davelepka

That's what I was thinking after I posted what I did, and read what you posted. It's clearly not an AD or an SB, but it is from the manufacturer, and it does put the reposnsibility squarely on the rigger to comply. However, there are two things that occur to me in terms of compliance and rigger responsibility. The first is that in the case of a Racer going in without a full reserve extraction, you would be hard pressed to prove that bag failing to release from an open container was due only to an improper fit of the reserve in the container. There are too many other factors that could produce a similar situation like PC hesitations and/or bridle hang ups. Second, I think for the manufacturer (or anyone for that matter) to expect that every rigger will comply with this 'notice', they would need to do a little more in the way of distribution besides posting it on DZ.com. I know that they did not post it here, but I would need to hear about this from several other sources before it could be considered widely distributed enough to be considered 'common knowledge'. I'll repeat that I think this is 10% science and 90% marketing/positioning. John has always liked to set himself apart from 'everyone else', and this appears to be another case of that same thing. That said, there's nothing wrong with not being like 'everyone else', and I do believe the Racer to be the most 'user friendly' in terms of reserve extraction.

Not random at all. The drag of the PC will be relative to the airspeed when it launches. A tension knot on a 240 sq ft Navagator is going to be much different than a baglock, or a spinner on a small Velocity.

I can't imagine that it would need to be done everytime, maybe just each time the rig is assembled with a different reserve. The document is titled as a 'Safety Notice', which leads me to believe that this is optional. If this were an AD, the document would look far more 'official' and more like a lawyer wrote it up. This might be some backhanded 'marketing' on the part of John Sherman, as a way to set Jump Shack apart from everyone else. Either way, it looks to be a pain in the ass. Somebody needs to figure out a way to rig some soft bodkins so you can keep something througt the freebag each time you test it. That alone would save a good deal of time on the reassembly.

Am I reading this correctly that they expect the rigger to fully close the reserve container three times? Twice for the last two pull tests, and once at the end of the repack? Wow.

So far I've owned a Racer (2), Vector 3, Javelin (2), Mirage(2), and now an Infinity. Based on functionality and durability, the Racer and the Infinty were the best. Are you telling me you ordered a Racer?

Which means you didn't order an Infinity. Sucks for you.

True, a portrait photographer will command a higher price than the typical skydiving photographer, but at the same time the portrait photog has a much bigger overhead in equipment as well. I can buy a Rebel for less then $500 and deliver a high quality product in the skydiving market, where a portrait photog is looking at $5000 (min.) to deliver a professional quality product in that market. In terms of 'quality', I'm an old school guy who started on 35mm film cameras (stills) where you could expect to get a nice, crisp, 11x14 print. As such, moving forward into digital stills, I maintain that is a good 'standard', and any digital still that cannot be enlarged to that size with good quality is sub-par, and below what customers should be able to 'expect'. To that end, I work at a DZ where we used to shoot a roll of stills on every jump, and then would do the 'after sell' on the stills. Since no preview was available, we would typically wait until they were watching the video, and then point out that the stills would look silimlar to that. The 'deal maker', however, was a wall full of 8x10 and 11x14 prints pulled from rolls that were not bought, but we processed anyway based on the camera flyers claim that there were good shots in there. Once you would point out those pics, and the look and quality of the enlargements, most folks would buy the film.

If the description of the 'incident' is correct, you would not be in the wrong. Being a new jumper flying a 210sq ft canopy at 1 to 1, you are easy see, easy to avoid, and never going to go anywhere or do anything in a hurry. If the other jumper truely does have over 1000 jumps, it's his job to avoid you, not the other way around. It almost a 100% guarantee that he was flying a faster canopy than you, which means that for him to land at the same time as you, you were the 'low man' for the bulk of the canopy ride. As we all know, the low man has the right of way. Addiionally, if a treeline was a factor, the more experienced jumper should know better then to put himself in a position where his only out was in the direction of an obstacle, or an area of turbulent air. This other jumper should consider himself lucky, and see this as a 'wake up call'. Either his skills with his current canopy are not up to par (lack of ability in making a flat turn, or a flare turn is evidence of this), or his judgement under canopy may be lacking. In either case, he is lucky to have avoided serious injury, and he should look into either changing canopies or seeking some additional training in terms of landing priorities and stratagies.

