outdoort

Thanks for the link gowlerk. Yea ur prob certainly right that the fuel is just part of the whole jump cost, not necessarily the reason why they are expensive… never looked into halo jumps before now, but def will be something ill do eventually in my skydive career. Looks like there a few hundred dollars to make a halo jump from west Tn. Skydiving… maybe one day. I was thinking 300-500 or so, but i guess i was kinda low on my estimate.

So ur learning how to freefall in the air. It can take some jumps before u learn this tequniqe, so dont worry too much you will get better. my biggest suggestion is to find ur nearest wind tunnel and drive there and spend 10-15 min in the tunnel. This will cost u a little under $200 if u tell them ur a skidiver. The value of doing this will be great. Even if one is far, just make the drive. other than that, just stick ur dick into the ground lol while in freefall. This “arch” is from the hips and u need to push the hips toward the ground.

Okay so you guys will be using this plane at west Tn. S.D. As your main jump plane? And offering halo jumps along with that? when will it be ready to fly jumpers? curious how much a halo jump would cost…even tho its fast to altitude i imagine the fuel consumption would be along the same lines as other aircraft offering halo jumps? sounds like a awesome plane and possibly ill need to drive down sometime from Pa. congrads on the acquisition.

You paid for the whole license course... so keep going, the jumps are paid for. Even if you never progressed enough to get ur licence, you still had fun making jumps. So go back and make another jump. The first 3 jumps for me i was pretty nervous. It got much better 4th jump on and also because i got 10min in the tunnel. highly suggest driving to your nearest tunnel for 10 min of coaching in there.

I wouldn't think that it would degrade the material. Maybe break down some ridgidity to the nylon. IDK time will tell. Soak the whole rig in a warm/hot bin of water and a ton of dawn dishwashing soap and massage the rig with your hands while in there. Dawn cuts grease pretty well. You may need to attempt this a few times.

Its def. tough deciding on a helmet without trying them on. Someone may have maybe a couple different brands that are narrowed down, then prob two different sizes within each brand that you would want ot try on... I settled on the cookie g4 before seeing any in person because I knew I wanted a impact rated helmet. Bonehead isnt impact rated from what I read on their site. Someone from Florida I met told me that the cookie g4 is the only impact rated helmet on the market at the moment. When I was down in florida I tried on a medium and a large cookie g4, and the large was the size I went with even tho. I was sized in the middle of the medium range according to their chart. Its a really awesome helmet that is well built and I highly recommend the g4 to anyone.

You need to tell us the date of manufacture of the reserve and main canopies, plus the AAD? Also jump numbers on the main? I'm a very new licensed jumper, but considering I've been looking the used marked a lot lately because of that, I feel I could give a opinion. Assuming the AAD was removed, or expired. if the canopies are from the 2009 era as the same as the rig, and have only 45 jumps on the main, just a few reserve repacks. I'm kinda thinking 4000 or more.

Real good posts so far. Thanks. I wanted to mention that I emailed Mars with the question of "lets say the m2's battery doesn't last the 15.5 years that it should? Will it be replaced free?" The response was short, and in slight broken English, but essentially the response was that they would replace the battery free of charge if it was found after inspection that was the reason the unit would not power on any longer. Honestly tho, in any of these devices, in 10 plus years if you need a battery change, its possible the batteries in these devices are no longer manufactured, unless its a real common battery they are using in them. No clue what type of battery is in any of them. Again, what sold me on the Cypress wasn't only the track record, but the fact their website hypes their product up with multiple high quality photos of the manufacturing process and how their "attention to detail" is impeccable etc. They really try their best to show and tell the quality of the manufacturing / quality control.

Well thought Id mention I just placed my order for a cypres multi mode. Excited to get this in my rig and start jumping this spring!

Piisfish What parameters are you talking about specifically? I'm pretty sure Mars m2 and the cypres both have the same expert settings of 78 mph. Not sure about fire altitude, but you can change any of these aad's fire altitude in increments of like 20'.

Hey everyone. I'm about to buy a aad for my rig and I'm kinda stuck on making a decision on which of the major 3 brands... A lot of th threads ive read so far are outdated, and are not really valid any longer since most of the comments that made since at the time are no longer fact. For example. Post 2017 Cypress no longer requires maintenacne and lasts 15.5 years. Prices are different too. I'm pretty sure Cypress used to be 1500 or so from the threads I read from years ago. A new cypress is 1200. A vigil is 1200 too and is airworthy for a total of 20 years, but required a battery change at a min of 10 years. So possibly 1 or even two battery changes in a vigils lifetime. Mars m2 is even more proven now. Threads of the past may have not given them enough clout/acknowledgement that people could give them today... I think so at least. I haven't been able to find anything negative about the company or their aad's online within the last few years. Mars m2 is also the cheapest at 1000 dollars and lasts 15.5 years. From what Ive been reading, over the last few years seems like people may have drifted away from cypress and into the Vigil brand more than any other direction. But this may have been a movement because, the leader (cypress) had a lifespan pre 2017 a lot less than 20 years, and required maintenance schedule of something like every 4 years I think.... 15 and 20 years is a long time guys. Technology may change and we may have even better and more accurate/reliable aads on the market then. Or I may just be out of the sport by then and not care. So initial price point and the fact I want the best of the best AAD is more of my concern at this moment. They all seem to sorta have the same features and settings. So I'm kinda thinking Mars m2 and save $200, or go for the proven name in AAD's, and buy a Cypress? The video of the cypress cutting metal wire and how they have a ton of photos on their website of the manufacturing process etc. is sorta selling me on the cypress right now. They claim the single edge/angle cutter is better than the round cutter that I believe both vigil and mars use. Whats everyones opinion at this point... Does the choice really matter in this stage of the game, where all three manufacturers have years of proven reliable use? Also kinda skeptical that the batteries in the cypress and the mars will really last 15.5 years. And if they dont... Will the manufacture stand by the product if you have no clue what you did with the receipt years prior? Thanks.

Hey Tim I was gonna let you know I saw on skydive pa 's facebook that they are starting a aff course march 20th if you were interested.

Haha Yes Tim! My instructor said I now have a license to go make bad decisions now! lol Hopefully none made that get me hurt!

Holy shit. sorry about that.You guys gonna recover to jump this year? I hope so. Not sure where your drop zone is in wv, but I'll look it up and prob pay a visit this summer. I live in s.w. pa. Just got my A license!

Ya it is kinda disapointing to see this forum so in-active. I'm a new member as of just a few months ago so a lot of the searching of old threads I read on here are old as hell, and links and photos are burned.... sucks. Other hobbies im into have real active forums, so skydiving is just prob not that popular of a sport compared to other things. Forums are way better for sharing info than facebook. One think that isn't helping this forum is the censorship. Posts shouldn't be deleted in my opinion. And ya why does the forum go down for hours or a full day or so at a time? Bad management.... Regardless. Still like it here.