adamUK

It's getting a bit metaphysical when a topic about the notion that a post about declaring skyhooks saving lives sending a discussion thread is ended by a post about the very same. Man.. my mind is blown...

Kudos for you for leaving it as was and taking the set up to the rigger.

I think it would be unfair for the AFF student who's spent big bucks on ground school and the jump itself to have either him or both AFFI's potentially distracted by someone else on the jump notwithstanding the safety aspects too.

Have a chat with the manufacturer. My tunnel suit is cordura and my freefly suit is alighter cordura. I have double layers in the legs for extra power. Basically they will tailor the suit for you. You're not particularly massive though so you don't need anything too extreme. You might be able to get something second hand

You're a top bloke. Good stuff

I replaced the batteries in mine and they didn't last a couple of days before my pro track said they needed replacing again. In the end I ended up buying the Renata brand that were the ones recommended from L&B. Perhaps other brands don't supply so much current or the battery internal resistance was too high. Still, it didn't do weird stuff like yours. I am sure L&B will sort you out

Static line for charity.

From wikipedia it is indeed a dornier 28 but the G92 variant modified by a Slovakian company. So there you go...

Airvan at skydive st george

I wore 2 suits at Airkix Milton Keynes which is pretty low power. It managed to get me off the net head down. Once you get onto shelf (also called hook or stall), you'll probably be able to fly that at slow speeds too. I can fly in shelf at my lowest sit fly speeds now but it does take practice

I might have the vid somewhere... it was one of those 'oh sh!t' moments. Edited to add : the driver wouldn't put the tunnel up more than 75% afterwards....

Tunnels in Europe are getting cheaper. Skydive Arena in Prague is now $725/hr and even less of you book multiple hours. Basically there are a lot of tunnels being built and perhaps a bit of overcapacity. Hopefully the same.will happen stateside

I was only poking fun at Ricardo. We do a lot of flying together

You've not seen Ricardo track...

Even better if your name's Jim and you try it with 10 of your friends in the middle of a huck jam...

Nigel Holland is a super-nice guy and a very experienced instructor. He'll be able to answer all your questions. Empuria is a great DZ. If you've done some tunnel time already you'll be nice and stable in freefall too. Welcome to the sport. You'll fit in just fine and have a great time

Skydive Arena is a 14ft tunnel to the North East of the city centre. The pro-flyer rates are really good - $730 (€536) per hour including GST/VAT as at 26th May 2014. Pros: ----- It's great value for money. The airflow is smooth and there's no diffuser to there's power all the way to the turning vanes. There's enough power that even fatties like me can fly head down. It's easily accessible via budget airlines - you can get to Prague for €120/return from the UK, for example. There's a good restaurant on site which also sell cold beer. Pro-flyers and coaches are on hand all day. Cons: ----- I can't think of any other than it's not right outside my house. Other things you should know: ----------------------------- The holding area where you wait between rotations is quite large and there's a monitor with a 2 minute delay so you can review your performance. The viewing area has a few sofas and bean bags plus also some toys/games for the kids to keep them occupied when mom and dad are enjoying their play time. You can download footage on to your own USB sticks in the changing room. There are showers available for those really sweaty summer sessions. There's a small selection of helmets, goggles and other bits and bobs for sale if you forget something. The changing/locker room has a marked out area for dirt-diving. There are lockers available, you get given a lock and key when at reception. There's a decked area at the top of the restaurant including a bar, barbeque and a jacuzzi for those late night parties. It's right next door to a shopping centre to get those essentials you forgot. When I went I didn't have a suit or a helmet so one of the instructors lent me his suit and we blagged a helmet from someone else - so kudos for the lads for that. Prague itself is an achingly beautiful city, the beer's cheap (if you avoid the main tourist areas) and the food is great. Pork seems to be the staple diet for the Czechs! There's a few DZs about an hour's drive away. Summary: --------- All in all an excellent tunnel and well worth a visit. It would be ideal for team training if you're booking a lot of time as, I believe, lower rates are available for large block bookings.

Not so. All canopies have to open so providing personal experience as to how one does vs how another does is very much comparing apples with apples. There's a large section of the skydiving community that has little or no has access to demo canopies, can only contact dealers via email and field reps are nonexistent. Dz.com is an international site after all. I disagree with you: DZ.com does have a role for users' input with regard to use and their opinions about equipment. The forums would be very short (and dry) if every answer was 'go and demo it, talk to the dealer'. Caveat lector, of course, but jumpers do like to talk about their gear. I've used this site to gain insights to other user's experiences and opinions of their gear. One advantage being that it's actual field data and has a degree of impartiality. Thank you.

