rsibbald

1 reserve ride in 426 jumps. Was inexperienced jumper on one of my first jumps on my new Sabre 2 150 at the time, slider jammed a steering toggle. I didn't fancy landing it on rear risers, so I found some clear airspace and had really nice transition to a PD-R 143 :)

I tried using a quadbike, but didn't get enough lift in a Classic I doing 50mph..... need more speed! Having said that, my angle of attack was all wrong - relying on drag on the leg wing lower surface to get me horizontal so I could start flying. I'll see if I can get the video

Unfortunately, it happens. This is why I prefer DZs where the DZO is not the person making the calls, but a dedicated chief instructor / safety officer is. Edit to add: For example, I have seen pushing the limits on kit, packing, cloud, aircraft maintenance, winds, daylight, visibility, safety checks etc.

Your current approach does sound sensible. I would much rather see someone with a few hundred jumps asking about the right way to learn swooping, than to continue flying their canopy blissfully unaware of how it performs. I see many people with 500-1000 jumps with no clue of how to fly their canopy safely, and learning early is the key to changing that situation. Do you have a Neptune? If not, they are a worthwhile investment if you intend to do a lot of canopy practice, especially with the new swoop alarm mode. It means your eyes can be in more important places than looking at your alti. Keep your progression slow and steady.... repetition is the key to each stage. Make sure you don't copy any of the many bad examples at this end of the country!

What about during a wing-over? Would half the canopy enter ground-effect? Does the lower side of the canopy try to surge forwards at all for anyone who has tried this?

A very good idea for discussion. In the British system, the possibility exists for static line progression students to transfer into the AFF system. However, by that stage in their training the majority will choose to continue with the static line progression system to teach them how to fly their bodies. Doing this at £30-35 a jump is a lot more attractive than having to spend over £600 on AFF levels. Does the American system allow for similar transfers between the different methods of learning? This is slightly off topic, but I think it has the same objectives as Brian's idea. One thing that may help teach people more about their canopies is a system coming into place next year in Britain. There will be four new levels of canopy handling qualification. The first of which will be mandatory before getting an 'A' license. The second before getting a 'B' license. Technically, it is a separate country-specific qualification, but by making it mandatory for all students - it forces a consistent set of life-saving skills to become an integrated part of the student syllabus, hopefully making them safer skydivers.

I'm just down the road in Bracknell. I haven't jumped around the local area too much yet, but I've heard Redlands (Swindon) is under new ownership and is getting an Islander. That should only be a 25 min drive for you. Otherwise there's the more well established centres that everyone has mentioned already, but I've found that at those centres trying to get on a decent number of lifts a day is a challenge!

Ask whoever your instructor is to go over heading maintenance with you before you next jump. It effectively teaches you to turn (i.e. to counter a natural turn), but you won't be doing any deliberate turns on the dive. No.#1 tip: Relax. You have two parachutes on your back, lots of altitude and a more relaxed arch will make you feel more in control.

Are you on turns now, or another "pull-on-alti"?

By the way, which way are you spinning?

Hey Gary, If you're around at the weekend, I'll spend some time going over stable alti-checks with you. As for the hard opening, I had the same thing on the same sort of rigs that you are using when I was a student at P'lee. Did you roll your shoulders in order to clear your pilot chute from your burble? Or did it happen before that? If it was a roll or shift in body position, then it is likely that your weight was unevenly distributed in the harness and you experienced a minor whiplash effect. I remember rolling to the left when trying to clear my pilot chute in a similar situation, which caused me a lot of pain at the time! Don't let the hard opening put you off, once you start to relax in freefall more, your body position will be more stable and will help give softer openings. There will always be freak hard openings, but generally they're less than 1 in 100 unless there is something majorly wrong with packing/body position/equipment. As always, feel free to grab myself or one of the other instructors at the DZ if you have any more questions

It'd be useful if Robi or someone else who's flown it could suggest whether or not a WS pilot could progress straight from the Classic/GTi models onto the PF suit, or whether they would be better off using the S3 as a stepping stone?

