VectorBoy

3 jumping days, 11 jumps. Mostly bird-man although got in a 31- way tracking with Omar out of two planes ( nice) and the 10- way all DZ.com (non fallopian) free fly tube sit jump that D' gimp failed to capture but hopefully Deuce did. We forgive ya Jake! Nice visuals out there. Some smily faces on big way wingsuit sunset flocks ( wingnut, post it!). I need to see the vids. I hope somebody provides!

Tell SOME people your goals, those that WILL be your cheerleading section . Others that have similar goals and that are aligned with your purpose ( as in loosing weight or making more commission ). Don't tell the nay-sayers, the overly critical, the ones that are competitive overly negative and just can't seem to see you happy. They are everywhere, Some may even be posing as so-called friends. All you need to share with them is the sucess, your smile and the video after the fact. This way they will not help you defeat yourself before you start.

Watch your mouth! Drinking, cussing like a sailor...what's next? Probably wingsuits, but with his jump numbers maybe just running around the house naked with a towel for a cape

Those of us that attended WFFC saw something similar. A semi-truck flat bed mounted single fan powered by a big turbo charged diesel engine a long shaft and a differential. It was mostly loud and anoying but some people could fly it. I'm sure based on Mary's tunnel experience she would rock in it. You might do a search of tunnels for sale on Ebay and take a look of the one I'm talking about. It differs in that it has an inflated gazebo like netted structure to keep you inside like the jumper rooms children love.

Spotting won't be as critical but navigation out away from the jump run and back to a suitable opening zone will be paramount. You will be covering ground in your wings learn navigation. You don't want to open high under your standard jump run as there will be other jumpers coming down around you. And you want to open higher, at least at first, when flying wingsuits. If your dropzone is shared by ultralights, sailplanes and other general aviation aircraft learn their procedures, patterns and areas to avoid.

I don't think he/she is going to identify himself/herself on this board. He/she probably wouldn't feel comfortable on an airplane if there was a possibility that potential hijackers knew who he/she was. Or the potential that frequent flying skydivers would buy him a bunch of booze on the long flights in first class.

Plus aren't you converting yours to a thought activated HUD display?

The sport needs something to lower the number of deaths that will happen this year. I don't think so. This is a daredevil sport. You are on the fringe. Fox sports EXPECTS you to die. Skydiving is not going away. We will pay the costs of accidents and lawyers and policing if it ever comes to that or we can be responsible and try our best to minimize all of the above costs. Greedy city, state and federal politicians squeezing funds from general aviation activities on your DZ's airport. Have a better chance of closing skydiving down ( unless your DZ is a privately owned strip ). We've had guys running for president that would just shut GA ,as we know it in the country, down. Terrorism has a better chance of shutting us down. If again the spectre of an airborne threat raises its head again. GA will suffer. And third any federal agency put into place to help the USPA police you, from you, could in a runnaway effect impact skydiving as you know it. Be careful what you wish for.

Maybe, but I am comparing the number of deaths that I have seen from one thing, and comparing it to the rest of my life. And I have had more people I know die from skydiving than all other things combined. Quote You're still young Ron, soon you may find more cancer and disease reaping on your friends of similar age than skydiving. My wife commented the other day, she attended more funerals than weddings this last year. Having just come from the funeral of yet another cancer victim. I have lost more friends to other non skydiving causes than I know of people that mearly suffer femur or pelvis fractures and are on crutches in a few weeks. Plus just think of all the lurkers on this site that are preparing a noose as we post yet another "something has got to be done about low turns" post.

I've got two cobalts. A 120 and a 135. I've got two pilot chutes a custom 23" and a Cazar 28". I swap them back and forth with NO change in the openings personality. How tightly I roll the tail when I pack and maintain this tight roll will have a great amount of influence on how I can get them to open. I can get them to open brisk but not slam or I can get them to snivel for so long that jumpers watching the video of these deployments would often comment that they would have already gone for silver long before now.

Lemme clarify. Aircraft with horizontal stabilizers and elevators higher than the prop wash and or especially if they sit about 10 to 15 degrees higher than the main wing, tend to have less effectiveness at slow airspeeds than those directly in line with the prop wash. Especially if the main wing is at such a distance and angle during slow flight as to aerodynamically blank out the horizontal stabilizer and elevator. This can be especially awkward during slow flight and landings. Or a completely unconventional tail on it like Rutans boomerang, little or no horizontal on the door side of the vertical stab and enough on the otherside to do the job. It would be ugly, perfect for jumpers. Glen

????? Got my reserve, pro-track, altimeter, and gear bag sold already. Wingsuits are cool, but not that cool.

From what I saw it didn't look like he went down fighting from where I was standing. Yes violet indulged willingly. Don't tell the folks back home!

Speaking of total dumbasses . . . did you read this? http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/news/123103_nw_airmarshal.html That bitch need the treatment they gave the hysterical lady in the movie airplane, by everyone on board!

compartments for additional lead might be something to think about. I've seen a nice rig with slots on the outside of the backpack for easily removable lead bars. Much more comfy than a belt.

