Sky_doggy

Hi All, I am looking into replacing my pilot chute and I was wondering why one would choose F111 over ZP. Thanks, Paul

Hi all, I have a Sabre 2 with about 350 ~ 400 jumps on it and I want to put new lines on it before I start jumping it. The rigger asked me if I wanted Dacron or Vectran lines. I am leaning towards Darcon because they are supposed to have some stretch in them. I am thinking that if I get a random hard opening that it might help soften it a bit. My question is a bit subjective, but I was wondering if Dacron helps much in this situation, or its more of a myth. Thanks, Paul

Hi all, I'll run this question by UPT next week, but I thought I'd put it on the forum in case anyone happens to know. I was wondering if UPT's semi stowless bags are available for other manufactures containers or just there own. I have Javelin 4. Cheers, Paul

Thank you, I missed that in the SIM.

Hi All, I have been following the incidents thread on the WS water landing and it piqued a few questions about water landings. I recently did my water landing training and I decided to make it as realistic as possible. I wore my clothes, a jumpsuit and sneakers. I am quite comfortable in the water having Scuba dived for 18 consecutive seasons, but this experience was very different for me. I found it hard going, despite doing everything as defined in the SIM. To be honest if I was landing in a lake with the shock of 50 degree water I don't think it would have been a good outcome. This got me to wondering if it would be practical to chop my main just as my toes touched the water? I total understand the whole depth perception thing and not cutting away above the water, but it would seem to me that if I could get rid of the main then things would start getting a bit easier. I'd be interested in the opinion of the experienced folks on the forum.

Ah, I don't about that. There is a ready market for the 100 jump wonders with mad skilz ready to down size.

Thanks, yeah just did some rough maths (which is prolly what should have done first ) and the canopy would have to be well under 100 square feet to come even close to fitting. The chances of finding something like that which is half decent would be somewhere between none and bugger all. Thanks for idea on a small round, they come up on eBay pretty regularly.

Hi all, A friend of mine is looking for an old canopy as a wall decoration. The wall is 12 feet long and the ceiling is 8 feet high. Could some one tell me what size canopies would fit in this area. My guess is that it would need to be fairly small. Thanks.

Hi, your profile doesn't say where you are located but if you are in the US I can highly recommend the http://flight-1.com/sport/ courses. I did 101 and 102 this year. I can say that after doing these classes that 'you don't know what you don't know'. This is coming from someone with 1000's of hours of fixed wing flying who could fly a pattern and land my canopy pretty well where I planned on the DZ from the get go. I don't want to come off as an ass, but your not special. I down sized from 220 to a 190 at 40 jumps under the guidance of my mentors. This was not an aggressive down size, it put me at 1:1. What happened? I broke my ankle. Anyhow, keep asking questions my friend and have fun.

Hi, I sure am sorry to hear about your injury. Over the years I have accumulated more than my fair share of broken bones. I want to encourage you to really put your heart and soul into your rehab. There is going to be a fair period of time where you are mobile but not cleared to jump and there a number of things you could do at the DZ. You could learn to be a packer, or even a rigger but at the very least you could become best friends with the riggers. You could do is video people's landings and review the with a canopy coach. There is a lot of things you will learn about canopy flight. You could sit in on the AAF class and maybe learn how to teach them. You could learn video editing for tandems. In the mean time take it easy and heal fast

Hi, I guess my posting is probably a bit late now, but I would like to share my tunnel experiences. In the last 12 months I have been to the tunnel in Milton Keynes, Orlando, Denver and back to Orlando. Over this time I have accumulated about 120 jumps and my only interest has been RW belly flying. My early experiences were good, mostly because I had no clue and anything I learned was a bonus, but my last experience was a bit "hit and miss". I split my 30 minutes into 2 slots in the same evening. I am only learning belly flying and the first coach was great, but the second one was a bust. If I were to do this again I would either get a recommendation for a coach and or hire an external coach. The cost of tunnel time is too high to risk it being poor value. I think I would have been better off spending the money for the 2nd session at a bar, because only my head would have hurt in the morning.

