diverds

Probably means he liked to fly vfr with very low cloud layers. -Dave "Gas...Undercarriage...Mixture...Prop...Beer"

Just curious how many of you out there are pilots. I wish there was a spot on the profile for it. Anyway...my info: Commercial Instrument Single Engine Land Jump Pilot in Cessna 182's -Dave "Gas...Undercarriage...Mixture...Prop...Beer"

We don't...:) -Dave "Gas...Undercarriage...Mixture...Prop...Beer"

What is the order of titles? I know that at 50 you become an enthusieast (spelling?) but what is after that? -Dave "Gas...Undercarriage...Mixture...Prop...Beer"

Nice pic. -Dave "Gas...Undercarriage...Mixture...Prop...Beer"

26.5%....Hixxx will be so disapointed in me. -Dave "Gas...Undercarriage...Mixture...Prop...Beer"

Nice idea except that there is nothing to stop someone from lying about their experience level on their profile. I'm not suggesting that it happens very often but I recently saw a profile that was the biggest crock I have ever read. I know the person in question and he has no ratings and maybe 300 jumps, but on his profile he has by some magic become a tandem instructor, aff instructor and added about 1500 jumps to his logbook. Bottom line, this is a great place to share information, but use your head when reading posts from people you don't know. There is no web based replacement for the instructors and other experienced people right at your own "real life" dropzone. If you have a serious question, ask one of them as well. -Dave "Gas...Undercarriage...Mixture...Prop...Beer"

I see. How much more do you spend on a camera like that? -Dave "Gas...Undercarriage...Mixture...Prop...Beer"

Welcome the the cut-away club. Lifetime dues = Beer! -Dave "Gas...Undercarriage...Mixture...Prop...Beer"

Ice is scary stuff. I hope I never find myself in that position. -Dave "Gas...Undercarriage...Mixture...Prop...Beer"

What is an SLR? -Dave "Gas...Undercarriage...Mixture...Prop...Beer"

Why don't you want to learn Premier? -Dave "Gas...Undercarriage...Mixture...Prop...Beer"

Looks good...are you using premier? -Dave "Gas...Undercarriage...Mixture...Prop...Beer"

