stratostar

Let it dry, pack it up and go jump! 2k no one cares how pretty you are. ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Nothing wrong with a manta they are used all over the USA and the world for student canopies and been for a long time. Most student canopies have the brakes de-tuned to make the canopy fly more forgiving to mistakes made by students. I assume this is the case here. You need to talk to your instructors about this to understand what and why this is and how to change it for your needs if your going to keep jumping this canopy.This would apply to any canopy BTW. Play safe. ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Unnecessary inflammatory comments removed by slotperfect ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Just because I am capable of jumping a canopy of X square feet does not mean it is a good idea for me to do so. (Quote) To bad more people don't think this way in today's sport before getting busted up, yea I know it just not cool to do in the sport today with the new generation stupid fucks we have these days, we get comments like the following quote. "So he can live with it or he can break himself. I've started to fly my 150 with higher load and I've survived." There is the problem right there as stated in the quote above. Look at the poster of it, his time in the sport and jump numbers, this is the kind of person that someone will have to scrape up off the ground one day! If your going to be stupid do the rest of us a favor and find a new sport. Carry on> ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

I still have duck tape repairs on my MK-1 that was put on in 83 still holding up after all the years and gets jumped about 5 to 10 times a year but that tape has stayed put.

Nice try, but I don't think so it is part of a large collection of historical (yet airworthy) gear and it is really owned by Steve Stewart, I just take care of it. But if you want to jump it just bring yourself up to Richmond In. next season and you can jump all you want. ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

I got a real paraplane canopy with only a few jumps on it. ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Well there are six of us in Richmond Indiana. What kind of work/repairs? ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

It would be on the data panel with the S/N # ect. However I have found that most PC's those numbers are hard to read if you can even find them anymore. Most of the really nice well cared for canopies will read as brand new, those are the ones to find if you can. You will find a lot of faded ones around. ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Good in theory, mate. However, have you ever turned in a DZO to the USPA or the FAA ? I got news for you dude, the USPA is a joke and nothing but a good old boys club and if you say or write anything they don't like your then on the shit list for life and all the higher up's turn a blind eye and have for years. Maybe if we vote out all the ex golden douchebag's from office then the USPA would have a lot less covering up of the truth about DZO's who blatantly bust FAR's and BSR's. As for the fed's, they really don't care about some damm jump op's after 9-11 they have more important things to deal with and don't care if we kill ourselfs, they only care if we kill some one on the ground falling on them. With that said if more people who knew about all of this stuff wouldn't turn a blind eye because they don't want to be banned or lose friends, we would be safer. But it's like drugs, no one wants to rat out thier dealer cuz then they have to find the fix elsewhere and if all the dzo's stick together and ban jumpers who speek up, where you going to get your fix? well there is always base jumping or starting you own DZ. Go ahead tell the USPA and FAA I'll bet after you turn off the main road and take a ride on this street you'll wish you never had taken that turn off the main road and kept your blinders on ! And be ready for EVERYONE to say "you have some personal agenda " ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

As long as you don't weigh something like 200+ lbs, you should have no problemo jumping a Paracommander, or a Papillon, Sierra or Starlite canopy. These are NICE canopies,(quote) I weigh 200 with out gear, and stand up my MK-1 all the time. But I also understand, sucks getting old. Hey T-brown I Got a few jumbo pc's you can jump if you care to make your way to Richmond In. ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Richmond Revisited there is a group who breaks out their airworthy vintage gear to make jumps on an annual basis. (quote) Yes we do, and have 25 complete & jumpable rigs, and six other mains with H/C but no warts for them, yet. Many of the rigs have a lot of history behind them. We have an all white rig, H/C main and wart from Bill Cole. Garth Taggerts 75 jumbo has all of 20 jumps or so on it. Billy Webber donated his dads orginal SST racer complete rig this year, needs overhauled but will be flying next season. We have 1965 switlik T-10 with two jumps on it. Just to name a few, I have been meaning to post a few photos of the colection, so when I go to the dz tomorrow I will try to take a few and post them. Everyone who sees the collection are blown away buy the amount of stuff we have and the condition of the rigs, most are in like new condition. ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Many of the bigger dz's in the u.s. require you to be AFF rated to fly camera. As to the fatality, the camera man had a AFF rating, so it goes to show that anyone rated or not can fuck up! So don't be a fuck up. Do we need a 'tandem video' rating? (quote) Yes we do in a way as long as DZO's will keep using anyone who just got a camera and straped it to their head. It happends way more then most think. As with everything else in the sport you should prove yourself first before being turned loose to shoot video or teach. With that said, just because you have proven yourself don't mean you won't fuck up and kill yourself or someone else while doing it, ie: Gus Wings death of recent. RIP -GW ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

I hope I don't become complacent. I know what you mean. ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

When was your last time in a training/hanging harness? (quote) Two weeks ago when I trained FJC. I always go first! ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

