crazydiver

Any reason you route the bridle underneath the pin tip? Probably will work fine, but seems a bit counter-intuitive. I would put it over to reduce snagging. And why do people care if its left right or right left...its all going to be the same! THe only way to redistribute the bulk is to do so smashing and hitting with your hands after closing the thing. Cheers, Travis

Of course a horseshoe is still possible by it wrapping around an appendage. What gear that is now commonly used would prevent that? Cheers, Travis

I see what you mean, but I also have another point of view here. Keep in mind that skydiving is VERY expensive. And it only lasts for about 1 min. / jump. As long as you are not a millionaire and still want to make some decent challenging and fun skydiving you have to try to optimize your jumping.. Most people simply are not rich enough to go and chase someone in FF while the other one is trying to learn headup or headdown or whatever.. Giving attitude is ofcourse very different issue... First...why would it not be fun to help another jumper learn... Second...chasing a person in freefall can be VERY challenging and if you think you are wasting your time and money by chasing someone, you are wrong. As long as you keep trying to stay in proximaty, you gain some super valuable skills! Cheers, Travis

That doesn't make it valid. A lot of other manufacturers have handles just as secure if not more so and will still function and stay in place even when packed poorly or the bulk is not distributed well. Cheers, Travis

I see wings freefly handles dislodge CONSTANTLY. Cheers, Travis

correct, but that doesn't answer my question!!!! Again not really answering the question, yes flying in half brakes will help you fly slower, but if you have had to fly your whole pattern right upto you final turn in brakes then you probably not really on top of what you are doing... Flying in brakes slows things down considerably in your pattern and makes the set up much simpler. The only reason, performance-wise, for beginning the turn in partial brakes is to decrease the load factor on the wing and potentially decrease the front riser pressure to begin the turn. In my opinion, if a person is able to set up without being in brakes...that is the desired way for me. If I am on a canopy that has super high front riser pressure, I use harness input. Don't slow the canopy down since you will only have to use part of your turn to regain that speed...and that is inefficient for the turn. If you do a 270...that will get your more out of that turn than stepping up to a 450, for example, to compensate for the decreased initiation speed. A full flight set up is much more difficult because of the forward speed and descent rate of the canopy being much greater. Cheers, Travis

Crossfires and crossfire 2's have relatively small sliders compared to similar canopies. If you still have slack in the slider when your chest strap is let out all the way, chances are that you have a pretty short chest strap. I had a short chest strap on my rig when I had a crossfire 2 and it was constantly tight. Cheers, Travis

Smart idea...buy a shitty canopy for an activity that needs a more precicely dialed canopy... Cheers, Travis

I go up knowing that I now know more than I did on the last jump. It's important to learn from every single jump and work of of the mistakes to improve. You know what you did wrong...now do those things right. And if another mistake is made, you will know what you did wrong and will be able to fix it again. Simple process. Making mistakes is hard to take positively sometimes, but there is no reason to be too hard on yourself. Breath... Cheers, Travis

Well put! Cheers, Travis

If you have to ask this question on here you need coaching. Thats totally ok, we all need coaching in various areas. I can tell you though, if you have to ask that question, there are a lot of things about ground launching that you will be missing that are important for your safety...including not being kited off the back of the hill! At your experience level, coaching or attending a ground launch camp is the only way you will be able to gain the skills needed for ground launching. Trust me. Cheers, Travis

Man, I've seen so many AFF students on here recently coming up with solutions to problems or wondering why we haven't "thought of that before." Your leg straps being loose (which they probably were fine), will not necessarily contribute to those bruises. Your canopy most likely opened hard. I'll also add, that when you sit down, the harness shifts and it will feel loose and can stay that way when you stand up...THAT DOESN'T MEAN ITS TOO LOOSE. It doesn't mean the webbing slipped through the hardware. Sometimes tightening straps too much can be very painful on opening and can make things more uncomfortable under canopy. Also, over-tightening the chest strap can be detrimental to your body and the harness. If it is too tight, its not only going to dig into your chest, its going to distribute the load to the chest strap rather than directly down the main lift webs as intended...thus risking damage to the harness. There is also the possibility that you were in a head low position when pulling or turned in either direction. Either of these things, or a combination of both, can increase your speed and thus the opening shock. Cheers, Travis

I've heard Mirage is coming out with a new skydiving container soon... Cheers, Travis

Travis, you are correct, anyone can do whatever they want to the gear...and not jump it. But the original poster alluded to selling the rig. I'm sure he doesn't want to sell someone an unairworthy rig. When the AAD was installed it was likely an alteration to the TSO'd harness. The removal of the AAD is then also considered an alteration. That was my point. Sorry, I should've been more clear. Blues, Henry I would argue that installing a cypres UNIT is not an alteration. Installing a cypres kit, or "retrofitting" the rig for a cypres, is definetly an alteration. Simply taking the AAD out is not an alteration to the TSO'd harness. Cheers, Travis

Be careful. Check Part 65 of the FARs. 14 CFR 65.111 states (in part) "no person may pack, maintain, or alter...unless that person holds an appropriate certificate and type rating..." Safer to get an appropriately rated rigger to do it. This isn't packing, maintaining, or altering in my opinion. This is an assembly, or dis-assembly. I'll also add that a person can do WHATEVER they want to ANY gear including packing the reserve , that doesnt' mean its airworthy or legal to be jumped. It must be done by an appropriately certificated rigger to be legal to jump. To the original poster: Take the cypres out if you are careful and don't pull or bend the cables. If you uncomfortable, its always best to have your rigger do something. A rigger can remove a cypres in about a minute and shouldn't charge you anything, at least I wouldn't. Cheers, Travis

Sure. I've seen this as well. I've also taken VERY obese and short people on tandems who haven't fallen out of the harness. Parachutes open without malfunction the majority of the time...but sometimes... Cheers, Travis

I'm so in agreeance. I'm looking for AAD's right now for my rigs since I've begun doing AFF over the summer. I have around 1000 tandems with cypreses and around 1000 jumps on my own gear without a cypres. Its a luxury, but definetly something I want for AFF. Cheers, Travis

I still think that even with brakes stowed...its going to have to be one lucky bastard who is able to survive an unconscious landing. People have died under much larger reserves with the brakes still stowed. Cheers, Travis

I thought that was the case. Is this something that has been documented of happening in the past, or simply a preventative measure? I know of an instance of someone having a hard pull on the left side and I thought that might be why. Cheers, Travis

Keep in mind that if you have a cypres fire and are unconscious, you will probably be slumped to one side in the harness which will induce a turn, build speed, and smack you into the ground (and/or other obstacles) pretty good. Reserves are designed to be more docile with this type of input, and this is by no means intended to be an argument for getting a smaller reserve, but you should know that the "injury-free cypress-fire half-brakes no-flare reserve landing" is probably more elusive than you are making it out to be. Another quick note is that I've (at 200 pounds exit weight) landed PD 106's in Colorado at 5200 Feet MSL on 95 degree days. They come in fast, but land very well. I believe, however, that I wouldn't have the slightest chance of surviving an unconscious landing under that canopy. Cheers, Travis

Keep in mind that if you have a cypres fire and are unconscious, you will probably be slumped to one side in the harness which will induce a turn, build speed, and smack you into the ground (and/or other obstacles) pretty good. Reserves are designed to be more docile with this type of input, and this is by no means intended to be an argument for getting a smaller reserve, but you should know that the "injury-free cypress-fire half-brakes no-flare reserve landing" is probably more elusive than you are making it out to be. I can think of multiple situations where someone went in while unconscious under a fully inflated and flying reserve somewhere around the 150 sq ft. range. Ya...I should be able to survive an unconscious landing under my 113... I've been currently looking for larger reserves recently... Cheers, Travis

Bill, I've always conveyed a theory that the left side pull has to rotate the pin before it extracts which I feel has possibly caught up on the cypres loop cover, thus preventing it from rotating and being pulled. Any truth to this? Is this why the newer Sigmas have shorter straight pins? Cheers, Travis

Your reserve is now in date. Cheers, Travis

I've never had a problem with risers being exposed or becoming exposed on any of the javelins i've owned. The closing loop placement is advantagous because it allows the user to adjust the tension on the main pin allowing a greater range of pack volumes in the container. This is in contrast to a container with the loop on the bottom flap. Once you get to where the grommets are all meeting up and you can't make the loop any smaller, you have yourself too little tension on the main closing loop, thus asking for a premature deployment. A javelin will ALMOST always keep proper tension on the main pin. Cheers, Travis

I agree that packing techniques are similar on the Javelin and Wings. I would disagree about feeling that the side flaps are too small on them. I definetly feel they are on a mirage, but a good rigger should know how to use them. But the javelins and the wings...I can close the two side flaps without a tension device and by simply pulling them together using the pullup cord. Cheers, Travis