davelepka

***I'm playing with a newer design Did you bring enough for the rest of the class?

Any control input wil distort your canopy, it's what makes it go. We have no other means of altering the speed or direction. When you stop whatever input you are giving, the canopy will return to it's natural shape, and once the aerodynamic forces regain their balance, the canopy will return to level flight (for the most part). Harness sensitivity does increase with wing loading, but using nothing but the harness for your turn seems stupid. It seems like you could get a better result with a more direct input (front riser), and be able to get that result faster, taking up less time and space in the pattern. While this might not be a consideration during a swoop comp., on the everyday landing, traffic considerations play a huge role in your swooping. A toggle is just another control input. Just like a Velocity is just another canopy. Yes it requires more skill to use properly, and the risks involved may be higher than other options, but it's just another way of doing things.

You are in a great spot. When you are ready to shoot video, and you buy a Sony camera to jump with, you'll never have to dismantle your camera helmet everytime a family member does something your wife wants on video. Congrats! Shooting video is quite a ways off for you, so don't even worry about camera or helmet models now. By the time you have the jump numbers to be safe, there will be a whole new generation of equipment to chose from.

They're all good, they just have different applications, and it doesn't hurt to know how to do all three. There's nothing wrong with toggle turns.

***MAYBE IT HAS A COUPLE LOSS END Is one of those loose ends the four inch hunk of zipper that stays with the slider? Does that thing just swing free as it rides down the lines? I've heard of slider kill-line tabs getting hung up in cascades, but a zipper sems like a much better device for screwing up your opening. And seriously, relax with the all caps when you type, lets save the caps for special occasions.

Check that your leg straps are thightened evenly. Use your rear riser to correct your heading during or just after your opening. Leave your brakes stowed untill you are ready for them (slider collapsed, etc). Lean into the opposite (right) MLW with your shoulder to help counter the turn after opening. Try intentionally weighting the right side of the harness during the snivel (if the turn is ALWAYS to the left) to see if that helps. If so, have an experienced Stiletto jumper try it to see if it's you or the canopy. Make sure to use the same pack job, and if they are getting good results (or even a variation in direction) it's your problem, not the canopy. For the most part, get used to it. Get on those back risers ASAP and control your parachute. You have traded off level flight stability for increased performance (good trade, by the way).

Agreed. If you set your beeper for an altitude at which you need to do something (break off, pull, cutaway, ect.), by the time it goes off, you're late.

Jump more.

Just popping in on this thread. I can't believe it's still alive... ***And in the real world windshears DO exist and people DO fly by ground reference and their control inputs ARE different as a consequence Windshear does exist AT TIMES, and people do fly via a ground reference, but the fact is that anyone participating in swooping activities needs to know the facts of whats really going on. The trouble spot I see with people equating higher winds with increased dive, is the inverse of that theory, and the newer swooper on a sunset load w/ no wind thinking they can take it down to the basement before starting their turn. For this reason it's important that people know and understand the cause/effect relationship between windspeed and swooping.

It's usually referring to slowing the canopy to a reasonable speed at the end of a swoop. For example 'I did a downwinder in a 15 mph wind. The swoop was super fast, and I went 350 feet, but because of the tailwind, I was unable to SHUT THE CANOPY DOWN. I fell down, and tumbled to a stop' (NOT a true story, by the way). Pro swoopers may use the term in talking about accuracy, where they will stall the canopy to keep from overshooting the target. This is a dangerous and advanced technique which only the top pros are using (using properly, that is, I'm sure there are plenty of people out there screwing it up). I would guess that most times, the phrase is being used as in the first example.

***Good luck running out a landing with ankle weights on. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- most comps i've seen people are sliding them out anyways ------------------------------------------------------------ Still not a good idea. If you should need to run, you got trouble. If you should chow, it's extra weight at the end of your leg where it has all sorts of leverage to snap bones.

I think my response to your post would have been something like 'freefliers need to be aware of their handles, and people around them.......I have 1000's of freefly jumps, and I keep people away from my handles.....yadda yadda'. To which you could make a counter point to what I'm saying. I think the issue is weighted toward personal prefernce, and even then the actual pro's and con's of each handle are fairly balanced, that this thread could go on forever with little progress. In light of that, lets say this: Soft handles are different than a D-ring. There are pro's and con's to each system, and it is important that a jumper knows and understands these. It is also important that any jumper who is changing the type of handle they are using (this even applies to a single jump on a borrowed rig) be briefed on the differences i.e., peel and pull vs. pull only, and ideally put into a hanging harness to practice the new procedure. Everybody happy with that?

Good luck running out a landing with ankle weights on. Also, if you should go down, would you want extra weight way out on your extrremities, swinging around, and helping to break things?

First, do not have anyone do anything to your pilot chute next to an open door. That said, ask the pilot to speed up the jump run. Also, don't come off the plane big, have your self in a fast falling configuration right out of the door, so whatever delay you take gives you the max airspeed. When you deploy, hold that position, toss the pc, and go back to that position untill your canopy is out of the bag. This will give you the fastest deployments for a given airspeed and delay. This will also help to lower the altitude you feel comfortable exiting with a main canopy deployment. In the case of an aircraft emergency, this will give you a better chance of using your main instead of going right to your reserve (your last canopy). Choosing a minnimum altitude at which to use your main is a personal desicion. You may be in violation of the FAA or a BSR depending on your choice.

