Dutton

Run across the room and note your body position at the halfway mark. You will be leaning forward. Now run across the room leaning back, like the "keep on trucking" guy. That is why people lean forward when landing parachutes.

Ease of packing is the absolute best reason to downsize. Check. Parachutes were made to be flown and landed with toggles, check... You lost me on the Clamdiggers, though. Gay.

The traditional PLF works well when you are hanging straight in a harness, as you do naturally with a round parachute. When flaring a ram air, you typically are moved forward and leaned back as in a swing. Unless you know how to lean forward in your harness during plane out, the pitch change of the flare will put your feet way in front of your cg and you can't run well in this orientation, or PLF for that matter. Just watch students land, this is why they land on their butts and hurt their backs, or sit on the feet and damage their ankles. This also makes it hard to roll, which is what you should do when falling at high speed. Next time you are under canopy up high, clear traffic and flare, leaning forward against your chest strap. Notice how your feet are under you instead of instead front of you. Watch you tube videos of free running rolls and you will see techniques that serve you better when wiping out with a faster parachute than the traditional PLF. Practice rolls, from standing, then from a slow walk, then a run. The highlights are, don't let your head or neck touch the ground, roll on broad flat planes like your back and thighs. Don't roll on your spine. I eat shit spectacularly at least once a year and always get right up because I roll. Your mileage may vary. Be careful, this stuff is dangerous.

I never thought you could spell it, but you nailed it. Awesome!

Manufacturers of BASE gear seem to be doing a fine job of regulating themselves.

I responded in detail to you via PM. For anyone else curious, it was the Norhteast US.

Food for thought. I flew for a part 135 operator that operated caravans, beech 99's and a twin otter. They flew regional cargo routes for a major overnight shipping company that spared no expense on maintanence, and was the physical owner of the caravan fleet. One year after I left, a friend of mine had an engine failure climbing through 7,500 feet when his compressor turbine came apart. That is a problem when you are flying a caravan. It was eventually found that the once per 50 hour compressor washes weren't enough to prevent corrosion. Nearly the whole fleet had the same wear... So don't gloat over your DZ's supposed "stringent" mx standards, or feel any better that your DZ's aircraft are flown under part 135 (cough). Aviation is still inherently dangerous. Shit happens. Be more concerned with how your pilot operates the airplane. Does he take care of it, or beat it up? Does he fly smoothly like his grandma is riding along, or does he jerk it around because he doesn't like flying skydivers, is bored and can't wait to work for Southwest... These are old airplanes and they are just waiting to fall apart.

If you switched to a velocity and someone asked you, "Why are you jumping such a small canopy?", what would you tell them? Someone on the internet said it would be okay? Having jumped both canopies I can tell you there really isn't that much of a difference between the two. At that wingloading if you are behind the curve they will both willingly fly you into the ground hard enough to kill your sister. The katana is a very aggressive canopy. If you want to jump a velocity, and can accept the consequences of screwing yourself in the ground or wrapping up a buddy, then do it. That is what is cool about this sport, at least for now. We are relatively free to make our own choices. If common sense was the deciding factor in gear choice, we would all be jumping big spectres. Swooping and small canopies are fun. Do you honestly think that all the swoopers who stress progressive downsizing actually did that when they learned? I sure didn't. I am glad and ashamed at the same time to say that I was lucky not to die more than once along the way... Man up and make your decisions for yourself. This is serious shit.

Nice. Looks like fun, and that's all that matters to me.

Stay at home. You'll be safer there.

Hard openings are a function of.... Flailing.

Please kill me now.

With the rapid growth of tandem skydiving in its current form, and its perception as a one-time carnival ride profit generator for DZ's- as opposed to an instructional method for skydivers- the tax paying public appears to be much more exposed to risk. When the public is exposed to risk, the .gov steps in. I don't think the FAA cares when we kill each other, but when we kill normal people, they get upset. That being said, at least he has some experience on a DZ..

