jerry81

OK, I know Shunkka personally, plus I've done more or less the same thing when I had more or less the same number of jumps, only used a friend's Impulse 150 for ~20 jumps before going to a 135 and my wl on that was higher (close to 1.6). It is not a very good decision, but you've already taken it. The 135 will fly and turn faster and dive more, obviously. It will also kill you faster than the 150 if you fuck up, so please don't. You can probably land it standing up and close to the target without much problems under normal conditions, but that doesn't necessarily mean you can fly it or that it can't hurt you. Take time to learn how it behaves, dedicate whole jumps to canopy control, read, ask questions, always know that playing with these kind of toys is dangerous and please be safe!

Heya, things are picking up again here, although it seems most people will be coming after New Year. February would be a good time to plan your trip. The bridge that collapsed last year has been bypassed, so getting to the dz from the airport is normal again...2-6 hours depending on the traffic you have to get through in Caracas. Jumps on Tortuga are, and have always been, by arrangement for groups of 4 or 5 people with our 206- and you're right, it is an absolutely amazing experience. Right now we fly the Antonov 3-4 days per week, up to 15 loads on a good day and, like I said, things are picking up again- Olav is coming over for a few months next Monday, there should be some good freeflying happening this winter, the rainy season is ending and the summer just goes on and on...

Not a rigger myself, but yes...

Me, I run mostly on youthful enthusiasm and free jumps. And in my experience a huge majority of the jumpers show appreciation for the efforts, even though it's just what manifestors do and even though, if we're being strict, it's what they're entitled to as customers. Of course if someone has problems with me trying to be cheerful all day long, they're free not to put up with it, it's just not very likely that I'll change just for them And if I'm a control freak and feel the need to multitask as STA as well...so shoot me. I'm sure it'd be nice to have someone especially for that, but better me than noone.

This is not meant to comment on your issue with that certain person, but since someone else asked about other manifestors on here and another person noted that sometimes we wear many hats, I just thought I'd add this. On an average weekend (anywhere from 8 to 15 loads of ~20 people/load per day) I will -manifest loads -give calls -deal with two people trying to manifest at the window at the same time and the one person trying to do it from within the office. -occasionally have to remind people that gear-up call means "gear up", not "stand around idly looking at your gear" -print loading lists -assign passengers, students and cameras to instructors and rental gear to students and people renting gear, always making sure that the instructors and cameraflyers get an equal share of work, that the students get more or less the same amount of jumps and that no rental rig is double-booked or manifested twice on back-to-back loads. -explain to tandem passengers how long they'll have to wait for a jump and why. -occasionally check that the girl who accepts payments is putting them in the system, otherwise I might tell a person who just paid that they can't manifest because their account is empty. -have people ask me to play some music because I forgot to put on another playlist with all the other things I'm doing. -invariably have someone come to complain about the music I'm playing. -constantly look for a way to do more back-to-backs with the given number of tandems, students, instructors and funjumpers. -communicate with the pilot and mechanics to make sure we can do those back-to-backs. -have people come to ask for "just another minute" because their rig is not packed yet and they really need to be on this load or have someone (so often the same someone that I'd be surprised if it didn't happen at least once per weekend) show up on the dz right at boarding call asking if they can make the laod. -run for a quick hop&pop and get some "me-time" on the pond. -stand outside to watch the openings and landings, make sure that everyone is safe and sometimes have private, quiet talks with people who do stupid or dangerous stuff. -tell the instructors and cameramen what's coming next and make sure the packers know what rental gear needs to be packed. -charge the person who was so certain that their friend manifested them that they boarded the plane without even checking. -take myself off the load and miss the next hop&pop because someone was certain that I heard them asking to manifest on that load one hour ago, and now it's full and they really want to go. -not eat anything except fruit and whatever people bring me and drink too much coffee. -keep smiling. And I could probably add more stuff. Bottom line is, there's a lot of potential for stress and confusion in running a skydiving operation and sometimes it seems that my position is the hub into which it all flows to come out sorted-like and calm... But in the end, you keep smiling and try to keep everyone happy, because that's what you do.

And that's a point worth noting! Oh, and here's another thing to discuss: If you were doing a paid jump (instructing, filming, tandem) on a load that had to leave the plane like that, didn't do the jump you were supposed to, you probably wouldn't expect to get paid. Would you offer to pay (or be OK with paying) your slot or whatever everyone else was paying for that jump?

Not true at all. You paid for a lift ticket, a plane ride. There is no DZ in the world that sells tickets based on the type of jump each skydiver wants to make on that load (and no I am not talking about specialty jumps). It is very clear that your original post was nothing more than a deception to start arguments and bash people by telling them that if there opinion is different than yours they are wrong. You asked for peoples opinions and they gave them and in return you bashed them. Since that's Chodaboy you're quoting and not me, I'll assume the rest of the post is directed at him as well... As for me, I started this thread because I had to bail out of the plane yesterday for the first time, and being the one who manifested the load as well, I honestly wasn't sure what to do. After speaking to the dzo today, we charged everyone half a ticket for the ride and excitement and the newbie (who would essentially be paying for the whole load otherwise- the coach's slot plus fee and my slot and video) wasn't charged for the rental gear...

