faulknerwn

Certainly I'll do small ways with someone who is wearing a Cypres - I wouldn't jump one but we generally do pretty tame skydiving when I'm teaching newbies. I definitely don't want one (or at least have it turned off) in big ways because a misfire is almost certainly fatal. They have misfired in the past, and for it to fire for real, you'd hvae to get back up to freefall speeds after cutting away from a wrap and I'd save time by just pulling a handle. W

If its a CRW wrap and a slow-speed collision with dacron lines, getting big is definitely the better option. If I'm going to hit microlines, I'm getting small and covering my face/handles with my arms. I was involved in a head-on collision post-CRW wrap about a year and a half ago.. I hit dacron lines, but we had a closing speed of ~70mph. I remember covering my face and I did a half twist. Had lots of line burns on the back of my body, and still have a nice scar on the back of my knee. Microlines very possibly could have sliced my leg off. I'm definitely a believer in getting small. W

The new Racers have much less velcro than the older style. Check them out at www.jumpshack.com I do know people who jump Racers with Vectran lines who haven't had any problems. W

You could, but until all that stuff is worked out well, I think you're probably more likely to have a mal from that (see a post in another forum) than have a wrap from entangled pilot chutes.... I wouldn't jump it unless I was needing to win thousands in a swoop competition. Someone else can do the test jumping on that stuff. W

Conceivably you could, but for CRW teams that would take too long. Their times start the second the first person leaves the aircraft. To me, for a general canopy (non-swoop-competition) it just seems like overkill. Way too much work for too little gain. W

He mentioned it is a hybrid Triathalon. These come from the factory set up to be able to use a retractible pc. W

A few years ago I broke my arm on landing and got a plate and screws put in (never had a cast). Was jumping and doing CRW 3 weeks later with no problems. Especially for a tandem, it should be no problem. Just make sure the TM knows so that they make sure if they can't stand it up they butt slide as opposed to anything else. W

I've always found to do what works for you. Especially if you're not on a CRW team with matched, equivalently-loaded canopies, everyone is going to be different. I tend to come down the back, pop up at the end on rear risers, then kill it with a touch of fronts. But what works for you will vary depending on whether you're heavy or light or fast or slow so especially when you're not all on identical canopies, keep experimenting until you get something that's repeatable and quick. W

Depends on the formation. A plane grip has to have the canopy above the head of the person below. The event in question was debating whether or not a hand and leg was a legal grip or whether it had to be just a leg grip. The team had both a hand and a leg in the lines/on the canopy and the judges ruled it illegal though there's a debate about that.

I definitely heard interesting things about that protest. It definitely seemed a surprising result. W

I know someone who landed a Mr Bill (tho he did have a rig on). This was late 70's/early 80's. I don't think either of them was walking very well for several weeks after they did it! W

Sequential is like RW - you're given a sequence of points to turn (some with pieces) and you do them as often as possible in a given length of time. Rotation is more of a pure speed event - you build a 4-stack and have the top guy leave and dock on the bottom as many times as possible. W

Try www.paragear.com -Paragear usually has an extensive amount of rigging supplies.

With or without line burns?

QuoteI guess I did sort of misquote and will edit the original post to reflect that. We do all our formations in the "plane" or fully down to the cross-connector configuration because it is our experience that they are less prone to turbulence and . --- Interesting - I've always preferred being in stacks in bumpy air because they seem to be more stable. Of course I'm usually on Lightnings. Its interesting - even when we're doing downplanes, in the summer time out here you can really feel the bumps in the air, even at downplane speeds. --- I have seen the main sort of bowtie and stop flying in that configuration, only being held aloft by the top person or people. --- That's wild. I've never heard of anything like that. Even when we did a 2-stack/downplane (a 2-stack on each side of the dp) we didn't have that prioblem. Very interesting. -- That being said, we have never had a main snag on the top guy after he dropped the downplane from a "planed" configuration. I don't doubt for a second that you have done your version with "other than real CRW mains", though, so it's certainly worth trying some day. --- Yeah I've done it with most everything. I just rarely have cross-connectors on my Lightning unless its a special occasion because they get in the way. So that's the biggest reason we normally do it in stacks. -- Anyway, that's why we do it that way. That, by the way, is the SOP that the Golden Knights demonstration teams use. The team leader of the USASOC parachute team I am currently on is Johnny Mulford. --- What's USASOC?

Cheap Beer? NEVER!!!!

Any reason you do it from planes rather than stacks? Normally I do pendulums with everyone in a stack formation except the bottom two. W

Me of course!

Really? When did they switch? Last time I knew they were still jumping Lightnings. W

Depends on who you ask. The Russian team wins the world meet on Triathalons (99's I think.) The US team jumps Lightnings for rotations. I don't know of any teams (well in the US anyway) who use Triathalons for sequential (its quite possible some foreign teams do.) In the US the winning team at Nationals for the past few years has jumped Expresses, with Lightning teams coming in right behind. W

Line lengths and trim mostly. Its interesting that as far as Lightning goes, the general wisdom is that for rotations, you're better off getting the trim PD calls "sequential", and for sequentail, the PD "rotation" trim works better.

Prodigys and Expresses are trimmed noticably steeper than Lightnings. Many sequential teams like Expresses over here because they're a touch more docile than Lightnings (less "twitchy") But on the other hand there are good sequential teams using Lightnings as well. Prodigies and Expresses aren't very compatible with Lightnings however. It can be done, but it makes for weird formations. It is easier to have a Lightning in a Prodigy fomration than a Prodigy in a Lightning formation (affects the performance less.) W

Ask on the crwdogs mailing list. I definitely would never own a canopy that large! W

At an equivalent wing-loading a Triathalon will out-sink a Lightning. They're trimmed more nose-down. So you could put a Lightning on top, 2 Tri's on the wings and a Lightning on the bottom. I've flown a wing on my Lightnings underneath a PD 190, so you might be able to put a Cruiselight on top but that would probably be too slow. You could put the lighter loaded Lightning on top, the heavier Lightning on one wing and the lightest Tri on the other, and the last Tri on the bottom.

Actually I'd probably put the higher wing-loaded guy 4th. He might be sinkier than the 2 wing's which will make it more difficult for them to fly if he is piloting. Assuming everyone has equivalent experience, put 2 similar sized canopies as the wings. Preferably one of the bigger canopies up top. It can be done, but its a lot more difficult to have 2 160's fly wings under a 126. Its better to put a 160 on top. W