hchunter614

You're paying for the size of the tunnel so about the only way you're going to reduce the cost is to go to a smaller tunnel. Orlando, New Hampshire and Denver come to mind.

Did you ask the tunnel to reccomend a coach? Or ask on here or at your DZ. Then contact them directly. People that coach at tunnels usually buy blocks of time to use.

Gratz on the new rig. In the US, renters and homeowners insurance usually covers damage and theft (including from your car or while at the dz) but you may have to declare the equipment or add a rider to the poilcy. I do not know of any insurance that will cover your lost main from a cut-away.

Here's a link to the section of the IRM... http://www.uspa.org/Portals/0/Downloads/Man_IRMEssentials.pdf Check out page 2 section 1.F for the coach rating. Page 23 in the PDF covers IAD.

You should match the brakes on both canopies. If you have unstowed the brakes on one, unstow the brakes on the other. You want the relative speed of the two canopies to be as close as possible.

The radios they use have the speaker in the helmet and then the receiver is stuffed into the students jumpsuit so I don't think it's a radio.

Wink at AerOhio put together a very good video that does just that and is used as a training aid during the FJC. They spend quite a bit of time (and money) on staging and filming many of the malfunctions.

You can't go wrong with deciding to keep the bigger canopy in the rig, especially if you're not going to be able to jump a lot every weekend. Play it safe and stay with the bigger canopy.

People aren't dogging you because you're trying to help a kid out. They're dogging you because there are much more effective ways to communicate with the people you need to other than using a web site (that they may or may not even read on a daily basis). A phone call or email would get you in contact with them much faster then hoping they read a forum posting.

+1

Hmmm... $3.055 million for the entire project seems very low. If that is the true project cost then this is not going to be a Skyventure type tunnel. Which could also be another reason it is being put in a dome.

In addition, you're going to learn things in a building block style so trying to understand/learn move C that uses move a and move b will just cause you to feel overwhelmed. Also, the way you do some moves will be tweaked slightly as you progress. For example a swoop to dock consists of level adjustment and forward motion and is initially taught as a series of stair steps using faster fall rate then forward motion then faster fall rate then forward motion to finally arrive at the dock. After a couple of jumps we work on smoothing that out so that you are doing the level adjustment and forward motion at the same time. But until you can do the level adjustment and forward motion on their own, you are unlikely to be able to do a swoop to dock.

Yes but we also teach students to throw, (count) 1000, 2000, 3000, check. That "check" is looking over your shoulder to ensure you have a canopy, which you usually do. If you do have a PC caught in your burble, the check should clear it and allow the deployment sequence to continue.

His performance didn't help skydiving because he biffed but what would have happened if he had killed himself? Or killed one of his ground crew or the camera crew?

The article specifically states the jump was for promotional purposes... "A skydiving enthusiast since 2007, Vickers became the first driver in series history to parachute into the speedway as a promotional kickoff for the July 2 Coke Zero 400" My bolding

Plus the tunnel in Orlando is one of the least expensive so if you figure out cost per minute of freefall time the tunnel is a much better value. Plus you get immediate feedback on your flying and can practice what you're just fixed without having to wait 20 mins for the next load to go up. The tunnel is also very good if you want to get started in free flying.

Good catch Dave. I was typing my reply and thought about shrinkage affecting the trim of the canopy and ended up merging the 2 different affects into one sentence.

I believe it's true for all types of lines just that each type is more or less resistant than others. But I'm not sure which is most/least resistant off the top of my head. EDIT to add: After a quick seach it seems that Spectra has the worst resistance to heat (and shrinking) while HMA and vectran do not shrink much (or at all).

Yes, that's also why you need to replace your line sets every so often depending on what type of lines you have. The heat generated by the slider coming down the lines causes them to shrink and they shrink at different rates depending on the line group.

If you don't know how to untwist your brake lines ask a rigger or packer. You start up at the cascade and run the line thru your finger towards the toggle (like getting the kinks out of a garden hose). The main reason for doing this is that as the slider comes down the lines it heats the lines up which will set the twists if you leave them in.

Generally the +25% is added only for students with generally keeps them around .75-.85:1 wing loading. Again, just like what is said in every thread asking for advice on dz.com....Talk to your instructors or a person at the DZ that is familiar with your canopy skills. The wing loading guidelines are just that, guidelines.

To add to what oblixtim said always check your canopy from top to bottom and fix problems from bottom to top. For example if you have a stuck slider and have line twists you can't fix the stuck slider until you fix the line twists. Also a problem you identify at the top of your check may necesitate a chop so better to not waste the time fixing the lower problem. There are various theories as to why many AFF students see line twists on the pretty regular basis but the most common thought is that with having one or 2 instructors with the student it causes a bigger burble and the Dbag tends to bounce around more than it would if the instructors weren't there. Packing and body position play a role in line twists.

Given 30 pounds for gear that would put your exit weight at 215 pounds giving you a .97:1 wingloading.

Be sure to untwist your brake lines every day after you finish jumping. If you don't they will take on the twists and become shorter. Also periodically check your slider grommets for burs.

Several people have mentioned having a radio on your first few jumps. While most places do this you should NOT rely on the radio. Radios can and DO fail to work some times. Your FJC (first jump course) will go over all of the information you need to have to be able to fly and land your own canopy without assistance and you should always be prepared to do so. Just like an ADD, a radio is a backup device and should not be relied on. Welcome to the sky.