mathrick

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Everything posted by mathrick

  1. The "reverse" method is the standard one taught in Denmark, so it feels funny to call it "reverse". Pretty much everyone in DK uses it, and we don't have a flurry of hard openings. I personally have transitioned to psycho packs for my packjobs, but if I pro pack it, I do it that way. In my limited experience, if you take appropriate care to push down on the slider after quartering it, maintain as much tension on the lines as possible, and then check that the grommets are still against the slider stops by the time you do the final fold into the bag, it opens fine even if the bagging part was embarrassingly messy. The only hard opening I've ever had (thankfully it was only "ouch!" hard, not "where am I?" hard) was on student gear and a packjob by someone else, a student. Basically, brakes set and stowed, slider against the stops, PC cocked are the only *really* important parts of a packjob. Separate the fabric from the lines and stow them properly for best results, but those are more about keeping the canopy free of line burns than anything else. People used to freepack their trashpacks after all, and they didn't all die of hard openings. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."
  2. Here you go: [inline _20180320_125456.JPG] [inline _20180320_125513.JPG] [inline _20180320_125556.JPG] [inline _20180320_125650.JPG] "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."
  3. This depends on manufacturer. https://www.facebook.com/TheRanchPROshop/videos/1798144140209450/ It doesn't. My bridle is of the "old" style (albeit without any velcro), and all it takes is a little care and thinking things through to expose the kill-line window. Just bend the bridle the other way, with the pin on the inside of the bend. I can post pictures later if it's at all unclear. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."
  4. Would you mind uploading some pictures? "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."
  5. Booties are for FS, you do know that, right? If you do FS, get an FS suit, but that suit will be dedicated to FS only. Booties and grippers make it impractical for other stuff. As for practising, yes, hopping in the tunnel when you get it is a good idea, though depending on your skill level, a couple jumps might be enough to transition you well enough. Hard to say without knowing you. You will want to practise in the tunnel to dial the precision in though. Not really, no. No. Some people do have a preference for that, or want to save them from wear, but it's in no way required. You just land as normal. While they limit the maximum extension of your foot a little bit, that is really minimal and inconsequential for landings. A properly sized bootie will be fully taut right when you point your toes. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."
  6. Deepseed is winding down their business though. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."
  7. Nobody was implying that progress is over or undesirable. However, this kind of comment is way out of place in a thread dedicated to the simple idea of presenting Vortex containers as they exist right now, in the market of today, especially since they're relatively unknown in many circles. I don't think you'd feel obligated to say anything about being a copy of anything else if someone asked for pictures of a Vector, and I don't see why a Vortex should warrant it any more. Again, it's not a "new" design. It's been around for over 20 years, with constant tweaks and adjustments. Much like a Vector 3, or Javelins, and most other containers on the market today. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."
  8. By your logic, everything is a copy of everything else on the market because you can always find another rig that shares the given design element. It's a stupid jab useful only when you have no actual arguments. Vortexes have been around for over 20 years and work very well. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."
  9. Actually, it's not overstuffing but the loop being too long, and only in AAD fire scenarios when the pin is still through the loop, although overstuffing might make the difference between "right length" and "too long" smaller. Also, reserve flap grommets are not designed to have the loop snake around, so it's only if the excess loop length allows them to get offset that it can happen. That said, I like my Vortex (and semi-exposed RPC designs in general) because they're much less susceptible to that very problem while not being constant snag hazards the way pop-tops are. Also they look better :) "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."
  10. This opens just like my Sabre2 170. Maybe a little higher on the lines, but I always fully expect to pump the rears to get the slider to come down whenever I'm jumping that canopy. And I also know the heading is going to be a surprise. That's just how jumping them works. As an aside, Sabre2 has really snivelly openings. I realised that after I moved to a Storm... which has its own share of stupid opening quirks, despite opening that much faster. Having to reach up and hang on the rears for 3s is getting old when wingsuits are involved. Looking forward to getting my WinX, the famed magical canopy that opens fast, on heading, *and* soft enough. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."
  11. Last year I bought an old (DOM 2014) new-in-stock 168ZPX for US$1800. Given that ZPX is slightly more expensive than regular ZP, and yours has been jumped, somewhere between $1600 and $1700 sounds like it'd be appropriate? "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."
  12. Once. I had a twist in the MLW on one side (the leg strap got flipped through), which I didn't catch on the ground, only on the way up. I could have taken it off, corrected, then put it back on, but I decided that 1) "no in-air rigging" is a good rule and I see no reason to compromise it 2) if I was distracted enough to miss that (it was my GF's first tandem, I was in a group leaving before them), I need to own up to that and accept that I fucked up and the safety of the jump has gone out the window. I did and rode it down. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."
