davelepka

You're right about that, but with no program in place, there is no chance that any DZ will implement it. By having a program, you really up the chances that DZ will pick it up. Add in the information superhighway, and even DZ's that initailly choose to pass will have jumpers reading about it, and maybe making some noise toward getting it going. Also, if it was a requirement for a license, it would be yet another thing the S&TA would have to look the other way on when signing people off. Sooner or later the S&TA'a will tire of that, and start pushing the DZO's to toe the line. I forget about all of the stuff over the summer. Why the hell can't DZOs take care of their students like they should.

Of course everyone is responsible for their own actions. My ideas are not designed for you, with your level of experience. they are aimed toward newer jumpers, who need an avenue with which to build the knowledge to make good choices with their actions. It's hard to blame a newbie for making a mistake if they have never been taught that it's a mistake or have never been exposed to someone else making the same mistake. Once you show them the way, it's thier choice to follow it or not, but unitl you show them, they cannot be entirely responsible for their actions.

Keep in mind, that if the USPA would get behind a program, and make it madatory, there would have to be a written syllabus. As long as they outsource writing the syllabus to Scott Miller or Brian Germain, we should be in good shape. What I'm talking about is not high performance coaching, just some basic aerodynamics (how it works, and why it works that way), additional information on weather, canopy handling drills, and off field landing stratagies. Take a halfway decent instructor, give them the syllabus, and some time to review it. Give them an oppertunity to call someone, and discuss areas they are unsure of. Maybe even produce a video for the instrucotrs benefit, or even to present to the students. I see the level of instruction the students get as being prety good. If you want high performance coaching, you do need to spend some dough, and find the elusive combination of good swooper and good instructor.

If the USPA would buck up and attach soem realistic sort of canopy training to the licensing programs, there would be A) courses being given at every DZ around the country and B) more good information and informed skydivers in the community. If you didn't have to pay for the instructors travel and housing, and it was at your local DZ (so no extra travel for you) that would redcue the cost right there. By linking them to the license requirements, you increase the number of participants and in turn decrease the per student cost. It's true, landing is the only thing you do every jump, but the USPA is more concerned with how well you can maintain your levels in your boxman, or pick up grips on a two-way. Ground breaking, safety related stuff indeed.

I'm guessing that in light of ordering 45 of them, the cost of painting up the first one and bringing it to an airshow is pretty low. They have to fly the thing around anyway, so you might as well build some customer good-will.

The broken A lines were on a canopy size and model I had 2000+ jumps on, plus I had extra time to feel out the flare/slow flight characteristics due to my higher opening altitude. Mid-air rigging has been the last thing that a bunch of guys did with their lives. It's a tough call, but it's your last canopy you're about to whip out, so you'd better be sure you really need/want it. The other side of that coin is that the longer you play with a mal, the lower you'll be under your reserve (or now working main) giving you less time to set up and land. Also, a spinning mal will be loading you 3-ring, and trying to push all the blood out of your brain. If the most should happen and you have a reserve mal, you also end up with less time to fix that before impact. It's a slippery slope. I'd say that unitl you have a few hundred jumps, it should all be by the book. Beyond that, it's a case by case scenario, and you should make your own choices as to how to handle yourself.

When was this? There was a run of bad switches two years ago. Our video crew went through every switch in our gear store, and kept getting 15 or 20 jumps before they went to shit. The replacement switches they sent us were slightly different, and have been pretty much trouble free.

Zero. In all fairness, I have 'fixed' half a dozen minor malfunctions, and landed a couple of blown A-lines. The majoroty of my jumps are tandem/student videos where I dump at 4k or better, giving me extra time to work with a problem. Had I been pulling at 2.5k or under, I most likey would have a few reserve rides under my belt. Interestingly enough, the longer I jump, the less I am intersted in freefalling much below 4k anyway. Even on fun jumps, I try to structure it so I can get my PC out on the high side anyway.

I'm sure it's a small gain, but if you already have the RDS, and your choice of ultra thin lines, you might as well keep the trend going. I've only seen pro swoopers use this so far, so it hasn't quite reached the same level as the coffee can exhaust on a Honda.

No, it's folded lengthwise, to make it skinnier for less drag. It ends up looking like a soft cable housing, if you've ever seen one of those.

You're kidding right? Yeah, everyone should make money on the jump, but what amounts to a refresher, and a two-way should be well under $250. This guy has his own rig, so there's no rental, it boils down to two slots ($50) plus whatever the instructor gets ($20 for the refresher + $35 for the jump). So far I've got a total of $105. So who gets the extra $145? Not to mention that this guy has already jumped (aka spent money) at this DZ, and presumably was getting curent to spend more. It's just wrong.

Wait three hours and ask again. No, really, either he'll be working at or opening a DZ. Try to get a reference from the DZO, or if it's his DZ, the airport manager/land owner or aircraft owner (if he's leasing).

