Marisan

No, my first square was a StratoStar. My last was a Pegasus. Now a couple of questions for you. Have you ever been on a Dak load where 45 people were all trying to land in an area 200 yards by 200 yards. If there were canopy collisions they sorted themselves out by ground level. What changed? The speed and sensitivity of the canopies. Ever been on a Twin Otter load into a football stadium with no canopy collisions or injuries. What changed? The speed and sensitivity of the canopies. If sanctimonious PA removed by slotperfect like you can't see the problem what hope is there for skydiving!

>Do you think any canopy under 168-170 is a high performance canopy? If so why? No. Let's take discussions of the definition of HP canopies to G+R and leave this thread for discussions of the incident itself. OK Bill Von here it is! Any Canopy that, when it opens in line twists, spins up to a speed that makes cutaways problematic is by definition lethal. Any canopy, that has to be regularly opened at 4500' to give time to deal with high speed malfunctions is by definition lethal. Any canopy that can kill by a mere 90 degree wind change is by definition lethal. Any canopy that turns and dives so fast as to make any attempt to clear airspace impossible is by definition lethal. Any canopy that can be totally collapsed by turbulence is by definition lethal. Any canopy that can be docked on by a wingsuit is by definition lethal. Any canopy that can exceed the parameters of an AAD is by definition lethal. Any canopy that can cause a cutaway from a brake fire is by definition lethal. Any canopy that with the slightest lapse of currency or attention can cause injury is by definition lethal. Any canopy that (even on a test jump) that can cause GLOC (Google it) is by definition lethal. I'm sure you can think of more and I'm certainly sure the guys with Mad Skillz will flame away. Flame as much as you like because it's only luck keeping you out of the incident forum!

I wasn't wasting my seventies porn on no stinking drifter. Remember this was BEFORE the internet

Agree with everything you said Skratch. It also helps if the pilot continues the climb whilst you are watching the drifter. Threw one at Scone, NSW AU for a demo at 2,500. By the time it had landed we were at 1,700. (Don't take your eyes off the drifter even to check your altimeter) First time he'd ever flown jumpers and he was more nervous than we were. Ahh the good old days.

Cheryl Butterworth Rob, remember you having dinner with us, fondue maybe

Half of a magazine such as Time Magazine rolled tight and taped. This is the weight. Take two different coloured rolls of crepe paper and cut in half. (Blue and red or blue and yellow used to work well in NZ but adjust for the ground colour where you jump) Unravel the crepe paper and tape the two different colours together. Tape the weight to one end. (Use a lot of tape) "S" fold the drifter until it is about one foot long, then roll it and rubber band it. Throwing: Remember to remove the rubber band (Sounds silly but it happened lots) Also carry two in case the first malfunctions. When you throw it remember it flies back NOT down so look towards the tail of the AC. While it is flight NEVER take your eyes off it. If you lose sight of it it is bloody near impossible to re-acquire it. Two places to throw it: 1/ Throw it over the target. Note where it lands and extend that line from the landing point through the target and an equal distance upwind of the target. This is your opening point (NOT exit point) 2/ Throw it where you think your opening point is and adjust same according to where the drifter lands. Have fun!

Certainly is.

Another pioneer from back in the day. https://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tinyman#!/groups/124758877632650/125086090933262/?notif_t=group_activity

Thunderbow.

Some day, somewhere, someone will invent the full-saddle. The split saddle is such a dinosaur. I'm currently working on a new invention called a "belly band". No details, though, until my patent comes through. Full saddle huh...can ya get B-12's with that? Quick ejectors. That's what the gods wore back in the day.

It was 1975 and I was there. The aircraft was Johnny Plank's 185 (CGH?) and the pilot was Dave Ashworth (RIP) The altitude was about 80 feet and it took Dave 30+ minutes to climb back to 2,500 feet due to the excess drag. The New Zealand version of the FAA tried to prosecute Dave for towing an illegal drogue. This was the first time that the Russian UT15 was seen in New Zealand. As an aside, for their first jump we sent a native spotter up in the aircraft with them. (Ross Jameson from memory) The Russian jumpers were told " when this guy says go, you go" Ross turned to the Russians and said "Remember when I say go" and out they went! These Russian Nationals landed outside New Zealand's most secret Airforce Base by themselves. I also remember these rather large Russians with them that all wore suits and got rather agitated at the sight of their countrymen landing off. I assumed then that they were KGB.

The early slidered ramairs (Strato Star, Strato Cloud and Strato Flier all had a rubber band tab sewn on the centre of the tail about six inches up from the trailing edge. The slider was pulled up and the apex of the slider was stowed in this rubber band. Never had a problem with it.

This is why you youngsters should listen to your olders and betters. We've already done that and buried those that proved it to be a bad idea.

You have 2 things going on when you go to open your parachute. One is deployment and the other is inflation. Deployment for simplicity is from the time the bag leaves you back until you have line stretch. Inflation starts when the canopy starts coming out of the bag until you have a full canopy. Basically nothing that happens before the canopy comes out of the e bag affect the inflation sequence. Obviously there is a lot more going on during this time but that’s about all the average skydiver can digest at one sitting. Line dump on a sports rig is really just an urban legend. I made this bag in the early 90’s to prove a point and put 1000+ jumps on it. Never had a problem with it. Sparky http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/pp55/mjosparky/D-bag1.jpg http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/pp55/mjosparky/D-bag2.jpg http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/pp55/mjosparky/D-bag3.jpg http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/pp55/mjosparky/D-bag4.jpg I did a thousand plus using this system with no problems after freestowing lines nearly killed me.

QuoteThere is really no way to sell that gear in todays market. The gear is simply too old to sell as jumpable. It is also nowhere near intersting/old enough to be of interest to "vintage collectors/jumpers". A rigger may not want to pack gear over 20/25ys old (depends on which country and which rigger). Both canopies are non-current models, in fact a newer jumper would not like how the pegasus opens (too hard), flies (too slow) and flares (not enough). Ever jumped a Pegasus? Best canopy I ever owned in 2,500 jumps. Opened perfectly (and softly) Great for accuracy (Stable in deep brakes) Landed softly and a great CRW Canopy.

Chainlink 4 line release although I don't like that one

Rope and rings Stratostar followed by a Pegasus. Back in the day, any canopy that took 1000 feet to open would be by itself after 500 feet.

Any landing on a LoPo reserve is soft compared to the alternative.

When the fear exceeds the pleasure.

My view is that any canopy that can kill you so quickly is NOT a GOOD Canopy

In extreme sports if you fuck up you, at the best, get severely injured. At worst you die. If you're are stupid, well the penalty for stupidity has always been death. Take that however you want to.

God, there's some Blast From The Past Names Here. http://labertoucheskydivers.net/jumpers/indexa.htm

In 2011 nothing has changed except for the worse.

1650' for a demo on a rope and rings StratoStar

The commercialisation of skydiving killed the sport. The deaths under fully open canopies will finish it off.