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SkyPainter

Newbie Questions . . .

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So, the weather here is still raining. Blew the Tandem jump Sunday :(. Thought I would already be on to the AFF series today - have about a week's delay. Will spend the week flying in the Wind Tunnel until next Sunday, which is SUPPOSED to be nice! Should have about 15 mins of indoor "freefall" time by next weekend.

Here're a few Q's :

I have the opportunity to do the tandem jump(s) and the AFF series at one DZ over a period of time, or at a second DZ in a compressed 4-day school, where I would have dedicated instructors and priority slots. Would jump 8 times in the four days, and get to solo status quickly. The 4-day gig is an additional hour away, tho.

Q - Is this safe to do? Should the time be stretched-out, or should one just blast through the training in a few days if possible? (discounting new jumper enthusiasm, of course!)

Q - I see some posts where they include a million acronyms in the signature ... do these represent various ratings, or skills, or jumps, or events (4-way, etc.) that people have made?

Q - A REAL newb question - once I start to jump solo - what size main canopy is considered right for a new jumper? I know it should be a tame sheet, basically, but have a bit of response. Don't know enough yet about the choices, or the right path.

Thanks for any opinions/info on this stuff .... it is getting VERY frustrating waiting for the weather to break! Thank the powers that be for the nice wind tunnel, at least! I will try to upload a few pics of my daughter and I flying basic RW with the instructor indoors! She can't wait to 'fly' again, either!

Safe landings -

SkyPainter
Live deliberately; Dare greatly; Land gently
SkyPainter
SOS 1304, POPS 10695, DS 118

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hi dude, if you are keen on jumping then the shorter time frame with the most jumps (we call this Currency) is the way to go, build on your skill base quickly 30 mins is not really much further to travel.
All things being equal, i would take the compressed course any day
You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

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Q - Is this safe to do? Should the time be stretched-out, or should one just blast through the training in a few days if possible? (discounting new jumper enthusiasm, of course!)



8 jumps in 4 days sounds great. You'll learn a lot.

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Q - I see some posts where they include a million acronyms in the signature ... do these represent various ratings, or skills, or jumps, or events (4-way, etc.) that people have made?



Those usually indicate membership in various clubs or cliques within the skydiving community.

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Q - A REAL newb question - once I start to jump solo - what size main canopy is considered right for a new jumper? I know it should be a tame sheet, basically, but have a bit of response. Don't know enough yet about the choices, or the right path.



As a rule of thumb as a novice you shouldn't have a canopy that's smaller than your weight in all your equipment and the canopy should not be considered "high performance". After only 8 jumps you would probably want to be even more conservative than that. Your best bet would be to have your instructors make a recommendation after they have seen you fly and land.

You can also look at the recommendations of the canopy manufacturers. They generally have charts that list skill levels and maximum weights for their canopies.
Owned by Remi #?

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THANK YOU, all for your responses! Maybe you can tell I am petty geeked to go get this started! I just booked another few minutes in the wind tunnel for tonight ..... will try to improve on stable flight, and maintaining a heading in the tunnel. Where there is a will, there is a way!

I feel pretty lucky now to be able to have this facility relatively nearby, and am sure I will visit it a lot to augment my jump training!

Thanks again - this is gonna ROCK!

Safe Landings
SkyPainter
Live deliberately; Dare greatly; Land gently
SkyPainter
SOS 1304, POPS 10695, DS 118

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Here're a few Q's :

I have the opportunity to do the tandem jump(s) and the AFF series at one DZ over a period of time, or at a second DZ in a compressed 4-day school, where I would have dedicated instructors and priority slots. Would jump 8 times in the four days, and get to solo status quickly. The 4-day gig is an additional hour away, tho.

Q - Is this safe to do? Should the time be stretched-out, or should one just blast through the training in a few days if possible? (discounting new jumper enthusiasm, of course!)

Both are about as safe. More important than making jumps as fast as possible is to make new friends. So, Drive the distance, stay the night for the 4 days and make some new friends.


Q - A REAL newb question - once I start to jump solo - what size main canopy is considered right for a new jumper? I know it should be a tame sheet, basically, but have a bit of response. Don't know enough yet about the choices, or the right path.

Agree with the above response about the size being AT LEAST as big as your weight plus gear. That would be a loading of "1", you might seriously consider 1.2 ( this means if you take the square footage of the canopy and divide by your weight+gear, you get about 1.2). Most important, is not to take advice on this from us on Dropszone.com, ask your instructors for their best advice based on what type of canopy, what you strengths are, what type of skydiving you will be doing, your tolerance for turbulance, etc....


Blue Skies!

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Agree with the above response about the size being AT LEAST as big as your weight plus gear. That would be a loading of "1", you might seriously consider 1.2 ( this means if you take the square footage of the canopy and divide by your weight+gear, you get about 1.2).



Ummm... 1.2 would be a canopy SMALLER in square footage than the person weighs with gear. Not recommended for newbies by most canopy manufacturers...

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Agree with the above response about the size being AT LEAST as big as your weight plus gear. That would be a loading of "1", you might seriously consider 1.2 ( this means if you take the square footage of the canopy and divide by your weight+gear, you get about 1.2).



Ummm... 1.2 would be a canopy SMALLER in square footage than the person weighs with gear. Not recommended for newbies by most canopy manufacturers...



You are backwards. The other number on the bottom. The canopy is 1.2 sqft larger the pounds. i.e. - 100 lbs = 120 sqft
POPS #10623; SOS #1672

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You are backwards. The other number on the bottom. The canopy is 1.2 sqft larger the pounds. i.e. - 100 lbs = 120 sqft



Oh. Well, hell. I've been wrong for years. So instead of loading my 150 at about 1.066, I actually load it about .985. Sweet.

Sorry to have to be the BS detector, but wingloading is figured by taking the exit weight of the jumper and dividing it by the square footage of the canopy, NOT the other way around.

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Damn you guys are all super anal.
200lbs with a 150sq ft canopy gives you a 1.333 lb/sq.ft ratio. It also gives you a .75 sq.ft/lb ratio. They are both correct, just expressed in different ways. However, it is always better that everyone use a uniform way of expressing this ratio, and that way is lb/sq.ft. So, try not to give newbs advice that is confusing!
OP: the advice was you want a canopy that is 1.0 or less wingloading, meaning the your weight with gear is the same as the square footage of the canopy, or less. Frankly though, you will learn allot about canopies in your training and should not worry about it now!! Just listen to your instructors and relax..... B|B|B|

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You are all right, I have it 1/2 backwards.

The Wing Loading is going to be wt of jumper plus gear divided by the sq ft of the canopy, and for beginners, the sq ft of the canopy should be at least 20% more. I had the fraction upside down.

Another good reason to find a good instructor at your DZ to take advice from rather than me! :)

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