FrogNog

when I was a student, having my own protec saved me a couple minutes every day adjusting the darn strap on one of the DZ's student helmets. I wear glasses so having my own goggles was almost necessary. Having these things and therefore knowing I wouldn't have any issue finding them lowered my stress level. (I was a nervous student - ask my instructors. ) -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Practice on days you're not jumping. Preferably at home where you can quit and come back without trouble. When you're tired and dripping sweat and it's not in the bag yet, take a break for a day or an hour and start over. (Good advice for a LOT of difficult things, IMO.) For the South Park viewers: the canopy can feel your dominant energy. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

The theory is that canopies with lower aspect ratios, lower wingloadings, and any other variables that are skewed to offer gentler flying behavior will reduce the likelihood of line twists causing turns/spins, the difficulty getting out of them, and the rate of spin. I should note I used the words "theory", "reduce", and "likelihood".

You're exactly right, it probably was a math error, and an easy error to make, however the error probably would never have been made if he wasn't trying to find some way to look or sound smart on this post. He saw an opportunity and went for it. Not to be a jerk, but, thinking a skydiving student weighs 356 pounds out the door is not the sign of someone who checks their work. That would be a VERY BIG boy. (Or girl.) -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Someone at my home DZ has an all-black canopy and that thing is sexy. Makes me want one every time I see it landing. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

The black dye will absorb more visible light than other colors. Whether it absorbs more UV light is not really related to its color as the human eye can detect. (It could be coincidentally related, but we can't see UV so we can't visually tell.) Except for colors that have no blue in them - if we assume a dye's absorption spectrum does not have hard on/off lines, we can assume dyes that absorb blue or violet light will absorb some amount of ultraviolet, as well. But the fact that dyes absorb light can actually help protect fabric, because it means the light is absorbed by the dye instead of the fabric. If fabric deterioration is caused by the nylon absorbing light (at any frequency), having some of that light get stopped in the dye would be good. If fabric deterioration is caused by heat, though, keeping the fabric cooler while packing would be the goal and undyed fabrics would be better. I'm not sure what damage nylon gets from being warm to the touch, though. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

IIRC, ASTM-D-737 calls for 0.5" H2O, about 1.25 mB. That would be for F-111, too. Mark OK. I know 0.5" of water is a (or perhaps "the") air flow rate standard, but I swear I thought I saw 1" used for some parachute stuff. It would be nice if all CFM numbers we ever run into in skydiving were 0.5" of water so nobody ever needs to ask, but I'm not ready to make any such assumptions. Especially not when "milspec" comes into play; I tend to assume anything could be a variable at that point. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

That is NOT a hop-n-pop If you close the door on a 182 while you're on the step then get the pilot to clean the flaps and begin his or her descent, you can do a terminal hop-and-pop. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Is this value with a differential pressure of one inch of water? (As I understand the F-111 "0-3 cfm" number we throw about is.) -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Isn't 30 US gallons divided by 23 jumpers 1.304 gallons per jumper? And doesn't that mean that any per-gallon fuel price increase between $0.766 and $1.000 (exclusive) should be able to result in a break-even price increase of more than $1.00 per load? [, again] -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Charlie Markin in Snohomish has at least one that I know of. It wasn't a jump pilot, though; it was a glider pilot. Does that count? I could ask him how many total pilot rig saves he has, if you want to know more. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

I'd be willing to line that up and jump it... if it weren't baby blue! -=-=-=-=- Pull.

If you have two sets of risers that are connected together and you deploy one canopy and the other is still locked in a container, how can you cut away both (or either) of them with a single handle? I have considered this design and I have not come across a simple configuration that would do this. (I have thought of some complex configurations that might, but I don't want to start changing things like cutaway cable lengths on my 3-ring setup.) That's why I'm looking at going with option 1, give or take. (Two sets of mini-risers connected on a set of regular-size harness rings, and an extra set of cutaway cables.) -=-=-=-=- Pull.

This is the theory I favor as well. On my old Hornet 190 I would periodically have a painfully hard opening until I figured out how to keep the slider against the stops all the way through packing. (I figured out how to start and hold the "cocoon" so the slider can't move.) Then things were smooth from there on out. My Sabre2 experience came after I was already controlling the slider during packing, and I found that they usually open relatively softly but every once in a while they're harder than I'd like. I can't help wondering if this is a known design issue and that's why the nose has that really thick reinforcement tape on the center 3 ribs...

I think a simple center-cell modification during the cutting process could prevent people from trying to jump them. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

I stopped sticking my fingers through loops of brake line before unstowing my toggles. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Have you double-wrapped thousands of rubber band locking stows? Based on the use of the term "grommit" (grommet), I have to assume the original poster was referring to the locking stows. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

I only have a small handful of "absent friends" I've known from skydiving but I have so far found that the ones that die while jumping are not necessarily more painful than the ones that die while not jumping. That doesn't address coping directly, but I guess it means I would (and do) cope with friends who die jumping the same as friends who die not jumping. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

This is why I actually prefer my reserves used. One deployment on them so I know they work.

My guess is porcelain. Note the high-gloss finish reflecting the arm gripper of the right-hand jumper. The final gel-coat on fiberglass can be high-gloss as well, as long as it doesn't get abraded. Also, photoshop produces a nice high-gloss finish. I was torn over whether it would be easier to AFF a toilet for real or photoshop the reflection(s). I decided that for skydivers, the jump would be easier. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Doesn't an IRM cost something like two jumps? I'm not saying it's nice to be nickled-and-dimed to death. But big picture here. Some skydivers complain a lot about having to pay for things. I respect that but there should be some relation between how much money one has to spend and how much one complains. Darn my rig! Expensive thing... always having to get the reserve I&R'ed. IRM wasn't so bad. Significantly cheaper than the evaluation jumps for my first rating. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Maybe it's a plastic / fiberglass toilet instead of porcelain. The sectional density of a porcelain toilet seems like it would be high enough (especially with the kimono still on) that the formation would look more like a hybrid than the flat thing they have going on there. And if they're jumping with a large chunk of plastic or fiberglass, no real need to wear a helmet. What could go wrong? -=-=-=-=- Pull.

He'd pull three knives: a big one, a medium one, and a little one... -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Is there a Harness/Container manufacturer within a 90 minute drive of where your (or the new owner) will live? Because being able to drive it in for repairs / alterations can give you some great service with most manufacturers, I reckon. Certainly this has been the case with Infinity in the Western Washington area. Saving a thousand dollars on a harness/container is like getting 40 or 50 free jumps. That's a lot of free jumps, but that's not a lot of jumps. So I think price is not as important as getting what will make you happy. Is your post asking what will make you happy or what will make each of us happy? -=-=-=-=- Pull.

On a very soft-opening canopy of mine I think I've had my slider fail to come down the last foot due to a twisted riser (i.e. lines are in the correct order relative to each other but the riser was twisted when the lines were attached so the lines are not in correct order relative to the riser). I have to spend extra time reaching waaaay up to get it and make it stop flap-flap-flapping. (I hate that.) -=-=-=-=- Pull.