Genie

Thank you for taking the time to reply Andyman! I did wonder if that was your reasoning and thank you for explaining it clearly - I completely agree that opening at 800 ft and blowing your canopy apart isnt a great idea either And you could be right about the standard rules too :) Can i ask you why you think you would be that much more likely to break a leg with a rear riser flare rather than a toggle flare? I fly a big 170 and havent noticed that much difference in the flares between the 2 but then again its a totally conservative canopy - do you see a large difference on yours? Of course as someone ele pointed out a stilletto with a broken steering line may need to be chopped immediately anyway - a mate of mine had a severe spinning mal with just a brake fire. Im not trying to rise you Andy, i am just wondering. Havent been able to jump for a while coz of Vertigo symptoms and after 3 weeks clear i woke up with them again today so its going to be a while yet. At least this way i can learn something

Hi I have a 7 cell reserve which so far i have only seen as my rigger repacks it (fingers crossed that this will continue!) but i know 7 cells fly differently to 9 cells. If i had to open this canopy ( assuming it opens ok) what should i be aware of in flying it? ie Does it glide more or less than a 9 cell? How do they flare - shoudl it be higher or lower than my normal main? I know most accuracy canopies are 7 cell - but i dont know if all 7 cells are accuracy canopies... If i keep current weight i would be loading it at about 1.06 : 1. - would that have any effect? Its a Cricket 147 btw. Thanks in advance for your help Genie

This brings me back to the standard rules 1) Pull 2) Pull Stable 3) Pull at altitude But for godssake PULL! If it was me and i was sub 1000 ft, i wouldnt be worrying about getting belly to earth as much as i would be worried about getting something over me.. 1000ft to ground in freefall is about 5 secs or so isnt it? 7. On the normal main you jump, a steering line breaks on opening? At 1,500 ft? At 1,000 ft? At 500 ft? 1,500? Chop. 1,000? Chop. 500? Rear riser landing. While many recomend being able to do a rear riser landing, I am not interested in landing entirely on mine during an extremely stressful situation. I'll take the odds with my reserve over the odds of pulling off a good landing with my risers. I understand the question to be in a large aircraft, and the first group (not the TM) is exiting. The TM is still at the nose of the plane. I would look straight into the eyes of the TM, tap my shoulder, or hip as appropriate. Ensure he figures out what I'm telling him. Keep the door closed, tell the pilot, then the jumpers. Have the jumper sit on his pilot chute to compress the spring. Turn 5 degrees to the right. _Am

QuoteWhat would you do if; 8. Get the pilot to red light the dive, if I'm not near the pilot, tell the instructor, if I can't get that done, well, those hooks are rated to keep a passenger on the TM with only one out of the 4 hooked up. Ok i dont doubt that the TSOs are accurate - but what effect would that have on a tandem pair? Imagine the guy goes out the door with only one hook done... how does he get stable? What are the liklihoods of getting wrapped if you have a passenger flailing around you in a 360 degree circuit? What are the chances of inducing an Helsinki Spin? The one hook may keep the passenger attached but i cant see that they would possibly be able to land it in any way safely - what does anyone else think ? Genie

Hi Quade Thanks for the advice - i was kinda hoping to find one of those kinda people on here - Im based in Ireland and AME type peoplle are few and far between, takes ages to get an appointment and then I have to take a day off to get there - all a bit awkward - especially as i went back to grad school this year

Yeah i know - the concept of being perfectly stable inthe air, falling down the tube but THINKING that im spinning and twisting and cant get stable - not a good idea... thats why im wondering if anyone can give me any guideline - will altitude affect my inner ear? could it cause the symptoms to come back etc etc... Thanks Guys! Genie

Has anyone out there had Vertigo? Otherwise known as Labyrinthitiis which is a kinda cool name or also known as Menhoerr (sp?) syndrome. Basically its a wonderful viral infection of the inner ear which will take 6-8 weeks to go no matter what you take. Symptoms include a very special feeling of being under a wildly spinning mal, while sitting quietly in a chair. The reason im asking is im wondering when it would be safe to go back jumping. I havent had any symptoms in about 2 weeks now, and thats without the meds. Anyone have any idea if i woulld be ok now or should i wait a bit? Yes i did ask my doctor - he looked kinda blank to put it mildly thanks a million Genie

OMG! The TM's expression must've been priceless... Did they find the leg? No, We jump over a bog and it disappeared in there somewhere... $3500 worth of leg which no doubt will terrify some poor person walking thru the bog some day...poor bloke was a bit teed off - hed just bought it!

well during student week in our club, we filled a whiskey bottle with weak cold tea, and the two TM's took very visible LONG swigs, while repacking the parachute and training the two students. They then pulled out the "instruction manual" and started to check a couple of things - one of the TM's ragging the other guy that he was meant to have finished reading that before the weekend. The manual got tucked in the TMs jumpsuit so he could continue to study on the way up. Both TM's staggered around while putting the rigs on and then had problems finding the way into the plane - explaining that it was a new plane and theyd never jumped from it before. All of this is on video, with the two students looking uncertain in the background. One of the students actually asked "Are you guys sure you know how to do this?" Now they were friends of friends of skydivers, they were a good laugh and took it all in good spirit and it really is the funniest video. But we generally wouldnt pull that kind of stuff on new students.. of course the question of "What the hell is this and where did it come from??" while staring at the back of the students harness is always fun... Mind you - tables were turned on one of our tms once when he took up a guy who had a prosthetic leg and hadnt told the tm. On opening his leg detached and fell away from them and the passenger turned to the tm and said "My leg just fell off!" - the tm got a bit of a shock...