nicknitro71

Derek, I guess we are talking about two different things. You jump from behavior to risk acceptance. I am just talking about risk acceptance threshold. Same jump: H&P out of 2000' I would jump with my BASE rig with only one canopy if allowed. I would not jump out with my sport main as sole parachute. The jump is the same, I get out and pull, my behavior is no different but if I want to jump my sport main canopy I would add a reserve. The jump is the same but now because I have a reserve I can trust I leap out pulling my sport main. I just added an extra piece of gear and suddenly an un-doable jump becomes doable Same goes for the 40 way with different level jumpers. I know there is a chance I can get knock unconscious by other skydivers and I cannot accept that. With an AAD I take my chance of getting knock unconscious. Again I just added an extra piece of gear and suddenly the un-doable jump becomes doable. You just happened to make a distinction between the AAD and the reserve, I don't. It's not that if I add the AAD I start acting unsafe. I would try to be as safe as possible regardless who I am jumping with the difference is trust. I trust my BASE canopy to save my life, I trust my reserve to save my life, I don't trust my sport main to save my life, I trust 39 very experienced RW jumpers not to knock me unconscious, I don't trust 39 not so experienced jumpers not to knock me unconscious hence I add a piece of gear to elevate my risk acceptance threshold because I trust my AAD to save my life if I get knock unconscious. My behavior and the jump regardless the gear does not change. My risk acceptance level does change with my gear choice. Do you see my point? Memento Audere Semper 903

Exactly, but the threshold, in the case of the hairy 40 way, varies with the presence or absence of the AAD. Memento Audere Semper 903

On my first jump I had the abitity of doing nothing. I still did it, no AAD, and I don't know if I could have acted right if I had a mal. I took my chances and lived. My first BASE jump was out of a notorious cliff in CA. I had something like 40-50 skydives. Did I have the ability to react properly if I had a 180? I don't think so but I still did it and lived. We all take our chances, if yours are different than mine it does not make YOU or ME wrong, we are just different, that's all. Derek, I DON'T think you are wrong but it's not set in stones like you are putting it. Memento Audere Semper 903

Your definition of safety Memento Audere Semper 903

Wow, where to begin? This is the way I see it and it's just my opinion. Let us assume there would be no FAA regulations whatsoever. Here is my take: I would jump my BASE gear most of the time and pull at 500' because I trust it more than any other skydiving gear. If I decide to jump a small loaded elliptical I would jump it in a dual container system with a reserve loaded no more than 1.2, an RSL, and I would pull by 3000'. So I added extra pieces of equipment because I don't trust my main alone to save my life. This main is just for fun, if it works. If I had to make a 40 way with jumpers with various skill levels I would rig out a BASE rig with a AAD set to fire @ 500' and I would pull @ 800' below everybody after a very long track. I added the AAD because I don't trust the people around me not to take my life away. The same 40 way but with very, very experienced RW jumpers then I would do it without AAD because I trust the people on the jump not to take my life away. Derek you said that an AAD should not be an excuse to push the limit or getting in a skydive that otherwise you would not. Well we all take chances, we all have our limits. I would take my chance to get in the first 40 way but only if I had a AAD. Is this a wrong attitude towards safety? Maybe, maybe not. For the vast majority of my jumps I would have no problems not using an AAD but for some I would want one not because I don't trust my skills but because I don't trust the people around me but I still want to make the jump. Memento Audere Semper 903

That was my case: -1.5 on each eye. I could not wear contacts, forget about glasses, and I could not kid myself anymore. On my next physical they were going to put limitations on my private. Night vision is where it's at! I have no glare whatsoever and everything is so crystal! My vision was 20/40 ever since I was 17. In the past year it got to 20/70. If you are worry about long term side effects look into lasek. Memento Audere Semper 903

Noice! I had lasEk a little over a month ago. Lasek is a combination of Lasik and PRK. There is no corneal cut. The cut is much thinner and only involves epithelium that regenerates in one-two weeks. There is also no scarring unlike PRK. The problem is that it hurts pretty bad for two days and it takes about one month to fully recover but again no corneal flap and no long term side effects. I did a lot of research beforhand and I thought this was the way to go. 1500 bucks, some pain for two days, blurry vision for two weeks, and now I got 20/15 and I am loving it! Memento Audere Semper 903

