diveout

I saw Eric Butts flying the only one in existence -a 95- in Florida at the PST swoop meet. It looked and seemed to fly like any other high-performance canopy to me, but I did not get to take a close look or demo one. Also, ALL of the Atair pilots were jumping competition cobalts during the actual competition rounds. Hmmm...where was the onyx?

All of the people who have helped us along the way: Dave Wright, Urban Moore, Joe Webber, Ralph Hatley...The various freefly and canopy coaches at Perris,Elsinore, and Eloy. The people at these DZ's make it possible for people with little time in the sport, but the drive to succeed successful. And of course the entire gang as Kapowsin Air Sports. Without our VSE sponsorship we'd still be going into debt to pay for jumps and gear. Thank you Troy and Kristin for the blind faith that we could do this. Sincerely, Diveout Dan, Will Dog, and Seshi Intermediate freefliers and advanced swoopers coming to a competition near you.

Thanks Bryan, I appreciate your comments -and the time you spent with me and my friends when we were in San Marcos getting our coach ratings. I will try to be more patient in my search for the best canopy in the world. later, -Dan

I am glad they have treated you well in the past

I agree 100% They all know the risks when they sign up for star fleet.

I want to jump a COMPETITION cobalt, they are different from the regular ones in minor but important ways. They answered the phone when you called? That is truly astounding.

Ramon, I would love to jump your 105, and I will! See how easy that is, Dan? Ramon has a canopy, and he want's me to jump it. He is willing to convince me that a competition cobalt is a good canopy. I bet he won't even charge me anything out of the goodness of his heart?! God Bless America

Bulls@!t you do not -(or prove me wrong and send a competition cobalt 120 to Skydive Oregon at your earliest convenience). I feel like I have tried to get a demo for one and failed, because a demo of anything bigger than a 105 does not exist. Isn't that possible? Of course it is. Atair was unwilling to make me one because they did not have the confidence that I would buy it if I liked it, and that's fine. You clearly now do not have either the resources or confidence to make me a demo canopy. Isn't that also possible? I am ready to buy the best high performance canopy in the world -today. Please convince me that this canopy is an ONYX by sending me a demo. If that is too much to ask, I feel bad; bad about your arrogance. I understand you put on a really good show at the PIA symposium, good for you and your company. I bought my Xaos 21 from the nice folks at Precision because they were so easy to work with, and the price (50% off retail) was great. Why are you so hard to work with? Well, I'm just a kid who likes fast canopies, I only have four years in the sport. What the hell do I know anyway, right?

I need aerial photos of swoop ponds that show proximity to runways at PUBLIC airports. Printed on a bubble jet would be fine.

Base jumpers have this really nasty habit, skydivers, motocyclists, rock climbers bla bla bla... They kill themselves -sometimes intentionally- doing what they love to do. And that's OK with me. I choose not to base jump (so far) because I believe it to be relatively less safe and therefore relatively less of a good idea than skydiving. I am awe-struck by good base footage, I've never seen this footage but hey- If one guy, or two, want to ruin legal base jumping for the rest of the crazy lot: It is OK with hard core base jumpers, they like the fact that it's illegal anyway, just like other "stuff". That seems to be my understanding.

I guess I got some bad information-Sorry I'll clean your pond for hire if you want, I've done it at large swimming pools: Charge two hop-n-pops per hour Nobody has a digital photo of their pond on their computer or if so they won't send it to me... If I were "rich" like so many of the skydivers north of where I live I could just fly all over the country taking nice pictures, that would be cool.

psycho-pack it, cram it in there, and then see if it deploys safely

We got complaints for swooping nearby standing water. Neighbors are scared because of our fatalities (1 coronary, the other one very likely medical -we'll never know). The Aerobatic pilots are "with" us, against all of the mcnasty's who think we're going to rain bodies through their ceilings. During a busy summer day there are two caravans and five 182's and at least two aerobatic pilots practicing =lots of really ,really cool noise. Drainage cure -of course...

Sweet- I got a room at the summit and I just talked my freefly teammate into flying out from Phoenix to compete with his new VX 91. Do you think they'll have an ONYX demo or three at the festival?

Tell you what Chuck- If I can get one by the PCB swoop festival, I'll buy you a slot for some bird-man coaching. I want a 120 also. If they'll let me have a demo of a 105 and a 120 for 30 days, within 30 days (without charging me more than $60), I'll buy you three regular slots wherever I see you next. on a closely related topic... Are you a Sigma Tandem Examiner? Edit:10:44 am PST -How are you supposed to send a potential customer a new hotness product when you don't or won't pay someone to answer the phone during normal business hours? I left a longish message and expect no reply based on my previous experience with Dan & Co.

