faulknerwn

[ As far as the nasty videos go, damn! It was cool that some were put in slow motion. The collision.mov was pretty wild, wtf was that guy thinking?! And on a couple of those wraps, it was like a wing was just kicking back and forgot what trim was...damn!

QuoteI love night jumps, I have 8. However they can be a pain to get a load going at some places. I waited almost 2 years for my night jumps so I could get my d. The issue at our dz is you need a d to land at the beach. i fail to see what night jumps have to do with landing on the beach. Perhaps we need a E like you where saying. I think we do almost, how many jumps do u need for a pro rating, min for aff, tandem ratings. To jump a birdman suit, some HP canopies I don't think raising the D licence but adding a E licence. If we were going to significantly raise the license requirements an E would probably be better. But I definitely don't recommend lowering what we currently have. At your dz, I'd petition management to allow anyone with 200 jumps to land at the beach instead of a D license if all that you were missing was the night jumps. I agree that night jumps have nothing to do with landing on the beach, so you should complain to the dzo that he should change the requirement. It seems to me that lowering the requirements for a license because people misuse it as a requirement is attacking the wrong end of the problem. I mean what does being able to do a style series or a 4-pt 4-way have to do with landing at the beach either? They should care about the accuracy requirements - the rest isn't really applicable. W

Someone with an A license could also jump an Icarus 66 if they're stupid. They can strap on a skysurf board, pull at a thousand feet and lots of other stuff. That doesn't mean they should. I think the current recommendation of 50 jumps for night jumps is a good start - most people with

I agree. It would be better if the requirements were harder, not lessened. I would be willing to bet that anyone would be quite hard-pressed to find a skydiver with a thousand jumps who's never been on a "sun has set" load. It happens. My depth perception sucks at night. I used to hate late sunset/night jumps. While I still get nervous on night jumps, I've learned methods to deal with my lack of depth perception (landing beside objects where I know the altitude of/where my flare point should be correspondingly etc). And most people have more appropriate canopies (lighly loaded, not radical) canopies at 100 jumps than they will at 500. Night jumps ae a great learning experience. They certainly taught me a lot and made me feel much more comfortable about those "sunset" loads...

It's also like attaining Knighthood...

[reply What kind of idiocy is THIS ???!!!! That VERY EXPERIENCED jumper is irresponsible. as evidenced by the impression he made on you and probably others. Hate to clue you in, but exiting at that altitude without the assistance of a static line, or instructor assisted deployment CONSTITUTES an emergency situation, in my book., not to mention it sets a very poor example...... I guess it depends on what era you're from and how experienced you are. I know an experienced base jumper who jumped out of a Cessna at 250 feet on his CRW main. I know tons of people who have done h&ps from 900-1300 feet on cloudy days. So much depends on your canopy and your pack job. The pilot doesn't cut - with the right equipment (i.e doing this on an Extreme 60 might not be smart.) If I left a 182 at 1000 feet on my CRW main, I'd have good canopy at 995. It opens a bit fast :-) I once watched a guy test out his new BASE rig from an Otter at 500 feet. Illegal? Yes. Dangerous? Less so that a tower.

A friend is selling her Tri 120, you think 1.3 is a little high for a beginner, (3 total CRW jumps?) Im 130 without gear. ) I assume that wing-loading is with gear? If so, and presuming that the canopy isn't too small for you in general conditions (I don't know your experience level), then it should be ok. Tri's are a bit more nose-down trim than Lightnings, but that means you have to front-riser less and rear riser more *usually easier.) They fly pretty well together tho. W

Keep practicing. Go to www.performancedesigns.com - John Leblanc has the outline of a seminar he gives about small people versus big people and canopy sizing. It is quite enlightening. Wen

But what exactly does the moderator do? Read the posts and reply? That much I can handle :-) Anything else? That's what I can't figure out! W

Damn....am I a junkie or what. .331 and thats with a 6 month break...... 2900 jumps in 9 years (2 months) = .87

I understand the concept of a moderator, but I'm wondering if the moderator does anything besides censoring posts? There's so few posts in thiis forum there's not much to worry with. So I guess I'm not really sure what the moderator's job would even be for this forum.

