Avion

I think there is some thing else worth mentioning here. I far as I can find out, line overs are more often brake lines and less often suspension lines. The line over I am talking about cutting is a brake line. It would be much easier to simply unstow a toggle and cut a brake line, than to locate a suspension line, reach up above the links, grab the line, and then try to cut it. Anybody who's cut a brake line care to comment on how they recognized it was a brake line that went over?

That's the plan. You know, I'm surprised at how many people, including highly experienced ones, that jump without one, and also by how many people point at me and say, "Oh look, how cute. the newbie's got a hook knife. Like he thinks it's going to make a difference." Well I do, and hopefully it will! A difference for the better that is.

I still fly a big, slow canopy and open high in order to play with it. Good point though, I'll have to reconsider, if I was to start opening lower or flying a smaller, faster canopy. Thanks

This is my position too. I've only see videos on www.skydivingmovies.com of cases where a hook knife might be useful, usually premature deployments that result in an entanglement. Come to think of it, the guy that got his ankle tangled in the other guy's suspension line when attempting a Mr. Bill probably would have found one useful. Since he was Brittish, I wonder if he had one and forgot he did, hmm... In any case, I got one and would cut a line over on my main and attempt a rear riser landing rather than chop it. My intructors say that I should actually do that before suggesting it, hmm... As for how much time you have, it depends on the mal, high speed, low speed, and how much altitude you've got. I imagine it can range from seconds to minutes.

I got two words for this: Tunnel Time I see your in Tulsa, the closest tunnel to you I think is in Eloy, it should be open soon (Yea, right they been saying that for a year now ) I did time in a tunnel before AFF just eliminate problems like your experiencing, instability and unfamiliarity. Get to a tunel if you can, and get in there with a dummy rig if you can. 20 minutes should do you fine. Visualization is great. Just like below, I find it very helpful, necessary actually, to plan/visualize the whole dive, from exit to landing repeatedly before jumping. The least benifit of this is to give myself a yard stick to match my actual performance against. In your case, you might find it helpful to spend some time visualizing your dive flow and also the proper responses your instructors have given you to handle problems such as wobbling, turning, or flipping over. See yourself in the air, see a problem arises, see yourself handle the problem and continue the dive. Visualize this repeated until the whole thing flows by itself without effort just like a movie. Then do it! Cheers

My big Spectre has a surprising amount of flare too. Mostly between 1/4 and 3/4, above or below that and little happens. I'm amazed that I can get 50-60 foot plane out with it. It's so awsome when that happens a foot off the ground Now with my more gentle approach that might decrease somewhat, but the technique is safer and more consistent. BTW I did a lot of studying before AFF and was expecting a three stage flare. It seems that basically the two stage is the same as the three stage with stages 2 and 3 combined. Along the same lines of thought, a single smooth flare just blends stage one and two together, overlaps them some what, so that there's a lack of any certain point where one could say that's where stage one ends and stage two begins, but rather a transitional period of some length where stage one is ending while stage two is beginning. Two Stage Flare: |-Stage One-||---Stage Two----------------| Dynamic Flare: |---Stage One----| . . . . . . . . . |-------Stage Two-----------| With the first way, I was attempting to get a rather abrupt angular change in my line of flight from a decending glide to a level plane out. The second way, I just begin flaring somewhat higher and slower, which results in a more gentle curve into horizontal flight. Cheers,

You've identified a controversial topic, the two stage flare. Its purpose, as you might have already noticed, depends upon who your talking with. Spizzarko and Skratch Garrison have both written some good things to read about it. I was taught the two stage flare in AFF. According to my instructors its purpose is to prevent students from flaring completely while they are still to high. Also, once through AFF the flare should become a single smooth continuous motion as you get better at landing. There are two things that need to be done. First it is necessary to stop your vertical speed. Second it is necessary to stop your horizontal speed. Some people like Brian Germain say, the first part of the two stage flare should stop the vertical decent and the second stage should stop your horizontal motion. After reading Brian's book, I tried developing a well defined two stage approach to landing, and had some difficulty with keeping it consistent. I went from flaring too high to flaring to low, and sliding my feet across the ground like Brian describes, but a little to low. Sometime, I sank all the way down to my butt, and once and a while I failed to pull it back up to a standing finish. I talked it over with an instructor. Basically he said that it was like I was in a car and driving up to a stop sign and jamming on the brakes three feet away from the sign as I was trying to start the first stage of the landing at three feet above the ground. So, what do people do? They drive up to a stop sign and moderately apply the brakes at a reasonable distance away from the sign, thereby allowing themselves the option of applying the brakes either harder or softer as conditions require. I reconsidered my approach in this view, and decided to start flaring a little higher maybe 10' and curving gently into a plane out, rather than abruptly as before. This seems easier all around, both in judging when to start and in keeping it consistent. As it was, I was being too demanding of my precision and allowing myself too little margin for error. That's what was making it difficult. All in all, I seem to have discovered what Spizzarko means by a dynamic flare: One smooth continuous action that varies dynamically in intensity as the landing requires. Cheers

I miss the word play and chemistry between Scully and Mulder. The alien conspiracy did get a old after a while. One of my favorite episodes is the one where Scully and Mulder go into the haunted house on Chrismas Eve and get tricked into thinking they shot each other.

Gee, and I thought it was jumps on Friday:Saturday:Sunday. Silly me! In any case it was... Zippo:Zippo:Zippo Huricane, reserve out of date, and rig needs work. As for zero significant events, evidently, my social skills need work too.

That was a good weid one. How about "Slaughter House Five"

I was having inconsistent openings with my Spectre. Some soft, some harder, with the same packing. I asked some of the PD test jumpers that where around, and they said pull tension on the line stows should be between 7-12lbs. I noticed mine were like 3lbs. So, with spectra lines, I triple wrap large bands above the cascades, that's the two locking stows and one more, and double wrap small bands on all the rest. I now have good pull tension on all the stows and my openings since have all been consistent. With dacron lines I double wrap large bands above the cascades and single wrap small bands below them. Apparently, loose stows allow a semi-line dump to happen, and surprisingly that can have a significant effect on the opening. Cheers

I downloaded all the pictures and words I could about packing squares. For me, they just failed to fully convey the whole process. Flaking out the cells and bagging the main are the two usual difficult parts to learn. They're easy enough to do, it's just hard to grasp without having someone to give you an actual demonstation. Cheers

"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"

Samuel Beckett's Existential Classic... "Waiting for Godot"

Could you elaborate upon the difference between sitting and hanging in the harness?

Well... It's now six months past the PIA. Where is it???

And if so, how well did it work for you?

OK, I try there

If so, how well did it work for you?

Yes, they like to explore. I often find her sleeping up on the hightest things around the apartment. Cheers

LOL The TV only a 25" one. But it's up on a shelf.

My kitty has recently taken to sleeping on top of my TV, which puts her about 5' AGL. Several times now she has rolled off the top of TV and freefell to the floor in a sudden scramble. Do you think she's trying to tell me something?

We've got ice barrels out in front of the restaurant. You can put your beer in there I think the ones I put in there yesterday are gone already

Zombies man... They freak me out! It was good

At least your DZO will be the responsible one. Edited-------------------------------------- Whoops, that must have been some one else. --------------------------------------------- Are you talking about Alan? What was it, a 96 Velocity and 20lbs of lead with 300 jumps? I was already feeling deja vu. Maybe, you should give him Alan's incident report report. Particularly, the post where he describes relearning how to perform his bodily functions and walk again. Cheers