ianmdrennan

but of course.....just give photo credit

AWAY!! Performance Designs Factory Team

Best shoe story ever.

More pics from the weekend here. Enjoy. Blue skies Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

quit your whining

Not at all. In fact it never fails to baffle me why so many people are terrified of a 5 mph crosswind, or even downwind for that matter. I see it at our DZ all the time (where we try and set a landing direction prior to take off to avoid confusion - we have a relatively small area) and people freak out if we set the landing direction crosswind - we have a rectangular landing area with obstacles all around it so on low wind days we try and set the landing direction so as to give people the longest area to land in, in case of a blown set up. One only needs to read the incident reports and see how many people kill/hurt themselves by a low turn instead of taking a cross/down wind. I am of the mindset that if you can't land your canopy safely in any direction, then you probably should be on something bigger...but that's just my opinion. As for the 1st guy sets the landing direction...well...you can only know which way they're landing if they fly a consitent pattern, something which most people seem incapable of learning. Instead they zig zag across the sky making it impossible to determine which direction they're going next. If you're on a bigger canopy you have the luxury of changing your pattern at 200 feet. Smaller canopies often don't have that, especially when the landing area is surrounded by trees as ours is. Just my thoughts. Blue skies Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

Chris, Here are some pics from Brian. I'll try and add mine to the site tonight. Enjoy. Gliderz Weekend. Blue skies Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

HA - Depends.....if you were on the 100 way then you land towards the parking lot and away from it at the same time

Was awesome having you guys out there. Can't wait to get back in the air with you guys and make good things happen again. Blue skies Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

I emailed them and asked about this as I specifically want the neptune for that reason alone. It shows altitude in increments of 10 ft. Very nice feature for high performance landings

things to learn : Don't hit the ground. how to learn them : Listen when people tell you you're going to hurt yourself. what not to learn : Hitting the ground. All jokes aside I can only talk you through things that work for me. There are PLENTY more knowledgeable swoopers out there so hopefully they'll shed light on the issue. Before even talking about the swoop, I believe the success of a swoop is almost entirely dependent on the setup of the approach. If you set up early you're high, if late, you're low. Before I jump each day I walk out to the landing area and visualize my entire approach. I set myself an altitude to leave my holding area and begin my approach with "waypoints" along the way where I expect to be and at what altitude. I don't almost my entire approach in brakes. If things are going well I continue the approach and if my altitude is low I hang on brakes a little more, if high I'll decrease my brakes to lose altitude. When doing my turn I do a 270 front riser turn, smoothly and slowly. Tough part about this is that the riser pressure can get quite heavy through the final 90 of the turn. The reason I use a 270 over a 180 is that I find it easier to compensate for a turn started too high, because I do it slowly I can speed it up if I find myself lower than I wanted. I do the first 90 nice and slowly and and constantly evaluating my position over the ground so I can compensate as necessary during the final 180 of the turn. Now, I am in NO WAY suggesting that 270's are a good starting point. Instead I recommend that you are able to smoothly fly and land your canopy consistently, predictably(i.e in a pattern) and accurately before even attempting to swoop. Once you can do that I suggest starting on double fronts and learning those well. Once you have that down I'd start introducing a gradual turn to the double front approach increasing it over time as you become consistent with the approach to where you feel comfortable (be that a 90, 180, 270, whatever). Things to look out for (besides the obvious)...other canopies. I find we all get fixated on our target at some point. Try to look around you constantly, it's easy to focus on the ground when doing these approaches and not see canopies around you. Know WHEN TO ABORT an approach (traffic, or sometimes if you don't feel good about it...don't do it). A good swooper/pilot knows when to say no. Canopy choice is also important. I longer diving canopy will give you a greater period of time to correct errors, but if turned too low will be deadly. A shorter diving canopy may appear to be safer as you can turn it lower (I don't recommend this type personally) but it will give you less chance of getting out of a blown approach because you are lower to the ground and have less time to correct the error. Something to remember, anyone can unintentionally give you bad information. There are a lot of canopy myths out there. I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend taking a canopy class by Scott Miller or Team Extreme, etc - they are all very knowledgeable and the classes can only make you a safer pilot. Hope this helps get you started. Ask questions, ask often, be safe. Blue skies Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

Yeah I asked Jay about the bag and he said he was very happy with it. He mentioned that it felt nice and clean...like a base deployement! I'll have to take his word on that seeing as I have ZERO base jumps to date

I don't know for sure, but I was under the impression that longer lines (amongst other things) = longer dive arc? Anyone know for sure or are there too many other factors to take into account? Blue skies Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

Just a thought but I fail to see how double stowing lines can make the canopy open slower. In fact as long as it stays in the bag until line stretch (so only the first 2 stows are important) it should be fine. That theory is currently being tested by the PD test jumpers who are jumping rubber bandless d-bags with a tuck tab to keep the canopy in the bag until line stretch. I can't wait to get one

The Sugar Gilderz are scheduled to arrive tonight and start jumping tomorrow morning. The Twin Otter will be there tomorrow but I believe the CASA is scheduled to arrive at noon. See you this weekend. Blue skies Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

Good luck buddy. I hope we'll see you soon. Blue skies Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

HELL YEAH! Performance Designs Factory Team

myself, my wife, GaryHarbird and some of his extended family . See you all there! Blue skies Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

myself, my wife, GaryHarbird and some of his extended family

see ya there

Which codec was used? I am getting a codec error (I have Divx and the like). Blue skies Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

trogdor the burninator rules

Send them an email and they'll let you know what to do. Good luck, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

Everyone who's spanked themself in and killed/hurt themselves, felt they were "Ready for it". I hate to sound calloused, but this argument is tiring, people just aren't gonna learn. Pity cause I really prefer the idea of education not regulation. Unfortunately you just can't teach some people. With 50 jumps AlienGirl is WAY to inexperienced for a 120 - ask any manufacturer, or any experienced canopy pilot who can remember what it felt like to fly a canopy at 50 jumps (not all can)....of course....that doesn't stop people telling her that the 120 is just fine for her...reinforcing the notion that she's made a correct choice. But hey, it's not your (being those supporting the canopy choice) ass on the line.....right? Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

hehe yeah man. Not doing spirals I find it take us (96 and 84) about 6.5 - 7 minutes to get down from 10 g's. In fact, sometimes we pass the tandems on the way down (if we do any spiraling). Awesome