thedarkside

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Posts posted by thedarkside

  1. Quote

    Slightly odd risers indeed.

    There's probably some other explanation, but those risers with 3 legs to them would work for a ParaFlite Evolution, that had spanwise cascades and used similar risers with 3 legs.

    The middle riser would connect to the B lines only, and the dive loop on it would make it easy to do a B-line stall (as it is termed in the paragliding world) - a relatively controllable stall with the wing staying roughly in place and not collapsing. Or, pulling on one side only, as described in the Evolution manual, would produce a very quick turn.

    While putting those risers and an Evolution together makes sense, I'm not sure why such a nice new looking set of risers would have been put together with an old, rare, quirky, out of production canopy like the Evolution.

    I suppose one could use those same risers with any continuous line canopy without cascades. (Like a Xaos, right?) But why, I'm not sure. Pulling the front riser dive loop on such a 3 riser system would only pull down the A lines, not the A and B like on a normal setup. Pulling just the A's makes it very easy to tuck the nose under. It's all fun and games with a moderate sized Evolution up high, but deadly down low if one wanted to use front risers to set up for a swoop with a tiny canopy.

    (And yes the term "triple risers" has confusingly been used both for risers with 3 full legs, and those that have the brake lines coming off an offshoot on the normal rear riser. I'm not sure if clearer terminology is available.)



    Great post, the term "Triple Tier" is what I heard the risers with the brake lines extending from the rear riser.

    Weird for sure, they are in brand new condition (no rides) and have the armor for the cut away cable.

    I agree, the first thing that came to mind was perhaps a speed flying type of riser. I thought they like to connect more towards the hip though, but these are too short for that.
    Keep going faster until the joy of speed overcomes the fear of death.

  2. Quote

    They're called triple risers. You can do a search to find out the pros, cons, and thoughts behind them.

    Blink



    I did, and all I found on triple risers were the ones that had the brakes that come out from the rear risers.

    Is this the same concept just differnt method?

    here's a quote from another thread.

    Quote


    Triple risers have extra risers solely for the steering lines. Most of them also have an extra brake locking loop sewn to the middle riser.



    These risers have an extra riser for an entire line group...not just the brakes.
    Keep going faster until the joy of speed overcomes the fear of death.

  3. http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m218/johan422/Skydiving/3riser.jpg

    http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m218/johan422/Skydiving/3riser1.jpg


    I was told that a's and b's go on the front riser, c's on the second and d's with brakes on the rear...What's the point of that?

    Thanks!

    *edit* Haven't been on this site in a while and the image code is kicking my ass!
    Keep going faster until the joy of speed overcomes the fear of death.

  6. Quote


    If you actually watch a good HP landing you will see nothing radical close to the ground.
    270 turns are initiated at 500 feet and above some 360 aproaches are started at about 1000'



    And some 450's are at 1200-1500 ft. I have seen many professional HP landings, they are very smooth. I never said that they weren't. I guess where we differ is our definition of close to the ground. However even by your statment, a 270* turn at 500 ft, I feel justifies a Radical Turn close to the ground. Any turn unless a braked, flat or negative turn no more than 90* below 500ft I would consider a HP turn.

    I hope that helps.
    Keep going faster until the joy of speed overcomes the fear of death.

  7. Quote


    Okay, I can see your idea about the nose. But isn't the tail flopped the other way, creating an equal line twist in the opposite direction?



    OK, this is the "roll pack" that I'm talking about:
    -Flake out the conopy, so the nose is to the right and the tail to the left
    -Set Brakes
    -fold the nose over to it's even with the a lines
    -fold a to b
    -flake tail and fold brake lines to d
    -courtosy fold the rest of the tail in
    -d to c
    -slider up (this is where you see a knot's in the d lines that need to be worked out, also the stabilizers unually gets worked inbetween the line and needs to be cleared)
    -fold the nose to the center
    -fold the tail over top of the nose
    -make sure slider is clean
    -s-fold and place into d-bag

    Quote


    Also, I've tried flat packing by flopping the A's onto the B's, then stacking the rest like a common flat pack. That got the lines in the center of the pack, with about equal fabric on both sides. I don't recall any unusual turning tendencies, but I don't understand why not.



    Wouldn't that essentially be a stack pack but just rolling the nose??? The tail is going to be behind the jumper and the nose is just going to roll out.

    Quote


    Is this the same idea as why it's important to clear the fabric to the sides when pro-packing?



    I think you are thinking about the stack pack where you clear the stabilizers, then yes that's why it's important to clear the fabric to the sides, like the pro/psycho pack. But for the roll pack there's not a step for clearing the stabilizers, since they're being rolled in and not "stacked" on top of eachother.