So what about the LPU's??? Thats floation gear for ya'll that don't know. Do you have it on? Do the other students have any? If your that close to the water don't you think it might be a good thing to have? What about early/late in the season when the water temp is cold, how long do you think you can stay in the water and live? There is a lot to think about, as I said jumping next to an open body of water is not something to take lighly. "I myself have procrastinated about getting my B lisence mostly because its a pain in the ass to seek someone out who has the time to go over it all with me in detail" (quote) Not as big of a pain in your ass as finding yourself going into the drink and not knowing what the hell to do or even the basic survival skills to even have a chance to save your ass. Just food for thought! Go get the trainning and maybe brush up on your treading water skills and jump with floation, one day you might wish you had done so. ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Being a KSUSPC alumni myself, and having been around the kaw river a good part of my life, I can tell you that indeed you can in some places stand up in it, however try walking it sometime and see if you don't find some very deep holes that you can in fact drown in. I know a good friend of my did just that. Something to keep in mind. ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Because todays new style of teaching has become lazy and in a rush to get people out the door of the class room and on a plane. In the old days it was part of the FJC. When I lived in Hawaii it was taught in the FJC and my guess is that it is still today seeing that the dz is for the most part on the beach. Any schools that are right next to an ocean and or large body of water that you could land in would be foolish not to teach it in a FJC, even tho most trade winds do blow on shore. I have seen planty of people go in the drink, some were as far as 2.5 miles off shore and at sunset to boot. How long can you tread water? Do you jump with an LPU on at your dz? Do they give all students an LPU? I can understand that if a school is in the midwest with only corn fields around to land in that they might skip the water trainning and teach how to land in corn instead. It would seem today that people are in the mind set that because we now use flying wings and not rounds that one could just fly to land, however as you said you fly over the water all the time, you never know when shit will hit the fan and you have to bail out to save your ass and may not make it back to dry land. So you better know how to swim, tread water and float and plan on doing so for a long time. As the recent crash of the 206 will show you the only guy to make out, I think was in the water for 12 hrs. To many of the new breed today take way to much of this stuff with an attitude that "it won't happen to me". Kind of like a dzo who throws a boogie on an island and has very lowtimers go with to jump there. Jumping around an ocean or large body of water close to the lz is nothing to take lightly, even if you got boats standing by. I have stood on the beach for hours waiting to see if everyone would be found after a sunset load that landed in the drink in Hawaii some of those jumpers were found by luck in the dark by the coast guard and fishing boats that joined the search, the last few found had been in the water for 4 to 5 hrs. and in the dark at that. So get the water trainning and plan for the worst case and hope for the best everytime! ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

I let the lines hang over my shoulder and make my folds aginst my leg for control, so both sides get folded evenly. I also don't flop my canopy down on the ground, I set it down softly and take my time to get the air out. (not forcing) If you slam it down your helping the lines move around towards the nose.(that has been pushed back inside) By forcing the air out you are unfolding or unrolling the nose as well, air seeks the path of least resistance,ie out the nose. The manual maybe on line? Your best bet would be to find one at a dz rigging loft or to get it from PD. You asked if having a lot of jumps on one makes a difference. Yes it will, one of mine has about 4000 jumps on it and is very consistent, the other one has about 500 jumps on it and is not as consistent even tho both are packed the same way. The second canopy can be a little brisk sometimes compared to the other one. Both open on heading everytime. With that said I know others who HATE sabre 1's and always complain about getting spanked on every opening, then again I have seen them pack and would say thay don't pack worth a damm. ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

As someone who has two of them and use's them for camera work, I would tell you to read the PD manual ! I would also tell you that packing the way in the manual says to is a great way to do it, it's NOT a rolling in the nose, it's a fold (see manual), I use 3 big folds of the eight outside cells leaving the nose in the middle and slightly pushing back into the canopy the whole nose, as the PD manual shows to. I get great openings.... ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

In the last month I know of two jumpers who have had their break handles come off because their fingertrap had no knot or bartack/zigzag on them. The first one was a lowtimer (less then 80 jumps) at 1,200ft. He kept his cool and landed ok on risers. The canopy had just been returned from the factory with the fingertrap in place but not sewn in place. I don't know who helped him attach the break handle but some one fucked up! The second one happend last week on landing flair and the jumper shattered his pelvis. This line was also attached with a fingertrap and no knot or bartack/zigzag sewn on it. This jumper was from out of town and didn't have the work done at the same dz as jumper # 1. I have seen in other posts here that, "a fingertrap will hold a load when not sewn or knotted" I would have to disagree with this statement! It may hold yes, but it may not. #1's held for 12 jumps till lucky #13. And durring the landing flair is not the time to find out the hard way like jumper #2 did that it won't hold. I see many wannabee riggers and paid packers acting like riggers who do some of the most stupid shit with gear and tell jumpers who seem to be to stupid to seek out a real rigger, that what they did is ok and will work fine. I think this one of the problems we face today with so many lazyass's who don't or won't pack for them selfs and go on to trust what ever info they get from their packer, this really stupid if your one of these type of jumpers! Unless they are a FAA CERT. RIGGER, it would be wise to have ANY work done by a packer like changing break line settings or getting a new canopy from the factory hooked up inspected by a real FAA CERT. RIGGER! If you don't then your a dumbass and you get what you deserve for being stupid. I'm always surprised how many jumpers think factory workers and QC don't make mistakes on canopies at the factory before being shipped, true it don't happen offten, but it has and can. And just because someone is a FAA CERT. RIGGER that don't mean they can't make a mistake as well so a word to the wise, becareful who you let work on your rig and learn as much as you can about your gear other wise you wish you had one day....... ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

I would play the old guy can't see good anymore card, after all with your bigass tuna boat canopy you should be landing last, fuck um no one is going to tell me how I have to land, ever! I'm the one in the sky under a wing, I'll land any damm way I want to and as long as I don't endanger anyone else they can fuck off, wouldn't be the first dz I been kicked off...... As for the sig line, you can't blame a young pup when they learned from a rule breaking old crook, untill they been out in the world awhile to learn better, then if they still carry on in their ways unload both barrels on them. You can't tell a fool their a fool! ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Ryan, I saw a bunch in the apple store in cincy. You might try a apple store in Indy if you don't want to get them on line. ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

yep, but none at SGC! (quote) Oh goodie, yea. Hope that means you'll keep your sorry thead highjacking ass over there! ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

And can carry the same payload as a B-17. ~ you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo