davelepka

The problem is in the pants. Most people will learn to sit fly first, and if the pants don't have velcor closed cuffs, than they will fill with air and blow up around your knees. Even if you're trying to fly on your head, if you need to rotate to the sit the pants will strike again. You're just better off in a suit. Like I said, the fit of freefly suit is less important than an RW suit, so even if you can find something 'close' it will fit the bill until you deciede you like freeflyin enough just to buy a suit.

First off, a freefly suit doesn't have grippers, so that makes it tougher for the people you're jumping with. A freefly suit usualyl has baggy arms/legs, so technically they can just grab onto the extra material. That said, you have to remember that jumpsuits are designed for fall rate. If you are going to be doign RW with people shorter and fatter then you, then a freefly suit is a terrible idea. The extra drag fo the suit will slow you down, while the bowling balls you're jumping with will want you to speed up. Of course, if you're the bowling ball, you might actually need the extra drag of the freefly suit to do RW. Those are just examples of how the suit and it's design will effect your jump. The truth is that the majority of multi person jumps are all done at about the same speed. Lets just say 120 for RW and 150 for freefly, and everyone chooses a suit that will help their personal body type fly at those speeds. Now if you're doing a two way RW with the biggest guy on the DZ, then you may have to find a way to go 135 on your belly because that's the slowest the big guy can go, but for the most part you can expect group jumps to always be close to more 'average' speed. That said, if you're going to buya suit, buy an RW suit. The fit is a little more important than a freefly suit, and the wrong suit can really hamper your RW progression. You'll be doing 3, 4, and 5 way RW jumps very soon, and you'll be expected to match the 'average' fall rate, and the wrong suit can make this tough. In terms of freeflying, your early jumps will be primarily two ways, where the average is whatever the two of you work out. Also the range of freefly speeds is higher. You can sit or backfly at 140, or stand up or head down at 170, and it's all still freeflying. Here's what you do - consult with an instructor regarding your body size/type, and what type of RW suit material. cut, and options would be good for you, and order that suit. Next, go into the student room, and see if you can find a baggy suit with velcro arm/leg cuffs that seems to fit you. Use that suit for your occasional freefly jump. You could also look for jumpers about your size at the DZ, and see if you could borrow a freefly suit from them for your occasional freefly jump. Next winter, save your pennies, and order your own custom fit freefly suit.

First off, note that is says 'the best option may be to open the reserve'. That hardly sounds like a hard and fast rule, more of an option. Overall, the gear is designed to be operated in a specific order. You open the hastily packed main first because that canopy can be cutaway. That's why you don't need a rigger to pack your main, the three ring makes the main easily disposable. You open the rigger packed reserve last. This canopy cannot be cutaway, but it is possible that it will malfunction too. For this reason, it should be last on your 'to-do' list. A floating reserve ripcord does not make the order of operation change any. It's not a step in the process, just a pain in the ass. Let's say your cutaway pillow was accidentally removed by your 4-way team mate. In that case, the order of operation has been interrupted, and you will need to skip directly to the reserve. Otherwise, stick with what the gear was designed to do. There's a good chance the rig will do what it was designed to do, and just work. Even if it doesn't work the first time, continue with your EPs (like the rig was designed) and see if that part of the rig will work.

There's a guy on here, his screen name is somthing like 'MDREJohn' or something like that, and he did exactly what you want to do. He started with relatively low jump numbers and went to camps and worked his way on to some big way jumps. Maybe get in touch with him, and see if he has any suggestions. Anyone out there know the guy I'm talking about? I don't have the screen name exactly right, so searching that won't help. I think he's Canadian, if that helps. Who know his exact screen name?

You should check with the organizers of the record to see what the requirements are. They may have a minimum jump number needed to participate. That said, tunnel time isn't going to help you with big way stuff like diving down to the formation, and proper big-way break off techniques. I know the Perris does big way camps where they work on big way specific skills, and participating in one of those might buy you some additional consideration from the record organizers. Maybe check and see when the next camp is, and alter your travel plans. If you're coming all the way from Norway, Eloy and Perris are really only a few hundred miles apart, not that far at all given the scope of your trip.