220? That's close to half the weight of the OP. Think about the times when you were 270, how did that experience jumping compare to jumping at 220? Can you even imagine doing it at 320? Let alone 420? Is it just me, or is everyone esle waiting for the 'updates' from the OP? Last we heard he was planning to contant equipment manufacturers and wind tunnels and promised updates. Does, "Sorry, we can't help you" not count as an update?

That's where 20 years off creates a disconnect. The priority for many jumpers is either not on the freefall, or equally split between freefall and canopy flight. Older canopies were not that exciing to fly, and didn't hold much appeal compared to turning points, but things have changed. If all it takes is 10 seconds less of freefall to allow me the altitude to jump and swoop a high performance canopy, it's well worth it. You get the majority of the freefall time and the swoop for the sake of a point or two off the bottom end of the jump. Many swoopers or swoopers-in-training will do hop n pops, just for the sake of making the landing. They cut out the freefall all together just to knock out another jump and log another landing, so when you put them in freefall, you can see how a few seconds here or there is of no consequence. None of this is mentioning that pulling at 2k is a bare minimum and it leaves you very little time for a mal, cutaway and a reserve deployment. Even with more moderate performance canopies at lower WL (by todays standards) will lose altitude quickly in the case of a mal, so dumping at the bare minimum altitude is pushing it. If you should encoutner any delay from a hard cutraway or reserve pull, or just fumbling for handles, pulling at 2k with a modern canopy puts you very low by the time you get a reserve out. Even if you're not going to swoop, dumping 500 ft higher automaticaly buys you a lot of time between you and the ground only giving up 3 seconds of freefall. If you have any lower time jumpers on your jump, the break off will be higher anyway, so you can dump higher with no problems. If you're jumping in a bigger group, the break off will be higher, so you can dump higher with no problems. If you're jumping with a small group of experienced jumpers, you should all know better and set the break off high enough for a reasonable pull altitude.

As previously mentioned, stop looking at complete rigs. Between main, reserve, AAD, harness size and container size, the chance that every one of those things will match your needs are slim. Start looking at seperate components, and also keep looking at complete rigs. Not hoping to get lucky with a complete rig, but anytime you see any part of a complete rig you're interested in, see if they will part it out. Some sellers don't mind, and others have been trying to sell their rig so long, they'll take whatever they can get out of it. In terms of containers, keep in mind that a harness can be resized for between $200 and $400, depending on the type of rig, harness, and how much needs to be changed. If you see a container that will fit your canopies, and you like everything but the harness size, get the serial number and contact the manufacturer with that and your measurements for a price quote on a resize. Seeing as a new container is going to run you north of $2000, you can save some money buying used and paying for the resize. You get a custom fit harness for substantially less than buying new. Even though it means nothing to the seller, you can use the resize in your price negotiation. If they want to move the container, and they know you're not just low-balling them so you get a sweet deal, they might be more receptive to lowering the price. You might save half the cost of the resize.

You have to remember that when you pull down on a rear riser, it effects everything from the C lines back, so the entire rear half of the canopy. If you do it while your brakes are stowed, it adds to the effect because the brake setting itself further deflects the tail. The end result is that you get more 'input' to the canopy with less input on the control. Just pulling the rear riser a few inches will produce a turn equivilant to pulling a toggle much further down. If your toggles naturally hang open, and everything goes well, that's one thing. If you have to fumble for one toggle or the other, if you grab your excess steering line (or if it has come loose, you can stick your hand through the loop), or if either toggle hangs up, you have a problem. On many modern canopies, or higer loaded canopies, any type of brake release problem can lead to a cutaway. Because of this, I prefer to unstow my brakes in a less hurried manner. I always check that my excess steering line is clear, and that everything looks 'good' before I unstow my brakes. It's cheap insurance against a silly problem that might require a cutaway (just to be clear, I'm suggesting a possible cutaway due to the difficulties of landing with one toggle comprimised on a high performance or highly loaded canopy).

