Auryn

I am looking for opinions about the hip rings on the vector 3.. are they worth the cost and extra wait time (you cant get them on a stock rig) ? I would think the rig would be comfy without them.. but, I want my next container to be extremely comfy, Im going to be in it a lot this summer. blue ones ! D 27808

visualize and practice emergency procedures every chance you get. Don't listen to every piece of advice you get.. there is some really bad advice floating around out there. Be careful. However, if someone says no to something, no is no. that applies to both what you are trying to advance in, and what you may be inviting other people along for. if they don't think they are ready, they aren't and shouldn't be pressured. Blue Ones ! D 27808, still don't know squat.

I will second that.. he does it every day on our dropzone. blue ones. D 27808 (published this month in parachutist!!!!)

the separating of the line groups by sides is a good idea for teaching to pack. I will try this when teaching pro packing. blue ones. D27808

one note on the checklist that I saw, and riggers correct me if I am wrong (this is a minor point) the checklist recommends to cock the PC after the canopy is in the bag. I have been told that doing this can cause excess wear on the topskin of the canopy and even wear a hole in it. anyone with more experience on this one ? Blue Ones ! D 27808

I had severe scoliosis and had 6 or 7 vertebrae fused. I now have 200 jumps since I had the fusion done. I take care of it and stop jumping if it gives me problems (it only has once) I also stretch, live an active lifestyle off the dz. I am now going to take up swimming on a regular basis to improve my endurance and flexibility. if anyone has any particular stretches they do that would be awesome info to add. blue ones D 27808

those unstowed brakes have caused a lot of problems for people... sometime fatal. you handled it great its not silly at all. blue ones D 27808

DVD burners are the bomb in a lot of ways.. just burned a dvd of jumps and sent it to my family for xmas.. but, they have quirks. I have wasted 4 blank dvds in a week (at 2 dollars a pop.) recommend learning on DVD-RWs (which almost all drive support) blue ones

I had this same problem very recently on a HP canopy. I have just downsized from 150 ellip to 120 ellip and it was on my 10th jump after the downsize. I experienced exactly the reverse, and was wearing video at the time so I could spend a lot of time analyzing the situation. It started spinning with the slider 3/4 of the way down. it was spinning to the right, so I countered with the left riser which did nothing. I then furiously pumped the left riser twice trying to fix it, which did nothing. at this point I grabbed both toggles (which took me 2 seconds to simply find due to the stress and g's) and then pulled them as far down as I could and let them back up as quick as I could. it fixed it. total time from deployment to control: 5 seconds. in those 5 seconds I did 3 full revolutions. you can also see in the video that the left 2 cells are completely fubarred during the spin (which I saw during the mal, but didnt dwell on) My first assumption was an unstowed brake line, but the video clearly showed that they were stowed. I guess it just depends on where it is and the randomness of what line it is. my rule of thumb is try twice, try something else twice, chop. luckily I didnt need to do that. I was really happy after it was over that I actually followed the rule I had set for myself.. I could've pulled on that riser for the rest of my life instead of moving on to the next step of my emergency procedures. what does everyone else think ? Blue ones D 27808

I am glad I am not the only one. When I went low (pulled below 1500, flatline on my audible) I went directly for my main. no hesitation, no thinking, I just did it. I second your conclusion 100 percent. and taking the time to think (main or reserve????) could just make it worse. I sat in at just about a grand. no cypres fire. luckily. blue ones. D 27808

Allright, I had to jump on the band wagon.. of course I got a new camera yesterday, and I have to play with it. Blue Ones ! D 27808 edited to add another pic

I have a Z1 (Old model) and an Oxygn. I don't use the Z1 much any more because: I don't like the way the visor hinge bolts stick into the inside by my temples, covered only by a thin layer of fabric/foam. I have had the chinstrap come undone in freefall, and had to hold the helmet on with one hand while holding my grip with the other. The shell developed a bunch of small cracks. I also had an old style Z1. I threw it in the garbage a couple of months ago so I would stop jumping it. I had all the same complaints about it as you do. I just got smart about it and tossed it away, not wanting to risk my life jumping it again. I now jump a Pro-Tec for my non camera helmet. I am over the full face thing until there is a tested one manufactured. Blue Ones D 27808

The emergency procedure of "reach right, reach left, once touching both, pull right pull left" would eliminate any situation of reaching time. when I had my PC in tow that cleared due to low airspeeds and poor gear maintainance (my grommet on my last main closing flap was rough) I had my hands on BOTH my handles within 1 second. NOTE I have chosen to cut away a PC in tow. emergency procedures for ANY partial (for me): cut away and pull reserve. RSL or not, if I am touching silver to begin with, why not pull it ? and if I throw it away, so be it. $35 is worth my life in any situation. And Hell, I am stubborn enough that I would probably go find the bastard if at all possible. Blue Ones ! D 27808

The reason for this might very well be something bigger than just staring at your alti for 10 seconds.. seeing that hand move and feeling the time pass by is the beginning of learning "natural" altitude awareness.. at which point you can safely use your alti as a brief reference, and everything else going on around you (time, the ground) as your primary altitude awareness. It isn't there to waste your time, it is there to teach you to begin to "feel" altitude loss in freefall. AFF primarily isn't about fun (although it is) it is primarily about learning. Blue Ones ! D 27808

they only use that system for boogies. day to day, there is just reliance on observation, which works great during the normal operation of the DZ. CSS is the best DZ I have been to about getting off jumpers, to the point that even during normal times they EMPLOY at least one person to help out w/ such things. They will often be waiting there for you when you land off. D 27808

That's because you're pulling G's on opening and your heart rate will increase because of the physiological load required to keep your blood pressure in your head up. It has nothing to do with fear. Same with landing. You can pull up to 2 g on a sustained front riser turn to the swoop. t you're exactly right.. I never even thought about that. Blue Ones !

I have had a similar experience and my cypres did not fire. 2 way freefly. lost altitude awareness on both my part and the person I was jumping with. he threw out first. He went belly and threw out right in front of me. I of course immediately went belly and heard my audible was flat lined (1500 ft. flat line) and immediately threw out my main.. I had always told myself I would go for my reserve in that situation, and that went right out the window. I wanted nylon and went for the nylon I had a lot of practice deploying. I watched my alti as I deployed. sitting in at around 1k, but my alti is a piece of junk, so I'm not sure where it was.. the opening was not that hard, so who knows. it was really damn low for sure. cypres did not fire. I think the margins at that point are so narrow, and the factors involved are so many that a cypres fire vs a non cypres fire are hypothetical arguments at best. The margins are at 1 second differences, and we are not a sport that is normally designed for 1 second differences.. if you are dealing with 1 second differences, you are in an emergency, and I definately want my cypres to be there in those situations. the device does what it is supposed to do. and I would much rather face a dual out b/c I went low than it not doing it's job at all.. and it's a hell of a lot better than any other AAD I have seen in action.. Ive seen 2 FXCs misfire to the tune of 1000 + feet. If you want an AAD, you have to accept that it might just work. Your attitude about your cypres is the same as mine. if mine had fired, I would've accepted that it was my fault, not the cypres's. I should've been open 1800 feet higher than I was.. or 8 seconds of freefall time higher than I was. I don't approach this sport where margins should be to the tune of 1 second, nor do I expect my gear to be that precise. It is my responsibility to prevent it from getting to that point in the first place. Blue Ones ! D 27808

I have done this, at about 200 jumps or so. I got almost complete ratings on my heart rate, except for in the A/C.. the device worked on radio signals that were cut off in the A/C but the stronger radios. resting: 69 Suiting up: 130 Walking to the A/C 150 Immediately out the door 177 middle of freefall: 177 After deployment, during snivel, 188. the heart rate was maxed during deployment. D 27808