Don't do that. Let's think about the different possibilities - If you open your main, it might open clean. It might also malfunction, at which point you have a reserve to fall back on. It might also dislodge the reserve pin, and give you a two out. There is a ton of info on how to handle the variations of two-outs, look it up. Now if you go to reserve, things get funky- The reserve might open clean. The reserve might mal, and now you're stuck with that piece of shit. You could try to open the main, but without a freebag and right next to a malfunctioned reserve, good luck. The reserve might open, and dislodge the main pin. With the PC still in the pouch, this is a horseshoe type thing, but with an open reserve. I'm not even sure what that means, but it doesn't sound like fun. Your reserve should be your last choice. There should be some sort of obstacle between you and plan A (the main) before you go to plan B, or by another name, your last chance. Especially now that you've personally seen a floater 'do no harm', go forward with that in mind.

Just to be clear, what he saw his his friend's Cypres fire. I'm guessing he went for his main because that's how he ended every skydive up to that point. It's half muscle memory, and half trying to survive. What do you think you're better at, throwing your PC, or pulling your reserve ripcord? Different hands, different locations, 100's of successful PC throws vs. far fewer (if any) ripcord pulls. How many times have you drilled your EPs? 100's? 5 times before every jump? Multiplied by your 300 jumps is 1500 times. Of those 1500, how many were drills for going straight to reserve? From freefall straight to silver, have you ever drilled that one? My guess is that most people haven't and if you revert to your training, and go through your full EPs, you would be too late. If you take the time to think that the first half of your EPs is not needed, then proceed to just do the last half (pull silver) you'd be too late. If the guy had hesitated for a second, and had no Cypres, this would have been a fatality. The real solution is to pay attention to your situation. Check your altitude, it's not that hard and pretty damn important. In terms of your EPs, and the thoughts I outlined above, stick with what you've been taught. Put your efforts into keeping youself from getting your back up against the wall like this guy did, and you won't have to worry about these 'what if's'. Two other points - notice the delay between one Cypres fire and the other. Freeflying and other body postions have been linked to odd Cypres behavoir, and this video is proof. The other jumper was open several hundred feet hgher than the camera guy. 750ft. is just a number in a book, the reality of a Cypres fire is another story. Finally, make sure you notice the landing, and how close he came to getting a vasectomy from the bird house in the backyard he landed in.

Meanwhile, in another thread, a guy with 25 jumps and a guy with 40 jumps have their own ideas. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3773506;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

How does the size or simplicity of the camera have anything to do with the disctraction it will provide in freefall? You do realize that every video camera used for skydiving is as simple as can be in freefall. You turn it on before you exit, and then do not touch it in anyway until the jump is over. Once all the settings are in place, a CX100 is just as easy to operate as a GoPro - power on, push record. Check out this thread I posted in the video forum - http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3675905;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

Just a bump back up to the top of the page. I actually looked up the thread so I could link to it in another post I'm wirting, but figured I'd give it a bump while I was here.

It's simple- Step one: Put on a mask. Preferably a skull mask Step two: At less than 500 ft, turn said mask sideways, so it looks like you're looking off to the side during your landing. Step three: Make history

I'm sure there will be plenty of safety day related activities at the Expo. Go there, enjoy the jumps, the safety day stuff, and all the manufacturers displays. You'll learn more and have more fun than attending Safety day at your home DZ. I'm sure you can get a briefing on an DZ-specific stuff you miss at your home DZ Safety day.

I was just kidding about the PDF stuff. Actually, I think the only reason those canopies stall so quickly on the rears is the shallow trim they all have. Great for gliding home, but shitty on the rears. The angle of attack is so shallow to begin with, there's very little riser deflection needed to hit the stall. I'm pretty sure if you trimmed one steeper, you could get more travel, and thus more feel, out of the rear risers. Of course, then it would open like crap and need a different slider, but this is all just theoretical anyway.

Indeed, the exception to every rule. At higher WL, or smaller canopies, the diffuculty will go up, but if you read the part of the post about flying the right canopy for your skill level, you'll see that anyoen flying smaller or highly loaded canopies should already know how to use the rears, and be able to figure out a new-to-them canopy on their own. My point was more to the newer jumpers, like the OP, who don't know about rear risers. Besides, your talking about French canopies, what do you expect? Everyone knows if you want a real canopy, it's PD all the way.... (not a joke, but kind of a joke, but not).

