NoShitThereIWas

John Kallend who is a university professor (maybe retired now) has a parachuting simulator that I think he used for Physics? He is on here, not sure anymore of his screenname but his name is John Kallend. You may want to look him up.

That is a really good radiation sheet thank you. It helps to understand the whole seivert, micro-seivert... But what about dispersion and location and distance? Is it true that the further radiation travels the less impact it has? The sun can still burn you even from far away and with clouds. Distance doesn't seem to matter, just sunscreen.

Duh, now don't I feel stupid! It looks different than I remembered it. Thanks!

So its only been 15 years since I ordered my last TonySuit and I thought they had a color coordinator to pick your PitSuit colors. I went to their website and it was just the form to fill out for measurements. Don't they know a girl has to see how it looks in color before ordering? Anyone know of a link or something?

Thanks and blue skies!

My fiance packed his pilot chute the Brian Germain way. The bridle wrapped a perfect knot around the monkey fist which prevented the pilot chute from inflating enough to pull the main off his back.

Since our gobment isn't going to tell us the truth, who is a good source of info???

check out this website: http://jeromiewilliams.com/2013/04/12/holy-fukushima-radiation-from-japan-is-already-killing-north-americans/

After a grim conversation with two neighbors about our exposure to the several radioactive isotopes especially on the central/southern California coast in addition to Washington state and a measuring device in Tucson AZ, I am wondering if anyone has the inside scoop on this.

My neighbors who are two highly educated people think that this radioactivity may be what wipes out most of humanity and that within 5 years many of us will be sick, dead or dying of cancer. There is a lot about it on the Internet, I have tried to make sense of EPAs graphical data, ironically one of the measuring sites is in my hometown of Anaheim, CA.

I have done a lot of reading and research and people who have bought the Geiger counters are measuring large increases in radioactive aerosols in their atmosphere as far east as Maryland just recently. I know we aren't able to trust what our government tells us. They could care less about the "little people". Please respond by posting educated, factual data. Is this the end of the world as we know it???

I so appreciate you and Dave taking the time to respond to this thread. I was taught cutaway and pull reserve as a student. For years I taught cutaway and pull reserve as an AFF I. After a 5-6 year break and returning to the sport, I sat down and thought to myself as I noticed the demo canopy in my sport rig is a little snug on the main pin... Self, what Are you going to do in a PC in tow? So many scenarios went through my head and I started questioning which way was "right". I was never retrained to incorporate all of the scenarios and if I was I had since forgotten because I couldn't answer my own question with conviction. I like knowing my EPs with conviction for every mal before every jump.

Although I still feel like a student at times being back after many years, I do still have close to 1500 jumps of past experience and although I don't agree that skydiving is like riding a bike, it does take time to rehone your skills, I do like the fact that I got some valuable feedback to help me answer that question and have better understanding after bouncing the question. Thank you.

So you would cutaway first???

+1 Thank you for answering my question.
@Skycatcher: Yeah no shit! That looked pretty fun until his strap came undone!!!

The reason I made this post is because I got into a debate with Kurbe105 about our twin otter crash. Forgive him, he is a BASE jumper who does static line himself to shit from 80-120 feet. In our discussion, he mentioned that our friends would have had a better chance of survival by going silver in the door than waiting for the airplane to crash. Whoever asked the cute question when the last time my belly was calibrated??? When you are sitting next to the window, see the engine on fire after hearing it explode and shut down it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know there is a problem.
Regardless of whether you agree with his EPs or questioning of them in this situation, he is right about the fact that you never know what would happen in a situation like that or how you would react. At least 3 experienced jumpers on board knew exactly what was happening, how high they were and that the plane was going to crash.
I argued with Kurbe105 that there would be no way for the reserve to fully inflate and you would hit the ground before line stretch if you made it past the tail.
Here was the thing that stuck though... The reserve generally takes about 3 seconds to open. The point of my post was to question, if you could clear the tail from impact, what would the chances be of surviving with something over your head before you hit the ground?
I was trained not to do that with aircraft EPs. If I was on the plane I am sure I would have wound up just like my friends following protocol. That is not the point of this post to point that out nor am not saying this is what I would do so bashers please keep bashing to yourselves. However, my friends are no longer here and I cannot help but listen to other thoughts of other possibilities for the eventual outcome. I more or less was hoping to get an answer on what the odds of survivability would be if an experienced jumper did pull silver in the door. I am not suggesting anyone "try this at home".

You are at 120 ft AGL. One of the engines of your twin otter is on fire and has shut down. Your belly tells you the plane is going down and the door is wide open. What do you do?

PS. Your pilot is not communicating with you because he is busy flying the plane.

Here is a scenario, what if you stuck your butt out the door, grabbed your reserve handle and pulled? What do you think the outcome would be?

N/A

Who can recommend a great DZ to refer a friend to near Santa Clarita, CA? It has been many years since I lived in LA county and when I was a jumper there back in '96 I jumped at Cal City and Taft (Air Adventures West). Not sure about the scene there now and a friend of mine has asked me to recommend a DZ near her. Any suggestions???