He is part of an extreme sports group of guys that have played around in other extreme sports. He may not be a wuffo, a tandem or some aff jumps in his pocket. Not sure enough about his bio. Some of his close personal friends do dabble in freak flying.

The BM camp held large sunset flocks, most mornings were too cold. Plenty birds held small ways here and there. I would start out on a cold temp 2-way, 3 - way, 4- way, and end the day with a sunset flock 11 or 16 way. This was pretty much my pace for the handful of days that I was there. Flyers would join in after it would warm up some and after being tired of watching someone else have all the fun. The morning and sunset balloon loads have seen many wingsuits and is becoming the ride of choice for some. Scott, Chuck and Jari have had their hands full the past few days with the first jump courses throughout the day and holding an instructor course. But by now there should be a large cadre of new instructors, fresh birds with new suits and established birdies showing up. There is still time for more bird mayhem.

Yes, I had a PC in tow. Went to reserve after playing with the bridle for a few. Once the reserve deployed the pressure was off the main pin and its PC deployed the main. Was greeted with two out and enough altitude to chop the elliptical main flying nicely in trail.

Do you live on one of those compounds run by the RRhhaagneeesh?

I agree it is strange. I know of a jumper that didn't have ID and was turned away and very upset, not from perris but a nearby DZ.

Even within the design limits, they weren’t holding together (and I don’t think the fix fixed it) and they don’t land as well as a PD. Derek I trust the honesty of your opinion Derek. I don't trust the opinion generated by a lot of hype thats out there though. At least until I can buffer it with my own personal experience. I know exactly what attitudes Jennifer is dealing with as I was there myself. After my personal reserve comparison I get comments like "You don't know what you are talking about". " you're crazy". Sometimes the other individual has never flown ANY Raven themselves. They have been a PD man since day one. I consider myself a PD man also having owned some product and enjoyed their excellent service on all levels. But I have an open mind. I do know some high profile canopy pilots ( sponsored) that could have any reserve but have a dash-m and they load them pretty good. Its not an excuse for me or anyone to do the same ( having the Dash-M, not loading it ) but it does get me thinking. he can fly anything, why the Dash-M ? I know some of the problems with gear is the lack of understanding on how it should be used or not misused. Not the gear itself.

Not true, My PD-106R landed very nicely loaded at 1.76 at over 5,000 ft MSL. I demo'ed A PD 143 as a reserve under Ideal conditions hop & pop with nobody in the target area after practicing a series of stalls, turns, braked turns and risering up high. I landed my Dash-m 135 ( service bulletin effected) after a real emergency ( total) followed by having two out with an elliptical ( which I cuttaway )in a wingsuit and a landing without having enough time to cut away my leg wings. The fight and flare was just as good and the flare IMO was better on the dash-m. I had a softer landing and found no issues with the toggle stroke on the dash-m. Now some might say that the prior experience on the PD paid off in having to land the Dash-m, maybe. Both deployments were at terminal or less. If speed of deployment was an issue as in a premature HD freefly reserve deployment then I would like to see spanwise tapes in the bottom skin just like my main has

Jennifer, Don't worry you got a good product . At your wingloading you also have nothing to fear. I have a Dash-M 135. I was also worried based on those stories. I also personaly know a guy who had his dash-M blow up but live to tell about landing a barely landable, torn reserve. And have heard for years when asking about gear in general that its all good but when asking about reserves specifically that this brand flares better and that brand blows up. Two months ago on my 135 dash-m all of my fears were put to rest. That 135 is GOOOOD babie! Wonderful flare, no suprises in flight, it did its job nicely. Problems with reserves: They are F-111 ( this material has wonderful properties for reserve design) But if you remember most of us stopped flying f-111 in wingloads above 1:1 and went with ZP because at higher wingloadings above 1:1 ZP is a must. Well ZP canopies flare different than those made of F-111. Timing the flare on a loaded f-111 reserve is a little more important than on a similar loaded ZP sport canopy. Or an underloaded F-111 student barge. Which for most people was really their only exposure to F-111 flare timing. Timing is Even MORE important if you are overloading your reserve. So now you are in an emergency situation on a canopy you have never flared before, maybe overloading it, maybe over a hostile landing area with very few outs that require excellent airskills and timing. See how things can stack against you quik? OK just for fun lets make it at night too. One thing you can do to get some practice is to DEMO a reserve set up as a main and put a few jumps on it to learn the difference. A handful of hop & pops with a reserve will do wonders for your confidence and air skills, canopy accuracy too. The Very fine folks at PD do this at some boogies here and there. Take them up on it, its worth it to you. And then regardless of what brand you have don't overload it. Then all you will have to worry about is being over a hostile landing area maybe at night

Usually they would call the DZ's manifest and verify that there have been recent jumps.

You can relax your arm posture a bit from max, this will relieve a great deal of the strain. The numbers won't be that great but you will still experience true flight.