darkwing

There are failures, and then there are FAILURES. In this case it seems that the skyhook did no damage at least. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I've been jumping 30 years, and I have NEVER seen a newpaper article (or TV spot) which was worth listening to when an accident was involved. They are only useful for informing you that an accident happened. Speculating on what they really mean is fruitless. A funnel is a well known term in RW. check with your instructors for the definition. My short version: like getting flushed down a toilet with your friends. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

You will always save a lot of money by buying all your stuff from one dealer. The more you buy the lower they will go. There are several reputable dealers out there. I like Skykat -- Jeff My Skydiving History

The DZO asked me to post there will be a Grand Caravan at BSA this weekend! Come to St. George, SC for the good times. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

with the caveat that I only get to see the photo, this looks like something that has been there since it was manufactured. It is certainly consistent with surface imperfections I have seen many, many times. I don't see it as an issue. (subject to revision upon actual hands-on inspection) -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I generally don't see end cell closures as closely related to the briskness of an opening. I really made the comment in response to the previous message which asserted higher loadings might prevent the closures. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

sorry, I loaded at 1.45 and had end cells closed on all 6 demo jumps as I recall. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Sounds like a good plan, but why not just downsize the Spectre? What motivates you to switch platforms? -- Jeff My Skydiving History

A big, and repeated, problem on forums of any kind is that when the discussion gets technical there is a wide range of perspectives. As one of the two physics professors here, I can say that 1) I have encountered jerk, da/dt, before 2) This is a complicated issue, moreso than anyone has said thus far. 3) It is more an issue of acceleration than jerk, IMHO. Forces are related to accelerations, not to jerks. So saith Newton, and unless we are going to get relativistic, Einstein isn't disagreeing. 4) It isn't possible to give non-physics types a year of physics in a forum. So I often just give up and let the thread deteriorate rather than take on the impossible task. This is also true when I am the one on the forum who doesn't know much, and the real experts can't write a book explaining it to me. It isn't snooty-ness, just practical reality. ps - I hope nobody takes this posting as hostile, agressive, or anything else unkind. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

it was 45 g's and he was better protected than a jumper in a harness. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Everyone will be there, really, everyone! BSA -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I suspect that jumpers are very poor judges of how many gees an opening was. They know soft, brisk, hard, and slammer, but any numbers they put on them are unreliable, unless they have a lot of test jumps with accelerometers (maybe Gary Peek and a few others). Years ago I did some research (reading) about tests done by NASA and others in the late 1950s. It was fascinating reading (lots of hurt people and dead pigs), and what remains in my mind is enough to make me say the "20 Gs will kill you" statement above. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Tolerance to G-forces is a highly posture-dependent issue. Being in a harness is very much on the "not good" side of optimal postures. I bet that a 20 g opening would kill a significant fraction of jumpers experiencing them. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Tricky devil, you have turned off PM... Doing 10-way at the Nationals? Nope. You know how us academics mostly can't get time off that time of year. I am taking two teams to Lake Wales for their 10-way competition over Christmas/New Years though. Took one team last year and everyone had so much fun even more people want to go this year. Maybe I'll captain two teams at the same time. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Thanks for the Poisson numbers John. I was too lazy to do it. In response to your question about too many malfunctions for low number jumpers I think the most likely reason is body position. This is strongly correlated with jump numbers.... -- Jeff My Skydiving History

It would be good to sanitize some of these stories and share them with students. Each of the stories is in some sense an example of a training error, and should be a heads up to instructors. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Interesting that when jumping this triangle the pointy end goes to the rear. I think all other triangles wen't ponty-end first. Note all the patches on the canopy above the drive slot in the rear also. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Statistics pretty much guarantee that there will be some people on either side of the average. Factors that influence it would include. The distribution will be skewed also, since you can't have more main malfunctions than you have jumps. Although I have a former teammate that seemed to push that notion. 1) packing technique 2) canopy type (some canopies are intrinsically more likely to malfunction) 3) Threshhold of characterization as malfunction. For example, some people would cutaway a backwards (not high performance) main, which I personally wouldn't call a malfunction. 4) luck -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Most humor is at someone's expense. If you find yourself offended at someone else's humor, it is time to take a look at the humor that amuses you. I'm printing out that cartoon and putting up next to my skydiving pix. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

My perspective as a bifocal wearer -- stick with the bifocals. You need good close vision for altimeters, to deal with toggle problems, etc. You need good distance vision to deal with flying and landing. I had a special pair of glasses made without the bifocal part, and they were not good for the aforementioned reasons. Learn to lower your head a bit at landing time, so the near vision part of the lens (the lower part) is beneath the point you are looking at. You can also request at the time you have your lenses made, that the lower part be lowered a bit, so the "line" is lower on the lens. I didn't have that done, but my optician asked me if I wanted to. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I believe the Sabre2 manual that came with my demo Sabre2 about a month ago said to do the nose by rolling in each side to the center, but don't roll the center. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

What did PD say about the ass kicking? It sure isn't a design feature for the Sabre 2. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I am convinced that NO CANOPY IS IMMUNE to slammer openings. Regardless of how it is packed. It may not happen often, but it will happen. It is good that you haven't had one. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I was personally on more than one load many years ago in France when I watched the pilot of the Porter touching down while I was tracking away from the formation prior to pulling. I gather Mr. Mullins is good enough, I just don't know about the airframe and engine details that make it possible. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

While I am sensitive to the issue of having a newbie/unknown check pins, I think it borders on insane to not get one from somebody. I realize that some people can check their own main pins, but can they check their own reserve pins?? Just this summer I gave a check, on jump run, to a guy who had NOT asked for one. His reserve pin was only 1/8 inch past the loop, and had already cleared one side of the grommet. He was front floater too. -- Jeff My Skydiving History