Di0

It might solve that problem, it might create you some new ones. Who knows. But right now you're loading a SA2 at about 1:1, while that is a big SA2 it should still be a relatively OK wing loading to get normal openings, out of curiosity, do you roll the nose? Try either rolling it fewer times, or even not rolling the nose but putting it straight into the bulk of the canopy when you cocoon it, see if that changes anything. Also, is the SA2 used? Are the lines in trim? Not saying that downsizing is unreasonable but if you're not sure about it, there might be other alternatives to it before you go buy a new canopy. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

As they said, the first time buying gear is frustrating. You're not known in the sport, so you don't know how to check references or it's weirder to grab the phone and call a DZ to check on a jumper before you send money, or the other way around if you want people to send gear to you, you can't just say "call manifest here and there and ask who I am" etc. I think the first time is important to have an instructor or a rigger go through the process with you. You also have less chance of people trying to push either wrong gear to you, or rip you off selling old shit for a lot more than it's worth. When I went through it, my former AFF instructors helped me out. I would send them links to see if I was looking at the right gear, then they would contact them since they sell and buy stuff all the time. And eventually the rigger at my DZ happened to have a rig that was perfect for me. But I had to go through many steps, ads, calls, mails, even return a rig that was too big for me, it happens. I would recommend you to try doing that instead of doing it alone. The second time around will be much easier because you'll know more and you'll have a better network, know people in most DZs you can ask about, have contacts working in big gear shops and factories, so selling and buying gear can be almost fun after a couple of years in the sport. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

Any bag that will fit your rig will do, I bought a cheap one on ebay for 30 bucks and it's lasting me two years and counting, so I can't complain? I would avoid rig sleeves, they don't offer the same protection to your gear, but that's my opinion. If you want to travel make sure you bring the AAD card (the plastic thing that shows the X-ray of a rig with aAD) and the TSA letter that explains to TSA people how to inspect your rig. I've had them ask it only once, they really barely looked at it, maybe they just wanted to check that I knew what was going on... but I was happy to have it, it makes going through security a lot faster. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

They've been pretty sneaky about this thing, if they started building "upgraded" units since january, they have done it on the down low, without advertising them as Cypres 2+ or something, then 5 months later they pretty much said "Oh, the units you were buying, by the way, were new designs". I think if what they say is true, i.e. that they added components to increase reliability and make the 4 years check no longer necessary, then it would be next to impossible for them to simply add those into an existing units, certainly unfeasible. If their new components are just short for "but we still planned our monetary incomes counting on those units coming back for 4 and 8 years" then in a few years they will tell us how they "updated our units during the 4 year check". Easy as that. Personally, while I do believe the 4 years checkup is beneficial, if it's not mandatory I would end up not sending it because I know myself, I'm a lazy piece of shit and realistically I am really bad at taking care of these things, like car maintenance, bills, cleaning the house etc so I can say "nooo, I'd send it anyway" but realistically I'd end up not doing it unless I'm forced to. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

I did the math when I started jumping and I remember reaching the conclusion that 1 jump roughly equals 1000 miles in the U.S. I could have done the math wrong, or remember wrong. Either way, unless you drive thousands of miles to the DZ and back, it's absolutely not safer. Also, the intuition that, after a couple of years in the sport, we all know a few people that died while doing it, while in a whole life we know very few people that die in car accidents (and lot more of my friends drive cars daily on top or instead of skydiving) would seem to confirm this. People that tell you that driving is more dangerous than skydiving are either full of shit, or implicitly admitting they are VERY BAD drivers. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

1) Death. Seriously, it's skydiving. But more, realistically, in the "common mistake" range, I'd say broken bones, femurs, and even more likely, torn ankles, ligaments, bruises etc. As my dad would say, skydiving is a calculated risk and while dying is very uncommon and something that we can keep on the back of our mind, unfortunately you have to accept a broken leg as being part of the game on every jump. As a student, you'll fly very forgiving and docile canopies, and we teach techniques to reduce the possible damages from a bad landing, they are very effective but of course, there are always chances of getting seriously injured even with these. If you're not ok with these risks, don't skydive. 2) listening to your instructors and do what they tell you to do. Also being heads-up and aware of what's happening is key. You'll feel overwhelmed on your first jumps but don't let that "freeze you". 3) Actually, yes. You'll have to tell your instructor that you want to do that to be prepared for AFF, they'll probably let you fly the canopy and explain you what's going on. It's a viable method and some people choose that. 4) I'm sure there are, or that it can be offered as an option but I am not familiar with it so I am not able to say much, sorry. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

Or, for some mysterious reason, all foreign skydivers visiting France will have a logbook with a jump number eerily appropriate for the type of canopy they jump. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

