Jimbo

That's what the Spectre does. That's one of the things that helped to make it a popular canopy. Get a few more jumps under your belt, you'll be begging for a canopy with a nice snivel. This is usually attributed to bad packing or bad body position. Given that you jumped the Spectre from jumps 3-9 it wouldn't surprise me if bad body position were to blame for the line twists. I can't speak about the sluggishness of the canopy. When I flew the Spectre I thought it was pretty responsive actually. As for the decent rate being higher than that of your Silhouette , well, that's just what a typical of that design of canopy. They tend to sink more than they glide, while a 9 cell tends to glide more than it sinks. There are exceptions. That happens with every canopy. It's just a question of finding the 'right time'. Help with cancer research here.

That depends on who you ask. Packing seems to be mostly a personal issue. Kind of like the RSL and the Cypres, everyone has thier own ideas, who's to say which is wrong or right. Pick a method of packing that works for you and stick with it. I Psycho pack, I get soft, on heading openings everytime. Help with cancer research here.

Somewhere in this book is the answer to your question. And probably the answer to a lot more questions you don't know you have yet. http://www.skydiveaz.com/resources/book_canopy.htm - Jim Help with cancer research here.

I know this is something of a dead horse, but... It is generally accepted that a 'total' malfunction means that nothing is out of the container. Including the pilot chute. - Jim Help with cancer research here.

I believe that 'pure AFF' is still an option at my DZ, though they do push perspective students towards the tandem progression. - Jim Help with cancer research here.

Heehee. And there are more pics to come! I've got the incriminating ones. :) Help with cancer research here.

It is an incredible tape - I've just finished watching it for the at least the 5th time in 2 days. Can't get enough of it. - Jim Help with cancer research here.

Just got my copy of the 2001 Pond Swoop Nationals held earlier this year at The Ranch. Good swoops. Nice chows (Who knew pond swooping was so brutal?). Nice interviews. Good vibes. Finally - great video quality - they put some time into getting this thing cleaned up and ready for general consumption. Well worth the $30.00 I paid to have it shipped to my door. Anyhow - that said, I don't work for The Ranch or Pier Ltd. I don't jump at The Ranch. I just thought that the people reading this fourm might be interested in hearing about it and maybe picking up a copy. - Jim Help with cancer research here.

Dan, You've said that before and now I have to ask. What exactly does that mean? I'm not trying to be difficult, but genuinely curious. Thanks, Jim Help with cancer research here.

Anyone here use one of these? I think it would take exactly one missed landing to convince me that this is a Bad Idea. - Jim Help with cancer research here.

I believe it can be. I'm going to try to order one soon. I'll be the perfect tester for things too! Help with cancer research here.

It's already been mentioned, but I think it's important enough to hear again. The target doesn't have to be the big pretty student magnet pea gravel pit. It could be anything, and as long as you've committed to landing there (before the jump, not when you're 10 feet off the ground) then that should count as an accuracy landing. As an exercise try this: Before you board the plane pick 2 distinct targets in the landing area, a primary and a secondary or 'out'. Unless the primary is too crowded or maybe on fire, land there. If you can't make the primary due to obstacles then land in the secondary. If you can't make either one consistently then you've got problems with accuracy. If you do have problems with accuracy, then work on it! It's an important skill and I really think that most of us (myself included) need to be a little better at accuracy landings. - Jim

A couple of things you can try here. * Take a deep breath when you're standing in the door about to exit. Believe me, it will help to relax you. * When you find yourself spinning, do toe taps. This should help you to get your legs and knees level (Probably the cause of your spinning problem). * Relax! Skydiving, at least at this level, is 99% mental. All you're trying to do is fall in a relatively straight line. Remembering to breath in freefall, deep breaths, will help to relax you. Your words or his? I would hope he's smart enough to stay back a few feet so that you don't actually hit him. That's bad. You need to pay a lot more attention under canopy. Landing under a reserve isn't going to save your life if you land in power lines, on a freeway, or on an active runway. Even under a reserve your JM should have been talking you down. What happened? That's not good. Confidence is very important. Maybe you should back off until you're sure you're ready to come back. You mentioned that you're heading to Sebastian to finish AFF. You might want to think about taking a detour to Skyventure and spend a few minutes in the tunnel. You can work on your body position there without the other scary factors of a skydive to worry about. AFF is tough for some people, but it can be done. It took me around 12 or 13 jumps to graduate, but I finally did it. Good luck! - Jim

