odendan

That helicopter maneuver sounds like a lot of fun! How many rotations on average can you get away with and not need to chop? Just want an idea what to expect, however I am getting close to needing a reserve repack... hmmmm.... whips n' chains n' hand-grenades with a little ugly on the side.

Nice write up, I might drop some of this in my canopy control course documentation if you do not mind. It has good info for all canopy pilots whether they want to swoop or not. whips n' chains n' hand-grenades with a little ugly on the side.

here is one of my first digital shots. whips n' chains n' hand-grenades with a little ugly on the side.

To add another question to the mix, what were the winds doing? whips n' chains n' hand-grenades with a little ugly on the side.

Beer you owe regardless. The core component of "swooping", and please everyone flame me if I am wrong, is flying your canopy to the end. When you start the flare the goal is to be at the point where you are ready to run out the rest of the landing but flying the canopy to the point where you are ready to have that almighty sexy tip toe touch down. What you did right is continue to fly the canopy to (what I can tell from your post) the end. It still amazes me (in a painful kind of way) how many people with relatively a good amount of experience dont grasp that concept of finishing the flare. The experience of swooping is controlling the canopy and milking it for all it has through the "swoop" to as close as you can get to the tip toe landing. Gliding across the ground like you did, is what it is about. whether you swoop 20 ft or 400, it is all about working that flare, planing out the canopy, and finishing the flare (to the point of even rolling your wrists to get that extrat inch of flare) and flying the wing till it collapses on its own. If you liked what you felt on that "screw up", then why not keep working it. Sounds like you are getting the landing down to me, and if you want to start swooping the key is to learning the basics of what to do with the plane out and the part of cruising across the ground. Once you have that down, then seek advice on how to pick up more speed to make those longer. I have seen better swoops from sub 100 jump kids on 210s coming straight in then from 500+ jump folks that refuse to finish their flares. Go with the concept and learn how to milk your canopy dude! Pardon the potentially hard to follow lack of grammar, I might have had a few beers before posting this. whips n' chains n' hand-grenades with a little ugly on the side.

I have a velo 90 and a 103. Not sure if I want one for both yet, but prefer to outfit the 103 first. whips n' chains n' hand-grenades with a little ugly on the side.

Hi all, Wondering what my options are for buying an RDS and any reviews on the ones out on the 'market'. Blue Skies!! whips n' chains n' hand-grenades with a little ugly on the side.

There is no mention of oral-anal gratification. How am I suppose to vote on something that does not include the potential pleasures contained with in the secrets of a good old fashion rim job. I feel this poll is lacking in options. I am very disapointed! whips n' chains n' hand-grenades with a little ugly on the side.

Any hot pics to go with that anouncement? BTW - Thanks John, it was a lot of fun, can not wait till next year!! Dan whips n' chains n' hand-grenades with a little ugly on the side.

This thread is ridiculus! (just like my spelling skills) The girl posts a couple of cool pictures and the community gets all pissy about politics. I do not see any DZOs posting here, so I do not understand the concerns of those who are not on the business side. The place has a real cool view, has an excellent location and very accomadating staff. These are the things a dropzone requires. I have never jumped at East Troy, but understand from a couple of sources to include the infamous Mary G. that it is a nice place to jump. Chicagoland is cool and so is Skydive Chicago, but the view of Lake Michigan and the two city skylines makes Midwest my DZ of choice. As far as tandem theft goes, I do not see any theft of tandems happening, there is more than enough tandems in a metro area of way more than 5 million people to go around. I have not heard of any other dropzone going out of business because of them. And the last time I checked there was one less dz in the neighborhood to compete with due to the unfortunate closure of Skydive Illinois (another very nice dropzone). I do not quite understand why you are so concerned about the ability of your DZOs to make thier house and car payments on certificates. Do you honestly think that your jump prices will go down if the DZOs make bank on the extra tandems a year that go to Skydive Midwest instead of them? I am sorry to hear that your flourishing relationship with Skyride was ruined, from the way you are posting I would assume you had personal stake in those certificates. And to finish my flame session, I would like to comment on how awesome those pictures are Liz, nice job!! whips n' chains n' hand-grenades with a little ugly on the side.

Things are good here! You do suck for getting to jump the glider! Did george get video from the other plane? whips n' chains n' hand-grenades with a little ugly on the side.

to each his own. :) whips n' chains n' hand-grenades with a little ugly on the side.

Vienna has a couple of places for you to learn and I believe you can get your USPA license there as well. If not, the Austrian program is very good, just a tad bit expensive. The best thing to do is to get a hold of Eli. She has a rigging loft and skydiving store in the 15th district and speaks excellent English. She has been in the sport for years and is an excellent person to learn from. Her numbers are posted at: http://www.fallschirm.at/index.php You will probably end up jumping at either Krems. Linz or Wiener Neudorf. Please let her know that Dan Oden said hello!! And have a great time there!! whips n' chains n' hand-grenades with a little ugly on the side.

Hey Jason! Great to hear you are about to graduate! Take the advice you get here seriously, especially from my buddy Drew. There is no need for you to be doing a train exit, those can get pretty messy and put everyone on different levels. That is more of a two person thing and not a good grad dive. Keep safe!! and buy a real canopy whips n' chains n' hand-grenades with a little ugly on the side.

No difference in the realm of stability. The way I understand it is that the reasoning behind folks donning an open face helmet has to do with two things. The first is that it allows a better perepheral view which adds safety. The second is that all free fliers are born with cameras on their helmets therefor if you pull of a real cool move with a full face, there is no way to prove it was really you. whips n' chains n' hand-grenades with a little ugly on the side.

Actually most cargo rounds would be highly effective in attaining that critical non swoop characteristic that has recently grown very popular. However when you are playing with the rounds rated for over 5000lbs (heard the texan boys like them) try to avoid winds over 1mph, otherwise you may end up with an undesired swoop of significant distance. On second thought, with the right thermals, you might be able to break the distance record. So I would not consider cargo rounds the best all weather solution, but for that perfect day, they should work. whips n' chains n' hand-grenades with a little ugly on the side.

This is a great idea for a swooping event, keep them coming Jim! Just one question: I keep seeing that this is a "sanctioned" event, who is sanctioning it? The people putting it on, or some other organization like the FAI or USPA? Just curious. Thanks! whips n' chains n' hand-grenades with a little ugly on the side.

That is probably one of the most asked questions out there (regardless of canopy type). And a very good one. With all the research manufacturers put into design and testing, is there any form of documentation showing a wing loading efficiency curve for a particular canopy, all I have seen/heard is based on perceptions and "unofficial" (even if seemingly accurate). One would think that such a graph would be standard in the research and development stage. Is there a reason this information would not be released? whips n' chains n' hand-grenades with a little ugly on the side.

I do right 270s although I used to do left 270s. The only reason I changed was that the carving course where I jumped carved right. Now I am stuck on right turns. It is also helpful that they are condusive to a left hand pattern. The right eye dominance theory may hold true in the begining, however I believe habit will dominate in the end. whips n' chains n' hand-grenades with a little ugly on the side.

Yeah, sure he can fly, but can he mow a lawn? Looking good Mike! Keep it up!! whips n' chains n' hand-grenades with a little ugly on the side.

I am not a big fan of tests, and there are too many ways around it. Good luck getting PIA to enforce such a system world wide (yes there is skydiving in other countries, and they do come here to jump every now and then). And if we did use a testing system, I have a feeling that the muppet trying to get on a canopy that is already to small for him/her, would be more encouraged to work on the next size down, so he/she could save taking the test twice. And as the student is getting ready for the test, how is he/she suppose to prepare? On a canopy that they are not being tested on? And who will enforce these tests? Do you know how many dropzones do not belong to USPA because they feel it brings them no benefit? And what do you do with the visiting skydiver from a foreigh country who does not have the proper canopy rating? I am sure we could find a lot of solutions to these small issues, however I am quite happy not seeing my jump tickets or USPA membership fees increase so we can enforce more rules and administer more tests. If you want these kids not breaking themselves, encourage them to learn their canopies. As you said THE KEY IS IN TRAINING! Most skydivers look up to the instructors, staff and more senior jumpers at their dropzones, and will take their advice seriously. It is our responsibility as experienced Skydivers/Canopy Pilots/Instructors to help guide these students. Peer pressure is probably the most effective means, unless your dropzone judges your coolness based on the size of your canopy (which I sadly must say I have seen before). whips n' chains n' hand-grenades with a little ugly on the side.

Hmmmm.... Not so sure I like all you locals practicing, makes it tough for me to think I have a chance. Looking forward to being there, will probably arrive sometime around 1 am on Friday, will be there for the safety meeting. This should be fun!!!!1 Blue Skies!! (Hopefully) Dan whips n' chains n' hand-grenades with a little ugly on the side.

We can not make it Friday, on account of some tandems we need to do. Kind of sucks we do not get to practice, but if the course is being changed around, maybe we will have a small chance against the locals!

Sounds cool, do you have beer at your place? You know how much I adore free beer! Especially the good beer, not the cheap shit! Currently is looks like a go for Loren and I, but you know how that can change. If Loren does not make I should be able to regardless. Anybody able to tell me when this will start, or better yet, when the competitors should arrive? whips n' chains n' hand-grenades with a little ugly on the side.

Hi Nicolas, Not sure if this thread is helping or confusing you. I suggest that you seek out advice from some of the local canopy pilots that may be better at looking at your skills and helping you decide what you need. Skymonkey made an excellent point regarding the fact that you can swoop any canopy. I learned how to swoop on a Spectre which is not known as a "Swoop Canopy" but I could push 200 ft on a good day. As for the size of canopy, I was once told that if you can not comfortably land your canopy in a 5mph downwind, then it is too small for you. So keep that in mind when you demo those canopies at whatever wing loading you feel comfortable with. The next time you are in Empuria, Lapalisse, or any other large operation, talk to some of the swoopers there and get thier opinions and direction. This forum is a great place to pick up information, but for someone new it can get confusing. Their are quite a few excellent pilots in Europe that offer canopy control classes, these guys may be a great reference for you as well. whips n' chains n' hand-grenades with a little ugly on the side.