johnnyboy

in an emergency, i can understand how one loses altitude awareness. WHen i was spinnning out of control, all i cared about was chopping that sucker and getting a better one out. NO jump could ever give you that feeling of going back into freefall after cutting away. People talk about that roller coaster feeling that we really dont get.......I got it that jump.
I guess i owe a bottle of scotch

after my reserve opened, i did a control check and then looked for traffic. I then checked the alti and found the DZ (we had a VERY bad spot). I was way north of the DZ and my canopy was going North. At about 1000 feet, i knew the canopy was going towards the houses so i decided not to land near it. It wasnt until an hour later when i realized no one realy watches that i didnt have money to buy another main. As i drove around Perris, i kept callin manifest until finally the rigger's husband turned it in. the FIRST thing out of ANYONE"S mouth was "why didnt you land by your main?!?" I said it wasnt safe....................

I usually open at 4 to allow for some room to regain stability in case of a mal, but when it happened, i didnt even think to get stable again, i knew i needed an open canopy.
I was pretty much standing up when it opened. Scared the s@$t out of me........
i agree about the main

i survived My damn reserve looks like a main so NO ONE knew what happened until i landed at the tip of the Conaster's property (Perris) and the guy who picked me up heard me screaming "Did anyone see my main?!?"
It was a coach jump that had an uneventful freefall. Upon opening, i had twists so bad that they came down to the risers almost under my neck. I chopped the main and pulled the reserve before i got stable (no RSL).
2 things learned:
LAND near your main!!
Dont pull reserve until i am back on my belly
Would you agree?

Are you saying it will get worse? Great. Maybe I should just cutaway like the movie However, I have already done my good deed to the jumping community by redoing my DZ's waiver. Too bad that doesnt pay!!

Fellow law students unite. Who wants to ditch class and go jump? Everyone I think.
Anyways, I am a 2 and a 1/2 L and doing a joint degree (JD/MDR).
I am now sitting in "arbitration practice" and wishing i could be back in the air learning to backfly.
who else is stuck in the law realm and especially, who is attending law school in LA (I am at Loyola (JD) and Peppderdine (MDR))

I could let you borrow Dropzone and Terminal Velocity

Thank you all for helping me out. Skydivers really ARE the nicest people around

tdog,
Your suggestion is great!! I would have never thought of that, and you are right, it shouldnt be that hard. My mother sews, so I will take care of that. However, I am in law school, and my free time is extremely limited, so i have to sit on that for a while. However, when I get good enough to not screw up my suit, I will go that route for sure FFAddict,
Yes, second hand is key. I have been looking around, but the ones that fit me arent that cheap, so I will keep looking, but I really want to have a suit already. For the second idea, I looked into it, and with some options that my instructors recommended, the suits would run as high as $350 or more. Until I get good enough to where I consistently land on my feet, I need a cheap one. But thank you for your advice.
bch7773,
thank you as well for your help Unfortunately, for the same reasons I stated above, I will wait for the better suit. However, if you do point me in the right direction where I can get one for under $180, tax and shipping included, please do.
thanks again,
Diablopilot,
I called them, and they were trying to sell me a bomber, which starts at about 230. Do you know what brand you were thinking of?
Noctralucent,
where can I find a firefly? Are they inexpensive? Remember, I suck at landing, and I just want something that fits good and is comfortable, is loose enough to slow me down ( I am a big guy ), and of course freefly friendly. If it looks cool and matches my rig, that would be a plus but that is not much of a concern for me.

Again, thank you all for your help. If you can give me anymore input, please do so. And if anyone has ever ordered from totalcontrol.au, let me know how it was.
thanks---johnny

I am looking for an inexpensive freefly suit. I looked online and I found a place in Australia that sells them for $99, however, there shipping is ridiculous.
I was hoping you fellow jumpers may have other suggestions of what stores to look.
thanks

Grades in what? What school do you go to? Congratulations on your A's and B's I have to wait another 10 days for my grades ........I am scared
So I am just going to keep jumping until I get them Blue skies!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jakee,