Every jumpship in operation should be forced to install these things: http://www.gasbgon.com - Jim

Thanks Paul. The point is that there isn't just one 'proper' setting for steering lines. Each jumper has different requirement, some risers are longer or shorter than others, etc... SpectreJumper - Just because it came that way from the factory doesn't make it right. It may be right for you but wrong for me, or wrong for you but right me, but the 'factory defaults' don't necessarily translate into 'correct'. - Jim

As if that never happens. How many jumpers dragged out the measuring tape to be sure that they 'made' their accuracy landings? How many jumpers consider landing on the DZ an accuracy landing. Finally - how many JMs and S&TAs actually verify the information in log books before signing off on a license requirement/exam? Lots of things that should happen don't. Lots of jumpers can not reliably put a canopy within 10 ft of a designated target, much less on top of it. - Jim

Steering lines at 'proper length'? What exactly is 'proper length'? A lot of jumpers leave the steering lines at the factory default, a lot of jumpers lengthen them, and a lot of jumpers shorten them. Which one is 'proper'? - Jim

I remember seeing that in some bad movie that centered around skdiving. I can't remember the name. I never would have expected someone to do that in real life. There are some sick people out there... - Jim

You know what they say about assumptions Lisa, be careful. Dan, as an experienced jumper, indicated that he felt the chances of an unconsious reserve ride were slim enough that he chooses to not jump a larger reserve. Dan's been doing this a while and he's made that choice. Right or wrong, he'll live with it. Now - nowhere in Dan's statement did he indicate whether or not he chooses to use a Cypres so why attack on that point? It's perfectly conceivable to me why someone would be willing to jump a small reserve _with_ a Cypres. * A Cypres can save you when you've lost altitude awareness. * A Cypres can save you when you are consious but unable to pull. There's a chance that whatever kept you from pulling will be remedied after a reserve canopy is out. * If a Cypres activates the reserve and a jumper is unable to steer/brake the canopy, but still consious, at least the jumper can attempt to prepare for a crash landing. * Finally - a unconsious landing under a highly loaded reserve gives you infinitely better chances of survival than an unconsious landing under nothing. Now. I don't know if Dan jumps with a Cypres or not. But your earlier statement suggests that anyone jumping a highly loaded reserve has no use for a Cypres. I just don't think that's true. - Jim

I was playing around with brake settings on my Safire a while back and I needed to stall the canopy completely to figure a few things out. Anyhow - When I did it I would look up at the canopy while applying more pressure to the brakes. Right before the stall the canopy looks like it's about to fold in half. The tail is pulled back and towards the center and the front looks more like the 'top' of a triangle (Over all the whole canopy looked something like this: / \ ) - give it a little more input and the whole thing just goes to shit and collapses. You'll know when that happens, and when it does just let the toggles back up and the canopy should reinflate. If the canopy doesn't reinflate, well, you've got another one. It's something everyone should do - you might need to be right on the edge of a stall to land your canopy in a tight spot someday. It's nice to have this figured out before something like that happens. - Jim

Never let go of a toggle. Never let go of a toggle. Do not let go of your toggles. Letting go of the toggles is bad. You use your toggles to steer and brake your parachute, when you let go of a toggle are you certain you'll be able to get it back immediatly if necessary? Please, for your safety and the safety of those around you keep your hands on the toggles and your head on a swivel. - Jim

That's the first plane I ever jumped out of. It's probably my favorite, but now it's gone. Rumor has it that it's getting a new paint job. Apparently it attracts too much attention when landing at new/non DZ airports. On the other hand - I've been hearing that rumor for a while now and it still hasn't been painted. - Jim

* Got a rig! * Got laid off from a job. * Moved from NYC to Ohio - That sucked. * Wrecked my car. That sucked too. * Got a new job. That's good - Jump Money! * Moved from Ohio to Delaware. * Made about 120 jumps, never got hurt, no cutaways. * Weather is getting cold, but still plan on making more jumps! Looking forward to next year.

I can't resist the urge to do this.... So... I'm guessing standing up landings will have to wait until 2003? Sorry - I just couldn't resist.

Then the next question is "look at what?". Skydiving is dangerous enough as it is - don't make things worse than they need to be by jumping gear you don't understand. Ask the questions that need to be asked and keep asking until you get an answer you're comfortable with. - Jim