damion75

Beats the hell out of Aerokart... and you don't have to go to France! Quick query, does the booking have to be by an individual or can a team do it? ie. If one guy books an hour (at £600) and then all four members fly (having previously proved competence) either in pairs or as a four, would that be allowed?

Relax - there's no hurry to buy kit! spend the money doing some jumps instead and then when you DO buy, you will have a much better idea of what you want and what is appropriate...

Like the man says, it is subjective what is fun... but I had a Spectre and loved it. Bear in mind also that the Spectre is a tapered 'semi-elliptical' planform to the Sabre 1's old rectangle style. So it does turn harder and faster. Have a look at the PD website and see what they have to say about the Spectre characteristics (I doubt that the Sabre 1 stuff is still on there) and the surf is all about the pilot - my buddy flies a Sabre1 170 when I was on my Spectre 170 (about the same loading) I pretty much always surfed further because I wanted to... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

As a ball park figure, they normally don't like you anywhere near them with less than 500 jumps. It does happen but not often and only with people that they know are decent fliers... There are just too many things to go wrong! Best get jumping! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

hey Goose! Just to satisfy my curiosity, are you really doing 180s and 270s on your Sam136 at 240 jumps? Or is it just an out of date profile? Sorry if you already covered this one but I can't be bothered to read the preceeding 142 posts! Frank. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Dude, I'm sure you wouldn't... but for the love of god don't buy from Jessops - they are about the most expensive place out there! If you can get to London then Tottenham Court Road or Edgeware, otherwise hunt through the net... you will save £00s!

Actually the BPA Ops Manual recommends a shit before jumping even while still a student. Apparently it allows the bowel pressure to equalise more gradually during the ascent to altitude so that students don't get so nervous. But the shit does have to be overseen by a qualified instructor, who must maintain a firm grip on the student at all times to ensure that they do not fall into the toilet. Unless they already have PT1 (potty trained grade one). Older skydivers with a blue licence are grandfathered on this regulation. hope that helped. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

You are so right - its not even just about not being scared - when I got my first rig (a 170) another guy I used to jump with a lot with similar numbers and same weight got a 150 just to be 'one step ahead'!! Anyway... three hundred jumps later, I have a 150 which I love and can land pretty sweetly and accurately. In the same time he has done under a hundred and still hasn't learned to fly the thing! I don't think he is scared, just so busy trying to come down in one piece that he doesn't care how or where... I guess he wasn't really 'one step ahead' at all! Nugget... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Oh we went into the water anyway... after taking the rigs off - it was a new year swim thing on 02 January... pretty cold... and yes - it is all on video! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Yes - at a boogie in Portugal and it was a lot of fun. I wouldn't say there were no shrinkage issues but since there were no hot chicks there that I was after... who cares?! What my buddy and I were not expecting were the 200 people on the beach who had heard on the local radio that the nice skydivers were going to be doing a demonstration jump onto the beach... they did get a shock! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Of course there is also the concern that it is possible to be so conservative, never trying anything like flat turns etc down low (after trying them up high!) that you never really learn how to fly your canopy... and when you get some nugget landing 90 degrees to everyone else you then don't have the skillset to avoid them, do a panic turn and get hurt... There must be some ideal middle ground here? *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

There are no jump number/freefall requirements required in order to become a WARP coach - all you need is CCI approval. However, you would be expected to be proficient at FS and have good teaching skills. There is also the BPA FS Coach qualification, which requires a minimum of 300 jumps, 3 hours freefall time and 2 years in the sport. You must also have attended some sort of instruction course/lecture, and undergo an evaluation. It is a good idea to get this qualification, as it demonstrates to the student that you have fulfilled some basic requirements with regards ability. There is no fixed training/cost to becoming a coach (other than the £10 you need to send away with the FS Coach application). Curious, I am surprised that you are allowed to teach WARP without being an FS coach - surely these things go hand in hand?1 Check dives with an AFFI is often also a requirement... I am not surprised about the higher jump numbers dazzle - after all anyone can shout 'GO'!