Lightnings are the most common canopy of choice these days for recreational CRW. 7 cells, dacron lines are definite needs. A retract pilot chute is a bonus. If its just for recreational CRW, Spectres work great and you can use them for a freefall canopy. For getting in bigger formations you'd need a Lightning. Wingloading with gear is usually 1.2-1.3 - typically on Lightnings we tell people to "skip a size". I.e. if you weigh 170 without gear, skip the 160 and buy a 143. If you weigh 130, skip the 126 and buy the 113. Obviously you do need to have the skill level required to land that kind of wing-loading. In general, the smaller people have a slightly higher wing-loading than the bigger people - we need it to get the same performance. But for casual CRW Spectres and Triathalons work great and you can use them for freefall. A friend of mine has a Lightning 143 and a Spectre 150 and I have a hard time telling them apart in CRW formations. W

What makes a safe DZ, Paul, and how can an average jumper assess? Planes (are non-pilots/A&P mechanics competent to judge)? Good pilots? Large, obstacle free landing area? Properly maintained student and rental equipment? Appropriately rated instructors? Pattern and landing discipline from the up-jumpers? --- In all honesty, I know that I don't have the knowledge to judge the condition of an airplane other than a good paint job, So at most dzs I visit (other than my home dz) I normally do just have to put faith in the pilots and the aircraft. The above stuff is certainly important. But above all else, I look at the attitude of the dzo (or in some cases manager of bigger dzs). I know of at least a couple of dzos who I've seen crash in and see do stupid shit under canopy. I know of managers who show incredibly poor judgement in canopy sizing and canopy control. Every dz I've ever been to has a unique attitude - some good, some bad, some about money, others about friendship. I've been to really friendly big dzs and I've been to ones where its purely a business. But the ones I like to frequent are not just the ones who preach safety, but the ones who live it. When I see the dzo hooking it and having to pull his ass out on toggles on a canopy that seems to be too small from him - I can usually trust that attitude gets passed down to other jumpers. When I see dzos which preach safety over profit, recommending a Spectre 190 to someone instead of their own Spectre 170 they have for sale, I feel better. It seems that the attitude and character of dzs seem to grow largely from the top for better or for worse. I've seen a dz's whole culture change when management switched. I've never been to Skydive Chicago so I can't make any judgement on what kind of attitude is displayed there. But its the attitude of the jumpers and the attitude of the dzo more than anything which tell me how safe a dz will be. W

I've owned canopies with airlocks in the past and they seem to help a little, but not as much as many people think. I put about 500 jumps on a Jedei 92, now own a Cobalt 75, and jumped numerous canopies in between. The Jedei did seem more stable in turbulence. It also was very stable in slow flight modes (stacked on slower canopies.) It felt llike a rigid airfoil. I could very easily collapse mine by pulling down the rear risers however.I also could stall it with the toggles as well. Its an airfoil - you can do that on any canopy. I did manage on occasion to stall it on landing - purely pilot error but the airlocks won't save you from that. The Jedei's and Samurai's are trimmed very nose down. This is good for a lot of things, but I can go a lot farther on a long spot on my Cobalt 75 than I could on my Jedei 92 - even at the heavier wing-loading. While I thoroughly enjoyed my Jedei, I don't think the airlocks were a big deal. I would consider buying one again in a small size, but one of the big reasons I didn't even consider them for my last canopy was the cost was WAY higher than a Cobalt. I really enjoy how the Cobalt flies so I went with it.

Ah yes. The reason we all have an altitude below with we go straight to the reserve is a. The reserve is designed to open faster b. The reserve is packed by someone specially trained - it should be somewhat more reliable than a main. c. They're 7-cells, i.e. typically more docile than our mains - so less likely to have squirrely openings and less likely to mal. d. Most people pack their mains to open softly (slowly). Reverses are packed to OPEN. I believe 300 feet is what is required to pass the TSO - most open faster than that. e. A reserve has a freebag - i.e. the bag isn't attached to the parachute. This can help if you open unstable or something there is more of a chance the parachute will open even if part of the system is wrapped around an arm or a leg. So in an emergency when you need a canopy NOW, your reserve is a more reliable choice. At some altitude for everyone, a bailout would go straight to the reserve for the above safety reasons. You wouldn't have time to implement emergency procedures anyway (again, this altitude varies with the person).

If I grab and pull down on the risers at snatch, will I be asking for trouble? I intend to try this tomorrow to see if it will speed up inflation. I'm talking about an "OH SHIT!" yank down on both rears, like avoiding a collision kind of thing. You're not asking for trouble. Especially on a canopy like a Spectre its not a big deal. Doing CRW I usally have my risers in my hand before its inflated already steering. I wouldn't do a HARD yank tho - canopies can stall on rear risers. Its more of a small pull or a pop as opposed to yanking em down to your shoulders or something. Just once you're sitting up and its sniveling, just reach up and tug a little (preferably evenly) on the risers. W

Newbie here...Can you explain this more thoroughly? I assume you're talking about the part where I say the opening is more horizontal? Basically you've probably felt the experience of "the hill" by now - when you first leave the aircraft you're not belly-to-earth but more vertical. That's because the aircraft has around a 100mph forward speed (depending on the aircraft). It takes a bit of time for you to transition from going with the aircraft to falling strraight down to the earth. When you leave an aircraft for a hop and pop, you're still "on the hill" where most of your speed is horizontal. If you watch CRW jumpers going out on hop and pops, you'll see that we exit feet to earth (because that is "belly-flying" on the hill) and our canopies don't deploy above our heads at first but straight behind us (where the relative wind is.) As we lose the speed of the airplane we transition to normal freefall, and the canopy finishes opening more traditionally. But most of the opening occurs during this horizontal part of the skydive.

