Balu

Yes, that is part of their maintenance program and it is all included in the maintenance fee. Without extra costs you always have a Cypres that is as modern as it can be from the technological point of view. 1300 Sprünge, 100er Wingsuit Formation, viele nette Menschen kennengelernt, keine Unfälle. Schön war's!

I did a factory tour in Stans, Switzerland, last year and got some first hand knowledge. They have a Skydive Conversion available, with the door sliding on rails inside the cabin towards the front. With this and all the aforementioned it would be a perfect jump plane, if only the $$$ weren't such a problem. 4 Million Euro is a lot, even if you have real quick turnarounds. A PC12 could load up to 16 skydivers for 3,5 lifts per hour. 1300 Sprünge, 100er Wingsuit Formation, viele nette Menschen kennengelernt, keine Unfälle. Schön war's!

I started on a Cayenne, and after 100 jumps moved on to a Spectre. I should have started with it. Great openings, great flare, docile flying characteristics but also fun to turn on the front risers. And very suitable to camera and Birdman-jumps. With a Spectre you will do nothing wrong. About the size talk to your instructor. 1300 Sprünge, 100er Wingsuit Formation, viele nette Menschen kennengelernt, keine Unfälle. Schön war's!

About CYPRES Maintenance: Unlike other AAD manufacturers Airtec gives a 12,5 year full-warranty for their product, assumed that the 4-year checks are done. That means, whatever happens to your Cypres they will fix it for free. With other manufacturers you only have one year warranty. Of course, if you damage it intentionally, like driving your truck over it, you will be charged for the repair. The maintenance is done at a fixed cost, which is only slightly changed by the fee for the riggers service. In Germany it will be between 170 and 200 Euros. It is done at the manufacturer because only there the quality control can be guaranteed 100%. Testing can be done by SSK in the USA, but if repairs are necessary they will send the unit to Germany. Maintenance items: all wear and tear is taken care of everything is checked and calibrated: -temperature stability check and adjustment -precision of pressure check and adjustment -precision of altitude check and adjustment -power consumption check and analysis -capability to fire is checked -functionality of the cutter is checked -shielding check and adjustment -waterproofness check and adjustment -condition of measurement technique and analysis -replacement of battery -replacement of filter all necessary repairs are done hard and software are updated all applicable improvements (discovered in the last 4 years) are installed adjustments to changed environmental conditions are done To explain the last point: A construction can only be done to the known circumstances at the time of the design. Years later, things can change or new things can turn up which alter the environment of the device. In case the device can not cope with the new situation, it has to be adjusted. It would be fatal if not. For example, during the existence of the Cypres, cell phones were developed. The original shielding protected the Cypres from radar, radios, GPS signals, but not from cell phones which showed up later. Airtec developed a new shielding which was installed to all units that came in for service. And of course, the cost was included in the fixed service price. I don't know what AAD and Aviacom do, but I hope that helps. By the way: The idea of providing service at a fixed cost came up because in the old time AADs hat to be serviced every six months, and nobody knew about the cost in advance. That was one reason why AADs have not been very popular at the good old times. With Vigil and Argus we are moving back into that direction. That might be not a big deal to most of us, but it is point to consider before choosing an AAD. Please take the last part of this post as pure information, and don't turn this thread into a Cypres-/Vigil-/Argus-bashing thread. Just jump what you think is the best AAD. 1300 Sprünge, 100er Wingsuit Formation, viele nette Menschen kennengelernt, keine Unfälle. Schön war's!

Are necessary repairs included in the 125$? 1300 Sprünge, 100er Wingsuit Formation, viele nette Menschen kennengelernt, keine Unfälle. Schön war's!

Fun. If you prepared it well enough. First of all, make sure that your exit is really 100%, which means always on the desired heading, with the wings fully collapsed. Keep the several tailstrikes of the recent years in mind. The rest will be quite eays and what might happen when it comes to the pull was described before. On my Blade 2 I can even fell the pressure in the wings when I collapse them on earth. Not a big deal if you are prepared for it. I never tried a Mach 1, but several other big suits, and from that experience I fully agree to the other statements. 1300 Sprünge, 100er Wingsuit Formation, viele nette Menschen kennengelernt, keine Unfälle. Schön war's!

Thanks for the explanation Jarno. I found out it was a Ghost 2, so I take your statement as from the manufacturer. 1300 Sprünge, 100er Wingsuit Formation, viele nette Menschen kennengelernt, keine Unfälle. Schön war's!

I saw it on a suit when I was on the BMI course. I can't remember the model for sure, and I do not want to spread any rumours here. Therefore I will find out the model and talk to the manufacturer about it. Then I, or better the manufacturer himself maybe, will give you a statement on this. 1300 Sprünge, 100er Wingsuit Formation, viele nette Menschen kennengelernt, keine Unfälle. Schön war's!

Back from the desert all I can say is that the new BLADE flies really good. Easy to control, with a slow vertical and high horizontal speed. It is my first high performance suit, and I did 140 jumps with GTI and Firebird before. It is a big step for me, but only a small step for mankind. The zippers work fine, and will be good for people who often change rigs, or have only one rig and do not always jump with a wingsuit. For me it is not a big difference. What I like about the zipper design at the Blade II is, that the zipper goes down completely to the bottom end of the pillow, which prevents the pillow from being sucked into the suit, as it is possible on some other designs. 1300 Sprünge, 100er Wingsuit Formation, viele nette Menschen kennengelernt, keine Unfälle. Schön war's!

