Gary73

Seriously, man, those canopies are way too small for someone with 200 jumps, even under good conditions. Throw in a nasty malfunction, off-field landing, etc., and you'll be praying for more square footage. Also, not too many 190 reserves are even certified for a 280-lb exit weight. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Keep that in mind and with a little bit of luck you'll be able to explain that to some newbie thirty years from now. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

Most riggers have no problem packing a reserve that's up to 20 years old. Some will go to 25 or 30 years, with a thorough inspection. If you're unsure about buying a particular canopy, ask the rigger you'll be using to act as an escrow agent and inspect the canopy before you pay for it. A legitimate seller will be okay with that, at least within the same country. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

Put around ten jumps on a Pulse 170 demo canopy last weekend and ordered one yesterday. The canopy packs, opens, and flies very much as advertized. Openings are positive, but usually not harsh, with very little hunting. Front risers are a bit heavy, but I rarely touch those. Toggle forces are a little higher than on my HeatWave 170, but not bad at all. Haven't had the chance to fly next to a similarly loaded canopy (1.4 PSF), but the glide angle seems pretty flat. Very controllable through the flare, from calm through about 12 MPH winds. Most of my jumps are as an AFF-I, so this is just what I've been looking for. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

I was okay with the GM program right up until the BOD caved to Skyride. Then I got to really thinking about it and realized that as much as I despise Skyride, they were right about one thing: USPA has no business running a GM program at all. The proper response should have been to simply disband the program, but instead, the Executive Committee decided and give Skyride everything they wanted, without even advising, much less getting the approval of the rest of the BOD. Now I'm forced to pay dues to an organization which publicly states that all its Group Members follow a code of ethics, when we all know that that's a lie. Do the right thing, BOD: End the GM Program! "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

Makes me wonder whether they worked their way up to nine or just hooked up every glider they had went for it. Either way, I'd hate to have been Tail-end Charlie! "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

25 x 17 x 9". "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

What we teach for the pre-jump inspection is that 90% of the individual little fibers that make up the loop should be good, namely no more than 10% wear. Any more than that and the loop should be replaced before the next jump. A tiny amount of wear is hard to avoid, but it shouldn't leave the rigger with anywhere near 10% wear, especially with the longer repack cycle now. I've slowly cut through loops (at repack time) to see how far you can go before the pack tension snaps the rest of the loop, and they seem to let go when 60% to 80% of the fibers are cut. So yeah, 10% wear is the most I'd want to see. Pretty good rule for main closing loops, also. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

"Arch! Reach! Pull! Look! - Uh-oh!" That happened so often back at Jenkinsburg that they sewed the handles to the containers with 1-1/2" cotton-elastic. We were used to it, but when I borrowed a reserve to jump at a Collegiate meet, the rigger there was horrified and almost didn't let me use it!

Skydive Miami is less than an hour from the Florida Keys. Lots of neat wrecks and reefs; depths from shallow through 130 ft. Do the skydiving first. The 24-hour rule is oriented toward airline flying, where the cabin is pressurized to give an apparent altitude no higher than 8,000 ft. I've heard of jumpers getting DCS as much as 72 hours after a day of by-the-book scuba diving. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

Yeah, unless there's a mighty good reason (i.e. safety or massive personality conflict), stick with the first place at least until you're cleared to self-supervise. Learning to skydive can be pretty overwhelming; no need to add additional confusion by changing equipment, aircraft, people, procedures, locations, etc. Not to mention that the second place looks to be a lot more expensive! "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

1. If your current PC is working okay, stick with the same size. Adjust up or down a little if you change fabric types. 2. ZP gives more lift per square inch, but F-111 is less likely to slip out of the pouch. 3. Usually, but I've seen a few that were sewn to the D-bag (hate those!) or required tools to install. Either way, have it checked by a rigger or someone familiar with such things before you pack it up. BTW, bungee PCs seem to work fine, but aren't too popular anymore. If you get a kill-line PC, be sure to double-check the PC collapse and kill-line window until it becomes second nature! "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

I'm not familiar with the Aerodyne freefly handle and it's not clear to me just where the friction is coming from. Haven't seen this on other freefly handles. Either way, you should be able to protect that area with a piece of ripstop tape. Maybe one on each side of the fabric. Not an ideal solution, but better than letting it get worse. And quicker than waiting on a solution from Aerodyne, apparently. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