I'm pretty sure the 'D' in D box stands for digital, and is not a reference to the shape of the box.

Yes, the ripcord is a snag hazzard, but considering it's predominate throughout skydivings history (for both main and reserve deployments), and the low occurence of sang-related incidents (in comparison to jump #'s using ripcords) it seems like a very small risk. For example, I know of two people who have had the tabs of a collapsable slider catch a cascade on the way down, and require a cutaway. Considering the number of succesful deployments with that configuration, I'm not about to return to a velcro slider or get a continuous line set. In the event of a problem, the D-ring seems to be the more user friendly set up, with a one-step pull, and a secure loop to grab onto. Aside from the sit-fly train formation, I have trouble thinking of a situation that puts your reserve handle at any additional snag risk in comparison to your other handles. Exits will funnel, and newbies will grab haphazzardly at your gear during exits or docking, but the risks presented in those situations are open to all of your handles (and your head, eyes, nuts, etc.)

I just read in another thread that Atair selld replacement line sets, but will not install them. PD will build AND install line sets. What a concept!

***Atair sells the lines but does not install them Nice job on the customer service those boys at Atair are doing, nice job indeed.

Canopy coaching would be a better investment at this point in your jumping experience. Impact with the ground is the cause of most skyding injuries. The canopy training given with AFF is inadequate, and will not serve you much past your first 20 jumps. Learning the finer points of canopy control and theories of canopy flight will help to keep you safely skydiving for many years to come. As far as freefly coaching, they will teach you how to enjoy your freefall time, but it will not help you to manage the most dagerous part of your skydive. Besides, if adavnced canopy training can help you to jump safely for years, you will have plenty of time to get freefly coaching later.

***none have a differential line trim meaning poor flaring and swooping charactistics. If you are including the Stiletto in this satement (it was one of the choices), I have several thousand jumps on Stilettos with which to disagree with you. Have you considered sharing some of your experience such as jump numbers and canopy types with the rest of class? Also, have you considered providing some examples of canopies you feel would be suitable (or at least those that would meet your design criteria)?

Either one in 80 or 90 sq ft versions are so far from a Stiletto 135 it's hard to make comparisons to your frame of reference. Addtionally, the elevation of your landing area should be a big consideration when looking at canopies of this size and design. However, if you are happy with the performance, quality and any cust. sercice you have recieved in connection to your Stiletto, you can be assured of the same with another PD product.

Oh yeah, Dan flat packs his Falcon by himself.

I like where the text says 'when the ride is over, the diver pulls the ripcord as usual'. With a handull of wingsuit jumps, and taking one look at the Skyray, I have trouble believing that the deployment would be anything close to 'usual'.

As much as I hate to get involved, lets look at it this way; Judging from your jump numbers, canopy selection, and the fact that you're involved in this thread, I'm guessing you're a swooper (good choice). I'm also going to guess that you have done some high pulls, or even hop n pops from full altitude. It's common for upper level winds to be blowing at speeds higher than you would ever want to jump in while the wind on the ground is more reasonable. If you've ever had the occasion to pull at an altitude with winds blowing at 40, 50 or 60 knots, according to your argument, your canopy would dive MUCH longer than any landing approach you've ever flown (assuming that you are not jumping in winds much higher than 25PH on the ground). Your assertion is that ground winds differing by a factor of 2x (lets say 12 mph compared to 24) would cause enough extra dive that the swooper could not toggle (or rear riser) out of, but that the swooper would need to initiate thier turn at a higher altitude to maintain a level safety. Looking at this theory 10k ft higher, where you could easily see winds at a factor of 4x or 5x the 12mph gound winds, wouldn't you notice a dramatic difference in the duration and subsequent speed of your dive? Logic would state that you would see such a difference. Due to drag and other factors, it might not be the same magnitude as the increase in wind speed, it would certainly be noticeable. I have never noticed such a difference, nor would I suspect has any of the other jumpers on this thread. The absence of a nearby fixed object (the ground) for reference might make slight differences difficult to detect, but as we discussed, the difference at altitude, with a substantial wind, would have to be more than slight. With several thousand jumps on my current model of canopy, I would surely know by the feel of the harness if my canopy were diving for an unusaully long time. From an aerodynamic standpoint, I think that you may be in the wrong, HOWEVER, your message has some merit in that it builds in an extra dose of caution while jumping in higher winds. Unpredictable gusts, or object related turbulence are some real-world factors that become more pronounced with higher winds. In these conditions, there is a distinct advantage to swoopers using an extra dose of caution, and hooking it a bit high. Whatever their reasoning may be, and if thier reasoning is scientificly sound or not, the end result is some additional caution in conditions that certainly merit it.

I know a couple of blind jumpers. They actually did a two way this summer.