jumpnaked69

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content

    108

  • Joined

  • Last visited

    Never

  • Feedback

    0%

Posts posted by jumpnaked69

  3. well, this is a huge help. at least your post had a little smiley face thingy.

    Fousts, as tdog mentioned i kind of like the idea of putting together a FJC PPT presentation. the idea, in my mind, is using it to cover a lot of the basics as a visual aid and provide more format for the course. Slides to provide visual representation of malfunctions, hand signal presentation, the landing area, an ideal Level 1, etc. Still the students should leave the classroom and actually see and touch the parts of a rig with lots of repetition and quizzing like the grandmaster of instruction, tdog, likes to have them do.

  4. I'm thinking of getting a new camera helmet and i want to get a custom-fitted ff2. i was thinking of something HD...so the HV10 came up. Sounds like it's terrible for skydiving! Does anyone know of any other HD cameras that would support a sidemount system? Thanks!

    Alan

  7. Skydive Santa Barbara is going to have some demo PRODIGY suits available in the next few weeks courtesy of RJ$$ and myself borrowing them from Voodew1 (very gracious of him). But the ONLY way to test-jump or demo a performance suit is to find one that already belongs to someone else. And you're going to run into trouble finding someone who wants you jumping their high-performance wingsuit, especially if you have few jumps (like your profile says) and if you have little wingsuit experience (also like your profile says). But beyond that, even if you find someone to lend you a suit, it's not going to be made for you--all of these suits are specially measured and fit to people. You wont really get a feel for which suit offers you the performance and flight characteristics you want until you've got some intro- and mid-level suit jumps under your belt.

  9. JP makes a good point and I guess that's part of the argument for AADs in general--you DONT know the skill level (or undisclosed medical conditions) of some of the people you'll jump with--especially as an instructor. To me, that's only more reason to get an AAD. But hey, that's me. I won't jump without an AAD--with or without epileptic jumpers around. Not everyone is as big of a chicken as I am.

    I am curious to hear what the original poster decided to do....

    ~alan

  11. I'm with tdog on this one. I'd even go so far as to say that maybe the meds arent necessary for her if she doesnt want to take them--but these are all things that the original poster needs to talk to the person about in great detail. People get kicked in the head ALL THE TIME--and most of the time, it's NOT by someone with epilepsy. We generally dont kick them out of the sport for having epilepsy and we generally dont throw a fit and sell our gear over the incident (it sounds to me like your friend quit because he realized just how dangerous the sport could be in light of what he was leaving on the ground every time he went up and i don't fault him for that in the least). If this jumper really poses a threat to themself or others then its up to the S&TA or the DZO to decide and it's the original posters obligation (IMHO) to breach the subject and do so with the knowledge of the jumper in question. Personally, I would at the very least ask them to keep me updated on their seizures and ensure that they jump with an AAD and avoid stuff like...swooping? Five seconds of blackout at exit or mid-jump is not a big deal, right? But it's a huge deal at pull time, a malfunction, a canopy collision, etc. Talk with the jumper some more and learn about their specific kind of epilepsy. Like tdog said, there are a nubmer of jumpers out there who have epilepsy but are able to control it with and without medication. If your conscious is really eating you up about it then take it to a senior jumper around the dz who you respect and trust and get their input on this specific situation. I know that's kind of what you're doing now but there's always specifics that make a solution ideal for that particular situation. If that person doesnt exist, talk to your S&TA.

    just my two cents
    ~alan

  13. I'm not just talking about skydiving. I'm talking about LIVING IN MOAB. So I want all of the information you can get me that is not related to skydiving. So if you live in area...the basic sorts of things, you know? Cost of living, population size, etc.

    thanks
    alan

  14. To anyone who is familiar with Moab....
    I'm considering moving there and I wanted to get a feel for the size of the town in both the winter and the summer. From the Moab boogie the last two years it looks fairly small with a very young crowd. How is it in the winter? Does the town really swell in the summer? Any major downsides or benefits that arent immediately visible (i.e. extreme state income tax or a local federal penitentiary)? Is Moab expected to have a large population boom any time soon? What are house prices like?

    Thanks a lot for your help!

