adamsr

one i've done before, simple but fun, stand with your toes on the edge, facing inwards, then keeping your body straight just fall backwards, like a trust exercise (but no-body's gonna catch you!!) It's wierd, because you fall all the way through horizontal before hitting the slipstream, but just watch your head on the top of the door if you are tall... i'm 6' 2" and i have to stoop a bit to avoid this

We're all born right-handed... only the best of us overcome it!! Actually did a stats project at college, and proved that left handed people are significantly more intelligent than right handed people!! (using gcse grades over a random sample of the enitre college) so basically left-handed people rule!! as you may have guessed, i'm left handed!!

always the boobs.... boobies are great

haven't jumped since the end of september 2004 It's not that i dont want to jump, it's just while i'm at university i can't jump, i have no transport, the nearest dz is about an hour and a half drive away, with no suitable public transport to get me there (dz's are always in the middle of nowhere!!) plus there's the lack of money. The problem is I got my university place before i started skydiving, if it was the other way round i'd have gone to a different university that had a good skydive club.

sorry, my bad, i just skimmed the conversation before posting

Sweet rig, i like the colours. hopefully i'll be in the market for a new rig sometime in the next 6 months, and all the good things i keep hearing about wings makes them a really appealing option....

it's a good attitude to have. how many times has everyone done something, (not necessarily just in skydiving) but afterwards thought 'i was lucky to get away with that' I know i have many times. But in a situation where you have a long time beforehand to contemplate your actions it shouldn't happen. however the power of hindsight is a wonderful thing!

firstly you are waaay too close, do you have a wide angle lens on the camera too? if so you're even closer than you appear to be, but it must be very close coz you can hear the other guys voice clearly on the video!! secondly this is a very good reason to check your airspace and have a good idea of where other jumpers are in your group, especially at pull time. I've been in a 2-way jump before where the plan was for me so stay in place and the other jumper to track away, (he was pretty low time, and wanted me to watch how much movement he got in a track) well needless to say that plan went out of the window, as his track was very weak not clearing much air between us. so I turned and buggered off out of his airspace ensuring we had safe separation when we opened. so keep an eye out for others, and remember things dont always go to plan

it can be confusing because the movement looks the same, but it's not just your legs that initiate the movement. I use to do trmpolining when i was younger, and although you dont have 120mph of wind like in skydiving, the basic principles are the same. Frontloops ire initiated mainly by throwing the upper body forwards, whereas backloops are done by throwing your upper body backwards, and kicking you legs forward and up. most of the movement for both is created by your upper body.

good post, makes all the right arguments without getting conforntational like some posts on these forums. Personally i think the cypres is a great device, and as long as the skydiver is a 'responsible' jumper then the cypres can reduce the small risk of death even further. I use a cypres, and will continue to use one, and I use a cypres for the simple reason that shit happens. Every jump i make I have a dive plan, know the altitude i plan to pull at, and have a fair idea of what's going to happen during the dive. But you can never plan for the unknown; skydiving is a sport where if things go wrong, they can go wrong spectacularly, and the cypres goes a small way to reducing to overall risk.

I used to work as a computer technician and have seen a LOT of stupid things, Had one worried customer ring up:- Customer - 'my computer isn't working' me - 'does it say anything on the screen' customer - 'yeah, it says non system disk or disk error' me - 'do you have a disk in the floppy drive?' customer - 'of course i do, i use it to backup my data' me - 'ok can you remove the floppy disk for me' customer - 'ok' me - 'now press a key' customer - 'oh wow... it works now' doesn't take a genius to work it out does it but not all the stupid stuff i have seen was done by computer newbies. In the shop we used an application called norton ghost to make an exact copy of a hard disk onto another hard disk, useful if the customer wanted a hard disk upgrade. One of the guys i worked with was installing a brand new hard disk in a computer, useing ghost to copy the data, but he managed to copy the wrong way, copying the blank disk onto the disk with data, wiping out the customers enitre hard drive!! we never let him live that one down!! Thing with your problem is i dont think it's the customers fault most of the time, as windows XP automatically activates it's own firewall when you install it, and most people dont know what a firewall is, so dont see it as being a problem.

yeah you'll notice the difference with the altitude. I went to the czech replublic boogie, where the dz is about 2,000 feet above sea level, added to that it was damn hot and you can really notice the extra speed under canopy. pretty much everyone on the first day was messing up landings, not badly but timing the flare slightly wrong as it's easy to be caught out by the extra speed. It's almost like downsizing 20 or 30 square feet. But it's something you should be aware of and take extra care on your first few jumps.