Roq, Does Stane make them? Memento Audere Semper 903

FAA? Do you mean USPA? PS If I can't hook it, I ain't jumping it! Memento Audere Semper 903

Quick question: Is a Russian UT-15 complete system legal to be jumped in the US? I cannot find any TSO data on it. Thanks a lot! Memento Audere Semper 903

It's called the R.A.G.E. http://www.paratec.de/index_start.html Memento Audere Semper 903

What do you mean by phx flysuit? I hope you are not talking about the V1! Memento Audere Semper 903

I got a Wings with articulated and cut in. It fits like a glove but I think articulation makes bigger of a differece in larger people. Honestly I cannot tell much differece between articulated vs. non articulated in term of fit and comfort but I am very skinny. I know other skinny skydivers came to the same conclusions. By the way the Wings articulation is IMO the simplest and best design out there. Memento Audere Semper 903

If the PC is in good shape and properly cooked it's very unlikey. A 28" z-po at terminal will pull with a force of 720 N about 73 Kgs or 160 LBS. The vast majority of PCs in tow are due to uncooked PC or too short kill lines, or too small PCs at sub. Memento Audere Semper 903

With all the due respect you are still not getting the point here. The max exit weight limit of your reserve is 220Lbs. Your exit weight is 270 hence your are over the limit by 50 LBS. Regardless the footage you are over the max limit set by the manufacture, but it seems to me you know better than Flight Concepts. Memento Audere Semper 903

I have one word for you: LasEk Memento Audere Semper 903

First not all reserves are manufactured the same. You could have a 120 that holds up loaded 1.8 and one that blows up. The TSO is a minimum not a maximun. I bet when Derek was jumping he did not load his reserve over the maximum exit weight limit. On top of that you can't compare yourself with someone with over 3000 skydives, all the ratings, who flies a main over 3.0... Memento Audere Semper 903

I am very well aware of wind gusts: I broke my ankle and two vertebrae due to one. The points I am tying to make are very simple actually: -Don't hook lower in high winds because your canopy will lose the same altitude not less -Windshear is not a fine line, it's a space that can be as high as few thousand feet. -The main cause of turbolance in a windshear are the up and downdrafts That's all. Memento Audere Semper 903

I am with you that at the windshear (the space between the two moving masses) you will encounter turbolance but this is due to updrafts and downdrafts caused by the friction between the two air masses. The drop of the canopy is related, in part, to the height of the windshear and that unfortunately can vary quite a bit. If the windshear was a fine line (like you are trying to picture it) then the drop of the canopy would be minimal. The bottom line here is that nobody should hook lower in high winds. Edited to add: Few months ago I was going through a windshear with my S3. We had 35kts NW upper and 5-10 Kts S ground. The windshear was at about 5k. Upon entering my S3 dropped down and stalled. It took me about 2k to regain control and pull. Memento Audere Semper 903

I still don't agree If we assumed the canopy flies at 20 mph heading north here is what we have: above 100' the airspeed is 20 mph and the ground speed zero. Below 100' the airspeed is still 20 mph and the ground speed 40 mph. Memento Audere Semper 903

T10s here. My wife also did S/L progression. Memento Audere Semper 903

This is not true. The air speed is going to be the same; the ground speed is going to be different. A canopy that flies at 20kts will fly at the same air speed downwind, upwind, and crosswind regardless of the speed of th.e wind. The only thing that changes is ground speed. Memento Audere Semper 903

The heigth of your hook does not depend on wind speed. If you do a 270 at 500' with no wind then you do a 270 at 500' with 25kts wind. The only thing that varies is the horizontal set up hence more up wind relative to the target in high winds, that's all. Memento Audere Semper 903

one that gives you 22lbs of pulling force. Memento Audere Semper 903

I'm impressed! I always wanted to make a WS and eventually I will but the work involved must be tremendous. Memento Audere Semper 903