Parafoil27 0 #1 July 28, 2009 Just out of curiosity < = less than > = greater than Don't get pissy ! EARTH! Short bus of the universe, since the year T+10.3 billion! REV. DUDEMIESTER D.S.#120 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skyjumpenfool 2 #2 July 28, 2009 Sugar Alpha..... Freak Bothers Convention, lost power shortly after take off. Pilot said "GET OUT". We got out. It was a very short canopy ride.Birdshit & Fools Productions "Son, only two things fall from the sky." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NiteQwill 0 #3 July 28, 2009 Quote Sugar Alpha..... Freak Bothers Convention, lost power shortly after take off. Pilot said "GET OUT". We got out. It was a very short canopy ride. eeeek! "Fail, fail again. Fail better." -Samuel Beckett Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ZigZagMarquis 8 #4 July 28, 2009 I've got 3 friends that un-assed themselves from a burning Queen-Air at about 800 - 1000ft. They all went main; most familiar handle. This was "back in the day" of "big" F111 mains. They all got open and landed safely, all-be-it, after a SHORT canopy ride. I doubt they all would have made it if they had been jumping some of the "opens into a streamer that eventually clears" canopies of "today." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aresye 0 #5 July 28, 2009 Did an air show demo from about 2700ft. Cloud layer was around 3000, but there were so many spectators, we didn't want to disappoint. Had a long way to go. Good thing we had a tail wind. Managed a perfect standup landing right in front of the spectators. Then, Sonny's catering. Oh yeah!Skydiving: You either learn from other's mistakes, or they'll learn from yours. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tbrown 26 #6 July 28, 2009 We used to do hop & pops from a Cessna on cloudy days at 2 grand, if that was all we could get. That was in the old days, with older generation 5 cell and 7 cell canopies. I'd still do it nowadays, though I'd want to turn off my cypres first, just to be sure I don't get two canopies out for any reason. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity ! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BillyVance 34 #7 July 28, 2009 Did 1800 feet at an air show due to clouds. Not a problem to me, but we had a flag bearer that I didn't think could deploy his 1800 sq ft flag in time. He did, and still made it on target! "Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DrewEckhardt 0 #8 July 28, 2009 Quote Just out of curiosity > = greater than Don't get pissy ! I've asked for 2050' on accuracy jumps since it that meant my container was unambiguously open before the BSR minimum. Where that didn't matter I've taken 10 second delays from 2000' since it's not that much more time on the aircraft and you might as well enjoy the free fall. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
phoenixlpr 0 #9 July 28, 2009 about 230m from An-2 with RS4/A round military system. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
diablopilot 2 #10 July 28, 2009 2001 ft agl of course...... ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
j5okeefe 0 #11 July 28, 2009 At 35 jumps, I've really only had one chance so far to jump lower than 4000' - and it was at 2800' for what would have been #36. I knew my equipment could do it, but I rode the plane down because I didn't want to risk it at my experience level. Not to mention the fact that I would have been exiting the plane lower than my hard deck... However I really like this discussion, as well as the one regarding the recent "incident". I didn't think too hard on this before hand, but will now. I just got my new main canopy and will certainly be measuring altitude loss for these types of situations.I'll be whatever I want to do! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
speedy 0 #12 July 28, 2009 Well let's just say we did not get high enough to put cypres into jump mode. Dave Fallschirmsport Marl Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pchapman 261 #13 July 28, 2009 The higher categories in the poll seem to be for the "turbine babies" generation. Low Cessna passes have normally always been 3500' in my area. That's quite adequate even for those with snivelly canopies who want to be completely open before 2000'. For those who have been around a while, it is completely normal to jump at 3000' after dispatching IAD or static line first jump students at the same height. I've been at competitions where the accuracy jumps were from 2500', although that's for big canopies, and usually they go higher to drop more jumpers per pass. Nowadays you still get those "ceiling check" loads that go up and decide to get out even if the ceiling turns out to be a bit low. Even at a relatively conservative DZ like I've been at, traditionally C-182 equipped, we have on rare occasions made hop and pops with our sub-100 crossbraced canopies from 2000' or 1800'. I think the latter is the lowest we'd get a whole plane load of the more experienced jumpers to agree to go out without having the mindset of doing something crazy. Not everyone will go up on a day like that, and I'm not sure what the opinion would be for those jumpers with 50-300 jumps. (Crazy stuff is another issue. Who says you have to be stuck doing hop and pops when the clouds are at 2000'? I was getting 15 seconds of freefall on my Protrac from 2000' when using my wingsuit... on a very grey day when almost nobody was looking up.) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kkeenan 13 #14 July 28, 2009 At a CRW boogie with a lot of people wanting to jump, the ceiling was at 2500'. Not wanting to sit around, we put together a set of 4-way teams to do a "Speed Stack" competition, exiting at 2500'. What could possibly go wrong. Turns out that my bad dock on a teammate wrapped him with my canopy. I cut away at about 900' for a 20 sec. reserve ride. Low hop & pops are fine, but for low CRW, I try to dock more carefully now. Kevin K. