MickPatch

Ridden my Speed, in my last container, it is a great reserve canopy, no issues at all, got another for my current container. From a riggers perspective (personal thoughts) the optimum is a real joy to pack, just so compliant, but I have seen several "bruised" ones where a previous packer has been a bit too brutal with the paddle. Speed pack nicely as well.

Balaton in Hungary for some old Russian choppers, and Saville for Dornier spring to mind

Tempo did not put a life limit in their canopies so technically there is no official retirement age for them. If I am doing a repack on a canopy over 25 years old though I will expect to perform a tensile test on it, if it hasn't had one in the previous two years.

In the UK: Langar is open 364 days a year Hinton closes for 2 weeks at Christmas Skydive Portugal (Evora) is a good choice for something a bit warmer. Skydive Spain (Seville) is very well respected If you come to the UK I will do your repack for you

Rhomech Rigging at Tilshead is close to Nethers if you are still in that area. Message me to discuss if you want

How big was the hole? And where was it? Personally I have no interest staying on a canopy with a rip in it as the hole may get bigger when you are too low to chop. Dunno about that DZ and USA regs but in the UK a licensed jumper is responsible for packing their main canopy l, whether it is packed by someone else or not. Unless you have video evidence of the damage on opening and no damage when you handed it in for packing the jump prior the presumption will be that you damaged it on the ground. I can't imagine myself packing a canopy, main or reserve with a hole in it that would be visible when it deployed and not seeing it during the packing process.

Obviously nearly two decades later but the highest recorded bail out (survived) was from a Canberra at 56000 ft in 1958. https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/highest-parachute-escape

In the UK an A license needs to jump every 30 days to stay current. If you are outside that you will need to demonstrate EPs with an instructor in the same way as you do daily drills whilst a student. If your currency lapses by 3 months you will need to do a currency jump with an instructor. That goes away when you gain your B license and a jump every 6 months will be sufficient for requirement but not for true currency. Gain your A and crack on with jumping your ass off and get your B.

Not the same sort of injury but here we go.... Last August I suffered and out of sequence deployment; pin displaced in the plane and main deployed whilst I was head down. Resulting injuries were: fractures to T4, sternum, left scapula, 8 ribs (right), and punctured lung (right). I was lucky to get away so lightly and managed, with pure adrenaline, to fly the canopy for 10 minutes from 11000 ft and land in the middle of the DZ where we all waited for the ambulance. The 10 week immobilisation, particularly of the left shoulder (which didn't displace) led to a lot of deconditiining and tight ligaments, movement is still not 100% and it hurts a lot to get to the limit of flex still. 2 months and 3 weeks after the injury I was medically approved for jumping again and I was back in the air. Flaring was hard and less than effective so I had to butt slide my landings. I could manage one jump in a day and that was it, I jumped solo and it was another couple of months the before I went terminal. 8 months on and I am still getting sports therapy to increase the range of movement, I can now manage 3 in a day. Key is medical advice from someone who u derstands skydiving (the doctor I went to happens to be a world champion skydiver) and then work with a really good sports injury therapist. Above all if you have any personal doubts don't get in the plane, I have driven to the DZ and stated on the ground some days as on that day it didn't feel right to jump.

The assets and technology of Yepzon have been acquired by another organisation, they expect service to be resumed for existing devices. Indeed this morning my Yepzon briefly checked in to the system before the connection was disabled again, probably some service testing is being run before a re-launch announcement

Doesn't Apple Air Tag rely on it being within bluetooth range of an apple device? Not very useful if the canopy is somewhere in the fields and trees.

It isn't just about the size of the fabric and your wingloading but also things like the length of the lines that more and more into play as the canopy gets smaller. For reference anywhere in the world which has canopy size rules (rather than recommendations) you would be on a minimum of a 170.

Not sure of the value of my experience with this but here you go: I bought a second hand rig that served me well from jump 50 to jump 200. I wanted a custom made rig and, as you say money wasn't the object, so I bought one and started using it from my 200th. I kept the original thinking "turn rig". Reality has been the turn rig has hardly been used. It comes out when my main rig is in for a repack and that's about it. Unless you are competing or working in the industry a turn rig doesn't really make sense. Put your money into jump tickets

Paratec Speed pack one size smaller

You packed yourself a step through by the look of it. Stayed with it way too long IMHO

Effectively this rule in the Ops manual has the effect that if the cloud base is above 3000ft skydiving tends to happen as 3000ft is the minimum deployment height for non demo jumping. Falling through cloud isnt that much fun though, rain drops are very pointy when you fall through them

I have a VOG, it is a great audible, worth every penny

Never let the facts get in the way of a good story

I may be wrong but I believe that here in the UK the lower opening limits are indeed to facilitate display jumping where the exit altitude could be as low as 2500 ft. Certainly the "spirit" is that we are looking at sub-teminal off DZ displays only. Of course there is still the "odd" exception that isbpermitted under a special dispensation; consider the opening veremony of the 2012 Olympics in London where the exit from the helicopter was 800 ft and deploymemt 500ft. Then again that was The Queen and James Bond so who was going to say no

Body-Flight Basics by Andy Newell. Very well written and illustrated

Another question for you would be "Is it wise to downsize and change canopy type at the same time?".

Lost the top third of my ear last year to BCC. Ignored the little sore that wouldn't go away for a couple of years until I saw my sister (a dermatology nurse) at a familiy reunion after we exited lockdown in spring, she spotted it in a flash. They dug it all out and now have ears that dont match. Again glad I am in the UK, was free and was done within a month of diagnosis. Worst part was not being able to wear a helmet for a month whilst it healed so being grounded. Thoughts are with anyone who faces down the big C

Done 400 skydives in the last 12 months, all but 40 of them in the UK, if you get to the DZ you can jump pretty regularly in the UK.

In the UK you need to have a B License to jump with a full face helmet, to be honest it is probably the motivating factor for most to get it and, as you have to do additional canopy training and Jump Master, that is a good thing IMHO. We have no limitation on digital altis, indeed some DZs start their students off with them from day one, the rationale being its what they will buy so lets train them on them. Some DZs still insist on analogues but thats most likely as they dont want to invest in the new kit.

Level 3 is a great simple jump, relax after your practice touch, have a good arch and you will be fine