larsrulz

I got a job out in Siberia starting in August....believe me....you don't want to move there! I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

I would tend to disagree. I had an aerodynamics professor who worked for one of the big F1 teams for a bit, and he certainly seemed to indicate that the verturi effect in F1 is huge. I would bet a human body wouldn't do a whole lot though. Considering the short impulse of a fraction of a second that the car passes over, it wouldn't produce enough force to lift your body out. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Once a composite is cured, it will not reshape, at least not the epoxies that are used by bonehead. If the problem is that the shell is too small, then the helmet is mis-sized.If the helmet doesn't push uncomfortably when you have the liner out, then baking it should give you a perfect fit! I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Not only once, nor twice, probably not even a mere three times, but still funny every time I see it. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

By the looks of where he jumps, those are just the two planes he has most experience with. I guess he's just partial to the meeker in general. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

http://webpages.charter.net/micah/merphone.mp3 MCI has a child pornography ring; I heard it on the internet! I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Sounds like that much more a reason to jump at Archway. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

The following is from an email to a follow jumper from John LeBlanc, the chief designer at PD. It covers the performance loss from a non-collapsible pilot chute and benefits from a collapsible: __________________________________________________ It is quite common to not understand the problems associated with an inflated pilot chute on big canopies. What people don't understand is that it is not just the amount of drag produced by the pilot chute. The bigger issue is where that drag is applied: to the top of the canopy in a backwards direction. Having the drag applied here causes several things: First, it attempts to rotate the canopy back into a flare, thus reducing the amount of flare power remaining. Second, this "dragging through the air" flight regime makes the canopy bounce around more in light turbulence, making it more difficult to get the canopy to fly a smooth stable approach at a constant airspeed. (A smooth steady state approach is a big help in getting consistent landings. Third, this extra drag tends to make the canopy flare a bit when making quick heading corrections on final approach. Eventually, that canopy noses over slightly and gains speed again, only to repeat this oscillation a bit more mellow. This makes timing the flare a big challenge, as the best flare from each stage of this oscillation is a bit different! This problem is much more pronounced on bigger canopies, especially those that have a larger section of tail pulled down by each control line, such as PD bigger than 190, Sabres bigger than 190, and all tandem canopies. Fourth the pilot chute can distort the canopy as the end cells try to out fly the center cell. You can sometimes see this as a bend in the canopy at the center cell, when looking up at it in flight. This causes a change in angle of attack in specific areas of the canopy. It results in more lift being generated in the center cells, but less lift being generated by the end cells. This causes the end cells to be loaded too lightly, making them more prone to folding under from a side gust or downdraft in turbulence. This situation is aggravated by using quick toggle movements to make small heading changes, especially when there is a left, right left sort of thing going on with the toggles. (I know this sounds sounds silly, but watch people on final approach and you'll see this a lot.) The Collapsible pilot chute will be of benefit to this jumper in a few ways: First, the canopy will be less susceptible to turbulence. Second, the canopy will have a more effective flare, particularly when making less than optimum approaches when small corrections are made during the last 10 to 15 seconds. (Its best to plan approaches so that these corrections aren't necessary.) Third, in the event that the jumper wants to learn about using front risers, the canopy will respond better in this mode, with less riser movement being required, and more potential gained. This is because the adverse affects listed above become more pronounced with added airspeed, so vicious cycle starts to occur: The jumper doesn't get much out of a bit of front risers, so he pulls more riser, which causes more drag on the pilot chute which rotates the canopy back more which gives less effect which causes the jumper to pull more front riser and so on. Collapsing the pilot chute will produce little extra airspeed at normal full glide, but it will change the handling and effectiveness of the flare. Making sure the brake lines aren't pulling down the tail too much is another. On the Sabre 230, a slight amount of tail pulled down is ok. (Check our web site for trim specs.) Collapsible pilot chutes are not only for the small high performance canopies, but also help conservative jumpers using conservative canopies to get more out of them. They are particularly important on older F-111 nine cell canopies, such as the PD series. There isn't much excess energy brought to the flare on these old canopies. My recommendation to get rid of the pilot chute has helped many people get better landings on these canopies. The difference in flare power is a bit less noticeable on the Sabres, but it is there. [...] I would like to point out that these effects are real, and removing the pilot chute will produce more consistent canopy piloting performance. Experienced test jumpers on our staff get far better and more accurate results with a collapsible installed. And if you don't have your equipment set up properly, how will you get the experience needed? Once you've worked out the steps to create a state of continuing improvements in technique, there is probably no other thing that has a bigger effect than collapsing the pilot chute, other than making sure the brake lines are set with too much tail pulled down at full glide. Please let me know if this helps. Regards, John LeBlanc __________________________________________________ This explains both the benefits of the collapsible pilot chute and the detrimental effect of a non-collapsible! Edited to remove some information specifically directed to the recipient of the email at the [...]. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Maybe this is an advantage of training with 182s or maybe you know something I don't, but we train our students that if they need to exit the plane with the intent of using their reserve (due to low altitude), then they sit in the plane with their feet on the step, lock their thumbs through their reserve handle, and as they fall out they go into an arch, which pulls their reserve ripcord in doing so. Now as we have a 182, which have good glide characteristics, it's unlikely students will bail at a low altitude under such relaxed environment. I'm sure if something dramatic happens such that bail out is called for by the pilot below 2000', then i can see things getting complicated. Fortunately I don't have my I quite yet, so I don't have to worry about this as much. If I have a coach student when bail out is called for in the caravan, then I'll tell my student which handle to pull and trust them to do it. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Only thing he's missing is a little taxi light and a meter! I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Chicks chick chicks?!? This totally depends on if you want to go to graduate school afterwards or not. If you want graduate school, then go to the best school where you can be top of your class, as graduate programs put so much on undergrad GPA. If you plan to enter industry after you graduate, then you'll want the best program (as long as you don't completely bomb your GPA). As for entering the world of research, you need to find a happy medium in between. A good research institute won't look at you if you have below 3.5 GPA, but then again they understand the importance of a good undergrad department. But for the most part I totally agree with Wendy, trasfering from a school where it was totally undergrad and all courses were taught by a professor to a school where I managed to see my professor once a week during the 500 person lecture was less than desirable. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Nope, not a bit. Just two weeks of fairly intense ground school. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

