tfelber

It may have been 7-8mph, but it wasn't due to acceleration. It was stable straight in flight which equates to fixed velocity and zero acceleration. I didn't have a radar tracking my speed, but I'm quite good at estimating differences in speed due to roadracing motorcycles professionally for 7 years. When you don't have a speedo you better be pretty good at knowing how fast you went through the turn last time so you don't go to fast and crash the next time. Keith Code told me that the best roadracers could sense 1 mph change in speed easily.

I demo'd the new Axon by Innovative Parachute Technologies while at the Holiday Boogie. I wasn't looking for a new canopy, I just bought a Nitro 135 at the WFFC, I just wanted to see what difference there was between this new canopy and all the other stuff I've demo'd. Well, I was pleasantly surprised! First, the only 135 I have flown is my Nitro. I did, however, try all the semi-elliptical 150's in Rantoul this year prior to buying the Nitro. You should be able to search and find those reviews here. The openings on the Axon were quick, but not violent. There was a noticable transition from line stretch to inflation to slider down. I think this was one of the keys to the openings not being violent and the canopy's on heading nature. I tried someone else's pack job and packed it myself several times. It seemed to open the same regardless. When I packed it, I simply released the nose from between my legs, quartered the slider, and rolled the tail, so I'm sure you could slow the openings easily if you desired. Once open, I released the breaks and there was a very noticable surge as the canopy went into full flight. The toggles felt very similar to my Nitro, but when I grabbed the risers the Axon felt very ground hungry. I could clearly distinguish the difference in vertical speed between the Nitro and the Axon. On releasing the riser the recovery arch felt very similar, however I did not try anything very close to the ground so my perceptions may be scewed. On landing, the Axon had so much more forward speed (about ten mph) than the Nitro that I was caught a little off guard. But when I flared it behaved very respectively and I came to a hault without incident. Since I had two rigs, I switched between the Axon and the Nitro several times and the more I jumped the Axon the more I liked it. The additional forward speed was very exhilarating. I'm not a swooper, but I can clearly see why people enjoy swooping. I heard someone was quite negative regarding the Axon's performance during one of the evening seminars and all I can say is this canopy was never intended to be a Katana, or Crossfire. But if your interested in finding an enjoyable, mid-level, semi-elliptical canopy don't overlook the Axon.

Balls Are So Essential

Bad Ass Shit, Eh?

wow!

Appropriate for what? Maybe you need to define what you mean by appropriate. Am I worried about going to my reserve, not at all!!! Do I think it will save my life if I need it, I wouldn't jump with it otherwise!!!

Completely!!!

Why do people buy Ferraris or Vipers? Part of it is about looking good, but many people do it so they can haul ass occasionaly. I like the speed my Nitro has on a straght in or 90 degree landing. In order to get that same effect from my 165 I would have to push the edge and take a more risky approach. Can I get myself in trouble, without a doubt. When I did the New Years Eve jump that thought was very much on my mind. But generally I can have as much fun as I want under my Nitro without the need to get very radical.

I wasn't advocating my actions or anyone elses. I was simply stating something I have learned in regards to human beings from some very extensive, intense research. EVERYBODY thinks they are different. Some try to prove it. Generally humans are not open to suggestion, they must be enrolled in the conversation and usually it is easiest if they think they came up with the solution themselves. Hence the revelation of "I've learned from my mistakes" I know I'm not different. I'm the same as everybody else in that I think I'm different. The question presented by Jeff was "How do we get through to these people?" The answer is you don't. You can have conversation that make a difference in their lives, but your not going to tell them the way it is. It ultimately lies in an area where they don't know what they don't know. To expound on this a little... Let's say there is this whole are of knowledge, everything known. There is a small fragment of this that you can say you know that you know; how to type, speak english, use a compter, etc. There is an almost equal amount of knowledge that you know you don't know; I don't know how to do heart surgery, I don't know how to speak french, etc. You have access to the things that you know you don't know; I can study french, I can enroll in a university to become a doctor.... However, there is this much larger area of knowledge that is mostly inaccessable. This area can best be called "what you don't know you don't know" and until you are enlightened through conversation you have no access to this knowldge. It is through exploration of the didn't know I didn't know that I was able to expand my understanding of how a human being works, first myself and later others. And it's from this new understanding that I am able to see that people believe they are different. Ironically, some people try to be normal just to prove how different they are. I have much more experience with the edge than my jump numbers illustrate. I didn't start jumping until I was 35, but I have participated in other far more dangerous activities in my life. Skydiving to me is kinda safe and at the same time thrilling. You can go as close to the edge as you wish or you can stay away from it. But it is always present!

