, damn North Eastern winters!!! I won't really believe in the idea of a negative recovery arc until I expeience it first hand. It just seems too many people hook it too low. If you say something, they use the negative recovery arc defense. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I have more to learn than I thought. Also, I felt people were hijacking the thread about Rod. I thought I would bring the conversation here where we could tastefully explore the issue. Methane Freefly - got stink?

Well said. I believe it is your right to run your business the way you want. Personaly, I wouldn't/couldn't jump there. No biggie. But I give you credit for sticking to an unpopular opinion. This thread is gonna be a doosy. Methane Freefly - got stink?

I haven't jumped a cross braced canopy so I can't speak for those. However, I have put many jumps on a safire and a crossfire 1 and 2. The safire never climbed on me as hook says. It has planed out 10 feet too high and dropped me like a bad habit (actually damaged my knee from hooking it too high) but it never actually gained altitude unless I gave it input. The crossfire claims to have a "negative" recovery arc. This is not really true. If you hook it high enough it will plane out on its own, it will just take longer than any other conventional eliptical canopy. I am anxious to try the velocity and the fx to see if this is also true. If it is I will eat my words. Anyway, you guys are missing the point of my post. The point is, that in the progression from "using a parachute to safely deliver you to the ground" to "canopy pilot" you are bound to end up on a canopy where the kind of swoop I described is possible. I am saying that maybe people need to be better taught the difference between a nice swoop and a timely stab to save your femur. Methane Freefly - got stink?

A jumper at my home dz spent a while attempting what he had coined "the perfect swoop". To him, it had nothing to do with distance or speed. It was a front riser turn executed at the perfect altitude such that the canopy planed out even with the ground. This meant that he would need ABSOLUTELY no input to the toggles. Although, it also resulted in him running it out like a son of a bitch. Rod's recent injury is what got me thinking about this. There are many people who are deemed great swoopers, that I have seen still in the dive and already giving brake input. That's great, they needed to. If they hadn't, they would've been hurt. Hell, I do it all the time. But I am wondering if people understand; an adjustment with the brakes before planing out, means you have turned too low or, held the dive for too long. This season, I was thinking of moving from the crossfire2 I jump to a velocity. I think I will wait until I can, with some level of consistency, perform the perfect swoop for that canopy. Best wishes to Rod and a prayer for a quick recovery. Methane Freefly - got stink?

Of course it is. Methane Freefly - got stink?

My sign is I95 North... As in hop on I95 North untill you see signs for Philadelphia and head to Skydive Crosskeys for the MonkeyClaw boogie in May!!! Unless you were talking about astrology, in which case I am a Taurus. Methane Freefly - got stink?

I think I am in love. Any woman who can carry a smile like the one in that avatar, and write like this.....oh my!!!! Just imagine the fights we could have! Methane Freefly - got stink?

Two way freefly with my friend Clark. We are taking turns doing linked transitions..start off both head down, he flips to a sit without breaking the grip, now it's my turn. I flip over andplace my groin firmly on his knee. I broke the grip, clutched my groin and closed my eyes for a second. I expected to see, when I opened my eyes, a concerned look on Clark's face. Instead, he was pointing and laughing hysterically at me. Not one of my finer moments. Methane Freefly - got stink?