AiRpollUtiOn

2 - 6 - 4 OK, it took it easy on sunday, but hey, so did GOD remember! Good weather in Belgium. Got in about 50 jumps last month, account looks like a tornado passed... Will jump for beer, bs AiRpollUtiOn

I heard Icarus had a prototype for a 28 ft² ( It's very likely that they don't, that's hearsay your honor... I object...) Wouldn't like to be the one hanging under it... Will jump for beer, bs AiRpollUtiOn

Got a Z1 and a Gath. Z1 is for RW (FS), gath for kiss pass (and that's its only purpose!) I love the Z1 for its purpose, really comfy for RW training For other jumps, the reason why I don't wear it is simple, noise and feel. Nothing like feeling the wind in your face, and when I'm under canopy, I just love to hear my speed, without a helmet on, I find it easier (and more fun) to judge my speed after manouevres. Will jump for beer, bs AiRpollUtiOn

I jumped someone's Stiletto 150 today, and was absolutely amazed about the difference with my Sabre 150. delicious opening, so easy to control with harness input when still in half-brakes (getting down the slider), so crisp and fast turns on toggle, same for front riser but my god sooo fast!, so sweet to put on the ground => much less input needed for nice flatten out and landing. In a nutshell: I'll have to try to get it out of my head, or this 'll cost money, I really do want to wait untill next year before buying a stiletto or Contrail 135 or 120 Just felt like sharing... P.S.: Decided not to go for hook nor carve, didn't want to spoil the fun, but I admit my left arm was tempted to give it a yank anyway... Will jump for beer, bs AiRpollUtiOn

Welcome John! I've got one advise to give you, don't start skydiving, it 'll ruin your social and financial life... Think it's like an alien virus or sumthing, maybe a case for agent Scully (she can always come over and investigate me!!!) It will be the greatest thing you ever took up though!!!! Screw old friends, live on cheese sandwiches (and beer...), skydive like hell !!!!!!!!!!!! Will jump for beer, bs AiRpollUtiOn

Won'tbe an issue Dave, oh yea, we sorta passed on the roll, but someone dropped it along the way, about a minute after we all landed, people on the terras saw the remains of the roll come down! I hardly think that you would feel much if you were hit by the roll, use the soft kind offcourse! enjoy Will jump for beer, bs AiRpollUtiOn

Okay, this is the deal, playing with toilet paper under canopy is cool, but playing with it in freefall is a whole different ballgame. Here's how it goes: One guy has to be the victim, he takes a roll with him. To be able to hold the roll easily, you just pull through a piece of chord and and tie a knot in it, with a good lenght so you can easily hold it. This guy exits first, the rest follows and tries to get straight overhead nr 1 at about 30 ft. The TP will not unroll, but chunks will tear off, and if you're nicely overhead, it will be like a shitload of TP debris being fired right at you! Did this for my 100th jump this weekend, it was SOOOOO much fun, and the video was hilarious! Try it out this weekend and lemme know what you think! Will jump for beer, bs AiRpollUtiOn

I jump a Sabre as well, and I would sit on my hands and knees and praise the lord if it would snivel!!! Maybe your slider has been adjusted. Actually it's kinda funny to see your legs in front of your nose on opening (okay, so I didn't slow down enough after tracking away from the formation...) Will jump for beer, bs AiRpollUtiOn

thanks bill, will try that one for sure. For the moment I'm fully concentrating on 2 ways with a buddy of mine. About 8 jumps out of 10 we jump together. Sometimes a 3 - 4 way comes in, but I think these jumps don't get me forward at the time (except for levelling) We incorporate cats in each 2 way, and they're slowly getting better. We're currently working on sideslides as well, do you have any tips for excercises on this??? Will jump for beer, bs AiRpollUtiOn