She will need a custom rig. Be real careful with the reserve ripcord, if she had short arms, she may not be able to pull it far enough to clear the pin. I would think that a PD reserve demo canopy would make a fine main for her. Maybe a 176 or so, depending on her exit weight. I would ask her if she is serious enough to spring for all new, custom gear for something she may not decide to pursue. If she doesn't stick with it, who is she going to sell this stuff to? You also have to consider fall rate and training method. She is going to fall real slow. Can you keep up with her? Would she be okay with static line progression? My home DZ has always good about accomodating anyone who wants to learn. We have trained the blind to jump, so as far as I'm concerned, she should be able to jump if she wants it bad enough... Good for her.

Gee, I guess your right. You win a free repack.

I have a feeling a lot of people haven't seen their reserves. I am more than willing to help people learn about their equipment when they show interest. To the original poster, why don't you take the time to bring your new rig to your rigger, put it on, cut away the main and pull the reserve? Have her show you the components and how they all work. Ask her about freebags and why they are a good idea. You paid thousands of dollars for your freefall training, throw in 50 extra bucks and a nice bottle and she will teach all sorts of neat stuff. Don't be offended if she doesn't want you to hang around while she packs it, but she should be willing to at least show it all to you and learn you some stuff.

That's brilliant.

I liked #3 the best.

Wow. Who packed that?

Choosing a canopy is exactly like choosing a car. If you want to go twice the posted speed limit around corners, a mustang gt is a better choice than a jeep. If you want to drive down a dirt road, you'd choose the jeep. If you want a canopy to compete in swooping, work up to a velocity. If you like to swoop in that competition style, but want a more general purpose canopy, choose a sabre2 or a katana. If you just make fun jumps or do a lot of work jumps and don't want a canopy that is designed to lose a lot of altitude in aggressive turns, choose a pulse or a stiletto. (stilettos are very undervalued in the used market...) There's plenty of other choices, but just don't be that guy that buys a velocity and has no idea how to use it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-8RxoPcNCU

It's fine for camera work. I had a 97 that I wore out and have been through a couple of used 107's. I found that at my weight, 175 or so, when the spectra got out of trim the openings got snappy and unpredictable. I have a Katana now (which I am not completely sold on) and it has HMA lines, if I were to go back to a stiletto I would cetainly use that material. You can also use dacron lines to soften the openings, there is nothing wrong with that. Some people have used different sliders as well, but I don't like to experiment with my stuff that much any more.

The Stiletto had a long recovery arc at the time of its introduction. Jump a similiarly sized Sabre (original one) and you will see. It also was and still is very responsive through the harness. It is a very efficient high performance canopy that size for size, packs smaller than just about anything in the market, opens softly and is tremendously fun to swoop. Just find the film Antigravity and you will see what a real canopy pilot can do with it. Designers build parachutes to satisfy their customers real (or perceived) needs. The market right now seems to prefer wings with long front riser dives and long rear riser control range. I like a parachute that is very tight and responsive on the toggles. Then again, I'm a barbarian that loves a good toggle hook every now and then.

If you drop a hip while flying your canopy, it will turn in that direction. That is a harness turn. While your canopy is opening and it is shaking back and forth over your head, you will feel pulses in your harness. If you react to that by shifting your hips out of neutral to "steer", when the slider comes down the parachute will turn, sometimes violently. Keeping your legs together serves to keep you from leaning in the harness during opening. Since your legs are connected permanently to your hips- It is easy just to think about not dropping a hip, keep them level with the horizon or perpendicular to your line of travel. Grabbing the risers seems to make the deceleration more comfortable for me, but it is a mistake to pull on the rears to influence the opening. On my canopy it will result in an instant violent inflation. If I want to grab something it usually the mudflaps. Although I like the idea of grabbing my nuts. That usually feels good, too.

How fast did he go? I would think we are close to supersonic. The jet I fly is doing .78 at 45,000' at 280 KIAS. I would think a competent speed skydiver could do that... Shame we may not find out for a while. A lot of good people put hard work into this.

You are suggesting that they are indestructible?