darkwing

I have one in each ear, plus a wrist mount altimeter. I agree that they should be backups to your own continuous altitude awareness. I just want the entire universe to scream my altitude at me the one time I get distracted. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I've got a fair number of jumps on a cruiselite, when I was much younger and lighter. I wasn't that happy with it back then. I'd be much less happy with it now. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Like others said. Before you can video FS you have to be good at FS. Ditto for freeflying.... So just start working on your skills in that discipline, and add the camera later. Your local advisors will likely be glad to tell you when you are ready to add the camera. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

just ask any skydiver. They are all authorities.

Just be careful when you jump the canopies to demo them. It is a HUGE change going from your 270 to a PD190. I will also express concerns about freefly friendliness. Older gear is almost always not very FF friendly. Have a rigger look any candidate rigs over and perhaps suggest modifications to make them more friendly. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Kallend -- Excellent. Wonderful! This is the kind of stuff I was looking for. Thanks so much. To fill in a bit more -- any competition experience we have is either in 4-way, or some old-style (knot-hole Beeches) 10-way speed stuff from a loooong time ago. So this new-fangled 10-way is quite different for all of us. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I think they will use the current exit rules, but my personal preference is for no grips allowed on exit. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

we are trying to put together a team to go the a post-Xmas meet in Lake Wales to do 10-way. I have done some preliminary engineering on the dives, but I'd like some suggestions, especially on the beartrap and the dragon. Any hints/tips will be appreciated. I expect the experience level to be decent, although some will be old, worn-out competition veterans, some will be young, very good flyers, and maybe one or two low timers. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

We have an old Guardian piggyback rig with a PC main and a 26 lopo reserve. It has been jumped several times lately, including successful CRW. A three stack with two squares.... -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I believe data more than I believe "experts" who are guessing. Hooknswoop actually has some. I also read a report some time ago that was based on actual in-air trials. That stuff I believe. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I figure that bad spots are part of the adventure. Also, they are one reason I use fairly conservative gear. As someone said, you never know when you will have to land in a back yard. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I jumped a 152 (maybe a 150) and it was pretty hard. I can't imagine that someone could quietly slip out on the pilot. Opening a door far enough to get out is a huge aerodynamic change, not to mention the noise and wind. Forcing your way out the door is non-trivial also, even at low speed. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I second everything said above, but I'll add that sometimes it just happens, without there being an "error" that caused it. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I think most of the reasons are well articulated above. I will add that similar reasoning in some cases is related to why some people don't wear seat belts. They focus on the stastically smaller case that it will harm them compared to the larger probability it will save them. Also is the issue of vaccinating a million people for a disease. 5 of them will die from the vaccination. A thousand will live because they got vaccinated. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

It seems that there is very little concrete reasoning to this, with the exception of Franck102 and kallend (apologies to others I may have missed). I am disappointed that canopy manufacturers have so little logic to back up their assertions (or non-assertions) as to how to fly in turbulence. On a related note, I fail to see how cross bracing has anything to do with the collapsability of a canopy in turbulence. To me it is mostly related to the stagnation point and the opening at the leading edge... Serious students of airlocks will admit that they are far from fail-safe in turbulence. And that they suffer from inducing an unrealistic sense of security in turbulence. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Have fun! Night jumps are great. Assuming there will be a full moon (as there should for a novice night jumper) you will be surprised how bright it is in freefall and under canopy at night. I am NOT recommending it, but an altimeter with a white background is easy to read for most people in full moon light without a dedicated light. There were several excellent suggestions in the replies above. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

USPA, for what it is or isn't worth, is the only thing preventing the sport from being legislated and FAR'ed out of existance. I firmly believe that USPA is flawed, but I just as firmly believe that its dissolution into several different, competing organizations would be a disaaster for skydiving. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I don't think that properly stored nylon deteriorates appreciably with time. I've jumped canopies that were easily 30+ years old, and they were fine, and the fabric was certainly not degraded. What does make a difference is sun exposure, and dirt. As said in other posts, the case-by-case details are important. Time alone is not a significant factor, except as it is related to technological advances in equipment. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Even when you know the direction on takeoff it can change. You made the right decision ultimately. Nothing like a muddy superman slide to make a memorable jump. Downwind ain't as bad as a low hook. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

When I started my DZ required 30 jumps on a military surplus round before they would let you jump a PC. I put a few hundred jumps on a PC, then moved on to a gutted rag (28 foot round with the suspension lines removed from the channels through the canpoy). I jumped a Starlite (Strong enterprises) which is very PC -like in design, except with lighter fabric, and it opened HARD. Put me in the hospital. They ended up putting a slider on them to slow them down. After recovery I only jumped squares, as that is when the Strato-Star came out, with very soft openings. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

It is a heaven of sorts, and we have some fallen angels. Just like the other heaven. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

In the old days it was any licensed jumper who witnessed the jump, or the pilot who flew the load. I'm not sure when it changed, or what it changed to. I'm too lazy to look through the USPA regs for the current state of affairs. Perhaps ask an S&TA or a conference director what consititues evidence for jump numbers these days. I'm approaching my diamond wings and was recently told that they don't all have to be signed (sigh of relief). We used to have signing parties at the bar for people who were getting their wings, and the lagbook had to be all signed up. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I think the FARs rquire that the reserve be on the same harness. Also, don't apologize for asking questions that get some rude answers. It is the rude person who should apologize. I am a fan of sarcasm though, but it works better in person than in print. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I agree that a highly loaded elliptical canopy landed backwards is no trivial event, however, I assumed (not unreasonably) that a person with 36 jumps wasn't jumping such a thing. Also, I think it is naive to believe that your reserve will always work. Leaving a situation that will certainly save your life (in the case at least where you have a docile canopy) for another throw of the dice isn't necessarily an automatic no-brainer. I remember people cutting away PCs that were on backward. I didn't understand that logic either. Don't get me wrong, I'm not in the camp of "always land a backward main", but neither do I think it should be assumed that one should cut it away. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I reviewed the responses above, and noticed that no one mentioned the issue of "why cut away from a fully open main"? In my 3 decades in the sport I've always been amazed at the willingness of skydivers at all levels to give up a perfectly functioning canopy. Now if there were twists that interfered with steering line function, that is different.... -- Jeff My Skydiving History