crazydiver

If we're talking about the same Doc (who currently lives in Colorado), he lost his leg later in life in a skydiving plane collision. He was skydiving before he lost his leg. Cheers, Travis

1. 16 years old 2. 24,000 feet above sea level (19,000 above ground) 3. It keeps me happy, but not very secure 4. From day one 5. 500-900 6. Meh. Have done some wingsuit jumps, but they didn't turn my crank as much as other people 7. See answer to number 6 8. A little more dangerous if something were to go wrong, but not incredibly more so. With adequate experience and training I would argue its hardly any more dangerous 9. Not really. I have had 10 reserve rides out of 4200 jumps, but all have been very manageable. 10. Party Cheers, Travis

And by doubled (100% increase), you mean a 22% increase? Cheers, Travis

Was just thinking of ole Joshey the other day. Seems like there aren't that many weeks that pass that I don't. Still miss him like the day he left us. Cheers, Travis

Please watch this link to an SNL skit from a recent episode. It has a skydiver reference and it is the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. Enjoy. http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/clips/grady-wilsons-burning-bedsheets/1161143/ Cheers, Travis

I believe its closer to half and half... However I'm mostly certain that Wings is designed to line up. Take a look at the photos the original poster provided. If those grommets were to line up, the pocket for the main pin protector would be nearly impossible to tuck into because the two side flaps would be covering so much of it up. So that tells me one of two things: (1) either the grommets ARE supposed to be line up and this is a poorly designed container, or (2) that the grommets are not designed to line up. Cheers, Travis

Tried lengthening the closing loop and it did stop the main flap overlapping, but it did not feel tight enough on the pin. Think I'd prefer having the little overlapping and being secure in my mind that the pin wasn't going to come loose!! The grommets on the Wings sound the same. The first 3 are pretty much on top of each other and the fourth is off to the left a bit. The first of the two pics is the closing loop showing the current length - it's been shortened by about 6 inches since I got it!! The 2nd pic was with the bridle as out the way as I could get it without taking the pin out! The pin is nice and tight with the loop the current length, but I do think i would be able to shorten it another 1/2 inch to an inch. Two things... (1) Your closing loop doesn't necessarily seem too long. Most manufacturers don't design their main containers to have the grommets meet up exactly on top of one another. (2) You should consider changing the orientation of your closing pin. Imagine your flap is closed and you brush the left side of that pin cover against the door or wall or something while you are exiting the aircraft. It's a strong possibility that your pin will get pushed in a bit and not be as securely placed through your closing loop. Wings containers are particularly bad about not having much protection over the main pin (width-wise) and it leaves the pin and bridle somewhat exposed. I always orient my pin so that it points upward so that it cannot be dislodged by brushing my main pin cover from one of the sides. And putting the pin facing up still orients it in a natural position for when you throw out the pilot chute. You shouldn't worry too much about downsizing in your container though. Enough of the slack in the closing loop will be taken up by the first two flaps and most likely won't cause an issue for you in the future. Cheers, Travis

No. Ever seen a Mr. Bill? People can most certainly hold on through opening. In fact, one year at the freefall convention, someone landed a mr. bill with the other person still holding on. I believe this was in front of an FAA rep, and I don't think they were asked to come back after that stunt. :) Cheers, Travis

Moved to Vermont a year and a half ago and felt nothing but welcomed by the good folks at VSA. Happy to call it my current DZ. I work there and I play there. Wish there were more lift power, but the cessnas they have are in great shape and super fast for their kinds. Also, the landing area has nice soft grass due to the fertilization from the donkey poo...

Thanks...love dz.com! Cheers, Travis

I'm in search of a Paraflite EOS manual/closing instructions. Long shot, but does anyone have one in PDF form or similar online access? Paragear sells the manual for ten bucks, but I'm not looking to buy this. I've got the swift+ packing instructions, but not the closing procedures. Thanks for any help! Cheers, Travis

Oh god...lucky SOB huh? Cheers, Travis

What's going on there? What's up with that situation? Cheers, Travis

Well let's hope he pulls the cutaway handle more than just the three inches he has in the photo. Cheers, Travis

I don't think you read his sarcasm. Cheers, Travis

My favorite part (aside from you making it out alive) was "you packers...are screwed..." Nice. Cheers, Travis

I was fortunate enough to begin skydiving when I was underage at a dropzone in CO. In colorado, your parents/guardians are unable to waive your rights for you...so basically any waiver you sign is null and void. Anyway...it is definitely expensive, but I was able to save up and start jumping just working 20 hours per week on minimum wage. Heck, if anything you're in a better spot now that you don't have car payments, mortgage, etc. (that's an assumption I'm making). I was able to get a job packing tandems for that dropzone and that is how I payed for literally ALL of my first few hundred jumps. Packing is not hard to learn and lots of places need packers. Now, 8 years and 4000 jumps later, I am so grateful I was able to start when I did. Let me know if you have more questions. Travis Cheers, Travis