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jimmytavino 16 #15 July 28, 2009 did a lot of LOW jumps years ago.. ( might have even been on a few WITH tbrown...) did many like that before i had 500 jumps.. in the days before squares or AADs once or twice exited around 1,600 feet... no problem... most of us were acccuracy enthusiasts then, and a "one dollar each, mini money meet " would be a sure way to get some parachutes in the air...!!! HEY!!!! at least we weren't exiting IN the clouds... we were Under them... OK OK maybe the rudder of the cessna WAS in the ceiling... But we had jumpers who liked to jump and pilots who liked to fly... We always felt that God was setting the exit altitude,, and so who were WE to argue.. Today??? i'd get out @ 2 grand , NO problem... i watched two guys pull a two -way off the step at what the pilot later said was 1,600 feet...while jumping PCs,, but i was ON the Ground!!! watching it... ( didn't need any binoculars for THAT one!!) However on days when the ceiling was NOT an issue,,, I'd much rather push for More altitude...it just makes better Sense ... jt Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lekstrom10k 0 #16 July 28, 2009 For my 60th birthday fund raiser for MS "60for60". I did all 60 of them in 7hours and 20 minutes from between 1500 and 1800. Excapt the last one the sky opened up and I got all the way up to 2200. I did a demo in the rain at 1200 with a PC but we got $5.00 so it was OK. I did the high speed Otter jumps at Rantual, and the Pac 750 low altidudes too Anyone remember the get everything that can fly jumps at Freakport? Roger had a theory all the planes at a single pass would blow the clouds away. You could get "T-Shirts that said something like "I was one of the 207 canopies in the air at Freakport" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
relyon 0 #17 July 28, 2009 One memorable hop-n-pop was a 2100' speed 8-plane CRW team practice jump from two C-182s in formation ... with light rain. Bob Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Parafoil27 0 #18 July 28, 2009 I learned S/L from a 182. I think there is something to be said for S/L when it comes to doing H&P s. EARTH! Short bus of the universe, since the year T+10.3 billion! REV. DUDEMIESTER D.S.#120 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
davelepka 4 #19 July 28, 2009 With regular skydiving gear, 1500ft. With a Fox 205 (BASE canopy) free packed into an old student rig, 500ft. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
topdocker 0 #20 July 28, 2009 Quote One memorable hop-n-pop was a 2100' speed 8-plane CRW team practice jump from two C-182s in formation ... with light rain. Bob At night, uphill, with a PC!!!Just the fact that you jumped with whiskey bill is enough! topJump more, post less! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andy_Copland 0 #21 July 28, 2009 1200ft1338 People aint made of nothin' but water and shit. Until morale improves, the beatings will continue. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JerryBaumchen 1,048 #22 July 28, 2009 Hi Parafoil, For me, about 1500-1600 ft; but just once was enough, thank you. And that one was climbing up into the clouds to just get to that altitude. When I got my D it was OK to open at 1800 ft, which I did normally on almost all jumps. JerryBaumchen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
indyz 1 #23 July 28, 2009 I might have had the opportunity to get out at 1700' once. In the rain. On my first jump on a new, small, high performance canopy. But I wouldn't have done that, because it would have been stupid, not to mention a BSR violation. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pinkfairy 0 #24 July 28, 2009 First 2000': Cloudy, seems like it's gonna snow day in winter, few hour of daylight up here north, just before christmas, accuracy target set up for a very informal accuracy competition, chief instructor goes "Please, pretty please don't hook low to get to the target, look, the prize is this neckhat, it's not worth it!" First load gets up and they get 2000 before they hit the cloud cover. Some of the jumpers ride the plane down because they're not comfortable with the exit altitude. OK, so 2000 is what I get: Damn it's low, I can see all the houses in details, snowy roads and people out doing their shopping, then we climb the last couple of hundred feet to 2000 and the ground is blocked by clouds. I'm at 2000 and see only white. I go out under the wing of the C-182, hang like a static line student and let go, pull immediately, have a PC hesitation, but I'm out of the cloud by the time it cleared, PD Silhouette 150 is open at 1500. Good spot but missed the target. The competition got cancelled after a while, as the cloud cover got lower and lower, and it wasn't really a good idea to fly the plane in clouds at those temperatures. Good times! I'll do it again, and I'll go from 1500' once I've stopped having those anoying PC hesitations on hop n' pops. I'm a typical turbine baby. Oh, and all of the above was according to the rules here in Norway.Relax, you can die if you mess up, but it will probably not be by bullet. I'm a BIG, TOUGH BIGWAY FORMATION SKYDIVER! What are you? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JDutton 0 #25 July 28, 2009 8 of us jumped into a wedding in 1975 from 2 C-180s. The jump plane I was in developed oil pressure problems and the pilot wanted to nurse it and head straight back to the airport. We (4 of us) did hop & pops from about 1800'. Had kind of a long walk due to a shaky spot with fairly high winds and needing to avoid some tall power lines. Fortunately, the groom was in the OTHER plane. Jeff Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites