FrogNog

KellyF did that on my Infinity when I slammed my D-bag in the dropzone door. He cut the grommets open, removed them, and put new ones in and beat them like ginger stepchildren with the die. Good as new. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

I think this is a central question. I think we've lumped a lot of potential performance characteristics into one word here and said "more efficient is better" and then we look to optimize or envelope "efficiency". And I see that as the logical falling-apart. Maximizing glide ratio or achieving the lowest possible minimum sink speed is good for some needs, but I don't see it necessarily having anything to do with landing characteristics. And I'm a big fan of landing. Most people I know who load their canopies over 1.5 lbs/sf care a lot about how fast their canopy can be made to go level after a dive, and also about how it can be made to transition from the dive to the level part. Since I actually don't want my canopies to go really, really fast I can't take any of their advice on "efficiency". -=-=-=-=- Pull.

The harnesses are not perfectly inescapable. The leg straps (and the rest of the harness) on most or all current designs don't prevent the wearer from lifting his or her legs far enough that the harness no longer supports the wearer in a way that makes the harness want to stay on. (I.e. in this case, the user can slide butt-first out of the entire harness. This is verifiable on the ground for some people.) The yoke design will not guarantee that a head-down deployment won't strip the rig off the wearer. I don't know how tandem student harnesses work well enough to talk about them. Sometimes harnesses fail (webbing breaks or disconnects), too, although I haven't heard of that resulting in harness escape as much as just spinning into a hard landing. All of this is rare, from what I understand. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

My sports doctor and physical therapist seemed to know when it was time, after I broke a bone. Not sure if this applies to giblets. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

See how much you could put this rig together for yourself using new parts. Then look at other used rigs that would provide you comparable quality and/or utility. Then see how you feel about the price. Because "fair" is just whatever the buyer and seller agree it is. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Trying to reduce which noise? Inside the aircraft or out? (I can't read German this late at night.) I've always just used Matrix disposable earplugs. (They don't plug my ears so completely that I get balance problems.) And I put some latex foam rubber sheet in my helmet's earholes. As for noise outside the aircraft, that's a complex aero-engineering problem. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

It's a tough one. I go with the metric "If I can barely close the container". However, I've found it depends on how neat my pack job is - if I fold everything at perfect widths and it goes in the bag like a ream of paper, I expect to feel like my closing loop could be shorter. One thing I've never seen discussed is how much "range" a container has for bag volume vs. closing loop length and maintaining closing loop tension in two common scenarios: 1. packing then leaving it overnight, and 2. pressing the container against the cabin wall, as you (Phree) described. I've noticed many times that a fresh pack job makes a tight closing loop but the next morning the loop tension is nowhere near as "safe". On the other hand, the manufacturer for my container specifies to determine the proper closing loop length based on "flap slack" (how far the flaps come to rest apart from each other) that is looser than I prefer, so when I see my overnight pack job is still at least as tight as the manufacturer's specifications, I assume it's "good enough". And then I pray it really is. I guess if I trust anyone, it's my rig manufacturer. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Glad to see the pictures aren't radiographical. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

You could try contacting the manufacturer and asking them. Here on dropzone.com I have read historical tales of minor modifications manufacturers can make to containers to reduce the effective sizes and make them work better with "too-small" canopies. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

I thought I heard your voice. Can't get away from "Get a wingsuit". -=-=-=-=- Pull.

I used to be of the opinion, also, that anyone comparing a Spectre to a Triathlon would be disappointed. Then I bought a low-jumps Triathlon 190 from Ralph Hatley because that's the "best" he had available in that size and I wanted it soon. I was forced to change my mind about the Triathlon - it's great. It's different from a Spectre and personally I'd rather own a Spectre. And it looks like the Triathlon packs pretty large. But I cannot complain about any characteristic of its opening, flight, or landing at this point. And they seem to be very affordable. And the Gelvenor ZP isn't tricky to pack like some new ZPs. (Not that I find that a big problem anyway.) Obviously, you'll have the best chance of happiness if you compare for yourself. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Why would a main canopy open faster with more airspeed? I can see it getting out of the container and bag faster due to more pull force, but it won't finish inflating until the airspeed has dropped enough to stop holding the slider up. Since drag is related to something like the cube of velocity, I can see the deceleration of a high airspeed deployment being higher, which will feel harsher, but I don't see this necessarily making the canopy finish opening quicker. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

I'm not saying I think Dacron lines (or any lines) do or do not absorb much water. But are the lines really under that much tension during flight? Isn't the per-line tension in regular flight around 10 pounds each below the cascades, and 5 pounds each above? (For a 200 lb OtD jumper flying 9 cells.) -=-=-=-=- Pull.

That's how I think people should try to be on every flight. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

I feel if you didn't see the wind coming, then disconnecting your RSL while being drug would be tricky. I had one jump where it was clear at 1,000 feet (and again, 90 seconds later, also at 1,000 feet) that I was looking at some seriously not-good wind near the ground. About 10 seconds before I touched down I thought ahead to cutting away to avoid being drug and I remembered to disconnect my RSL, and the cutaway-on-touchdown worked perfectly. No dragging, no grass stains, just lots of people asking "why did you cut away? Were you getting dragged?" So then I had to repeatedly explain I cut away _before_ being dragged. It was just as annoying as explaining grass stains, but untangling the risers is quicker than cleaning the rig.

I find I always notice the canopy's hooked up backwards at packing time, either when the lines in the 6 groups in my hands don't go to the right places, or (if it's really early in the morning ) when I can't find the nose _anywhere_ to start flaking it. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

You could just sell me that Sabre2 170 and buy yourself some other canopy... -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Did his invective include any explanation why you must not do it the way you were doing? And, where do you mean "placed"? Do you mean toggles relative to the risers when you set the toggles in the brake line eyelets near the start of packing? Or do you mean when you set the risers on the outside of the reserve container as you place the d-bag in the main container near the end of packing? -=-=-=-=- Pull.

I'd try and go head-down so I hit as hard as possible, head-first. I figure dying from falling out of a plane without a parachute isn't so bad. But surviving after falling out of a plane without a parachute might suck a lot. Note this is different from what I'd do if I had a spinning reserve ride. That's because I consider those two completely different categories of "potential survivability". -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Just pack it another 100 times. You should find it gets a lot easier. I don't know if it makes you taller or shortens the canopy or what, but I swear it works. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

This only ever bothered me in the plane. Once out of the plane, looking down tended to reassure me. The difference between 12,500 feet and 500 feet in freefall, I imagine, would be staggering. In the plane I learned to look for mountains. :) Granted, I haven't done many jumps where looking at the ground could be confusing, such as night/desert/polar/ocean jumps. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Karenmeal made an excellent illustration for Safety Day a couple years back, describing wear and replacement for various system components. As I recall, the replacement interval for the pilot chute was "before your first total".

May I be the first to say: "I'd jump it!".

Do you have line specs? Or would I have to guess? -=-=-=-=- Pull.

So, one story I read appears to say the final 15 hours we was jumping, he was doing so with a broken arm. Seattle Times Article Does anyone know how that worked out for him? I know I'm not tough compared to lots of other people, particularly military people. But 15 hours, and probably over 100 base jumps in that time, with one broken arm? Does this guy sprinkle a box of Federal .45 ACP onto his daily bowl of wheaties? -=-=-=-=- Pull.