julius

E X A C T L Y !

do you ever answer your phone, Phildo?

I just made 17 jumps on a Safire 3 119 at Perris, it was hot and had many no wind landings. The Safire3 119 has a nice plane out followed by a Strong flare. I easily stood up with little effort. Wing loading about 1.6

There are a lot of experienced jumpers (say >1000 jumps, competition experience...) who would be happy to coach newbies. Many even have bona-fide teaching credentials. However, because they haven't paid to take USPA's coach course they aren't allowed to do this. However, someone with 200 jumps who can barely dock on a 16-way but spent a weekend learning how to "teach" is considered well qualified. Yup, I agree (uspa coach rating = well qualified)!

You definitely have a good point here. I have deduced that many people will not stall their canopy and by not doing so, they have no idea whether they can actually perform a landing flare. Also, i have found that people will just jump the canopy and "assume" the steering lines are set properly at the factory. Key point here is piloting, if the stall point is unknown, the flare point is also unknown. Unfortunately, this gives some canopies a bad reputation. I have 5 or 6 jumps on a Safire3 119, it has a strong easy flare

glide angle is steeper than a spinetto, and flatter than a sabre2. recovery arc... it doesnt "pop up" like a stiletto when the front riser(s) is let up. I dont know much about canopy swooping but I enjoy front riser 90's and the occasional 180.

I have about 400+ jumps on my 122 and love it! A bit of rear riser will get you back from a long spot, the flare is deep but strong.

http://www.yawstring.com/images/Photos/yawstring_photo.jpg a simple piece of yarn taped to tour visor would work.

the relative wind at exit comes from the relative generator.

I've participated in several tracking contests at Lodi, and won a couple. The jumprun was south to north, 1/2 mile east of hwy99. judges were positioned 1/2 mile west of hwy99. trackers exited about a second apart and tracked west. one load, one pass. open and intermediate trackers were on different loads. judging was per honor system and visual by judges. never were there any issues as the difference in tracking styles creates ample separation. the winners were obvious.

forced to use a dirtalert? by whom?

If you've NEVER jumped there, how do you KNOW about the seat belts?! I DO jump there; Motiv8 wears their seat belts, people near us wear their seat belts, my 4way team wear their seat belts.

check your stow bands! are they the same type and size on both sides of the deployment bag? are you double-stowing some or all of the lines? Are the stows even? when I get line twist on opening, that's the first place I look. I do not double-stow any lines. I do prefer tube stows as they always have even tension and seldom break. Review your emergency procedures! Know where your hard deck is and stick to it. From deployment to land-able canopy, 2000' is far too long! You had a low speed malfunction that you cleared, had it been a smaller, higher performance canopy, you may have died! My personal hard deck is a factor of time - from the time I release my pilotchute, the canopy has 3 seconds to open; spinning with line twist - cutaway, bag lock - gone in 2 seconds. Time is NOT your friend when you have a mal!

The Rockwell Aerocommander is not a prototype.

As you have said Billvon, my reserve is loaded at 1.5. My last cutaway, I chopped the spinner at 1500', got stable and pulled at 1100'... plenty high