AndyMan

It just wasn't that good of a canopy. The Samurai was a far better option for anyone looking for Airlocks. The Katana is a far better option for someone looking for a good swooper that's more friendly than a Velocity. Keep in mind that Big Air Sportz contracts with PD to build the Samurais - so PD gets paid no matter which airlocked canopy that somebody buys. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

The problem isn't necesarily IFR planes flying in the clouds, the problem could very well be VFR planes flying under the clouds. A jumpship flying above or in clouds can not effectively clear the airspace, since VFR traffic may be present under the clouds, and may not even have a transponder. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

The USPA limit for student jumps is 14 mph. Many DZ's have waivers on file that allow them to perform student jumps at 16 mph. Obviously these rules apply to the US, I don't know about the UK. I wouldn't have any problems with a student jumping at 10 mph. Even if the forcasted winds are higher than 14, I would suggest you head out to the DZ. I can guarantee that you won't jump if you stay home, but unless the winds are forecasted to be crazy high there's always a chance if you're at the DZ. The most common wind pattern in Chicago is that they're usually gentle in the morning, pick up around noon and die down around sunset. Even if the winds are forecasted to be high, there will be times during the day where all students can jump. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Booties seem to be common among the truly 'hot-shit' 4way videographers. Airspeed, Fastrax, etc. Me? I shot video last year for CSC Rhythm. CSC Rhythm placed 3rd in Advanced. I did my job as well as I could have hoped, I nailed every exit and did not have any trouble showing full separation. I do not have booties on my jumpsuit. I did not see any need for them, at the level of 4way CSC Rhythm did last year. (3rd place advanced). Booties may have made my exits easier, I don't know. I've never had a bootie camera suit. I can see how a little bit more power would help on the hill, but this never became an issue for me. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Rain hurts. It really is that simple. Clouds, well - that's more complicated. Going back a few years, before GPS - jumping through clouds was a very risky endeavor, because you could not see where you were going to land. Pilots thought they could compensate for this by working with Air Traffic Control, and this generally worked. It worked pretty well until this one time, where ATC got confused, and told a pilot he was over the DZ, when in fact the pilot was over Lake Erie. This jump did not end well. GPS has largely taken care of that specific problem - it's unlikely that you'll be dropped over Lake Erie on a cloudy day. However, we're still in the position of depending on Air Traffic Control to keep us safe from other aircraft. Additionally, federal law dictates that we can not trust ATC for clearance, we must use visual contact to determine when it's safe to jump. It is impossible to visually clear the airspace on a cloudy day, so it's impossible to legally make a safe jump through heavy cloud. Light cloud can be dealt with, by using spotters on the ground, so a student should not panic if there's a slight layer of haze, or clouds that have to be flown around. __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

What surprised me about that video was that the instructor did not even attempt to fly his slot. My AFF training was that I was to do my best to always be able to take the grip if necessary. This instructor does not seem to be making any efforts to maintain close proximity. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

That's the one I'm talking about. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I don't see Pastrana at all being positive for skydiving. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

To answer your question: I'd consider loading either PD reserve or the Aerodyne Smart reserve a lot higher than a Tempo, Swift Plus or a Raven. The Tempo, Swift Plus, or original Raven should not be loaded beyond 1:1. The Raven -M can be loaded up to 1.3. Those are the only reserves I'm familiar with. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

In 1500+ jumps, I've only injured myself to the degree that I required medical attention once. Also, in 1500+ jumps, I have only ever jumped a Saber1 once. The injury was to my neck, and it happened on that one jump. Take from this what you will. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I'm looking for info on the going rate for photos placed in magazines. Specifically, in a small regional magazine with a circulation of a few hundred thousand. The photo takes up a 1/3 of a page. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I'm curious if anyone has successfully setup an HD tandem video concession? Have you bought HD linear editing boards, or are you doing NLE on a PC? Blue Ray recorders, or a PC with a burner? Do you sell SD for one price, and then up-sell HD for a premium? Do you burn Blue-Ray disks, or upload to an HD video hosting site? HD TV's are all over the place, but Blue Ray players are not. Where do people think this is going? _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

If you're saying that for $12,000, an Twin Otter could be outfitted to have full informational awareness about every aircraft operating in the area, that safety benefit would be simply outstanding. Likewise, if for a $12,000 investment on behalf of the Twin Otter, each Soutwest 767 could see the jumpship each and every time, that too would be just outstanding. All of this changes of course if that same system costs $486,000. Of course, the real costs I'm sure will be somewhere in between. ADS-B could be one of the biggest safety enhancements to GA the FAA has ever introduced - as long as it's affordable. The most pragmatic approach to ADS-B is one where an affordable system gets put in place ASAP. I am disturbed that the FAA seems to be planning a staggered release cycle where airplane owners will be required to purchase new gear, and update old gear piece by piece over a long period of time. The current plan of the FAA seems like the worst case. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

