JumpRu

i made lots of jumps on ka107 and back then i was 85 kilos without gear, switching to velocity after that made swooping so much easier. i think everything has its limits and overloading katanas does not improve anything - just making things more dangerous.

just go with velocity at that wl. dont spend money and time on KA that is very dangerous and poor performing at such wl. i would say katana107 was more scary then velo 84 but obviously not anywhere close in performance.

for me it is very simple: that was spinning mall on main and skyhook opened up reserve with progressive spin that look worse then the one this poor guy just cut away from. something wrong with this picture especially considering that jumper had no control over reserve deployment after the cutaway. Without skyhook one can get stable before reserve deployment. it would make a difference with small reserve like in this case.

that was only pdr 126. very popular reserve size. so skyhook is only for large reserves?

i think you are on the right path to success, but katana135 is way too big. get 107 or even 98 and enjoy fast turns, long dives and nice openings. that is right i think your katana opens bad because it is clearly underloaded. u have to load those high performance canopies above 2 to 1 that is what they are designed for. high wing loading also makes tham more stable in turbulent air and greatly impreve flare power.

i had just 1 cutaway in my 2500 and that happened around jump 300 when i was jumping really old and bad gear... very old container with saber 1 main... fortunatelly reserve i had was Pdr - no issues there :) That was more then 10 years ago. Bottom line - jump decent gear and pack good and you may never have one.

if wl is an issue you need to go with most efficient wing... i don't see how conventional 7 cell can help you... katana is one of the most efficient 9cell canopies. so unless you want to go xbraced it would be good choice for someone who knows how to swoop. openings are fine, off heading but never hard. i did not have a single line twist in last 500 jumps. flare is ok. i doubt any 9 cell can give you more. i think the only competition for katana would be something like velo. nothing wrong with xfire too, it is just different in some ways better in some worse. you have to demo both to decide. can not really go wrong with ether one of them.

well, for me web site worked... i got email with confirmation and checked my bank account to see that 55 dollars go... but that did not happen instantly... ok... next day - nothing... then couple more days ... then i found out that it will take weeks just to process internet transaction???? this is worse then stone age. this is stone age with internet!

i don't know what to say... that is how things worked 25 years ago.

Hi Doc, I agree with every single post you've made so far on this thread. That is right, jumper in question did not break a single FAA or even USPA rule so he has every right to continue on this dangerous path he chose.

i think your logic makes perfect sense... they can not ban swooping all together so they are using gradual approach: first 270 becomes unsafe and even selfish, then 180 then we all have to upsize and land strait. what is next? Rounds?

I did see way more 90 and 180 degree turns that went to shit then badly executed 270’s. Maybe that is the reason?

main usually ZP and reserve F-111. after couple months is still can open (but expect slower opning) but in 6 months you may have hard time unwrapping it on the ground. I did see one velocity that looked more like a brick after sitting in container for a year. repack it.

What I described is a part of intentional downwind landing. It requires careful setup and some sort of acceleration (hook turn) for better lift at touchdown to ensure zero vertical speed for substantial time that require for weight transfer. It also requires nice and even landing surface for sliding. I don’t know from personal experience will or will not this be helpful in case of emergency crash landing. But this is a way to practice downwind landings. Everything else can get you to hospital.

Just to add something to discussion: If winds are light then wind direction does not really matter at all. Especially when you have lots of energy coming out of the swoop. That is an obvious statement. But when winds are 10+ mph (I’ve never done more then 20) then crosswinds are much more dangerous then downwind. The only safe way to land downwind in those conditions is sliding (on your feet or and on your butt ) and the biggest danger is to roll sideways in process. For that reason I’d rather go downwind then try to do crosswind landing. None of this is recommended for conventional approach on a big canopy especially for new jumpers.

I’m sure you guys did well… I was not there and did not see anything. But this phrase requires some explanation. The only reasons to land like this would be downwind landing on highly loaded elliptical after at least 270 degrees turn. At list that is what I do from time to time on a hop&pop load at the far corner of DZ where no one can see me

According to those responses: pin check is for students

in my case that was "home made" elastic keeper... top one (the one closer to the slinks). We set the breaks on that riser and pulled its ends apart really fast (sort of like canopy opens up) toggle flew out of the keeper and out of cat eye. I don't think any of it could happen on new factory made risers, but some people still use old ones with home made improvements. was that a reason of those break fires? I don’t know for sure. I think it may be, because cat eye only locks the break when break line is loaded.

No…he is very experienced skydiver and he was doing everything right. It just that over the years he had 3 cutaways all from break fire (he is jumping loaded elliptical, so it is not like you have an option to just pop the breaks, once it start spinning there is not much you can do). All those were on the same side. Apparently toggle keeper was put too far from the guide ring (or maybe too close, I can’t remember) and the opening shock was pulling toggle out of the keeper every once in a while. I’ve never seen anything like this before… might be useful to somebody.

My teammate had several break fires resulted in cutaways, the reason was that toggle keepers on one riser were placed just a little off and on opening, when break line gets loaded, toggle simply was pulled out of the keepers. Replacing risers would solve this issue, but I think he simply put those keepers in a right place.

Great, good for you, you are in a position where you can make great impact on everyone’s safety! In my post I was more concern about people who really have no business to interfere with other people jumps, have no communication skills to explain in non-confrontational way what they have to say and obviously do more harm then good even when they have something valuable to offer. For example: I’ve just done something wrong, lets say less then perfect landing (sometimes this happens to the best of us) and all of the sudden some dude jumps at me yelling something about how “I’m going to bounce and how he don’t want to miss his jump because of me” well, you can guess what kind of response that dude will get most of the time :) More positive approach usually works better with people. I remember, once, couple years ago I was sitting at the DZ after my jump, had really nothing to do and I saw a jumper with maybe 200 jumps, I knew the guy a little and by his look I got the impression that he did not jump in a while and have a little nerves (really nothing wrong with that). He was doing solo jump and had no one to check his gear, so I offered to check it. That time I discovered that PC was completely collapsed… Over the years I’ve found 4 or 5 misrouted chest straps and many other minor things, but you won’t see me checking everyone’s gear on every load, most people don’t like then some one is messing with their stuff. Ultimately every licensed jumper is responsible for his own safety.

Oh, packing is great example :) There are many different ways to pack main and some of those methods look like a death wish to me :) You can always show what is better and in most cases it is helpful but some folks (Including myself) stick with what worked for them

So am I (please don’t make me look like a bad guy here

Like I said, safety issue is one thing. If some one did something that put you or some on else in dangerous situation (cut you off on landing, did not provide enough separation) then by all means you have a right to speak up. Go to DZO or S&TA or just talk to that person. I think it is important to be cool about this, because most of those things just happen from time to time… I’ve only seen one person who did something like this on purpose and he was “old timer” with several thousand jumps, pilot license and etc. We were new jumpers back then so I did not say anything but other instructors who were on the same load directly asked him was he part of our group or he was doing his own thing? His answer was that we were never in any danger But this is not my business what other license jumpers doing on the jump, what is the experience level and how it matches what they are trying to do. As long as they have their own airspace and comply with BSR it is really not my concern. If I know them I may suggest something or express my concern but since they are licensed it is their choice to continue or not.

If one is doing unsafe things, especially dangerous to others then DZ management should probably deal with this person regardless of his age, gender, time in sport or number of jumps, don’t you think?