hackish

The arguments for an against a 20 year life on gear have run many times for many pages on this forum. 20 year-old gear isn't dangerous per se - outdated perhaps but not dangerous. So I'm dreaming about jumping some 45yo gear soon. Guess that means certain death. -Michael

I got a sabre2-170. Previous owner was about your weight - he really enjoyed it for the powerful flare. -Michael

With 220lbs you're probably similar to me with 180lbs and a 170 versus your 190. I flew an F111 190 some time ago and it felt like a big fat wet pig. Toggle response wasn't very satisfying nor was the flare. The biggest difference I find is that the sabre2 is responsive - it does what you suggest rather than having to push it into doing what you want. Demo it but you may not want to go back! -Michael

When I went from Canada->US I had to find a policy that didn't specifically exclude skydiving. Many excluded scuba and rock climbing. It just meant getting all the documentation and reading all the legalese... -Michael

When I did the canopy course I was told that you need to return to full flight for 5 seconds to return to normal speed. If the intent of a swoop is to accelerate the landing then would you not want less than 5-10 seconds? -Michael

I'm not disputing at all what you guys are saying. A lot of what I do under canopy is based on the feedback of how it "feels". Since instinct and fact here conflict I'm either doing a poor job of explaining what's going on or the instinct needs adjustment. I'd like to get video to explain it better and let people pick things apart but if pulling a toggle close to the ground is a lot more dangerous than I thought then it's stilly to continue to do so even if to get peoples' opinions. -Michael

I did do some reading on the correct length of the brake lines and they suggested an arc under full flight. It did appear to be OK to me. When I purchased the canopy the owner and rigger said it was in trim - that was only 50 jumps ago and he's a good 50lbs on me. I compared the relative length of lines to check trim but admittedly haven't had the time to measure them exactly and compare with a trim chart. Maybe I'll take a tape home from work and do that this evening. Front risers do scare me a bit, yes. I should see if I can get video of what happens. The reason I wonder about where the line is for swooping and not is that I'm not interested in doing these screaming 270 degree entrances and just giving it a toggle turn before landing felt like a very happy medium between the two. The reason it didn't feel unsafe is that I was able to return to level flight for about a full second before beginning to flare. Maybe if I can get down to Florida or Arizona this winter I'll see if I can get another canopy course and move further in that direction. -Michael

My canopy seems to dive a lot more if I tug a front riser versus what I've been doing with the toggles. The canopy does not like any light front riser pressure because it starts to wildly buck so I can't see a comfortable way to try a non-committed fashion. I got into the "toggle whipping" habit by giving a few inches of toggle then moved on to a few more. Wish I had a video to explain it better. It doesn't feel unsafe because there is usually a second or so of level flight before a slightly accelerated landing. Here is a photo of just after the correction and beginning to flare for landing - sorry that's all I've got. Altitude about 10-15' there. -Michael

At about 16500 in deland I was feeling it a little when I got up to get out. Not sure what that is at MSL but I'd have to guess deland is probably within 500' of sea level. -Michael

Hey Pen. Think we met in DeLand last year. So no toggle whipping. At my DZ we don't have any people on these sportscar canopies. Just to clarify - the corrections I make on the way down are usually to keep the canopy flying where I want it to go. I've been meaning to check my line trim because naturally it doesn't seem to fly that straight. On the definition of swoop here it seems that I swoop every landing. -Michael

From the very beginning I have always made turns right down to the point of landing, although as more of a beginner than I am now I have to look back and say they were more of flight direction adjustments than any intentional high performance landing. I see people doing hook turns and nice 270's down to the ground with their 2-pillowcase canopies that scream through the air. That doesn't really interest me and that's really what I've always thought of as "swooping." I'd like to say I don't want to swoop but it's a slippery slope isn't it? So lately when the sky is clear I'll fly my pattern and come up about 75' left of the bowl, then intentionally give a solid toggle turn right, counter a little to put myself level again then flare out for a landing. By definition is this really swooping or is it the grey area of a slippery slope? What I've been doing seems reasonable - not pulling any front risers or doing hook turns down. It's also hard to describe exactly how aggressive or not the landings are - it seems to put on a good bit of extra speed but I also recognize that the 170 loaded at 1.25 has the potential to seriously injure or kill... -Michael

I think I've stood up the last 60 or so. This included a few intentional cross-wind landings and a bunch of no-wind. There is a certain amount of sadness associated with having to intentionally have a non-standup. I'd like to jump a PC by the end of this year so that will mean doing some training and I think that will include at least 25 PLF's. On one side it will be good to get very proficient with a PLF but on the other I know people will be asking me why I couldn't "stand that one up" -Michael

Automotive seatbelts are made from nylon as far as I know. It looks similar to type 24 webbing with a MBS of 5500lbs. That matches fairly closely with published strengths of seatbelts. My question is why don't automakers seem to care about UV exposure. Maybe I'm just wrong about the type but I've heard of risers on PEP's left out in the sun for a season being tested and found to break very easily. So if parachute webbing is very sensitive is it any more or less than automotive? Maybe people just don't care about it... -Michael

