Nullified

***Like I said bro, I meant in NO WAY to slam instructors, and I felt really bad about it when I accidentally did. Sorry man, I honestly meant nothing towards you or any instructors. I know you guys worked your asses off for that, and you know much more about the sport than I do. I was just trying to make a point, and severely fucked up in making an example for it.

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Man, stop apologising and trying to explain.
Your original post left some room for misinterpretation...though I didn't think to such a great degree...and you clarified and apologised early on. Anyone still crying is either not reading your follow-ups or is just looking to hop on the bitch bandwagon.
And you didn't, "Severely fuck up". You just weren't completely clear. Quit being so hard on yourself. Obviously, there are plenty of others who are doing a really fine job of that.

Stay safe,
Mike

If you're gonna' be stupid, well, then you're most likely stupid.

***BASE jumping...I consider unsafe. Swooping, CReW, skysurfing, etc...I don't consider those safe activities..)

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I'm not positive about this, but I'm pretty sure that there have been only two deaths directly related to CReW in the past 10 years, and those were two newbies (RIP) under nine-cells, one of whom spiralled into the other and remained wrapped at impact. I know at least one person was knocked unconcious when his head hit the plane on exit for a CReW jump, but I don't really consider that CReW related.
CReW gets a bad wrap, no pun intended. I'd rather be in a 5-way wrap at 5,000' than be screaming down with a pilot chute in-tow at 2000'.

Stay safe,
Mike

If you're gonna' be stupid, well, then you're most likely stupid.

***If you drive a car with your arms LOCKED in place, you WILL veere left or right.

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This is a good analogy, but let's remember that a car that's out of alignment will drift much more on it's own.
A 50 yard drift on final sounds fairly extreme.

Have you had your lines measured recently? You might want to have your trim checked to be safe.

You might at least get someone to pull a little higher with you and fly relative with you. See what your canopy's doing relative to theirs, flying with no input.

Stay safe,
Mike

If you're gonna' be stupid, well, then you're most likely stupid.

Scott,

I'd gotten used to getting slammed on demo and borrowed Lightning's, but my Lightning, which I've put about 100 jumps on has slammed me maybe 3 times.
My Lightning (with tail pocket) was manufactured mid-2003 and the design had changed somewhat from when my demo'd and borrwed gear was manufactured. I don't know if that's a contributing factor, or maybe I've just been lucky.
I know that this doesn't answer your question, but I thought I'd put it out there.

Stay safe,
Mike

***Significantly longer and you risk tearing off a main side flap.

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Why would this happen?
I've jumped my Sabre2 without a D-bag and with no stowes without incident.
Not arguing, just wondering.

Stay safe,
Mike

If you're gonna' be stupid, well, then you're most likely stupid.

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CONGRATS!!! I was so incredibly nervous on my first hop n pop, now they're just great!! Glad you loved it.

Bubbles, all you do are hop 'n pops!

Stay safe,
Mike

I'm going to introduce another thought in to this discussion. You don't need any suit at all.
Unless you're planning on competing, you're fine in plain clothes. I know plenty of kick-ass RW flyers who don't own a jump suit. There are advantages to owning one...grips sure do come in useful for RW piece maneuvers...but if your plan for the near future is just about going out, learning and having fun with your friends, you don't need one. You can launch most formations without grippers and you really should be able to hold a formation without holding on to something. Tracking? You can and should learn to track well without booties.
As for a FF suit, as mentioned in most earlier posts, the correct plain clothes are fine, too.
Besides, once you startdoing CReW, you'll be glad that you didn't waste all that money on jumpsuits
Stay safe,
Mike

Just got word through the mailing list that they've succeded in building the 64 on the first attempt!
Several days left...who knows what's next!

CONGRATULATIONS!

Stay safe,
Mike

Congratulations, Bubbles! It was great jumping with you, and you did a great job docking, rotating, all of it!
You had a nice whirly-gig, witnessed a really nice 30 second wrap/entanglement (no cutaway required) and learned how important and productive a clear head is, and were so painfully close to your first dragplane!
Way to go...can't wait 'till Saturday.
Welcome to the darker side of the dark side!

Stay safe,
Mike

At The Ranch we have a $55 annual membership fee. You don't have to be a member to jump.
Being a member entitles you to $2 discount on all jumps, and The Ranch buys 20 pizzas and a keg of beer every Saturday night.
If you make at least 28 jumps per season, the discount pays for the dues. Of course, the free beer and pizza make up for it pretty damn quick in and of themselves!

