JKT

Thanks, but they were already fully booked up. I've actually found somewhere in Hicksville (worth it just to stay somewhere called that) which suits my real business for being in Long Island as well. I'll only be able to jump for two and a bit days so train plus taxi is probably the way I'll have to go... ----- Official 100 jump wonder

Thanks for the feedback, but trying to get accommodation for that weekend is not easy. Campsites are a bit of a joke though - they won't let you book in advance even though it will be impossible as someone travelling from abroad to get there for a "first come, first served" basis. Oh well, my own fault for not trying to book sooner... I'll be staying elsewhere on LI so hopefully the LIRR/Taxi combo is working well that weekend! ----- Official 100 jump wonder

Hi, I'm travelling to the US from the UK at the start of September and am hoping to go jumping at Skydive Long Island - anyone know what the place is like? I'm aiming to get there on Saturday, 2nd Sept and will hopefully stay until Tues, 5th Sept (I hope they are still open during the week!). Does the DZ have any accommodation and if not, is there any good, cheap place to stay nearby? Also, I've just seen on my calendar that it is Labor Day on the Monday - is that a national holiday and if so is the DZ open then? Thanks very much in advance. N.B. I performed a search but nothing recent came up on this subject for SDLI. ----- Official 100 jump wonder

If you're having trouble getting your head around just what is happening in a PRO-pack, I'd also recommend being shown (or doing) a flat pack too - it really helps to sort out in your mind what everything is and where it is on the canopy. It's also broken down into three stages - at the end of each you can step back and reflect on what is going on. Once you have seen or performed a flat pack, you will realise that a PRO pack is doing pretty much the same thing, only in a vertical stance. FWIW, the big difference between the two is that a flat pack starts with the canopy in a sideways orientation which you then revert to a head on orientation at the end of stage 2. The PRO pack always keeps the canopy head on (hence the Proper Ram-air orientation or PRO of the title, I believe). ----- Official 100 jump wonder

I guess what they are implying is that the latter group(s) of RW are likely to be lower experienced jumpers (e.g. solos/two ways/early four ways) who are much more likely to have relatively large canopies. The first group(s) of freeflyers are likely to be experienced jumpers so vice versa... FWIW, the latest issue of the UK's skydive mag has an article about the introduction of a new BPA Canopy Handling rating system (presumably requiring some "official" instruction to go along with it). I suspect/hope that these types of issues are going to be a part of the instruction. ----- Official 100 jump wonder

"my landings under the 240 were pretty bad (stood up 3 out of 30!)" If your landings were bad on the 240, why are you downsizing from that? Shouldn't you be getting things right regularly on that canopy before you start going down the sizes? I fully understand the desire to get off the bigger canopies and onto your own asap... been there myself last summer but I am now glad that my instructors kept me on the larger ones until they judged me to be ready for the next step down, even if it was (very) frustrating at the time. ----- Official 100 jump wonder

However, your harness is also "split" in two (with the second half behind you and built into the container), so wouldn't the force be similar at the MLW adjuster as it is at your leg strap buckle? The shearing effect caused by uneven distribution of the webbing through the friction lock of the adjuster would be the more likely cause as mentioned above, which is why I'm asking whether or not, in these two incidents, it is known if the two adjusters were at the same setting - if they weren't, then the forces would be distributed unevenly and that could be one of the reasons why one side was more prone to shearing than the other. ----- Official 100 jump wonder

Given that the same locking mechanism is used on leg straps (I assume - it looks the same to me), what is the difference here between the stresses on the leg strap webbing relative to that on the adjustable MLW on these rigs? Why would one be more likely to fray and break than the other? Is it possible that the two sides of the harness webbing weren't set to be the same length in these incidents which increased the chances of one side being under far more stress than the other? ----- Official 100 jump wonder

I guess I wasn't clear - this is what I can (and would) do at the moment, but what if that isn't an option at another DZ? I guess you would hang on brakes until airspace was clearer and if necessary, shout at the people already on the ground to get out of the way? ----- Official 100 jump wonder

All this land in the direction of the first jumper assumes that you actually saw them landing... what does everyone recommend you do if you didn't? In the ideal world, you'd look and see what direction everyone else is landing in, but if they are going every which way? (It hasn't happened to me yet, and my DZ has a big landing area and massive open fields around that, so it is easy to avoid everyone else if you want or need to, not to mention a big arrow pointing out the landing direction for low wind conditions, but for my future reference...) ----- Official 100 jump wonder

FWIW, as a jumper in the UK where some cloud coverage is inevitable a lot of the time*, it is good practice to a) know what the general location of the sun is with respect to the jump run and b) know what the cloud base is. Knowing the location of the sun relative to the jump run helps you find the landing area if you can't immediately see it upon opening (e.g. if you have pulled high for whatever reason and a cloud or clouds obscures your view of the DZ). As a student it also helps (even on a no cloud day) if you have a long spot and/or you are unfamiliar with the ground below you due to lack of experience - you will know to e.g. face in the opposite direction to the sun and the DZ will then be somewhere in front of you. I personally find it doubly good practice as it also makes me ask what direction the jump run is on every lift. * I'm not saying that this means you will be jumping intentionally through thick cloud - I'm talking about the kind of cloud cover you get in this shot. ----- Official 100 jump wonder

OK, good to know... thanks Bill ----- Official 100 jump wonder

Perhaps this is a very naive question, but would it actually help more to cut the unbroken brake line in this situation so that the canopy would at least fly in a straight line without the need for any input? As you can probably tell, I have no idea what would happen if you had no brake lines attached at all, so what effect would that actually have on the canopy? ----- Official 100 jump wonder

Well, a helmet is compulsory here in the UK, and I'm glad - I keep bumping my head when I stand up in the plane ----- Official 100 jump wonder

So how long does that take? It depends on the person, but from what I understand, it can take a few months for some. ----- Official 100 jump wonder