I bought my rig off DZ.COM and I got the guys number, called him up, asked him where he jumped to see if I knew anyone there so I could double check, and we agreed to ship it COD...Very happy with the rig and transaction.

Man, you must have really trusted that girl!!! Talking about putting your life in someone else's hands...

Here you go Clint... http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=1959

K from Apex just called while I was reading this thread and she told me that unless you have 15 jumps you have to take the SBK course. She said when they organize a course the SBK course is required and that Apex then adds to what the SBK course teaches you.

What are you doing up this time of night? You need to get some work done so we can go jumping Saturday. Elsinore or Perris?

I read the Terminal Velocity article from the "World Famous" thread and then this thread and I just have to wonder... How can rope jumping be legal in Yosemite and BASEing illegal??? That makes no sense to me. I realize one could say I was climbing and I slipped, good thing I had a rope tied on, but you could also say I was climbing and I slipped good thing I had my rig on! But this issue has been ongoing for quite some while and it seems there has been little or no progress since the JD demonstration jump. We are living in the US and we do have the ability as a group of people to make and change laws. Why are we having such a problem getting this fairly recent law overturned? BASE jumping has no more of a negative impact on the environment than hiking or climbing. And people die hiking and climbing. And emergency services have to be utilized to deal with those incidents. So what's the real issue here?

Watched it twice already! Very good work!!! That 4-way gainer was incredible.

I jump all over the place and have never had an issue with whether my log book entries were signed or not. It's very, very rare that my currency is even checked at most DZ's. I know at WFFC they look at your log book and stamp it. I assume to check jump numbers. But most boogies only require 50 jumps if not just an A license. Since I got a ProTrack, I log my jumps about once a month. I jump with a camera so it's easy for me to determine what a jump was. I may have missed a hop&pop or two, but so far it's been accurate. I've gotten to the point I log a days jumps on a single logbook entry unless it was something special. I just create a table on a logbook entry that has jump number, exit altitude, and any other out of the ordinary info like jumping a different canopy, hop&pop, etc. As for signatures I get them if I want them, but there's no measure for collaborating the jump, who witnessed it, and is the signature from a witness. So that requirement is useless. If someone logged their jumps as I do and wanted a rating/license that required signed jumps they could easily get them signed by their buddy when they need it.

Build a man a fire he's warm for a day... Set a man on fire he's warm for the rest of his life!

You work????

I'd be interested in your assessments. For instance, what is a 3rd party error, or bad luck, or back to earth, or personal factor. Not criticizing your info, it would just help ensure I am not misinterpreting the data. Thanks.

I'm sure that is exactly what they are working on. Luigi flaring the canopy as if landing and Jeb simulating a landing to see what is possible and what is needed to accomplish the same manuever with the wingsuit.

Good point! I have a local brewery that I hang out at that has about the same male to female ratio as the DZ. There are times when I'm headed down there to have a beer and think I should just go to the DZ to drink. As for partying after jumping... That's one of the fringe benefits. When I was racing motorcycles, I would have as much fun bench racing afterwards and it took much less energy and concentration. I jump for fun not to compete or make money. I think that would definitely make the whole experience less enjoyable. But that's me!!!

The reason Luigi is involved is because if a wingsuit can stay relative to a canopy that HAS been landed then you SHOULD be able to land the wingsuit. I know this has been in the works for quite some time and I'm sure there are some things they still need to work out. This was originally planned for December and has now been delayed until spring. They are making progress but are still learning. Just like landing the vx39, they won't attempt this until they are clearly confident it will work. Good luck to all involved! I will definitely be there for this transformational accomplishment.

Hey Beezy, I lost you at "I've done this many, many times..." I've noticed if I drink a lot before doing stupid stunts I almost never get hurt...

I noticed jumping a Flik293 with VTEC from a heli a couple of weeks ago that if I would just wait a second longer the opening shock was greatly increased, meaning more energy dissipated over less time or faster opening. I have no way to compare time to distance. For my first 6 or so jumps I was leaving a plane or waiting until I felt the air in my face from the heli before dumping and there was a noticeable jerk as the canopy inflated and then a settling as the slider came down and the air pressure inside vs. outside the canopy stabilized. One jump I left at 2k and threw when I felt the air go calm, equillibrium between my fall rate and the rotor wind, and the opening shock from the inital inflation didn't happen. I looked over my shoulder to make sure I didn't have a problem and the canopy was filling with air, but not like the previous jumps. While I know it took noticeably longer to inflate I don't have any quantitative data regarding the distance traveled. A chart relating fall rate and distance traveled during opening for different canopies/configurations would be interesting.