If you spend your time worrying about getting your main open, your reserve will be a non-issue. Maintain your gear, pack smart (do it yourself, and don't rush), open stable and on time. You'd be surprised how long you can go wihtout using your reserve.

Maybe so, but I'd guess that most Otters are not all original, and have wings and control surfaces from other planes. Before the repaint, they all look like that. At least Frank has the balls to be who he really is.

Just a guess, but FF suits are usually baggy fitting. and it make sit easier to get a good fit with an intricate design. RW suits are often times tighter fitting. This makes it harder to sew an intricate design into the suit. Doing an applique or stripes is also out due to A) grippers getting in the way, and B) layering the fabric will effect the flight characteristics fo the suit. At your size, your suit will be a baggy fit so you should be able to get any pattern you want, and in fact the layering of fabric will help to slow you down. Oh yeah, the price is another thing. Typically the base price on an RW suit will be higher than a FF suit due to the complexity. Add in booties and options, and suit are expensive enough, without adding extras like stripes or patterns. I've got stripes on my FF suit, and I think they cost me $50. Since I didn't have to pay for booties or grippers it kept the price down, but I could imagine an RW suit approaching $400 or $450 with options plus some graphics. Good luck with that.

It's a standard riser, thats been folded over, and sewn down. The fold ends just above the riser insert. and just below the link.

This is most likey the problem. Maybe not freezing, but sticking. The shutter has two parts, one that leads and one that follows. When part of the frame is black, it indicates that the shutters are not sequencing properly. This is why when you try to use a flash at too high a shutter speed you get 'bars' of differing exposures across the frame. The shutters are moving too quickly to allow the complete frame to be exposed at once (in sync with the flash). The result is that some of the frame gets the flash, and some does not.

Hey now, let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm pretty sure you're a guy, in which case, no I do not want to fuck for a room. If you're a woman, however, I'm open to discussion.

Those fucking europeans. With their easy-going, very few lawsuits attitude, and their permissive and awesome ski resorts. Fuck them. I hate them all. Sooo, who's got a room to rent at the bottom of whatever ski resort that was?

While this may be true, whats aslo true (and often ignored0 is that they are also great canopies for low performce canopy flight. I think whats happening is that since they can swoop well, they are being mistaken for canopies that can ONLY swoop well. For obvious reasons, most X brace jumpers are swooping them. They are the best swooping canopies out there, so thats what you see. Consisder for a moment aall of the time you spend with your canopy when you're not swooping. What does your canopy do that you don't like during these times? Does it not fly slow well? Does it not glide well? Does it have a poor flare on straight-in's The answers are all no of course, which is why a Velo is a great canopy for an appropriately experienced jumper who enjoys the capability of the canopy, but doesn't want the risk of swooping. At no time during skydiving do I wish I was jumping something else. The Velo is a highly functional canopy for the experienced pilot. It just works for the everyday stuff. Openings, flying back from a long spot, sitting in brakes to clear the landing pattern, and of course the swoops. even if you take the swoops out of that list, it sounds like a good canopy to spend some time under. Again, just because it takes an advanced pilot, and just because most of them are swooping, doesn't detract from the usefulness of a Velo.

Why is that? Paragliders have a very high aspect ratio giving them a very short recovery arc. Either way, 25 jumps a bit soon for a 150. If the guy was a good pilot, he would respect the new class of wing he's flying, and work his way down one step at time.

We had the same problem a few years back with the film version of the Rebel. The best we could come up with was that either the lens or the shutter was freezing shut. We took some of those hand warmer packets, and put them on the camera somehow. Maybe we taped them on, maybe we had a wrap of some kind we put them under. Either way, I think it did the trick. It's hard for me to remember exactly, it was a few eyars back, and since them I have just stayed home when it gets that cold. If you do try this, keep in mind that the aperture mechanism in the lens, and the shutter is in the body, so you may need mulitple packets.

It takes more balls for sure. You have to throw your turn looooooooooow on a 220 Nav.

This is all very good, but keep in mind your limited overall experience. Pay attention to any of the competition swoopers at Perris. When they train, they'll do 15 jumps per day (at least), thats half of your total experience. Don't get me wrong, it's great that your record looks good, and you're making solid progress, but keep in mind the low overall jump numbers when you look to your record for an idea of your skill level.

I've seen this video referenced before, in a thread about downsizing, and it was used as an example that size has nothing to do with how swoop-able a canopy is. One point that seems to get left out, however, is that the swoop-ability comes from Scott, not the canopy. Swooping a 220 Nav takes as much skill as swooping a Velo 103. If you happen to be jumping a 220 Nav, plase do not assume that because it's easier to fly than other canopies, that it is easier to swoop as well.