evh

Bungies prevent your legstraps from moving towards your knees when you are sitflying. If that happens, you could fall out, especially during an premature opening of your canopy (which is bad anyway). For all other body positions I don't really see a need for them. In fact they can be annoying, like in your example where you want to optimise the harness response of your canopy. In practice, I often remove or re-attach my bungie, depending on the type of jump I want to make.

Sorry, I meant the corners are round, I know that not all crossports are perfect circles. At least for the few I looked at.

I recently learned from my rigger that you can estimate the number of jumps on a canopy by the amount of fraying. New crossports are round. At about 1000 jumps they are almost square. Seemed to match pretty well with my own canopies and a few others that I checked.

Bridle attachment? Static line it! A club member of mine did that when his reserve was too old, and he wanted to make at least 1 jump on it before throwing it in the trash. We put it in a static line bag, tied the excess staticline to the harness with some rubber bands and he jumped it from a C182. I was JM :-) It worked perfectly.

Thanks! Can I find the FAI rules somewhere?

This is confusing. It is completely opposite of the definition I am used to . The FAI license requirements even specifically state "freefall": ‘A’ Certificate: ‘Parachutist’ 1. 25 freefall jumps. Why would they do this if staticline jumps also count? Why not simply state "25 jumps"? Surely not because of premature openings? Over here (the Netherlands) I think we try to match the FAI regulations but we don't count SL jumps for the A-licence (also 25 freefall jumps) or the B/C/D license or tandem requirements. Does anybody now what the FAI has to say about this? What do other countries say?

It depends. Is it certified? Everybody knows that uncertified wood has negligible insulation properties, right?

Ok, since you insist. you have been making claims that you can’t back up with any facts, all you have is assumptions and gut feeling. As one mechanical engineer (who makes a living using his head) to another: you should know better than that. It’s just dumb, so dumb.

never mind, who cares

All kidding aside, I actually think its a good development that manufacturers are testing the performance of their products. Its just that I cant stand the claim of "improvement" without even testing the old situation, this is nothing but empty marketing hype.

Thanks, that is interesting to read. "Scope This European Standard specifies requirements and test methods for protective helmets used in paragliding, hang gliding and flying with ultra-light aeroplanes." So... this "certification" is not even valid for skydiving? I'm quite sure that a helmet which is certified for flying ultralight planes will only give a negligable advantage in skydiving. I can tell that you don't care about about protecting your brain. You care about bumps and scrapes which a non-impact rated helmet is handle well. When it comes to preventing damage to the brain caused by blunt impact like a baseball bat, the ground, or another skydiver, a non-impact rated helmet is not going to substantially limit the amount of force transferred to the brain. 

Yes, you keep repeating that. Simple fact is YOU DON'T KNOW THAT, you are just assuming it.

BTW I had some intimate contact with the wall of several windtunnels, wearing a G3 and I am 100% certain it would have hurt a lot more without a helmet. So in my opinion, your claim that a G3 or any helmet without certification gives no (or negligable) protection is nothing but bs. Certification is nice, it tells me that a certain level of safety is guaranteed. But it does not mean that the reverse is also true, that a non-certified helmet has to be inferior. It just might be.

Based on what? Tests? Calculations? You are just guessing and speculating.

That chart shows a chance of just 5-25% for a tropical storm of 39 mph....

First of all: Empuria is a nice, super professional dropzone. I've visited a few times, mostly for freefly jumps. I also did a couple of wingsuit jumps there, from their Porter, and I was the last one out with a jumprun towards the sea. So maybe it depends on jumprun direction? Or perhaps they changed it since my last visit (it's been a couple of years...)?

What?? IMO, static line jumping is absolutely "really skydiving". Don't let anybody force you into doing something you are not comfortable with. I know a few people who did exactly what you want to do. One was ex military and made a couple of hundred jumps if I remember well. The other did formation CReW (canopy formation) jumps, but eventually got tired of being dependent on jumpmasters and progressed to freefall. She also had a few hundred staticline jumps at the time.

Could be, I don't know. The point is that even tiny differences can have a noticable effect if you pay enough attention. Probably more so on smaller canopies and higher wingloads.

The same thing happens every time my canopies get relined. Each time it has felt like a different canopy to me. Changes in riser pressure, recovery arc, the way it dives. And that's on a relatively big, slow Crossfire compared to the OP's velo's.

Have a look here: https://gethypoxic.com/blogs/technical/sony-a6000-skydiving-guide

Started jumping in 2002, on average I would say one funeral every 2 to 3 years. I do not believe our local safety record is worse than average, or worse than that of the US. I would be surprised if my experience is extreme compared to others who have been jumping for ~ 17 years. The point is, I keep hearing about other dangerous stuff - driving to the dropzone, driving to work, riding a motorcycle, scuba diving.... The fact is, I know a lot of people who participate in those (probably more than I know skydivers) , yet I have never been to a funeral for one of those. I do understand that some of you have, but again, I would be surprised if that number is anywhere near as high. Asking if skydiving is "safe" is mostly a matter of how much risk you find acceptable.

I was going to list all the skydiving related funerals I have been to, but I got depressed writing it so I won't. But please, keep telling me about micromorts and how safe skydiving is, statistically speaking.

This is funny.... "RETRACTION, Feb. 21, 2019: This Op-Ed has been retracted for failing to meet The Western Journal’s Editorial Standards. After publication, a number of factual claims made in the Op-Ed were determined to have been untrue. The decision was then made to retract the piece. Before we had done that, questions were raised about the methodology used by its authors to reach their conclusions, but because the decision to retract had already been made, The Western Journal did not investigate the validity of those questions. We note them here only for the record. We apologize for publishing material in violation of our Editorial Standards of factual accuracy and for any confusion we might have caused by doing so. "

In the Netherlands you only need a medical if you are a student (less than B licence) or if you are a Tandem Instructor. It is nowhere near as complicated as what you describe; certainly no cardiac stress testing. So no, I don't think it is because of European regulations. The list of items that a doctor is supposed to check (and sign off) is stated in our national regulations; it is NOT a standard sports physical check. It is also not the same as a pilots medical. So perhaps the same goes for Italy? Are you sure that the medical you requested is the one you need for skydiving, and not one that is far too extensive?

I try not to touch anything until I am sure my slider is down. Until then: stay stable and symmetrical in the harness, that way the canopy is most likely to open well. Grabbing risers during opening can cause all sorts of chaos; accidentilly releasing brakes, getting your hand caught in a developing twist, causing twists by unintended riser or harness input, etc. I am pretty sure one of my students accidentally disconnected her RSL while grabbing for something to hold on to, during a static line jump. After that: grab rear risers so I can immediately steer away to avoid collisions. Next: stow slider, release brakes etc. (Btw this list obviously changes when something is wrong, like a twist or a malfunction. In that case I DO touch stuff before my slider is down :-) )