Are you the reading type? If so, read "Above All Else" by Dan B.C. Without spoiling a beautiful book to you, Dan B.C. is probably one of the most accomplished skydivers alive, but if you read the book you'll see how he was scared shitless on his first jumps. We all are, some are better than others at hiding it. If someone tells you they weren't scared on their first jump, they're either: lying or insane. Tandems are different because all you have to do is force yourself to not say no, AFF1, you have to force yourself to actually step out the door. That small difference is a big fucking deal. Well, in reality all you have to do is start the count, then at that point the two instructors will take you off whether you want it or not. I think during my first jump, I changed my mind 10 times during the up-down-arch count. But it didn't matter because I knew at that point there was no going back because we were all going out together whether I wanted or not. And so we went. Just remembering those moments now and writing about here, made my hands sweat a little. But also I am smiling to the computer screen like an idiot thinking of all that happened since. And that's more than 600 jumps later, so that's how nervous I was! If you REALLY want it and it means a lot to you, force yourself to start the damn count. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

You mean those 9 years old risers with stretched keepers are not mean to outlive the container?! Also yes, 100% agree, if you start getting toggle fires more than occasionally (because occasionally, well, shit happens) it's usually a good idea to have a closer look at the condition of risers/toggles. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

I most certainly will. I am actually curious to try, as I am now on a canopy where a toggle fire can become a bit of an annoyance, I am curious to see what would happen. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

In reality, as I am currently learning how to swoop, that's exactly the technique I've been taught for Front Riser turns. Sure, you lose some "power" because you only have two fingers through the Front loops but the benefit of not killing yourself after the turn is worth it, since you can regain that power with a good technique and some gym time. LoL Even with only two fingers and a canopy that is not exactly known for low front riser pressure, after only a couple of weeks of trying I can pull the fronts lower and longer than I am comfortable with anyway. :) I think the main danger of dropping a toggle is not dropping the toggle in itself, as much as doing it without realizing (see, again, wearing gloves etc). If you realize it soon enough (i.e. pretty much anywhere before the actual flare time), bailing out on rears should always be possible, as long as you know you have to... but once you go to flare and your hands do nothing, now it's too late because a) you're probably too low and b) your hands are nowhere near the rears. So now before I commit to my final front riser turn, I always take a second to visually check that my toggles are still where they are meant to be (reaching all the way up before starting the surge is a perfect time for that). Sure you can always drop them by mistake during the turn, in that case you're probably toasted but... I try to reduce that occurrence as much as I can and then, well. So be it. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

Eheh, true! I wish I knew (or thought of it) back then. It still wouldn't have helped on a dropped toggle when turning to final though. In all honesty, if something like this happens again and I don't have time to practice the flare with this technique up high on my current canopy, I'd be much more comfortable in a rear-risers only landing, because that's something I know and done before a few times, on this and other canopies. But that's a good point and something to try next jump I do (leave one brake stowed and fly/flare around that way), you can never have too many "plan B"s I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

Which is super-cool, but also super specific and he should have mentioned that, if this was his intention. If you post something in "General Skydiving Discussion" and ask without specifying further, one tends to assume that you want to do the things that we nowadays consider "General Skydiving". I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

Ok, but even if we assume for a second that are better for sport-canopy landings, and people already explained they are not, the bigger question is: what type of skydiving would YOU be doing with them? Really. They are certainly not acceptable with RW, because you can kick someone, but also because being able to point your toes in or out is an important control for fine tuning if your jumpsuit has booties. Good luck freeflying in them. Wingsuiting is the same as RW, you want to be able to stretch and point your toes. CRW, those things have written line snags all over them, even without the metal lace hooks. What's left? Hop and popping whole day? That sounds like fun... once you get into flying one of those canopies that you really don't want to fly while wearing one of those boots. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

Rear-Fucking-Risers. It saddens me to hear how many people with a few hundreds jumps are "scared" of rear riser landings, or they consider them one of those "swoopers' trickery" that they can't be bothered with. When in fact they saved me at least one cutaway, from a stuck toggle, and, much more important, from some potential injury after dropping a toggle and realizing it only when turning at the end of my base leg (jumping during our new england winter with winter gloves, it's bound to happen sooner or later). http://www.skydivingstills.com/keyword/n-SP7Sv/daniele%20t/i-GmP9vGt I really believe that, after flat-turns, rear-riser landings are one of those tools that should be in everyone's bag, and one of the first things to try on a new canopy (up high, and as you said, bring them to the ground only once confident and all conditions are perfect... but practice them in the very first few jumps on a new canopy because you might never know if you will be forced in one of them after jump #1 or jump #500 on your new wing). I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

