FrogNog

Disclaimer: I am not going to play or jump with any smoke devices any time soon. I just thought about them and realized I had a big question. (And I didn't see an immediate searchable answer in this forum.) Question: How is safety of smoke devices inside the airplane achieved? It seems to me that in the plane, if a smoke device activated it could cause/contribute to the worst kind of accident. I don't know details about activating smoke devices, but if they're easy to activate as you go out the door (or on the hill), it seems like there would be a nonzero risk of accidental activation similar to clearing a pin in the confines of the plane. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

>... if you need to grunt in a 2 G turn to stay awake you might want to take up another activity until you visit your doctor and find out why. I'm pretty sure at this point my psychological reaction is far outweighing my physiological reaction. And performing physiological "coping" techniques may work great for me due to their psychological properties, as well. I do need to get back into better cardiovascular health; I slow down a bit on half a dozen flights of stairs - I'd be a complete loss if I had to climb to altitude without the airplane doing all the hard work! -=-=-=-=- Pull.

OK, it sounds like what I was considering is doable, there are just tricks and details I would have to keep in mind, and it's not worth it for the minor $ saving. I will give consideration to Triathlons and see if I can find a big enough one to get a ride on. A lot of people around me prefer 9-cells and think I will too, but I have a tendency to be different. Props to whats-his-Monkey for pointing out right away that I would be the weak link in the repeated terminal CReW-canopy opening process. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

> And vocally go GRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr......it helps. I have a tear in my eye because I can't stop laughing at the concept. Is this serious? No, don't tell me, I want to do it anyway and see if it helps, then I'll explain to whoever's next to me when I get asked what I'm doing. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

I'm window-shopping (window-licking for some of you - you know who you are) for my first rig / rig parts, and since I'm leaning heavily toward 200+ sf to be no more than 1:1 wl*, a portion of what catches my eye is CReW mains. (*I estimate my out-the-door weight at ~215.) I have read about some diffs between 7-cell and 9-cell, and I know some obvious lining differences between CReW and "regular" canopies, and from what I can see CReW canopies tend to be square and have lower aspect ratios. But this doesn't seem like the knowledge I really want. So, out in the open: why would or wouldn't I want to use a CReW canopy as a main? (Uh, other than "I want to do CReW", which so far I don't. ) I saw a hint of discussion somewhere that some CReW canopies can take terminal openings and some can't. Are there general rules about this? What about the rest of their flying, like drive, stability in what I like to call "chunky-style air", and flare? Ooh, and what about mal rates, assuming I continue to take all those anal packing steps CReW Dawgs consider superfluous, like flaking? -=-=-=-=- Pull.

A tandem master I ride with a lot always does the backward roll-out with the pax holding their knees. Video shows he does 3-5 flips, I believe. This is my favorite tandem exit because we all get to wave as he leaves. (We like him.)

Staso: yes, you are a wuss ... don't worry, it will go away and you will start enjoying it Me: See, I suspected as much. I will try to be less of a wuss, then. Hey, more incentive to lose weight - 10 pounds would be like 15 or 20 on a tight go-around. Casch: I exited a 182 in a banked turn for the first time. I was gonna do a poised exit, but I couldn't even stand up on the step, I felt like I weighed 300lbs. I ended up just rolling off cause I couldn't hold myself up anymore Me: Did you go high-side or low-side? -=-=-=-=- Pull.

I have 30 jumps and my nerves are still tapering off. I talked to some multi-hundred-plus jumpers and instructors and two pieces of advice I got were "about 50 jumps, give or take" and "it's all about 'times out to the airplane.'". -=-=-=-=- Pull.

>Hmm. No reason to _have_ to make that a violent turn. On a normal climb and turn onto a single jump run, you actually get to altitude faster with gradual, gentle turns. In a perfect world, I agree. And under even normal non-perfect circumstances, it is still the case that the pilots I have ridden with almost never make "sharp" turns on or before a single / the first jump run upon arriving at position. But there are go-arounds, traffic delays, and split DZs. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Let's make this entirely hypothetical (from my standpoint) and start with a big disclaimer: I am a newbie (only 30 jumps) and am not a pilot. My Question is: how "hard" of turns do your jump pilots do with jumpers on board, and under what circumstances? (Diver drivers may, of course, answer with what they themselves do.) I'm asking this because at 30 jumps I'm still a bundle of nerves and I find it easier to be calm and on top of things when I stick my head out the door and spot and jump if I didn't just have all the blood drained out of my head getting turned onto jump run. OTOH, I realize every part of skydiving is a ride and can be fun (except "bad air" in the plane), and this adds to some peoples' pleasure. Plus all the pilots I have ridden with get us there totally safe and sound. I have chalked this up as "I am a wuss" and I just hang on and do whatever it takes to keep oxygen in my brain at 10k or 13k before I goes. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

