Avion

I have a used FT40 with a hand mount. I think the hand mount makes it easier to see. I'm planning on getting a new FT50. I'm partial to the Eurika's because the bold numbers and hashes are easier for me to read at a quick glance than the analog Altis. I also have a Protrack, but that's in my helmet mostly to record jump data, although I do set it to remind me that it's pull time, if I get distracted. I've only had it surprise me once or twice. Neptunes are neat, easier to read than a Protrack on your hand. Anyway, that's my setup: Analog on my hand, and digital in my helmet. I may eventually put a ditter in my helmet and the protrack on my leg, because they're suppose to work better there for recording jump speeds. Cheers, BW

I got mine for 100, it was green with white forearms and back though. It's OK for my 'learning' suit. Cheers, BW

Hey, good picture of Mike on the homepage. Guess DeLand has one Thanks, BW

I saw an ad in mag for a little radio beacon and a locator gizmo for finding cutaways. Anybody know of a website for this? BW

Well, it seems you got quite some response on this question. With what time I have in the tunnel, I have found it necessary to wear 20-25lbs of lead to get the same feel from the air. The reason for this is simple, my rig weighs 23lbs. Without weight, I fly at 115 in the tunnel. The air at this speed is noticably, spongier, for lack of a better word, basicaly less consistant and less firm. When I wear the weight the air feels almost exactly as it does in the sky, firm and stable. and I fly at 135 according to the readout. Cheers, BW

Whoops, since Omar has left Orlando to manage the tunnel there, doh, I thought it was open. Well then, in that case just come to Orlando, or North Carolina where they have the L1. All I'm trying to say is that it would be significantly harder in the air. In a tunnel you get to stay in the air for longer then 50-60 seconds and have video for debriefing. It make it very conducive for fast progress. Financially, its easier too. You can pay almost down to $10/min and get free help from the the tunnel rats, instead of $20 for your ticket, $20 for you coaches ticket and however much they charge for video, pre-brief, and de-brief. Maybe you can find a friend that will jump with you just for fun. I've found that to be a rare occasion though, and have yet to ever get video that way. But, I'm still a beginner too, so who knows? Cheers, BW

Goto the New Hampshire tunnel, and tell the rats you want to learn center point turns. It took me a good two to three hours in the Orlando tunnel before I could even say I'm just begining to get good at them. Cheers, BW

4.9mins/mile for the last three miles of a half marathon I ran when I was 18 in upstate NY, ~1982. The last part was on a slight down hill. 110 on a Yamaha RD350 that promptly got a wobble, ~1984. That was rather exiciting. 115 in my old 73 Monte Carlo, ~1984. 175 in a stand, 2005.

I really enjoyed this thread. It was very helpful during my first, oops , I mean pre-second season, in the sport. It opened my eyes to a good number of things. It was a pleasure interacting with Brian, and I'm glad he took the time to give such detailed replies, because I know I can be a difficult person to hold a conversation with because of my opinionated and inquisitive mind. After taking 8 months off, all this has also helped me get started again in my second season too. I also warmly mention the instuctor who did my recurrency jump. I'm glad I did that, and think it was a very good deal. I actually feel more prepared, in addition to knocking the dust off my skills. Best regards, BJW

That's my concern too. If your going to pull above 5.5 you should talk it out with manifest, the other jumpers on the load, and the pilot too if your going to be unusually high. I kept opening at 5.5 till they told me to stop opening that high, maybe forty-fifty jumps. Now I deploy at 4.5, which still gives me plenty of time to play with my canopy. Once I got to open extra high maybe 7K. The straps were beginning to hurt my legs by the time I got down. Made me wonder about hopnpopin at 13.5. Cheers

One of the statements that I came across that help with mental side of this is that you retain stablity through the whole exit from plane to terminal velocity. In this fashion you lack the need to ever get stable, that is regain stability, because you've kept it all along. So, I suppose your question might better be: How do I 'keep stable' during my exit, rather than how do I 'get stable' durning my exit?. It just takes practice, and a few pointers maybe :)