Stay safe,
Mike

TB, great post.
I would like to comment on one point, though...
***Once you're flying around in brakes (which is greatly reducing your rate of decent), gently ease up on one side of the toggles, only a little bit. You'll find yourself doing a turn, but not losing much altitude. If you initiate a turn by pulling one toggle further, it is possible to stall at least one side of the parachute in an over rotation. This could possibly result in the canopy spinning into line twist that could potentially be uncontrollable and require a cut away and reserve activation.

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I have been taught by just about everybody, that a flat turn should be performed by pulling down on one toggle a little more. The reasoning being that when you ease up on a toggle, you're initiating the turn by increasing the speed of one side of the canopy, whereas when you pull down a little more, you're then initiating the turn by reducing the speed of one side of the canopy.
They way it was described best to me was, when a swooper is performing a carve, they're basically doing a high speed flat turn very close to the ground. As far as I know, they perform this by increasing the toggle input on one side rather than reducing on one side which would cause them to lose altitude.
This has been my understanding.

Stay safe,
Mike

If you're gonna' be stupid, well, then you're most likely stupid.

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Hmm, now I'm worried after reading the opinions above. I'm an AFF student but I was taught that if the lines are not tangled to cut away the main. If they are tangled to NOT cut away. The majority of opinions above differ....

Reginald,

Speak to YOUR instructors about this. They can give you more than the advice and opinions here.

Regards,

Shark
AFF-I

Definitely speak with your instructors, but please do one additional thing;
Print out the dual squares report and bring it to them when you ask them.
I by no means am trying to disrespect anyone's instructors or to cast doubt in anyone's mind regarding their instructors.
Simply, this report may contain information that they aren't yet aware of.
There are still some instructors out there teaching the 45 degree angle rule regarding exit separation because that's what they learned. I don't think that it's ever inapropriate to present anyone, including an instructor, with information that they may or may not be aware of.

Stay safe!
Mike

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Question: If you have, for example, a 190 main and a 150 reserve, what are the odds that it would NOT end up in a downplane? It seems like with the reserve probably being in front of the main, it would fly a lot faster forward, adn the main would drag and downplane behind you. Is this a correct assumption?

Kelly

http://performancedesigns.com/docs/dualsq.pdf

Sorry, I don't know how to make this clickable, but this is the link to the PD Dual Squares Report.

Pretty much everything is covered.

Stay safe,
Mike

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I want to get peoples opinion on what to do if you have two out side by side. I know there two philosophies on this and I would like to finally come to a consensus for myself. Before the tragic events at coolidge this weekend, I had planned, if altitude permits, force a downplane and then chop the main. Obviously, now I'm re-thinking this philosophy. Would flying them all the way to the ground and pray not for a downplane be a better solution. I know this is sort of a gray area, but I would like to hear peoples experiances and such. I currently have a slightly bigger reserve(180) then main (170). Can someone give me some insight. Thanks

I asked Rusty Vest about this recently, and his opinion is, side-by-side or biplane, as long as it's stable, land it.
Flying CRW, I know that it takes considerable input to transition a biplane to a downplane, and I asked Rusty if there would be anything in play in a 2-out situation that would cause the canopies to downplane more easily than an intentional CRW downplane. He said no. While there are plenty of field reports of this happening, he said that when asked if there was any information regarding pilot input transitioning to the biplane, USPA could only answer, "We don't have that information."

If it's stable, be gentle and land it.

Stay safe,
Mike

Well, when I went through AFF, I had a friend who had about 300 skydives and I though that he was super experienced. So, back when I was a student, I wouldn't have thought that an instructor having "Only" 500 jumps would be anything to be concerned about.

Now, unless I knew the instructor and was very confident in his or her abilities, I wouldn't want my friends going through AFF or doing a tandem with that person.

This is not to say that I don't feel that there are people who are able at those jump numbers, but I'd have to know the person.

Stay safe,
Mike

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I can't speak to the exact decibles in freefall but I can tell you not to be surprised that, no matter which audible that you choose, you probably will not hear it on the first couple of jumps that you use it. It's almost as if you must tune yourself into it, like to teach yourself to listen for it. At least, that's what I found. Good Luck.

If you're wearing a closed face helmet, you'd have to be REALLY hard of hearing to not hear an audible.
My first few jumps with one, I found it quite startling.

Stay safe,
Mike

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Mike, as long as I can make it on that weekend and swing the $$$ I'll be there.

