erdnarob

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Everything posted by erdnarob

  1. First of all, your DZ should have your waiver where it is written your total number of jumps before the season starts. From that, try to remember the places where you have jumped and evaluate about the number of jumps you have done in each place. Write that on a document and have it checked and signed by a instructor who knows you. The DZ should also sign this document. Start a new logbook and include the signed document concerning the number of jumps done. The USPA should also have your total number of jumps written on your annual membership renewal form. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.
  2. As maybe you know, fighter pilots have to take a special diet before going flying to make sure that they will not be disturbed by internal gases. There is a list of food not recommended to take before going in altitude since they are prone to generate gases in your stomach, guts, sinuses, tooth filling, other face bones...and disolved in your blood. Among the list you can find, Brussels sprout, cabbage, asparagus, carbonated drinks, beans...but also you have to avoid eating combination of food like bread and meat together...and you should not have chewing gum (that makes you swallow some air). Be hydrated too (water). Remember that at 18000 feet, the atmospheric pressure is half (50%) of what you have at sea level. At 12500 feet is should be around 63% (to be checked). As explained in other posts, less pressure outside your body makes expansion of gases inside your body and makes you uncomfortable. Now for relaxing, in your way up to altitude, have a couple of times the following : Breath deeply, hold it for 4 seconds, expire slowly completely, hold for 4 seconds, breath deeply again...do that few times. Do the whole process again few minutes later. That should calm you down. After more jumps, everything will be easier. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.
  3. Hello DKW, You got at least two people who suggested you to wear a proper jumpsuit. Your jumpsuit is for you what the wings are to an airplane. Airplanes with a lot of total weigth need big wings. When you choose your jumpsuit make sure to ask for : 1) Polycotton which is the less slippery fabric therefore a slow material 2) loose fit or baggy 3) a lot a fabric from forearm to hip 4) booties will slow you down when legs are extented Some jumpsuit manufacturers have a software to calculate how to cut the pieces of your jumpsuit to determine the range of desired speeds depending on the data you provide (weigth, heigth, body measurements, type of jumps...) Also : a) proper freefall position (no arch exception when it's necessary) get checked in freefall by a coach or instructor for a flat position (arch position speeds you up) b) test your speed in a wind tunel if possible c) in the tunel ask attendants to show you a way to fall slow (extended legs and extended arms in front of you) Note : Think about jumpsuit removable wing extention. Extension can be attached with zipper just like on the picture included Good luck Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.
  4. Here are some canopy angles of depression : Sabre 2 15.34 degrees Pilot 15.06 degrees Safire 2 15.14 degrees Katana 18.3 degrees steep Nitro 13.25 degrees quite flat That can vary slightly with canopy size. I don't have the figures for the Pulse but I know that the angle of depression is lower than those canopy above. The Pulse is known to have a quite flat flight like the Nitro and Nitron. Angle of depression is the angle measured between the chord of the airfoil and the horizontal. The flight steepness of a canopy depends on (according John LeBlanc from PD) : 1) angle of depression 2) weight distribution 3) canopy design Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.
  5. You should register for Flight-1 101 canopy skill course. They take you at any level. One of their exercices is exactely what your are looking for, ie. finding the sweet spot of your canopy. This course is a series of short seminars (half an hour) with videos and explanations then you go on a practice jump. They will take a video of your landing from the side and at the debriefing they will show you how to correct if necessary. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.
  6. In Florida, try ZephyrHills. This DZ is family and kids friendly. They can even sit on a bench near the patio and see you landing nearby. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.
  7. Jerry is right. As long as you have a written record of your jumps with all needed info, it should be fine. Remember anyway that for license purpose and for some DZs, your logbook with signatures is important. If you go at Perris Valley for instance, they will look at your logbook and they will even take a photocopy of at least the last pages. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.
  8. You are your canopy pilot and like an airplane pilot, you are the grand master about what to do for your safety. That being said, listen to the DZ official comments. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.
