alain

and price... the 200L 2.8 is almost as good at equivalent apperture, way lighter/smaller and a lot more affordable. It becomes very tricky to be on the move with such massive pieces of optics as this 1.8. Now, if you wana make pics of you backyard this not an issue Anyway, how often would one really need the 1.8 if you consider the quality of today's hight sensibility films (400iso). Digital camera's in that quality range are even better at hight sensibility than classic films. Maybe less depth of focus at max apperture would be a plus sometimes ? 200 at 2.8 lives very few anyway. btw I agree with you on the prime vs zoom bottom line, thinking of skydiving (ab)use here just my thoughts

check this out: http://www.mainconcept.com/eve.shtml (trial version is fully functional and free) the DV and MPEG encoders are coming strait from the pro-version (mainactor) not so heavy to run like many others (you won't need a state of the arts PC) enjoy...

don't you think that those few peoples are enough experienced to look after their rig and have it inspected before if needed ? anyway they do have to bring it to a rigger every 500 skydives if using a cypres, that might be the oportunity to check the rig airworthyness (does this word exist ? just made it up ) very few peoples are doing more than 500 jumps/year... just my humble thoughts (not a rigger)

france : 6 months

450+ jumps with my Talon2 bought new from Parachutes australia 2 years ago. not a single issue with it. all flaps are in perfect condition. just had the boc replaced a couple of weeks ago (cost=50euro). I'll get some riser hardhousings during next repack. it's *really* comfy, easy to pack... my rigger likes it too

'depends where you are: the S-Fly comes at least 200 euro cheaper than the GTi on this side of the pound, 'coz of overseas shipping cost, dealer margin, VAT, and small import tax on stuff made outside of europe. It seems tricky to get birdman products directly from the States and not throug the official dealers network. the S-fly is said (search this forum) to fly at least as good as the GTi, if not better: I'll tell you when I'll get mine in 6 weeks and when I have enough jumps on it to kick ass of GTi flyers ...errr that's probabely gona take more time than 6 weeks for me, humble newbie in the flock... let's be realistic

did not vote (valid point mentioned above), anyway: aad is mandatory in france since january 2003 Alain

looks pretty conservative on my DZ: i can think of 3 guys jumpng 1.7 to 2 who got there after at least 1000 jumps (they are now 1500 to 2000 jumps). two of them are really doing HP landing. one is jumping just over 1.5 since jump 600 (coming close to 1000 right now) and he's quite conservative bellow 1000ft. most of the 300-500ish folks are jumping in the 1.3-1.5 range and few are working towards HP landings. well, thats a pretty small DZ anyway

thanks all for input, I really appreciate

oooops, that was it...

thnaks for input, I had read it allready ;-) I'm not actually searching on that one but on the Salomon one. Rumor says the Matter is a pale copy of the Salomon... (not built the same way nor in the same material as far as I know) Alain

I'm looking for some feedback on the suit designed by Loic and his buddies... Would any one share his (her) experience with it ? Has any one flocked close to one of those while flying a birdman suit ? How does it compare to a GTI (safety, speed, fall rate, construction) ? trying to make a smart choice, here, on this side of the pound thanks for input ! Alain

I don't actualy need one right now but I was wondering if airtec has experienced some troubles at the begining like the Vigil AAD is going throug these days. I actualy did a search on dz.com with 'cypres missfire' and i did not find so many incidents. did I miss something ? Alain

just wondering if there were any recorded cypres missfire or proven cypres disfunction (no fire) Alain

my FF training buddy is using an IP5 and he does archive the rush on cheap DV tapes (via Svideo analog port) with an old PC1 unusable for shooting coz lens got snaped by a riser . Once on DV tape, it's easily workable on premiere or whatever classic software. the quality is as good as a PC6/8/9. I get the shots on my PC101 without troubles as well. Alain

safire-1 135 @ 1.3:1 ('got 400+ jumps on it) opening are sweet and mostly on heading. I've never expermimented and spinning with that canopy even with a lot of twist.