I'm not sure how you figure this. To use your brakes to make a manuver, you need to get your hands inside of your toggles. To grab a riser, you can grab it anywhere on the riser. To use your brakes, you have to reach just as far up as grabbing a riser, but then you have to unstow them, and pull down far enough to delfect the tail. To se a riser, you reach up and your first inch of movement effects the canopy, no unstowing required. Those points aside, and pulling your slider down over your toggles (which is WAAAY easier with the brakes stowed) the other thing is that some of the more modern canopies use a steeper trim in full flight. What this means is that if you unstow your brakes, and need to let go of them to do anything else under canopy, you're going to be losing a lot of altitude just flying along in full flight. These canopies respond tremendously to 1/2 or even 1/4 brakes, but at full flight they are ground hungry. So leaving your brakes stowed until your slider is collapsed, and you are ready to 'fly' the canopy all the way to the ground is way to conserve altitude.

The most accurate jumpers on any DZ are often times the tandem guys, and they jump the biggest canopies around. Accuracy canopies are all bigger than 200 sq ft, some bigger than 250 ft. My guess is that when you downsized to your current canopy, your skills were improving anyway, and the faster canopy just made it easier to 'see' where you were going. The 'accuracy trick' is common knowledge, where you look out for the spot in the distance that is not moving up or down in your field of view, and that this is the spot you will eventually hit. When that spot, and the spots moving up or down in your field of view, are moving very slowly (like when your flying a slow canopy) sometimes the differences are harder to see. The changes are slower and more suttle, and as a newer jumper you're not 'sharp' enough to easily spot them, so accuracy is a bit of a crap-shoot. When you downsize, the rate of change in the spots you're looking at is higher, and the changes are more apparent. There's a fair chance you were jumping extra-slow student type canopies, or that your WL was so low on them that they were barely moving. When you downsize, and get on a 'sport' jumper canopy, you get two increases; one from the downsize, and one from moving off student canopies into sport canopies. The end result is that it becomes easier to spot the spot. That phenomenon will not carry forward. Now that you are on 'sport' gear, and at a reasonable loading, you won't be able to 'see' the spot any better after another downsize, it will just be coming at you faster (with no way to really slow down). Eventaully you'll adapt, and become used to the fatser canopy, but it's not going to be the break-through moment like when you got off student gear. As far as downsizing goes, it all depends on hwo you feel. If you are confident with your current performance, and feel like you are always 'ahead' of the canopy, demo a 170 for a weekend and see how you feel. You may love it, or it may intimidate the crap out of you. Depending on which one it is, either keep the 190, or move on to 170-ville. As far as what to jump, any of the mid-level performance canopies are a good choice, Sabre2, Spectre, Storm, Pilot, Safire, etc, Just try them and see what feels good to you. In terms of back up rigs, Dutton is right on the money. Eventually you have to pack both rigs anyway, so if you use a packer now, are you that busy that you need to two rigs along with a packer? Where I jump every staff rig is available for every other staffer to borrow for back to backs, so when all the tandem guys are busy, all of their rigs are free. Even if the DZ is busy, you can turn work down. If the available work is worth buying and maintaining another rig, and you're guaranteed to have a slot and get all the jumps, then maybe get another rig. If there's an occasional back to back, and it's not your full time job, you can always just say, 'I need time to pack'. Repacks and Cypres alone will cost $250 a year no matter how many jumps you make. Adding jumps just costs more for relines and repairs. Can you make enough extra with two rigs to justify those costs? What about the initial purchase price?

If you have a rig that will fit a 190, then just order up a couple of demos. From PD alone you could try the Sabre2, Spectre, Storm, Pulse, or Silhouette. I think their demo deal is for two weekends, so two demos would last you a month. The Aerodyne Pilot is another popular choice, but I'm not sure of the details of their demo program. Either way, if it's just a transition canopy, that should do you just fine. Have you asked around the DZ if anyone has a 190 you could borrow. A ragged out Sabre 190 might not be worth enough to even sell, but it would be just fine for 20 or 30 jumps. Maybe someone has one tucked away in a closet. Also, if you have access to a Sabre 170, lay your Safire down on top of it, and see what the size really is. If you're going to jump PD canopies as transition canopies, it helps to know how your end canopy compares to the steps along the way.