I am attaching another email string between myself and John LeBlanc. This is my reply to his first email (see above) and his return email too me which I just received. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -----Original Message----- From: Dave Schwartz [mailto:diverds01@yahoo.com] Sent: Wednesday, March 20, 2002 8:22 PM To: John LeBlanc Subject: RE: Reserve/Main Sizes Mr. LeBlanc, Thank you so much for you timely and very informative response. I am hearing essentially the same thing from you that I was told by the folks at The Relative Workshop. One of my concerns with a smaller reserve is that of damage in a terminal deployment. Am I to understand that with a PD reserve this should not be on my "concern list"? Can you give me any insight into the reports on the failed MicroRaven Reserves that I have read about over the last couple of years? My understanding is that they were being overloaded and that this is what led to the failures. Am I to understand that I would not be overloading a PD 126 with an exit weight of 250 lbs? As for your statement about my choice of main not being as conservative as my choice in reserve...well, you have a point. The fact is that I love flying my main and I feel comfortable with landing it in just about any situation. My concerns with a smaller reserve are: 1. I am now under a non-crossbraced, f-111 canopy at a wing loading of almost 2.0 and 2, I have read these reports of reserves being damaged at high wing loadings. If it is safer for me to jump a smaller reserve that is matched more to my main then I am all about doing that. I just want to know that I am not overloading it, and that I can land it safely at that wing loading. What do you think? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Dave, As far as the crossbracing is concerned, structurally, a crossbraced canopy is very inflexible, so it generates a lot of force on a quick opening. It can be brutal! So even though the structure is solid, it is not necessarily overbuilt as far as a quick opening is concerned. AS far as the aerodynamic efficiency of the cross bracing, a great deal of hype has been generated about all the technical reasons for the superiority of cross bracing. As PD is the original inventor of cross bracing, I can tell you that the biggest reason that these canopies fly so well has to do with the refinements possible with the airfoil, and not the crossbracing itself. Jump a modern small PD nine cell ZP canopy such as a Vengeance or a Sabre2, and will will be surprised at how well they land (not that you would necessarily want to go back that direction for your own canopy.)There will be far less excess energy available on our small PD reserves than on a modern ZP cross braced canopy, but there is plenty available nonetheless. As far as concern about blowing up a smaller reserve, I want to make it clear that it is not that you shouldn't be concerned, but that your concerns should be focused on the real culprit. Our reserves are designed with more reinforcing than the Raven series, and field reports all indicate that the PD reserve opens with less shock load. As for the Ravens that sustained damage, of course they were overloaded, but not necessarily by the suspended weight alone. The real overloading was that they sustained a shock overload due to excessive forces being generated on opening. This could have been done at a light loading, if the opening was explosive enough. It may sound like sumantics, but it is not. If you control opening forces and distribute those forces though the system, you are successful. As for our reserve canopies, our design produces less shock force on the smaller (126) canopy than on the bigger ones. There is less surface area out there in the breeze at any point in the opening, so it generates less force. (This is an aerodynamic simplification, but it holds true on our reserves.) Also, the smaller area still has the same number of suspension lines, the same number of reinforcement tapes in the same location. If you think of a big canopy, the same number of line attachments are spread out farther apart, so each attachment has to hold the load generated over a larger surface area. This is one reason why our larger canopies have heavier reinforcing tapes. It is not because they are designed to carry more weight, but that the structure has to carry more load surface for each line attachment point. They also generate more force at the same suspended weight, thus need a stronger structure to safely handle those loads. As far as PD is concerned, a far more dangerous issue is that of airspeed. The loads sustained increase only slightly with increasing suspended weight, but when you increase airspeed, the loads increase exponentially, and that is only when things go well! I don't mean to scare you, but it is important to understand this. The high speed head down crowd should be very careful about keeping their stuff closed when going fast, because it is possible to destroy your harness and skydive right out of it if you are going fast in a head down while opening. The deployment systems used on sport rigs are designed to work very well in a very low speed cutaway situation, and acceptably well in a slightly faster than terminal situation. It is a difficult design challenge, but the emphasis historically has been on the slow speed situation. Now we have people going faster, and we are seeing that it is very difficult to keep the deployment under control in a consistent manner using the typical sport setup. As you go faster, the odds of having a problem go up, so slow down! So bottom line is that, at about 235-240 pounds out the door, I have a 126 in my rig for small canopies, and I feel as safe (structurally) with that as I do with my other work rig that has a 160 in it. I land them both fine. As for putting the 126 down in a tight area, I am willing to do a fast approach with my feet in the tips of the trees, to keep the most of what little runway I have in front of me. I am also willing to stay current at straight in approaches on everything I jump. (This is a big thing for most pilots of little canopies. You should get nice little swoop on a straight in with no front risers, even on sub 100 footers.) When I travel away from my home DZ, I am very cautious about who I jump with, and what I am jumping. I put more square footage over my head, in both my main and reserve. This is purely for the greater options it gives me when I am in less familiar areas. Once again, I suggest you try a PD reserve demo, and try it yourself. A 143 or 160 would be a good first try, with a full glide approach and a good flare. Then you can decide for yourself if the 126 is worth giving a try. I hope this helps! John LeBlanc -Dave "Gas...Undercarriage...Mixture...Prop...Beer"

The quality is not as good as DV yet. -Dave "Gas...Undercarriage...Mixture...Prop...Beer"

Did you know that canibals say that human meat tastes like chicken? That means that chickens tast like humans. Enjoy your KFC! -Dave "Gas...Undercarriage...Mixture...Prop...Beer"

How do you fly head down with a tandem? -Dave "Gas...Undercarriage...Mixture...Prop...Beer"

Good video. -Dave "Gas...Undercarriage...Mixture...Prop...Beer"

I was raised vegetarian but eat meat now. I still like many vegitarian dishes though. My friends think I'm weird when I eat a piece of uncooked vegi chicken right out of the can...yum! -Dave "Gas...Undercarriage...Mixture...Prop...Beer"

March 15 - Pisces. Now can you tell me when my next malfunction will be? -Dave "Gas...Undercarriage...Mixture...Prop...Beer"

Could'nt edit my first post to add jump numbers so here it is: FX-116 at wingloading of 2.2......1700+ Jumps -Dave "Gas...Undercarriage...Mixture...Prop...Beer"

Fx-116 at 2.2....yes I'm a big guy. -Dave "Gas...Undercarriage...Mixture...Prop...Beer"

Long story? I have time! WTF! -Dave "Gas...Undercarriage...Mixture...Prop...Beer"

No problem, I hope to still hear from George Galloway and Bill Booth. I would like to get their take as well. -Dave "Gas...Undercarriage...Mixture...Prop...Beer"

I think that is very interesting. Did you talk to Simon at Icarus? -Dave "Gas...Undercarriage...Mixture...Prop...Beer"