My current container holds a PDR143 right now with a 120 main. I already had a 107 in it, which means I can also go to something crossbraced in the 100 sq. ft. range when I want to and even smaller if it's a sailcloth JVX or whatever else might come out in the future. But if I was buying a second rig, it would probably be for swooping, in which case I'd be happy to put another smaller-packing 143 reserve into a smaller container.

I think some skydivers just feel differently about the subject and couldn't really say if that makes them wrong or right... Like the thing that got me thinking about this in the first place: yesterday we had the engine stutter and lose power at about 9000'. I asked the pilot if he wanted us out, he said yes, so I explained to the guy with 15 jumps what was going on and what he needed to do, got him out and then his coach and me did a short 2-way. The pilot got the power back and landed uneventfully and we were all over the dz on exit anyway...in the end, no big deal. Of course I could not charge the newbie for either the coaching or my video, because he did not receive either and I told him so. He still offered to pay for my slot (and said it was his best jump so far). I didn't take it. In the end, I figure if I'm ready to lose my ticket if I decide not to exit, it doesn't make much difference if I lose it when I bail. This (along with the guy offering to pay my jump) just goes to show that some of us reason along different lines. Obviously, it's hard to give a definite answer, which is why I was asking in the first place...

In the case that you have to get out because of aircraft problems- above 3000 but well below the planned exit altitude- how do you think the jump should be charged? As normal? Half price? Free? What if there's a person who paid for video or coaching or a tandem in the plane? Opinions or personal experience if you have any... Thanks!

So the pouch can take a regular hard handle as well, perhaps?

Don't think so...it's the lower brakes from cascades to toggles. I've gotten no reply yet from either the owner or the German rigger who inspected and packed the reserve. I think I'll drop an email to Paratec to see if they treat the lines on these reserves with anything... (BTW- what was the deal with Strong and latex on Stellar reserves? I looked around a bit for the SB but can't find it.)

Same material on lower brakes, possibly thicker lines, but the stuff on the other lines glued the fibers together, so they might appear thinner... Canopy is a 1998 Speed reserve by Paratec, size 220.

I'm leaning towards this explanation as well...It has been packed for a year, often stored at temperatures above 30°C. And .I find it hard to believe that the previous rigger would miss such an obvious defect. One thing that stills baffles me, though, is the brakelines...no sign of anything on them.

To the person who offered their help via PM- it seems you've blocked incoming messages, so I sent you the number to the email listed in your profile. Thanks!

I definitely want to do that. I have the rigger's DFV (German association) number but his signature is illegible, so it'll be easier to check through the current owner.

We just opened someone's reserve for a repack...to find the lines (except lower brakes) stiff and saturated with what looks like dry paint. The locking stows were almost glued together. Considering how hard we had to pull on the freebag to get them out, this would have been a weird deployment at the best, a baglock at the worst. And who knows what the stuff on the lines does to their structural integrity. The reserve had been packed for a year (belongs to a German jumper). The rigger that I was helping thinks the previous owner may have painted the lines to make them look newer (1998 Speed reserve). Has anyone ever encountered anything similar? (The reserve of course wasn't repacked. I'm trying to contact the owner to let him know about it and try to figure out when this f*ckup happened)

You can check if Skydive Tortuga still offers transport to Arezzo on weekends. They used to pick people in Milano with their Caravan Saturday morning and bring them back early on Mondays.

Is it considered a straight line in neutral flight or does it curve with the designed curve of the canopy? I'd say the line (chord) is always considered to be straight, but I'm really getting out of my depth here...

That camber is not what you think it is. Camber is the measure from the imaginary line connecting the leading edge with the trailing edge and the highest point on the curve of the wing. When you move the leading or trailing edge (with risers or brakes), the line between them moves, so I'd say camber would increase.

Yes. Also, yellow fever vaccination is recommended (at least 2 weeks before departure) as well as antimalarics if you intend to travel in the high-risk regions of the country (the dropzone is not in one of them).

I'd say we're pretty friendly.

If it's just to show them on the web, resize them to something that will fit most everyone's screen (800x600 or something) and when you save use 'Save for web' or similar to get the best size/quality ratio.

Have you tried starting a new NTSC project and capturing there? Then you can just import the captured file into your PAL project. If that doesn't work you can also try Windows Movie Maker (shiver) for the capture and import to Premiere.

Jeez...you're from Switzerland. Don't they teach you these things in schools?