I find it funny that loop wasn't changed much sooner, especially on a tandem.

It would take more than that. It's not just the real estate for the building itself, nobody wants to be located right next to a tunnel. The surrounding real estate would take a hit in value, and the city would probably never grant you a permit. If you could buy enough land so you had a 'buffer zone' between you and the neighbors, that would be one thing, but the way people live on top of each other in the city, you could never just buy a biulding and put one in.

Here's the problem with that - very few jumpers can perform a barrel roll while maintaining a max track. Even those that can know that you need to make a quick transition to keep the speed and angle up during the roll. The speed of that transition will comprimise your ability to effectively scan your overhead area. So a jumper wants to transition to back track, pause, and then go back to belly. The news flash is, that very few jumpers can do that while maintaining a max track. You need to remember that most tracking dives are not conducted at max track. The pace is generally relaxed from max track, in order to give all involved some manuvering speed relative to the base. Even the shit-hot tracking dives will come up short of a max track. The moral of the story is that what you, or anyone else, can pull off on a tracking dive does not mean that you can do the same while maintianing the speed and angle of a max track. Regardless of the type of jump, if you are in a group where you cannot look back and see EVERY member of the group tacking in different directions, you need to check your airspace, and the most effective way to do this while maintaining a max track is to stay belly to earth and look over your shoulder. Guys who insist otherwise are not gaining cool points, they're gaining stupid points. Nobody is watchinhg you track, so showing off isn't impressing anyone but yourself. The smartest move is the one that provides you with the most seperation for the time allowed. Intentionally cutting into that is just dumb.

You're really missing the point. If you break off high, and then stop short to wave off like a madman, you've just neutralized any benefit you may have gotten from the early break off. Your seperation from the group remains the same as if you had gone with the original break off plan. The #1 thing you can do is track hard and fast for as long as humanly possible. If you break off high, track further. Don't stop and waste your time, just keep going. I'll return the concept of multi-tasking - while you track, check your airspace both above and below. When you're done tracking and you flare out to pull, sit up and wave off at that time, then dump. See? Track AND check your airspace. Flare out of your track AND wave off. It keeps you moving and on target. After break off, you are always either tracking or pulling, the two most important things you can do at that time. Everything else you need to do can be accomplished while you are tracking and pulling. To shorten or delay either one is a waste of time and space. Who the hell are you to waste time and space? What would Stephen Hawking say? If you do see someone, becasue you are already hauling ass in a track, just vector yourself off to the opposite side of your traffic and complete your track.

The rule of thumb is to only buy what you can fit into and fly right now. You plan to lose weight, but that may or may not work. You plan to get current on a 240 and make 'X' number of jumps byu 'Y' date, but that might not happen. You plan to be right back where you left off before your deployment (military, not canopy) but that might not happen. Here's what you do - get back, get current and see what's what. Make 10 jumps and see how you're doing. move forward accordingly. Also, keep in mind that a harness resize can be done for $200 to $400 depending on the type of container, and any container can hold at least 3 sizes of canopy. You can easily save $1500 or $2000 buying a used container over a new one, even with a military discount. Maybe you can find a used rig that can hold a 210 or 220. Resize the harness for your body type, and squeeze in a 220 for a while. Get up to speed on that, and sell it and use the cash for a 210. Repeat and end up with a 190 that's easy to pack in a rig that fits you like a glove.