  13. Except the whole point of flying a camera is, y'know, flying a camera. There isn't some abstract "camera safety" that's independent of actually filming. The whole point of the qualification jumps is to show that: you can handle yourself prior and during jump and aren't at an obvious and immediate risk of doing something like forgetting your chest strap or picking gear that will snag instantly you can do the above while shooting minimally useful and premeditated footage If you don't care at all what's in the frame, you have no business flying camera. If you do, and if the stamp is to mean anything, it needs to include jumps and be organised by people who are experienced videographers. Canopy courses include jumps, FS camps include jumps, tracking camps include jumps, why on earth would camera courses not include jumps? One day someone, somewhere will ask you to film them based on the fact that you have an official stamp saying you're qualified to do so, and it should not then cause you to funnel through the formation, then go low trying to frame a shot because you've never actually done it before. tl;dr: nobody needs to be allowed to fly camera. If they want to, they'd better put in the work and get the skills required. PS. And no, 50 jumps is not enough to start, your position is insane and I hope I never get taught by you nor meet anyone subjected to your mad teaching skillz "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."
  14. Denmark has 150 jumps, but makes video jumps an actual stamp that you get on your licence card (technically, you get it separately for each discipline for which you're otherwise cleared, which are also stamped in), and the requirements are attending a course by a qualified video coach (that's a rating with its own requirements and stamps), and at least 5 supervised jumps with said coach during which you demonstrate to their satisfaction the ability to handle yourself and shoot acceptable video while so doing. It seems to work very well in practice, gives you a specific goal to hit while also allowing instructors to keep in check people not qualified despite hitting the numbers, and personally I'm immensely happy I went through the qualification jumps, because man, the ruthless critique of my freefall skills I received has improved my flying greatly. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."
  15. Not according to any of the riggers I've learnt from. While the rules don't specifically address TSO, the rule of the thumb has always been "if it's a TSO component, treat it as major by definition, unless specifically cleared by mfr/FAA". Cutting and restitching the MLW is still not minor. Unless you're saying that done improperly it is not likely to affect the airworthiness? "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."
  16. It quite clearly came apart. I don't recall seeing sunpath say "and be sure to leave a bunch of fabric flapping around for lines to cinch on" anywhere in the SB. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."
  17. Yup. At 2:56 there are photos showing the cause. According to the description, this is a botched SPSB03032000 main closing loop retainer mod. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."
  18. And what if your now ruined fabric allows the stiffener to cut through it (that it otherwise wouldn't), till it causes lines to snag and horseshoe the main to your back? That is rarely fun. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."
  19. It is a change to the approved configuration. For example, most harnesses are approved in a range of sizes. Changing the as-manufactured length of the main lift web is a repair, as long as the result is within the approved range. That's an interesting definition that I'm not sure I agree with (I'd be curious to see how you arrived at that conclusion and from which documents) (nevermind, that will teach me not to read to the end of the thread), but even if, that is a major repair and thus outside of the SR rating. The FAA circular and the resulting prevailing understanding is that a major repair is anything that "if improperly done, might appreciably affect ... structural strength, performance, or other qualities affecting airworthiness". Resizing MLW definitely falls into this category, AND is touching a TSO'd component of the rig on top of that. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."
  20. Semi-stowless bags are sensitive to having the canopy size match the bag, because it's the canopy bulk that keeps the line pocket closed and orderly. If you downsized to 190 (and it sounds from your progression like you did), then it might be too much of a change. Definitely try with the regular d-bag, and be prepared to order a new semi-stowless that compensates for the reduced canopy bulk. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."
  21. Thanks. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."
  22. Different coil designs are susceptible to locking under different circumstances, this is why it's critical to follow the manufacturer instructions. Whilst for many RPCs you're instructed to keep the fabric out of the coils, for some others (e.g. Stealth used by RI) you must tuck it inside the coils. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."
  23. I had a Pilot 168 ZPX (@1.14) as my wing for about 50 jumps, and I never had any problems with the flare. It was perfectly easy to stand up my landings, even as I switched between Sabre2 170 and the Pilot, despite the significant difference in glide steepness. Never had any trouble on the rentals I put a few jumps on when I was but a wee skydiver either. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."
  24. Nah, as long as side ventures are disclosed and run transparently, it's all good. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."
  25. Or D: stop confusing relationship with exclusivity. I fail to see the inherent conflict between being in a stable relationship and not being guaranteed exclusive access to someone and I find it annoying that the wider society insists on there being one. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."