Ground Rush Adventures operates no longer from Swakopmund airport, but from an airstrip in the desert, which is a few kilometres northeast of Swakopmund. The drive takes about 15 minutes from Swakopmund city centre, where the office is. The office is at the Amanpuri Travellers Lodge, which offers double rooms with bathroom and breakfast for 700 Namib Dollars (65 Euros). The Amanpuri rooms are nice, but remember that skydivers may be loud in the evening, so if you like it quiet a B&B in the city might be the smarter choice. The bar is open until late. At the dropzone you will find two small houses, one for manifest and the tandem instructions and one for packing. Cold drinks are provided for purchase, and two desert bathrooms for dumping the drinks later. It is all african style but well maintained and as clean as possible. Normally they operate a Cessna 206 which goes to 10000ft (3000m), but if a larger group is coming and let them know, a Caravan can be organized. Both aircraft were in a good shape and fitted for skydivers needs. The landing area is huge, you can land anywhere in the desert. The surface is dry, but mostly soft from the sand. Rigging service is provided at the office, and if the rigger is at the dropzone also there. There are not many local jumpers in Swakopmund, and most of them work at the dropzone. However, if they are not jumping tandem or camera they enjoy funjumping with visitors, whether it is RW, freefly or Birdman. And one thing must be mentioned here: These guys are the coolest bunch of skydivers I ever met! Even in Eloy it is hard to find people, which are in such a good mood and so open-minded towards visitors. Jumping and going out to town with them was pure fun. Overall, the dropzone has my absolute recommendation. Whenever you go to Namibia visit Swakopmund, and try to find some friends to join you to fill a Caravan.

Got mine a few days ago. I will fly it tomorrow at Birds over Namibia for the first time. Can't wait for it! 1300 Sprünge, 100er Wingsuit Formation, viele nette Menschen kennengelernt, keine Unfälle. Schön war's!

Congratulations Elias! I will be back in Hoevenen at the last weekend in October. Let 's fly together! 1300 Sprünge, 100er Wingsuit Formation, viele nette Menschen kennengelernt, keine Unfälle. Schön war's!

This happens frequently when I am doing solos. Mostly I am doing two- or threeways, but from time to time I just want to feel the sensation of human flight. Then I go for a solo, and the magic feeling starts right after the exit, when I spread my wings and feel the lift growing. Those flights are pure pleasure, and always ending to soon. Even if I could get five minutes out of 13.000 feet it would be to short. 1300 Sprünge, 100er Wingsuit Formation, viele nette Menschen kennengelernt, keine Unfälle. Schön war's!

The best suits I know come from Rainbow. Real german high class workmanship that lasts for a very long time. My instructor now put over 2000 jumps on his suit, and there are no tears and the booties are still alright. I have one myself, and I think I will never need another suit. Customer service is outstanding. The freefly pants of my wife did not fit. When she realized it the winter was over, and it was almost six months after the purchase. No matter, they fixed it for free. 1300 Sprünge, 100er Wingsuit Formation, viele nette Menschen kennengelernt, keine Unfälle. Schön war's!

This time me and my wife were travelling to Hawaii, and it was absolutely clear that we won't miss the chance to do a skydive there. We decided to go to Skydive Hawaii, because a friend of us worked there for a few months some time ago. The day after our arrival at Honolulu we drove to Skydive Hawaii, which is a one hour ride from Waikiki. On that day it was too windy for us to jump, but the staff took the chance to do all the paperwork with us, so that we would ready when we come back. On that day we were told that they have no rental gear available. Somebody from the staff granted a exception for us, but be aware that this is normally not possible. So, if you go there, BRING YOUR OWN GEAR! And come as early in the morning as possible. The dropzone starts at 8:00 a.m. and at this time normally the wind is calm. Later at afternoon it may become too windy, even if already have a couple hundred of jumps. One week later we came back, early in the morning this time. We checked in for the first load, which was a caravan of 11, 2 tandems, one video, three local jumpers and the two of us. So we had a very comfortable ride in a small caravan up to 13.000 feet. The caravan provides benches and buckles, and bars inside and outside the door. Thanks to the very good briefing the landing pattern was easily flown, and we were able to identify the outside landing spots from the air. There are a couple of them, so even if you got a bad spot or misjudged the wind, don't worry about the landing. Best would probably the beach, which is 40-50m wide. The landing are itself is sized as larger than a football field. Food and drinks are provided by a food truck at reasonable prices and quality. Packing is done outside but in the shadow. Packjobs are available for six dollars. The only not so good thing is the number of fun jumpers at Skydive Hawaii. When we were there it was not enough to fill a caravan, so you have to wait fr the next group of tandems to arrive, before the next load gets ready. I don't know if that changes between seasons, maybe you should check this first if you want to do many jumps. My overall rating is a recommendation, because there are no serious drawbacks, as long as you keep in mind to bring your own gear, and don't consider waiting times a big factor.