craddock

[ This is known as the Good Samaritin Act. Most stated have it in some form. Check your state laws. In some states it is punishable offense if a qualified person does not help out. This law is geared toward protecting the qualified health care provider when rendering aid. That spot isn't bad at all, the winds were strong and that was the issue! It was just on the downwind side.

Rock, I started working on high performance landings very early in my skydiving career and started holding the toggles this way early on. As everyone thought I was quickly going to become a statistic , I wanted to reduce my chance of that happening everyway I could without slowing down. I too had a friend that believes he lost a toggle. It appears as though it actually came off of the brake line before impact. We will never know as he has no memory. I was not skydiving yet when this accident occurred but it was always on my mind. Because of this fear, I played with everyway imaginable to hold the toggles. I started using this method because it allowed me to use two fingers for toggles and the other two for various riser input. If I make a fist and then attempt to open up my first two fingers for the risers, my muscle memory wants to open my whole hand. I think this comes from years ago when I had a habit of not letting go of the rope quick enough when taking a fall barefoot waterskiing. I worked hard on and off the water to break myself of that habit. I tried to use my middle and pointer finger for more strength when holding the toggles but I would give up power when operating the front risers. I was not willing to make this sacrifice. Large amounts of strenth is not required to hold the toggles. As I mentioned they do get tired on CRW jumps(not nearly as much as the rest of my body does holding a downplane on my 80 sq ft canopy) but I feel that this pain is a small price for me to pay for the confidence I have that I will not lose a toggle. Holding the toggles any other way just feels unnatural now. Like I said-to each his own Josh That spot isn't bad at all, the winds were strong and that was the issue! It was just on the downwind side.

Interesting- I have never heard of a particular way to hold toggles that is considered to be the correct method. I believe that every individual should decide for themselves what they feel most comfortable with. I use my pinky and ring finger only to hold on to the toggles. This is what works best for me. I feel that I am Much less apt to drop a toggle than I would using your method. I never felt comfortable like that and swithed early on. Fingers can get very sore on X country or CRW jumps though. To each his own, Josh That spot isn't bad at all, the winds were strong and that was the issue! It was just on the downwind side.

My last two rides were on my PD106 at 1.8 lb/sqft. Very nice. Landed the first one downwind. Great swoop and it seemed to bleed of all airspeed. Second one I landed after a 270 into the backyard at a local DZ carving around the trees. My plan was to rear riser that one but I let off of them pretty early. Next time.

Well not anymore, but I first jumped highly loaded X braced canopies with Well under that. First off, the most obvious has already been stated. J.C. started jumping in 1993 before X braced canopies were available(exception noted). The Sabre was at one time a very high performance canopy. The Stiletto was PD's ultra high performance wing when introduced. According to your breakdown, J.C. started jumping the Stiletto with just over 300 jumps and at a fairly high wingloading. Jeez! Did he not know that PD recommended at least 500 jumps. Should not have some one have stopped him. When did J.C. first start juping the Extreme(date)? Nevemind. The point is that J.C. has almost always been jumping the highest performing canopies available. Things change in sports. Canopy designs get proven. Techniques get impoved upon. ect. Was there not a time where a certain numper of jumps were recommended before even jumping a square ram air canopy? There was a time in the 50's when a man stepped of of his waterskis, and continues to ski on his barefeet! Incredible! Many years later when I stood up my first BACKWARD deepwater barefoot start, no one noticed(except my buddy driving the boat)! How things have changed. If J.C. had made his first jump today, he would not wait until 1700 jumps befor jumping X-braced canopies. Do you really think otherwise? Josh That spot isn't bad at all, the winds were strong and that was the issue! It was just on the downwind side.

Easy to induce a stall. Stalling while trying to recover from a low turn = ? Very vague statement. What kind of turn? Carving turn or a snap hook causing the canopy to dive steep toward the ground.(no answer needed) Rear risers could get you killed faster than any other option. Planing a canopy out and pulling out of a dive are not the same in my mind but it is open to interpretation. It is bad advice to tell people who you do not know on this board that using rear risers to pull out of a dive is a good option. I would highly advise the opposite when using a short statement, such as yours, that does not cover any aerodynamics of the stalls that can occur. In fact I will. Using rear risers to pull out of a dive should not be a consideration when learing rear riser landings. Again" pulling out of a dive" is open to interpretation, but less likely to get someone injured or killed. Blues, Josh That spot isn't bad at all, the winds were strong and that was the issue! It was just on the downwind side.