Which two very experienced tandem instructors and birdmen will be the first to combine the two? Tandem skysurfing was done, as well as tandem base, why not birds (it hasn't been done yet has it)?

Semi- elliptical scary crew, right... Get a cross-braced and jump with somebody wearing inappropriate shoes/boots. I had a "traumatic" experience that started that way once. Be sure to wear shoes you can kick off if you have to. I have done some mild stiletto crew since then, but swooping is where it's at for me.

Anybody wanna bet I can't get a demo of a 105 in less than 30 days? I've had what I would call horrible luck getting demos of the canopies I want to jump from Atair, they'll have a chance to redeem themselves when I call (again) tomorrow.

Ah yes... The line is fuzzy. A hook turn is a more radical maneuver. Many people us the rule of thumb that if you are beyond (above) the trailing edge of your canopy while it is in a dive you are in a hook turn, if not you are making a carving approach. A carving turn is slower and you are less committed to it, meaning that you can make changes during your carve to the inputs on your canopy, a hook turn generally results from pulling down hard and fast on either a front riser or a toggle, although rear riser, or harness input on a teeny tiny canopy could produce the same effect. You can carve your canopy as you are landing it -safely. If you hook turn your canopy while you are trying to land it you will likely be injured or killed. What I mean is, you can touch your foot down to a blade of grass or water or whatever as you are in the first stage of a two stage flare, and then change the direction your canopy is flying. Good pilots can easily change the direction their canopy is flying 90 degrees or more after making contact with the surface. You make have to make a slight turn soon to avoid something weird and sudden, or off DZ one day soon, or to avoid a canopy collision at altitude. Be confident in your evasive maneuvers (it might even have to be a carving turn), just in case.

Yea- Fifty feet is pretty wide, SD Oregons' is 40'x200' and that's seems plenty wide enough. I considered the rectangle as a second option if we can't bargain enough land for the full diamond. Who has a nice digital aerial photo of a swoop pond on their hard drive they can e-mail to me? Anyone?

Hi all, I want to build a proper swoop diamond at the Creswell Hobby Field where our two little battling DZ's operate. Here's the deal: 1) The land is owned by the State of Oregon (not a problem -DOT is positive about project so far) 2) Farmer who pays for a shared use permit or lease or something, for the same land(? haven't approached him yet). He has traditionally been totally fine with skydivers landing in his field, BUT he uses it to grow feed grass for his cattle and might miss 150 x 220 feet worth -he also puts sheep there in the winter. 3) Non-skydiving pilots (airport committee) and the airport manager don't like skydivers as a general rule and are afraid of birds in a major way. Our airport is surrounded by MANY natural bodies of water and birds aren't any kind of a recurring problem yet. As committed swoopers we could easily keep birds away from our pond...using dogs, guns, loud & obnoxious women and children, and high explosives if necessary. The money and time to build and maintain the pond are not going to be an issue -IF AND ONLY IF- I can get permission to build it. I need aerial photos of nice looking ponds at public airports. Any airport managers out there who are skydivers who helped to have ponds built? I need qualified people (FAA officials would be great) willing to write letters and make phone calls so that this can happen for us. DO YOU FIT THIS CATEGORY? If so, or if you know someone who does, please respond and I'll send you my phone number so we can chat. Sincerely, Diveout Dan D-23892 PST adv. pilot

My freefly teammate started doing tandem video/stills with fewer than 150 jumps. It was not "highly recommended" but he went about it the right way and asked for a lot of advice and stuff -being kind of a natural didn't hurt either. I waited until about 350 because that was when I felt confident about it. By the way, it you're hard core you can make 100 jumps in a month (easy), depending on weather and finances and free time.

You're a rigger, right? Why not just "make" exactly what you want? I'm just a riggin' student so forgive my lack of knowlege, but can't you call the bridle part of the main canopy and go from there, or is it part of the TSO'd harness-container? Are you the only one who'll jump it? I got a nine foot 28" cazer for birdman and such and I really like it so far. VectorIII h/c/ Xaos canopies.

Of course! Pre-planning! I've heard of that! If I had my shit together I could even send 'em a video so they could see if I'm a flail or not..Hmm...

Yea, that would definitely work. What do you think my chances are of getting to take the test at the actual boogie on the beach? Anybody?