grega

you just couldn't help yourself not mentioning them, could you? Do you think they would coach me? How to freefly that is. Hmm maybe i can sell my bed and furniture, so i can be there. When did you say it is, in two weeks "George just lucky i guess!"

i just couldn't help posting here, but your avatar is great. I'm still laughing my ass off. it's so funny and sweet at the same time "George just lucky i guess!"

Man i can't wait for the next years sweedish freefly festival. I won't be there this year because i'm still learning freefly and have nothing to brag about Well the real reason is that i don't have time and money. But next year i'll get there 99% I really envy you guys that go there. Have a blast and take a photo or two so we, who won't be there, will be able to see how it was too

Woow, great looking rig man. Maybe we should meet them with my mirage g4, i think they'd like each other "George just lucky i guess!"

Huh, votes are almost the same. How is cobalt competition at swooping competitions comparing to crossfires, stilletos,.. and other non crossbraced canopies. Is it better, or do the other non x-braced canopies swoop farther/faster? how about comparing it with x-braced canopies? "George just lucky i guess!"

it happens 2 maybe 3 times a year at our school. it's not really to worry about. canopy reacts normaly and is controlable, and lands normaly. well at least it's not a problem with wingloadings 0.8 or less. i can't say about wingloadings for more than 0.8... the problem would be if you'd have a longer bridle and pilot chute would wrap itself around A and B lines and tighten them... "George just lucky i guess!"

great explanation. Would you mind explaining in same style normal toggle turn and front riser turn please keep up the good work

Thanks for reminding me. And yes i am fully aware that i'm in danger cone. But about the time taken to fully learn the canopy flight i don't agree with you at all. Well of course 330 jumps is not nearly enough to learn everything in practice, but at least i did my homework in theory and learned everything i could find or have heard, and am still learning. About practice and experience i'm at the beginning of almost everything and i know that. That times 3.8 and 5 seconds are made up just for comparison. I didn't measure the time i was actually flaring, i just sensed that i can keep impulse longer in flare than cobalt comp, friends who were watching me land noticed the same, though i covered more distance with Cobalt comp. And all approaches were straight in with "nice smooth controlled flare". because it's easier to do "exactly the same" straight in approach twice in a row, than exactly the same 90, 180 or 270 turn, at least with my knowledge and experiences. and i don't do 180 or 270 yet. actually i even stopped doing 90 and took a step back. And about flare power, again those are different canopies with different characteristics. if you watch carefully different canopies on landing you can notice the difference. some canopies almost stop at the end while others are still having some speed. so why is that. weren't all canopies suppose to bleed of the speed and stop. well in perfect world yes, but the truth is that some canopies are designed for more conservative pilots that "almost stop" at the end, while others are designed to swoop and have a lot of speed to cover a lot of ground in flare, but unfortunately they don't have the flare power to "stop" the canopy, so you have to run at the end. And what happens after 3.5 seconds? hmm is that some sort of candid camera Well,... hmm,... if you pull the toggles below your stall point, when canopy looses air speed, that it needs to fly, it stalls. Unless i wouldn't go pass that point, then when it would lost the speed do maintain height, it would start gaining vertical speed again, and the landing would be rough. so you have to be 5 inches off the ground bleeding you speed off, and when you feel the canopy is loosing flare power, you gradually start running or slide over the ground. and you have a "gentle" landing. If the canopy is designed to almost stop at the end, then you just step down

oh and wind speed doesn't affect your flare power. it's exactly the same. your canopies performances (flare power, air speed, recovery arc,...) are exactly the same whether there is 20 mph wind or 0 mph. but the air is much more turbulent at 20mph wind so the canopy can react a "little differently" when flying in turbulent air... The wind does affect your ground speed and the distance of the swoop though. "George just lucky i guess!"

it sure does, on the same canopy. if you have a canopy that has a flare for 3 seconds with straight in approach, it will definitely have more flare if you do a 270 front riser turn... but i was comparing two different canopies... well if you must know i'm comparing: Atair cobalt competition Atair impulse (alpha,space,viper or whatever the name is) and what i felt/noticed, when i tried them both, is that cobalt competition has less flare power but is waaaaay faster than Impulse that has much powerful flare but it's a lot slower then cobalt comp. And cobalt competition has much longer recovery arc than impulse, and of course gains more speed in a turn. Both canopies were 120 sq. feet So which one would you choose for swooping? "George just lucky i guess!"

Which canopy would you choose, considering you'd have it for swooping competition (speed, distance, accuracy, ...)? And why? 1. The one that has a longer recovery arc, dives faster (steeper), flies faster, gains a lot of speed in a turn and has a flare for lets say around 3.8 seconds? 2. Or the one that has a shorter recovery arc, dives slower, glides better, flies slower, and doesn't gain that much speed in a turn, but flares for about 5 seconds. "George just lucky i guess!"