I have a NZ areosports Fx 85 that is a great canopy. I have had the occasional hard opening with it, but then again I have with every canopy I have jumped. Most likely my quick packing. My friend has an 89 made here in the states that opens incredible. It was opening hard when he first got it, then I convinced him to pycho pack it. He never went back. He usually wears video and I have seen his canopy opening from that plenty, and it sure is sweet. I believe it is all packing. He packs mine on occasion and they are better then most of mine. Blue skies, Josh Oh- My FX is for sale 300 jumps ,make offer That spot isn't bad at all, the winds were strong and that was the issue! It was just on the downwind side.

Ok ok your right I shouldn't be laughing at their poor decision making and should congratulate them for their sense of body preservation...snicker snicker snicker Very few of the people that I know who have upsized, did so because they are worried of getting hurt (unless they have already been injured and are getting a larger canopy to get back jumping). Just know why you are laughing. Josh upsizing from a 72 That spot isn't bad at all, the winds were strong and that was the issue! It was just on the downwind side.

"and now your jumping a canopy that requires a least 1000 elliptical jumps????" Where do you come up with this? I do find this thread humorous as I went through all this crap already. Off to the WFFC! Josh That spot isn't bad at all, the winds were strong and that was the issue! It was just on the downwind side.

The 27 will be a 94. Should load it between 2.4 and 2.5. That's a little heavy, but I liked the way my 21s flew between 2.3 and 2.4. We'll see. Jason I am loading my loading my 72 sq ft. 27 between 2.5 and 2.6 I think you will be happy at your loading. It is quite a different animal than a seven cell. Very high aspect ratio. I would love to tell you more about it, but I gotta run to the DZ! Later, J That spot isn't bad at all, the winds were strong and that was the issue! It was just on the downwind side.

Practice. Not trying to be smart, but after a little practice you will not even think about it. If your input starts with the toggles at your ears or at your chest it still will only require the same amount of input. It will not take very long to be comfortable with the extra slack. You can tell when you are starting to pull down on the tail so just practice over and over on every jump. You do not have to be close to the ground to practice your swoop. Hook it hard up high and practice pulling out of the dive with toggles. Practice carving out of the dive. Practice small adjustments to that you get the feel of how much input your are giving the canopy. You should not be trying to condition your self to a specific point(ears or shoulders), but rather to feel what you are doing to the canopy. Then you can jump any canopy at any brake line lenth with no concerns. That said, I finish my turn as well as perform any minor corrections with harness input. Anything beyond harness input I use rear risers unless of course things get really nasty. I have just started this technique after watching some rear riser landings at the ranch and I am hooked. J

"Thanks, Duh....I know. My experience has it that two s-folds or rolling it up make little difference. The point of psycho packing is to make it easy to get in the bag and control your line groups. I need some wise advice form an FX jumper that has a slammer. " I jump a FX85 that has opened up everyway imaginable. Using the psycho pack method has truly yeilded the most consistant soft openings. I never flake the line groups regardless of which method I use as I have never found it to soften openings. Then again I have not really done it enough to say for sure. On a standard pro pack I grab the nose, give it a good shake, roll it a bit ( I just roll it all one way) shove it back into the pack job and take a quick peek at the brake lines. Most importantly, push the slider down as far as you can onto the stops and make sure it stays there as you get the air out and s fold it. Rolling the tail tight above the slider helps out. Tight stows and the proper size pilot chute. I have a 24 " I do have some hesitation on low speed hop and pops( I do alot of s/l loads and some pilots give a huge cut which drives me nuts)but I have a very tight closing loop also. On the psycho pack, I do not roll the nose or the tail. Just overlap the tail the full with of the triangle. Works great. My buddy was having problems with his FX and it took me forever to get him to let me pack it for him. He really did not want to learn the method because he is very good at pro packing. He finally gave in and has never packed it any other way since that jump. I really do not know why it works so good but it does. As the canopy gets more jumps on it it behaves better. Mine has been an angel since I thrashed it at the Ranch for the swoop comp. I should have dunked it and let it sit in the hot sun drying a long time ago. I am also currently pro packing. Good luck! J

I have only about 15 jumps on the VX74. I really liked this canopy after it was opened. Openings was not its strong point. It never was intended to be. I can only describe it as "angry" when it opens. Definately a surge. It made my heart race. I started to get used to it just before I broke it. Yes it broke! You must be lucky with yours Alan. They all have there own personality. Josh

