A-73988

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Posts posted by A-73988

  1. 58 minutes ago, riggerrob said:

    6-holed sliders were more valuable back when bulky Dacron suspension lines were fashionable on tandems. Those bulky Dacron lines got even more bulky as they absorbed desert dust and became increasingly fuzzy as they aged. Only the best of packers could minimize tension knots in Dacron suspension lines. They had to walk the lines up at least 3 times to even tension.

    With respect to BASE canopies, what are the potential cons, if any,  of 6G sliders in your opinion? 

  3. 22 hours ago, GoneCodFishing said:

    Do you know why they stopped being standad? Wrong balance of pros and coms against 4 grommets or some other reason?

    Ease of manufacture, cost and things interchangbiliy often weigh the balance but curious if that was the case

    There was a post on facebook where there was a discussion about this. One concern was, that in a case of a tension knot, a 6G slider could result in a hung slider in addition to a tension knot. Squirrel briefly addressed this in their white paper saying that a hung slider doesn't increase the severity of a tension knot, or the consequences of a tension knot in a significant way. They say , in their white paper

    Quote

     Q: Does a line entanglement below the grommets on a 6 grommet slider result in a worse outcome than a severe tension knot?

    15 

    A: We tested this by creating unsolvable knots below the grommets on a 6G slider at the near-center, and also the outer span. The canopy rotation speed and sink rate was similar to a severe tension knot: if the knot is closer to center span, it can be manageable. If the knot is closer to the wingtip, the turn is rapid and disorienting just like a tension knot at that location.

     

     

    Would be nice to get some unbiased opinions here for sure.  Ive been wondering about the 6G slider myself. Given that squirrel say its "one of the most compelling advancements in BASE parachute designs" and that its not a new invention,  there must be a reason why other manufacturers haven't adopted this because usually when there is an invention that works great, others are happy to use it. Examples include, SLATS(first used by Atair, then used by squirrel and I believe adrenalin now as well) and float flaps(first used by Squirrel in the Outlaw, now used by Atair as well).

    Having read the white paper, squirrel clearly think that the slider is a big factor in tension knots. About the use of 5 control lines on the canopies, they say there are many other more important factors, while acknowledging that its logical to think that 1 control line extra means 1 line more that could potentially entangle. If the Outlaw didnt have a worse than average record when it comes to tension knots, that argument makes sense as the Outlaw I believe also has an extra control line. Would love to hear peoples opinions on that as well. 

  6. Posted

    Hey guys,

     

    I have a Flik2 and am looking for a small mesh slider but it looks like apex have them on back order. My question is, will it work if I get a slider from a different brand for the same size canopy? Would a slider for a Hayduke or OSP2 work for a Flik2 assuming they are the same size? 

     

     

  7. 17 hours ago, TomAiello said:

    For the USA, it's generally enough to show  that you are paying a USA business for a service (BASE training).

    What country in Europe are you going to?  If you are going to several Schengen area countries it might be worth researching which one is the easiest to get a visa for.   Once you're inside the Schengen area, there is no internal passport control, so you could potentially get a visa for an 'easy' country, fly in there, and then travel to the places you want to visit.

    Im going to Italy. It has some of the better visa rejection statistics. But what you say makes sense for some countries which have more than a 20% rejection rate. 

  8. 1 hour ago, lyosha said:

    So first off, the first and absolutely best piece of advise with regards to anything related to any embassy ever is to avoid any interaction if at all possible.  Every embassy for every country I have ever dealt with was bad, arbitrary, illogical, self serving, for every country.  A couple of times for a couple of first world countries I was flat out told they don't care what the laws of the country they represent actually are.

    If at all possible, find a travel agent that has experience with the embassy and contract the interaction out to them.  Travel agents will know what to put on the forms to not create any suspicion.  The embassy knows who the travel agents are and ask fewer questions.  The travel agents typically know someone in the embassy in case things get dicey in the process (ask me for some horror stories over beer...)

    But if you still decide to forge ahead on your own, dealing with visas in my experience less is more. Pretend you are a generic tourist.

    Purpose: tourism. Going on a backpacking trip. Going to try to spend as much time with the locals as possible.

    Create yourself an itinerary. Hotels can be cancelled for free.

    Typically what they'll care about with tourism is that you have an exit ticket booked, a place to stay booked for the first couple of nights, and have enough ties to your current country that you won't want to overstay your visit.

     

    Thanks for the advice! In line with a lot of what I have seen in my lifetime. 