I really think it depends on which DZ you go to, each one is completely different, and even the same DZ can seem completely different depending on wether you go there during the week or on a weekend. From my experience it is generally the bigger DZ's that arer the worst for this problem, and maybe you will fare better if you try a smaller dz with a better community. I can always remember my first trip to my non-home DZ, only had 32 jumps (and only 4 of thos since qualifying cat 8) and was made to feel very out of place, all of the staff (especially the CCI) were very unapproachable and it seemed such a hassle to answer my questions. All of that put me off that particular DZ big time, as it is low time jumpers especially that need more support and more help in adjusting to new dropzones. But hey, there are still 20 odd other dropzones in the UK to try!!

any weight on the pilot chute can affect how it behaves, and as said in other posts a surge on opening can cause the pilot chute to do funky stuff, A bit different, but kinda the same problem, when doing student jumps with spring loaded pilot chute, had the pilot chute come over the front of the canopy a couple of times, just the weight of the spring that causes it to do wierd stuff

First of all before i start this post, I think the cypres is a brilliant device, I know it has saved many lives, I use a cypres, and would prefer to use one on every jump I make. Now on to the post:- You are taking the point that is trying to be made out of context, billvon isn't trying to challenge skydivers to jump without a cypres, he just wants people to not RELY on their cypres. I believe the only time a cypres should fire is if the skydiver is knocked out or incapacitated in some way so they are unable to pull themselves. Now i know you're gonna come back with some statistic or story of some person that is alive now that wouldn't be without thier cypres. I am not in any way wishing people in this situation had died, I am just saying it is very irresponsible and frankly not a great idea to lose altitude awareness, not pull or conciously wait for your cypres to pull for you. Also i'm not saying i'm perfect, i learnt my lesson early, losing altitude aweness on a student jump, ending up pulling at about 2800 (rather than 3500) and the bollocking i rightfully received ensured it never happened again!! The cypres has undoubtedly reduced deaths in skydivng from no-pulls, but i would be interested in knowing the exact statisics showing:- 1. Deaths from no pulls per year pre cypres 2. The number of cypres saves per year due to no pulls I would not be suprised at all if the number of cypres saves is MUCH higher than the number of deaths previously, showing that the attitude some skydivers have has actually incresed the number of low/no pulls. This is the point people like billvon are getting at. If you jump with a cypres, jump thinking it isn't there and the only thing that's gonna save your ass is you.

If seen an RC skydiver before, I used to go fly model aircraft and a guy there had one. Used to attach the skydiver to the bomb bay of an rc plane, fly up to about 1k then drop him. the skydiver could freefall before activating a switch that pulled a pin and deployed the square chute, then 2 servos pulled the skydivers arms down pulling the brake linesfor steering and flare. The skydiver was a bit bigger than action man sized and just have a 7 cell square canopy. Think the guy said it was about £150 - £200 all in, including all the radio gear, good fun to play with and his accuracy was pretty good as well, always steered the skydiver towards him and caught it on landing!

And i'd rather pay for the new cutter and reserve pack too, I think the cypres is a brilliant device, which has undoubtedly saved a lot of lives. I jump with one, and always want to jump with one, but I always jump thinking that I haven't got a cypres.

I'm not saying that, I'm saying the cypres is to beseen as an extra safety device and not to be relyed on. In my opinion the only time a cypres should fire is if the skydiver is knocked out, or incapacitated in some way so that he/she cannot pull. There are too many cases of people just not pulling or deciding to wait for the cypres to fire, and i hate to think that there are skydivers out there that think "it's ok if i lose altitude awareness or dont do anything, coz my cypres will save me" that's the wrong attitude to have. Personally if i had an RSL i'd ALWAYS pull silver as well, it's the same kind of situation, these devices can help reduce the risk, but it doesn't mean we as skydivers can neglect the basic principles of trying to save our own asses!

It's what's known as an analogy!! of course i know skydiving isn't like driving, and i know my rig looks a lot different from my car!! but my point stands, Cypres is an additional safety device, no more. I have a cypres, I think they are a great device, but I would jump without one. I just get the impression that some people rely on their cypresand forget the basics of skydiving.... Pull, and pull on altitude. There are the horror stories of people that have conciously done nothing and waited for their cypres to pull for them, and this isn't a great idea in my opinion!

I personally wouldn't want a rememberance day as I think it'd turn out to be a sad time. I can't think of any better way of remembering lost friends than continuing in the sport and enjoying every minute, I certainly know that's what the friend I lost would want everyone he knew to do!! Also it's quite a personal thing, everyone deals with losing a friend in different ways, and choses to remeber that person in different ways. I just think a set day each year would put a downer on the sport, and that's not the spirit of skydiving

cute dog, and that bike must be fast.... my car only has an 1100cc engine!!

all i can say is well done getting you both down in one piece!! at least now you can say you've landed a 6 1/2 cell canopy!! looks like scary stuff but you handled the situation perfectly and got on with the job at hand

I see a cypres like ABS on a car, I will (and have) drive cars without ABS, but would prefer to drive a car that has it. a cypres isn't a necessity, it just helps make the sport a bit safer.

personally i would go red then silver. The guy i bought my rig off only had 1 mal on the rig, and it was a pilot chute in tow, he didn't cutaway and when the reserve left the tray it released tension on the main pin, so the main deployed too. Now I really dont like the idea of both my canopies deploying at the same time, as I think it's a recipie for disastor, and just asking for a main/reserve entanglement, which is REAL bad news!!

I agree with what seems to be the general concensus, that you have your audible warnings too low, the idea of audibles isn't to give you details of how high you are if something goes wrong after you pull. personally i have mine set for 1-breakoff, 2-pull height, 3- 2k, and if i hear that something has gone wrong and it's time to pull!! Also you have to realise and understand the audible is NOT a replacement for your altimeter it is just another backup alert. You should never be suprised by your audible going off, and always know more or less how high you are, especially around pull height.