    Alan

  16. I wish people were charged per post on here because someone should be making money off of this type of crap. I can't believe you're asking a bunch of people whom you've never met on the internet what to write in YOUR logbook. It was a skydive...it was freakflying...say you turned 42 points...WHO CARES?! it's YOUR freaking log book. Do you ever come out of the stall and ask people what direction to wipe? It's your life, learn to make your own decisions.

    peas
    p.s.--make sure you write down date, delay, equipment, distance to target, location, color of jumpsuit, type of aircraft, and altitude.

  17. Which of the tonysuits did you fly? They have nine different suits available to demo. I didnt get to fly one but a buddy of mine did. How did the suit compare to your other wingsuit experiences?

  18. I would love to hear it. I want to hear exactly who is easy and who is "hard" to pass a course with.

    And to address an issue from up above...Someone made a post and said, I didnt get an AFF rating because my skills werent good enough. I only got a tandem rating. Then another poster replied with, just go ahead and get the rating, it's easy. As tdog has pointed out, it's all about the people that can make or break a system. If there's a ton of easy course directors but you, as an experienced AFF-I, encourage someone who at the very best lacks the confidence level to be an AFF-I and at the very worst lacks the flying and teaching skills to be an AFF-I to take an easy course, you've made the system that much worse. Any time that you encourage an underdeveloped skydiver to buy a smaller, faster, canopy for which they are not ready or to "buy" a rating for which they are not qualified you have just diminished the quality of our sport and contributed to endangering people on DZs everywhere. Sound a bit dramatic to you? Maybe so but think about what you're doing--I agree that it is the job of a course director to run a very fair but challenging course designed to test whether a candidate has the skills with which to fly but it is also your job, as a skydiver and especially as an instructor, to encourage qualified candidates and discourage those who are not yet ready.

    just my two cents and i'm looking forward to that list of easy course directors.

  19. I had a friend tell me that the only way he could get his Vengeance to open decently was to deploy in a slight track instead of a neutral body position. That being said I think going from a 190 Pilot to a 170 Sabre to a highly-loaded elliptical airlocked canopy might be a bit aggressive and just downright silly for use as a wingsuit main. With my wingsuit I fly a Spectre loaded at about 1.4. In addition to Spectres and Sabre2s at similar wingloadings, you'll also come across some Pilots, often loaded quite a bit higher. They seem to perform just fine at those higher wingloadings even when deployed in a wingsuit.

    As far as the initial question in this thread, it seems like finding a multi-jump used pd-reserve to use as a main canopy for WSing would be a good idea, maybe just change out the slider. You can find it for cheap, it's F-111 and will open great and very fast and its damn good construction. The only downside I really see is (besides possible pain from the fast opening), might be getting back from a long spot. In my very limited experience ZP canopies will have a better glide ratio and so when flying your wingsuit, make sure you dont enjoy the flight so much that you land way off the airport. A ZP canopy will do a better job of getting you back if you manage to get out away from the landing area. If you can handle that (i.e. pull high enough to get back, stay aware of your location, etc), then sweet, go for it, and let us all know how it works out.

    just my two cents
    Alan

  20. Some close friends and I attended MOAB last year and it was fantastic. Because we had to drive from Colorado Springs we only got to stay for about a day and a half. But in that day and a half we had two great nights of camping, beer drinking, bbq, 10+ jumps from FULL altitude of all different types and a huge landing area. I would recommend the boogie to anyone who's looking for a great time. We made a video that's posted on skydivingmovies.com here's the link.

    alan

    http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=guestpass&id=3f85r

  21. I'm definitely gonna be there and flying my wingsuit. I'm definitely interested in doing a PFI course and I think RJ$$ is as well.

    If everyone could pre-register that'd be great..... That way they'll bring lots of planes. Only downside to last year was there were times when you had to wait for a load or two before you could get up. I know, I know, I'm spoiled.

  23. Dont plan on walking into the course with a great handle on everything. That's what I tried to do and I realized, then why the hell am i taking the course? I learned so much in my course that I would love to sit through some more courses in the future. If you've been doing some tunnel slot-flying, practice jumps with evaluators, and have good belly skills, then confidence is all you'll need to put it all together. Good luck with your course, I am sure you'll do great.

    Who is the course director?

    Alan

    oh, and dont listen to anything tdog has to say. he's just trying to get his post numbers up.