Here's your problem? hey now.. I have 200 jumps on a 150 I love, it honestly is a great canopy, never had any problems... it was great in every way for what I needed it for. The 120 on the other hand..... very different. Im glad I am just demoing it and havent bought it. I allready have decided on a Jedi 120. But, what happened on this opening could happen on any canopy I would imagine. I talked to my rigger and he has surmised that it was a linover on the left that cleared when I pumped the toggles, or a steering line inversion that cleared when I pumped the toggles. Closed end cells alone could not cause a spiral this severe. the flight chars. of the 120, to be positive are: slow openings, but unpredictable. snappier turns than any other 120 I have jumped. smooth riser inputs both front and back, but somewhat stiff pressure. soft landings straight in. swooping, cannot comment on, I don't have enough time to swoop it of course. Blue Ones ! D 27808

this was caused by the closed end cell alone, I didnt have any line twists. I guess my specific question is, can a closed end cell possibly cause a canopy to spin this bad at 1.6:1 or was there something else probably going on that I couldn't see ? I didn't have any line twists which is why I popped the brakes to try to get it to stop.. thanks for the info, Im a little clearer on why it spun to the right, a reverse of what I would logically think, but I know once you get some loading things about canopy behavior change. blue Ones ! D 27808

I jump a Jonathon 120 1.6:1 Yesterday I threw out and had a spinning opening. I first thought it was a released brake but after reviewing the video frame by frame I know the brakes are stowed. the canopy spun to right, and I had 1 end cell closed on the left side of the canopy. From what I saw, everything else with the canopy was fine... when it was happening, I immediately gave it all the left riser I could, which didnt do squat to slow it down. I then pumped the left riser twice, and following the twice rule, gave up on that and then went to fire my brakes and after pumping them twice the canopy was flying straight. it was a serious spin. total elapsed time from slider down to flying straight was 5 seconds. I had completed almost 3 full revolutions during that time it was more extreme than any spiral I have intentionally done with the canopy. this wingloading is new to me, so I want to know everything I can about it. It may be a stupid question, but I had to ask. I've never had end cell closure on my 150 at 1.3:1 cause ANY problems. I would think the closure being on the left would cause the canopy to spin left since there is more parachute flying on the right. So Im a bit confuzzed. Blue Ones ! D-27808

Is the metal going to be permanent? What did your doc tell you about jumping again? The metal is going to be permenant unless it starts to bother me and I want it taken out. My doctor told me I should never skydive again, but he was old and old fashioned and probably basing that decision on how things used to be in our sport. I got a second opinion from someone who was actually into outdoor stuff, and he said it wouldnt be a problem as long as I don't take a large amount of impact directly to the base of my spine. He said I could do it, just be sensible and aware of it. Also does anyone know if rods or plates that are used for a year or so any different to metal that is meant to be permanently left in the body? (is it going to be more stonger etc?) I don't know the answer to that.

I had severe scoliosis when I started jumping that got worse during the first 2.5 years in the sport. it eventually made me quit b/c of the pain. by the time I was 21 the scoliosis had become 62 degrees and was progressing about 8 degrees a year. It had become essentially terminal. I had to get it fused. I now have at least 6 vertebrae fused, but I never got the exact count. I was in so much pain at the time I didnt give a flying flip. 6 is just what I judged from my x rays. I had titanium put in, but they used a new technique that uses a bunch of small rods instead of a few longer big ones. I have made just over 200 jumps since then and been fine. I was back in the air after 5 months. I dont necessarily recommend what I did or am doing but I have been fine. (and ive had some wipe outs and one or two hard openings) it really depends on the specifics of your surgery, your body, your tolerance for risk or pain. I personally have been fine, and I still have the metal to this day. Blue Ones !

When the BSR states a minimum opening altitude, does that mean that one must begin wave-off/deployment procedures at this altitude or is this the minimum altitude one should be at under a deploying/deployed main? The BSR minimum altitudes state that a "container must be open" by said altitude, IE the jumper has to pull by that time and begin deployment. Blue Ones ! D 27808

That's what I thought, I knew they were manufacturer specific.. but I thought i'd give it a shot. D 27808