JohnMitchell

Cool. Is there any minimum wing loading requirement?

Interesting read, all this stuff. I've shot my share of accuracy, even borrowing a few CA canopies over the years, but never got into the details like this. I think the one poster is right, this guy needs a big sport canopy, not necessarily a CA canopy.

We try to be subtle.

Yep, as a skydiver I'm very familiar with the mechanical flap mech. on the old Skylanes. Those electric flaps sound like a bit of a step backwards, don't they? Thanks for the fine points. .

I'm not a pilot, but I used to judge their actions professionally. I think getting the flaps out would be more analogous to having a larger canopy, not flaring. Pulling back on the control yoke to pitch the plane up would be more like flaring. As any pilot will tell you, adding flaps does increase drag as well as slowing the landing speed, so some pitch changes usually have to be made when they are extended. Real pilots, critique away.

No, I hadn't, just the 3/4's rear view that hid all that damage. Yeah, they've either got a lot of work to do or another hull they can part out. Another post indicated the engine may have sucked a valve, causing it to lose power. There have been a lot of good pilots walk away from totaled airplanes, friends of mine included. I'm always good with that.

Yup, yup, double yup. A good track is hard work. I see a LOT of lazy tracking.

Every flying or gliding machine, even the tracking human body, has a particular speed and angle of attack that will be the deliver the best lift-to-drag ratio. When first starting out, your angle to the horizon will be fairly steep, since the relative wind is coming from straight below. As you pick up speed in your track, the relative wind will be coming more and more from in front. To maintain the more efficient AOA, you'll have to flatten out some relative to the horizon. When you say fast, do you mean vertically or horizontally? My goal is not necessarily speed, but the most horizontal for a given vertical, in other words, the best lift-to-drag ratio.

Bad shoulders or short arms?

Strange the maple seed spin he went into after the structural failure. I wonder if would have almost been survivable. Thanks again to Jim Handbury, the inventor of the hang glider reserve. Chalk up another save, brother.

He would have loved to have you there. Just give K a big hug for us.

Damn, we'll be out of town until Aug. 1st. Plenty of people to get you back up to speed, though. We've got a HUGE landing area, so no worries there. Practice your EPs and then go GET SOME!

Well, we laid Jewbag to rest today, a cloudy, cool kind of Northwest summer day, at Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent, WA. Gary had just started working as a fireman, and a firetruck from his company led the procession to the ceremony site. The Marines were there to honor him too, since he was a former Marine, with the 21 gun salute and the flag presented to his mother. The fire company also presented Gary's helmet to his mother Paula. As you can imagine, she's heartbroken and cried thru most of the service, but I think she was comforted to see all the friends that turned out for her son's final journey. The people in our sport tend to be wonderful, adventurous, fun loving people, and, as always, it hurts like hell when we lose them so soon, so young, with so much left to do. We all take chances, we all get the lectures from our whuffo friends. We know they don't understand why we do what we do. You can't stop living your life. But please think about what you can do to make the odds in your favor, to minimize your risk. Sure, when it's time to die you're the one that has to die, so live your life the way you want to. But please think of all the people you leave behind. Sorry if I rambled on too long. It's been an emotional day.

Thank God for open spaces.

That's right. I'm used to the older jump planes with manual flaps. Still, even battery power should have brought them down if selected. Curious still to hear of the cause of engine failure. You can go from Hero to Zero if it turns out you had the fuel selector wrong or took off with dry tanks. Still, I'd prefer to call this a "forced landing" instead of a crash. The plane's still shiny side up and pretty much in one piece. Nicely done, young lady.

Just had mine last week. Didn't even jump. . .

Didn't see wing damage. The firewall will need some work after the nose wheel bent back. Fuselage damage? Boy howdy. I think she did great.

Agree to both of your statements.

There are some nice, snag resistant mounts out there for gopros. At least get one of those.

Get some good winter gloves, like cross country ski gloves. The DZ sells some good winter gloves for about $15. I bought a pair and they're great. Also pick up some good base layers and polar fleece. Make sure you wear a jumpsuit. Turtlenecks are your friend. Keep an eye on the weather and just come out if it gets nice at all. November and December can be pretty poor, but Feb. and March actually traditionally have some great jump weather, at least a weekend or two a month, enough to stay current. Keep your emergency procedures fresh by reviewing and practicing them. Spend a few minutes with an instructor to review your EPs monthly to make sure you're doing them correctly. Keeping things fresh in your mind goes a long way to maintaining currency, even if you can't "get in the air".

You have outside video. Why mess with inside video?

Wow, esp. on the main side. Bad idea for the levels where you're hanging on during the pull. Plus you never know when you're going to have to rush in and pull for someone on the higher levels.

When are you coming up? That's my home DZ. What's your current level in the sport?

Hmm, the prop looks straight. Not sure why the engine quit, but she did minimal damage to the aircraft. Looks like she could have used more flaps, but those might have been moved back up after landing. I'm saying she did a solid job of not getting killed. Kudos!

Oh crap, I'm dead already.