Great photo Iwan! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Well there you go! You learn something new every day! thanks! Does the Sabre2 lose more altitude because it is turning slower and therefore for longer maybe? I would suggest that the turn on the Sabre2 is more predictable surely? and easier to stop if you realise that you are at risk of going too low... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

As grega said, define 'high performance'! the speed of a canopy is,as far as I am aware, primarily governed by wingloading. Thus a 150 Stilletto is not significantly faster forwards than a 150 Sabre2. The Difference is in the turns and the landings - the Stilletto will be very different to fly turning harder and diving far more in the turns and it is that tendency to lose height in the turn which is most likely to catch out someone unused to an elliptical canopy. I have just put about 100 jumps on my first elliptical (Vision 150) and am learning all this by playing at high altitudes! Surely there is someone at South Cerney who can discuss this with you? If not then why not make a trip to Nethers where there are several very good canopy pilots who will be able to give you the detail that I can't.

I am pretty sure it is Arrow dynamics... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

And me... and Pretty Will... and its Pam's birthday celebration so everyone make sure you buy her a drink and see if we can't get her to hurl on the night bus too... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

BATS? You judge your height by sonic reflection?!! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

How do I know already that one of the boys WILL end up wearing whichever pair of Sarah's knickers ends up surplus to requirements?! Vicki And who will end up wearing the other pair which was NOT surplus?! What am I saying? surely any knickers are surplus to requirement!!! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Well I wasn't prepared for the 200 locals and tourists who were on the beach to watch the 'nice skydivers' put on a display... then again I am not sure that they were prepared for it either... Just for you Sarah, we'll wait! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Perhaps the 'inexperienced' jumper should land somewhere else - most major DZs try to provide separate landing areas for experienced and inexperienced jumpers. And that probably saves a few lives / accidents each year! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

The PC 108 is simply a PC 109 without the DV in facility as far as I understand. I guess the question is do you want to be able to firewire stuff into your camera? I jump a PC 109E and so far it has produced the goods - small, sweet picture and no problems. That said I am only producing stuff for myself, not as a dedicated camera flyer (Tandem, 4-way etc). As a point of curiosity I use a Stealth 0.5 lens, the only problem you might find is getting a 25mm lense - I got it from Royal Lens but Waycool and a couple of other also do them. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

That was certainly part of the problem - probably the major lesson I took away was that from then on I decided to hang about on half brakes for a while! That was probably the other thing I took away - the north field is great and I went over there a lot afterwards. But I didn't mean to point the finger at Perris, it was only an example and some smaller DZs might not have that extra large secondary landing area? Definitely agree there, also with the comment about bright canopies. I like to be seen in the sky - there are too many crazy / unthinking people up there to risk being invisible! Thanks for your help guys and girls. Very interesting! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

We may have to huddle up for warmth... share body heat etc. Sarah's bra was still warm so I guess wearing that again is an option! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

I have had a quick check on the forums and I know this subject has been brought up before, but I am curious about slightly different aspect of it. My question is: How is it safer to allow the first man down for landing direction rather than use a fixed direction? To qualify that, on a large landing area coming in directly into wind is obviously the ideal situation, so a big tetrahedron or arrow is a good marker to follow. Obviously on a small, narrow strip one needs to land either straight up or straight down it. To use two examples: in Perris the direction is set by the first jumper, where in Skydive Algarve a fixed direction is set by using a fixed wooden marker. The fixed marker allows everyone to know in plenty of time to set up where they need to be, which is surely less likely to result in low turns and canopies coming in from both ends than the flexible first man down approach? This is in my mind at the moment because I have just had the situation where at about 50-100ft I was the lowest jumper, set up to come in from one direction, at the other end of the strip at this DZ (maybe 400m away) another jumper on a creamy white pocket rocket hooked in from 500ft. I didn't see him against the cloud, but he was on the ground about 2 seconds before me. So who was right? I was the lowest canopy until it was too late to change, but he did get there first (and I did get it in the neck from the DZO!). I think that the system was really the fault here. Thoughts please? *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.