This has turned out to be a big support group for students who get nervous at "changes" or new stuff, and I like that. I have been afraid of: * being able to see out the door. (First 5 or so jumps just looking down out the door was :O) * exiting from 13k instead of 6k, my previous max exit altitude. * exiting from 5k instead of 3.5k (I did static line progression) * exiting 500 feet higher or lower than I was told on the ground. * the door being opened * getting to my knees in the C-182, opening the door, sticking my head out to spot, and doing a step exit instead of hanging exit - these things were all newly given to me on the SAME jump. * "whisps of haze condensing" on the strut and dripping off the back. * upper going faster than I've ever seen before. * more than one group on jump run. * getting out after another group ("You mean I have to count? Oh, I have to visually estimate a 45-degree angle? NOooo!") * getting out before another group * seat belts. (Stowing the seat belts still cause me anxiety because I have to avoid perseverating on them.) * don't even talk to me about turbulence under canopy. Oddly, my first jump off static line, my first and second jumps on my own pack jobs, and jump runs in non-prevailing direction did not scare me. I believe in all those cases I just wasn't in the mood to be particularly scared. (Same with my twilight rain cutaway jump after taxi was delayed by a forgotten wing tie-down; I knew weird stuff was going to happen on that jump and I just turned off my "care" about my surroundings and held onto my plans.) And so far not much in freefall scares me; I'm too busy flying and remembering what I'm supposed to be doing next to be scared the same way I can wind up in the plane. My general formula is to consciously breathe and actually, truly relax my body in the plane. That and do whatever it takes to get the job done right, and be scared about it later after I'm on the ground. Oh, and if looking out the door scares you, ride with some static-line or 0/5/10-second delay students (if you have SL or IAD at your DZ) and when each one gets out, lean over with your head out the door and watch them fall away. Bonus points if the C-182 pilot makes a right-hand turn to point the door at them. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

>>> "The coward dies a thousand deaths." The version of that I heard is "A coward dies a thousand deaths; a hero dies but once." -=-=-=-=- Pull.

OK, based on the Bill Booth post I now know I don't know anything different from what I knew before, except that there may be one more thing I didn't know. Should I be, hypothetically speaking, packing someone else's rig for them - under the supervision of a rigger, of course - I will continue to do it the way I know they prefer. Meanwhile I will continue to review which way I want to do this for myself. I note in the Bill Booth post that the manuals say to s-fold the bridle against the mesh (i.e. the "most inside" part of the PC) and I have been s-folding the bridle on top of the PC after it has already been folded in half once (but not yet folded up the rest of the way). This may or may not be a trivial difference in re knotting. But from Bill Booth's post, I don't understand the "envelope" concept that you don't want the bridle to "get above" - what is that, and which way is "up"? (Yeah, that question is the sign of a good skydiving student, huh? ) Is the envelope the folded-up PC wrapping around the bridle s-folds, and we want to avoid allowing the s-folds to get loose or wrap around any significant portion of the folded PC? And is "up" behind you in the air, meaning knots (outside the pouch) are more probable if the user is holding the PC and the bridle gets loose and streams out in a big "U" in the air? I never before thought this would be a problem, as long as the bridle didn't wrap your arm or something. And on issues of scale - is this a "big" or "little" thing? Obviously a PC that won't come out of the pouch is bad, and this is one possible component of that. And a PC that wears the bridle like a girdle is also bad. But I'm known to be overconcerned about things, and some at my DZ already seem to care less about how their PCs are packed ("just stuff it in there and pound the heck out of it to get it flat") than I do/would. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Sounds clear to me. It also sounds like it will take some "talent" to get the PC and s-folded bridle to go into the pouch properly, but magic comes from experience. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

So, if you don't put most of the PC bridle in the middle of the PC, where do you put it? Outside the PC but still in the BOC pouch? I'm still on ripcords, but I'm clearly going to be looking at this soon for myself, and *cough* hypothetically speaking, if I were packing other peoples' rigs for them - under the supervision of a rigger, of course - it might make a difference to them / me right now. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Ooh, my eyes! Please, remember to warn people when you have silver wings to "do not look directly into the suit!" -=-=-=-=- Pull.