I have found tunnel flying and skydiving to be a little different. Mostly, it's because of the 20+ pound difference between the two. Now, I wear 15-20 lbs on a belt when I belly fly in the tunnel that makes it really close. Another difference is that I am having a little difficulty translating my tunnel skills into the sky, because all my reactions seem to be based on the visuals of the tunnel. When I'm in the sky, I get momentary brain locks (uh... What do I do now?), when confronted with situations that I know how to handle, 10' or so vertical distance, or even 15-20 horizontal distance, because I'm use to being only 4' or less away from another flyer. The lack of the walls as a visual reference seems to be the basis of the problem. Solution: More practice BTW On one of my recent tunnel trips, I jumped in without my bootie suit and weights to do some freeflying, and wobbled around quite a bit for a moment or two, till I got use to that again. That was a real surprise.

Did you do that, freestow in the pocket, to reduce the twisting of the bag by the stows durning line stretch? I ask, because I have noticed I rarely get an on heading opening. My canopy does tend to hunt, that is turn this way and that, while inflating, and usually dives a liitle right at the end. My brakes are set with about six inches of slack, which might contribute to the diving. But since I play with the front risers, that seems to be OK. I've only had half a line twist, 180 degrees, once or twice out of 40 jumps. So, I think the stows are only causing slight if any twisting of the bag during line stretch. As far as I can tell, the hunting is due to uneven infation durning that time.

I did AFF in DeLand, and am glad I did. Top notch instructors, turbine aircraft, advanced training all in one, plus a great bar/restaurant.

Optional, although highly recommended

Wow! It looks like an Otter on steroids Edited: Hey, I see it only had 18 seats. That would make it smaller than a Otter. I'd be sad to see it go too. Cheers

If you come to sunny Florida, you'll be within an hour and a half of five major DZs: Z-Hills, Lake Wales, Sebastian, Tittisville, and my favorite, DeLand. As far as your tunnel time, the standard is two minutes at a shot and a total of 15-20 mins per session. It's also best to get in two or more sessions, so you can review your video, identify the things you did wrong, or want to do better, and then get back in to work on them. There's lots of people to share time with here in Orlando (sent >>> Paige

Ironically, as a newbie I only like jumping with people who have at least several hundred jumps. I now try to avoid jumping with other newbies, because I have and they just lack any idea.

Oh yea, and if you find youself staring blankly up at the sky alot now, it's OK, that's normal Cheers

I love zero winders

Myth, myth! May I have some humility with my err, please Thanks for the correction, Bill. I'm amend my future comments to the likes of after landing and before cutting away to avoid being dragged, disconnect your RSL to avoid having to get an untimely reserve repack, and in the event that you've landed in exceptionally strong winds that may even prevent you from getting dragged by your reserve

Well, all I know from my own experience, limited as it is, is that before I started stowing the lines the way I do now, one out of evey 4 or 5 openings would be a little harder than the rest. Less than really hard but noticably harder than usual. As I explained I noticed some stows were looser than recommended, and after I started stowing them so that they all have good tension, my openings have all been about the same, consistently. So, all I'm trying to say is that line stows seem to have at least some influence upon deployments, little as it may be. I thought that I should add that I'm talking about the difference basically between freestowing the lines in the bottom of the container and stowing the lines with bands so that they have 7-12lbs of pull tension. An out of sequence deployment, where the canopy come out of the bag and starts inflating before the lines are completely stretched is another issue.

No, but I'm planning on Demoing a PD193 to do that, after I get a little better with my 210. I just jumped with one of my buddies when he was demoing a PD160R, he said he just about sh#t himself evey time it opened, and that was only hop-n-poping it.

Are you actually saying that the design of a reserves slider and cross ports lacks any bearing on the speed of a reserves deployment?

I imagine that does happen every reserve deployment. That's one of the reasons that reserves open so fast besides the big hole in the slider and larger cross ports, aye?