ianmdrennan

Another MILF bites the dust Wishing you the best Andrea!! Blues, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

He finally got the courage to get his ass waxed. Good job Spence! Performance Designs Factory Team

Reminds me of an old adage...."If you don't like it, just change the channel" Performance Designs Factory Team

Really? All the forums on the various message boards I visit have some form of moderation. Some more strict than others, and some allow things others don't but ALL can, and do, moderate according to that particular forum's rules. Blues, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

I received a PM asking that this information be shared in this forum since not everyone visits the canopy piloting section. I'd like to point jumpers to this post for some explanations of traffic patterns for differing approaches. While not directly related to this discussion it may help pilots envision some approaches that are being discussed. Blues, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

Awesome! Performance Designs Factory Team

I believe the reality is that unless you are doing 90 degrees or less, you will, at somepoint, be potentially flying directly towards someone else by the nature of the turn. Even 180's require the pilot to potentially fly right towards someone else who is on their final. The only way to decrease the likelyhood of colliding, imo, is the following: 1) Seperate the landings by time. 2) Spend your entire canopy descent preparing item 1. 3) Account for all canopies on the load or your pass. 4) Do a canopy check on downwind, base and before turning, especially in the direction of the turn and below. Other than that there's not much that can be done. Even on dedicated hop n pops with everyone doing turns ranging from 90 - 1080 these days the above have to be strictly followed. Unless each jumper has their own pass (not going to happen) there will be intersecting patterns. The only way to reduce the risk effectively is by adequate seperating in time and that requires discipline from ALL pilots on the load. Blues, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

As I and pilots far more qualified than I teach (except for 180's which I teach a modified pattern). Note: The drawings are crap I threw them together in paint in a few minutes so the angles aren't always proportionate or pretty. Also I think it nicely shows how 180's don't really fit into a good pattern compared to the other turns (different discussion) Edited to add and fix a few things Performance Designs Factory Team

So....who's going? Performance Designs Factory Team

Junk science. Sorry. Please, reread what I wrote. You're hung up on 1/4 brakes fixes all. edited to add link: http://www.performancedesigns.com/docs/Turbulence-Hazard.pdf Blues, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

Bill, When was the last time you saw a canopy 100% and totally collapse? I've seen different sides collapse but never the entire thing. In fact, most collapses happen, and re-inflate so quickly that it's over before the pilot can do anything about it - what they're left with is the after effect of the partial collapse (dive, sink, whatever) Keeping the wing level is more important that 1/4 brakes. Maybe I'm just misreading what you're saying but it sure seems like you're advocating simply going to 1/4 brakes if a side collapses. Once again, I don't believe there's a specific configuration fix, but rather believe the pilot should be concentrating on keeping the wing flying level, and if close to the ground at a survivable descent rate. Having people believe 1/4 brakes fixes all turbulence problems, leaves them unprepared when their 'goal' (1/4 brakes) doesn't fix the issue. Rather, having the pilot realize the 'goal' is to keep the wing level and, if low to the ground, descending survivably and doing whatever it takes to do so (be that one toggle stroke, 2 toggle strokes, a full flare, half flare or no flare). Maybe you never intended it to read that way, but that's the way I read your post. Blues, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

47,224 Blues. Performance Designs Factory Team

pm Jgarcia, his girlfriend is a realtor in that area. Blues, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

Like I said, Scott and I had an indepth conversation about this. There isn't a fix all configuration and its far better to have the pilot concentrate on the 2 rules above - not just blindly go into 1/4 brakes. Blues, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

This Sunday, I had an opportunity not only to discuss this topic with Scott Miller, but also got to test some of the practical side. It was agreed that FULL FLIGHT in turbulence was the best course of action. Should the wing be affected by any sort of turbulence the pilot's course of action should NOT be to slow down with 1/4 or more brakes but rather concentrate on 2 things: 1) Keep the wings level, whatever that may require. 2) Slow the descent rate just above the ground - using whatever input's that would require. Slowing the canopy down, unnecessarily, in turbulence worsens the situation. Additionally there isn't a 'fix all' solution to a canopy affected by turbulence, so instead contentrating on keeping the above 2 points in mind is the best the pilot can do. Finally remember that canopy collapses in turbulence normally involve 1 side of the wing folding under. It will naturally reinflate (by design) so keeping the wings level should be the priority. My next jump I was subjected to some pretty nasty turbulence and concentrated on applying those 2 simple rules to the scenario with great success. A number of other jumpers followed the same rules through even worse turbulence with great success. Blues, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

Swooper 1 confused 'pattern' with 'point of maneuver'. A right hand pattern is a series of right hand turns to the setup leg. From there, do to a 270 in a right hand pattern the pilot would have to do a LEFT 270. Blues, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

I'd be curious to hear what the 'issue' was? I jump at The Farm, get it wet regularly AND use the offset mode every weekend with no issues. Blues, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

Please stick to the topic at hand. I don't want this turning into another argument thread. Thanks. Blues, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

Somewhat, and I'll try and address why. First though, I'm not knocking sail material, the jvx, the gxf or any other such. A lot of what I'll address are more my thoughts than anything else, not fact by any means at all. Make sense but only since you included ground launching. I haven't spent any time doing it so I am totally unaware of the gear wear/maintenance factor - I'll have to take your word that it gets rinsed out so quickly. Of course my first thought is "Get the right tool for the right job". There are canopies specifically made for ground launching (like the GSX I believe), big ways (xf2), and demos (depends on type of demo). I find the idea of trying to make one canopy do all of those things a little unrealistic. I'd rather have something suitable for each need that does each of those needs well than sacrifice in areas for a 'one size fits all'. I have an optimum 126 and a velocity 84. My Vector fits both really nicely and it's a small rig. One of the reasons I like the optimum range is so that people can have reasonably sized reserves with small mains if they so choose. I hope so, but until skydivers get bigger rigs (not likely in MOST cases) I'm not sure that's going to happen. Now the hybrid offerings seems to be a good compromise between pack volume and sail material. As for the performance benefits (if any), I'm still watching but honestly I really haven't seen anything dramatically different....yet. Blues, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

Because some of us have shared the sky with these individuals and knew them, their skill level, and the type of judgements they made, personally. Take Danny for example, while a hot dogger, he'd NEVER have made that turn if he saw Bob - his type of turn in those circumstances would have made it impossible to 'thread the needle' and he'd have known it. He might have been a hot dogger but he wasn't out to kill himself, or anyone else. Sometimes canopies blend into the background, sometimes something else distracts us for a second and then there's a canopy in the airspace we just checked and don't know about.....there's just too much going on to get it right every single time in crowded airspace. edit: Jan beat me to it. But she's right. Blues, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

All, Please, lets try keep this on topic. There are going to be differing opinions on this matter but lets try and stick to the topic at hand please. Thanks, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

Why? Isn't it more expensive to get one made out of sail material? If it performs the same as a non-sail I'm baffled why you'd want to deal with the extra pack volume and container sizing issues that come with sail material? Blues, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

No argument from me there

Besides the double fronts, I agree with Billvon. Straight into a decent head-wind I just let her go full tilt. I find I cover more ground that way....albeit at the sacrifice of altitude. Blues, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

Beezy, Missed you at the DZ this weekend buddy. Lots of people are rooting for your ass. Blues, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team