    Interesting discussion, thanks Mark!

    I hope this helps
    Keep going faster until the joy of speed overcomes the fear of death.

  8. Quote

    I've seen, heard, and read so many references to the term "swooper".
    Yet it seems to me that there are varying opinions on what that means.

    Please do not contiune the debates that are raging in the other threads.
    I'd like to find out what everyone thinks the term "swooper" means.



    Swooping, an extremely exciting, but dangerous skill which entails a radical turn close to the ground under a High Performance canopy to induce a fast speed approach and then leveling off a couple of feet above the ground to cover as much distance as possible (as much as 650 feet), in a fast horizontal swoop.
    Keep going faster until the joy of speed overcomes the fear of death.

  9. Quote

    Quote

    ... [A] "roll pack" will give you at the least a 90* off heading opening and the possibility of line burn to your stabilizers and other parts of the canopy.



    Could you explain a little more, please? Why should the heading necessarily be at least 90 degrees off, and why would the possibility of line burns increase?

    Thanks,
    Mark



    Sure Mark,
    With the standard "roll pack" the nose is 90* to the right of the jumper and then rolled into the center, thus creating 1/4 of a line twist. Unlike the pro/psycho or stack pack, the nose isn't directly in front of the jumper during deployment. Again, Unlike the pro/psycho or stack pack the lines are also being rolled into the canopy and are whiped accross during deployment.

    I hope this helps
    Keep going faster until the joy of speed overcomes the fear of death.

  10. Quote

    Quote


    A "roll" pack on the other hand, needs to do a number of turns while unfolding to be on heading.
    !



    Guess I could of read the whole thread before I posted, but yes a "roll pack" will give you at the least a 90* off heading opening and the possibility of line burn to you stabilizers and other parts of the canopy.
    Keep going faster until the joy of speed overcomes the fear of death.

  11. I do all 3...Although there are different ways to "flat pack" One method is called a "Roll Pack" and the other is a "Stack Pack" The Stack pack is basically a pro pack but standing up. The roll pack is a little harder to explain but I am willing to show anyone who wants to visit my DZ. :P I psycho pack everything else since it works well with new or large pack volume canopies. I pro-pack my X-fire's B/C Icarus say's to pro pack. I don't mind though since I have awesome openings with it...most of the time ;) Cheers!
    Keep going faster until the joy of speed overcomes the fear of death.

  12. Quote

    Quote

    Triple C's



    ???



    Canopy Controllability Check
    (Look left, turn left 90*, Look right, turn right 90*, determine stall point) If you need to input more than 50% opposite toggle to counter a turn or the canopy stalls prior to 50% brakes then the canopy is considered uncontrollable and cut-away procedures should be initiated.

    Cheers!
    Keep going faster until the joy of speed overcomes the fear of death.

  13. Quote

    So I had my first cutaway this weekend and I can’t figure out what may have caused it. Here is the rundown, second jump of the day, uneventful freefall, clear and pull @ 3500’, in the saddle with a fully functioning canopy by 2800’. I fly the canopy with no problems down to 1400’ at which time I initiate a turn which causes my canopy to go into a violent turn resulting in line twists. In the span of probably less than a second my lines have made 1.5 complete revolutions, I release my toggles which does stop the spinning but at this point I check my altimeter and realize that I am just about at 1000’ and make the decision to chop. I was sitting in a big beautiful canopy @ 600’.
    I think I made the right decision to chop, I absolutely did not want to land a canopy with the line twists, and though I may have been able to kick out of them who knows.
    My toggle turn was not a hard turn, I did not bury my toggle nor was it excessively fast. The only conclusion we could think of was that I was passing through 2 layers of air and somehow it just caught something weird. It was a sunny day about 75 degrees with light winds, not very turbulent at all.

    I still owe beer because i am in Utah and it was the lords day so no alcohol sales, but I am good for it:):)



    Did you conduct a canopy controllability check (I like to call it Triple C's) after opening? The first thing that came to my mind was that you had a tension knot and when you buried a brake line the knot wouldn’t allow the line to retract, creating your spin and line twists. Therefore attempting to kick out of the twist would of rendered you useless as you had a brake line stuck. I've seen this before and it resulted in a chop. Cheer Mate!
    Keep going faster until the joy of speed overcomes the fear of death.