  9. 8 hours ago, sfzombie13 said:

    it was a phone call and you don't record your calls.  if you get creative, you can have a facebook message to show them.  that would involve someone else though.  hell, i'll send you an email from whatever country you need it from in whatever language you need.  it may not be a good translation so you'll have to check for yourself.  i can do czech, german, or english, but need to use a translator for anything else.

    edit:  although if they check your social media and find this you may get in trouble. 

    Actually they list it in the documentation required. Under motives there are several. There is tourism, business and then visit to friends and family. The number one document they ask for is Invitation letter. If I say that it was a phone call and there is no invitation letter, they will simply say "ok" and reject the visa. The reason will be lack of documentation.

  10. 8 hours ago, davenuk said:

    you dont have to be open but you do have to be honest.

    "attending a coached sports course at such and such a location". 

     if they ask "what sport?", then tell them, it's all above board.

    or you could say you'll be staying here for one month - hiking... there will deffo be a lot of that.

    I don't know if honesty is always the best policy....maybe you were lucky enough to be born in the US or Europe and have never had to apply for a visa , but these processes are very arbitrary and the most common reason for rejection is if they cannot fully establish the motive. If I just say I am going to one particular city in one country in Europe, for 30 days , to just hike? They have rejected visas for less. 

    Also something being above board isnt good enough. One of my friends had a visa rejected for just  mentioning family links he had in the US. They ask us to get insured for a reason. If something happens to us, they dont want to have to pay for it. Something like BASE jumping could surely make them think thats its might be better to reject the visa application, especially given most insurances don't cover BASE jumping. 

    Sometimes the easiest solution is the right one. Honest or not. Either ways, I've emailed my instructor to ask about the invitation letter. Hopefully I can get something sorted there. 

  11. Thanks for the idea Tom. Yes, I am getting coaching and  will email my  instructor about this. So in your letters and interviews, you mention that you are a BASE jumping instructor and they are your students? And they have no issue with it? 

  13. Its just that first I need to submit the documents and then I have an interview where they may ask me to explain in a bit more detail what the purpose of my visit is. If the story is tourism, then I would need to show accommodations in different parts of the country etc such that it be believable. If I just show lodging at one particular place for 1 month(which is whats gonna happen) its not exactly what a regular tourist would do and it does look suspicious. If on the other hand I just be honest, well then yeah I can just be honest but I wonder if there is a risk the visa gets denied. 

  14. Posted

    Hey guys,

    For those of you who have needed to apply for a visa in order to come to Europe for a BASE trip(or anyone who knows anything about this matter), is it a good idea to mention that the motive of the trip is BASE jumping? Wouldn't they reject the visa given the high risk nature of the sport. I'm in the process of applying for a visa and am not sure which way to go. Appreciate any advice.

    Cheers

  16. Just now, RolandForbes said:

    There's no such thing as a beginner onesie. Only big onesies, and bigger ones. 

    Check out David Laffarques take on this exact problem. Highly relevant to you if youre looking to jump off the Earth with your onesie

     

     

    So it not a bad idea for the first one piece to be a bigger one? I always thought its better to go with the smaller ones to start with. 

  17. · Edited by A-73988

    1 hour ago, RolandForbes said:

    No experience with the Pala or Mono, love my Mutation though. 

    Have you considered Intrudair also? Have a few friends with the HalfA and they freaking love it.

    Isnt the Half A an advanced onesie? I thought the wahoo was the beginner one piece. Intrudair is also something that I am considering. As for the mutation, it is also slightly more advanced than say, the sausage which I was also considering but the high lead times mean I wont get it time for a planned year end BASE trip. 

    • Like 1

  18. Posted

    Given the huge lead times that PF and squirrel are experiencing at the moment, I was wondering if anyone here has any experience with one or both of the aforementioned suits. This will be my first one piece so ease of flying is the number one priority, especially given how slippery these one pieces are to fly. Just based on visuals, the Pala seems like the bigger suit. Bigger doesn't always mean harder to fly, but more often than not it does seem to be the case especially with tracking suits. 

  19. On 5/8/2022 at 10:38 PM, BMAC615 said:

    I talked to the guy with the Outlaw who had the slider off tension knot. It’s extremely rare and has yet to be recreated. The other factor of the incident is the Outlaw was packed for 6+ months before that jump. Here’s the paper I mentioned. 

