davelepka

Yep. I agree 100% with this, but I have no idea what to do about it. This is one reason why I'm a big supporter of WL restrictions, and a MUCH slower progression to swooping than most seem to follow. Jumpers make the mistake of thinking that if they could live through a 180, in the middle of a clear landing area on a day with favorable weather that they are ready to swoop. What they don't realize is that pulling a riser at the right time is a very small part of the swooping equation. Without sufficient time under a wing to develop the core skills, to make flying a canopy second nature, they are shorting themselves, and asking for trouble if they should find themselves in a tight spot. The other side of the coin is that non-swoopers also need to be diligent in developing their skills as well. Traffic management, weather, and canopy handling skills are no less important than if you were swooping. Alll jumpers need to realize that there are other jumpers in the sky who may or may not be paying attention to the world around them. If you count on someone to act in a certain way in order for your skydive to end safley, you are setting yourself up for trouble. Fly your body and your canopy defensively. Protect yourself, and in turn you are doing your best to protect others.

Anyone who says this, needs to land away due to lack of ability. There is no excuse for any swooper to impose upon others in order for them to get their swoop on. If a pilot truly posses the skill to swoop, then they also posses the skills to fly slow, navigate through traffic, and revise their flight plan at any time due to unforseen circumstances. Anyone swooping who lacks these skills needs to dial it back a notch, and go back to esatblish the basic skills they skipped over in their rush to swoop. For the record, I fly a highly loaded Velo, and have no problem flying along with a student under a Navigator while on my way back from a tandem video. All canopies can fly slow.

Scenarios 1, 2, and 3: That guy deserves to die, and considering the position he put himself in with two canopies, there's no way he could properly work a third. Scenario 4: Yeah, maybe. CREW guys know what they're getting into, and none of them has brought it up thus far, so I can't se it as catching on.

Any reason why? Over the next two years the Vigil will have the chance to prove itself, and the manufacturer will have a chance to establish their reputation for business practices and longevity. If you have a functioning AAD, why not jump it unitl it's useful life is over, and then see how things are doing over in Vigil-land.

Anyone with the experience to be a ballmaster with others has their own ball to play with. That sounds like those guys with 100 jumps who buy a Stiletto 120 "for later on, when they are ready". Later on always turns into next week, which sometimes turns into an incident.

Nope. My DZO is a regional director, and on the Safety and Training board. Furthermore, the safety record for canopy incidents at this DZ is impressive. The lengths they go to ensuring that jumpers make good equipment choices, and offering continuing training is impressive, and it's one of the things that helps me to see the shortcomings elsewhere. I know that there have been some improvements, but they do not extned past the A license proficiency card, and as you said, sometimes these items are rushed over by instructors. Why is it then that there are freefall related requirements for additional licenses, but nothing related to canopy flight/education? Does freefall get harder the more jumps you have? I don't think so. Does canopy flight? If you downsize, and jump more aggressive canopies, then yes, it does. While there are jumpers who remain on a docile and lghtly loaded wing for all thier jumps, most will progress through sizes and models as they aquire jumps. Take a look at Brian's book, and remove everything about swooping. What you have left is what EVERY jumper should know about canopy flight. Now compare that to the ISP and the A license program. The difference between the two is whats contributing to the open canopy incidents that were having. Eliminate that difference, and you'll see the open canopy incidents reduced to the odd freak accident. Look at flight training. They cover aerodynamincs, weather, resource management and decision making. There is no reason that jumpers should not have the same information. They too are engaging in aviation as a pilot-in-command, but without the benefit of an engine. Essentially ever canopy ride is an engine out scenario as for as a pilot is concerned. So for repeated 'emergency descents', skydivers are shorted on training? Them numbers don't add up.

Keep in mind that I am not discussing HP landings or techniques when I suggest that additional traiing is needed. Far from it. What I'm talking about is a deeper understanding of the aerodynamic pricipals behind a canopy, the available control inputs, and their uses and limitations, weather conditions, and better decision making with regards to your canopy descent, and how and where to fly your canopy. None of this has anything to do with swooping, This all has to do with making a safe and informed canopy descent. It has to do with empowering jumpers with the knowledge to fly the canopy, as opposed to the canopy flying them. Nothing should ever happen under canopy that the pilot did not want to happen, and with the right information in their head, every jumper is capable of this. I agree with not publishing a guide to swooping. Swooping is a skill to be developed over time, and with guidance. By publishing that information, you're offering people a way to bypass the guidance part of it. People need to wake up and recognize the gap between the basic canopy instruciton offered in AFF, and swooping. That gap is huge, and full of information that you should have with you on every canopy flight.

