theplummeter

get your arse to Eloy or Elsinore in March and come hang out I'll be in Eloy late February into early March if you need someone to jump with. The group that planned this trip is slowly dwindling to just me, and I already bought my tickets.

I started out on F111 Mantas and put a handful of jumps on a Raven 4 as a main before I ever got to jump a ZP canopy. Try finding someone to show you a psycho pack if you don't already know how to do it. It improved my openings on the Fusion a bit, the stowless bag make a big difference in my opinion. I also ordered brass grommets for the slider as recommended by George Galloway at Precision. He said they have had much better openings on the Technora lines with brass grommets. Enjoy the canopy, it's a great one, as are most of the canopies on the market today.

I psycho pack mine into a semi-stowless bag (Rigging Innovations). The canopy sometimes will hunt for a heading during the last portion of inflation, I have learned to steer gently with harness pressure only and I get better results. On normal jumps I get nice openings on a heading better than 80% of the time. I do get line twists infrequently with my Fusion on wingsuit jumps, but I have never had to cut away the canopy (just over 300 jumps on it now). It stays stable while I kick out, and hasn't ever tried to dive in twists. This stability is specifically why I chose the Fusion over a Nitron or Nitro, although I had better openings on a same size Nitron without the wingsuit. While the openings are occasionally off heading, from the first opening until the last one I had I have never had a hard opening (not even a firm one). The openings are incredibly consistent in terms of softness and altitude used. I had a Stiletto before this canopy and really appreciate the opening consistency and stability if it does twist. With a little over 300 jumps on the canopy it still looks almost new, the lines are not showing any wear, and I'm learning a lot about canopy flight.

I have ridden two different Micro Raven 150 canopies after cutaways. Both were subterminal and both were fast and firm openings. I imagine a terminal opening would be really firm but that's exactly what I'd be looking for in a reserve, especially if I was low. I think I'm the only skydiver in the country who didn't hate the landings, both canopies gave stand up landings in the normal landing area. It's not a great flaring canopy but not horrible either, just flare way low, fast, and not too far on the toggle stroke.

I have been on a Fusion for a couple seasons now. What do you want to know?

Most transport category aircraft have both bank and pitch limits to prevent a wing or tail strike, and the gear is often designed to land with a side load. Many of the larger aircraft also have landing gear that can caster. I think the camera angle contributed to what seems worse than it probably was, the sink rate and runway looked pretty bad, especially when the Dash 8 was landing.

Apparently the Crossfire3 is in the works according to NZAerosports website, but they don't really share much more detail: http://www.nzaerosports.com/news/

I understand the new FF handles are a bit bigger and have the same grippy material as the cutaway handles. Mine is set to arrive Monday so I'll post a pic when it does I really liked the small free fly handle idea but could see myself gloved up in a wingsuit unable to find that small of a handle. If it's a little larger I may order a second set of risers and free fly handled pilot chute so I can swap out canopies on different jumps. I would like to keep my current canopy for wingsuit stuff but get something newer for freefly/hop and pop jumps.

I ordered my Curv earlier this year, and was advised to get the hacky handle since I wingsuit and the small freefly handle had contributed to a few no pull incidents at Eloy (people new to the rig on wingsuit jumps). The freefly handle really is small compared to most manufacturers.

I agree. I have jumped roughly a dozen different canopies and the softest openings have been on a Safire2. Precision's Fusion takes second place in this category. I had one hardish opening on my Safire in 150 or so jumps, I have yet to have anything other than pillow soft openings in over 250 jumps on the Fusion, but they eat some altitude and occasionally hunt for a heading. Soft openings are a major deal to me also, I had an opening on a Stiletto that put me into an ER with a hemothorax and cracked ribs.

This thread is fine for all the Christians, but as an ex-communicated former practitioner of Judaism what am I to do? I am also 50% of Hebrew descent and have attended fundamentalist Baptist and standard Mormon churches in case you needed that info. Thanks in advance for any help.

I didn't realize how identical the Bahamas and Key West are...or for that matter California. This show is definitely in the running for worst reality series. Any pilot who has done repo flights just groans every time it comes on.