OMG Arvoitus yes! Was that you???? If so, OMG! That is exactly what I was talking about. Thank you for sharing your video. All I can say is OMG! I would have had to bleeped out my cuss words as well. Way to hold it together and keep fighting till you hit the ground. How hard did you hit??? It was you who posted above! Thank you for sharing your story. Very good to share that insight and experience with others. Who knows, maybe one day it can save someone else's life, even mine! Thanks!

Cool, that is really the answer I think I was looking for. I think I will change my EPs to reflect scenario #2. I was always taught if you deploy any part of the main canopy and have a mal, cut away first then go to reserve. It wasn't until recently that I got into a debate with a friend and he mentioned some other scenarios like the you stated above. I am glad I asked the questions. Thanks Dave.

Thanks for asking the question and clarifying but I got that is what you meant. If you don't cut away the main (meaning you have enough time to do that first) aren't you worried about the main pin coming out and then the main inflating and/or even entangling with a part of your body leading to a horseshoe or an entanglement with the reserve as opposed to being able to fly away from it after it releases from your three rings? Would the main fly away from you if you cut it away before it reaches line stretch? Anyone ever had this happen?

The CF2 139 flew like a boat compared to my Stiletto 120. I do plan on putting a few more jumps on it, I was only able to put one jump on it at the Boogie because I had to work that afternoon . I honestly felt like I was under a student canopy or a 150. I loved the flare and the landing but it honestly seemed slow to me. I think the 129 would be a better fit. I'm only wingloading it at 1.31 and Icarus recommends a 1.4-1.8 I think is what I read. It opened pretty nice and slow and the pack volume is also a bit tight for my container. I could always slap on some lead and I didn't fully collapse and stow the slider which I will try on Wed. along with opening my chest strap some more to let her breathe. I felt very safe under it and like I could put it down anywhere, I was very accurate. It is definitely the confidence booster I need in a 139 but I am afraid I will be bored. I do want to try and do a little more with the canopy, it was my first jump back at Elsinore since by two jumps back in 04 and I was solo so pretty much just getting acclimated to the DZ. The performance felt a bit sluggish but I think it was due to wing loading being too light and also I think the control lines could use a little shortening. I did love it more than my Stiletto though! I plan on putting 3 more jumps on her at Elsinore on Wed. but I think the CF2 129 is going to be the one I want to buy. Thanks for all the help!

What would you do and why?
At 4K from a hop n pop,
At 3K from a 4 way break off
At 2K when you waited too long to do something...

Thanks!

I'm test flying the Crossfire2 139 at Elsinore tomorrow :) I will let you know how it goes. It sounds like the perfect canopy that I am looking for. Thanks to everyone for the input and feedback, I would not be looking at this canopy had there been none.

Thank you for the input. I think I am leaning towards a used Spectre 135 with between 4-700 jumps on it. I will demo a Crossfire2 135 when I go to Hawaii where there is wind and I am familiar with the DZ. If I fall in love with it and think I can handle it under no wind conditions and land it in tight areas, the new zero p and a little more square footage may be just what the doctor ordered. Right now I am at a 1.51 wing loading under my Stiletto 120. A 135 will put me at a 1.34 wing loading. If it is too much for me in no wind, I'll just send the CF2 back and go with a Spectre 135. I can always put fifty jumps or more on the Spectre, evaluate how much jumping I am actually doing and how "current" I plan on being. There is something to be said for soft on heading openings, if anyone has any experience with this kind of opening under a higher performance 9 cell canopy please post!

That all depends. My SO was a DZO and skydiving is huge for him. I have been out of the sport for a while but I can see jumping back in hard core... I guess it all depends on how much SCUBA diving we end up doing...

I realize the Katana and Spectre are two completely different canopies. Perhaps I should have titled this thread which canopy should I try that has the openings of a Spectre and the flight characteristics of the Katana. To me the Katana seemed more stable than my Stiletto. The long recovery arc was the only real thing that concerned me about the Katana. PD did not rant about their openings either. I loved my Stiletto maybe it is just time to upsize but my openings were not consistent even after a new line set and being that I am over gross weight under my 120 as well as it being somewhat old technology, I am open to trying something new.

Being that I have only owned PD canopies with the exception of one reserve, I was hoping to get a little perspective into other canopies from other manufacturers in this post. The Crossfire2 description seems like what I am looking for. I have a friend or two who own one and love the openings and flight characteristics. It seems like the perfect intermediate canopy with the capability to go higher performance when the time is right. I appreciate the frank and considerate opinions. Blue skies!

PS. Remster's post still makes me love the Katana!!! I remember it flying like an eagle more like soaring! I loved it. Maybe I just need to demo a couple. Oy...

Thanks so much for the input you two! I will definitely take it into consideration and let you know how I do. More input is still welcome!