First thing, already been said, never never never spiral in the pattern. Never. When they tell you in your first jump course to only do turns less than 90 degrees below 1000 feet, it is for more reasons than just keeping yourself from smacking the ground. Its for order. :) I also think there is something to be said for being able to land crosswind and downwind or a combination of any, and that could have kept this more orderly. Depends on the policy of your dropzone. If it's follow the first person down, you would continue to do that, unless things REALLY changed drastically. If it is land in the direction of the wind, do that. Assuming the winds did change 90 degrees and they were fairly strong and you wanted to land into the wind (and had enough altitude to do so safely), I see a couple options. One would be: where you started to spiral, you could have taken that leg of your pattern out longer (than originally planned) and then slowly turned back down that pattern and eventually turning right into the wind. Another one: remember how if you realize your altitude is too high for where you are in your patter, you can take one of the legs and "bow it out" thus extending the time you are flying that leg. So in this case, you could have taken your west-facing leg and bowed it out north a bit so you could burn more altitude before turning into the wind (south). Lastly, this is a reiteration, I think it is important to follow the policy of your dropzone and also to be comfortable with a downwind or crosswind landing, because sticking to your original pattern is the safest for everyone else in the air. If the winds are 5-7mph or less, I"m taking the crosswind or downwind. Heck, even for swoop competitions, the maximum crosswind is 15mph before the meet can be cancelled/postponed. I'll happily take a fat 15mph downwind if its a soft landing area. :) Hope that helps. And again, none of us can know for sure, since we were not there. We don't know how many canopies were around you, how large the landing area is, or how far south you could have gone if you had skipped the spiraling and just turned south for your final leg. Cheers, Travis

I have no opinion one way or another, for or against quick loops. Your argument, however, doesn't really make sense to me. You say that any "non pop-top" container must have silicon on the loop and you describe that is so because if the cutter cuts the loop at the bottom of the loop, the loop will have to slip through all the grommets. I get that, except that there are a number of pop-top and non-pop-top rigs that have the cutter above the pilot chute, thus eliminating this argument for many rigs. The same is true of rigs that have the cutter below the d-bag. So really, based on Kai's argument, it depends more on the location of the cutter than on pop-top/non-pop-top. Follow? I am also of the mindset that reserve closing loops on any rig (except Lodi loops and racers/reflexes) should be siliconed as a proper procedure. This helps the loop to not become marred when closing all the flaps (especially damaging on Mirage and Vector III side flaps). Cheers, Travis

If it's approved by the manufacturer, it's TSO'd. Cheers, Travis

There is only a very small portion of the loop that is "fingertrapped" back through itself. This would not be as big a deal if it were a normal closing loop, but on this type of loop, the integrity and staying power of the loop is depended solely on the stregth of the fingertrapped portion. In other words, the finger trap is the only thing keeping the loop from lengthening, therefore, as much cord as possible must be fingertrapped. It doesn't go back through the cypres disk like a normal loop, therefore a knot is not holding the whole deal at the same length. Another issue is that the large size of the "loop" portion can prevent reserve canopy or freebag from leaving the reserve tray if it catches canopy inside of it. Kind of confusing. HOpe that helps. Cheers, Travis

Agreed...on all fronts. :) Cheers, Travis

Are you looking at this situation from a legal perspective, or solely from the perspective that this is a poorly constructed Lodi loop? I'm not sure I have gathered which way your going with it. I definitely agree that this is an unsafe and poorly constructed Lodi loop and I think you should absolutely bring this to the riggers attention. From a legal standpoint, I think it is completely legit to have this type of loop on a Vector provided you have a letter of approval from Bill Booth. And I'm pretty sure he's willing to give those out for approval of Lodi loops. Cheers, Travis

All of those things can produce similar looking damage to the lower steering lines (friction from the slider grommets, guide rings, or hook damage). Clearly, severe damage from the velcro will look much worse than a little fuzziness on the line, but even steering lines on rigs without velcro are likely to look fuzzy as well after time/use. I'm saying that it is not idiotic to think that velcro damage can look very similar to damage from slider/guide rings on many types of line. And even if it were wrong, it wouldn't make someone an "idiot." Cheers, Travis

There could be 2 source of lower break line wear on risers with velcro: velcro and guide ring. How would you know which did the damage?Is there any point winning about it if the cost of replacement is about $5? Are you serious ? Your just another theoretical rigger, kinda like Yuri is the theoretical WS flyer. Guide ring is smooth, thus the wear caused by the ring will be high-speed burns, discoloration, etc. Velcro is burred, and causes fibers to be pulled out unevenly, visually giving the line a fuzzy appearance. To confuse the 2 would take a pure idiot. The only time you can see similar damage caused by the ring would be when it has corroded and is not smooth anymore. And one should notice that quite easily, and act on it. Wrong. Subtle hook/loop damage (most specifically hook) to lower steering lines will do similar damage to them that a guide ring can do. Both can look "fuzzy" as you say. Obviously, severe hook damage will be much worse looking, but both will produce the fuzzy look. You need to relax a little before you decide to call someone an idiot. Cheers, Travis