  24. No, I was looking for posts like the ones that Chuck and Derek made. And I thank them for it. I needed more reasons than just "It's not a student canopy", I wanted some reasons based on the sensitivity of openings, the speed during the dives, the limitations of even an AFP style program, etc. Now I got those responses! And while the responses from people who have never flown Stilettos, never worked with students, and spend their time writing sarcastic songs are appreciated, I think its posts like the ones from Chuck and Derek that make the issue clearer for everyone. Thanks again for posting...now lets all be friends.

  25. A stiletto will help because it covers tremendous ground in full flight. It is trimmed, according to PD since you hold their word so highly, much flatter than almost any other canopy out there and as a result, by applying the principles of aerodynamics, will cover more ground. Therefore, the student will get back easier. And, since you're nowhere near being an instructor like you mentioned, you probably havent been faced with the problem of getting out too early as a Coach doing a 2way or as an AFF-I getting out fairly late. Dropzones, no matter how benevolent they are, simply cannot afford in time and money to give go-arounds for 75% of the loads carrying mostly students.

    Again, I think many of your responses and those of Phreezone as well are ignoring the stipulation that using Stilettos as a student canopy only in a program where canopy skills are highly emphasized and well-developed leading up to an A-license where a jumper will then be able to make their own canopy choice decisions.

    Turn themselves into the ground in a panic? Isnt this possible with any canopy? A student could even use harness turns to fly their pattern with a stiletto! Again, this is extremely dependent on instruction. I'd also like to suggest that many instructors forget what it is like to fly some of those large canopies and therefore provide less effective instruction. The power of an elliptical nine cell and the power of a 7-cell boat are considerably different and they should be flown differently.

    If a student pulls at 4 and I pull at 3 and I can back flying directly into the wind some of that will have to do with the fact that I can cut through the wind because my canopy will have a high forward speed. Think about the Velos and VXs at your DZ that can land in 20+ winds but the student canopies that fly backwards.

    Justinb138, have YOU flown a stiletto in your 116 jumps to get a feel for what I'm suggesting? I would not have even considered this until actually flying one. I am NOT saying that I'm convinced but it seems that people are so attached to a dogmatic response that they refuse to consider why a choice has been made in the past and good reasons to change it.

    If you flare at 15 ft with a Skymaster you might break your legs, too. The much more powerful flare of the Stiletto is probably MORE likely to set them on their feet gently instead of a mis-managed Manta flare. Try it out.... Keep in mind that ANY canopy can be landed with a straight-in approach and that those with excessive forward speeds (Stilettos, Katanas, Velos, VXs, etc) are landable because their flare is so powerful and bleeds off that speed so well.

    You write: It's more sensitive to body position than a Navigator.
    It turns faster than a Navigator.
    It'll dive more than a navigator.
    It's less forgiving of an imperfect flare than a navigator.
    It'll stall easier than a navigator.
    It's not a student canopy.
    PD says so.

    I think we've established that being sensitive to body position is not a bad thing.
    Faster turns and a more aggressive dive will require more canopy instruction, this is true.
    Not sure what the stall has to do with any of this except the flare power and I think its clear which canopy will result in a better flare. An imperfect flare meaning...? If a student flies at half breaks on final on a Manta and a Stiletto the Stiletto is much more likely to result in a stand up landing because it still has more flare power. Why isnt it a student canopy? Maybe we've been making student canopies as a result of the instructional programs out there. This doesnt mean that we should dog canopies that are not "student canopies" if we treat them as big boy toys.... Oh, and PD says so is probably a terrible reason--while they are my absolute favorite skydiving company and I love their products and their professional ethics, take a look at the wingloading recommendations on their canopies--do you subscribe to them? Are you loading your canopy very lightly in accordance with PD recommendations?

    Maybe a student shouldnt be taught to be scared under canopy but that tends to be the result anyway! And those that are NOT scared in the beginning probably end up with casts and bandaids. But I'm not sure why we would teach students that a Skymaster is safe and very forgiving but a Stiletto is instant-death. Again, I am not convinced myself that we should use Stilettos as a student canopy, only considering.

    Are there any seasoned instructors out there willing to chime in? Come on Brad and Derek....


    Alan