In this case, I would see if I could fly it safely with rear riser input. If I could turn left, turn right, and flare with rear risers (the last being something I have not practiced up high - mental note to do that), I would call it good to fly down. That would leave me more time to fiddle with stopping the turn. If the stuck toggle was stuck at its "stow point", I could restow it then restow the other side to get it to fly straight at half brakes. Not ideal, but it would make it fly straight without constant input from opposite rear riser (tiring) or toggle (distracting) and would make it easier to flare straight. This assumes a student canopy like I am on, where coming in at half brakes isn't dangerous by itself and you can use both hands to fiddle with a toggle without being in too much of a turn. (No, I don't like doing that.) This was similar to the time my PC inflated under the nose, on one side, creating a right turn that took 1/2 left toggle to steer straight. It wasn't ideal, but it was steerable and had some flare. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

>>> I've found the best solution to thinking too much is drinking too much I am personally disappointed with alcohol as a "higher order brain function disabling drug". I find I lose my ability to walk before my overthinking is turned off. I agree with The111 that drinking too much certainly does the trick, but that's not my fav. I have to sort of stick with a tall drink at a time, walking only in hallways where I can use my four largest limbs to navigate semi-stably, and cutting my thinking and worries by only 50%. But this doesn't help a bit when I'm in the plane. No alcohol, full-tilt worry. I hope more jumps makes this better. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

> I thought they were all fun....well, except for the night jumps. Uh, what's not going to be fun about night jumps? -=-=-=-=- Pull.

> and I had a great belly flop when my feet hit the ground as I was going forward a lot faster than I could run... PLFs - they're not just for breakfast anymore! My last landing went from upwind to crosswind when the wind changed on me at about 75 ft. (It had been shifty from 2k down.) Good ol' PLF made it nice and soft, compared to what I would have been looking at if I tried to stand it up.* Glad to hear you're OK. BTW, if you were the first ones out of the plane, and you were furthest from the LZ, why were you upwind of it? That would imply a downwind jump run, wouldn't it? [* Note: I have 21 jumps, am still a student, and fly a skymaster 290. So this kind of wind / landing issue may not be all that exciting to most of y'all.] -=-=-=-=- Pull.

> $50.00. also if you use it to give whoever packed it a bottle of thier fav liquor. >(I have given 1 bottle to date of whisky) Same policies (not sure about price) where I am, from what I have learned. I'm still a student, so I didn't have to pay the cash part, just the vodka. I really liked the opening, so I bought the best brand I could find. ;) -=-=-=-=- Pull.

>>> One guy told me once: Naked jumps are fun, but NEVER EVER do a sit-fly naked. Excellent advice - that's a good way to get a black eye! I'd just tighten it under my chest strap. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

With canopies that are too slow to land you with forward speed when the wind is above X mph, aren't these also options: 1. don't jump 2. hook the canopy up backwards I'm interested in hearing more about whether low loadings cause other dangerous behavior - such as collapsing. I am still on the skymaster 290s in our student gear (still being a student and all) and I deal with the time it takes to get down by doing spiral turns or front riser dives (level, not turning). -=-=-=-=- Pull.

>How did the guy you were packing for take it???? >=============S. Smith================ Which direction does the beer-buying go? Do you buy beer because you packed your first mal? First mal you packed for him? And this was his first mal, his first mal from you, and his first tandem camera mal? See, the way I count (and I admit I'm quite new at this), he could end up having to buy 3 units of beer to your 2. Then he would have to communicate his feelings with the relative quality of the beer. P.S. Glad he was OK in the end. (He was OK, right?) -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Once out of the plane I don't get "roller coaster feelings", but in the plane I do, depending on how choppy things are. The plane is actually my least favorite part. (Well, my dislike of the ride up has become less clear today as I had my first ride in a Caravan. Woo!) -=-=-=-=- Pull.