When I did it (and how they still do it today), we went through about two weeks of training before we jumped. (three weeks for the full course) 5 skydives during 120 hours at the field is far different than a couple hour classroom session, but I still think good training can make stable exits from jump 1. They also don't mess around; grossly unstable exit on your first jump and you aren't going up again, and the vast majority of people get through the course. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

What about wings? I know they were offering a discount to *all* military members. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

When I finished demoing the pilot I jumped, the Aerodyne guy asked that when I pack it to return it that I leave the nose alone and just a few wraps of the tail; hopefully that will help! I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

It is probably most likely that your off heading openings are due to body position and not pack job or canopy. As for the slow openings, there are little things you can do to speed this up; talk to your rigger and I'm sure he'll have a few ideas. If you insist that it is the canopy and not your body position for the off heading openings, then you could ask an experienced jumper at your DZ to take it for a ride. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Not to hijack, but I'm curious of others opinions who have jumped both. I thought the pilot had a very slow response (as I said above), particularly to toggle input. This may be the fact that I've been jumping my samurai and haven't been under a sabre2 since the convention last year, but I really thought it had a quicker toggle response. It seemed that it had a slower response to a snap toggle input, but would get more aggressive (than the sabre2) with holding that same toggle input. Any insight? Edited to add: I jumped the pilot two weeks ago and has been 8 months since I was under a sabre2. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Seems you are already loading your current canopy up quite a bit, so standard "talk to your instructors first" warning needs to preempt. The Icon is a very nice and innovative rig. It is still new on the market, but everyone I know that bought one is very happy with it! As far as the pilot goes, I like it better than a sabre2, at least my comparison between a sabre2 150 and a pilot 140. It seems to be less aggressive and responsive to toggle input, but I loved everything else about it: front riser pressure, openings, flares, slow flight characteristics and much more. They definitely both have their pluses. Considering how available both companies are for demos, why not request a demo from each?!? I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

It takes half the syllables!!! ::shudder:: When I was going to high school up there I had friends who referred to Rockford as downstate or southern Illinois. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

I have a friend who is a veterinarian and a vegan and she feeds her pets foods with meat in them. Doesn't feed her pets purina or anything, but does get dogfood (and presumably catfood) with meat in it. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Not necessarily true, some dropzones give a written test as the cummulation of the student program. At my dropzone we give them oral questions after each jump and then do an A license test before they get their card stamped. Any missed questions are then again orally reviewed. None the less, read the damn SIM (not you Kris)! If you don't know all the answers to the written or oral test you'll received, then you need to read it again. Rinse and Repeat! I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

I jumped a round at the end of last summer and it fit into my rig just fine. The rig was about ideal for my Sabre 190, and the round fit just fine (it was a medium to large sized round, as I wasn't going to jump the smaller one they had). Used an extra set of risers, no D-bag, and a diaper and mostly just watched my rigger/S&TA pack it, but you might be suprised how small it packs up. Talk to an older rigger who is used to packing up round reserves, they might have some good advise. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Considering your weight (I used to be 190), my first inclination is that you are wearing far too baggy a jumpsuit. Ask whoever is leading the dive if they are intentionally flying it steep. Maybe you could request a flatter track? It certainly increases the challenge for all. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

I think this is important to note. If someone wants to drive on state and federal roads, then they should expect to follow the laws laid down. The government tells you how fast you can drive, and I sure don't want everyone on the road driving 120 mph, because 90+% of them can't handle that! Hell, half of them can't handle 55! I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Actually, it's Flitesuite, the company that Bytch works for. Actually, it's Flitesuit, the company that Bytch works for. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF