Dionysus

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll take a look at the T-Rex when the time comes. As it turns out I put a real hex on myself after commenting how easy the CX2 is to fly. I managed to fly for about four minutes last night before I put it into the wall. Three broken blades and a broken inner shaft. Fortunately I have the replacement parts so I should be back in action tonight.

I just received a Blade CX2 a few days ago and have only flown it a couple times so far. I bought it after trying a friends CX. I'm amazed at how easy it is to fly, or at least not crash. I figure I'll learn some basics with this CX2 and then move on to something more advanced. How much more difficult is it to fly the CP? My understanding is that it takes a considerably lighter touch and is more difficult to control, which I would expect from the design difference.

Thanks! Normally my memory sucks so it's nice to hear that.

I contacted Airtech some time ago with this very question. The answer I was given, IF memory serves me correctly, is that there is no programmed delay between having the firing parameters met and the actual firing. Meaning the Cyres does not decide to fire then wait then actually fire. However the Cypres is, if I understand it correctly, designed to fire at 1050ft air pressure altitude. Since the Cypres could be in your burble which will give a higher air pressure altitude reading than your actual altitude it works out that if you are on your belly it will fire at approximately 750 feet actual altitude. If you are not on your belly and air pressure altitude as measured by the Cypres is roughly the same as your actual altitude than it can fire as high as the 1050 ft. That is why some people can experience a two out if they sinvel through the 1050 ft mark with enough vertical speed. Another way of looking at it is that at 750 ft actual altitude, on your belly, an air pressure altimeter such as a Cypres, Neptune, Alti2 ect will read approximately 1050ft on your back. Take the altimeter out of the burble and the pressure altitude and the actual will be approximately the same. A neat trick to see this is to fly on your back with a wrist mount altimeter. First take a look at the altimeter while it is in the airstream then bring it into your burble, stomach area, and you will indeed according to your altimeter go up. Anyway I would urge you to contact them directly. They are very helpful folks and seem eager to answer any questions.

I'm on my third Mirage (G4) and I guess I don't see the need for the Magnetic covers. I have never had a riser cover open prematurely. I have also seen some Mirage containers with quite a few jumps on them and durability of the current system seems to be just fine as well. However, the one advantage the magnetic covers *may* have is allowing more design freedom of the yolk. Perhaps it will allow future designs to be more flexible or narrow by eliminating some needed layers that are necessary with a tuck tab. Since I have yet to see one in real life this is just a guess on my part. Now a Skyhook on my Mirage would be really cool.

Hmmm... not sure if there's really enough info here to make the "belligerent" call or not... look at it this way though... bang on the TSA gate agents all you want, I do to, but they've got a pretty serious responsibility on their hands. Think about it... if another airliner goes is hijacked by terrorists, crashed or blown up, bet your ass you'll see the security footage of the purpatrators going through security and getting waived on by the TSA agents... if I were a TSA agent, I wouldn't want to see myself on the 11 o'clock news like that. I would agree with this. I also think the TSA has a more difficult job than many travelers give them credit for. My use of the word belligerent may have been too strong as I did not witness these events.

It sounds like the supervisor was being fairly belligerent in this case and going by his personal beliefs and not the regulations. By chance did you have a copy of the TSA regulation regarding parachutes with you to give to him? For those not familiar with it you can go to the TSA website and print out a copy of the one page document that states parachutes with an automatic opener are allowed as carry on. This has saved me from opening my reserve a couple times when going through security. The document also tells the TSA where in their manuals they can find the policy so they can verify that your not just giving them something you made up the night before. Anyway I hope the rest of the trip went well for you.

Not long ago I watched my hand mounted Neptune during deployment. I released the pilot chute at 3,200 and my slider was down at 2,500-2,400. FYI I jump an Icarus Crossfire 2 which is known to have a longer than average snivel.

I wear soft contacts and have made a few jumps with Gatorz. They work reasonably well for a short delay but when I did a sit jump with them my eyes were really watering. I do have fairly sensitive eyes though. I forget which model I have. I would try them on a hop n' pop first and then go from there. I have, however, had really good luck with the Wiley-x goggles. They look very much like a pair of sunglasses and are low profile.

