Craig

Dude, do a search on Google. The best search engine out there IMO. It brought up alot of hits for me under "MC-4 parachute system" Craig

On that TLC show last night they showed two jumpers in a wrap and one cutaway and hit the ground at linestretch. Needless to say he/she died and it was kind of chilling to watch cause you could hear the imapct and everything. Hope I never have to witness something like this for real. Craig

LMAO...troll Wonder if this is the same person who started the "Low Pull" threads? Craig

Hey Adam, how'd your trip to AZ go? Get a chance to jump? The Westwind arrived back from Florida Monday and the CASA is due back the end of April. They have the Events page back up on the site so you may want to check it out if you like. Craig

I thought it was a positive episode and enjoyed watching it. Good footage and I found the tidbits from the psychologists interesting as well. Finally a show that does not give the impression that we are crazed fearless maniacs who are trying to kill ourselves. I think it will re-air at 1:00AM EST on TLC. It is going to be on again tonight but not exactly sure what time. Craig

Try looking at the post I left HERE and see if this helps. Craig

Easy, ask the DZ where you plan on jumping what they consider a "Hook turn" Craig

Mardi Gras rocks. I have a feeling bed spread and sea would be hard to find if you cutaway and nobody seen where they went down. Visibilty in the air is another thing to consider as well. My Triathlon is Neon Purple/Neon Pink/Neon Orange/Neon Yellow/Neon Orange/Neon Pink/Neon Purple and I like it. The ultimate decision is yours though. Have fun with it. Craig

No kidding! It's like they think we WANT to land in the field or pastures and have to hoof (no pun intended) it back to the DZ. I'm with you, if I can't make it back there field is mine. Craig

Try this link, it may be a good start. http://www.batnet.com/mfwright/30Kjumps.html Craig

Well that was clear as mud!

FAA regs. say that jumping through clouds is prohibited in the US. Craig

As much as I didn't want to I had to pull in a cloud....I mean haze once. I couldn't track completly over it and it was pull time. It was a big puffy one. My slider was coming down as I was poking through the bottom. I had a few line twists that was either from the packer, or body position/turning cause I had no definite heading since I could not see the ground. I cannot see a cloud effecting your canopy unless you were in a thunderhead for some absurd reason. Craig

Heh, you know your a skydiver when...... Craig

http://precision.aerodynamics.com/top/dashmfaq.htm Craig

Actually this maze was in Ohio. There used to be an old railway that runs by our DZ and it is abandoned and all the rails are taken out. It is a great landmark that you can see from altitude to locate the DZ (private airport/grass runways). Anyhow, I think he built the maze for some historical reasons or something. Craig

LOL, perfect timing. I actually took my rig outside earlier and tried to kite kite my canopy. I guess since it is new and there was about 10MPH winds outside I would air it out a little and have a better look at it. Call me crazy.....not sure what the neighbors thought. The roof scares me though.

I thought the USPA is waiting to get approval from the FAA for the 180 day repack cycle. 120 is what we have in the states already.

No real good stories "yet". I do understand that the local farmer doesn't like the planes flying over all the time though even though the DZ has been there longer than him. I guess he also thinks we damage the crops alot from landing off, when in reality the wildlife surely does alot more damage than we ever do. I did hear a story about one of the nearby farmers made a maze in his cornfield. It was shaped like an old steam locomotive that was quite large and really cool to look at under canopy, it think it was for halloween or something but it was before I started jumping. Craig

I don't know alot about BASE but depending on the height the jump is mad from there are differences in gear. Larger pilot chutes being one so there is more snach force. Mesh sliders will get air into the canopy quicker, and different packing techniques like direct bagging (packing without a D-bag). There is also BASE specific gear you can get as well. There are many things that could be done to speed up a sub terminal opening. Craig

This seems to be important, even though I often skip out when jumping. I was suprised when I started jumping how the chemical rush can bring you down. I can make as little as three jumps and come home in the evening and chow down and I'm ready to crash. Were talking like 9:30 or 10:00 in the evening if I don't hang at the DZ. I usually crash at about 12 or 1 in the morning if I didn't jump and it's the weekend. Craig

Ditto. Usually try to get as much down at breakfast as I can cause I often forget lunch since it is the last thing on my mind if there is jumping to be done. Watch out though when I get home in the evening...a beeline for the fridge and there better be something good in there! Craig

Here is a link to a site with some CRW videos. There are lots of other skydiving videos there as well ftp://129.2.229.250/CRW/ Knock off the CRW/ extension to get to the main directory with the other videos. The CRW video I enjoyed was the parabatics.mpeg which has some downplanes and is good quality video. I e-mailed you the downplane pic I sent Mike to your .edu address in your profile. Enjoy, Craig oops, can't make a link to it since it adds http:// Edited by Craig on 3/20/01 10:42 AM.

Here is a way to check a collapsible PC. Sorry I cannot remember where I came across the literature on it. Susupend the PC by the bridle where it attaches to the pilotchute itself. Locate the reinforcing tapes on the mesh of the PC that run bridle to nylon. Now compare them to the center length of the PC. My understanding is that the center hanging 1" lower than the edge tapes is optimum but this may vary with gear. You should be thinking about re-placing the PC when the center where the hackey attaches and edge tapes are the same length. I have a Collapsible PC made by Jim Cazer (ordered with my Dolphin) which seems to be good construction, it is zero-p also. What you would start noticing if using a worn PC, either increased prosity of the nylon or shrinking apex line would be less snach force, or softer openings than what you would have usually had. It would be a gradual change so I am not sure that it would be noticible really. What you might try to do is pull your main out and start collapsing your PC until it is right on the edge of the colored portion, then see where the apex hangs like I mentioned above. Personally I would think that if you can see color in the window, the PC should be OK to use. The manufacturers probibally take in to account the shrinkage of the microline due to the heat generated from the movement inside your bridle and color the center line accordingly. I'm not a rigger though and this is just what I have came across when I was buying my gear and deciding if I wanted a collapsible pilotchute YMMV. Craig

I have a little question about a streamered main. I know how to recognize a streamer (i.e. no slider visible, canopy not developing), and have seen them on video and know they are not correctable. My question is what causes a streamer in terms of packing errors? How would you go about packing a streamer? No, I dont plan on packing one, but wonder what causes them. Anyone know? Thanks, Craig