    Interesting read. Id never heard of slider type and choice being a huge factor. It was always about untwisting brake lines and proper line stows. I would assume though that slow sliders would have lower tension knot frequency than faster ones but the data doesn't show a statistically significant difference according to the paper. Also , would using direct control help mitigate some of the risk? Given the fact that the paper doesn't mention it I would venture there isn't much of a statistically significant difference there either. As always with tension knots. I have more questions than answers as time goes on. But maybe that's not such a bad thing.

    According to the paper, the whole link between the Hayduke and tension knots wasn't based on anything concrete statistically speaking. I really hope someone who made those connections would chime in so we can ascertain what is what. 

  20. · Edited by A-73988

    On 5/5/2022 at 7:16 PM, TomAiello said:

    Was there any data to support the thought that the Hayduke had more tension knots?

    I saw a tension knot on an Outlaw here last week, and on inspection it was found that there was a pretty good set of twists (probably three full twists) sewn into the control line that tension knotted.  It was factory original, so I'm pretty sure that the twists and been there the entire time the canopy had been in service.  The 'Trunk and Branch' cascade system made it so that it was impossible to untwist the control line during normal packing or inspection, and we had to remove the bar tacks to the branches to untwist the trunk line, then re-attach the branches once we were done.

    It's possible that if there is a higher incidence of tension knots on those canopies, the cause is not the design, but rather the quality control at Parapex, in Vietnam.  I haven't inspected any other Haydukes or Outlaws for the same quality control issue but I would be interested in hearing from anyone else who has one and can inspect both control lines for twists, to see if the problem we saw here is relatively rare or relatively common.

    I always thought people made too much of the "Made in Vietnam" angle, but from what you say it could potentially be a big deal. Like "life or death" big deal. Would also be interested to know and understand the evidence linking the Hayduke to tension knots, because all I have so far are discussions between some BASE jumpers I met in Brazil. Look forward to that white paper, but the whole idea so far has been that this is a design issue. If there is a design issue, and on top of that improper rigging , that's not a good look for squirrel at all. Did you report this issue with the Outlaw to Squirrel?

  21. On 4/23/2022 at 10:22 AM, flite said:

    Check out Squirrels 6 grommet slider, could be the answer to tension knots.

    Was that the reason they did that? In their newsletter they mentioned something about a reliability study containing data of about 40000 jumps that led to the Hayduke 2. When I was in Brazil in Jan, some people were saying a disproportionate number of tension knots were linked to the Hayduke, and that squirrel was planning an upgrade. Of course I dont know how much of it is true or what evidence it was based on , but if there is something to it, it would be interesting to know which new features on the Hayduke 2 were added with the express purpose of reducing tension knot occurrence and/or severity. 

  23. · Edited by A-73988

    On 2/21/2022 at 2:43 PM, TomAiello said:

    If you prefer the old standard line cascade, I know that Atair has made them that way on request for several of my students.

    What made them opt for that design? The reasons you mentioned above? About the different line weights triggering more opening shock on those lines etc? 

    I have an apex container and canopy(Summit and Flik2), but I was wondering if maybe getting a different canopy would be better for slider up openings and slider up jumping in general. Continuous lines and ZP on the nose seem to be the main differences, and Im not sure whether its worth making a change. Apex has a blog post on why it doesnt have ZP and it made sense. But once again, they seem to be the exception as Atair, squirrel and adrenalin all use ZP on the nose.  

    I know the spectra lines are another point of difference but nobody really talks shit about dacron so thats not really an issue for me. 

  24. On 2/20/2022 at 8:24 AM, AntoineLaporte said:

    Of what I know at Brento the ground crew noticed that there are more tension knots with 'trunk and branch', but the fact that most of the canopies have now 'trunk and branch' does not help to know if tension knots happen more with a configuration than with the other.

    Thanks for the answer Antoine. I think from speaking with BASE jumpers with way more experience than me, the consensus seems to be that there is no definitive solution, or even an indication as to what a solution looks like, with respect to tension knots and canopy design. I just thought it interesting that 3 of the biggest BASE canopy manufacturers use this approach. I was thinking about putting together a slider up specific rig and while going over the various options, this pattern emerged. 

  25. Hey dudeman17, with all due respect, lets keep it on point. This is not a post about who should be base jumping and who shouldnt, or whether complacency kills. If you would like to address those things, please create your own post. Lets not go off topic please. This post is about the link between continuous break lines and tension knots. Thats it.

    • Like 1