Who's flown a Vladiball?

[mountainman 0]

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i'm not sure if i'm following your logic here. are you saying that since the vladiball is going to be jumped by people who may not be ready, then people who are not ready should test jump it to see how people who aren't ready are going to do with it??

I'm not going to debate this anymore because I'm no expert, nor claim to be. You are obviously much more qualified (100% more) than me to talk about this issue. (edit: I am not saying this like you are being an ass, nor am I trying to be. I am just saying that you are much more qualified than me. I've never even seen one. LOL This is another example of me not being able to articulate myself well on BBs.)

I guess what I'm saying is that things (anything) should be tested UNDER SUPERVISION (maybe those 2 words are what I'm missing) so they know what could/may happen. Just like toys and other things that are made for kids 12 and older. Don't you think they try them out with kids younger to see if they're ready ? I guess this is just a precautionary thing. Perhaps my omittion of the words "under supervision" was the cause of confusion.

I don't think the ball should be used by someone not ready (like me... I would never jump with one now). I just think someone like you could go with someone like me with more jumps and you could watch how it works with me and I could tell/report about what I thought about it.

Am I making a little more sense ? Sorry about the confusion. Sometimes I have trouble putting my thoughts into posts.

Thanks for listening.

http://www.brandonandlaura.com

[chj 0]

I just put the inaugural jump on my Vladiball yesterday. I packed it full to the brim of #9 steel shot and trimmed the tail down to a few inches and it was slow--about the right speed for sitflying, but definitely too slow for head down.

We also experienced the flimsiness issue. On the ride up, before the pin engaged, we were losing some shot along the main split (although not enough to account for how slow it was).

On the bright side, the pin mechanism worked perfectly and it fell pretty true, not much wobbling, with the shortened tail.

Has anyone else had weight issues with the steel shot?

-chj

[PhreeZone 15]

Instead of steel use lead. Lead is more dense so it will fall much faster.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[cheneyneel 0]

that lead that they sell now is actually lead free so you have safety for the environment and aninals so use the lead free lead shot, very common at hunting stores...

[Levin 0]

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I guess what I'm saying is that things (anything) should be tested UNDER SUPERVISION (maybe those 2 words are what I'm missing) so they know what could/may happen. Just like toys and other things that are made for kids 12 and older. Don't you think they try them out with kids younger to see if they're ready ? I guess this is just a precautionary thing. Perhaps my omittion of the words "under supervision" was the cause of confusion.

imo, there's a big difference between a home made dumb bomb and a box of llegos. i think firearms would have been a better comparison. they are dangerous. little kids 12 and older can shoot them however it is much safer if they do so "under the supervison" of an adult. maybe we should be treating spaceballs with the same respect we would give a loaded gun instead of something made by mattel.

i still do not agree with you on testing the ball for unqualified people for marketing purposes. since unqualified people should not be jumping the ball then there is no reason to test to see how well it will do with unqualified people so that it can be marketed to them.

levin
vSCR#17

[Zennie 0]

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couple of weekends ago one of these "real jumpers" came out and took the ball on a test jump

For the record, that "real jumper" was me. I can't tell if this is a swipe or not -- suffice it to say I'm not a skygod nor have I ever held myself out as one. However, everything else Levin said is correct.

As with most things several mistakes were made. I used #6 steel shot, because that's all tat was available. I assumed this would not appreciably affect the fall rate of the ball. Mistake #1.

Because I've been on a couple of ball jumps and maintained proximity with it, as well as being on several HD multiways where I keep and hold docks, I assumed I had the abilities to stay with, and retrieve the ball. Mistake #2.

And, like Levin mentioned, when a ballmaster was unavailable to me, I decided to ballmaster myself and rely on the Vladiball's release mechanism (which I did not personally verify that day, though I did the next). Mistake #3.

So that's what happened on the ground. Here's what happened in the air...

I asked the pilot to let me out last over an open field. When I exited I was about in the center of the field. I exited the plane and spent about 10 seconds or so with the ball cupped in my hands with fingers spread to get an initial feel for the ball's fall rate. It felt a little "floaty" even in my hands. I decided to let it go (yet another mistake) and the ball immediately floated out on me.

The remainder of my dive was spent trying to match fall rates with it. I managed to make two grabs at it but missed both times. Pro Track went off at 4K and I pulled (per Vladiball instructions). Last thing I saw before I pulled was the ball heading down toward a wooded area that had a couple houses interspersed. I had managed to drift a good half-mile or so during the jump and was no longer over the field.

Did I overestimate my abilities? Yes. Was what I did boneheaded & reckless? Yes. And I kicked myself for about a week because of it.

My point in all this is that I agree with Levin that if you've never jumped a Vladiball before, even if you've ballmastered yourself before, you should definitely have at least one other qualified ballmaster with you. For starters, fall rate with these things is pretty much trial and error, so you really need to have backup. But you really should have several jumps with a qualified ballmaster and retrieve it without difficulty each time before even thinking of going out with it alone.

And Levin makes another good point. Even though their marketing says it's safe, and even though I'm personally pretty confident that the one I dropped did what it was supposed to do, you really shouldn't be relying on that to allow an otherwise unqualified ball jumper from going up. Do we recommend people to rely on their Cypres to save them if they screw up? No. You fly like it isn't there.

Same deal with the Vladiball. The release mechanism is an insurance policy, but you should fly like it doen't have one.

I have a second one and from now on I'll only be flying it if Bryan or Levin are with me. In fact, one of the local teams who has also gone up with a Vladiball only go up when another team member is present... and each of these guys is IMHO fully qualified to go at it solo.

Food for thought.

- Z
"Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

[brabzzz 0]

Ready or not ready, I can't really comment - (never tried freefly so have no idea about the finer/any points of skyballs).

It just seems that there is a simpler answer design wise to miniAAD/expense or flismy sides that pop open...

A clockwork egg-timer type mechanism with a recessed dial is turned to the appropriate working time. tic tic tic and you jump out to play with it. At the end of the jump you recover/de-arm it, dump and stow it somewhere. Or you don't catch it and the timer pulls a pin from a ickle-little-poptop, dragging out a round.

Havn't spent a second on the 'turning it off' idea, but thats a minor point .

The design will probably be shot to pieces in its earliest stage by you lot, but if someone does make a million on it - a beer would be appreciated!

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Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club
www.skydivebristoluni.com

[edid 0]

Interesting figures from people on fall rates and steel/lead shot etc. They all seem to differ. I just got a Vladi also. Can't find steel shot in this country so had to use lead. Got some 7&1/2 LEAD shot. Filled Vladi to the brim and it only weighed 1.65lbs. Hmmm. I'm going to cut the tail down by 1 inch (making it 6&3/8). I'm hoping that will produce a straight fall rate of around 165-170mph (my comfort zone). Will post my data.

P.S. A couple of things I've found. 1) When filling Vladi, open up the cup section and fill one half full. Then close it and fill the rest through the little hole. Makes filling half the hassle.
2) The little bum bag that comes with your cypress (when you buy a new one) is the perfect size for Vladi. Worn around your middle with the pouch on your belly it makes easy stowing in the plane and after freefall.