adamsr

almost every dz i have jumped at has a wind 'T' or an arrow out in the landing area to indiciate the direction of landing, although this isn't seen when you board the aircraft it is clearly visible in freefall and under canopy. However with any system like this you can never trust it, coz the likelihood is that it wont be changed if the wind direction changes, so as always the windsock is the best indication of which direction to land. So basically when you're under canopy and done your controlability checks have a look at the wind sock and work it out from there.

heh, no probs, didn't exactly mean to be sta's newest salesman, but you're by far the cheapest i've found so far for flights to russia, coz moscow isn't in easyjet or ryanair territory yet!

If you are either a student or under 26 years of age you can get really good deals on flights from the student travel association http://www.sta.com/ from the uk you can get to moscow for about £150 return including tax, which is well cheap!! bit of a shame old people cant get flights that cheap as well really i'd love to go to aerograd, sounds like such a cool place, kinda lining up a trip next summer coz i already have 2 weeks in empuria lined up for this year.

I'd reccomend doing some 2-ways with experienced skydivers, or RW coaches before getting a suit, as they will be able to tell you wether you are falling fast or slow and you can decide on the correct suit for you. I rushed into buying a brand new RW suit before really doing lots of formation dives and ended up sinking out on everyone because the suit was too fast. I had to buy a different suit which works perfectly for my fall rate, but I just wish i'd held off buying the first one coz i wasted £200 on a suit that i never use!

Yeah i've read that post before and generally people seem to like the helmet, the page on Paratec's website no longer has the info though, and there's no trace of it in their products section. I know it's available though coz http://www.thomas-sports.com sell them. However i can't seem to find any kind of sizing chart or technical info anywhere!

Thanks for all the info, looks like the skysystems helmets are a pretty good option Still interested to hear from someone who has tried the Paratec FreeZR though, there's absolutrely no info on the net about this helmet anywhere!!

Any idea how much it cost for the custom factory diver? Also i'd prefer a helmet with a flip up visor, so the factory diver wouldn't be my first choice, don't spose they do the custom service for the oxygen. i own a gecko open face helmet at the mo, and their biggest size fits, but isn't really comfy coz the foam liner is really thin. Just gotta find a helmet with a big shell size!

I'm looking to buy a fullface helmet pretty soon and want opinions from big headded people on helmet fit! My head circumference is 61cm and i have trouble getting helmets to fit, the Z1 is too small, tried the XXL and it doesn't fit properly! So i need opinions on the oxygen, freezr, havok or others from people with big heads.

Lots of people practicing accuracy used to do it years ago, getting winch launches up to about 700 feet where they would disconnect the cable the do an accuracy landing, just worked out cheaper than jumping from aircraft, plus you dont have to pack!!! Accuracy canopies are completely different to modern sports canopies and generally loaded less than the average fun jumper's canopy so i wouldn't reccomend trying it with a sports canopy any time soon!!!

If you get the pink taken off your rig then they're more likely to let you jump it

I've seen them for sale in model shops for about £100. seen one dropped from a radio controlled bomber at about 1000 feet as well, got a bit of freefall time before pulling the pin and riding down, looked like a 7 cell main with a spring loaded pilot chute. and steered by radio controlled arms that pulled the bracke toggles, pretty fun bit of kit!!

I've jumped a few of these and it varies from place to place wether they have 1 or 2 crew. I've jumped the http://www.skyservice.cz/cz/ Let out in Czech and they had 3 crew, 2 pilots and a guy in the back to open and shut the door. Also the number of skydivers varies from 16 at some places to 18 or 19 at others, pretty much depends on the country you are jumping in i think. Generally though they are nice aircraft, quick climbing, huge door, pretty roomy inside and really nice to jump.

I don't know of any real dz.com style sites for windsurfing, but i'd really reccomend it, i've been windsurfing for a couple of years now and it's really good fun. ties in well with skydiving as well, coz when the weather's crap for skydiving it's generally good for windsurfing. Basically i'd reccomend going for some lessons before you dive in and buy your own kit, basically it'll be much easier and more enjoyable than trying to teach yourself, plus if you buy kit now you'll out grow your first board and want something smaller in just a few months, so a waste of money!!

I think no being able to standup student canopies is half down to the canopies themselves, i did all my student jumps on a skymaster 290, and i could never land the things properly. Student canopies are so detuned so you can't stall them that they don't generally plane out when you flare. As soon as i got my own rig with a Hornet 190 loaded at about 1.25:1 i have had no problems with landings and even though i come in quicker it's so easy to land because it has a much more powerful flare.

I've only caught 1 misrouted chest strap, and that was my own, i didn't route it behind the tension bar, and just through the bungee, i always give the chest strap a tug to make sure it is secure, and when i tugged it the chest strap just loosened.... took me a minute to work out what was going on and kicked myself when i noticed. Now i always make sure to check and double check it, plus have the habit of giving the chest strap a tug when i'm checking other people.

i've had a couple of skydiving dreams, one where i have a horseshoe on a rig i borrowed, cutaway and fight it for a while to get rid of the main, finally get the reserve out and it's tiny (i jump a 190) but i'm really low, so fire the brakes and flare straight away and do this huge surf. the other one was a bit more wierd, everyone in the plane jumps out without rigs, but everyone is holding a cushion or pillow, which you lie on and float about. so we're all floating on these cushions having a chat next to a cloud, then soar down and hit the floor and get up completely unhurt..... i think my head is screwed!!

why not just get uk dz's to run under uspa rule, then all we have to do is get uspa membership to cover jumping here, the usa, and most european dz's. If european dz's like empuria can do it i don't see why the british dz's can't!!

only 50 for me last year being a student with no money sucks, plus i can't get to a dz in term time, plus i broke my ankle in 3 places last christmas (not skydiving, i went ice skating and fell over) so had to have a 3 month lay off. hopefully this year will be better, although money could be a huge problem!!

i went to a boogie an airfield call karlovy vary in the czech republic. the airfield is just under 2000ft above sea level, plus is was very hot and pretty much nil winds all week. The landings did seem much faster than my home dz (in england 300ft above sea level, bloody cold and usually windy!) especially for the first few jumps, but after the first days jumping i was used to it, with only a few grass stains on the butt of my jumpsuit after sliding it in a few times! so basically just be conservative for the first few jumps and just get used to the increased speed, but after that it'll feel like the norm, and when you go back to your home dz, the landings will feel slow!

it says in the manual that the first and second warnings will sound if you are going faster than 13m/sec vertically, and the last warning if you are going more than29m/sec vertically so the first and second at least will sound under an open canopy....have to be under a small canopy doing a steep dive to get the third one to sound though!!

That's sort of an understatement. still funny though

bit out of topic but this cat photo just makes me laugh, and thought you might all appreciate it

I have about 80 jumps on my hornet 190 (loaded at about 1.3:1) At first my packing was a bit hit and miss, and i was getting unconsistant openings, tried to slow it down by rolling the nose and it made the openings harder!! I then changed to psycho packing, and have done about 30-40 jumps on psycho packs now, all of which have been very nice openings, approx 800 feet, on heading and very smooth and soft. I completely swear by the psycho pack technique now, and wouldn't go back to pro packing, it makes the canopy a hell of a lot easier to get in the bag as well! The psycho pack may look complicated, but isn't much different from a pro-pack. look at the tutorial on the icarus canopies web-site, they tell you all you need to know

I don't think that downsizing is too fast either, i bought a second hand hornet 190 loaded at about 1.25:1 straight after finishing my RAPS training (about 30 jumps) and out of about 50 jumps now only had 1 non-standup landing. I actually find it easier to land than the skymaster 290 student canopies that I used whilst on RAPS. I've had comments from lots of people about my landings and canopy control in general, saying how well i fly the conopy, including one person saying it's nice to see someone flying a fairly high performance/loaded canopy sensibly, instead of being a prat and trying to fly it too agressively too soon. The only bad comment i've had from someone is after i'd just jumped and intentionally landed right in the middle of the accuracy circle, and in his opinion i shouldn't have been jumping a semi-ellyptical canopy with my experience level (about 55 jumps at the time.) but I didn't really value his opinion because the first thing he said when i told him the hornet was made by PISA was 'oh right, what's it a copy of then?'... the look on his face when i said 'a Sabre2, but bought out 4 years before', was absolutely classic.. he didn't really say much after that :-) Take my opinions with a pinch of salt, because i am a low time jumper with very little experience compared to the majority of people on these forums, but i believe that wingloading is not the be-all and end-all of whether a canopy is right for a person or not, every canopy is different, and every person is different, i have no problems flying my Hornet at 1.25:1 but the next person may pile it in at the same loading... don't condem people just because of their jump numbers!!! anyway, i'll shut up now, this post is waaaaay too long :-)

just ask yourself which one you'd prefer to have on you next time you jump out of a plane, personally i'm thinking the main would be a damn good idea! Anyway get the Hornet coz they rock, i got a hornet 190 as my first chute (second hand but only just over 100 jumps from new) and it is just so cool, flies great and has a really powerful flare, it's the first time i've enjoyed the canopy ride as much as the freefall