Bypass the metal ring, and run the link throught the attachment point directly. Now there is never any tension between the ring and your link, thus no pinching of your canopy. You could rubberband the ring to the link just for the hell of it. OR, lose the link, and replace it with a Slink, or some old microline fringertrapped into a Slink-like device. OR, just hook it up and hope for the best.

OK, so the USPA, which (save for the FAA) is the only governing body involved with skydiving in the US, suggests that jumpers should seek professional coaching with regards to canopy control. First off, by making the statement, they are admitting that the average jumper could benefit form additional training in this area. Why is it that the USPA neither offers a cirriculum for this traiing, nor certifies instructors to administer the training? It's no secret that the USPA is directly responsible for both the cirriculum and instructors for every other area of skydiving requiring such training, but when it comes to canopy control, the total extent of the effort is to suggest 'seeking professional training'. Isn't it ironic that the only org. creating professional instructors, knowing that they do not offer a canopy control instructional rating, is suggesting to seek a professional instructor? Their next brilliant move is to suggest that everyone jump a 'suitable' parachute. Isn't that directly implied with wanting to survive a jump? How often does a jumper don a rig with a canopy they do not believe is suitable? I would guess never. How often is that jumpers opinion of their skills, or the performance of that canopy not inline with what other jumpers refer to as 'reality'? I would guess it happens at least twice a day, everyday, somewhere in the US (maybe less in the winter). The simple fact is that people continue to frap in left and right under perfectly functioning canopies. The only malfunction in these accidents was with the pilots actions. Be it when they selected a canopy, or what they proceeded to do with it, they made a mistake along the way, that resulted in an accident. What if you could bestow the knowledge to make better choices under canopy, and fly a canopy in a smart and effectinve manner? That would surely help to reduce the number of accidents. What if you could have those jumpers follow a gradual program of downsizing, and moving toward more aggresive wings? That would give jumpers the 'wiggle room' to develop their skills in an enviorment which allows for a few errors along the way. Lets face it, the performance scope of modern canopies has made a drastic increase in the last few years. Last time I checked, jumpers were just as dumb as ever, and that combination is producing some grizzly results. The effort the USPA has put toward this so far has been about equal to a pat on the back, and a, "Be safe out there". You don't think that sucks?

So the AFF FJC course at Skydive Dallas does not cover the line-over mal? Is there a chance you were napping during that part of the training?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. From the organization that writes and publishes the IRM and the SIM, both of which are flush with specific and detailed information, their suggestion of... ....in regrads to education in canopy control is passing the buck at it's worst, mainly becasue there's no one to pass it to. The definition of the words "professional" and "suitable" are what's lacking, and without definition, those words make the entire statement meaningless. I wonder if they would consider a name change to the United States Freefall Assoc.?

Who told you this? You should ask them why my Velo snivels for 800ft when I load it at 2.4 to 1. I would suggest asking one of the top canopy pilots at your home DZ for help. Chances are they could get you straightened out within a few jumps.

56 jumps? Brand new Pilot? How about your packing sucks, and is inconsistant with the slippery material. Your body position during your openings is probably also inconsistant. A slow opening canopy with a light WL that has closed end cells? YOU DON'T SAY! OK I'm done busting your nuts. This is most likey a case of a new-to-you canopy, and possibly some incorrect expectations and micro-analyzing on your part. Have an experienced jumper (1000 jumps min.) take it up and see what they think. Have them check your steering line lengths while they're up there, I'm sure everything will be fine. By the way, the break-off and opening are at least half the fun of a big way. The other half is being the last diver out and swooping the formation. I could do with out all the hand-holdy stuff in the middle.

Just buy the video. It will help get you ready for skydiving, where everything is expensive, but you end up buying it anyway. Get a roll of still pictures as well.

But the guy who started this thread is already swooping his Pilot. Maybe something with a little less top end might be a good fit for his already-swooping transition to a higher performance canopy. Every other canopy mentioned here (in truth, every canopy on earth) can be flown conservatively. The trick is to get the newer guys into something that can't be flown too fast.

