apoil

In a wind tunnel that doesn't mean you will immediately plummet towards the net at 160mph. When the wind stops, your speed is ZERO relative to the earth and you will start to accelerate from there. It will be like falling from wherever you are onto the springy net. The only difference is the body position. Hitting the net head first from 10-15 feet up carries a significant risk of serious injury but it isn't inevitable. A skilled flyer should be able to tuck up and land on their back.

Then why does the speed of the uppers matter? Sounds to me like separation is based only on the planes airspeed indicator, and separation sould be the same regardless of the direction of jump run. This has plagued me for a while.. intuition has told me that that distance covered over the ground shouldn't matter because separation needs to be achieved in the airmass. But using the ground as a reference IS what is taught - and ground speed is used to determine separation. In the case of the balloon Untethered: airspeed = 0. No separation achieved. Tethered: airspeed = windspeed. Separation achieved.

So, ironically, waiting for a 45degree angle doesn't work but TELLING someone to wait until there's a 45 degree angle may well guarantee you the proper separation. The rest of the load gets hosed, but at least no one comes through your canopy. It may even be more effective to tell them that than to tell them to wait 10 seconds. Nearly everyone counts seconds way too fast on jump run.

It's really cold. So cold that really the only way to survive is to share your sleeping bag with a friend. Byron folks are typically more than happy to do this - understandable since it's a matter of life and death.

It is a nice pic, I hope he had some shoes left after sliding on pavement. Notice how inflated his 'collapsed' slider is? This is why I prefer the stowing the slider behind my head with one of those plastic ball and bungee things. Of course RDS is optimal, but it's a bit more complicated for every day jumping.

No it doesn't. The freefly unfriendliness of the dolphin has nothing to do with the way the reserve flaps are closed. It has to do with the riser/bridle protection and the tightness of the BOC. And I'm not disagreeing with the earlier post saying it's possible to make one ff friendly. No one is having premature reserve deployments as a result of the flap configuration. I have personally seen and filmed a dolphin premature main deployment from a sit fly.

People got cut on the record itself, but I attended a couple of big way camps at Perris and no one got cut. If a big way "camp" is cutting people then it's not really being organized properly. People can be arranged in such a way that everyone is challenged and improves their skills whether or not the planned formation actually completes. If the goal is building a specific formation, then you may have to cut people in order to achieve the goal - but that's no longer a "camp". The only people who should be cut are people who aren't capable of flying safely in a large group and that's about discipline and break-off.

ROFL - because the scientific method is how freefly suitability is being measured here?! Give me a break. This is more "I have one and world champ x/y/z has one so it must be the best!!" I'll go more slowly - when someone says I've seen more javelins do x than any other rig, it makes a difference that in all likelihood he's seen more javelins PERIOD than any other rig. If I say, I've seen more malfunctions on Javelins than any other rig does it mean Javelins are more prone to malfunctions? Not without more information. My last Jav stayed closed for 1800 jumps. Then I changed mains to a velocity with a bigger pack volume in the same container and it didn't fit exactly right. Due to wear on the stiff tab and an improperly sized main it started opening. I had a rigger put a new tab in and now it is perfectly secure. I've seen the main flap open on other rigs. I mentioned Wings, Mirage and Vector because they all use a similar design to protect the main pin. "It just happens". That sounds more like "I don't know why it happens and I can't be bothered to do anything about it right now" It doesn't happen to all Javs, particularly if the main is the proper size for the container. Lots of highly experienced jumpers end up changing main sizes and not wanting to invest in a new rig. It can be fixed, but maybe not all riggers are up to the task, and not all jumpers are up to the expense for something that is ultimately more of an inconvenience than a safety issue. I might not buy a brand new Javelin if I were shopping for one today, but it would still be a leading candidate.

I never liked Ned that much anyway. Seriously, if my friends had a problem being told they were full of shit they would have stopped being my friend a long time ago. And yes, I still have a few.

There are more javelins in the market than any other rig. Thanks for your scientific method. If the canopy is the proper size for the container and the closing loop is the right length and the gear was properly broken in, this doesn't happen. I've seen it happen on Vector, Wings and Mirage rigs as well. Every rig has its pluses and minuses. But all are safe for freeflying. Oddly, as annoying as it is, I've never heard of or seen a malfunction or fatality that resulted from the main pin cover being open.

ok. At the risk of totally ignoring my own advice about irresponsibility: smallness. A small rig is less bulk to lug through a transition, and less aerodynamic drag all around. Better be able to fly the tiny main and the highly loaded reserve under all circumstances though. In my case my canopy skills evolved at the same pace as my freeflying skills which is to say very slowly. For some that's not the case. Safety under canopy is top priority. But smaller kit is nice when you freefly. My gear has always been cutom sized for me and articulated. The cut in laterals on new gear is also nice, although it makes less of a difference if the container is narrower than your back. I also use the bungee between the leg straps. With hip rings that makes a huge difference for head up flying. Some swoopers don't like it though because it affects their ability to harness turn.

Very irresponsible to call those "pullouts" They are all BOC with different style handles. I've never heard those referred to as "pullout handles" only as "freefly handles". The "pullout system" has a similar style handle but the pilot chute is packed into the container closed with a straight pin. Even with that all clarified there's no need to have a "freefly handle" or a "pullout system" in order to safely freefly. It comes down to individual preference.