I would also agree with Ron and Billvon about the RWS rig being much more realistic. I made a jump with one at the Holiday boogie in Eloy a couple years ago and thought it was a very good experience. I wanted to do it as I thought it would be a good addition to hanging harness training. I think I had about 250-300 jumps at the time. As for the rig the one I jumped had the main cutaway handle on the right main lift web but it was on the outboard side to clear the chest mount reserve. The Reserve ripcord was on the left main lift web, also facing outboard. The cutaway, a pillow handle, for the back mounted reserve was also on the left main lift web under the reserve ripcord. This was the one thing they really stressed during the training that since the two are stacked on top of each other you had to make sure that you only pulled the metal ripcord and not the metal ripcord with the pillow. Otherwise you would deploy the reserve and cut it away in one motion. The chest mounted reserve was deployed by a metal handle located on the front of it. One humorous part about the cutaway was that the back mounted reserve had the PD Reserve logo in red sewn on the bottom. I remember thinking "what the hell!?" as I was just expecting a plain white canopy. It certainly gets some attention from the folks on the ground, which would explain why they did it.

"Off-road motorcycling" and desert racing are absolutely not even close to the same thing. I don't think Dust to Glory did the same for baja as Point Break did for skydiving because desert racing is not a spectator sport and far more cost prohibitive to be successful at than skydiving is, but what do I know. Sorry I should have clarified, I'm not a desert racer, just enduros. I do know a few people who have done the race a couple times and was going off of what I have heard from them. I should also add that it may not of created many new entries in the Baja 1000 as that is a monumental undertaking but it did spark considerable interest in the off road world from outsiders.

Skydiving aside my other passion is off road motorcycling. Dust to Glory is an amazing documentary. I have never raced in Baja but a number of my friends who have said it is a very correct portrayal of the race. Since it was released it has done to desert racing what Point Break did for skydiving.

Last year we showed up Friday evening, 4way started Monday as you probably know. We did preregister and it does make it much quicker but it's not mandatory. I spent about 30 minutes getting registered and having my gear checked. However my DZ waiver was current so I didn't have to do that. I do recommend having at least one full day, preferably two, before the comp starts. We did about 6-7 practice jumps on Saturday and a couple "feel good" jumps the day before. Last year the draw was released at about 7:00 the night before so you have some time to dirt dive and engineer the night before. Some teams do it at the DZ others leave to do it away from the commotion. If you want a team room make the reservation as soon as possible. Last year we didn't have one and I will never do that again. It was really hot and noisy and it will be really nice just to have our own space this year. I would also recommend that if you plan on using a local packer that you get that squared away before you show up. The sooner the better. Good Luck!!!!!!!! P.S. Sorry if I'm telling you things you already know.

Thanks for the update Dan. John Hoover gave my team some tips at Nationals last year and seemed to be a great guy. Good luck out in Yuma!

I have owned both a Vengeance 170 and a Sam 170 (1.4wl) and in no particular order here are my thoughts. Keep in mind I'm not a swooper and there are many more people with more knowledge that can also answer this question. In fact you could even get in touch with Brian Germain at Big Air Sportz as he is the one who designed them. Nothing like getting the info strait from the horses mouth. Anyway, here is what I found. The vengeance has much longer lines and is not as quick on the toggles. However, it does have a much longer recovery arc. I would add that it is quite easy to keep the Sam in a dive though. The Sam openings are significantly better than the Vengeance. On heading openings with my Vengeance were a rare occurence. The Sam has much better long spot abilities. The Vengeance comes out of the sky much faster at full flight and rear risers/brakes are not as effective as the Sam when you need to get back from a long spot. I thought the Vengeance had a much more powerful landing flare. I know many people will disagree with me on this, but that was my impression. Overall if I were to buy another one I would probably go with the Vengeance. It has a very smooth feel, except the openings, and was just more fun to fly for me. So that's what I think and it is probably worth about what you paid for it .