sammielu

Good stuff here. Discuss exit weight and appropriate canopy size with your instructors and get coaching on your PLF. First, get the ok from your doctor to jump out of the back of a truck on your ankle before you start practicing, then practice practice practice until you KNOW you can safely PLF any landing, fast, slow, flare too high, etc. You don't want to be worrying about that when you go for a skydive - when so much else is more important than saving your ankle and it is totally possible to practice PLF to each side, to the front, and backwards from someone's porch or pickup. In the meantime, practice that arch! You can do that every day no matter what your ankle is up to!

Standard is what the container and dbag are made for, full fit can probably be folded to fit in there, loose will be squishy once it's in there... sort of. Ask your rigger or manufacturer about specific canopy combinations in specific containers. An experienced rigger can speak to the design/purpose of fit and packing and help you understand why certain canopy/container combinations are good or not. Largest (brand new) main possible + largest reserve = huge pain every time you pack and might not be safe for deployment. In that case, a bigger container would be a better idea.

My dog is a Chessie. Her JOB is to vocally warn me of things, to retrieve what I send her for, to immediately stop retrieving or going when I tell her too, to potty where she's supposed to, and to communicate anything else (I'm scared because of Thunder/I'm out of water/look at this amazing ball I found/I have a thorn in my foot). She does an amazing job 100% of the time I set her up to do so. Beyond that, it's my job to only put her in situations where it's appropriate for her to do her job. Retrieving when parachutes land works fine until some dummy skydiver thinks it's appropriate to chase my dog, running and yelling, with a huge partially inflated canopy over his shoulder. Guess what happened? Retrieving over, alert barking on. I don't take her places she won't understand. Backpacking = yes. Daily swim-retrieving = yes. Leashed park time where little kids can pet and be introduced to dogs for the first time and pet her belly and get kisses = yes. Errand days where she goes for rides and sits in the car (appropriate temperatures of course) = yes. She only stays home when its appropriate. Shooting, bars, sitting in the car when I'm going to be out of the car for a long while, anyone's house with unfriendly dogs, skydiving = no because it won't work well for her. Don't take your dog places your dog won't be happy to be. If you will hang with your pup and avoid the dz-time-suck-phenomenon, take him to the boogie. If you're going to get caught up and your dog will be an afterthought to put a shock collar on (to make the people more comfortable, definitely not to make the dog more comfortable), not a place for doggie. Do you want to bring your dog because you think he will enjoy some time in a shock collar, or because you think you will enjoy walking and showing off your awesome dog? Whose vacation are we discussing here? I'm opinionated on this one. I'll happily buy you a beer at the next dog-free skydive time or doggie playtime we meet and listen to your opinion...and hug you after we disagree a lot.

A tired dog is a happy and quiet dog. Play him hard, away from parachutes, before he gets to be near them. Good owners have good dogs because they only let their dogs be in appropriate situations.

^ and then listen to your rigger. Ask questions if parts of the recommended packing process make you uncomfortable. Just because small bights or loose stows or every possible inch of line in bights or a particular bridle routing sometimes make people "feel better" doesent mean it will function properly.

Less canopy means quicker response, quicker mistakes, quicker/faster close calls, and hitting hard objects (even unintentionally) with more speed. Faster does not equal safer. Think about your priorities for saftey and the impact on your quality of life if you sprained an ankle, broke a leg or pelvis, or died from decisions you made putting a canopy on your back or flying it to the ground. Then consider worst case to best case scenarios. Worst case is probably unconscious under your reserve with an AAD fire. There's $1k minimum you would probably want to spend on an AAD, and some thought regarding zero input landings under the reserve you choose. I jump a 170 reserve at a 1:1 wingloading on my fattest days. The rig fits canopies from a lightning at 1.35 I jump now (for crw at 1100 jumps), to the 1:1 wingloading Safire I had in it from jump 150 (when I bought the rig). Think reserve size first, then add a main.