yep, that's what i prefer in that pic thanx all for input

My tells are not incidents if you consider you need to hurt yourself in oder to become a statistic. But I know I really fucked up twice and I reckon i've been lucky to walk away free of charge. 'hope this helps... 1. pull at normal altitude (3000') but quite far away from the DZ, flew back down wind on rear risers for too long: I stupidly boke rule #1 : I did not stick to the original plan which was to land somewhere near by the end of the runway, for some dumb reason I thought I could make it closer and flew towards the beer line. Somehow I realised I was coming low and I initiated a low turn to get into the wind: wrong idea, I should have landed down wind. Anyway, as soon as I gently pull the left toggle I realise my mistake and manage to reduce the screw up by doing a flare turn. touched the ground briskly and slided for 5 meters. lesson learned: I had maybe 5 off DZ landings at that time, but all of them were so off that there was no question whether I could make it back or not. being close to the DZ but not close enough is a trap i've steped in that day... 2. safire 135 3. 1,3:1 4. sabre 220:4 - sabre 210:11 - safire 189: 20 - electra 190: 15 - springo 160: 30 - safire 135: 130 5. 210 6. nothing more than a bruised bum, i've been very lucky on that one. 7. none 8. none 6 weeks later with the same canopy: 1. lost concentration during canopy flight, do not plan anything nor fly a proper approach and landing patern. I start a 90° front riser hook without really thinking of what I am doing (I had done many double front and quite a few 90° at that time), I am too low -of course- and I'm lucky to realize that just in time. I dig the canopy out of the corner, fly maybe 50cm above the ground with enough speed to brake my self into pieces, and then surge at least at 2.50m above the ground. Obviously, the canopy has no more speed and stalls, I end up doing a sort of plf and pound in my left knee, nothing broken. I walk back towards packing room, my face is like white like a ghost and i shake like leaves for hours. lesson learned after thinking for the rest of that day to what I had done: allways focus on a proper approach and landing patern. do a plan, fly the plan. 2. safire 135 3. 1,3:1 4. sabre 220:4 - sabre 210:11 - safire 189: 20 - electra 190: 15 - springo 160: 30 - safire 135: 180 5. 260 6. not much, just a sore knee for a couple of days. I can tell you that i've blessed my lucky star that day. 7. none 8. none last thing, now that I have 400+ jumps on that canopy and that I know it very well, I realize how stupid it was to fly it at jump #80 and how little was the margin for error untill jump #350

The highest jump in the world, 102,000ft up, a little cold and a long climb to altitude.... However, the view is great and pretty impressive. So, just wondering... how the hell did he take the photo... and how did he bring the camera back to develop the film??? Any ideas...

what you describe here (quick planout) refers to the canopy's recovery arc, not to it's glide angle. At equivalent WL some HP canopy (compared to a conservative canopy) have the same glide but a larger recovery arc allowing them to dive longer and to keep the dive speed arround the corner and during the surf. croosfire comes to mind... (others too, that's just an example) Recovery arc varies with the canopy ability to gain some extra speed during diving manoeuvres: shape (aspect ratio, trim, nose shape, drag, ...) but also with wing-loading come into consideration: a conservative canopy with a short recovery arc at 1,1:1 gives a way larger recovery arc at 1,5:1. Tapered shapes were introduced when canopy designers started to increase aspect/ratio because a high aspect/ratio canopy tends to give end cell closures during radical turns (end cell presure issue, I guess) Eliptical is a slightly different thing: the canopy is not only tapered on the end cells but all cells are concerned which appears to give a cleaner shape. (Have a look at Icarus web site: they explain this better than I can do...) One can design a canopy more or less eliptical: the more you give, the higher aspect ratio you can apply => the canopy will become more efficient and radical because of less drag. alain

'got a FFX: can't adjust the bracket angle but you can easily move the helmet arround your head to get the +/- 15 degrees nedded. I do that, no problems. have a look at my FFX's review if you're interested in what I think about it Alain

their quick realese setup is not worth 30 bux: some DZO down here don't allow them 'coz they consider it's not good enough and may not operate under some circumstances... if you wan't some serious quick release system, have a look at 2K's stuff: based on rings like a canopy cutaway. Alain, happy FFX flyer

10 times more expensive is not just 'a little bit steep', but way out of competition !!!

I would not say 'easily' according to this: http://www.miragesys.com/order/sizing/size-mt.html just my thought...

my little experience (and stats): 10 years driving over 300,000km: that is something like 4000 hours spent in a car. Result is: no accident but 2 or 3 close calls (one was my complete responsability) 2+ years jumping, 500 jumps: that is barely 8 hours free fall and 25 hours canopy time. Result is no accidents but 5 very close calls: 2 involving only myself under canopy (my fault), one nasty near mid air collision (not my fault), one near freefall/opened canopy collision (not my fault: the guy pulled at 6 grand and flew back allong the jump track) and one even more scary near freefall/aircraft collision (not my fault either: the pilote fucked up with the radio and crossed the jumping area at 3000' AGL). So yeah, there's a bit more of danger involved with skydiving than driving... Alain