Mirage G4 is IDEAL

Well i can tell for mirage g4. If it's made for you (your measurements), and you can tell them, when ordering, whether you like your rig tight, loose or medium, and it's tighten properly (chest strap should be tight that much, so that shoulder straps are parallel) it won't slip of your shoulders. well at least mine doesnt. i haven't tried jumping with a little loose chest strap and don't intend to because it's as comfortable as it gets. and the shoulder straps are just as wide apart as my neck is wide. "George just lucky i guess!"

option >8hrs is missing well i really need the money for my new rig

yeah but the base price for voodoo is bigger than for mirage g4. if you add unisyn (chest and hip rings) to mirage g4 then you have about the same price... my opinion is that all those 3 container are all as safe as it gets (excluding some exceptions). so it's only your personal opinion which one do you find nicer, more comfortable and reasonable to buy because of the price... I have a mirage g4, and still searching for something that i wouldn't like at it. but i haven't fount a thing yet. it's ... perfect but then again you have to pay "a little" for that perfectness

What do i see here? Is that a natural born head-downer and he can paint too "George just lucky i guess!"

i vote for mirage G4, dooh "George just lucky i guess!"

Actually you can. People have survived, when hitting the ground without anything (main or reserve or anyhting at all) trailing behind them. they were on the edge of staying alive, but they survived... Well at least so i heard. "George just lucky i guess!"

Hmm standing up a landing isn't really something to brag about. it's like i'd be braging i can walk and talk... that's pure basics, hell it's even less than basics... learn those things that billvon has in list... and only then go to a smaller canopy. but don't really listen to me. Better listen to those who saw you land and fly a canopy. and know you and how you handle in stress situations... "George just lucky i guess!"

Hmm not really if you are in a big way, base tumbles and your reserve is accidently deployed directly below somebody. he can tear it apart and in collision kills himself and you... and this is the reserve that is teared apart. if you "Accidently" survive the collision you can cut it with hook knife, but all you have is a main, that was probably packed in 5 minutes by a packer and you can only hope everything will be fine. That's why i like soft reserve handle much more. About beeing hard to pull the soft reserve ripcord. if you are not that phisicaly strong (sorry weak girls) i don't think you should be skydiving at all. it's an extreme sport whether you like it or not. i never saw a week girl climbing, because she simply can't. it's exactly the same with skydiving. skydiving is not like riding a bike and never will be. About being knocked unconscious, why did they invent cypres for then? "George just lucky i guess!"

Wow !!! "George just lucky i guess!"

i'd definetly write a letter (or two) to the FAA if that would happen. it's the stupidest thing i've heard. exactly like you said, why don't they ban soft cutaways too. And how can soft cutaway ripcord be less safe than metal. i see it safer than metal??? What was the incident that caused that anyway? "George just lucky i guess!"

I think that the only thing that would solve this problem, is to get licenced for certain canopies and wingloadings. for example: as a student you can fly square or round canopy (if they are anywhere yet) loaded maximum 0.8 and if you want to get a licence for another canopy, you had to go to canopy control school where they'd teach you how to fly for example any square main loaded up to 1.2. and you had to do certain tasks, which your canopy control instructor would gave you. and you have to do them right otherwise you'd fail and wouldn't get the licence for square canopies loaded 1.2. tasks would be like landing in 30 x 30 feet big marked place, do a flat turn, land crosswind, ... if you already had or made the licence for square canopies 1.2 you could then for example go to squares or elipticals up to 1.4. and you had to do the same tasks and more. something like landing it on front risers or so. i don't know what the tasks, wing loadings, canopies ,classes would be. it's just the idea. And you wouldn't have to have, i don't know 1000 jumps to get a velocity loaded 2.0. all you had to do is get a licence for xbraced canopies loaded up to 2.0. Off course that licence would be very hard to get. you'd have to be really good at canopy control,... and you couldn't jump from student class directly to xbrace 2.0 class. you'd have to take all classes between, and pass them of course. But it would prevent that anyone who has 2000 jumps and knows shit about HP canopies, because he was flying manta 280 for all those 2000 jumps, would kill himself. and would also let any very talented, young skydiver who can fly velocity loaded at 2.0 better and safer at 500 jumps than most of people. but just can't because he can't get a canopy. though that kind of talented young skydivers are very rare, but some of them exist. Just my thought about all this wingloading stuff... "George just lucky i guess!"

Mom, i wanna go to this swedish freefly festival too, they have blondes "George just lucky i guess!"

another way is to lower the invoice price to let's say 1000$. and pay taxes for only that price. All you have to do is convince customs officer somehow that the rig is actually only 1000$... at least that's what i did and it worked. i saved about 800$ "George just lucky i guess!"