My pulse opens quicker than my aerodyne pilot ever did. My first pulse had a turn so I sent it to pd. They couldn't fix it so I got a brand new canopy from them.

This was a previous Ministry of Defence testing facility so the both the location and the design of the tunnel are a bit incongruous when compared to modern tunnels. Pros: It's a big big tunnel and powerful enough for freeflying in too. Great for 4 way as most blocks can be flown in there. The vibe is really laid back. Once you've signed your disclaimer you can do what you want in there, pretty much. They not insistent on you following the IBA progression. There are excellent onsite facilities, a bar, a good cafe (the full English breakfast is recommended), accommodation that's great value for money if a bit basic, a flowrider, climbing wall (good for kids but not a hard-core bouldering wall or anything) plus spa, gym, pool, sauna and steam room. There's a gear store and they are also dealers for boogieman if you want measuring up for a new suit. Cons: The air is much more turbulent than modern tunnels. They're pretty open about this but it does take some getting used to. It's well worth doing a few minutes solo before group flying if you've never been in there before just to get the hang of it. The burble at the door is quite bad and again, it really pays dividends to carve 4 or 5 feet above the net to avoid it. Other stuff: The fan is straight above the top net and can be seen from the flying chamber. This makes the strength of the air greater as it gets higher. It's not uncommon to get stuck on the top net which is really weird. The corollary of this is that just above the net the air is a bit weaker so again it pays to fly a bit higher than you would at a skyventure tunnel. There's no diffuser. For higher wind speeds it takes a bit more time to get up to speed than modern tunnels. The location's unusual - it's not really near any population centres being an ex-MoD site but there are a few nice pubs close by. If you're into 1950s ex-military derelict architecture then this place would be amazing [;-)]

This is my home tunnel. It's a 14ft skyventure unit. Airkix were once independent but have been bought out by iFly. Upsides: It's a really powerful unit with a smooth airflow. I think it's a 1600hp (i.e 1.2MW) tunnel. There are team rooms with monitors which are useful to review footage. The staff are super-friendly. It's a great vibe and they're very welcoming. There are some really good coaches and most people are signed off L4 instructors for all those tricky spotting duties. The tunnel rates are good (certainly comparable to US tunnels despite 20% VAT in the UK). For regulars they have super user accounts which offer great rates and there's no monthly fee like other iFly tunnels. They'll give you rotations (i.e. 2 mins in 2 mins out) even if you're the only person in the tunnel. The Trafford Centre's just close by which has everything retail plus great places to eat and stay. Manchester airport is 15 minutes away. It's just off the M60 so the transport links are really good. Downsides: If you want footage you have to get a DVD. For pro-flyers it's free but most other tunnels you just give them your memory stick and they copy it over. It means you have to rip the dvd to your pc when you get home. If you have to use the tunnel suits they're low quality and not worth flying in. They don't last long. One size fits most... i.e. no matter what size you try on, it won't fit!! Other stuff: There's some vending machines but the coffee's terrible! They're opening up a bistro on site though soon (late Spring 2014) An italian bistro has been installed right at the viewing area. This is run by an external company that also has a restaurant in Manchester and is excellent Walk-in's are allowed (despite the details held by dz.com) but don't expect the tunnel to be free. It's very busy! It books up usually 2 weeks in advance. Summary: All in all a smooth, powerful tunnel with great staff and a great vibe.

I like the way the jumpers sink into the swamp never to be seen again at 0ft. You modelled this in Florida I'd imagine?

Let's not forget the R&D and technology developed to detect such particles. I went to a talk last year from the guy who was working on the ATLAS detector. The huge amounts of radiation developed during each test meant that they were coming up with some pretty innovative means of shielding... it's stuff like this that then can get used in other industrial applications.

Let's not forget the R&D and technology developed to detect such particles. I went to a talk last year from the guy who was working on the ATLAS detector. The huge amounts of radiation developed during each test meant that they were coming up with some pretty innovative means of shielding... it's stuff like this that then can get used in other industrial applications.

I started on about 20 mins every couple of weeks. Then this wasn't enough to scratch my itch. Then I upped the dose to about 20 minutes a week. Again I got used to this strength. I had to up the dose again to about 30 mins/week. No I am on a much stronger intravenous dose of about 40 mins. I'll see how this goes. One thing to say this habit is ruining me financially