,"it appears that Precision who no longer makes the Icarus' due to their own new line of canopies was not doing quality control or something like that". Or something like that? It appears? DB., where did you hear that precision is no longer making the crossfire. Is this just another rumor. Give it up. As far is Lisa is concerned I can say that she was not the only one to have problems with turb. Some had been affected earlier in the day much further from the trees than she was. There is no doubt that there was nasty air where she came through. Those paticular tree tops were swirling around quite a bit. Not a steady directional wind. It had been clear all day with little winds, but it had changed for that load. I was the first one out and had to wait for several go arounds to find a hole and get the green light. I myself never really noticed anything when I landed. I was pretty stoked after my run and paid little attention to weather. I only noticed the tree tops at about the same time as she had gone through. No one else came that close to give reason to look. You can bet I will be more aware in the future. It could have been anyone of us that dared to fuck with that rotor and most of us have put ourselves in that position in the past.. Wrong place at the wrong time. Leave it at that! J

," the only reason we are having it about the Crossfire is because of DBTech. I have seen no one else come forward in his defense." Exactly- And where does the nil wind/turb come from. Did you see it DB? Apparently not. J

Ramon, I have quite a few jumps on the Xaos and can vouch that it opens just fine. Not sure if you have jumped one or if your statement was a question. Josh

Just because he owned a monarch 170 doesn't mean he did not jump anything else in between. I went from a pd190 that I put about 50 jumps on to a Stiletto 107. Of course I did jump something in between first- I just did not own it. Remember that the Alpha is not as fast as the Stiletto or most any canopies for that matter at the same loading.

-First of all Craddock,how many jumps do you have? A lot less than you -I am a very current canopy pilot.I do not think of myself as a hot shit skygod canopy pilot. I have asked before and received conflicting answers on what a "skygod" is. Could you elaborate? -I have done things and made jumps by parachute that most of you will sadly never have the chance to do. I would love to hear more. Your references are vague and leave me with many questions. You must have some cool stories with your experiences! -.Does a low time jumper have what it takes to handle a problem at a 1.4 loading within 50-100 feet of the ground? Depends on what you consider a "low time jumper" and of course the individual themselves. Some are more apt to handle these kind of situations. It is not that hard to teach canopy control, but it is hard for some to learn. It is usually panic that hurts/kills. Even the best student who knows everything on paper may not stand a chance in a real world situation, but that does not mean that we need profile every "low timer" on ??? standards. -If you answer anything but no,you should not be giving advice on this forum. It is not a yes or no question. -What happens when another jumper on a slower canopy drops in front of you and you have to avoid running into him? Go around, over or under! -A low timer does not have what it takes in most cases to handle an event like this. Exactly my point. "in most cases" -I have seen a few get out of it and I have seen a few crash and burn.Some of the low timers I have watched that did walk away were under a lightly loaded main.The ones under a higher loading did not do so well.Why you ask? No Spectre230, I really meant no disrespect. I am one of those who started jumping high performance mains as soon as I could and flew them very aggressively right from the start. I realize that this is not for everybody, but it ticks me off when "low time jumpers" are told that they are foolish for what they want to jump. Now obviously it is not a good idea to have 50 jump wonders flying at ultra high wing loadings, but I do not like to sterotype jumpers at any level. I know jumpers with thousands of jumps that would hurt themselves on canopies some are jumping early on. It is so individual. There was a time (way before I started jumping) when the Sabre was considered High Performance and what did they recomend at that time as far as experiance? See how times change. As far as the Cobalt is concerned, I disagree a little on your assesment of its performance. My feelings are that you need to go down a size or two(higher wing loading) to have the same speed compared to most canopies. I Have jumped the 75 and the 95. I do not feel that the 95 was any faster than my 107 Stiletto that I had been jumping since my first year. It is hard for me to say for sure as I had not jumped for months before demoing the 95 and when spring came up here in the northland I had already sold my Stiletto. The cg is further back which is why it needs to be loaded heavier. The new Xaos is simuler in that regard. I am also very sick and stuck on the ground this weekend so excuse me if I come off like an ass! J

What?? $%#$%

Spectre230, Unless you personally know Foos, then you are not smart to address him in such a manner. Also- Have you jumped the Cobalt? As far as reckless is concerned, your post is all about that. J

"Stainless is marginally stronger" Stronger in what regard? Could you please elaborate. Do you know what grade of stainless they are using. J

What is the most comfortable container you have jumped. RI Flexion

Yes you must be crazy! I have several jumps on the 95 and 75. That puts me around 2.0 and 2.5 respectively. This canopy has super light riser pressure which makes it extremely easy to fly accurately. J

I have never read the cypress webpage, but I wonder how many of the unconscious saves remained that way after opening untill landing. You have pointed out one and there are probably others but statistically I will take my chances. Even more so since I don't jump with an AAD. Blue Skies J

This is a very common arguement but I do not buy in to it. How many people land unconscious under their reserves? Seriously. Even more to the point-how many survived? I have very little chance of being unconsious under canopy(unless I have a seizure) but I still jump a reserve much larger than my main. J. btw- my reserve is a pd106