  14. Quote

    I know a lot of people who have quit because of yupee people getting in the way who are there more to say that they jump and that they are cool, rather than being in the sport because they love to jump. I did NOT start jumping to make friends and inflate my ego. I did it because i love to jump. I think and hope that more dz's adopt more of a hardcore, "shut up and jump" attitude. Screw getting down and bullshitting about the jump and then packing slowly and dilly dallying around. Jump and then go do it again and again and again all day, your chances of learning more will increase dramatically. If you don't like to do this thats fine too, just get the hell out of the way of people who really have passion for the sport.



    I am a firm believer in jump quality over jump quantity. A skydiver will have a steeper learning curve in asking questions after a skydive or looking at a video then understanding how to fix something. Rather than the guy who thinks he's all that and doesn’t need help and wants to get on every load.

    To get back on topic, I have seen many people leave the sport due to getting married or having kids. Of course this doesn't just apply to skydiving. That's why I'll be single forever ;)
    Keep going faster until the joy of speed overcomes the fear of death.

  17. Quote

    Bill Booth said something like 50% of all malfuctions could be avoided with proper body position.......

    I've made a point to really work on that.



    Three things cause parachute malfunctions:

    1) Faulty equipment
    2) Bad body position at opening
    3) Poor packing

    Hope this helps!!
    Keep going faster until the joy of speed overcomes the fear of death.

  18. Quote

    I think this is a great idea. If a research project was done, maybe enough evidence could be given to the sport to standardise exit order, and educate regarding exit seperation, as well as many more areas of safety.

    Who's gonna fund it?;) Or is there people out there willing to share raw data with the site so it can be accumulated / studied.:P

    I should imagine we would need quite a bit of data to make it worthwhile some ideas may be:

    1.wind speed and direction both at altitude and on ground



    I would actually take it a step further and get the winds for at least every 1000 ft, the velocity and direction.
    Keep going faster until the joy of speed overcomes the fear of death.

  19. don't forget about ratings and new licences, they all add up. For example this year I paid my normal re-newal fee, new licence fee (expidite fee), coach rating fee, AFF-I rating fee...Now here's the kicker, my licence expires in Aug. but I didn't get a pro-rated fee on my ratings! So I'm sure between that, the magazine and normal fee's they are doing just fine.
    Keep going faster until the joy of speed overcomes the fear of death.

  20. You know this is really too bad...what a beautifull place to jump (key west). How sweet would it be to swoop the beach here. I've read many reviews on Homestead and it looks like a tandem factory. Thanks for everyone's input!
    Keep going faster until the joy of speed overcomes the fear of death.

  21. Quote

    Quote


    And buy new handles, of course. Those are often hard to find.



    Not if you hold on to them. ;)



    You shouldn't get in the habbit of holding onto your handles for many reasons. So I thought I would look it up in the ISP and it doesn't state to throw away the handles...does anyone know if It's in the SIM somwhere?

    Here is what I found.

    Quote


    1. Check altitude.

    2. Return to the arch position.

    3. Ripcord systems only: Discard the main ripcord.

    4. Locate and grasp the cutaway handle.

    5. Locate the reserve ripcord handle.

    6. Pull the cutaway handle until no lower than 1,000 feet.

    7. Pull the reserve ripcord handle immediately after cutting away or by 1,000 feet, regardless of stability, to initiate reserve deployment.

    8. Arch and check over the right shoulder for reserve pilot chute deployment.


    Keep going faster until the joy of speed overcomes the fear of death.

  23. Quote

    How is a simple fraction going to confuse people? My instructor mentioned the concept in my FJC when talking about the parachute system and despite the overload I was still able to grasp the concept of my emergency procedures.


    I apoligize to post a little off topic. The FJC is designed to teach the most essential parts of skydiving. The FJC should only last from 4-6 hours. (depending on the student) Can you teach everything about skydiving in 4-6 hours??? NO you cant, so we teach the most essential things and sorry that wing loading isn't one of them. That is why USPA has a Intigrated Student PROGRESSION. We progress as students and continue to learn.
    Please don't rag on people as they are wanting to learn, we need to mentor them. If they fail, you fail as a leader. Just some food for thought...Cheers mate and good luck with AFF!
    Keep going faster until the joy of speed overcomes the fear of death.

  24. Here's the deal. Get your reserve re-packed and your equipment inspected by a certified rigger. Perhaps consider renting for a little while with a larger main. Then go to the DZ with your log book and current USPA membership. Buy a new SIM. I personally recomend sitting through a first jump course. Then do your recurancy jump, usually an A licence check dive. Take it slow, like riding a bike it will come back to you. Feel free to send me a PM or an e-mail if you have any questions. Cheers mate!
    Keep going faster until the joy of speed overcomes the fear of death.