I bought my own gear at 45 jumps. Got a sabre2-170. People online felt it was way too aggressive for someone with my jump numbers but I put a lot of work in learning about it, got good coaching and did a canopy control course. The local instructors felt I would be OK and gave a good briefing. Now I've put about 45 jumps on the gear and I absolutely love it - will probably put 450 more jumps on this setup. You are not me and everyone is different. Local instructors can help you best because they've seen you learn and fly and they should be able to give a good idea of what you're ready for. Many DZ's have a variety of rental gear. At my really small DZ we have 280's and a sabre1 210. So let your instructors guide you through some different equipment. -Michael

erdnarob lives nearby so I can easily get a sample of the material. The scrap metal guy took the fixture I was working on away. That's what I get for leaving it near the door. After I was finished being pissed off I was considering talking to the local university as they have lots of tensile strength testing machines. If you have open access to a similar machine it may be a viable solution. What sort of attachment would you need to attach the sample to the machine? -Michael

The drogue collapse when it is released, prior to extracting the bag from the container, if it does not, the opening are brutal, and damage to the canopy is likely. A collapsed drogue produces drag approximate to that of a standard pilot chute. Makes sense- never thought about that. I wonder if this would be consistant with the small amount of forward speed associated with being under an open reserve. I suppose it would require a few pounds of force to pull the main pin and up to 12lbs of undo each linestow - ignoring any "tugging". -Michael

If the pilot already beat you out and you're the last person on board then you could sit down, tie you main bridle onto something, pull your cutaway and then jump out. This could technically make your reserve deploy faster. I'm of course kidding. My main concern about suggesting anything but jumping and pulling the shiny handle is if someone did have the idea of pitching on the step a bad situation could become a fatal one. Both of my reserve rides were subterminal reserve deployments and both of them had me in the saddle under reserve in about 300'. Add the forward speed of pulling right off the step and you'll probably be in the saddle sooner. -Michael

With no main out your skyhook operates just as a non-skyhooked rig would. Pulling your main out and then chopping it for a skyhook enabled deployment is unlikely to result in a more favourable situation because it requires a pilot chute to get enough fabric up there so you could have a skyhook assisted activation. Alternatively pulling the silver would have your freebag finding its own way down by the time your main would be out enough to accomplish the same. Chopping your main with it in the container is also unlikely do anything since your main has no reason to leave your rig (unless you pulled the main PC too) -Michael

I am not a TI but have spent some time looking into this because of a stuck drogue that occurred at our DZ. The reserve deployed and the main stayed bagged in the container. I suspect if the drogue did finally release under the reserve it would place enough drag to cause a clean main deployment behind a flying reserve as it cannot collapse until the drogue is released. If the reserve is in the process of deploying (still a significant downward component to the jumpers' speed) you probably don't want a bag coming out and whipping some lines around as the 3-rings release. If they happened to encircle some reserve lines it could turn out a great deal worse than a 2 out situation. I'm obviously thinking out loud here but that's my opinion. -Michael

For those who argue that your AAD is obsolete by 20 years and 12 years is an acceptable lifespan how many people do you know who have retired their cypres because it reached it's EOL? I jumped a cypres equipped rig last year that the cypres expired on at the end of the season. As a student I also jumped an FXC-12000. Having a fairly indepth mechanical and computer engineering background neither made me worry about a malfunctioning unit. -Michael

Learn a few new things every day. I always thought the AIR was assemble inspect repack. -Michael

As a diabetic I have to pay very close attention to my blood sugar. This often involves testing before every jump and about every hour or two while I'm working as a packer. The symptoms you describe are consistant with hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). -Michael

I can't see putting up AIR prices because of the 180 day switch but every year jump prices go up as do wages. Why shouldn't the cost of a repack too? Every repack costing the same as 2 high altitude jumps would be a nice way to have it go up with inflation. -Michael

The arming altitude for the cypres is an easy way to avoid the programming and subsequent testing associated with pressurizing aircraft and closing trunks. If you bail from a stricken aircraft at 1300 feet and knock your head getting out then the unarmed cypres will be happy to do nothing as you bounce. As I understand it the vigil2 takes care of the aircraft pressure situation. -Michael

Generally I grab a toggle and force the canopy to land on its side beside me - depending of course on how strong the wind is - I wouldn't be confident using it as a wind direction indicator. I'm not an instructor either. Your local instructors can probably point out features unique to your DZ as well. I pay close attention to the wind direction via our windblades but for me the direction of other canopies over-rides the wind direction - I'd rather land cross or downwind than have a mid-air with another canopy. Wind direction is important but I have had a few crosswind landings that were uneventful. Best advice I can give is talk to a real live instructor - not a bunch of people on the interweb. We're good for giving you a basket full of questions and ideas to talk to that instructor about. -Michael