hackish

Good point. I guess you'd have to wait for them to download the data and figure out if it really was a cypress save. -Michael

If they knew it was about to fire then maybe they should have gone straight to reserve if they were worried about a 2 out situation. I think it would be less shameful if you didn't have a cut closing loop. -Michael

All I can do is ask again and get 100% clarification. I was told that the only 2 linesets available were the two I listed. Maybe they just assumed I wouldn't be interested in dacron. I don't remember the disadvantages of dacron so I'll have to open poynter when I get home to see if I actually want it. -Michael

The nicest one I saw came from a crashed plane. If you pay $500 for the part it's probably still money well spent when you consider the effort to produce an accurate mockup and the length of time a plywood unit will last outside in the weather. -Michael

As an aside lead is actually quite expensive. I often hear the old school hotrod guys bitching about the price of it since they use it for body work. Some time ago I thought of designing a weight belt that you filled with water. On opening you could then just uncock the drain and waterbomb anyone below you. Seriously though it would make all the weight belt issues go away. -Michael

I might be interested on that after I put about 400 jumps on the new lineset. I assume you actually make the sets and install them? I've been able to tweak the packing so this sabre2 opens beautifully and softly every time... so far. Let's not talk about on-heading openings though! -Michael

That would actually be good come-uppins for me since I've helped the old guys with their pro packing a few times I should have gotten one of them to help me with my flat packing... -Michael

Spectra is actually not that UV sensitive compared to nylon. For my canopy the lines will depreciate about $0.60 per jump. Dacron is not available, just the 2 sizes of spectra. I went with the larger of the two. I was wondering how badly out of trim those measurements show? The canopy flew very poorly. I may be a rigger but I lack the experience to judge how badly out of trim it was. Old guys with grey hair? Opinions? -Michael

Noticed that my sabre2 wasn't flying as well as it used to... So I packed her up and sent it down to PD... Based on the stats I knew it was ready for a reline, but never got around to measuring... A-lines measured: A5: short 6" A4: short 3 1/2" A3: short 2" A2: short 1 1/4" A1: short 7/8" Now I haven't done a lot with line trim, but 6" of shrinkage on the outer A lines? Does that strike anyone as a LOT or is it just par for the course? I think there are about 450-500 on that... -Michael

Try out a katana 190. I've heard some old farts speaking very highly of it... -Michael

I know nothing of flying aircraft but read it out of curiosity. Something I wonder is for those who have tried to take off with their gust locks engaged - isn't that some major skipping of pre-flight control checks? -Michael

It may be entirely different in the US but here from what I understand there isn't a lot of markup on the fuel. Considering an A340 takes about as much fuel as most jump planes burn in a month the margins are probably quite slim. chris-ottawa - who is charging $38 for 10k? -Michael

http://i18.ebayimg.com/06/u/000/77/3b/2844_7.JPG That guy? In my experience someone who steals one item steals more. Maybe look at his seller's history to see if other items are "missing" http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320316119719 Looking at the seller's history he seems to be selling a lot of skydiving type things - can't see the items anymore but when you look at buyer names like: redskydiver2004, skychick14 and randrskylane... Hope that helps. -Michael

http://www.outdoorresearch.com/site/w_s_pl_base_gloves.html Fixed. -Michael

Yeah, those were some of the words he used. I'm not the greatest in that area of math so he said come back with all the numbers and he'll write out an analysis. The stats I posted were from the USPA and CSPA and were for member jumps, member fatalities and member injuries. I don't personally feel that the fatalities list shows a great picture and that's why I'm waiting to see the official numbers on injuries. I read a report with the stats arrived at a conclusion then communicated it. I'm happy to dig up numbers again to support that. The USPA listed about 800 injuries last year so a number like that is unlikely to be skewed so much by a few foreign visitors. For me, I'd say the number of jumps per injury and the number of jumps per fatality. Would both be good numbers to look at. Lots of people online were saying that with 35 or so jumps a sabre2 170 would be suicide and that my instructors were idiots for allowing that etc etc etc. Having put on a bunch of jumps and gained some additional experience since I don't feel that it was ever an unsafe recommendation. It did give an adequate amount of challenge. Most people were saying a 200-240 would be the minimum I should consider for at least 100 jumps. So back on topic while I am not an instructor and I do feel that a 150 is too aggressive, his home DZ is only 2h away and the advice he got was only 1 size off from me. Although I have some natural skills for canopy piloting I'm sure there are lots with way more talent than me and maybe the 150 isn't that suicidal for him. -Michael