I have to find you this weekend and say hello.

B

Brian, Scott's classes are EXTREMELY reasonably priced.
They do fill up pretty much immediately, but as I said, we're going to make sure that recent graduates get highest priority for slots, and I will keep in touch about it with you.
See you Saturday,
Mike

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Hey is there a email list that we can sign up for to see where this guys classes are? I'm pretty sure he was at my DZ ealier this year but I was still on AFF at the time....

:(

http://freedomofflight.tv/

If this isn't clicky, sorry.

Stay safe,
Mike

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So I am off student status and working on my A license. I have done well on all my canopy control exercises. My landing are good and I feel comfortable under canopy.

Are there any canopy classes for low level jumpers like myself? what should I look for in a class?

Brian, Scott Miller will be at The Ranch again next season, at least for one long weekend.
I'll be organizing the Scott Miller Weekend(s) again, so I'll keep you updated. Recent graduates get highest priority, and I'm working out with The Ranch to discount recent graduates in order to attract more of them to the camps.

See you Saturday,
Mike

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FIRST CRW jump!!!!!! Very AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to do more. All i got to say, it rocked, the weather rocked howard you rock, mike you rock (for not showing up saturday, so howard could switch canopies, and jump a canopy that would work better for a 2 stack) and crw is freaking AWESOME! I can't wait to get into it more, hopefully saturday, as long as the weather holds up.

Well, I can't say that anyone's ever thanked me for not showing up, but congratulations!
I'll be there next weekend, ready to wrap you all up in my Lightning!

Stay safe,
Mike

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I saw a few crew dogs down in dallas a few weeks ago doing very impressive landings with lightnings. They would do front riser turns together into sycronized swoops. It was very impressive.

Yeah, I've seen Demolition CRW and a few others swooping them in. It's really cool to see a nice swoop under a Lightning!

I'm just getting sick of arguing with people at my DZ about Lightnings. It seems like the only time they see us land them is when we're landing a formation, and the last person dropped always pounds, so I'm being called a liar when I tell them that they do land just fine.

This is why I started this thread. I've only seen a handful of people with Lightnings, but they all have consistently nice...if not impressive...landings.
I was always told how badly they land, and what I've seen doesn't compute with what I've been told.
I want to know if Terrible landings really are the norm, or if these canopies have just somehow gotten a bum deal and why.
And again, I love my Lightning, including the landings. I don't know what all the bad-talking them is about.

Stay safe,
Mike

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Participants should have been born and raised in the state as well as being current residents.

In addition, participants should all have done their student training at the dz the record attempts are being held at.

Why did you leave out having been sired along side the fire pit at the particular DZ in the particular state?

I see what this has turned in to. And to think, I thought that...you...liked me...you REALLY...liked me.

I say abolish big-ways altogether. Let's end skill discrimination.

Can we all at least agree that fountain Cokes are the best?

Stay safe,
Mike

As far as I know, you don't have to have ever made a skydive to have USPA membership.
The youngest USPA memver I personally know is not even a year old yet, and is a lifetime member.

As for an actual license that's pre-A, at least where I went through AFF, I had to apply for a 45 day membership before I was allowed to jump non-Tandem. Is that what you're talking about?

Your DZ's school should have those on hand.

Stay safe,
Mike

***I am not sure if this has been a topic lately, just curious is to why a lot of skydivers are nervous (perhaps over-dramatic about it) landing in the aircraft? With the same pilot whom you trusted to take-off and fly you to altitude. A pilot who had (at least in the USA) passed thorough FAA testing through the commerical level or beyond. The same pilots who lands the planes load in and load out, day in and day out.

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I don't think (could be wrong) that anyone is truly nervous about riding the plane down. Probably has more to do with the experience being so anticlimactic.

Stay safe,
Mike

If you're gonna' be stupid, well, then you're most likely stupid.

***BTW, Thanks Andi for the support. When you are all ready to break that New Mexico record, give me a call. Oh wait, I'm not from there. Oh wait again, you were on the Women's Colorado State Record, and you don't live here. What's the world coming to?

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Don't take this so personally. I've tried very hard to be clear that I'm not attacking or criticising anybody.
The way I see it, Womens record participants are women, POPS records are POPS, deaf records are deaf, and State implies that it's representing local ability.
Flyangel2, whatever you do and wherever you do it, best wishes.

Stay safe,
Mike

If you're gonna' be stupid, well, then you're most likely stupid.