Video of deployments will tell you for sure about symmetry (looking out at horizon, not looking or reaching up at the canopy). The manual for your container will tell you how the deployment bag is supposed to be oriented (bridle towards top of pack tray or bridle towards closing flaps), and how long line bights should be for your container. After that, bring some beer or dinner to your rigger at a not-busy time and talk to them. Maybe you just need to relax. Maybe you don't leave 18-21" of line unstowed and are all crazy about tucking the D bag in so tight it has to start a turn when leaving the container. An experienced rigger is your best resource - after you do the baseline work on your own.

What's the the real issue, for HER? Is it time? Maybe she should have other interests, maybe you two should be realistic about your time commitments to each other (and then stick to that or reconfigure). Is it $ because you share $? Then set up a fun $ acct and split it evenly. I've seen that one with several couples and it works great. Is it saftey concerns? Listen and educate, and introduce her to other skydivers who can do the same. Also do the responsible things and have health and life insurance to assure her that you have planned for the worst, and then offer to explain how you plan to avoid the worst. Do you talk about it too much and she doesent get it? Maybe she would understand your excitement if you could explain to her what is exciting in non-skydiver language. Anyone can support someone working hard to learn something and then being successful... if they understand!

^ This, plus D exams and license applications are under S&TA oversight (and I think IE, but it's the same person at my DZ so I get confused). IMO, that S&TA is responsible to identify and correct any lack of skills, experience, or knowledge before signing off on a D license.

What are your goals under canopy? Look up the downsizing checklists on here for drills and ideas of things to practice to improve your overall skill. Get some canopy coaching. The easiest way is to ask someone to video your landings for a few jumps, then sit down with an instructor or canopy coach (beer helps) and get feedback and come up with one or two things to work towards. One 10 minute conversation helped me figure out my own goals so I could work on them. Front risers induce speed. For accuracy purposes, you want the sight picture to be the same every time so you can repeat accuracy. Front risers on final do drop altitude, but then your canopy recovers from the dive and is going faster, so you're just changing what it looks like to get to your target and using a whole lot of input. Don't do it. It sounds like you're already varying your turns onto final to get you to your target in different wind conditions, don't change everything now, you're on the right track going for consistency.

For suits (and helmets), walk around the dz and talk to people. I bought the suit I did (Bev) because: -there is a local dealer who can measure properly and answer questions about options, colors, etc -The most worn out versions were overstretched spandex on a 15 year old suit with thousands of jumps and knee scrapes from belly jumpers sliding in on their booties/knees for 1000 jumps were ok with me.

Free ones. When a shirt costs as much as a skydive, I'll keep wearing the $4 plain ones.

A USPA D license is not a requirement, no one has to get one of those... unless you want to use that license to get other ratings. Night jumps seem easy until you do them and have productive discussions like this. Do I want to exit a plane at night again? Only if I have too (emergency) or have ideal conditions and a plan. Did I know that before I did night jumps? Nope. That's the value I see in including them.

Good article for 2010. Time for an update to add Mars M2 AAD, the new speed modes, a brief description of the cool features (altitude offsets, modifying activation altitude, jump counter, jump information), and to specify that all of the AADs cut the closing loop, not the pin.

Bwing able to identify your landing area (and avoid obstacles) is a very important aspect of night jumps. Ideally, this is covered in detail in the briefing prior to jumping. I recommend talking to the instructor who briefed you on night jumps, asking for honest feedback, and talking through things you can do to prevent a repeat scenario. Maybe your vision does suck, but it's equally likely that you were late, rushed, distracted, unprepared, eyes not fully light adjusted, not adequately familiar with the nightscape, fatigued, or dehydrated during the briefing and jumps. Firsthand debrief will fill in the blanks better than my speculation. Aside from the saftey first/instructor blah blah stuff: why would you want to do another night jump?!! I did my two for my D, had a blast and was scared at the same time, and never need to do it again (not safe enough for me, I prefer using my vision to see obstacles and other canopy traffic).

Cat crap is amazing and works, so does using the mouthpiece padding that comes with the G3 that best fits your face (if you're a mouth breather!) 500 jumps later, if you put your helmet on the ground all the time and accidentally close the helmet strap in the helmet every single day, hinges loosen up and leave a

Option 1. Try it in freefall. Option 2. Try the 2 different mouth pieces that come with the G3, and try without any mouth padding (in freefall). Option 3. Try different sunglasses that fit properly under your $300+ helmet. Option 4. Get a tinted lens and stop using sunglasses. Option 5. (Not recommended, but this is the route I took.) Jump it for 500+ jumps, put it on the ground when packing, drop it occasionally, forcefully shove it in your dz locker 5 days/week, accidentally close the chin strap in the visor every other time you land, get kicked in the head all the time doing 4way, forget to close the visor on a bunch of jumps (until breakoff, while tracking, when sunglasses rattle and you notice the movement); then the hinges are worn and you might have a 2mm gap between the bottom of the helmet and the visor, providing enough airflow to prevent fogging... that's what works for me. 600 jumps in the 12+ months since I got my G3. No fogging, lots of wear.

If you had to cut is away, it likely wasn't decent at all. Descent rate? That one varies. This is my spelling pet peeve in this sport.

According to the two facebook links in this thread, both Mr.Douglas and Lady Luck (Skydive Chicago) are currently undergoing renovation.

IMO, counts vary for the type of formation/exit planned. As long as everyone can see the count, and it's a slow obvious count that has ideally been mocked up, it works. However, sometimes exits are poorly engineered and/or practiced so they don't always work.

Don't trust anyone.

Definitely talk with an accountant. My understanding is that training (jumps & equipment) to get a new job (using a USPA rating) is not tax deductible, however after you have that rating, additional training or equipment (coach jumps, additional gear, travel to go train somewhere other than your workplace) to retain or improve that original rating (USPA coach or jumpmaster) is deductible.

There are a lot of "I should be OK on xyz size reserve" opinions out there. The best way I've heard it is do you have a reserve to save your life or save your quality of life? A small reserve can still land you in a wheelchair. I'd rather have bigger everything, go slow, and jump for the rest of a long life. Thank you for responding. Please understand that everyone that has been around this sport for a while has seen friends get hurt or dead, and seen plenty of guys with similar questions as you head down the path of the hurt/dead. Sometimes yelling or forceful words seem like the quickest way to make an important point... and all that is expanded with a nebulous profile where none of us can put a name to a face, dz, canopy course, etc. I'm glad you are sticking with the 150. Ask questions, look up canopy drills to work on, get tons of coaching, and use this forum to ask for more ideas for canopy skills to work on if you need them. Use the wide variety of experience and jackassery around this website to your advantage.

I ask again: why do you want to downsize or go faster when you're not doing anything to go faster on your current canopy? For me the whole discussion boils down to this: you are asking a random selection of strangers on the Internet if we think you should downsize. If you have to ask... you probably know the answer is no. I downsized to a 150 at 1.3 wingloading at 800 jumps in 2.5 years, and the conversations I have about canopy flight are much more detailed and goal oriented than "how to not hurt myself when I fuck up". 220 jumps (4 months) later, I'm starting to get my landings dialed in. 100% of the time within 10 ft, 10% of the time within 3 ft, working on perfecting that flare after the plane-out to need to take fewer than the 2 steps I take now... oh, and I can land it in any direction, under any circumstances, including uphill in the dark during night jumps on an unfamiliar airport, and am ok wearing 16lbs of lead when I'm jumping with giants. If this was your starting point, the conversation would be much different. Set goals for yourself on your current canopy. Jump different canopies at that same size. Video as many of your landings as possible, watch the video over and over and get coaching. That is the way to learn - before you change everything by going smaller.

I ask you the question I get asked every time I think I want to downsize: WHY do you want a smaller canopy? You day you want to go faster, though you haven't done any maneuvers on your 150 that would add speed. Why not do some downwind landings, add weight, or add performance to your turns on your 150 before you downsize. All those $$$ you are ready to spend on a new container and canopies are better spent on more jumps and more coaching now.