airdrew20012001

Feh! I have abunch o jumps on all sorts and sizes of eliptical canopies, they all open squirly. Sort of the nature of the beast. I relax and arch (remember that?) after I pitch and get on the risers and the harness right away. Same thing with the alpha 104, crossfire 119, alpha 117, stiletto 135, stiletto 97. The list goes on. I found that each canopy searches for air, dives around, or what have you in its own way. All can be managed. The biggest thing is to stay relaxed and focused. Just because the skydive is over doesn't mean you stop flying your body that's all. Drewfus McDoofus

I stepped down from a triathalon 160 to a stiletto 135 at about the same-ish jump numbers whithout incident. They fly way different, take time, back to the basics. Do some jumps mid-week when the crowds and traffic are lower, that's what I do when I step down. Did the same thing between the 135 and the 119 as well. No hook turns for 20 plus jumps is a good rule as well. Maybe more. Do you feel like you maxed out the performance of the previous canopy? Drewfus McDoofus

Sorry to keep posting these, but have to re-equip after all my stuff was busted up in accident. Drewfus McDoofus

At least you get to go skydiving when you heal. Some folks break their shit like that and then go back to being golfers. Yew! Drewfus McDoofus

SDO is cool, gotta love them Otters. It is a big pro DZ but the people were pretty nice when I was juming there regular. Moving back to Salem on the first of Octoberish, maybe see you up there. Was jumping and shooting tandem video at Eugene skydivers, which is a smaller but really friendly DZ. Got a caravan on the weekends, pretty fun. Gotta give props to Kapowsin, they have the most supreme scenery (few miles from the base of Mt. Rainier) and cool folks as well. Take your pick. Drewfus McDoofus

Anybody know? Have looked in paragear, square 1, and the pd website. So far, nothing. Drewfus McDoofus

Doing better, healing on time. Not back in the air yet, doctors haven't cleared me for that, sorta waiting on the left foot amongst other things. Hopefully will be able to make my february trip to Eloy. How have you been? Drewfus McDoofus

Anybody fly one? ANybody know anybody who does? What's the scoop? Drewfus McDoofus

BAtrack is outta commission from an accident. Thinking of switching from top mounted TRV 17 doing a ton of tandem videos to a side mounted pc and getting on a 4-way team. Does that make sense? Drewfus McDoofus

Used to flying batrack, thinking of moving to side mounted PC camera and an optik helmet. What is the feedback like? "Yo..how YOU doin?" Drewfus McDoofus

There is a company that makes a helmet called the Piraraptor (or at least they used to). Last time I was down in LODI they had two or three for sale pretty cheap used. I would also call the bonehead flat top pro full face (more or less). There is another company that makes one but it has a bad rap both on product quality and customer service. Email Skybytch, she knows what I am talking about. . Drewfus McDoofus

If one was to buy a used reserve how many jumps is too many? Are they to be inspected at the factory after a certain number of years? My questions are primarily about a pdr 126. Thanks and blues!! Drewfus McDoofus

Could be a lot of reasons. How current you are, how focused you are, and how receptive to contructive advice you are all blends into it. Personally, I ask a lot of questions when a skydive goes wrong (ie I do crummy) and also ask people who are better than you what they did in the way of practice. I am by no means really great in head down but I can hang to the extent I can becuase I am (or was until I got hurt) super current (ie 380+ skydives in a calandar year) and I did a ton of solo's to hone my skill. People who excel in anything are commited, mindful, and practice. If anyone of those things is missing then there in could lie the difficulty. 'Sides, like anything else in life, the main thing is that you are having a good time. You may not have the most skill but that doesn't mean that you can't have the most fun. We all mature as skydivers at out own pace, you can however jump the curve in the having a good time and keeping a good attitude department which, in my humble opinion, is the most important part. But heh, what do I know? I am just a busted up camera geek pushing 600 skydives. Always smiling in the air, always laughing in the plane... Drewfus McDoofus

Mirror pond pale ale....with fava beans and a nice chianti... Drewfus McDoofus

ASk for a vlunteer. If that doesn't work then shoot the oldest single person I could find. ps. Thanks again for the get well card, did you get the thank you card I sent? Drewfus McDoofus

I use nail polish. I got this really funky blue sparkly color that really brings out my eyes. Sure, sometimes it clashes with my shoes and belt but heh, that's the price you pay for protecting your espensive toys. Drewfus McDoofus

Sorry to all who have had a bad day. One thing I used to use when I was in the hospital is that people get hurt worse than me every day and recover. The kicker is that when I heal up, I get to go skydiving. They probably never will. Poor saps! Drewfus McDoofus

Muenkel for president!! On the serious side, thank you. That was rock start mega cool and I appreciate it. Ended up wearing to Karioke. DZ.com represent!!! Drewfus McDoofus

I returned from funning an erand for the DZ I was working at when I got hurt and there was a package waiting for me. It was a DZ.com t-shirt with a card that said get well and that the t-shirt was from all my friends at DZ.com. You folks kick ass! Thanks a ton to everyone who sent me cards and well wishes and thoughs, it all helps. I am gonna go hug someone now, catch you later! Drewfus McDoofus

You might also check with B and H Photovideo in New york (www.bhphotovideo.com). Drewfus McDoofus

Gracias!! Drewfus McDoofus

Yes it was on the second bulliten list and it was retrimmed. I bought it as a demo from icarus after it was retrimmed. As a side question: does anyone know (as in know, not guess) where the two factories that made the crossfire were? The bulletin say that one set of crossfires (the ones not needing the retrim) were made in Europe and the others were made in the US. It begs the question: where? Drewfus McDoofus

Pretty dang broad question. I had a crossfire 119 collapse on me at a wing loading of 1.6. I have only vague memories of what happened. I ended up with 21 seperate fractures throughout my person and was damn lucky to live. There have been problems with this canopy throughout its checkered past starting most notably with a skydiver that was killed at the ranch during an accuracy competition. The conditions that seem to be the same are turbulance and little or no radicle pilot input. Mine was a straight in landing, hand up, the whole right side folded and I went in like a really low hook turn. Previosely (been in the sport since 92) I have only seen something like this happen once: it was a really blustery day and a guy came in on a lightly loaded huge 9 cell. The canopy started to collapse at about 75 feet, then 7 of the nine cellls reinflated and he landed hard but without injury. The cells that closed were then end cells on both sides. Hope that helps. Drew the healing Drewfus McDoofus

I agree. The thing that most people don't realize is that the potential for very serious injury of death from the most slight mishandling of these high performance canopies is very real. I am healing from 21 seperate fractures I suffered under a crossfire 119 loaded at 1.6 to 1 that collapsed on me on a very conservative final approach, no swoop or nothing. There is an old saying in this sport: "small canopies bite hard, cross braced take out huge chunks". I guess it is not the number but the currency, the type of landings typically done, and the like that govern wether or not the cross braced experienced is one you should try. A friend recently snapped his femer under a non-crossbraced highly eliptical that we all were telling him he should not jump. He still believes it was not user error. Hard to see how a low 180 hook could be anything but user error but it is a mentality that has been in the sport since I first started in 1994 and will endure long after these emails. Work to inform, work to save. That is all we can do. Drew Drewfus McDoofus

My best estimate is for a first re-jump by October-ish though it depends. Will let you know more as time goes on. Thanks a gain for the posititive words, must run off to PT. Drew out Drewfus McDoofus