FrogNog

And if we're adding pieces to the harness to avoid failling out, the yoke-ejection direction could be addressed as well. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Out of Sabre2, Hornet, Triathlon, and Sabre - all 190 square feet - for me the Sabre blew the others away for front-riser turns. (And flare.) I loved how the Sabre front-riser turns / dives so much I would own one if I weren't afraid one day it would open hard and hurt me. So I hope you can get your situation sorted out; your canopy should be fun. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

If this guy can't learn technique from you, you could offer to pack it for him for $7 each time. :) -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Gorgeous job. Well done. I've been a fan of this particular AggieDave piece for some time, and I was going to try and redo it myself. A few things intervened: 1. I have been busy with work and parties . 2. I have been thinking about whether it might break my neck. My plan was to dehydrate a pumpkin with a Protec on the inside to lower the weight. (So much of it is water.) Anyway, I'm glad someone else did it and made it look as good as or better than I could. Well done! -=-=-=-=- Pull.

That woudn't affect anything though. Maybe I'm confused. Derek I didn't mean it would have any practical effect; I was making a joke about regulations. Regulations care that their letter is followed, even if the result is not an improvement. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

I searched and didn't find a definitive answer to this, just a note from Bill Booth that when he got back from his ski trip he would address it. I hope he's back by now.

Then you realize there wouldn't be a continuity problem and wouldn't be adding a failure mode. Derek I think he was asking whether, in order to comply with manufacturer's recommendations, you would need to put a piece of Cypres cord under tension through the cutter you weren't using.

Once canopy descent speeds and "free"fall descent speeds overlap, it's going to be impossible to create an AAD that can perfectly decide which it's looking at based primarily on speed. The responsibility will at that point fall on the jumper to ensure he does not pilot his body or canopy into an incorrect descent speed and altitude envelope for how his AAD is configured/installed. We would like AADs to be "airbags" that catch us when we screw up, and so we would like to not have to screw up "carefully" so the AAD is most sure to perform. But we have always know that skydiving gear can kill us in ways we weren't even thinking about, and we can foul the operation of our skydiving gear by doing things wrong. (For example, entangling the reserve pilot chute is bad.) The AAD has just displayed some new fingers into this field. I don't think the gear has gotten more dangerous, here. I think we're just realizing what was previously present, and we're using the gear harder. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

I understand by the time you start to notice hearing loss, it's too late to do anything about it. Sometimes, it's 20 years too late. So I wear them on the theory that they will prevent damage I didn't know I was doing to my hearing. For people who have pressure problems: experiment with different types of earplugs. I am having good luck with "Matrix" extruded foam-with-core types; they seem to be able to breathe better than regular foam and way better than rubber-flap types. YMMVOC. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

A related question: are you going to use an RSL? -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Just get a seamripper and open up your bag and check. It's probably not the company that made your bag. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Wait, I'm confused. How are the CNC material cutters replacing sewing machines? -=-=-=-=- Pull.

I'd rather be a wuss than dead. "Spirited" line twists are a potential precursor of seriously bad stuff. I consider "spirited" line twists an entry into the "maybe" area - maybe I can get out of this, maybe I can get back to the airport, etc.. I don't like maybes. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Neither the old news nor the new installment has an answer about tear strength. The sailmakers should know if this stuff can be sewn, and if so, how. Who's going to go ask them? -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Can you tell us how high you were 1. when you got into trouble and 2. when you got things back under control? Because, if you do things high enough that you can safely cut away and land if necessary, then doing "stupid stuff" like this is not so bad. My own "stupid canopy stuff" rule is to be done by 2,500 feet. I broke this rule once practicing stalls at either 2,000 or 1,500 feet. Flying a Sabre2 with two closed cells on one side approaching 1,000 feet trying to get reinflation was more excitement than I bargained for. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

When I was around 50 to 150 jumps, reading the incidents on dropzone.com would sometimes freak me out or make me sick. After I got some more jumps I didn't care like that anymore. Now I'm like everyone else, although I also count the fatalities; if we get to Friday without two new U.S. fatalities I call it a good week. I'm also happy when I see incidents where someone didn't get hurt as badly as they could have. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Who here isn't downsizing as hard or fast because (at least) one of their friends is dead? I think local funerals slow down canopy landing deaths and injury rates. Of course, that's a situation that will reach some sort of stasis; it won't trend toward zero rate on its own. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

"Losing" $200 on an interim downsizing canopy is an awesome deal compared to breaking your leg. Heck, "losing" $1,000 (e.g. half the value of a brand new canopy) in the resale is still an awesome deal compared to breaking your leg - even if you don't end up needing surgery, just a cast, and even if you have insurance that covers 99% of the cost. So, I don't want to tell you "don't downsize two steps at once at just under 300 jumps experience from a tapered square at 1.15 pounds / square foot to a tapered square at 1.5 pounds / square foot because you'll break your leg, which sucks, and you'll lose four months of jumping and get fat and have to go through physical therapy", because that might not happen to you like it did to me. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

If I can fit a (main) canopy into my Infinity and close the container and I don't see anything I shouldn't (like the d-bag, the mid-section of the closing loop, or stitches showing between pieces of cordura being pulled apart) then I'll jump it. Repeatedly. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

That guy's problem is that in the U.S. parents don't make law, he doesn't make law, and 13 year-olds don't make law. Lawmaker make law and judges refine them, and it is our collective understanding that contract law as it has been made and refined says what you said: that a 13 year-old cannot be bound by contract well enough for skydiving. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

I kiss any plane before the first time I fly in it. Most jumps this doesn't apply. It seems to always apply to commercial air travel flights. :) -=-=-=-=- Pull.

I think this was a case of conflicting documentation. Whenever I find conflicting documentation, I try to see if there is a conservative side that will satisfy everything. The doc seemed to say: 1. If Cypres thinks you're in freefall (specs given), it may activate your reserve. 2. You can screw around under canopy all you want, and you won't make the Cypres think you're in freefall. We now know that item 2 is not true, but item 1 is still true. The answer is, as Amazon likes to say, "don't scare your Cypres". Don't let it think you're in freefall when you're under canopy. And if someone's landing approach looks like freefall to Cypres from a mathematical point of view, the potential result is predictable. I regret the death(s) (and and injuries), but the device is doing a good job of satisfying its main purpose (saving no-pulls) with acceptable additional risks. (You may not find these risks acceptable, but thankfully in most cases you have a choice whether to use the device.) I don't think Airtec did anything wrong by not earlier and louder mentioning they knew or suspected canopy pilots could scare Cypres and that they were working on another version. The reason I'm not on Airtec's case is it's not their job to keep us safe; they just make the best airbag they can for the money we'll pay. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

How do things look from the company's point of view? How much should a full cell replacement cost? Are you saying you think you should get that cell replaced under warranty? This sounds like a friend of mine who purchased two new motorcycles in three years and each time within 500 miles he got a lucky nail in the rear tire. The warranties said "tires get nails sometimes. When they do, that's your problem." Canopies open hard sometimes and their cells rip open. It's hard to decide why, and therefore whether it's a manufacturing or material defect vs. user error (even unknowable error) or bad luck. They can support their product but however they do it's going to cost them. How much should it cost them, and how much should it cost you? -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Does anybody know who this person is? Has anybody talked to him or her? I see a lot of people supposing this person had insufficient confidence in his/her EPs. Well, this person is alive, and ostensibly not even injured, so we should be able to talk to him or her and politely say "why, exactly, did you land that instead of chopping it?" -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Minor impacts or abrasions on a person's head should hurt less when they're wearing a frap hat than when they're wearing no hat. How much is "less"?