ernokaikkonen

>I'll look into it tomorrow, when I'm at work and getting paid for it. LOL Nothing beats being paid for hanging at DZ.com... Or being paid by one company to do work for another company that pays you as well... Erno

>2) Confidence building for recoveries in case the brake line should snap while >doing a high speed approach. Does this idea seem valid? I don't think so. I'm really not an HP-canopy pilot, but if a brakeline snaps during a high-speed approach, it will snap when you're trying to get your canopy out of the dive, into level flight... I don't think anyone could react quickly enough to recover the situation with rear risers: 1. dive with front riser 2. release front riser 3. pull toggles 4. one brakeline snaps, canopy instead of leveling out dives to one side 5. pilot realizes something is wrong 6. pilot realizes it was the brakeline 7. pilot switches to rear risers 8. levels out and flares with rear risers I think the pilot would hit the ground somewhere between 5 and 6... Has anyone ever heard(/seen/done himself) of anyone doing such a recovery? Erno

Okay... The following screen(see attachment) popped up at the address: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=167033;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread With Opera6.03, WinNT4.0, Opera set to "identify as MSIE" Zoom was set from Opera to 50% to fit more stuff in the pic. After switching to "identify as Mozilla5", the page looks fine. Erno

A questionmark maybe?

>It would be useful if you could provide links to actual posts where this is the >case.... Umm...forget it. Seems like the problem was mostly in my head and partly in the fact that some people seem to have trouble posting attachments... Sorry Erno

"Oh...I see... But HOW did you get a picture of the cameraman??" Erno

>and can you add the Bogey Reserve Canopy (if its not much to ask). Thanks. Jesus! Where do these people come up with the names for the canopies? I mean ... "Bogey"?? And it's a reserve... My personal favorite though is the "Twister"... I hope that's not a reserve, the only place i've seen it is on the PIA canopy volume chart... Erno

I'm having trouble seeing peoples attachments. So far I've only seen one, although the posts themselves seem to indicate that an attachment should be there... Erno

>There was a bunch of us flying them last weekend because the winds had us >grounded. Well, if you only have one kite between several people, the situation needs to be addressed... So, when the winds grounded us on my DZ, we took a couple of old parachutes and got to work: First we took an old round reserve, and cut the lines off. Then we got my old 200sqft Maverick, and attached 30meters of line(from the round) in place of the risers. We also attached control lines long enough to reach the ends of the "suspension lines". Then we attached the whole lot on an old student harness. The result: A ram air kite so powerful it took one person to fly it, and to people to hold the "pilot" on the ground... The kite had enough drag to pull two people sitting on a sled from one end of the airfield to the other. On grass, sand and runway. We're hoping to get hold of an old 288sqft Manta next winter... And we're planning to put even longer lines on the Maverick. And when we have the first elliptical that's fallen out of use...

Damn it... I watched the clip, then went to the menu page, and saw another clip titled "Mean hook". And was it about a stick-figure hooking himself to the ground? No. Of all things, it had to be golf...

>access to the full profile of a poster from evey post.... can we get it >back? palease? Or a feature that was suggested some time ago: link to full profile from the brief profile? Erno

Sorry to be bitching about such trivial things but... I think the white/yellow post-icon doesn't have sufficient contrast. It is a bit difficult sometimes to see which threads have new posts. Could this be changed to maybe white/orange or white/red? Erno

A couple of points about the new forums... 1. "Collapsed view" doesn't stick. If I set the view by clicking on the button, then reply on a post or switch to another forum, the system reverts to expanded view. 2. "View all" link is gone from the collapsed view of a forum. This was a feature I used all the time on the old forums, and I'd like to see it on the new ones also. Anyway, thanks for the great site HH! Erno

As if the whole warning label wasn't funny enough, the last one ... >Removal of this label will damage your gear. ...always cracks me up.. Erno

>different set of skills...i never understood the 500 jump minimum. I would think that >a D-licensed jumper could learn the same as a 500 jump D-licensed jumper....just >my $.02 So basically you are saying that we learn nothing during the 300 jumps from #200 to #500? I'm not saying that all people with 500 jumps have similar skills, someone with 500 accuracy jumps from 800m will not be ready to jump a wingsuit, whereas some AFF-graduate with 200 jumps might. What I am saying is that I personally wouldn't have jumped a wingsuit at 200 jumps... But then again I was a terrible student and did 19 S/L-jumps...