Is that 235 lbs. with gear or without? Keep in mind that USPA recommends keeping your wing loading less than 1.0 PSF until you have 200 jumps. Lots of people ignore that, but lots of people get hurt, too! If 235 is your exit weight, go with at least a 260. If 235 is your regular weight, 25 lbs. of gear will make your exit weight 260, in which case you should be looking at 290s. You'll definitely have to get at least some used components if you want to keep the cost under $3,500. The Dropzone Classifieds are great for finding used gear, but have an Instructor or rigger you trust look over the ad before you commit to anything. Good luck! "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

Newer is better, but Airtec says that the battery pack has a three-year shelf life before installation, so batteries made in 07 should be okay to install for another year. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

Depends on what's involved: If the newbie (whether student or licensed jumper) asks for specific instruction before the jump and a decent debrief afterward, then it's fair for him to cover the Coach's slot. First of all, the Coach invested time and money getting to his level of proficiency, and secondly, the coachee will make more progress on a properly conducted coached jump than on two or three or maybe even ten solo or regular fun jumps. Another aspect of it is that doing a coached jump often consists of just laying there as a stable base and watching the newbie flail and zoom by. Not the funnest use of $20 to $25. But if it's just an ordinary fun jump with no instruction and just a casual debrief walking back to the hangar, then the experienced jumper should cover his own slot and pay it forward. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

At 75 Kg you'll have an exit weight around 190, so even a 170 is smaller than USPA recommends until you have 200 jumps. Never forget that the greatest single cause of fatalities and serious accidents in this sport is excessive downsizing. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3280048;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed; There's no reason to loosen (much less unthread) your chest strap until you approach the level of proficiency of a national-competition canopy pilot. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

He showed some interest in a reserve I was selling, but the transaction never proceeded any farther than that, so no opinion either way WRT reliability as a buyer. I've sold several things outside the U.S. and have been asked to under-declare or list an item as a gift, but have declined. The issue isn't just a matter of taking a risk on the item being lost or damaged. The odds of getting caught are probably low, but tax evasion is a crime, as is falsifying government documents, including Customs forms. So: is it worth it? "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

BDashe, etc., If two companies are owned by the same people and operate using the same "business model", then it seems perfectly reasonable for the actions of one company to be associated with the other. As for hanging with outlaws, that seems equally reasonable. If you're part of a gang that robs a bank, but all you do is drive the getaway car, you're still complicit in the robbery and can expect to get some prison time if you're caught. Furthermore, if anyone dies during the robbery, then you're also guilty of felony murder, even if the victim was one of the robbers. That's the law, and it seems fair to me. As for Skyride and its sister companies, try looking at it like this: If you knew that a company had intentionally cheated you, as part of a business policy developed by the owners, would you work for those owners? Hell, no. Would you do any further business with any of their companies? Also hell, no. Now, what if that company had intentionally cheated a close family member? Your best friend? A guy you knew from work? Some stranger? A whole bunch of strangers? People draw circles around themselves and basically say "These are the people I care about.". Some people's circles are bigger than others. Those of us who hate Skyride, etc. have big circles. Those who patronize them have smaller circles. Those who work for them have still smaller circles. The owners' circles are the smallest of all, and don't include you, BTW. So what you have to ask yourself is: "How big is my circle? How many people do I care about? How many people will I stand up for, even when all that requires is to take my business elsewhere?" The choice is yours. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

"You ride with outlaws, you hang with outlaws." - Larry McMurtry - Lonesome Dove Sometimes it really is that simple. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

I guess that Skyride and company feel that they've reached their maximum ability to abuse humans and have decided to branch out and abuse the rest of the animal kingdom as well. With all the students they've put into trees, their abuse of plants is well known, so look out, bacteria: you're next! (Though at least there, Skyride will be on a level playing field!) "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

A related problem is that unless all the fields have entries selected, none of them are displayed in the actual ad. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

And now the ad has been completely removed and all I got was an e-mail indicating that: Your ad Raven 3 Reserve has expired 0000-00-00 and has been removed. To place your ad again, or to place another ad go to the link below and click on "Post an Ad". So what's going on here? "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

When posting a Classified ad, the poster is given a choice of manufacturers, models, etc. for common types of gear like canopies. That's neat, but the list is nowhere complete, and there's no option available to enter an unlisted make or model. Please either make the lists complete or allow user entry of this info (preferably the latter, as it's pretty much impossible to keep such lists up to date.) Thanks. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan

I just posted an ad in the Classifieds, and when I viewed it, it came with a warning the the poster had just registered today. This gives a false impression about me and my ad. Please correct this. Thanks. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/classifieds/detail_page.cgi?ID=75810;d=1 "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan