skydiverek

How is it technically done? E.g., second skydiving scene in "Point Break". I watched it hunderd of times, and you can see that there is something under Keanu Reeves' shirt. How did he get rid of it? Same question applies to "Drop Zone" (Wesley Snipes dropped w/o parachute at the beggining of the movie and Snipes chasing that chick at night close to the end of the movie). How are these tricks done safely??? Bart

Check the attached photo. Now that's a 'low pull'

OK, mystery explained! Thanks! BTW - Adrian can move FAST horizontally!

Watch carefully 44th and 45th second of this clip: http://personal.inet.fi/cool/humanflight/herc-o2.wmv Is it an airplane (or birdman) under formation???

Check this out!: http://www.tandemy.pl/filmy/DragonSeba.mpg That looks cool! Just to let you know, this jump was consulted with and approved by Parachutes de France tandem examiner. Parachutes de France tandem rig was used in this jump. That's what it says in Polish on http://www.tandemy.pl/filmy.html website.

Duration of sport activity (hand-glide flight OR ride in the airplane and skydive) does not matter. What matters is that you (as one person) commit the same amount of time to each sport. Lets say, you do these two sports on weekends only. Each weekend you commit whole Saturday to hand-gliding and whole Sunday to skydiving. Number of flights/skydives does not matter. What matters is that you are EQUALLY involved in both sports. Now you can compare risks (and predict if you are more likely to die on Saturday or Sunday).

If you are cutting away with left hand you will put your four fingers into the pocket. If you are cutting away with your right hand, your THUMB will fit nicely in the pocket. In both case you will get more positive grip and more "pull force" to get the pillow out of velcro.

www.strongparachutes.com manufacturers Quasar 2, so probably there. Although I am not sure if they could be used on other manufacturers' systems. One more thing: such a handle is much easier to grab with the opposite hand (e.g. grabbing cutaway handle with left hand or reserve handle with right hand - sometimes you have to do that (entalglements, dislocated arm, etc.)).

Attached is, what I think, a clever way of producing cutaway handles. Same concept could be used on reserve pillows. Looks like a good compromise/happy medium between snag resistant classic pillow and easy to grab loop (soft or metal) handle. Do you like this concept?? What do you think? Bart

So for the 8-way team + 1 cameraman that would be about almost million dollars JUST in salaries (9 people earning, let's say, 25K/yr each: 9 x $25,000=$225,000). I was just wondering how it works. oops, I meant "almost QUARTER million dollars"

So for the 8-way team + 1 cameraman that would be about almost million dollars JUST in salaries (9 people earning, let's say, 25K/yr each: 9 x $25,000=$225,000). I was just wondering how it works.

I was just wondering how guys like e.g. Arizona Airspeed members make a living. Considering that they make about 1200 jumps/yr, there is no way they could have a full time job (or even part time). I know that now they earn money thru tunnel camps, but how was it before. Did Skydive AZ pay them annual salaries? I am just wondering. Somehow they have to pay bills, support themselves and their families.

> Pressure - there's a muscle near my jaw that I can > use to open my eustachian tubes. I discovered it > while SCUBA diving years ago, and pressure hasn't > bothered me since How to you do it??? Instructions, please. :-)

I like the idea of red numbers indicating how many new posts are in each forum (e.g. next to "Safety and training" it says "11 new" or something like that). The problem is that when I click on the forum and go inside, I see which topics have new posts (yellow cards), but I do not know the number of new posts in *each topic* - there is no red numbers indicating that. There used to be that feature in forums lats month, so please bring it back ! :-)

> Just a thought, but you could install cross connectors too What is that????

