tnscorcoran

Check out Skydive Seville. For the 9 non-winter months best place to jump in Europe. Best weather, fast climb to highest exit alti in Europe 15 k. Awesome place

A thing to be aware of in Eloy is the direction of the jump run and tracking direction. I am used to jumping at Empuria Brava and Lillo where the plane always goes 1 direction - along the runway so it's easy to know where to track. In Eloy it usually depends on the wind so it can be any direction. Added to that I have heard of some jumpers do a full tracking dive along the jump run! But I guess that's rare.

Just a general question not specifically related to jumping through clouds. If you find yourself on a direct collision course with another canopy, say just after opening, or as a result of flying through clouds, or whatever - is there a universally accepted direction to turn to avoid? I thought it was right but someone told me it's left.

2 options, either go over to the staes and bring it back yourself - and get a free holiday off the saved tax or get them to ship it by fedex and value it low. Your gear will be safe with fedex

I've a friend who works as a psychiatrist in a prison. The prison population has a notoriously high rate of suicide, as one would expect. Yet even in such a small sample of people with such a high propensity to commit this act, it is incredibly difficut to predict who will do it when - even by highly trained and experienced professionals - psychiatrists. There is no way screening can ever be contemplated - it would be impossible to do with any degree of accuracy. As I see it, this incident is better than a jumper accidentally going in - this person would have killed themselves some other way if they had not chosen skydiving.

Should reserves be packed so that the spring loaded pilot chute flies out in a direction away from where the main bridle would be in a PCIT. So when the jumper is in a belly to earth position as one would expect in this situation, the reserve p.chute, bag and reserve would go somewhere above and slightly forward of the jumpers head. Would this not minimise the chance of entanglement as the main p.chute would be somewhere above the jumper's ass?

Empuria is a great DZ, it's the biggest in Europe and with very friendly and professional staff and great coaching available. I have never had a problem with excessive traffic, the landing area is massive - the entire length of the runway and most of it wider than 50metres. And additionally swoopers land on the opposite side to everyone else making it safer and easier.

Thanks for the very enlightening article Brian. I have The Parachute and its Pilot and heard your recent interview on skydive radio, both of which are compelling. In conclusion 1) you say, Don't fly an unstable parachute. If it is prone to collapse, ground the parachute. How does one find out what parachutes are good and which ones are bad in this regard? I guess you can't name names but is there anywhere on line to find such data?

Yes but I was refering to a regular RSL not a skyhook. And the point was, RSLs save more lives than they kill, the positives outweighing the downsides.

If you are lucky enough to have or be able to buy a Vector container, the skyhook RSL is a fantastic innovation. http://www.relativeworkshop.com/pdt_skyhook.html Although it won't be as quick as the Skyhook, any RSL will most likely open your reserve quicker than you can. That can save your life if you cutaway low. One downside is you can deploy your reserve with line twists if you cutaway from a spinner - though more people have gone in from late reserve deployments 'waiting to get stable' than from problematic reserves due to RSLs. Another is - one riser fails to release and your reserve deploys into the still attached riser. So if you can get a skyhook, do so - it takes care of the 2 rsl problems mentioned. If not, they are still a good idea at least until you have had your first spining mal - then you can decide if you need one based on experience.

I have about 50 jumps on my new Pilot 150. What a great canopy. She loves to turn and the flare is smooth and responsive. My previous canopy was a Spectre 170 so there was a quite marked change what with the obvious faster approach and flatter glide angle. But no problem landing whatsoever. Compared to the Spectre, the openings were even smoother and the turns were WAY sharper. This is a really nice great fun canopy.

Depends a lot on the guests, though it's always interesting. The 2 shows interviewing Bill Booth were outstanding, the Brian Germain interview was also great

Does anyone know of some cheap (preferably free) software tha I can create DVDs with. I'd need a package that I can mix in songs that have been ripped into Windows Media player from CDs also. I have a Sony handicam that feeds into the computer with USB. Thanks.

Thanks for your posts guys. Looks like no-body does them yet. Time for some DIY with the sewing machine.

Thanks but that website is down. On paraservice.com these are listed as available Sony camera condoms: Sony PC1, PC5, PC7, PC9, PC10, PC100, & PC110. Anyone any ideas would any of these fit the PC 1000?

I need a camera condom for the Sony 1000. I see paraservice.com sell camera condoms but not for this camera. Does anyone know a site I can get one for this camera?

Does anyone know of any sites that I can get one of these? What's the best magnification for skydiving? About a 0.4? How can I find out what lenses would fit the PC1000 - ideally it would be good to get one that is a good quality non branded make (and hence much cheaper than Sony) that obviously fits the camera. Thanks for any help.

Quote Trying to suss where has the highest liklihood of good jumping weather - so 60+ jumps can be achieved in 2 weeks. Sure, nothing is guaranteed but some places are more likely than others to achive this. Eloy sounds great, as does SA.

What's the liklihood of being grounded due to weather in Arizona or Florida at xmas? I'd love to go to either but need to go somewhere that has pretty much certain constant jumping[;) Does anyone know anything about some xmas boogies outside Europe and the US that you can get loads of jumps in guaranteed. Somewhere tropical maybe.

The mistake was not heading in a direction away from jump run. As I took it at the time, nothing was wrong, it's only after thinking about it, I realise I should have changed direction. Thanks for the posts.

I had 2 situations in the last few days at deployment time that definitely weren't safe. 1) On opening my canopy it sometimes does a pretty wild swing and goes way off heading. The other day this happened and my canopy started heading UP the jump run as I was stowing my slider. Meanwhile another canopy sniveled past me less then 100ft away. 2 lessons here, first after canopy opens turn it immediately in the opposite direction to jump run and secondly leave adequate separation before exiting the plane. 2) On a tracking dive that I failed to keep up with, I turned away from the group and tracked away. Just as I was about to pitch, I noticed a canopy opening directly below me. It was one of the jumpers in my group. I tracked away another direction and then pitched and everything was fine. Had I not seen him, I would likely have collided with his opening canopy. Lessons learned - a) if you can't stay with a tracking dive, get FAR away from it at pull time. b) before pitching on a such a dive, do a barrel roll to make sure no one is above or below you (especially above - it's a lot easier to see a body against blue sky than it is against the ground). I'm pretty safety conscious and these are the closest things I have experienced in 180 jumps. I'd welcome some constructive input on any other ways the liklihood of these situations can be reduced.

I am just back from Lillo, did 5 jumps there yesterday. Lucy, Marcus and the guys were doing plenty of AFF jumps. It's a great place, huge landing area. Myself and a few mates have been back 7 times in the past year. The weather is better than Empuria, especially for AFF. I'd advise you to get a hold of Lamorna at freefall addicts and take it from there.

Have never touched them in freefall - except once when I had a high speed mal. They were exactly where I expected them to be. Seems to me like touching them in freefall is only useful for high speed mals. Won't they will be in a different place with an open canopy malfunction like a spinner or a line over?

http://www.bpa.org.uk/dropzone/dzone.htm Looks like Silver Stars. Though not far from Netherhaven which is supposed to be fantastic, if a little up their ass about non-bpa jumpers

I've been to both Lillo and Empuria . While there may be more to do at night in Empuria, there is a great atmosphere at Lillo and we alawys find stuff to do in the evenings. Also, Madrid is only 45 minutes away with some excellent night life. And camping is free on the DZ. I am returning for a week next month - for the 7th time in just over a year!