AndyMan

Crosskeys flies an Allouette, or at least they used to. I've jumped theirs a few times when its gone on tour to the midwest. It's a little cramped in the back seat with a rig on, but definately fun! I've also jumped a Bell 412, and that was just a riot, partly because of the ride the pilot was willing to give. That opportunity seems to have dried up for now, hopefully Rod will come back to us some day. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Among the skydiving population, there are theives, rapists, and even accused murderers. Of course, there are also some of my closest friends, and biggest heros. Take each person just as you would otherwise. Allow them to earn your trust, or dismiss them as appropriate. Approach each person as a neutral. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Everyone still happy with their HyPeye? My Cam-eye II took a dump on the weekend, I never used the button and could use a brighter LED. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Yes. It's fine, but over rated. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

.ca and .[prov].ca are very common among Canadian business. They are not considered second rate like their .us equivalents. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I don't get it. Most DZ's have basic freeflying as part of their student progression...? _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

No. All but the most expensive hard drives can (will...) fail catestrophically when used above 10,000 feet MSL. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

By building up a tollerance. Seriously. I have to use sunblock and wear hats religiously in the spring, but as the spring wears on I gradually use them less and less. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Yup. That's the one. I use mine often. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

It's very easy to understand that today's skydivers want to to jump something smaller. Skydivers have ALWAYS wanted to jump something smaller than those boring old manufacturers recomend. That's a constant! The issue is not what somebody wants to do, but rather what they should do. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Well, that depends. What are your thoughts on wheelchairs? _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Print this page and hand it to your rigger: http://www.bigairsportz.com/article.php#slider _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

That's weird. We had sunsets like that in Illinois this weekend, too. Never saw anythig like it before. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

It's pretty rare to find a PD 7 cell still in good enough condition to be jumping. Did you have a rigger inspect it? These canopies aged very quickly partly because of the fabric they were made from doesn't last. You wouldn't want to jump one that had more than a few hundred jumps on it. There were not a lot made since people generally prefered the PD 9 cell, but even those are hard to find in good condition. To answer your question, - yes - the reason is lack of demand. There are better, newer designs. _AM __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I didn't find that very hard. I had to 18 to get my rating because I got interupted by the winter and had to start over in the spring. I did these at a 1.9 wingloading without any misses. Touching down and stopping in a short distance isn't the prefered way to land, but it's certainly doable. If you really know your canopy, I think the pro requirements are attainable on all but the very highest wingloadings. (appropriateness is a different subject). _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I don't think Amy gets credit for founding the club. A large group came came through Hinckley about 6 years ago, printed up tshirts and stickers. There' a handful of old stickers still up at CSC. Amy is the chief promoter though. She gave me a sticker but I lost it before I got a chance to properly affix it. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Yup, it is the dropzone Hinckley, Il. Currently known as Chicagoland Skydiving Center, but I can say that based on the numbers of hangars built, the video is at least 6 years old, which predates both myself being there, and the current owners. They've been jumping in Hinckly since the early 60's, low-pulls were a lot more common in the "olden days" than they are now. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

My list is pretty short. Former: Sony PC120, Purchased in 2002, lasted through spring 06. Current: PC1000, Purchase in 2006. Canon Digital Rebel, purchased in 2004 _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

There are only 3 things that will cause a canopy to open off heading. 1) The canopy is not symmetrical. This can happen as it ages, the lines may shrink at different rates. Or, it may have been manufactured that way. 2) The packjob is not symmetrical. This is usually caused by either sloppy packing, or an old method of "rolling the nose". If you insist on rolling the nose, do so in a symmetrical way, by rolling 4 cells one way, then 4 the other, leave the last cell hanging in the middle. 3) The jumper is not symmetrical. There's a few different techniques to keep yourself symmetrical through opening. My wife likes clicking her heels together during the snivel. I like looking at my connector links, and making sure they're even. Either way, I don't worry too much about 90 degree off heading, but I do get annoyed with 180. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

If it's true that you have roughly 50 jumps... I would not concern yourself with pulling down the slider in the least. Focus on being aware of other jumpers around you, setting up for a pattern and being safe. Stowing the slider does not have any effect on the performance of the canopy you're flying right now. It has a small effect that's only noticable at higher wingloadings. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

"Classic accuracy" requires a classic accuracy canopy. Doing Classic accuracy on a high performance canopy is not recomended, the techniques don't apply. You simply can not land a high performance canopy by flaring halfway, for example. You'd do better to learn the tricks of "sport accuracy", which is what I'll outline here. I would be using my front and rear risers. In normal winds, Rear risers will extend your gilde while front risers will shorten it. You'll want to reserve time to return to full flight before landing though, so make your adjustments up high. A second way to solve this is move the crosswind portion of your pattern lower. By doing this, you'll be lowering the altitude where you turn to final, and by doing so you'll be better able to judge the final touch down point. Good altitude awareness is key here, for obvious reasons. Also, pattern turns do not have to be exactly 90 degrees. If you're a bit high, you can extend your crosswind a bit past the target, then turn more than 90 degrees. If you're a bit low, you can turn to final a bit earlier and do less than a 90 degree turn. Sinking in a modern canopy is a lot more interesting then it was on an older one. To me, this is a good skill to have, but not one that I use very often under a high performance main. It's certainly not something I'll do when I'm close to landing. To answer your question, you simply do not sink it down so low that you land in the sink. Allow time to return to normal flight before flaring. I know very little about Mojo's, so a BASE jumper could probably answer this better than I, but I would think tha a Mojo would be lot more stable while sinking than a Saber2. That said, unless you're specifically trying to learn to fly a BASE canopy for BASE jumping, I'm not sure what you learn on the Mojo will be very relevant to your Saber2. I would prefer to see you master the more dificult canopy, not fallback to the bigger more docile one whenever you're faced with a dificult situation. If you're good enough to be flying the Saber2 in the first place, you're good enough to be doing the tricky stuff, too. If you're incapable of performing on the small Saber2, then consider permanently upsizing to a canopy that you can handle. Just my thoughts, late at night... Take with a grain of salt. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I think it's fake... No goggles, and no sign of wind in their hair. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Absolutely true. I've joined a team that's been doing demo's in the midwest for about 20 years. I'm in good hands, and learning as much as I can.

I've got a demo coming up where the planned landing area is a city street. I'll be flying a lightly loaded Triathlon, but I admit I'm intimidated by landing on asphalt - it's just something I've never tried before. How badly does asphalt suck? _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

The Sigma is cheaper... _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.