cengelbrecht

Hi Eule, ok, the qustion was, how the reports are gatherd. This is quite easy to be explained: 1. Any incident in Germany, involving licenced skydivers, must be reported to one of the associations (DFV or DAeC, where DFV covers approx. 85 % of the skydivers in Germany), if the injury is classified as serious. Serious means, broken bone (not fingers or nose) or stay in hospital for more than 24 hours, regardless of the injury. Non-serious injuries don't need to be reported, but should. And a lot of dropzones do report accurately. 2. Any incident involving students, must be reported to the associations, regardless of the degree of injury (could be none!). This includes both regular students and tandem students. It also covers reserve deployments, even if no one is injured. Remark: For Germany, we have a different legal situation compared to the US. Legal authorities, which are the LBA (Luftfahrt Bundesamt), comparable to the FAA, entitled both associations with a status of "self administration", even for these parts which belong to the LBA's core competence like incident investigation and equipment approval. Don't want to go into too much detail, it is quite complex to draw the full picture. But because of the status, the associations have a legal background for acquiring the data for the annual report. Hope this answers everthing satisfactorily ... Best personal regards Carsten (just in case anyone wants to ask about my qualification: vice president of DFV since five years)

Sorry indradhanush, not enough details in your post to judge/evaluate the reliability of Cypres, which has been proven already by _millions_ of jumps, even under very critical conditions (north pole, HALO, ...). Before you tend to personally bann CYPRES by one incident (the skmaster, not Adrian's), for which you have incomplete information only, please reconsider your statement again. The loss of Adrian is sad enough. It shouldn't lead us to a loss of safety we gladly achieved. The very, very few canopy pilots, who can exceed regular CYPRES limitations, are well aware of the situation now and Airtec is working on the special swoop edition. So, please, no generalization of this incident towards the abdication of the use of an AAD. Best personal regards Carsten

A reliable and "lot of fun" canopy, when you are able to provide good/relaxed body position during the canopy opening sequence. Amazing increase of speed on long turns. As it is with every kind of "race horses", you have to be experienced and be aware of the zero tolerance for errors when you use it. If you are in this group of skydivers, that canopy was made for, it should be your choice. High quality. This added in 08/2005: Having about 650 jumps on this canopy now, one reserve ride (twists, spiralling). I find this canopy still great, but ... you'll find out immediately, when you fall back to old behaviours in the opening sequence. Hints on packing in the forum were very helpful to improve opening. Tremendous change in flight characteristics, after I had replaced the line set after 530 jumps according to manufacturer's requirements. Also doing AFF with it. In deep brakes, the Velocity will bring you all the way home (nearly).

Hi Wendy, nice to talk to you on the forum, rememer Ecuador Boogie? We've met there ...

Hi Lori, regarding the deployment on left hand side, SOS and a big forgiving main/reserve: OK, so far. But to be honest, I deeply had the hope, that s.o. could give an advice how to steer the canopy with just one hand. This was the most concern I had on talking to my friend about his re-entry to the sport. Do you know someone you could talk to on this issue? It would be of an incredible help ... Thanks so far and thanks for the support! Carsten

Hi community, a good friend of mine was struck in freefall which finally led to the immobility of his right arm subsequently. Due to the damage of his right arm's nerves, he is not able to move/use his arm at all. At the time of the incident, he had around 250 mostly FF skydives and has been very ambitious. Are there any experiences in the community jumping with this kind of a disability? Any comments on practicability, changing to equipment, precautious means and so forth are highly appreciated. Even if the advice would mean a "NO GO". Thank you very much for your patience and support Carsten