Reginald

What’s worse is what it now takes to get over the withdrawal and satisfy my dependency. Oh sure it used to be one jump will be enough to last me all week. Then it was 4 or 5 in a weekend would tide me over. Hell, now if I don’t get 12 or 15 jumps in a weekend I’m curled up in a little ball in the corner rocking back and forth all week. Man, this winter is going to be hard. "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

Most of your questions will be answered by looking them up on the US Parachute Association’s web site. http://www.uspa.org/ I would plan on new gear costing a minimum of $4,000 to $6,000. You can buy decent used gear for $2,500 to $4,000. "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

AGREED! "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

Based on your WL it looks like yu weigh 200 out the door. Assuming you are a semi normal height (5'8" plus) I don't think your weight or build is the problem. It's probibly mor a body position issue whihc is common at your jump numbers. Sooo, what is your height and weight? "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

If you want to start out right then wait until you finish, or are within a few jumps of finishing your “A” license to think about buying gear. Honestly, you don’t know enough now to even start asking the right questions, as your post showed. Moreover, you may well never make it through to your license. You may be hooked and driven to get your license, as are many people with 2 jumps, but most don’t get through to finishing. Your time and money are best spent devoted to finishing your license and learning more about the sport before you buy gear. Best of luck on your license let us know how you are progressing!

The technical answer is “Yes” You can read the downloadable instruction manual to confirm that. In practice I have never noticed any differences that were material. If my wrist mounted mechanical altimeter says it’s 4,000 my protrack is telling me it’s 4,000. "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

Much of the info in that thread was questionable to begin with and some is now known to be wrong. One “eyewitness” spoke a lot on this board but others didn’t… Subsequent investigation and inspection of the gear lead to the conclusion that a line was caught on one of his flaps (and it did substantial damage to it) and this is what is now believed to be the apparent cutaway problem, not the 3 rings failing to release. I had the unfortunate fate to witness a good man’s death that day and talked to some of the investigators and have read all the reports, etc. I am comfortable saying that his case is not one of pulling the cutaway and then reserve instantly, generating an entanglement. Clearing the main was not an option, as it was simply caught on his gear. He had no choice but to fire his reserve and hope for the best. "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

Interesting. At my DZ we start students pulling at 5k. Throughout their AFF and coaching progression we bring them down to 3 or 3.5K. So when they get their “A” license they should be comfortable pulling at 3.5K with no problem. Most people at the DZ pull right at 3K except for a few free flyers who seem to think 4K is better. RW people (new and old) tend to be more comfortable pulling lower than FF’ers. Pulling at 3K tends to be a good general number as with normal 800 foot snivels it give just a short amount of time to work out a problem before a common 1,800 foot hard deck. A few people pull around 2.5K but not many. Honestly, I don’t see throngs of people freaking out about pulling below 4K. Typical break off is 4k to 4.5k for experienced 4 to 8 way RW jumps. It’s 4.5K for most low time 4 ways. It’s 5K for big ways (36ish people). Still plenty of time to pull by 3K. "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

I’m so glad you passed.

Both of my Sabre2’s have about 800-foot openings. I love it that way. You should too. I pull at 3,000 and have a canopy ready to collapse the slider, etc at 2,200 feet. Given all the trash talk about Sabre2’s lately and hard openings, I honestly find it a bit funny to see a thread about too soft of openings! "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

I still get nervous sometimes. Sometimes I just get scared. Other times I think nothing of it. I can sleep on the plane ride up on occasion and other times I spend the ride wondering what the hell I’m doing. The fear is less the more jumps I get and the calm days are more and more frequent. I don’t know that I’ll ever be totally over the anxiety. An instructor with about 10,000 jumps told me when I was a student that his heart rate still goes up in the door. Sooo, don’t think that at 5 or 10 or even 50 jumps you will be totally over it. You will probably never be over some level of fear or apprehension and if you do ever get to that point than you’re a fool. Just my opinion. "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

Sabre 2 openings? For soft openings – Put the slider ALL the way to the stops and quarter it. For on heading openings – put the canopy in the bag straight. "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