First of all: this is Dutch, actually flemmish is the same as dutch, only pronounciation is a bit different, but then again, there are a lot of different dialects in Dutch. One could say that Flemmish is Belgian Dutch, spoken in flanders. About half of the Belgian population speaks dutch (the northern half, that untill 1835 or so belonged with the Netherlands), the southern half speaks french, this fenomenon we call the linguistic barrier, and was created when romans were conquerring Europe, but were stopped in the woods that divided the Belgian area in two... enough for history, I'll give you the translation. The trim isn't always set by the manufacturer. When time passes the lines stretch and wear out.On a high performance canopy, five centimeters or so can make a big difference. According to an article by rigger Derek Vanboeschoten in Skydiver magazine (for your info: the monthly magazine of the flemmish skydiving association VVP) the steering lines of a new canopy even have to be a bit too long. By the use of the canopy they shrink up to 10 centimeters, caused by friction between slider grommets and the lines. The lines of a canopy need to be replaced from time to time, once they loose their trim. However the same skydiver that correctly changes tires once they are worn out, and changes his oil from time to time will never think about how his parachute is influenced by wear. Here you go, I didn't make it too prozaic, but you can be sure that this is a correct translation. That last sentence is about the biggest load of cr#@ I've ever read. Will jump for beer, bs AiRpollUtiOn

I can tell you one thing, chicks that skydive shouldn't be your target goup. Lived together with one, nasty break up, on speaking terms again... Even did an RW2 with her this weekend. The girl you're looking for can be a whuffo as well, if only she accepts the fact that having a relationship with you implies being alone all weekend (or waiting at the DZ all day for that single minute between landing and packing/briefing/going up again) , and if she accepts the FACT that you'll never have the money nor you will ever feel like spending your money lying around on a tropical beach for 2 weeks roasting like a thanksgiving turkey with all that blue sky over your head. To go even further: maybe a whuffo-chick would be even better, that way one of you has money for unexpected things (like relines and stuff...) My girlfriend doesn't have to be at the DZ every saturday/sunday, if she's there by the time I go to my caravan it's allrighty with me!!! Will jump for beer, bs AiRpollUtiOn

Ever wonder why whuffo's tell you to "get a life" ??? Will jump for beer, bs AiRpollUtiOn

Done my 100th this weekend, payd massive beer... We did a fun jump wearing way too small jumpsuits with funky colour combinations, normally used by tandem-passenger girls. We took some toilet paper with us, it didn't roll off as expected, it kinda came loose in big flocks! Bjorn, one of the guys on the jump was right above me, and on the video it's really cool to see him get hit by these pieces of paper. anywayzzz, had fun! What have you guys done on these celebration jumps? Will jump for beer, bs AiRpollUtiOn

Didn't find any articles, but I'm going over to my rigger later (have dive loops installed, let the front riser fun begin!) so normally I should have more info in a few hours, I'll post asap. Will jump for beer, bs AiRpollUtiOn

This evening, the Pilatus PC-6 of DZ Spa in Belgium only moments after take-off. Propably due to pilot error (flaps not raised soon enough, the same reason as the crash of a Pilatus at DZ Moorsele last year.) One American girl living in Belgium died, 11 were injured. Don't have more info. Dark clouds are hanging over skydiving in Belgium the last few weeks. I wish the 11 injured a good recovery, and blue skies to all 12 people that were in this accident. Will jump for beer, bs AiRpollUtiOn

Got more info from one of the people running skydive flanders and Moorsele DZ This girl was doing AFF, had done 7 jumps before and didn't have problems under canopy. She apparently turned downwind and crashed into a fence, and died of internal injuries. Her instructors don't understand why she made the decision to turn donwind. She will be burried on saturday, Belgian DZ's will not start activities untill after the ceremony. Blue skies. Will jump for beer, bs AiRpollUtiOn

shaize hose!!!!!!!!!! You've just given me the coolest idea for my nr 100 this weekend, sweet!!!!!!!!!!!! Will jump for beer, bs AiRpollUtiOn

I hate the idea of jumping this weekend, if I get in 3 jumps, I will owe massive beer... Will jump for beer, bs AiRpollUtiOn

Would be great to get on top of the piramid, slide off, and launch a base. I think you would clear the pfffft, thingie around, how did they call it again, not going to recheck, took ages to load... Will jump for beer, bs AiRpollUtiOn

