jose9878

Anyone have one of these laying around? Ha...ha...look on the bright side, it could be used to take down landing pattern violators:) http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/22/usaf_air_cops_net_thrower/

Ooops....$35/jump includes; gear rental, lift ticket & pack job......so $595.00 instead of $255.00.

Round trip bus ticket from Louiseville, Ky to Lodi, CA - $256.00 Tandem jump - $100.00 Accelerated Training Program (7 jumps) - $1000.00 17 additional jumps @ $15.00/jump - $255.00 Camp at the dz - $0.00 Total - $1611.00 Receiving your A license during spring break - priceless! http://www.parachutecenter.com/aff.htm

He was an aerobatics pilot, most likely using a bailout rig which he would have been familiar with but missing the DZ by 7 miles...give him the 2009 Helen Keller spotting award!

So much for taking the family to the DZ to ease thier worries. After the trip my brother took up the sport & now they have 2 to worry about.

A good gear check on the ground prior to boarding the aircraft would catch it but I'm with Ficus, punch the jumper & let the AAD handle it. Note to nervous guy: You are wearing an AAD. Right?

or you could come out to Pacifica & get PPA'd by another skydiver. Cost $0.00. You just have to teach another skydiver to paraglide when you are comfortable. Started 2 weeks ago & have 4 hours. Longest flight - 2 hours. Longest distance - 19 miles.

I'd like to say I'd go for my reserve but in Pullman, WA instinct took over. I found myself in a stand at 1600ft. Without thought, I immediatly went for my main (Unit III), no turn, no track & no belly - I pulled in a stand. The main opened at about 1100ft, both center A lines snapped & the canopy bow-tied. I immediatly chopped & pulled my reserve - my 26' lopo opened by 900ft. It was a short ride to the ground & I invested in a cypress.

Billy, paragliders are flown with & without motors. I'm using the one without. Andy, great attitude. I've seen pictures of paraglider crw but have no experience with it. It seems fairly straight forward but I wonder if maybe they are using different gear such as a smaller / sleeker harness. It seems there's quite a bit of stuff hanging out that can catch on lines of the regular harness and it seems the harness would stick out the back end of the lines. Altitude is good & I'll keep you informed when we do try it up high. As far as 7 cell vs. 9 cell crw I've been doing crw for years with both, granted when we do Sabre crw we are more conservative. Docks are gentle and everything is slow. I've been taking students up, freeflying, opening at 3500 & putting 2-stacks together on Sabres. We put a PD Stack together - Saber2 150, Sabre2 135, Velocity 111 & it flew fine. I wouldn't recommend that everyone try this but if you have experience & it's done slow it can be done and is lots of fun. I understand the reasoning behind not doing this - a wrap with these canopies can result in serious injury, most likely extremely bad line burns that can saw to the bone. You also have the gear issues such as the possibility of pilot chute entaglements. Sticking with crw canopies that are made for crw is the best choice especially for anyone who doesn't do much crw.

Does anyone have experience doing CRW with paragliders? I've bumped end cells but have not actually had feet in lines or hands on fabric. I read somewhere in the training that you are supposed to stay 30 feet from other pilots but my canopy seems to find & steer toward others. Any insight would be appreciated.

The windmills are a good 2.5 miles from the dropzone at Byron. They are not an issue unless Ego is spotting. It is windy, 30 mph+ winds at times but we get used to it. I stop jumping when the hangar doors start rattling, that's 28 - 35 mph winds. 4000' is a bit short of a mile, I wouldn't think they should be a factor unless you get target fixation.

So......if you are a freeflying, crw dawg that BASE jumps would 3 Darks make a Light?

They seemed fine doing rotes but I'm a bit rusty. One thing I did notice is that it was a bit floaty when going over the top (I was pulling rear risers & going over the back instead of going off to the side - out-of-habit). I did come in hot on one of the rotes & the canopy stayed inflated. I need more time on them to figure it out but I'm sure they will work.

I met up with Craig this weekend & he talked me into jumping the JFX 109. He really had to twist my arm since I've never jumped anything smaller than a Sabre2 135. I wasn't sure what to expect, the last competition crw canopy I jumped was a Lightning 143 about 15 years ago. I was impressed with the teams landings but in the back of my mind I couldn't get the lawn dart approaches out of my head. There were 3 of us; Craig, Robbie & I. We were going to get out, play with the canopies & if we felt good about them we were to wave Craig in & try out some crw. The first thing I noticed was the quick on heading opening & I immediately started playing with the canopy. It's fast! I made 2 quick turns to each side & then noticed that Craig & Robbie were starting to head for each other. I turned the canopy in their direction & was surprised at how quickly I was in their airspace & ready to dock. We put a 3-stack together & started rotating. Six rotations later I decided to run off & check out the canopy. These are not your ordinary crw canopies. There are quite a few modifications and the lines are shorter than anything I've ever jumped. They are fast, solid & the easiest crw canopies I have ever experienced. I was amazed with the lack of front riser pressure & how fast I was able to float back up to the 2 stack. Although I was told that they would stall at about mid-range I was not able to stall the canopy. I buried the toggles and looked up at the half folded hankerchief over my head but was still flying. This eased my concerns about the landing but I wasn't off the hook yet. Due to everything I've heard & seen regarding small fast canopies I expected to land long so I turned final a bit further out than normal and I ended up a bit short - about halfway up the grass at Lodi. The landing was easier, softer & much better than landing my 135. The first words out of my mouth upon landing were "I need to downsize! Where's the 88!" Overall I'm extremely impressed with these canopies & am thinking about getting back into crw. I'm looking forward to jumping the sub-100's next weekend. Do they make them for freeflyers who do crw after opening? (Get your wallet out Zack, we need a couple of these!) Jose

RDS. Redline in Lodi. These are the best landing CRW canopies I've ever seen.