You want to be safe? Here are a few ideas.. First, approach any new activity with caution. Be sure that you research and understand what you are getting into before you begin. As a student, do you notice how much time your instructors spend preparring you for your next jump? That jump includes a new skill, which you need to understand completely before boarding the plane (in actaulity, all of your skills are new at this point). You would be surprised to see how soem experienced jumpers approach a new skill or activity. They figure that it's all just skydiving, and dive right in. This can prove to be a costly mistake. Second, take new things one at time. Don't load up with a new rig, new canopy, and your first 8 way jumping in 15 knot winds at a new DZ. Dial that back to one new choice at a time, and focus on that new thing. Then, understand that you may have to do several jumps focusing on your new thing before you are ready of another, which brings me to my next point...... Slow down. Take your time with what you are doing. Rushing though things only ends up shorting you on experience, experience you may need to save your life one day. You want advcie on how fast to proceed? Ask the oldest, slowest staffer at your DZ, then use his reccomendations as the bare minnimum of when to proceed. While the younger, faster guys seem to have it all figured out, they may have lost touch with what it's like to be new. Don't feel 100% about something, don't do it. Don't see a plan B, or an out? Don't do it. See the plan B or out, and it looks shakey? Don't do it. Trust me, you can have a lifetime of fun at the DZ following these reccomendations. I follow these guidelines every day at the DZ. Yeah I do things others consider extreme. Yeah I swoop my Velo, loaded at 2.3 downwind, but I've built myself up to that level over the last ten years. I took it nice and slow, and now I get to go nice and fast.

...and you're calling Jeff gay?

Including or not including the weight of your main will make little difference in your WL. At your weight, the main comprimises maybe 3% of your exit weight, which isn't enough to be concerned about.

Yeah you were drunk. 10 seconds after the BASE clip was over, Jay wrapped up the details of 'Currents' with Al Gore (the guy who won the 2000 presidential election). It seems that Al has a TV nertwork called currents where they show short form documenteries and features (they call them 'pods'). Right now it's on DirectTV (channel 336) and select cable providers. Actaully, you should give Al a call, this network seems like good place for you to submit some of your projects.

Not really. I've never had a problem with a D ring handle flying at any angle you could imagine. As for grips taken, if plan on letting someone take a grip on your MLW, your problem is not with the type of handle you are using, it's with your judgement. Jumpsuits have grippers, those are for gripping. Rigs don't have grippers for a reason.

OK, how about this, are you going to slack on protecing your handles if you have a pad? People have pulled others cutaway handles as well as reserve ripcords. If they can pull a soft handle on the right side, they can pull one on the left. So if you have spend as much time protecing a soft handle as a D ring, why not take the ease of operation that comes with the D ring? Soft handle: Locate, grasp, peel, and puch D ring: Locate, grap, and punch The D ring has one less step, and the 'grasp' step with the soft handle has proven problematic for others in the past.

Who ever sent you that PM has been jumping some very poorly set-up HP canopies. Regardless of the canopies design or WL, the stall point should be at full arms extension (and I mean really reaching). Any canopy who's half-way to stall is ear level has some extremely short brake lines, and needs to be fixed right away. I would doubt the credentials and actual HP expreience of th eperson who sent you the PM, and I would suggest caution in following any of the other advice they gave.

My guess is that with 25 jumps you are jumping student gear, or something close to it. Also, judging from your picture, you are a skinny chick. All of this adds up to a low WL, and a canopy that will offer a soft-ish landing with a brakes approach, or a partial flare. As your experience allows you to jump a more loaded canopy, you'll have to begin flying your approaches in full lfight. As an experiement, fly an approach on your current canopy in full flight, and you may not have to run your landings out at all. It may take a few jumps, but you should be able to do a one or two step landing with no trouble.

Ideally, you will recognize your going to overshoot high up enough to use some brakes to shorten your approach, then be able to let them up, and get a full flare. The trick is that your canopy will dive a bit after you let up, and during this dive, you will have very little flare power. How high up you need to return to full flight is hard to say, but 100 ft a safe-ish number. If you are in a tight area, you can fly half brakes right into a flare, but expect a less powerful flare, and be ready to PLF. As for being far downwind, that sounds like a spotting problem. You should never exit too far downwind to make it back. Either the winds are too strong (solution: take the spot further upwind), or you are exiting too soon (solution: take the spot further upwind).

Half brakes will slow your forward speed and vertical descent rate. At altittude, this makes you stay up longer. On a long spot, upwind of the DZ, the slower descent rate exposes your canopy to the upper level winds for a longer period of time, getting you bacl to the DZ. On a landing, into the wind, half brakes will slow your forward speed, keeping you from over shooting. Half barakes only effects the canopy one way (well two ways, vertical and horizontal speed). The variable is the winds, and your relationship to them.