Cheers guys

Anyone know anyone that's tried this? Horizontal wind tunnels are easier to find than vertical ones, especially if you're involved in engineering or studying at university - surely someone has been bored one day at work and had a go?

Definitely 1. Tall & skinny

Short of trying to keep up with the aircraft and read the pilot's GPS through the window, I don't really have one available. I find it very hard to judge visually but I would estimate that my forward speed is no more than a max track. The only reason I cover more ground is because I'm up there longer! I tried a GTi for 4-5 jumps and found that I was getting a bit more forward speed, but my descents were back at 80-100 seconds and a lot more tiring on the arms... I guess it's even harder trying to fly in an arm-low position on something like an S3?

Last jump was 15,000 ft, deployed 4500ft, pro track maxed out and neptune read 2 min 25s........ so that was a little exaggeration..... Basically I'm concerned that I could be floating more than flying, but don't have anyone to flock with, so I'm finding it hard to tell.

A question for any experienced wingsuit fliers out there....... Where have you found the best arm position to be for flying a Birman Classic I suit? Everything I have read suggests that arms and hands should be level with the upper torso in flight, i.e. straight. However, I seem to be getting much slower descent rates and a better glide ratio with my upper arms in a "hug the beachball" position. Is it likely that I am not really using the suit to its full potential in this position? My average flight in this position, with arms bent and hands well in front of my upper body, from 14,000ft to deployment at 5000ft, is 2 and a half minutes. If I straighten my arms and bring my hands level with my sides and reduce the curve across the leading edge then I rarely pass 1 and a half minutes. Should I continue with what seems to work for me? Or should I stop learning a bad habit? Any tips on why I might not be flying as efficiently with arms straight? Thanks for any repsonses - BTW I am self-taught from the BM manual and have no easy access to any local BMIs, hence asking the question here! Edit to add: I'm a tall & skinny, if that affects the position anyhow?

Seeing students support each other is great, especially because on small dropzones the only instructors tend to be in the air a lot. I'm all in favour of students telling each other "nice" stories whilst they're waiting on the flightline for the instructor to arrive. However, like Phree said, please be very aware of what you are saying and keep to personal stories instead of technical advice or tips. This isn't a dig at anyone in this thread, but I thought this should be here as a warning in case any other newbies read it and decide to start giving out their own, less considered advice. Simple things like telling someone a bad method for how to flare, can result in broken bones. If any newbies read this and realise that your friends have been giving you advice that you never heard your instructors mention, please ASK your instructors about it before you accept it as truth! Having said that, it sounds like you were doing a great job calming down someone's nerves for the flight up to altitude, so well done LiLa

I spend £90 ($160 USD) driving to and from the DZ every weekend and get some discounted jumps instead of being paid. But hell, it's worth it when a student bounces up to you and gives you a hug after their first jump!

I'm likely to turn up on the night and pick the brains of some experienced jumpers in return for a few beers

I'm afraid I won't be addressing your questions, because they are ones that there is no "right" answer to and you should talk them through with your instructors. However, if you practice, you should be able to find that you can bring both hands into your body without losing stability. Try keeping your legs as wide as possible, with your hips forward, and *slowly* get used to bringing your hands into the centre of your body. After you can do this, speed it up until you can do it almost instantly. Hopefully this will give you some more confidence, but please bear in mind that in the event of a cutaway, you will not be falling calmly through the air in a stable arch!

Have you spoken to Pete Sizer about whether he'll let you jump it? Most UK CCIs that I know have a rough 400-500 jump limit on jumping elliptical canopies. Finding someone who wants to swap canopies shouldn't be too much of an issue though!

Cheers Tom, sounds interesting, hopefully one will appear in the UK soon! .... just need someone to win the lottery

Please forgive the naive skydiver question I'm aware of many legal BS and E sites, but I haven't heard of a legal A anywhere? Does this mean it is currently impossible to get a BASE number without *bending* the law? I'm not asking for a named site, just interested if legal 'A's exist and how abundant they are.