SpringVark

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Posts posted by SpringVark


  1. Quote

    As others have said, it's amazing you didn't have a very hard opening. Was it a sub-terminal deployment?



    No - this was at terminal.

    I'm just as surprised as you guys that I never felt it harder. I've had to chop a high speed mal before, and the reserve deployment on that felt hard (back pains afterwards, etc)... but this was a lot less violent. Not THE softest opening. But not too hectic, aside from the slider's behaviour.

    My loading is at about 1.3 - maybe it'd have been harder with a smaller canopy? Not that my reserve was loaded any more on my mal - but it's designed to open hard, I believe.

    I don't know. Maybe I have a goldfish memory, and the shock of the slider coming behind my head erased the shock of a hard opening... [:/]

    Thanks for your thoughts.

  2. I had my rig packed by a guy at a DZ that is not my own last week, before leaving to come home. I'm not a stranger there, and although I normally pack for myself, I've made use of this guy's services on a number of previous occassions, with no complaints.

    Main canopy is a Pilot 168.

    Today I jumped his packjob back home. On opening, it struck me odd that my slider immediately came all the way down past the top of my risers (where it would usually stop), and almost to a point behind my head. This had never happened to me before. I did some control checks and the rest of the jump was uneventful.

    When picking up my canopy, I noticed that the slider was already collapsed - from my previous jump a week ago!

    Pro track indicates it was a slow (flat-fly) jump, but I'm still surprised I didn't physically feel the opening to be harder than what I'm used to.

    Lesson learnt, I suppose, is to uncollapse my slider myself, just like I stow my brakes, before giving it to anyone else. I did also call the DZ's CI and asked him to chat to the packer. Seems to me that the guy didn't even bother quartering the slider (during which time he would've noticed it was still collapsed).

    I was told today that people have died due to this simple packing error. I imagine that in such incidents the circumstances of the jump would be more extreme? Perhaps dumping in a hard track? I've searched the forums but can't find any such reports myself. Does anyone know of any such cases?

    Tx in advance.

  3. Quote

    i think proper response would be fly your canopy back to the dz and chop over the landing area before 1500 ft.



    Crap. Why sacrifice the altitude when you know you're going to chop? Just make sure you get a good visual on where your main is headed. The higher you chop the more grace you give yourself for anything else funky that might happen on reserve deployment.

  4. 0:7:3

    Seven sweet ones at the Skydive Xtreme Bow-gie near Thabazimbi (beers), RSA. Got my FF briefings and held a sit for 4 seconds after 2nd attempt (more beers). Then flattened out for some nice hybrids out of the PAC 750 XL (beeeeeeer).

    Great weekend and thanks to the guys & gals from Xtreme & PSC - a really cool weekend.

  5. I didn't say which Porter! Try the SA Police Porter for size! It was operating all weekend at Skydive Cape Town and Kevin organised a couple of loads, of which I manged to get onto one. Best part about it: it was for free!

  6. Quote

    I think you'd notice the air density differences under canopy more than any difference in freefall times.



    Agreed. I did my AFF course at a DZ at +/- 3000ft ASL elevation. Thereafter I moved to a DZ more-or-less at sea level. The first difference you'll notice is that you have to flare earlier the higher your ASL. You won't notice the difference so much during freefall - but it does exist.

  7. Quote

    Standard is 7. Given that the avarage human body produces 5' burble, 7' is the bare minumun. For normal BASE and skydiving WS 9' is the standard. For WS BASE some go up to 11-12.

    I like 9' for all my jumps.



    Is the length you're talking about here the total bridle length, or the length from pin to pilot chute? I'm guessing there's at least a foot of bridle from your canopy to the pin attachment, meaning that a 7 inch bridle (total length) would only give an effective burble clearance of a foot, given your average burble size of 5 feet.

    I ask because I was jumping a friend's gear this weekend, and noticed that the bridle was shorter than I'm used to. On my last jump, I was reaching for my handles while a PC flapped next to my head for an uncomfortable amount of time. Luckily the rest of the deployment sequence kicked in before I actually had to chop. It was not a lazy throw on my part, either.

    I'm thinking of getting my buddy a new bridle...

  8. I'd feel safer in the 600 - 800 range. I'm not even rolling my nose for my current times. I'll have my B-license soon, which under PASA (South African) regulations will allow me to jump a 190 Pilot at a loading of 1.15. I'm keen to see the difference if any.

    Speaking of lost canopies, I spent 2 hours in some rough bush looking for a student main that'd been chopped 2 weekends ago. Thankfully we found it, though the freebag is a gonner.

  9. Quote

    I'm surprised no one has mentioned Adam Sandler. He plays the same character in every movie he does.



    I'd normally agree - but just the other day I saw Spanglish. If it's anything to go by, then I'd say he's started out in a new direction, which I think gives him a LOT more credibility.