I don't see how being on a tracking dive changes anything. Once you break off, the content of the freefall is irrelevant. The fact remains that the quailty of your scan above you during a barrel roll is going to be very low. Picture a barrel roll in your mind, the manuver is quick, and you typically have to look where you are going (as in your eyes are leading the roll, looking in the direction of the roll). As such, I can't see how you could do a good job of scanning anything during a barell roll. Let's take it one step further, even if you do see someone, how much will you see? Can you ascertain enough during a barell roll to see the porximity, direction and speed of the person above? Or is it more likely you'll just get a glance of a jumper? You'll know someone is there, but not much else (which is good, but more info would be better). What do you do now? Someone is up there going somewhere, but that's all you know. You could keep tracking, but then what? Are you going to throw another barrel role to re-check your airspace? Or are you going to start looking over your shoulder to see if it's clear? My guess is that you'll start looking over your shoulder. Why not skip the 'tricks' and just start by looking over your shoulder. Once your track is established, you can look over each shoulder for several seconds, and get a good look on your own time-table, not the time-table of a barrel roll. Now if you do see someone, keep looking and figure out just how close they are, and where they are going. use this info to adjust your heading, and find a clear patch of sky. The whole time this has been going on, you've been maintaining your track speed and angle. The problem with all of these 'experts' suggesting a barrel role is that they don't ever think it through to the next step, what do you do if someone is there? The quality of any type of 'safety' manuver is in the action taken when safety is at risk. For example, if I told you to stick your hands in between your ass and your legstraps right after throwing the PC, in order to prevent you from grabbing the risers and fouling the openings or breaking a finger, it would work. The canopy would open by iteslf, and the risers would never try to rip off your fingernail. For that prupose, it works, but if you have a mal, now your hands are stuck under your legstraps, and you've created a hurdle to cutting away and pulling your reserve. (Nobody ever do this with your hands, it was an example, and not a real suggestion) The barell roll is the same idea. It's cool trick, and looks slick on video, but in reality it provides a comprimised view overhead, and very little info about anyone who might be up there. When the airspace is clear, it works like a charm, but when you do see someone, it's less than ideal. Break off at a reasonablle altitude. Choose a clear heading and light the afterburners. Once you have done that, you have 6 or 7 seconds of free time. Look over each shoulder at your leisure, and see what's up. You have the time to get a good look on each side, and the momentum (and good info from your check) to move to a different part of the sky if you see somebody.

That sucks for you, because out of what I wrote, the riser thing should be the least of your worries.

He knows the deal. He's been on DZ.com enough, and invovled in enough threads about overloaded HP canopies with too few jumps. It should be no surprise to him, or anyone around him if something should go wrong. I'll save the canopy nazi stuff for the guys I'm not 100% sure have read it already. A new jumper, or new poster may have never heard any of it before, so I'll repeat myself for the 1000th time, and spell it out for them. Docpop knows he's pushing it, he thinks he has ot all figured out, and he also knows that every guy that augered in thought they had it all figured out too. Meanwhile, he's jumping the second highest performance canopy PD has ever made and he doesn't know to pop the rear risers to get the slider down. If you ever actually make some jumps, and then start to jump a HP canopy, I wouldnt' spell it out for you either. You've been on the board long enough, you know the deal.

Don't change anything with the pack job or the canopy. If your canopy wants to open slow, that better than the alternative, and a snively canopy can trun into a slammer with just slight changes. Just give a sytemtrical tug on your rear risers where you're ready for the slider to come down. if you think back to your FJC, the solution to a slider that doesn't come all the way down was to flare the canopy, and the slider would come all the way down (of course, if the slider was stuck 1/2 way up or more, the solution was to cut away). Either way, tugging the rear risers does the same thing. Leave it open slow, and use the risers to fine tune it. If you speed it up, and it wants to open too fast, there's no solution to that except pain killers.

He was responding to my post. He mentioned that at the end of his track, he stops - then barrel rolls - then pulls. I asked what he would do if he saw someone above him, and the answer was to just go low. When he said that was a bad idea, he was refering to going low in general, which is a bad idea. In the case of a jumper above you in freefall (with you falling straight down at pull time) going low is the only option, and you have to do it, but it still sucks. My suggestion was to check over your shoulder during the track, so if you should see someone up there, you can just bump your heading over a bit and keep the track going. If you see somone while you're mid-track, a heading change, and slight extension of the track should get you clear. End result is you pull more-or-less 'on time'.