Where are you learning, and what is your progression? Are you considering an AFF jump a "solo"? Beause, if solo is "jump without instructors" in a progression other than static line or IAD, then you should have already been tought the technique and have demonstrated it. If you are in the middle of your AFF progression, then don't worry, the technique is introduced before you are released in freefall, and is typically not needed until the final stages when which infolve deliberate instability and recovery. I personally teach it in the First Jump Course, just in case. That said, I heartily endorse the numerous statements that you ask your instructor A student trained by the collective wisdom of dropzone.com would be a horrifying sight.

I don't know why so many folks are trying to marry components of their rig. Maybe congress is right. Maybe gay marriage has opened the door to this kind of perversion.

How many "people"? It doesn't sound like you are ready for freeflying in groups.

Practice a little bit at a time. You are basically just practicing a stronger sit. Push your legs down until you start to lose stability. As soon as you feel that, tuck up, recenter and push back down into your SIT. You are training yourself in having SIT be your recovery for stand (and everything else) Not everyone can punch all the way into a stand right away. I sure couldn't. So keep practicing that recovery. Each time, you will be able to push down a little bit further, and recover a little bit quicker. Eventually, your "recovery" will be so quick that it looks like a transition. And eventually you will be all the way in a stand and holding it. The skills that you have developed along the way are essential for any group vertical flying as well as for eventually learning head down.

I've jumped with a lot of outstanding freeflyers. Guano are quite possibly the best organizers when it comes to putting together safe fun skydives that reward and challenge every individual in the group. If you are in the area, don't miss this opportunity.

Time in sport does indeed count for something. I consider 1000 jumps to be like a black belt in martial arts. Any experienced practitioner of martial arts will tell you that that is when you are ready to BEGIN learning.

My understanding is that it was Olav. Are you sure he didn't put you up to this? Early hard core RW guys will at this point start talking about "no lift dives" and how they'd been doing it for years before Olav came along. But that was about diving down to a formation. It wasn't about flying the body position. That is, controlled motion on all axes and the ability to STOP at a fixed point. So, I'll give credit to Olav for pioneering the idea, but he certainly had help in the early days turning it into a discipline.

5. The long pins WILL wear out your closing loop faster. Be careful that your "solution" doesn't end up causing the same problem you were trying to avoid.

I'm going to have to go ahead and disagree with that. Very few people will actually be head down on a solo, even when they think they are. While he might get used to an upside down picture, he will likely be tracking across the sky - hopefully not up or down the jump run. What he will be doing is ingraining bad habits and forcing his eventual coach to chase him all around the sky just to fix it. If you aren't going to do formal coaching, then get another friend who is a good solid sit flyer and practice doing transitions in front of him, never losing eye contact. If you get separation, immediately recover to your feet and get relative again. If your sit flying skills aren't up to that, then you aren't ready for head down.

What you are talking about now has nothing to do with skydiving. It has to do with dealing with loss. Many people stop getting close to other people after getting their heart broken, or losing a loved one to disease. There's the deeper question of what it really means to be alive which ties to why we jump in the first place. The route you are contemplating might reduce the chance of pain in the future, but it also cuts off something. And that something is part of what makes life worth living. As to the pain you might put others through if you die, here's two things: 1) Don't fucking die skydiving. Seriously. Stay sharp and do everything you can to not let it happen. Learn from every incident and don't repeat the mistakes of others. 2) While it will be painful, how do you want to be remembered? As that person that was so passionate about life that she lived it to the extreme and took risks or as that person who was always safe and nothing ever really happened to her. Most families of skydivers have already come to terms with the possibility. If not, they will. They are your family - they share some of your genetic traits - they WILL understand. If you are talking about your extended skydiving family, they know that the risk of pain and loss are part of the full spectrum of experiences in life.

The recovery arc of the velo really takes some getting used to at first. Coming from a 9cell elliptical you will think you are too high when you come off the risers but something like two seconds later you are entering the sweet spot for your swoop. Practice. As people have mentioned it's more about a build up of speed and then a very long recovery than a quick snap like you get from toggles. With your jump numbers you shouldn't need to be reminded which is safer.

Freestyle has always been more prominent in world competition. Perhaps all the freefly teams are training for vrw 4way?

Biggest con I can think of is that it will only ever fall at one speed, so you better get it right the first time. By putting a long tail on one, you can gradually increase the speed by trimming the tail. Also, if the weight is packed too losely inside the ball it might jiggle around too much in freefall. A tail compensates for that a little. A ball that falls too slow is generally easier to catch than one that falls too fast. You can always go on your belly. You can belly fly like nobody's business can't you? If not you shouldn't be ball mastering. You can always go on your feet. You can sit fly and grab a ball with one hand can't you? If not, you shouldn't be ball mastering, at least not with an untested skyball. But if a ball is super fast, you might be in a speed dive just to stay relative to it - then you've got to stick out a hand or two to grab it. Also a tail doesn't just look cool, it gives you that much more of a visual on the ball in case you lose sight of it while doing a transition. When I ball master I NEVER take my eyes off the ball for the entire jump.