Just to follow up on the questions that were posted while I was typing - Rear riser landings can be made with any canopy, and can be soft, non-PLF landings if you have practiced it. All canopies are capable of it, it's up to the jumper to make it happen. The extremely short stroke of the rear riser from full flight to stall is why people think it's so tricky. They are used to a 2 1/2 foot toggle stroke for a flare, and are not used to the fine-touch required to fly the rear risers. Again, it's just a matter of practice to become familiar with that type of input. Again, with that said, be careful when you start actually trying to land with the rears. Make sure the weather conditions are right (you want some wind, and it needs to be steady) and that you personally feel good about the situation. Be ready to abort the riser landing if anything goes off-plan. Changing wind conditions, traffic conflict, or just a last minute lack of confidence are all great reasons to bail out and use your toggles. Wait until everything else is in your favor, THEN add the challenge of a rear riser landing. The longer you wait to learn these skills, the greater the chance you will break a line or have another situation arise where you could use a rear riser landing, but you are not preparred. Oh yeah, remember to always PLF when tyring new things on landing.

The short answer is to land on with your rear risers, and others have suggested that it's not that hard to do. However, there are a couple of things to think about if the situation should ever arise. The first is your steering line length. The correct length for a steering line is such that the stall point is as far down as you can possibly reach. With the lines adjusted to this length, they will be long enough that when your toggles are all the way up, there will be no tension on the steering lines, and it will not effect the tail of the canopy. It should be such that the first few inches of toggle stroke don't even effect the tail, they just take up the slack in the lines. The reason is this, if your lines are too short (which many are), you have several problems. In normal flight, if the tail is deflected when the toggles are all the way up, your canopy is not in true 'full flight', and not flying as fast as it should. This lower airspeed in 'full lfight' will translate into less flare power when you go to land. Another problem with short brake line is that the stall point ends up higher than 'as far down as you can reach'. What this means is that you can more easily stall your canopy, and if you accidentally flare down to, or past, the stall point, your canopy will dump on your back. When the stall point is porperly set, you have to make an intentional effort to reach that far down, and you are unlikely to do this accidentally while landing. As it applies to your situation, if your brake lines are too short, and deflecting the tail, when one breaks, it will release the tail on that side and create a turn in the direciton of the remaining brake line. Remember, it's still pulling it's half of the tail down, but without the other side to balance it, instead of producing a slower 'full flight', it's now causing a turn. As such, you will need to hold constant pressure on the opposite riser to make the canopy fly straight. Which brings me to my next point, rear riser landings are easy IF you have practiced them before, and your canopy is flying straight to begin with. The rear riser stroke from full flight to stall is very short, maybe 6 or 8 inches. If you are using half of that just to make the canopy fly straight, you are going to have an even shorter flare stroke on that side, and going to have to do different things with each hand when you go to flare. One will be a full stroke riser flare, the other will be a half stroke. On top of this, you're doing a rear riser landing, which even in the best circumstance is not what you're used to. Not only is a different type of landing, but you have a canopy that won't fly straight, and a broken steering line to screw up your head and stop you from thinking clearly. Sooooo, what we do is this - we make sure our steering lines are set correctly. We do this by looking at them our next jump, and with the toggles all the way up, we see the lines have some rearward bow to them (this is the slack in the lines being blown back by the wind of the canopy flying forward. We also stall the canopy, and make sure it takes a good 'reach' to make it happen. If the lines are too short, or too long (if you cannot stall it), have a rigger adjust them for you. Generally about 2" to 3" at most, then jump and re-check them. Continue until they are correct. Re-check every 50 jumps or so. Next we work on rear riser ladnings. Start by using the rear risers at altitude, doing turns and some practice flares. You'll also need to stall the canopy with the rear risers, so you know what not to do close to the ground. Just pull them down evenly, and slowly, until the canopy stalls and them ease them back up. Do this several times, and you'll begin to feel the stall before it occurs. Remember this feeling for when you're actually landing with the rears. You can practice actual rear riser landings, but make sure you pick a day with some moderate, steady winds, and that you feel mentally ready and are confident in your abilities. Whatever happens, don't revert back to a toggle style flare where you pull your hands down to your waist. The canopy will quickly stall and dump you on the ground. All of the above is assuming that you are jumping a canopy appropriate for your skill level. Too high of a wing loading will make all of the above manuvers and lessons that much harder. It will also make the price of a mistake that much higher. One last point, you might also find yourself with only one toggle if you break a steering line. This usually happens on opening, where you will be high enough to cut away and open your reserve. However, a clean reserve deployment is not guaranteed, and if that canopy mals, your fucked. If your canopy is set-up porperly, and you have taken the time to teach yourself how to handle your canopy with the rear risers, a cutaway due to a broken steering line is not needed. Simply fly it down and land it. Then learn to pack better so a hard opening doesn't snap a steering line, or maintain your equipment better so you're not jumping with worn line prone to breaking. That also goes for your toggle falling off your steering line. A properly fastened toggle will not fall off the steering line, and any wear, or loosening of the knot would reveal itself in a regular inspection of your rig long before it actually fell off. Remember to look your rig over aftrer every jump, and more completely after each weekend. It's your ass on the line.

Here's another clue. If he claims to have multiple malfunctions, and has jumped naked, that would mean he had at least 30 or 40 jumps. It's doubtful that a student would have multiple malfunctions as the rigs are packed by DZ staff, and no student would be allowed to jump naked, so those storied imply that he was off student status. (OK, if has happened that students will have multiple mals, but it is rare. Also, female tandem students have been known to jump naked, but not AFF students, and not male students). The biggie is the 'recording for tandems' claim. This would imply that he had at least 100 jumps or more. The 'official' minimum for filming a tandem is 500 jumps, and the 'official' minimum for jumping with a camera is 200 jumps. Both of those minimums are broken all the time, but not much beyond 75-100 jumps to jumps a camera, and 100-150 jumps to video a tandem. Sure, boys do lie about stuff all the time, but this is just stupid. It a lie about something with no consequence. Maybe a guy doesn't tell you he used to drink too much, or that his dad used to beat him up when he was a kid. That makes sense, not everyone wants to share those types of bad memories. But to lie about being a skydiver is just stupid. Unless he thinks that you only like him because he says he's a skydiver, what's the point in making it up? If he's trying to impress you, think how un-impressed you'll be when you find out he's lying to you. Not only does he turn out to not be a jumper, but he's a liar on top of that. He would just be better off not lying to you, and just being an honest non-skydiver. One last thing, we might all be wrong about this guy. Have him read this thread, and give him a chance to explain himself. He might be the one-in-a-million odd ball who is a jumper, but doesn't act at all like a jumper (but I don't think so).

No, he's not. Sorry. If your boyfriend was a skydiver, he would never have missed a trip to the DZ, let alone a trip to the DZ where his girlfriend was going to make a jump. Even if his back hurt, he didn't have to jump, but to not go to the DZ at all? Many, many jumpers who cannot jump for one reason or another, be it medical or just because they're broke, will show up at the DZ anyway. Without anyone they know doing a tandem, or even anyone to drive out there with, they still show up. He doesn't have to have pictures or gear, or even a logbook to prove it, all of those things can be lost, but at least he would have went to the DZ with you. If he really was a jumper with a hurt back, he probably would have went to the DZ with you, and taken an observer ride in the plane when you made your jump. Sign up for the AFF course. If your BF hasn't jumped in a year, he can sit through the ground school with you as a refresher, and he can make a recurrency jump that day. Problem solved. Of course, he could also prove himself to be a chicken shit liar, who'e never made a jump and never will. More importantly, have fun with the AFF course.

Unless the first post-factory pack job was the result of a reserve deployment, the last rigger should have had the stow the factory used upon assembly. If there was no reserve deplyment, maybe the last rigger made a larger stow to make it easier to close the bag. Did you happen to notice if the bag was 'closed' or was it hanging open with the canopy barely contained in the bag? I'm not suggesting that it would be acceptable to do that, even if you sewed the stow correctly, but it would explain why a rig that should have had a factory safety stow installed would have a larger home-made stow in it's place.

I can't. All you did was show us a video of Olav flying around by himself. For all I know he was in there with his eyes closed, and you're using it as the prime example of his flying/coaching abilities. Like I said, let have an apples to apples comparison. Even if you want to compare his apples to somebody elses apples, post a video of him in the tunnel with a paying student and a video of anyone else displaying what you believe to be the minimum skill needed to coach students in the tunnel. If that guy is flying better then Olav, then you'll have a point. If that other video happens to be you displying the minimum skills needed to fly with a student in the tunnel, it would really make your point for you, but even if it was some other dude, it would still get it done. Relax, tough guy. It's just the internet, and the turth is more defensive you get, the less valid your point becomes. Face the facts, I'm not the only guy who called you out on your post. You slid right in there and bashed the guy for no reason. There was no concern about the safety of students, or even the 'integrity' of tunnel coaches, you just pointed and laughed and it didn't come off well at all. Drop the attitude, post some relevant videos and make a constructive point. People will back you up if you're really on to something. If nobody has your back, it's for a reason.

That's dirty man. If you think about it, the safety stow doesn't really take that much loading during the pack job itself, and generally once the stows are in place, it's under very little tension. During the repack cycle, it just sits there motionless unless the reserve is actually used. For the stiching to pull free like that under those conditions implies that the stiching was very loose right from the start. I would vote for 'Contact previous rigger, hang on wall of shame, then install new factory-made stow'.

In all fairness, that video was shot over a month ago. Is there a chance he's tuned himself up in the meantime? When is (or did) he actually start flying with students? I'm going to have a figure that a guy who's been freeflying for most of the last 20 years, and is up over 12,000 jumps (mostly freefly) is going to come along pretty quick in the tunnel. Let's also remember that for your 4000 jumps, Olav probably has that many, or more, paid freefly coaching jumps, so he already knows how to coach. How about this, see if you can scare up some video of him actually flying one-on-one with a paying student in the tunnel, and then post it along with some footage of you flying one-on-one with a paying student, and we'll see who's the MacBookPro and who's the [Indirect PA removed by slotperfect] that's in over his head.

There's a couple of possibilities as to what was actually going on. One is that your instructor had some sort of seniority, and had a safety concern of some sort regarding this other jumper. I'm not saying that confronting the safety issue in a public place where students were able to witness the discussion was the right way to go, but it might have been for a good cause. Another situation that arrises from time to time is that working jumpes get 'territorial' about their employment. Instructors are all paid per jump, so more jumps = more money, and if there are too many instructors around, then they each get fewer jumps and less money. Also, not a thing to discuss in front of the students. What you should do? Well, for starters, look into the AFF program at that DZ, and any other DZ near your home. Visit the other DZs, and see what their facilities look like, and if you get a good vibe from the place and the people. Use this information to deciede which DZ will be the best place for you to learn. If the DZ you choose happens to be the one where you did your tandem, speak to the DZO (Drop Zone Owner) about the scene you witnessed, and ask him what the story was, and express your concerns. You'll be looking to spend quite a bit of time and money at the DZ, and if you cannot get a straight answer from the guy, maybe it's not the place for you.

Are you thinking that Olav is in the white, and that he is coaching the guy in the black? The one who pops in for the last 90 seconds of a 9 minute video? I'm thinking that Olav is just working on his tunnel flying, and then some dude hops in for some random two-way time at the end. No? That doesn't appear to be any sort of coaching in either direction as far as I can see. I stand by my point that the guy is learning something new, and shouldn't be mocked for it. Flying head down is one thing. Combining it with upright flying, and making a 'thing' out of it is another. The guy certainly had alot to do with making the word 'freefly' a word. I just think your pissing in the wrong direction in general.

Is that Olav in there? I'm not sure how to take your post. Are you really making fun of what he's doing in the tunnel? Or os it just because he's an 'old shcool' guy in the tunnel? It look to me like he doesn't have a lot of tunnel time, and he's working shit out. It appears that he's just doing drills, getting the hang of the space and the airflow. How else are you supposed to do it? Maybe if you had pioneered an entire discipline of skydiving, you'd have a place to speak here, but you didn't. He did. He also hasn't declared himself the inventor of tunnel flying, so cut the guy a break. He's learning, like everyone else. (None of this is to say that he wont' eventually declare himself the inventor of tunnel flying, or try to copyright the terminology, but until such time, kindly refrain from teasing).