ianmdrennan

This is what I messaged the OP when he first started the thread. Blues, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

We will go anywhere in the country - all you have to do is ask

I don't want to turn this into a sales pitch, but Flight-1 courses (offered by the PD Factory Team) really do cater from a-z. The course curriculum for essentials is what most people are familiar with Scott Miller teaching, as well as advanced, High Performance and 1on1 curriculums. All instructors are good teachers, and knowledgable pilots, so instructors could probably learn a lot about teaching, and materials, from attending these classes. Blues, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

My post was directed at both of you. If I sat and listed every offence it'd be a waste of time. Now, again to everyone posting in this thread, I would advise that people keep this respectful, or in PM's if you want to start taking swipes at one another. Performance Designs Factory Team

Both of you - quit it. Discuss your ideas respectfully but resorting to name calling (skygod), or attacks to the person (not the idea) will result in a quick swipe of the banhammer. Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

+1 People will hear what they want to hear. I would *hope* that an official endorsement wasn't given, but to the OP - It's important to remember that saying to someone "You did well today" doesn't mean "you're on the right track and your choices are good". I've had students do well under wings I didn't feel were appropriate for them. It doesn't mean I support, or endorse, their canopy decisions. Blues, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

Quote of the year!

Fire away! Performance Designs Factory Team

Dave, Another excuse? I'm not sure Pia or Shatalov are going to let this one slide.... Performance Designs Factory Team

Hey Swoopers! Skydive The Farm, and I, would like to invite you out for a weekend of fun, sun and swooping. Skydive the Farm will be offering cheap hop n pops for participants for those 3 days, with the goal (not requirement) for each of us to make 8-10 jumps a day. All 3 courses will be set up (Speed, distance, and Zone Accuracy) for you to run at your leisure. Distance and Zone accuracy will be set up on one of our 400ft ponds! There will be a tent providing shaded packing area pondside, and airconditioned bus rides to the aircraft. This is NOT a coaching event, but it is a group learning event so expect to be sharing ideas, techniques, and feedback amongst each other. Contact me if you would like to be a part of this, we hope to see all of this years FLCPA competitors, as well as a few new faces for this fun event! Blues, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

I liked it (not loved it). It's no T1 or T2, but it's WAY better than T3 and I'm surprised that some critics who claim to be fans of the series like T3 over T-Salvation. There were definitely some cheeseball moments, but I liked the direction they took. It was WAY better than that pile of trash Wolvernine! Thumbs up for me. Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

This has already been posted in the hot swoop pics thread. Lets keep it all there. Thanks, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

After some thought I've come to the conclusion that I believe, especially with the latest rule changes in place, that the Pro's and Am's should continue to compete as-is without seperate divisions at each comp. I think Jairo and Al's posts are spot on. ......You can still seperate Shatalov though

Not really. You have to have a water gate judge for the pro's so now instead of the judge looking at the water, they're looking at the top of the gate. I dont think it's any more work at all. I was surprised about the ZA changes (I didn't know any were in the works) but I like them. Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

Here's the full version

Uh huh.....right. Thanks for quoting the rules to me. I always wondered what they were Anyway, back to your regular scheduled persecution..... Performance Designs Factory Team

Oh please One greenie defending another huh? You should see what happens when we combine our wonder twin powers secret decoder ring. Performance Designs Factory Team

Oh please Performance Designs Factory Team

Hey All, First, I wanted to thank everyone involved in the FLCPA this year - it's been an awesome year and I've enjoyed spending time flying with you all - there is, in my opinion, no better league going right now were amateurs can compete alongside pro's - and have a good shot at winning a meet, as well as benefitting from the experience they are surrounded by. Al, and crew, you've done one hell of a job keeping the league active, exciting, and growing. I also wanted to pass along the following rule changes for the 2010 season, as well as a few juicy tidbits that the League Director has thrown in. The league is now very appealing to PRO's and AM's alike since the end of the year prize has been split into those two categories. So, here's what's on the books for next year: SPEED: First off the speed courses for amateurs will continue to be 10 ft, but to get in line with the USPA rules, we will extend our amateur course to the 220 ft, same as the pro course. DISTANCE: No changes to the distance event are planned. ACCURACY: For accuracy, we will continue to run the current FAI rules for Pro, but a small change for the amatuers. The new amatuer rules will be the same as the pro rules, but instead of being 5 ft first gate to score and water to gain points, the amatuers will be 10 foot to score at all and 5 foot to gain the water points. This is still a bit easier than the intermediate USPA rules, as we want to remain inviting to the 9 cell pilot, but certainly want to stay challenging for the amateurs who are getting up there in the ranks. In 2010 the top placing amateur, AND the top placing pro will have their registration, competition jumps and hotel covered for 2010 USPA nationals Looks like it's going to be a great season next year. Once again, I encourage everyone interested in swooping to attend, no matter your location, it's going to be a hell of a year! For official updates or news, visit http://flcpa.livejournal.com/ Blues. Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

That had my wife and I in stitches! Considering we have 3 stray cats, and 2 stray dogs - It's safe to say we're animal people

+1 kudo's to all who made this season work so well - it was a blast. You bastard Performance Designs Factory Team

There is a difference between the vertical and the horizontal component. What you're seeing in the horizontal component is drift over the ground (different to airspeed) so you have to account for the drift to reach your target. Your canopy is moving with the airmass. Try this exercise: Grab the dz's wind meter and go make a jump and pull at altitude (there's almost always uppers blowing). Face 'into' the wind and wait for a few seconds for the canopy to settle out, do not put any inputs in - get a wind reading. Then, turn 180 degress, let the canopy settle out and take a wind reading again - the results will be the same. A more tactile example would be - if you're facing 'into' the uppers does the wind sound louder (ie faster) than when you face in any other direction? The answer is no. Hope this helps, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

CJ, This is not expected, or typical behavior. I have not experienced this on the Comp Velo's I just received, nor on any of the ones that I've jumped. I would contact PD ASAP - I'm sure they'd be very happy to help you and get to the cause of the issue. Blues, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

While it is true that windshear can effect altitude loss during a HP landing, it is rare that this is actually the case (unless there are large obstacles around on a windy day). In almost every scenario, the altitude variation is because the PILOT is changing their rotation rate because of visual cues that are changing. ie: You're changing your turn from what you do on a wind day vs a non-windy day and that is why you are seeing the altitude variations. Wind speed DOES NOT affect turn altitude unless there are rapid increases, or decreases during your turn (ie gusts). Even then, the variations are typically quite small in all but extreme conditions. In a nutshell - you should NOT be adjusting your turn height based on the winds for the day - what you should be doing is be aware of the changed visual cues and recognize what they should be for the given conditions. Blues, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

I have a new one I'll throw out this weekend: I shortened my cheststrap to reduce drag, but now I can't lean far enough forward. Performance Designs Factory Team