larry

This is in no way a criticism, but I think when people do the intentional cutaway for a tandem rating they use a system with 3 chutes so there is still a reserve. My apologies if you know this already. By the way I do have 1 cutaway and feel much better about being able to react to emergencies after having done it. (was not intentional) “Now click your heels together 3 times so you can return to Kansas to live in poverty with your teetotaling, dirt farming aunt and uncle!” paraphrased Prof. Farnsworth

I am not arguing which is safer. I’m just saying this is not a valid argument. If you are going 60 mph and you fail to stop at the next light or turn the wheel when the road curves you could die too. There are many activities each day that could kill us through our actions or inactions. 67% of all people know that! “Now click your heels together 3 times so you can return to Kansas to live in poverty with your teetotaling, dirt farming aunt and uncle!” paraphrased Prof. Farnsworth

Cow swooping! F**king hilarious: http://www.martijnvandam.nl/htm/global/videos/cowswooping/cowswooping_large.htm “Now click your heels together 3 times so you can return to Kansas to live in poverty with your teetotaling, dirt farming aunt and uncle!” paraphrased Prof. Farnsworth

(off topic) That whole site kicks ass! http://www.martijnvandam.nl/ check out some of the other videos easy to use site Cow-swooping is the best! “Now click your heels together 3 times so you can return to Kansas to live in poverty with your teetotaling, dirt farming aunt and uncle!” paraphrased Prof. Farnsworth

It's part of our digital cable package

Spike (the newly renamed mens network) “Now click your heels together 3 times so you can return to Kansas to live in poverty with your teetotaling, dirt farming aunt and uncle!” paraphrased Prof. Farnsworth

I got to admit I watch it if nothing is on and the synopsis says there is skydiving. What pisses me off is that they just add their own total bullshit uninformed commentary to add dramatic tension. Just saw an AFF jump with two instructors and one student. When the student pulls as normal and the instructors fall away the narrator says, “He lost his instructors, and is in trouble.” He wasn’t in trouble till he decided to cutaway at about 300ft for no good reason. (tree landing under partially inflated reserve, luckily was uninjured) It’s not just skydiving, they do it with most every clip. It’s like porno, I like the action, but please just shut the f**k up! “Now click your heels together 3 times so you can return to Kansas to live in poverty with your teetotaling, dirt farming aunt and uncle!” paraphrased Prof. Farnsworth

It stinks how even the people closest to you eventually get tired of hearing about the sport... Damn Wuffo's! “Now click your heels together 3 times so you can return to Kansas to live in poverty with your teetotaling, dirt farming aunt and uncle!” paraphrased Prof. Farnsworth

I must have seen that about 3 times now but still love watching it. It's kind of hard to watch though, because I felt like I was making some real progress in RW skills, now feel like a kid who just took off his training wheels and thinks he is the king of the world till he sees a bmx competition. “Now click your heels together 3 times so you can return to Kansas to live in poverty with your teetotaling, dirt farming aunt and uncle!” paraphrased Prof. Farnsworth

"on the edge": "world cup of skydiving" The top skydivers compete in three events. If you have this channel it's great... “Now click your heels together 3 times so you can return to Kansas to live in poverty with your teetotaling, dirt farming aunt and uncle!” paraphrased Prof. Farnsworth

49 jumps, 1 reserve ride (high ratio for so few jumps, I guess) Slammer opening blew out center cell and broke lines. “Now click your heels together 3 times so you can return to Kansas to live in poverty with your teetotaling, dirt farming aunt and uncle!” paraphrased Prof. Farnsworth

Pittsburgh must be one of the lucky areas that gets it sooner. I would gladly trade this to live in Southern California or Florida with nice jumping weather year round. “Now click your heels together 3 times so you can return to Kansas to live in poverty with your teetotaling, dirt farming aunt and uncle!” paraphrased Prof. Farnsworth

Did you see the article in November Parachutist yet? Packed full of lots of stuff I didn't know about DB's famous jump. It was of course written from a skydivers prospective. Check it out when you get a chance! “Now click your heels together 3 times so you can return to Kansas to live in poverty with your teetotaling, dirt farming aunt and uncle!” paraphrased Prof. Farnsworth

A pilot at my old DZ was killed while flying an ultra light under similar circumstances. He did not have a passenger for the two seater, so he strapped plastic milk jugs filled with sand in the seat next to him (they were otherwise used to hold rigs in place while packing). Something happened and the jugs broke loose and fell away, the weight shift caused him to lose control. Not sure if this will apply to your situation. Just suggesting care be taken. “Now click your heels together 3 times so you can return to Kansas to live in poverty with your teetotaling, dirt farming aunt and uncle!” paraphrased Prof. Farnsworth

