m1372302

To be honest the UK mag has only improved significantly in the last year. Up until then it was competition results and nothing much else. Most things were concentrated to the small percentage of people at the top of the skydiving world, but then again they were probably the only people who were submitting reports and photos to publish. There is almost half a dozen photos of outbreak freefly in every issue, but thats probably because they are in desperate need of quality photos and they are one of the few people submitting them on a regular basis so they keep using their material. In the last year they have requested more articles for skills rather than events, 4 way, back flying, sit flying, wing suiting, 8 way. This has made it a lot more interesting to read from the perspective of up and coming jumpers or fun jumpers who are never going to compete in AAA class events or world championships. Which lets face it is 99.9% of skydivers. Personally before this happened i would flick through the magazine and put it down after seeing the same names again and again and how wonderful they had done in competion A or competition B. It's much more readable now.

We are considering going on a trip to a DZ which may only have an finist SMG as their sole plane at the time. Most of our 4way so far has been out of caravans and otters. We've also done some out of a porter and found it to be a lot more awkward in terms of the dimensions of the door (low and pretty narrow) not just that it was on the opposite side from most jump planes. Ignoring the uncomfortable, if quick, ride to altitude. What i want to know, is if anyone has experience in launching 4ways from a finist smg could they let me know if there are any serious draw backs for certain slots due to the size of the door in comparison to a caravan or an otter. Thanks.