I too am obsessed with jumping. Before I started jumping I was obsessed with flying, which I now do for a living and no longer love. I don't want to end up disliking jumping like I do flying, so I'll keep my job and jump to the best of my ability. Think about long term goals before you make a decision, hating a good job and dreaming about jumping could be a better place than hating jumping with nothing to dream about. Skydiving might be the most fun you'll have (maybe for a while, maybe forever) but it isn't a complete life.

Swing Mirage speedwings.

Seems like now would be a good time to work on ways of getting them to NOT hate you. It may pay off big time in the future.

Four bladed props on the King Air series were used primarily to increase drag for landing and reverse. We have two B200 King Airs with identical engines (-42s) but different props. The three blade is quieter and faster in cruise. At one point the four blade prop and a couple other things were marketed and sold as part of a "short field" package by Beech.

I'm sorry you're going through this. I got divorced in 2007 and have joint legal and shared physical custody of my boys. The battle required to get here was incredible, for all of the equality in the judiciary nothing helps out more in a situation like yours than having a vagina. Fight the good fight, do what's best for your son, do anything you can to maintain your rights, and don't attack your ex in his eyes. Even if everything goes to hell, you'll know you did the right thing and someday when he is old enough he will know it as well.

I learned to fly many years ago at what is now Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. Casa Grande was never on the cool list of places to go, but there were a ton of photos of airplanes descending into the open pit mine five miles from the airport and doing a steep turn inside the hole. It seems like any real traffic in that area is training from the Phoenix area, and not likely to buy gas anyway. They are also more likely to use the FM navigation station for practice instrument approaches than to touch the runway. My home dropzone airport recently formed an Airport Advisory Board and want the dropzone and gliders gone. They are tired of people "coming down from the big city and taking over their airport". They are also concerned about the safety of gliding and skydiving, and have appointed the one guy who just got his private certificate to assess the risk and report it to the board. We went to the first board meeting with a couple of the glider folks and explained what percentage of fuel sales and airport operations we produce. Now they hate us, but won't say anything anymore because they need the money.

While I have always routed the bridle to the side opposite the pin (bridle stays on the right side, pin points left) it wasn't until I took a wingsuit course with Chuck Blue in Eloy that I even thought of routing the bridle the way shown in Sandy's pictures, coming up from under the flap and then right back down under. I think this is the third time I've seen photos of a perforated bridle in as many years.

This may work. But it's really easy to mess it up and hurt yourself with this kind of loading on this kind of canopy. On a reserve ride there is no guarantee that altitude will be available for practice flares. It would be far better to load the dice in your favor, rather than against you. I agree that there are much better options available to us now. What I was really trying to say is that the gear fear inspired by reading here and my experience on the canopy were two very different things. I wonder if maybe there are some differences between the 90's canopies and those that barely preceded the R-max. If I were shopping now I would not buy a used Micro Raven to put in a rig, but I'm also not concerned over the performance on those that I rode. They opened quickly, on heading, and got me safely to the ground.

Soooooooooooooo mad! You know who you are and what you did!

When I liven in Phoenix we used to do day trips from Mesa-East Valley-Sedona-Prescott and back to Phoenix. Sedona is a great ride with some wonderful scenery, and it only kills a day coming from Eloy.

While long range aircraft will likely need the high energy density fuel for some time, electricity could more quickly become a viable option for smaller aircraft on shorter flights. I would also think that an electric motor is not likely to lose torque in thinner air like a combustion engine is so maybe it could be an ideal setup for jumping. Changeable battery banks at a charging station would the transition seamless, and the electric motors could come to a full stop after the climb, or the windmilling propeller(s) could be used as a source for partial recharging during descents. I think it's all a matter of battery technology versus weight.

I've ridden two Micro Raven 150 canopies, both manufactured in 2001 and loaded at 1.4. To describe the flare as strong would be a lie, but I managed to stand both of them up even at high altitude and temperature after a couple practice flares. Figure out the point where a stall starts and quickly flare to that point close to the ground. They really didn't seem too bad to me, especially after a cranky main.

IAD or AFF?