Here are links to two other people that had the same weight problem. Both were able to jump. Finding a DZ that will train you is the first step. These links have contact names and locations. First Link Another Link Good luck, “Now click your heels together 3 times so you can return to Kansas to live in poverty with your teetotaling, dirt farming aunt and uncle!” paraphrased Prof. Farnsworth

It has happened. I remember reading about someone landing in a swamp or marshy area and living. How does that saying go? In case of a double mal, track for your rigger! “Now click your heels together 3 times so you can return to Kansas to live in poverty with your teetotaling, dirt farming aunt and uncle!” paraphrased Prof. Farnsworth

I haven’t seen the new SIM yet but according to September Parachutist magazine you can complete that style series or “successful completion of the planned formation(s) on ten group freefall jumps;” I don’t know for sure yet but I’m hoping to use the 2-ways from Skydive University and some others to fulfill this requirement. “Now click your heels together 3 times so you can return to Kansas to live in poverty with your teetotaling, dirt farming aunt and uncle!” paraphrased Prof. Farnsworth

Jump # 39 Four jumps ago, two days ago. Blew out bottom skin and lines on center cell. Glad to have that first one out of the way!

Almost. I would have, but he preferred Honey Brow Lager. pull at 3.0, the hardest, fastest opening ever, knocked the wind out of me, left out a loud involuntary grunt, looked up and saw torn center cell and broken lines, paused to think “oh shit,” did controllability check because there was still altitude, though I think I already knew what was going to have to be done, seemed to flare ok, surged hard when let up on toggles… resigned myself to reality, checked altitude again, 2.2, look-grab-look-pull-pull, next there was a beautiful reserve above my head… All this happened in about ten seconds. It was very intense, but happened so amazingly fast there was never any panic. All those student fears are gone now. I certainly don’t feel invincible, but I hope to spend less time wondering if I will freeze when I need to react. Training, emergency procedure & muscle memory practices really work. No Shit. Larry (It was rented gear, I was not in a track, there was no line dump as seen on the video, wing loading of 0.95:1.00 on a ZP, chute was fairly new and very well maintained, the person who packed the main did it in the same proven way as had been done many times before. Should not waste time with controllability check with so much damage.) The post is about personal reaction to malfunctions.

Turns out the maximum weigh load printed on the chute was based on the weight limit of the reserves that were available when it was made in '92. The actual load limit is well above my exit weight. With that done, I'll now make sure my skill matches wing loading. I'm going from 1.00:1 to 1.05:1 while getting 20 jumps at SDU.

There was a person that posted here about a year ago that was in the same predicament. He did find a DZ and instructor to help him out and did go on to post about his experiences. I did a quick search but could not find the threads. Found it: Click here There are some names and contacts in this thread of where to go. Good luck! “Now click your heels together 3 times so you can return to Kansas to live in poverty with your teetotaling, dirt farming aunt and uncle!” paraphrased Prof. Farnsworth

Scott, thanks for the info. The types of questions you are asking go to the heart of what I need to know. I emailed PISA asking similar question and CC'ed you at the email in your profile. Basically I asked if it was intended for student use, is the listed wing loading recommended for students/novices or is that the absolute weight limit, what is the absolute weight limit? “Now click your heels together 3 times so you can return to Kansas to live in poverty with your teetotaling, dirt farming aunt and uncle!” paraphrased Prof. Farnsworth

Could be a student canopy. The COE-D was sold by PISA in Europe. Mine is about 10 years old. “Now click your heels together 3 times so you can return to Kansas to live in poverty with your teetotaling, dirt farming aunt and uncle!” paraphrased Prof. Farnsworth

I’ve got a PISA COE-D 260 and I want to use it at a wing load of ~1.06 (with an exit weight of 275lbs). Ignoring skill level for a minute, does this seem safe? That is over the max weight printed on the main. I know some chutes are designed to take higher wing loads, are there some chutes that should not be used at a wing load greater than 1.00? It is ZP on tops skin and f-111 on bottom if that makes a difference. Again I’m only asking about the safety or possibility of damage to the equipment, not skill level vs wing loading… Thanks for any advice. “Now click your heels together 3 times so you can return to Kansas to live in poverty with your teetotaling, dirt farming aunt and uncle!” paraphrased Prof. Farnsworth

Thanks everyone for the advice. I do have my own rig but still might need to use the rental gear for one more weekend. I guess the bruises are a small price to pay for the thrill of jumping... “Now click your heels together 3 times so you can return to Kansas to live in poverty with your teetotaling, dirt farming aunt and uncle!” paraphrased Prof. Farnsworth