You tell us. If you're in an emergency, and your main hasn't been deployed, what benefit would you gain by pulling your cutaway? I had a friend who had a total mal (couldn't find the main pc), dumped his reserve, blew a bunch of lines on it, it streamered, he found his main handle and dumped that into the mess. It opened and he walked away unhurt. As far as pulling your silver handle when you're in the red on the altimeter, its a time thing - you're already low and you're running out of altitude fast. What people's minimums are for where they open their main is an individual thing. It depends a lot on experience, practice in hop and pops, type of canopy etc. What you were taught is a good rule for a student. As you get more experienced and do some hop and pops you'll get more comfortable with pulling lower. Many SL students do their first jump from 3 grand - most AFF students view that as crazily low. A lot depends on what you're used to.

QuoteI just saw in another post the opinion that you can accellerate opening of your canopy by pumping the risers. I have a Spectre loaded at about 1.26 and I absolutely love the long sniveley openings. It can be a bit touchier on higher-performance canopies, but on lightly-loaded ones pumping the risers works like a champ. Been doing it for years without even thinking about it. It works even on small canopies. The standard gospel on Cobalts is not to grab the risers but to steer with body shifting. One particular packjob last weekend I must have stuffed the nose farther or something, but I threw out about 3500 on my Cobalt 75, it came to a ball of shit, and sat there and sat there and sat there. After a while I was like I've either got to get this open or chop it. I reached up, pulled down the rear risers about half an inch and it was open almost instantly. It did dive off heading but nothing radical or anything. I've never been one to like really long snivels because its not an if in this sport, its a when that you're going to find yourself doing a reasonably low bailout. A canopy which is regularly packed for a 1500 foot opening is going to be a problem. 500 foot openings can be quite soft. At 2000 feet with an engine out you're faced with: 1. landing with the plane (egads we're skydivers - I hate landing with working engines!) 2. Going out on your reserve - hope it works because that was your last chance. 3. Or going out confidently on your main because you've practiced hop and pops, you've packed it for a reasonable opening (500 feet or so is plenty soft), and knowing that most of the opening distance on a h&p is horizontal not vertical.

Quote Anything above a grand I'm going for my main. Do you wear a AAD? No I don't. But numeours people on that load did have Cypreses. The aircraft in this case had never gotten above 1500 feet however so the Cypreses were never armed. None fired. I just feel 1000 feet is to close to the activation height of my particular AAD. ie 750ft. RIght. But if the plane hasn't crossed the 1500 foot threshhold the Cypres isn't activated anyway. But yes, it is certainly reasonable to raise your altitude for main deployment depending on if you have a Cypres. Also ive had an 800ft opening on my main. Yes, but you do know how you can encourage it to open faster right? Extremely few canopies won't speed up their openings if you yank on the rear risers really hard (some people prefer brakes, I prefer risers.) If you're low, absolutely be pumping those risers instead of sitting back and watching. (I normally steer with my harness only and such on normal openings, but when I'm low I'm not going to take the time to let it play itself out.

I was in a Super Otter this winter which had an engine problem and we were ordered to bail between 1200-1300 feet. Of the 18 or so of us who went, 15 went on their mains, 2 on their reserves, and one guy (who had been instructed to go out on his reserve as he only had 20 jumps or so) went out dumped his main unstable, pc wrapped around his neck and he got a good reserve out about 900-1000 feet. Anything above a grand I'm going for my main. I want 2 chances if something goes wrong. I don't like limiting my options. Remember that if the plane is still flying level, most of your deployment is horizontal not vertical. There's a big difference between leaving an airplane at 1500 feet and finding yoruself at terminal after a freefalll there. W

I don't link to this off of my main page because I never got permission from the video guys to post this stuff so I've kinda kept it private. I've got a variety of stuff (Quicktime format) in Movies

Fandango is good buit Proof is great., I've got about a 40th generation copy and its really fuzzy and grainy but its hilarious... W

Yeah. Pretty much you're screwed. Occasionally you'll find people around doing CRW on Prodigies (no idea how the Interceptor flies with that) but most people jump Lightnings these days at 1.2-1.3 The other canopies people jump for competition (Expresses/Triathalons) are also loaded fairly high. W

Congrats!!! You've graduated from a CRWpup to a CRWdog! Arf! W