> I am not familiar with this... More info please! I use soft links > BECAUSE I can easily get my slider down behind me! Couple of years ago, Valery Rosov's (ESPN skysurfing champion) cameraman died in a slider related accident. From what I heard, he had Type 17 risers and probably no slider bumpers. He had a FAST opening, slider came down with a LOT of speed, past his links, toggles, and landed on his face distracting him (and possibly entangling with his helmet). He could not get rid of that slider on his face. The canopy was in turn (the toggle must have been dislodged), and he hit the ground turning some 25 seconds later. That is why I want a slider *not to be able* to come down past my links.

> What would be the reason for having such covers? Some people want to use Type 17 risers and soft links, but do not want the slider to come down past the links (it can dislocate a toogle or land on your face, which already killed one skydiver, when he could not cutaway due to that. He was a cameraman of the X-Games champion Valeri Rozov).

What would be an advantage of having soft loop reserve (and cutaway) handle? Bart

Robnyk Saffire altimeter and the comfy wrist strap you are all talking about ie here: http://www.gear-store.com/product.php4?Category=Skydiving&product=45 I know Square 1 sells these altimiters too, but I do not know if the sell them with this compy mount.

> I personally like the idea of soft loop handles for both the > custaway and the reserve.... What would be an advantage of soft loop over metal handle? I always thought soft loop may bend under main web lift or get distorted by relative wind. I used to jump a pillow type cutaway handle, that had a thumb pocket (not a hole, just pocket) on its whole length. Such handle seemed to me like o good idea (both for cutaway and reserve) because, lets say, if you were to pull reserve with your left hand you could put you thumb in the pocket, and if you were doing it with a right hand, you could put your 4 fingers there. Bottom line: much easier to grab and gives you more positive pull.

Also, couple of years ago, Valery Rosov's (ESPN skysurfing champion) cameraman died in a slider related accident. From what I heard, he had Type 17 risers and probably no slider bumpers. He had a fast opening, slider came down with a lot of speed, past his links, toggles, and landed on his face distracting him. He could not get rid of that slider on his face. The canopy was in turn (the toggle must have been dislodged) and he hit the ground turning some 25 seconds later. That is why I want a slider *not to be able* to come down past my links. Since I want to use Slinks too, I guess my only option is using Type 8 risers. That, in result, would make me use large 3-rings (Type 8 and small rings are not recommended, since in the event of horseshoe mal, if your PC is still in pouch and you cutaway, the *wider* Type 8 webbing will not release so easily from 'narrow' mini harnes ring, when exposed to relative wind. Something like that was shown in Time Out commercial in the 'Breakaway' video. Billy Weber cuts away a horseshoe and ...nothing. He had to hit risers with his hands to release them from harness rings).

That's the ingenious design of this flap. It is safe, extremly snag-proof, and it even does not have to open for a safe deployment. Well done, Relative Workshop!

Bill, I know that some companies give you a choice of a 3-rings to be made of standard steel, nickel plated, or stainless steel (http://miragesys.com/product_info/about-g3/hardware.html). As I assume, the surface of polished stainles steel rings and nickel plated rings is more smooth/slippery than of those made of standard steel . In one issue of Parachutist it was said that a smooth/slippery surface of 3-rings is 'worse' than the one that provides more beneficial friction (like standard steel). Is that true? Out of these 3 options, which is the best (safest) for a 3-ring cutaway system? Are the release forces the same (assuming that all 3 sets - standard, nickel, stainless - are made the same and perfectly, according to your specs). Or it doesn't matter? Thanks, Bart

It is easy to draw such conclusion, because not everybody wears an RSL. If everybody was wearing RSL, there would be more deaths caused by this system. E.G. if everybody deployed the reserve being not stable or cut away from an entanglement without disconecting it. So, if everybody WAS wearnig RSL, more deaths could have been attributed to it that saved by it.

It seems like stainless steel slider grommets are superior to brass ones. But still, some manufacturers offer brass ones as an option (e.g. PD). Who would want them and for what reason? One time I heard that brass ones are lighter that stainless steel ones, and thus generate less momentum (and speed) traveling down the lines, contributing to softer openings. Is it true? Thanks, Bart