With equal loading I believe how fast it sinks is related more to the trim angle not really with the size of the canopy. With more weight it will move forward faster and thus sink more feet per second but the glide ratio should be unchanged. In general with the shorter lines and such the smaller canopy is less forgiving to body position on opening. I know at 35 jumps I wasn't that good at flying the opening on my canopy even though I read and understood how to do it. -Michael

so, essentially you are cofirming my statement of total lack of credibility of your statement ? why "say" something that you cannot backup ? That just takes away your credibility and distorts the conversaion. No, more like I just don't have the time to dig up all the stats. Above shows 50% more jumps per fatalitiy. I asked a statistician but really didn't get an answer I understood as to whether 148,000 positive outcomes compared with an average of 1 negative per year is the dominant stat. This is not the exact stat I saw and I don't want to quote numbers unless they're double checked. The one I saw showed about 45% fewer fatalities and 55% fewer injuries. I'll wait for exact numbers from the USPA and CSPA and then post them. Someone wrote an article on it so I was hoping someone would just pipe up with a link 'cause I don't remember exactly where I read it. -Michael

As I said in my description the stats are incomplete and I will fill the missing ones out when I get them. There were some studies published and quoted many times when we were drafting up letters to fight the NPA-99 thing. The average of 1 fatality per 148,000 jumps is probably not significant enough to compare to the 1 per 100,000 jumps in the US so let's wait for more data. I suspect if the canopy advice here were really bad then you'd see a higher ratio of injuries and deaths per jump. -Michael

I've used mechanix gloves. They give you good tactile feel. I was thinking if I did a winter jump I may see how a set of TIG welding gloves feel - they're made to keep heat out but will keep it in just as well. -Michael

I will have to find the report I read on the subject and see if I can find their sources. I'll post the data I have right now and edit as I dig up others. How many jumps are done in Canada annually ? 148,000 per year average (unconfirmed so far) How many in US ? 2004 - 2,221,115 2005 - 2,177,007 2006 - 2,122,749 2007 - 2,157,899 How many sport jumpers in Canada ? 2004 2005 2006 2007 How many in US ? 2004 - 32057 2005 - 31276 2006 - 30618 2007 - 31264 How many sport injuries in Canada annually ? Fatalities: 2004 - 0 2005 - 2 2006 - 0 2007 - 2 Injuries: 2004 2005 2006 2007 How many in US ? Fatalities: 2004 - 21 2005 - 27 2006 - 21 2007 - 18 Injuries requiring medical attention: 2004 2005 2006 2007 - 821

I looked at the deployment data for 2 subterminal reserve rides with an altitrack. One opened in 330' the other one in 300'. The second was a spinner. I judged the open point to be when the rate of descent stops decreasing. -Michael

I almost quit after my first one. Jump number 18 I think. Was a big old boat of a student canopy parafab-280 with a dual breakfire and then tension knots on opening. The amount of opposite toggle needed to fly it straight started it fluttering at the stall point. I think I muttered "here goes nothing". I think from discussion and research of the subject if you are questioning your ability to perform see if you can find someone with a suspended harness so you can get the feel of performing the actions. Under stress the familiarity of performing the actions may help. When your reserve it up for repack see if your rigger will allow you to pull it. -Michael

Spend $500 on the course. I spent another $500 on top of that for food and travel. Spend about $250 on equipment. Easily 100+ hours reading up, practising and learning the basics of the craft on top of the 60h of course work. So that's 19 repacks just in funds. What is that? 10 years of saving your own repacks before it cost justifies? If you spent that 160h at work instead that's a month's wages. I don't think we're in it for the money. I'm not offended by being called a thief - that happens every day when I work on cars. Strangely I'm not rich from that either. -Michael

I got shit all over for buying and jumping a sabre2 170 at about the same number of jumps. I'd jumped a 150 as well before my 100th jump. Some on the interweb feel that anything smaller than a manta 280 before your 100th jump is suicide. If I were an instructor I couldn't see recommending the 150 to someone with 35 jumps but who am I to know. It's not that vastly different from where I went. From what I've seen recommendations like the 170 for me are not out of the ordinary in my part of Canada. I don't know why but clearly when you look at the stats the entire country has a better than average safety record. -Michael

I would like to see his mouth mighty-mended together. That is very curious - looks like a reserve and did look like the freebag getting away. Also looks like they mighty-mended part of the tail. Still... Who was it and where? -Michael