>...stupid, ignorant question, but how many jumps do you need to jump a >wingsuit??? There are no stupid qustions, only stupid people These figures apply in Finland: -250 jumps if you a briefed by a qualified wingsuit-instructor -if you have a D-license (500 jumps in Finland), you don't _have_to_ get any instruction, but it would be the smart thing to do... BirdMan Inc website seems to recommed 500 jumps minimum AND getting instruction. Erno

>Just come on over the wffc-thingie. We don't want it to be boring, so you'd better >come.

Maybe this was the second hit the same femur got... "ouch! .... OUCH!" Erno

While all the people on the American continent fuss about that WFFC-thingie(which is probably boring and no good since I can't go), I have to ask if any of the European DZcommers are coming to Parasummer @ Pärnu, Estonia? I know that the Estonian locals will be there of course, and a lot of people from Finland, but anyone else? More info here : http://www.skydive.ee/parasummer Erno

I frown upon cross-posting.

Hi My work-computer of course does not have Quicktime installed, I can't install it without Admin-priviledges, and I'm not going to call the Sysadmin "Hey could you get your already busy ass down here to install this piece of software so I can waste company time more efficiently?"

>My first jump was a static line, and I wouldn't take anything for the experience of >having climbed out there all by myself on my first jump. I never felt so alone, so >scared, or so amazed at/proud of myself for having left the security of the plane and >my jm to hang all alone out there---then let go. Yeah, S/L is the way to go! None of that pussy AFF stuff these kids today are doing. I remember climbing to the strut, looking back at the JM, seeing her nod as the signal to let go... and immediately after letting go, while being blacked out for those couple of seconds from the sensory overload, a small voice in my head asking: "Why did you let go of the plane?". And then, the good canopy over my head... If I only could have another first jump... Erno

> I have been seriously thinking about skydiving as a serious hobby I think you should try it first before you decide whether skydiving is for you or not. Do a tandem first and then consider a more committed approach to our sport. Don't do it because you think it'd be cool, do it because you know... >1. It is Extreme( I love extreme things) Huh? What so extreme about jumping out of a plane.... at 3000m...relying on a bunch of cloth and lines to save your life......... Oh..... oh yeah nevermind.2. I am scared as hell of skydiving As you should be... >I am just having trouble pulling the trigger, I would prefer to have some take the >plunge for the A License with me but I can not find anyone willing or crazy(if that Maybe you're trying to bite off more than you can chew? Don't think of your first jump as a serious commitment to the sport. Just try it! After your first tandem you can decide if you want to pursue the A,B,C and the rest of the licences... and waste all your money on jumptickets...and sell all your valuables and move to the DZ... and watch your so far successful life go down the drain.... >I have always been a fan of teams, >mainly for the strength and commoderarity they build Team-spirit can be a part of skydiving, but that will happen later on in your skydiving career. The first jumps, especially the student jumps, you're going to be pretty much on your own. It's only about you, and only you, in the beginning... You won't be able to turn to a friend for support when you're standing in the door for the first time. >Somebody please push me over the edge... [push] Erno

>Under your full profile, in the equipment section, it would make a LOT of sense to >add a wingloading field. I agree. If you don't want to give your wingloading, just leave the field blank. Erno

>Then, if I was jumping that rig, the very first thing I would do when I took it off the >rack is pop the main out and repack it. That's just not the way it works here(in Finland)... On most DZ's, ~ from jump #3 on, students are supposed to pack themselves. So practically students _only_ jump student-packed gear... The packjobs are of course supervised, and a C/D licenced jumper must check the packjob at two(or three at some DZ's) stages, and sign the packing card with his initials after each stage. The system works quite well; we have very few student-mals. Erno