You're right, I guess I got a little carried away, I just don't want anyone to think that I would suggest high performance landings in tricky conditions. Will jump for beer, bs AiRpollUtiOn

Quade, I know that I am not even close to being an expert canopy pilot (look at my number of jumps...), I do have some theoretical background in aerodynamics however. With my post i was in no way meaning to suggest using front riser manoeuvres in turbulance, i was only reacting to the original question: "is there an increased risk of turbulance causing some part of the canopy to collapse while the front risers are being held down?" When there is a lot of turbulance, I land with a rather long straight-in approach, and when my canopy then acts too funky for me, I won't go up again before I have seen a couple of loads land with a definite improvement in the conditions. I rather sit out a few jumps than 2 months of jumping, like the rest of us I suppose. To stay on the issue, front risers and turbulance, I'd like to tell a thing I saw when I was about 13 years old (10 years ago) My dad (yup, I'm one of those guys who was dragged to DZ's his entire childhood) was hanging under his canopy. The drop wazsall but perfect, because he was hanging over the woods downwind of the landing area. When he came at the edge of these woods, an intersection between woods and tarmac, his canopy collapsed completely, then opened again. At the time he was waaaaayyyyy too low to try to go for a reserve procedure, all he could do was try to "pump" it open again, which it luckily did. By the time his canopy was open again he must have been between 150-300 feet. The canopy he was using was a 250 or something, loaded at 0.7 to 0.8 I believe. If he had been front risering to clear those woods, maybe the canopy wouldn't have collapsed because of its higher rigidity. He didn't jump that canopy again, went and baught a falcon 210. So my reply was absolutely not meant to say: hey guys, if you wanna be safe in turbulance, go for front risers all the way up to flare, au contraire! I'm also trying to say that some people don't know what they're talking about when suggesting first canopies after student status to guys or girls that are looking to buy their first rig. The only thing I was told was: don't go smaller than 170ft². In my case this wasn't bad advise, but what about someone that weighs 110 lbs??? is a 0.65 wing loading always safe??? I just heard that the VVP, the flemmish parachutist association is finally going to make new rules that put wing loadings first in their rules that say what canopy people with a limited jumps are allowed to use, lots of inexperienced people bouncing under too small and fast canopies here as well... Maybe I'm going bad as well, flying a sabre 150 loaded at 1.3 with few less than 100 jumps (beers this weekend by the way, 3 more to go...), but I'm confident flying it, not OVERconfident however. I think going to small is very risky business, but I think that a lot of people don't realise that too large canopies are dangerous as well. I got a bit lost here, so lemme conclude by saying that where I jump, with a lot of variety in surface (woods, tarmac, sand) causing turbulance in hot weather, I go for my front risers to clear those surface transitions, but I do go for regular straight-in landings without touching my fronts. Better safe than sorry... Will jump for beer, bs AiRpollUtiOn

Mine's at 4000, 3000 and 1500, the 1500 would be really f@#§&ng close to cypres activation, it's kinda like a last minute call, I usually track away @ 4000 for a few seconds, and if enough separation I pull, I usually hear the 3000 noise when my chute is opening, if not, the 3000 noise is my "throw away the damn pc"-sign Will jump for beer, bs AiRpollUtiOn

Doesn't an increase in airspeed result in a higher rigidity of the airfoil??? Isn't a small canopy less susceptible to turbulence then a larger one (with the same weight hanging under it?) Not sure, would like comments... You're absolutely right when saying any canopy will be affected by turbulence btw. Will jump for beer, bs AiRpollUtiOn

Earlier today, a girl died @ Moorsele DZ, part of Skydive Flanders. I don't have accurate info, apparently she hit a fence on landing and died of several internal injuries. Blue skies to her, and her family and friends. Will jump for beer, bs AiRpollUtiOn

Congrats! You know for kids the risk of injuries becomes a lot smaller if you have them training their PLF rather soon! Blue skies to Nic! Will jump for beer, bs AiRpollUtiOn