As an aside, While this is definitely the case of how the Cypres is documented, and is clearly what Airtec wants to communicate, I wonder if it's actually the case. My curiosity stems from the fact that Cypreses work on air pressure, and when in a belly-to-earth position, the Cypres is in a low-pressure environment. In order to get a Cypres to fire at 750 Feet BTE, I suspect they program it to fire at roughly 1000 feet in a "normal" pressure environment. We see evidence of this when Cypres's fire at often 'higher' altitudes mid-snivel - often at roughly 1000 feet. So while Airtec says that a student Cypres will fire: 750 feet @ 78 MPH (BTE) 1000 feet @ 29 MPH (vertical). I suspect that both are actually the same altitude. 750 feet BTE is approximately 1000 feet standing up. That means that there is only one effective student activation altitude, which is 1000 feet standing up or 750 BTE - and the activation speed at that altitude is 29 MPH. Thus, the only difference between the student and Expert models are the activation speed at the single altitude. Either way - just to reinforce - Student Cypreses do not fire higher. They may have a second (lower) altitude at a lower speed, but I suspect the real difference is that they fire at a slower speed at the same altitude. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

It's not a terrible choice, but it's not a great choice either. I think you'd be much happier with an appropriately sized Saber2 then you would a Katana. My biggest concern is that you should be learning to swoop on a more predictable canopy. At the point that you are at right now, and where you'll be for the next few hundred jumps, you just won't appreciate what the Katana offers. A Saber2 is a much better choice. If the only reason to get a Katana is the image it offers, then I suggest buying something else. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

My Pc1000 has a dbox, my HC5 has nothing. Both get top-mounted on an FTP. Sometimes I fly both at the same time, side by side. When I find that I'm flying the HC5 more often, I'll put it in a box, but right now I don't see a big market for HD video on the DZ. Nobody's got BlueRay players, there's no HD YouTube, etc. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

The CSPA vs CAPS bullshit is exactly why the feds are getting involved. It's a shame, really. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

On your own main? There's no need. As a jumper you'll know far more about the state of your canopy than a rigger will. If you're buying a used main, I suggest asking a rigger to inspect it before you buy it. His advice will be valuable. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Last summer I was practicing intentional road landings for a demo. On one jump I completely trashed a pair of brand new Merrells, and I was flying my large Triathlon. I care not to imagine a similar landing under a small canopy. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I think blaming an old canopy for a poor landing is a weak excuse. In reality, what your friend did was just a simple bad landing. A good PLF would have allowed him to walk away from it uninjured, something that he should have known. I've jumped plenty of old gear, some at very high wingloadings and have not observed such a big change over time. Newer ZP fabric is very good at retaining porosity over time. Canopies become unpopular long before they become unlandable. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

The problem with King Airs: The low tail is prone to striking from a rear floater or camera flyer. To make it worse, the tail does not have structural strength, so it will tear off if a parachute gets hung up. Even Mike Mullins is lucky to be alive after landing without half his horizontal stabilizer. The aft CG is prone to stalling. Many King Airs have been stalled on jump-run by inexperienced pilots. Hanging onto the outside of an airplane when it stalls is not a good place to be. The small door makes it tough to exit larger groups. (given the CG issues, this is a good thing) The retractable gears can be a problem for pilots not used to them. I've known 3 King Airs to be landed with the gear up. This has made the insurance get progressively more expensive. On the flip side, they're cheap. For a while, many DZ's were flying them because there were a lot of high-time airframes on the market for little $$$. They've since become less popular for the reasons listed above. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

That's my biggest concern, because even if the housings are smooth the day they leave the factory, there's no guarantee that they'll remain that way throughout the life of the rig. We already tell people to verify their steel ripcords have free movement because debris can cause the system to lock up. That same debris can cause wear on a soft cable. Sand and small pieces of gravel already pollute the hard housings. What will the long term effect of this be against a soft cable? I have to assume that UPT has already thought this through. I'm hoping they'll fill us in with what they found. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

In America? By far the most common jump plane by hours flown is a Cessna 182. If you're measuring by jumper slots available, then the Twin Otter. The few centers that regularly fly 3+ otters at a time move a massive number of slots. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Both me and my wife walk to work. It's good exercise, and it keeps the gas bill low. The nutshell is that we pay far less than 5% of our salary for gas. We just don't drive that much. During the winter we'll sometimes go more than a month without a fill-up. In the summer, even with driving out to the DZ each weekend, we still don't need gas every week. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I would have guessed that wear from friction is a more common scenario than extreme pull forces. How is the system designed to mitigate the effects of friction? What are the wear characteristics of this system? Also, how has the testing been changed to reflect this? While a pull-test makes perfect sense for a steel cable, I would think wear tests over the long term would be a much bigger concern. How is this being addressed? _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.