Hi, I am in similar situation, I fly a Pilot 188 at close to 1:1 and I was wondering why you feel that you have ended up in a worse situation by doing so. My only concern with my rig is that wonder if I would be less likely to have a canopy collapse with something that was pitched down to be faster and with a higher W/L, for example a Saber2 / 170

Hi, did you use a slink to connect it, or something else ?

Hi Dan, What are you using to collect your data & plot your data ? Cool stuff BTW. If you want to see some examples of good body positions, try looking at some of the Olympic Ski Jump runs. Cheer, Paul

Hi, I have been packing using the Psycho Pac method and I am thinking of getting a bridel extension. I was wondering how a rigger does this. Also, what is the typical length that is added on ? Thanks.

Hi all, there were a few questions on this so I thought I'd answer then in one posting. The canopy is a Pilot 188 so it ZX material Yep, I am jumping the heck out it, but the stink is still there. Obviously I am not jumping it enough !! I might be BO but I bought it off a lady and she actually smelt pretty good.

Hi, the smell is a bit like if you soaked a towel in stagnant water and you let it dry out.

Hello, I purchased a secondhand canopy with a couple of hundred jumps on it a while ago and the darnn thing smells. I am guessing that it might have been packed away when it was damp by the previous over although there aren't any signs of mold. I have tried leaving out unpacked for a few days but that didn't help. I was thinking of hanging it in the loft at my DZ for a week but before I do that I was wondering if anyone had some better advice. Thanks.

Hi, I have a few questions, firstly has anyone had any problems using this method and it seems like it works just fine. I was wondering if you do anything with the cells. In this Youtube clip he rolls 4 cells to the left, 4 to the right and leaves the center cell open with the slider. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qICN19uaRE Do you do anything like this? The reason I ask is that this canopy snivels a lot so I don't want to do anything that adds to this. Apart from tucking the slider a bit, is there anything I can do to reduce the snivel ? If I could get consistent 800' openings then I'd be happy. Last question is about end cells. In about one opening in five I find that the end cells open unevenly. What seems to happen is that it will sit for a short period of time unil the slider comes down and the end cells will inflate on one side more than the other. This will induce a 1/4 to 1/2 line twist. It seems to happen on the slower openings. So... does anyone see this problem and if so do you do anything special to prevent it ? Thanks.

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone has had experience using a psycho pack on a Pilot 188. I am fairly lightly loaded at 1:1 Thanks

Hey Ted, For what it is worth I up sized from a PDR 160 to a PDR 176. I bought and sold on DZ and the swap over cost me about $50. If your container will take a bigger reserve then it probably won't cost you a whole bunch of money, but you might get a whole lot of peace of mind.

Wow, awesome job. That's enough to make me want to practice my canopy skills on every jump. Phew..... BTW I have 2000 hours on various fixed wing aircraft including sailplanes and I am very very respectful of flying canopies, it's a very different game!!!

Thanks, and that is in part why I asked. A friend of mine (D + 1000 jumps) whacked herself pretty badly by stalling a micro raven at about 10' off the ground. It had a very short toggle stroke. I plan on renting a PDR 176 next season from PD and learn how to land it. Before that I have to get smart enough at packing so it doesn't open super fast at terminal.

Hello, Hey pj_jumper, thanks for posting this clip, I have learn't a bunch from this thread. I am new to the sport and I wouldn't have given a second thought to cutting this situation away, but hey, I am serious "chicken shit" when it comes to risk. I have been practicing turning, stalling an flaring on the rears, but I can't see myself trying it for real. I am curious as to why he chose to land in half brake. Could someone share with me the logic of doing this.

I am new to the sport, but what I can tell you is that if you look out the door and you don't like what you see then its okay to ride the airplane down again. I have once and I will do it again without hesitation. Be safe and have fun.