you could ask the flight 1 instructors, if you took the course recently. These kind of conversations are perfect to have with canopy instructors that just saw you deal with stuff! You can say you're thinking about downsizing and you want their input, before you commit your mind. Generally speaking, downsizing to fix a problem is not the best approach. It might work or it might not and if it doesn't, because the problem is your technique and not the canopy, it will amplify the problem. Then again, 1:1 is not an unreasonable WL to fly at 100 jumps so you might get away with most mistakes, although keep also in mind that canopy at the 150 range all start to have noticeably shorter lines. That does play a role. It's impossible to say without looking at landings. Hence, if you're already planning on a flight 101 class, you should really defer the decision until you talk with your canopy instructor. I would say: if you really want to try how 1:1 feels, maybe consider a weight belt before you downsize. It's not exactly the same but It's a safer step in dealing with winds, than straight up downsizing, you will come down a bit faster which will give you the illusion to have better penetration. LoL. You might find that if you fail to fly your pattern, it really won't be much help at all. As for canopy in that class, the usual three options: pilot, Safire2, sabre2. In my opinion, this list goes from least aggressive to most aggressive, so I wouldn't recommend downsizing AND going to a sabre2, for example. Again mainly because you're not looking for more speed etc but you're trying to fix what is probably just poor pattern planning, which is probably not the right response to start with. They all have pros and cons. Discuss your choices with a canopy person that has seen your landings, again maybe during flight 1 tell them, and ask for opinions. Work out on fixing your technique on your current canopy, the one you know and you're safer with, and then think about downsizing, if it so pleases you. It might seem a slower progression but it's safer on the long run. Every time I downsize, i see that my technique "goes backwards" and it takes a couple of months, and canopy classes, only to get back where I was on my previous canopy. If that "going backward" would put me back in a place where I can't land safely, then I'm putting myself in potential troubles. But that's just my 2 cents. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

I am torn on the discussion about abortion. On one side, it's killing babies and we can all certainly appreciate this side of it. On the other hand, it's giving freedom of choice to women, and I'm not sure I'm OK with that. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

judging by the last few pages of our incident threads: and wingsuiters... and bigway guys... and students... and people with gopros... and tandems ... and skydivers sitting in a plane... I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

Up until the very first "funny-story-shit-there-I-was" at the bonfire, the same night. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

At 12 jumps, you should be going through a couple of malfunction scenarios to review them, before and/or after every coach jump, so there is no need to review all of them at once. The only exception is that one time my student had to perform his EPs for real, nailed them, and I felt like we didn't need to review any more EP for that day. LoL I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

Keep in mind that going into brake reduces your glide ratio only if going against the wind. If you're going with the wind, jt will make you go further. And even when going upwind, there is a chance that you're actually extending your glide ratio anyway, if the wind is not strong and if you're closer to half brakes than your stall point. But since you don't want to be closer to the stall point, plus you are wasting flare power, going into deep brakes for accuracy purposes is really not the best idea, on regular sport canopies at least. I personally don't like to fly the pattern into more than quarter brakes unless I have a very good reason for it. Hitting the pea is not really a good reason. Being into deep brakes at low altitudes and hitting the wrong gust could really fuck your day up. Once you're on final, you're commited, your accuracy adjustment should haopen BEFORE getting on final, the later you are the less you can do. There are more advanced techniques to shorten the glide path, but if you don't dont them properly they can get tricky especially because you're below 300ft. If it's a small correction, "getting bigger" might help, but don't expect it to make more than a few ft of difference, but at least it's relatively "harmless". If you want to improve your technique for accuracy, a basic canopy class, like flight 1 101 and 102, has a big part that is focused mainly at that and will go thorough what every input does in different conditions etc etc Totally recommended, you will see an improvement in your accuracy almost immediately. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

**effect. Sorry, I had to, I couldn't control it. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

Shit, I actually knew that. Like I knew those other 2 or 3 million dollar questions I've happened to see (true, I didn't know many of the knes before but funnily I always happened to know the 1M one, maybe because I love anecdotes). That said, that was a hell of a show off, he'd be a good skydiver. LoL I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

It was planned. I can plan to put a glass jar over my head and ask my good buddy to shoot it. That doesn't mean that if messes up a bit and shoots in me in the forehead, we didn't see that coming or that it makes this outcome any less likely. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

The way I look at it, there are 3 different groups in skydiving, cutting things roughly with an ax. First, the funjumpers, skydivers, wingsuiters, weekend warriors, amateurs, pros alike. For this group, something that could go wrong once in a million times is good enough, safe enough, doable, why not. And reasonably so, because we see things from our perspective, where one in a million is safer than most things we do in our everyday lives, so we accept the risk. Plus, the measurable risk is what makes skydiving fun, in a way. Regardless of the reasonings behind it, some of it more logical than others, we're OK with that. Then there are the manufacturers, the Bill Booths, etc., for whom one in a million is not acceptable, because their gear get millions of jumps over the years, so if something can go wrong once in a million times, it WILL go wrong at least once. Which means at least one lawsuit. At least one recall bulletin. At least one death. Finally there are the "lawmakers" in between, like USPA for us, who have to somewhat bridge and compromise between the two and decide what risk is acceptable and what requires regulating and limitations. How this happens is a mix of common sense, reasoning, projections based on experience but also, of course, politics and financial motivations. Deal with it. I honestly don't know that this BSR is "right" or "wrong" but I think it covers such a limited and unnecessary part of skydiving (fly-by next to a student, really?!) that nobody should have a problem letting it go, even if you think you can do it safely you should see the rationale behind it.. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.