So based on the results so far it looks like the Sabre 2 is the safest canopy ever made. All other canopies open hard on average once ever 157.7 jumps. Yea for Sabre 2! Geeze… your rants make me believe the old adage that “people will believe what they want to believe regardless of what the facts are.” Let me think just off the top of my head I know people that have recently had hard openings on Stiletto’s, Spectre’s, Pilot’s, Sabre 1’s, and Safire 2’s. It can happen on any canopy any time. There are now over 6,000 Sabre 2’s on the market, that is probably more than any other canopy still in the air. Most of them are going to low time jumpers as it is a reasonably mid range performance canopy. Most of the hard openings I’ve heard of are from beginners packing for themselves…what could go wrong there?!?!?!? Beyond that the rate of hard openings appears to be no different than any other canopy. I’ve put almost 600 jumps on Sabre 2’s. The only hard opening I’ve ever had was directly due to my packing error when I was learning to pack. All I need to do to get an 800 foot snivel is to make sure the slider is firmly against the stops…guess what I do now every time I pack. "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

Wow, I’m amazed to hear people actually say this stuff. Jumpsuits are there for a reason! Why do you think Airspeed wear jumpsuits with booties? Do you really think they don’t know how to fly their bodies? A jumpsuit is the most important piece of skydiving equipment you have other than the lifesaving gear. Dress for success! Oh, think you want to freefly? I guarantee you the best freeflyers wear appropriate clothing too. If you don’t notice the difference between street clothes and a properly fitted jumpsuit than you might want to ask yourself why… "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

Glad you’re okay! Can you fill in a few points to help the rest of us learn. What is your hard deck and why did you go below it (I assume it is at least 1,800 feet but maybe it’s lower) Were you trained to use two hands on your cutaway handle or one on each handle? If one on each why did you not already have a hand on your silver handle when you cut away? I see you jump at Perris, given you had a Cypres fire did you receive the standard 30 day grounding? If not why? It sounds like you are adding an RSL? How does this make you feel and why? "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

I can’t tell after 1 jump but I can tell after a student has been at the DZ several weekends in a row watching high winds and low clouds not getting to jump. The ones that have the perseverance to show up regardless of it they get to jump or not for a few weekends are the ones with enough perseverance to make it through to an “A” license. That or the ones that are recently divorced. "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

LOL!

For one that new, you will be paying almost full price anyway..so why not spend the extra few bucks and just get a new one. "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

Lifting a shoulder? I’m an SDU coach and that sounds like some very old school thought. Currently the best thought in the sport on how to do center point turns is dropping an arm and the other leg, assuming your flying a boxman. I would presume part of your problem is the shoulder issue. Very strange anyone taught that to you? I’ve got to run to a meeting but I’d be happy to talk to you about it more later if you like. "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

Ah, a proper jumpsuit is a thing of beauty. It’s the most important pieces of gear you have other than your life saving gear. A proper jump suite can make all the difference in the world in terms of fall rate and control in the air. If you’re new to booties, it will take you 5 jumps to get some basic control of them and another good number to really get the feel. I openly admit I’m bootie dependent. When I jump without them I just don’t feel right. They are like power steering. They are a big difference from what you are used to but once you get the hang of them they will give you more control and power. You will actually change your flying style given the new tools at your disposal. "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

Well, after repeating AFF4 four times and AFF 5 three times, I decided a tunnel was a better use of my money. After 15 minutes all my problems were fixed and I was so excited I did a total of an hour before I went back to AFF. The instructor’s comments on my next AFF dive were glowing and I blew through the rest of AFF and a series of SDU jumps like a rock star. In my opinion I would have never passed AFF and hence never become a skydiver if it weren’t for doing tunnel time during AFF. With all that said I don’t recommend it for AFF students that are not having problems, only ones that are. As for experienced skydivers, I highly recommend tunnel time. It’s a great training tool. "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

QuoteThat other hackey might have been the one from SD Dallas that happened July 4th weekend. Quote No that hacky was recovered from the plane that day. So, we have 3 recently. I wonder if it is the same plane. "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

Yes, same problem. After lots of time with Dr's and Chiropractors I was simply told to do some weight lifting specific to those muscles, which after a few months alleviated the problem. "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

I would highly suggest you get with an experienced rigger and discuss all of this stuff because your posts make it clear you don’t understand the tradeoffs, pro's and con's of the various gear options available. It is your life at stake so take the time to get good advice. In any case please get competent help. "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

Do you mean the stirup for the bootie? It's been a few years since I ordered a new suit, but both my jumpsuits have stirups. Yes, it appears the Majik suit does not come with them. However, many people don't want them sooo just ask if you like them added. "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP