HUPRA

I agree, havent put many jumps on a Safire but they seemed to have better openings than a Sabre 2, whereas the Sabre may have had a slightly longer recovery arc, but I'd go with whatever happens to be the best deal. I did like my Sabre 2 though.

You could try getting a pair of MX pants? Cheaper than a lot of the swoop pants and probably give better protection...

It depends on your situation but personally I wouldn't bother buying a 210 at your weight, after 2-3 weekends of jumping you'd probably be ready to downsize.... I would recommend maybe getting a demo 190 (assuming you are jumping a similar sized canopy)and putting some jumps on that, then if you are comfortable on it get a Pulse 170. Speak to your instructors as they know what your canopy control is like and will be able to give you the best advice.

At a memorial parade a couple of years ago a mate of mine got talking to one of the old fellas there, when asked how many jumps he had done he said "just the one" "oh right" my mate said "were the courses only one jump back then?" the reply came back "no, that was into Normandy in '44" badass!

Theres a few near Melbourne; Nagambie, Euroa, Commando Skydivers, Barwon etc. I dont usually jump in Victoria so there are probably other people on this forum who are better qualified to go into specifics. This may also be of interest to you: http://www.apf.asn.au/Members/Overseas-Visitors-and-Non-APF-Members/default.aspx

Do you have any idea whereabouts in Aus you will be?

The advantages over LASIK over PRK/LASEK (LASEK being the modern version of PRK) is that is is almost instantaneous, whereas PRK/LASEK involves a few days of stumbling around with blurred eyesight and a bit of discomfort as your eyes repair. The flip side is that LASEK is supposed to be more robust than LASIK. I had LASEK done a few years ago and subsequently passed a military aircrew medical, however they would not accept people who had undergone the LASIK procedure. If you are involved in any physical activity esp. contact sports I would suggest LASEK/PRK over LASIK. Also- its worth paying for the extras they offer.

For other posters I believe the OP is a non-skydiver who is doing a project on ram-air canopies (correct me if I am wrong). Spinglebout- the categorisation of canopies is dependant on not just the design of the canopy but also the size of the person jumping them, altitude of DZ etc etc. Below I have given you an approximation of examples of each category you have asked for, with a wingloading in pounds per square foot, this is just my opinion and others may disagree PD: Student: Navigator, Sabre II, Pulse, Silhouette, Spectre. Wing loading < 0.8 lb/ sq. ft. Intermediate: As above. Wing loading 0.8-1.2 lb/ sq. ft. High performance: Above canopies wing loading > 1.2 lb/sq. ft, or Katana, Velocity, Stiletto etc Icarus/Daedalus/NZ Aerosports: Student: Safire II. Wing loading < 0.8 lb/ sq. ft. Intermediate: Safire II. Wing loading 0.8-1.2 lb/ sq. ft. High performance: Safire II, Crossfire II, VX, FX, JVX, JFX, JPX. Wing loading > 1.2 lb/sq. ft. As I said before this is just my opinion, and is making assumptions on the definition of each category. It is hard to classify canopies into such broad categories; for example, although both a Safire II loaded at 1.4 lb/sq. ft, and a Comp. Velo loaded at 2.8 lb/sq. ft could be considered high performance canopies, their performance and handling is going to be vastly different. Below is a link to an article on wing loading which you may find useful: http://www.performancedesigns.com/docs/wingload.pdf Hope this is of some help. Also- "The Parachute and its Pilot" by Brian Germain may be of use to you.

Three years ago I tore my ACL, I didn't get reconstructive surgery on it and it seems stable enough for running etc, however I have given up rugby and skiing. Last weekend I found myself in Switzerland on the side of a mountain; watching the skiiers brought a strong desire to get back on the slopes, as it is not practical for me to get surgery on my knee at this point I wondered if I may be able to snowboard without my knee giving way. Are there any other people here that snowboard with ACL injuries, and if so how do you find it?

Just get a Protec; like a Benny but half the price and probably gives better protection.

I think Airtec makes too much money off of that system for them to give it up. They don't seem to care that they're losing customers to Vigils specifically because some of us don't want to deal with that crap. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and figure they've done the math to figure out that they make more money off of those services than they would off of selling units to the people who jump ship just to avoid them. Do you have any idea how much money Air Tec makes off their maintenance requirements or how many customers they are losing because of it? I doubt it. Name one electrical/digital device you have owned that lasted 20 years. Have you ever given any thought to the fact that Vigil states the life expectancy of their unit is 20 years but they only offer a 2 year warranty? Sparky Actually most electronics designed for high reliability use lasts 20 years - medical, military and industrial stuff. Just Joe average thinks of electronics as their Wal-Mart $30 DVD player and judges by that standard. On top of that while it is 20 years, the average jumper only jumps weekends, so a heavy user is looking at 4 years of 'on time', and the bulk of that is on the packing mat in standby mode. That's what I don't get about the Airtek 4 year sales pitch, imagine having to send your iPod in for a service every 300 songs! I can assure you that military electronics of any significance are tested a lot more often than every four years! Even then half of it has less than a 100% reliability rate...

http://skydiveoz.com.au/ These guys ran an AFF course for a bloke with one arm last week, give them a call on +61 438 185 180

I've put a few jumps on a Stiletto 135 and I didn't have any bad openings on it, I found it pretty responsive but the front risers were pretty heavy. I have no doubt that you could swoop it but in my humble opinion the only reason for getting a Stiletto over a Crossfire 2 is that you can pick one up second hand for half the price.

I would say her age is less important than her mental maturity; does she understand the implications and dangers of skydiving? I know some jumpers in their mid 20s/30s who I would class as too mentally immature to be jumping....

Video or it didn't happen!

Not much has been mentioned yet about the movement of jumpers in the air; the assumption is that regardless of whether the jump is flat or vertical, the jumpers are falling straight down in the column of air. However, how many times have you seen beginner freeflyers in sit with their head pushed right forward and arms stuck behind them backsliding like hell, or a rel jump going to pieces and people tracking around to get back together? Does this create a higher risk when slower/higher pulling formations are put out first?

Just as annoying are people who use 4 or 5 different pairs of dumbells and then leave them scattered across the floor.

True, however I think getting a $400 fine for an inadvertant safety breach is going a bit far. If its a repeat offender who knows better than that is a different matter. Personally I can't see it working, purely because most people who get fined at one DZ, in a manner that they think is unfair, will just give that DZ the finger and jump elsewhere. As a result DZs will be unwilling to hand out demerit points....

Guy with 40hrs on a cessna 150, pointing at F/A -18: "...its just a fucking aeroplane...." I call bullshit on you being able to do 450s on a Velocity with 400 jumps, or even 270s, I have 350 jumps and might not have your mad skillz but I'm only just getting my 90's dialed in on my Sabre 2 135 without killing myself.

What a crock of shit, I wonder who came up with that idea. This pretty much sums up why Australia is going down the drain

Cheers Yvonne! Its not a boogie without the party....

Might be worth taking into consideration that Icarus recommend a minimum wingloading of 1.4 on the Crossfire 2, you'd be underloading a 139, and also a 129 if your profile is correct.....

Nice work! I say stick a tandem dummy on the bottom of it and throw it out the aircraft with someone holding the D-bag, and get a vid of it....

Is this the"obvious" you were speaking about? If you take this thread out of Gear and Rigging and put it in the swooping section perhaps yo would have recived a different response. But since so many nieve newbies read the gear section safety, safety, and safety are first on many minds. Apparently Greg W and or Nick G are too busy too respond. There are not a lot of individuals that jump various canopies week in and week out. But those individuals that have jumped many, many different canopies on an ongoing basis are and can be found teaching canopy control courses most week ends. I'm sorry for you, in soo many different ways that on a public forum you have taken the time to point out you don't want to hear from anyone other than: {us} "if someone I know and respect wishes to chime in,..." Aparently you don't know anyone that wishes to chime in??? I only took the time to reply cause after reading your words I wanted to fill some white space with usless driviel, knowing that there probably isn't going to be a lot of people out there that have jumped the 20 or so most popular high wing loading canopies in the last 6 monthes or so that you can get your individulized hand taylored flying report so that you can make your impending purchasing decision from on-line sources only. I'm sorry also that I don't know you, it is after some time you will at least respect me?? I want to be your buddie, so that we can be friends and someday you can respect me? Will you respect me the day after or will you be like soo many and just want to leave me cold and alone with my morning breath the next day? Or was that the obvious? Could you be a little more specific? To wich informed decisions are you referring? Your ability? Or the fact that you don't appear to know anything about current canopies, I mean the various brands and manufacturers and what they have to offer? On the swooping and caonopy section there are lots of opinions about different canopies! Perhaps if you asked a question like: "Can anyone tell me the differences that control input makes between a Velo and a Katana 120?" But if yo do it here yo might get a few people to respond that are not aware of your fame and worldwide ability... I also have a request, if you can find it in your heart to be a little humble, however difficult you may find that to be, that I am a sensitive peerson! I have feelings too! That people actually do care about you! Anyways I don't want to be know as a caonopy ________

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