tetra316

I am well aware of the accuracy in AADs. I was pointing out that your statement was inaccurate that is all. For the record I do not have an AAD in any of the forty rigs I own. So I am willing to take that gamble as well. You missed the point. The gamble being relying on your AAD to initiate deployment rather than pulling. Which goes back to my point that you are risking death each and every time you skydive, unless you do something to prevent it (ie pull).

They have devices for that. So that statement isn't entirely accurate. Just pointing that out. AADs are not 100% accurate. But hey if you want to take that gamble...

Yes, simiply don't pull and most likely you will die. To me that means easily killed. Skydiving is one of the few sports in the world where, unless you DO something each skydive you will die. Period. But then again if you need to tell yourself skydiving is safe in order to get on the place then by all means go ahead. Just don't try and tell someone who has no clue that skydiving is safe. That is where I take issue.

You should never store your rig near sunlight. UV will degrade materials. Perhaps you are seeing some fading/damage from exposure to sun?

Another correction - Better performance that comes with additional risk. Please do elaborate. How does letting your wing flatten out due to riser ends being spread more increase the risk ? The additional risk is not from a flatter wing but rather the act of pulling down the slider over your toggles. Could cause a brake fire, the slider could get trapped or stuck over the toggles. Wasn't there an incident in Florida within the last year where someone messed too long with trying to get their slider down and it contributed to an off landing and subsequent fatality.?

I wish. Unfortunately this is for an event. Not me by myself coming to Zhills.

I received another email today clarifiying the issue regarding aircraft leases with a certain company and load organziers agreements. Too bad. It's not as if the industry doesn't have enough problems as it is.

Weights and lots of weights! I don't know how Rosa does it but she jumps with 20-30 pounds regularly on big ways.

By far it's not the only place, unfortunately

Well, I hate to say it but really, SIUCC. While I wouldn't advocate putting weight on students, at 50 jumps you are no longer a student and most likely have not been for a while. As you have found out you need to wear weight. Sure there are some techniques that can help but the best approach is to wear weights. It allows you to fly your body without such distortion that would be needed if you did not wear them. Therefore, you fly better and cleaner and progress faster as you don't have to worry about maintaining some fast falling body position all the time. You can use a natural body position. Coached tunnel time can also help with fall rate, faster or slower. Or you can just stick to jumping with people your size.

Anyone - so what's the status now? We just got an email regarding a 40ish way event in March that may have to be moved to another dz due to "legal and aircraft" issues? I really hope not, I was looking forward to coming to Zhills.

He closed up shop several years ago. Not sure what happened to him after that.

I would think the smiley face at the end would be a give away

When I did my course in 2004 one of the five jumps with the examiner required us to climb out on the step of a 182 and do a back flip off the aircraft. We were supposed to do 3 backflips before getting stable and deploying the drogue. The point being to teach us how to recover from instability without using the drogue to get stable. IIRC this was also explicitly listed in the Strong tandem manual as one of the five jumps. This was the jump the IE required be done with him. The rest we did with each other unless we requested it with him.

I maintain the opinion that grippers on some freefly suits are so the suit can be used for both disciplines. If the OP is tight on funds and wants to spring for just one suit, a freefly suit is a valid option. Totally disagree. I have never seen anyone jump a freefly suit with grippers on any RW jumps, except zoo loads. If you really want to learn either, get the appropriate suit. If you are looking for a cheap way out, skydiving is probably too expensive for you, unless you don't care about really progressing.

You can learn to swoop anything. I do believe that a Safire 2 or Sabre 2 would be easier to learn on (longer recovery) but the Pilot is preferred over a Stilleto.

Base Jumping is not skydiving. And yes I have heard of it, have even done it. Read post #90 of this thread. Sparky I was joking on the base reply, hence the As to #90 exactly how I feel.

What..? I follow you completely. I suppose what I was looking for here online was a loose order of which canopies perform a little more HP than others; but I suppose in the end I'd like to demo them all so it doesn't matter which I demo first, etc.. Thanks for the input guys You can also ask around and see who has what type of canopy in your area. Then borrow and jump it for a jump or two. Ususally some beer will help ease this along

Reserves are optional, ever heard of base jumping After hearing from several people who insist their choice to jump or not jump with certain pieces of gear maybe I was a little harsh with such a blanket statement. I've just heard from too many people recently, especially lower time jumpers, saying they will not jump without a AAD. Seems most of them do not truely understand what an AAD does and doesn't do. They assume if they fuck up their AAD will open their reserve for them. Or they use it as a justification for doing certain kinds of jumps since they have a back up, their AAD. That really irks the crap out of me. An AAD will NOT open your reserve. It should NOT be relied upon to save you. You and you alone are responsible for saving yourself each and every jump. If you understand the ins and outs of your gear, and there are plenty who don't, and make certain choices of when to jump and with what, then I don't call that device dependency. But rather informed choices to accept varying levels of risk and circumstances. It's just that an informed decision is not readily distringuished from an ignorant decision.

Just for the record I would NEVER try to bully someone into jumping. We all have our own circumstances we abide by. I just don't necessarily have to agree with them is all

Very true Although my point is more based upon devices that actually do something without any input from the jumper. I separate all our gear into those two catagories. AAD's fit into the other catagory since, therotically, they will start the deployment process for the reserve without any input from the jumper at a certain altitude. No other piece of gear does anything by itself, including your rig. For me, device dependency on your AAD is quite different than dependency on any other piece of gear. The AAD has the opportunity of killing you (two out) as well as saving you (if uncounsious). Your altimeter, goggles, rig, helmet do nothing by themselves. When I refer to device dependency, it is dependency on something that "does something". It does not include anyting else, even an RSL. RSL do nothing without some input from the jumper (initate cutaway). I hope that clears up my position. I've gotten a couple PMs regarding other gear that people won't without or conditions they won't jump in. For me that is not device dependency as those things do nothing except offer the illusion of safety or protection. Yes, you can even jump without your rig if you wanted to. You most likely just would not be making any more jumps after that

At some DZs it's mandatory no AAD no Jumpy for ANYONE regardless of skill level or time in sport True, but those dzs, so far, are few and far between. In other words I'm sure there's another dz close by where AADs are not mandatory.

You don't need a cypress to jump

I've demoed a Pilot and have a Safire2. IMHO the Pilot is a lot more responsive on toggle input and turns much snappier. I believe this is due to the way the brake lines are attached to the canopy. On the Pilot the entire rear side of the canopy is pulled down when you toggle turn. The PD line is built different so that the rear of the canopy is not as affect by toggle turns. However, I think the Safire2 has more glide and more flare power. It's more on the swoopier side than the Pilot. I would suggest demoing both. It really just comes down to which flying characteristics you like better.

Depends on everything, but generally 1500. I try to keep it at 2000 but it's more like 1500 practically, especially on big ways.