3mpire

That's cool that they did an experiment like that. That isn't too far off my spitball guess though as I thought about it I didn't include the weight of the tandem rig in my math. I'm guessing a tandem rig weighs... 60 pounds?

I suck at math. what i've outlined is about as far as I'd take it ;) I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't linear, and all the other variables (jumper build, suit, etc.) decrease accuracy. But you could probably eyeball it and give a guess with a +/- MPH range. Just like you can argue from a physics perspective that ground speed doesn't "matter" in calculating exit separation, it's a useful easy to use number to help you come up with a rough calculation that is "good enough"

Right, it would depend on the size of the drogue, perhaps different drogues of the same size are designed a little differently that would create different fall rates. but there has to be some kind of calculation that goes into determining that. If you want to have the average tandem fall at about 120 MPH and the average tandem weighs say 350 pounds, then you would need the drogue to slow the pair down to that speed. I could say that I weigh 190 lbs out the door and fall at 120 mph on my belly and a if tandem pair at 350 lbs with a drogue match my rate, the drogue is like minus 160 pounds. What I wanted is to say have a 140 pound TI with a 115 pound passenger and quickly calculate their fall rate. So taking my guess above, 140 + 115 - 160 = 95lbs which would probably fall at less than 100MPH... I don't know if that's an accurate formula for a ballpark guess though

If you were to calculate the drag of the drogue as negative weight, about how much would it be? Meaning if the tandem instructor weights 175 pounds and the passenger weighs 175 pounds but the drogue creates enough drag so that the "relative" weight of the pair is 200 pounds not 350 (for example): 175 + 175 - drogue = relativeWeight I understand there are a lot of factors that go into it but just roughly speaking (ballpark)?

That's right, leave the gingers to us connoisseurs who know what the hell we're doing. If you're too afraid to take the bull by the horns stay out of the ring

total troll/sock puppet. next thread will be about swooping on jump 75. the only way i'd believe this is a real person is if they post a picture of themselves holding a piece of paper that says "goonieskid"

http://youtu.be/spExb-BRWsk http://deadspin.com/ceremonial-skydiver-crashes-into-baseball-player-857289147 https://mobile.twitter.com/Tolsy21/status/358786441897205760/photo/1 A few links from the story for those who don't want to read the article

Don't blow this, she's not calling the police like they usually do when you chat a girl up. Remember, when you were her age she was in like second grade, so keep your pop culture jokes post 2004. Good luck!

Btw if you work manifest you'll have a dude like goonies kid bugging you all day every day while you try to work because he knows you can't escape.

The qualifications are pretty simple: can you learn how to use the manifest software, can you keep track of multiple things at once, can you put up with me asking you what load I'm on or what my call is every ten minutes because I'm a skydiver and we are incapable of remembering this type of information for some reason

don't be so dramatic

..... Eeeeeeeeeeeeend scene! Bravo!!!

And those that have used them don't feel they interfere with access to handles etc when worn under the rig? Freely and belly...?

welp. we have a winner. pretty much sums up all the key points. /endthread lol

How much do you pay to rent the rig you'll be jumping? A DZ close to me is 20 bucks a jump or 60 bucks for the day. You're going to rent for 75-100 jumps? You'd be paying an outrageous overhead to rent for that many jumps. Seriously at that point just BUY a second cheapo used rig and pound out those jumps on that... it would probably cost you about the same. To champu's point, say you get 25 jumps into your renting plan and you're realizing how much money it's costing you.. I find it really hard to believe you'll have the discipline to keep overpaying for jumps while the "sexy" rig that you're already super attached to is sitting there ready to go. What if AFTER you make the switch you put on more weight and your WL gets beyond your skill level, are you going to rent again? (because you'd have the self-control to STOP jumping your new rig.... right?) Renting for that many jumps seems like a huge waste of money and very unrealistic when both your emotions and your wallet are telling you to give in and jump the rig you already have.

This.

what a great read, thanks for sharing

If you had to guess, with your above average jumping, how many jumps do you think it will take you to "master" the 210 rental? In other words, when do you think you'll be jumping the 190 with a 176 reserve?

Am I missing the part where this mysterious 210 Spectre is available for free every jump while your too-small rig is sitting in the closet? The thing that concerns me in all of these posts is how many things are completely dependent on best case assumptions. Assuming body weight, assuming canopy skills, assuming ideal conditions, assuming a chop won't happen before a certain number of jumps, "having" to decide between two reserves because of the rig... that's a disturbing pattern. Personally I don't see what the problem is if you have a 210 you can jump now and into the future for free. Which reserve should you buy? who cares, wait until you're not scared of a 170 and decide for yourself then. Why buy it now when you don't know what you want? Buying that rig in the first place was a mistake, but don't compound it by contorting yourself into a complex justification based on impossible to prove assumptions that have put you in a rhetorical corner and you should assume WILL put you in a literal corner someday (be it a long spot or a spinning mal down low). It's easy to make mistakes with gear early on. It's hard to admit it and reverse course. I bought an entirely wrong for me canopy right when I got licensed (170 comp cobalt ). I got feedback from other jumpers just like you are now. They questioned even having the gear to begin with. I listened, and I sold it and bought a Sabre 2 instead. Best decision I have ever made in my skydiving career right after my worst decision I ever made in my skydiving career. it didn't cost me much time or money but I saved myself a lot of trouble. Personally, if it were me, I'd sell everything you have now that you're not ready to jump and get something cheap (used) that you ARE ready to jump now, and put whatever money is left over after selling your current rig into a savings account. And by ready to jump now I mean what you weigh NOW, what canopy you can jump NOW. There's nothing wrong with jumping that 210 even after you technically *could* downsize. Just because you can downsize doesn't mean you have to. Used gear you can basically sell it for what you got it for, especially containers if you only put a few hundred jumps on it. so it's not like you're going to be out a lot of money. After a summer or three on a larger canopy in an appropriate rig with an appropriate reserve, you know what you can or can't do under canopy and can decide what the smallest reserve you want is. Then find a rig that fits that and sell your used rig, combine that money with what's been sitting in savings, and presto you have a new rig that isn't going to be a problem. honest question: what's wrong with that plan?

Link is no longer operative, what is the type of gear everyone in this thread uses?

draw a circle around it and presto: bowling ball.

ho leee shit....

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/crashed-asiana-777-slowed-to-103kt-says-ntsb-388055/ So according to that at its slowest speed engines were at 50% and went up from there, however it doesn't say if the engines were at 50% for the whole approach.

I know that a stabilized approach is a constant glide angle and speed targeted at a point on the runway a little short of touchdown to account for the flare, but what alternative approaches are there and why would you ever not want/be able to use a stabilized approach?