petur

The following is a reply I received earlier today from T.K. Donle at RWS, posted here with his permission. --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."

I think thrillseek's point here is that it's critical to see the center of the formation (even if it has become $%"!!!!'up during the dive) to be able to track away from the center and create as much separation as possible between jumpers. For example, if the first one starts tracking at 6k' and the last one at 4.5k', chances are that some might have lost sight of other jumpers when they decide their tracking direction. --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."

To refresh your memory

Wow! Now that's just about the most amazing thing I've ever heard regarding malfunctions, I'll definately pass this story on to my buddies! I'm happy it turned out OK! You guys must have noticed this pretty soon in the dive... I bet she would have recognized the "POINTING / PULL IMMEDIATELY" hand signal we all learned during initial student training... Just my 2c. P. --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."

Eeeek! That would totally freak me out! 1 stow... 2 stows... 3stows... still 3stows... hmmm... P. --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."

Any chance we can get a little bit more details on the improved technique? --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."

Tips from the rigging staff at RWS: http://www.relativeworkshop.com/rigging/washing.htm --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."

Hey all! In a thread posted in march I read a very informative reply from Bill Booth himself regarding cutaway cables, housings etc. In his reply he wrote: "Jump shack IS using Teflon, which they color code red. We do not use it for too many reasons to go into here." Ok, I bought that same type red teflon cable from Jumpshack in april , simply because of a neater look and color of the pad . Should I put the original yellow cable from RWS back on my rig... and if so, why? --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."

> Do you stand up all of your landings. Yes, I do stand up all of my landings on the Spectre 170... I remember once landing crosswind where I fell on my knees after aborting a very low 90° turn to final while aiming for a target... beside that occasion I remember falling 4 times when I was just off student status. >Have you ever slid a down wind landing on your ass instead of turning low. I've never slid a down wind landing "on my ass" instead of turning low... I think I've only once gotten me into a position where landing downwind appeared unavoidable... I ran that one out :o) >Have you ever had to do a low braked turn to avoid an unforseen obstacle. No, fortunately I have not been forced to make a low braked turn to avoid an obstacle, but I've practised this technique a few times to prepare for such circumstances. > How do you feel about landing the 150 off DZ? Landing the 150 Sabre was not a problem. Do note that on that specific jump the windspeeds drastically picked up during flight to altitude so the Sabre actually flew backwards on an "inverted" final if you catch my drift... It was a weird experience... fortunately the winds were calmer close to the ground :o) Regarding off DZ landings I'll see how the Sabre2 150 flies and flares, I'm expecting a totally different type of glide/swooping effect while flaring than on my previously owned Spectre which I would be comfortable landing almost anywhere.

Hi all, "a few" details first. I'm getting my new Sabre2 135 next week. I have a total of 118 jumps, all made in 2001. Of the 118 I have 95 on a Spectre 170 and 1 on a Sabre 150. I weigh 167 pounds having added 20lbs as gear weight. My calculations indicate that I've previously been loading my Spectre 170 at 0.98 and will be loading my new Sabre2 at 1.24. My canopy experience includes quite a few pretty-extreme weather conditions as I live in northern europe where temperature, windspeed and -direction changes pretty rapidly. I plan to spend a couple of jumps (~5) on a 150 before eventually downsizing to the 135, but It's not just the difference in size that encouraged me to post this, it's also the difference in characteristics between the Spectre and the Sabre2. Nonetheless, PD categorizes my weight pretty close to the expert class for this type of canopy. What's YOUR gut feeling on this scenario?

A few days ago I stumbled onto an article on Cypres "Misfires" (written in '95). An excerpt from the article, written by the manufacturer (Airtec), follows: "An altimeter doesn't actually measure altitude, it measures air pressure. It reads air pressure and converts that reading to altitude." ...as does any standard altimiter worn by jumpers... "AADs have a tough job because the air pressure around a falling jumper varies from one location on his body to the next. If he's falling face to earth, air pressure is higher on his chest and lower on his back." Knowing that the cypres is a very reliable safety add-on to skydiving equipment, while reading the article I couldn't avoid wondering if wearing a cypres could actually oppose danger to a jumper practising freefly maneuvers. Could a sudden change in position possibly generate a dual malfunction caused by the cypres? Is this something one should worry about? The article can be found at http://www.pia.com/SSK/cypres/cyp13.htm

Hehe, whether a nice mis-spelling or a sarcastic joke, you have a nice one in your news article dated Sunday, March 3, 2002. :) Money Claw :) "The Money Claw Freefly Team and Freefly School had a busy 2001 season and it preparing for an even busier 2002 season..." P.