davelepka

Good. This isn't the place for that sort of advice. Check in with reality if you get a chance, that would be a good place to start. Advancement in canopy progression is 100% skill based. Jump numbers, years in sport, athletic ability and good intentions are not relevant. Without witnessing first hand the skills a jumper can demonstrate, over a period of time, nobody can accurately make a judgement as to downsize / not downsize. Got an internet friendly question? This is place for you. Want to go fishing for anyone willing to tell you what you want to hear? Keep walking.

Just to be clear, my reply wasn't directed at the original poster. It was directed at some guy who chimed in with some wierd post, and went on to proclaim that everyone needed to be nicer, and reminded us that 'we could catch more flies with honey'.

Spend a few years watching people come and go. Most end up going sooner or later, some by choice, other due to injury. Either way, the stories are always the same. I don't give a fuck who the OP is, or what he thinks. 600 jumps is no place for a Velo at any loading, let alone in excess of 2.0. In truth, this guy is most likely well beyond what could be considered a prudent choice with his Kat 135 at 1.9. The Kat is a hell of a canopy, and 1.9 is waaay up there, regardless of what others may be jumping. Like it or not, the answers he got, attitude included, were the 100% correct answers to his questions.

Yamaha makes a TM 200 with the fat tires. Those bikes are for chicks, children, and fat old men.

How about you stop being a pussy, and relaize that for years beofre mini DV was even invented camera and cam helmets were far bigger and heavier then they are today. Any of the newer helmets with a single chip mini DV cam will be fine, and you'll live (as long as you stop being a pussy). Top mount or side mount both work fine. There are 1000's of each being jumped with no trouble every day. Have an experienced camera flyer help you set up your helmet so you get it right the first time. The biggest factor is making sure that YOU are ready to fly the helmet. The majority of problems that people have are not to poor performance from their equipment, but poor performance by the user. My vote is to double your jump numbers before you strap on a camera.

Do another 20 jumps. Your DZO and people in general will trust you more, and be more permissive. My guess is that your still on rental gear, which belongs to the DZO. If you have a mal 7k, and cut away his main, how far away do you think it will be when it lands? How would you find a canopy that could be anywhere within five miles of the DZ? You use an airplane to search by air (which also belongs to the DZ). You'll get to do more of aht you want as you build experience. For now, just relax, and pay attention to jumping and surviving.

I'd go with a combination of front risers and harness inputs. How much of each depends on winds, temperature, and field elevation. Really, though, if you're ready for a JVX, you already know this. (That last sentence was really the point of the post)

Thats a good idea.

This is going to become a problem if you plan to continue skydiving.

We all know that this is a significant problem we have in your hands. One of the reasons is that different people see things in different ways. One big-shot swooper at DZ 'x' may believe that the direction of the turns in the pattern are what's important, and not so much the direction of the swoop. As such, all who learns to swoop at DZ 'x' will do so with the same understanding. Of course, DZ 'y' sees things another way, and when jumpers from DZs x and y all go to DZ 'q' for a boogie, you get what we have here. Wouldn't the easy (and smart) solution be to simply take turns? My five year old daughter has trouble with this concept, but I've always pegged the average skydiver to be on par with at least an eight year old, so I think this could work. How big are the planes were jumping out of? What are there 4 Casas out there? Otherwise were looking at 22 people on the high end. Is it that hard to just talk it out before you board, and coem up with a location and an order for the swoopers to land? If your choice was to work together, or get into a low level wrap and die, what would you choose? Furhtermore, if you lack the ability to postion yourself in a line-up, and swoop a dedicated area, guess what? You shouldn't be swooping. I jump with a small handful of swoopers. There are maybe five of us on the DZ. We all jump together all the time, and at some point one of us says, "I'll go first", and the rest of us line up behind him. It's easy and simple, and if we never said it, we'd still fly the same exact way, and line up behind soemone. It works. Even with a guy you 've never met before, it shouldn't take more than 60 seconds for a group of skilled canopy pilots to organize themselves. Let's take some initiative out there people. We're literally and figuratively killing ourslves with these collisions. It's got to stop.

Nope. The top two options would be to A) Not jump in those winds, or B) Do a better job of spotting.

Your pal with 700 jumps is a douche. He's trying to be cool, and the sad part is that the only one he can lay his bullshit on is a guy with 60 jumps. Use an AAD and a visual altimiter on every jump. The more you know, the better off you are.

For anyone who didn't already know that those are shitty places to be in relation to any skydiver, change that grouping to the, "retarded punk ass know it all kids".

I can't believe that you have to put that in writing. It should go without saying. I can't understand how anyone can take a good flying canopy, and attempt to make a major change by unstowing the brakes, and not check to see that the all is OK with the toggles, excess line, and hand placement before doing so. What the hell else are you doing anyway? Are you that busy that you can't give your canopy and control system your full attention for five seconds, and just have a look? For the record, this is directed at everyone besides brianfry713.

I used to to the same thing you were doing in your vid. The TM's didn't seem to care. I went to work at another DZ, and one of the TMs ripped me a new one after I flew under him. He turned out to be highly respected I/E who spends all his time these days running AFF / Tandem courses. He's had premature reserve deployments, and seen a camera man get killed after a tandem rig had a premie when he was under them. Additonally, I've seem video of a new-ish drouge bridle snapping mid skydive. That video flyer was on his belly in front of the tandem. Beyond that, I've seen at least 20 students reach down and pull the handle well before pull time. If they have a handle, and are taught how to use, they can and will dump without notice. On top of it all, why would you want to put your own father at additional risk? Do you have a mother? How would she feel if her son and husband were killed on the same skydive? Grow up, and have a thought about someone besides yourself. This is all aside from the additional risk to the tandem passenger, who is jumping under the impression that the 'professionals' at the DZ will be taking every reasonable precaution in assuring their safety.

Why not split the difference and raise your rates by 25%? That's as fair as it gets. Everyone gives an equal amount, everyone gets an equal amount.

You're wrong, and thinking too much about this. If your rig is not freefly friendly, stay on your belly. Bridles, risers, toggles, canopies, etc. may appear in freefall if you don't. That's the whole story, there's nothing more to it.

Here's the point - Anything besides belly-flying will expose your rig to more relative wind. Back flying puts the rig directly into the relative wind. If your rig is safe for that, it's safe for sit flying or head down. If your rig is not safe for sit flying or head down, it's not safe for back flying. It's one or the other. You can't have it both ways.

I'm not sure what kind of training you're into, but I've got some news for you - backflying is freeflying. If your rig isn't ready for sit flying, it's not ready for backflying either.

Yeah, it the same idea as a closing loop, but the knot is right next to the loop, as opposed to a few inches down the line. I guess if you needed a 1" closing loop, it would be the exact same thing.

Fingertrap the line first. Make it so your finished line is about 3/8" or 1/2 longer than you wanted. Tie your overhand knot. Now you have the proper length, and your fingertrap cannot come out unitl you untie the knot.

Try this, " Hey tandem guy, where do you want land?". Listen to the response, then say," OK, I'll be there", and actually be there. Then, when you're filming the opening, actually look at the canopy, and see what color it is.

Maybe it takes more than one jump to see what a canopy can do. Try it 400 or 500 more times, and see what you think then. I'm not kidding.

I don't give a rats ass about competitive skydiving, but that knee-flying with the verticals was cool. Those kids are good. I wouldn't trust them to operate a parachute system, but the tunnel seems like a good option for now.