Thank you for bringing up the reserve issue. I was going to ask about that next.
I myself have been seriously concerned about the size of that reserve. Apparently, my rigger told me a PD reserve 160 actually translates to a 174 square foot canopy. I dont know how exactly that works, but that is what I was told.........
Even if the canopy is 16 square feet smaller than my main, I think i would be scared shitless being under a new, smaller canopy at 1k after having a nerve wrecking cut-away (knock on wood I am hoping the rig can fit a slightly larger reserve, but for now, I think this is what I am going to have. (I am a poor student ). My JMs say I am fine, but either way, I feel uncomfortable for the most part flying something new and more dangerous in emergency situations.
Please give me your thoughts everyone and tell me how you feel about a student flying that canopy.
Once again, I really appreciate everyone's help and I feel great that I can turn to a website to answer some important questions.
Thank you!!! BLUE SKIES
p.s. Jakee, come to California and jump!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you sooooo much for your advice That is exactly what I wanted to hear. I was thinking of the possibility that because of my lack of experience, I probably wouldnt notice too much of a difference on the 190. And for the low turns, I wouldnt dare after reading all the incident reports this year. I am way too inexperienced to try anything of that sort.
Additionally, what can you tell me about how you feel about the Triathlon being a first canopy?
Moreover, can you tell me anything about the rest of the gear?
Airtwardo, I know we need to have a discussion about the reserve, so please see my response to Jakee below Thanks again for all your information. It is exactly what I was looking for.
I would love to jump with you some day, jump ticket on me

As a newbie, I have to ask you pros for some comments, hopefully to calm my nerves

I have recently found a rig with such an incredible price, I couldnt turn down the offer. It is a Quasar II container, Triathlon 190, PD Reserve 160 and a Cypres. Without flying it, I bought it. The rigger at my DZ repacked the reserve, inspected it, and flew it giving me A+ comments........

However, I only have 18 jumps. I weigh 230 and I have yet to stand up my landing (I guess I am made to have dust appear when I land and tumble
I know my wing loading is high, but my JMs all said i am fine with a 190, so I took their advice.......

Now I turn to you all to quash my nerves of a hard landing
I was told that since my Triathlon is a 7 cell, I will have less glide, so I am already expecting to see the ground come at me faster. I was also told that the Z-Po 210 is a hybrid so mine will be more responsive. Additionally, the z-po has been used much more extensively than my fairly new canopy so my rigger told me to expect even more response.......

SO, can someone please tell me what to expect? (For ANY of the gear)
thank you all very much and I really look forward to becoming a real skydiver and joining you all in the air someday.
Thanks again---johnny

You are very correct. That is the only worry I have. I was told by my JM that the reserve is usually smaller than the main, so I hope they are correct. Hopefully if I ever have to use it, I will be good enough to fly it
What do you think about the set-up. Yay? Nay? Is it freefly friendly? Everything except the Cypres was manufactured in 97, so I hope its new enough to be good. Either way the rigger at my DZ will inspect it before I fly it.

Thank you all very very much for the information. I know I should not be buying something until I can get better, but I also dont want to be grounded because of a lack of a rig. I am definitely buying used as inexpensive as possible so I can have the option of selling the rig off when I get better and desire to downsize.
Good news!!!! I did find a hell of a rig for a good price. My DZ told me to have the seller send it to them and they will inspect it. Over the phone, they did tell me that the sizes are right, so here are the specs:
Quasar II (97)
Triathlon 190 (97)
PD Reserve 160 (97)
Cypres (01)

The only thing that scares me is the 160 reserve, because of the wing loading, but my JM said it would be fine. The only downsizing I will be doing is jumping from a 210 Z-Po to a 190 Triathlon.
Thank you all again for your advice....it helped a lot. If you like, please go ahead and tell me what you think of what i found. I cant exactly land on my feet under any canopy but hopefully I will learn before the next 7 jumps when I am elegible for an A license.
Again, I dont know much about the equipment, so any feedback would be nice. I dont even know if the container is freefly friendly!!!!!
Thanks again

Hello everyone,

I am new to this sport...only 18 jumps, but I am ready to buy a rig. The last 2 times I went to my DZ, the rental rig that fits me was being shared with other jumpers so I only fit in 1 jump each day. Regardless, here are my questions/dilemmas: I am looking at used gear and I want to know what to buy. I have been flying a Z-Po 210 which I enjoy. I was also told that a Spectre would do me good as well. I am terrible under canopy, so I need something very forgiving but fun at the same time for the next few years.
I am looking at used gear here at this site, and I dont exactly know what to look for as far as canopies and containers. Ideally, I would buy a javelin or mirage (i hear those are nice), a spectre 190 and a pd-reserve 218, with a cypres of course. However, I think it would be foolish of me (and it would wipe out my financial aid) to buy new gear so early in this sport. Used is my best choice. But when I look at the classifieds, I have no clue what to get. What really spawned this posting was after I had found a rig and told my instructor about it, which he told me the container was a "pilot-chute trap." I really dont want a horeshoe malfunction, so I am turning to you all great people to give me some advice:
What can I buy that will have the least amount of malfunctions, very forgiving under canopy, and freefly friendly (i plan to learn to freefly one of these days>....probably after I learn to belly-fly Thank you all for your advice.
Blue skies!!!!