morten

Can't wait for the video (and the next!) Pollwise I think that the failing riser falls in the "Something I haven't thought of"-category

I watched the same video, and have on two occasions used the the technique with great success. The direction to "untwist" the risers is in the direction, that moves the linetwists down from the lines to the risers. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2900200.

If you buy a brand new zero-p canopy and pack it yourself you can add an hour of fun at no extra cost

I trust a certified rigger, who'll allow me to watch him packing the reserve, and explain to me what he's doing, while he's packing it. It's extremely comforting to know the reasoning behind the (not so mysterious) mysteries of reserve packing.

Self induced linetwists should never be a part of a student progression. When you let the toggle up after a turn the lines tend to go slack until it flies straight. I did it once, turning right and then let the right toggle up and pulled the left at the same time. The lines went slack while my body continued it's rotation to the right. Two linetwists and increased pulse rate before I regained linetension and kicked myself out of it. I think the idea is to do it right: Change the direction of the turn without letting the lines go slack. Bring the opposite toggle down before letting the first one up. This increases linetension and let you change direction without inducing linetwists. ps.: I forgot: Ask your instructors before ...... pps.: Brian Germain says this much better

PMS is not something to be thankfull for

First my definitions - your's may differ : Confident: Thinking "Oh yes!!" instead of "Oh no!!" when making the final turn before landing. Consistent: Able to land within 10 meters of the target. 120 jumps on student gear ~ 0.9 lb/sqft - confident after 35-40 jumps, consistent after 50 13 jumps on PD 190 9-cell ~ 1.3 lb/sqft - never confident, crash landings mostly, but quite consistent 300+ jumps Sabre2 170 ~ 1.4 lb/sqft - confident after 3 jumps, consistent after 40 jumps. The confidence came from learning what flare means on a flareable canopy

The sky is not the limit, the ground is!

How about "The minute waltz" by Chopin.

Nice forum, this!

I learned even more by attending Brian's class (twice - but I'm a slow learner, and may need a refresher soon ) Sign up for any of the big guys' canopy control classes. Money and time well spent!!!

Releasing one brake would get her down even faster. The risk of passing out before releasing the other brake would make this a risky choice though.

Thanks for the comments on the first question. I get the impression that, if stalling in a controlled manner from normal flying it's very unlikely that the jumper will get wrapped in the chute. Any comments on this question? The questions came up in a discussion on possible ways to bleed off altitude without chopping the main in a premature high altitude opening. After reading the replys here it seems a good idea to add "and will it have any chance of recovering after a substantial altitude-loss?" to my list of questions. And please don't worry - this was a theoretical discussion about oxygen starvation while flying the main, not plans for the immediate future

I've only ever heard of self-gift-wrap as an unintended outcome of a barrelroll with too low speed. That sounds like the scenario you describe - any oppinion on the second question?

Is this possible? During our 3-day Skyvan event that rained away two debaters entered a stalemate, possibly caused by too little airtime combined with too much beertime. A: If you stall your chute there is a possibility that it will dive under you and you may fall into it and gift-wrap yourself. B: A stalled parachute will be streaming after the much heavier jumper, with no chance of overtaking him on the way down. A and B are both used to win arguments such as this, but obviously they can't both be right The next question is: Can and will a stalled chute descend faster than a spiralling one, and if so, will (or rather can) it continue do so for an extended period of time? I'm well aware that stalling the chute may lead to a malfunction, but my questions are about possibility, not about advisability

Funny thing that handshake business. I do it, mainly because other people seem to need it, and who am I to ruin their skydive? I wonder how many do it on their own accord and how many just do it for the others' peace of mind?

One of my favourites is "If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space" Don't know who wrote it - except for me, just a few minutes ago

I may be a slow reader, but nobody seems to discuss the merits of your instructors as opposed to somebody else's instructors. The thing that make my instructors way better than other instructors is that they know me and my abilities. So for me "Talk to your instructors" means "Remember to discuss this with somebody who knows your abilities" This doesn't keep me from trying to get all the advice I can lay my ears on, especially on things that I think I know already. btw: the 45 degree rule works well for me: If the exit temperature is below 45 degrees F, I wear gloves

I find that the twisted brakelines are a great help if you are a few days behind with the logbook: One twist = one jump.

C(an't) R(emember) W(hat)

Thank you all for your input! I can see the unhealthy possibilities in tangling the toggles. I may try the "do nothing but keep straight" method next time I have linetwists, although the weather in Denmark seems to keep me safe from linetwists these days As for the "Why don't you stick with what you've learnt in the FJC?" question: It contradicts the "Learn as long as you live"-rule that I try to follow

I think that the part with a riser in each hand is BEFORE he implements "the method". Today I was jumping barehanded, and I didn't see any risk of getting stuck between risers. Other posters may have a point about not noticing if your gloves get stuck. Has anybody tried this with bad side-effects? edited to add: I've just viewed the video again: The only time I see risk of getting caught up in the twists is when he tries to pull the risers apart before he starts the "revese the twists" operation aka "the method". His hands are never between the risers after that point

I saw this video 2 days ago: http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=5096 On the very next jump I had 3-4 line twists and tried the technique: Twist the risers in the opposite direction of the line twists, moving the twists from the lines down to the risers. The untwisting was prompt, starting about the time the lines were straight. Comments anyone? I can't find a thread on DZ on this - please direct me to it, if it's already here

Rotating the toggle in tha hand to shorten the brakelines by 3" can hardly be considerd taking a wrap. With short arms (like mine) the "Invert the toggle"-method may be just whats needed to get to the stalling point. I'll try it and see where it gets me

Discuss this with your instructors: When you do the dummy pull the container is empty. The bottom of the container has a different shape than it had, when the parachute was still inside. So the handle will be somewhere else than it was when you practiced with packed parachute. Therefore use the big open hand to search the area where the handle went missing. Maybe you could try to do some ground tests with the parachute out of the container. Then you'll know what it feels like when you're playing find-the-handle with an empty container. On the other hand this will not prepare you for the real thing, where the container contains a parachute. On the third hand neither does the dummy pull, for the reasons stated above. I seem to be running out of hands here. The real pull after 5 seconds of freefall is easier than the dummy pull, since you're not being shaken by the opening parachute, and the handle is (almost) where it was, when you practised just before entering the plane.