  9. A trick which can work for you. In freefall, tense or flex your fingers and your toes as well. That will let you know where are actually in 3D the ends of your members (arms and legs). Therefore, you will be able to correct your body position. For your arms, think about your ears, and put them at their level while looking at horizon with chin up. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.
  10. I didn't read all posts of this thread and I could repeat what somebody already did but just in case here is my answer to be practical : You should maybe start packing using a hook to hold the lines near the canopy while the canopy is suspended and here are the advantages of this method : 1) Your two hands are free 2) it is easier to see the 4 sets of lines when being in front of the suspended canopy (opposite side of the harness) 3) it is easier to see and flake the canopy When you will have packed several times that way, when you feel OK you can switch to the method where you use your shoulders to hold the lines. Now, if you give me an email address, I will send you the documents including drawings I have used when I was giving packing courses. First things to know and/or do are : a) parts of the canopy and their function b) Position of the canopy when packing (top skin toward the container, lower skin and lines opposite to container, nose is up and tail is down...etc) seen on drawings. c) grabing all front lines in one hand and the rear lines with the other hand and shake to get the lines well separated d) flaking the nose (easy since you have your two hands) e) What are you actually flaking and why (it is...three groups of fabric to flake...between D and C lines, between C and B lines and between B and A lines...because that leave the lines in the middle where they are supposed to be. Also, fabric will be in order and clear from the lines to avoid friction, burns and wear at deployment. Also to flake, canopy fabric between D line and the rear corner where there is the first steering line and then fabric between the following steering lines I have also a special method to do the three fold when canopy is on the ground, a method where you keep a better control on the fabric volume which makes it easier to put in the Dbag Obviously, the method I describe is the pro-pack method Good luck Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.
  11. Hi Peter and all interested I was surprised that you brought up a subject concerning diaper line set up in 2016. I have had 2 Strong reserves in the 70s: a) a 26' LoPo PN: 1012 b) a LoPo Lite PN 1014 a) The first case (26' LoPo PN 1012) had only half of the lines (the left set) going below the flap of the diaper with 3 stows using grommets and you had to cope with the difference for stowing the lines (both sets) in the container (see in attachment) b) the second case (LoPo Lite PN 1014) needed to have ALL THE LINES going below the diaper flap, with 3 stows using the grommets and the rest of the lines was stowed ALL on the diaper itself in rubber bands installed just beside the grommets in a dicreasing distance way.(see in attachment) The idea for the second case was that Strong wanted to have diaper first deployment then after diaper extension, line extraction well away from the jumper to decrease the chance of entanglement with the jumper But a drawing is equivalent to 1000 words, have a look at the 2 documents provided by Strong when I bought those reserves (see in attachment) Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.
  12. Hello Brian I had the chance in March 2015 at ZephyrHills FL to try Charlie, a skydiver, 100% Electric car. It was the shock of my life in the good sense. The car was a Tesla P85+. He let me do a road test alone. Just a little lever on the right side of the direction wheel (up= backward, low=forward and middle =park) that's all. No gear box, no tranmission and a super large display screen. But the surprise was the acceleration (4.4 seconds from 0 to 60 mph), I couldn't believe that for a so large car. Better than a Porsche Carrera 4. And when you release the accelerator pedal, it starts breaking and recharges the batteries. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.
  13. No problem, the video DC9 jump Rantoul was actually edited from 2 different cameramans who were on the 4Way with me. First jump from that airpalne was a 10 way (we got 9) and the second was the 4way. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.
  14. I have a better video. Look on You tube: DC9 jump Rantoul This was in 2006, the last year of the WFFC. I jumped it twice. I am the guy in green jumpsuit doing a 4 way several points. But I have also jumped twice the Boeing 727 at Quincy Illinois in 1992 and 1998 Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.
  15. 10 days ago, I have attended a parachute symposium at Trenton Ontario. On a seminar on parachute care and facts given by PD representatives, we were told that a semi stowless Dbag wasn't recommended for big parachute and high elevation landing zone. You jump a Pulse 230 which can be considered as a big parachute. You should contact PD on that subject. I jump a Katana 170 using a semi stowless Dbag including a line poach held closed with magnets. After several hundred jumps on it I have had no problem. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.
  16. I don't know the Wings Vision container already but if the riser covers have tuck tabs, and provided the rig is tight at the shoulders, it is always possible to have one or both tuck tabs locked-up or get one tuck tab releasing before the other. In both cases, a problem can happen. This is to avoid that kind of problems tuck tabs with magnets have been invented. They always get released simultaneously at a specific force. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.
  17. I have jumped the Helio Stallion twice in August 26 1986 at Bromont Quebec. It was one of the rare jump plane where one could exit both sides. I noticed that the slats had to be manually set up for take off but at a specific speed, they were retracting by themselves. It was also the only turbine tail dragger airplane I have jumped from. A nice airplane. I was told at the time that there were only 3 remaining [flying]. I remember that from the one of the 2 jumps, the Helio Stallion as a tail dragger couldn't come back at Bromont for landing due to too high side winds. He had to go at St Jean-sur-le-Richelieu Quebec to land on a runway better oriented for a safe landing. Just in case, could it be the one shown on the picture ? Sorry for the picture and the marks, it is the only one I have. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.
  18. To answer your question : One put the fabric sample well spread between two rigid plates made of metal or plastic. Those two plates have a hole of a known area, square or circular. One place the mounting (plates/fabric) into an air column (which is fed with an airflow generated by a compressor or a fan). The mounting is perpendicular to the air flow. The air can only goes thru the fabric since the junction between plates and air column is sealed. Depending of the type of fabric, type of test, the standards required... the air flow is adjusted to make a specific pressure on the fabric (verified with a manometer). The volume of air flowing thru the fabric is measured with respect to the time like how many cubic feet per minute ie. 3 cubic feet per minute or 3 CFM. Such a device is called a permeometer. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.
  19. I jump a Vector 3 size 348 since 2003. In the first one, I had a Sabre 2-170 and a PD 160 reserve. In the second one, I have a Katana 170 and a PD reserve 160 (see picture). Both packs were tight but not excessively. That size of Vector (348) should accommodate a Pulse 190 and a PD reserve Optimum 176. The Pulse is a hybrid parachute having the top made of zero porosity material while the bottom is made of low porosity fabric therefore packing relatively small. And the Optimum 176 reserve should pack at about the same volume than a normal PD 160 reserve. But putting a Sabre 2-190 in a Vector3-248 is too much. Obviously, the Vector 3-348 can accommodate a Sabre-2-150, a Katana 150 with the reserve PD 160. I tried a Katana 150 in mine without any problem. Consult the Vector compatibility chart(available on Internet) or phone UPT Vector. Here is a picture showing my Vector 3-348 (with Katana 170 and PD reserve 160). I am a rigger and have never been struggling to close both reserve and main containers. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.
  20. If you really want to know the characteristics of a Navajo as a jump plane, contact Victoriaville DZ in Quebec at [email protected] are flying Navajos for a longtime (10 years +) and they seem to be happy with them. At that DZ, Navajos are flew by very experienced pilots. What I appreciate from the Navajo is the relatively quiet flight. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.
  21. For me the excess of steering line showing up, a common and very secondary problem, is just a cosmetic problem, and there is nothing to worry about the airworthiness of the canopy including steering lines. That problem happens when steering lines become slack due to no tension when you leave it on the ground and when the canopy is manipulated. The steering lines, like the suspension lines, are tubular and its strands can separate (when no tension is applied) letting the end of the excess of the fingertrap coming out. Application of some beeswax can prevent that. Now, to fix that, it can be tricky sometimes. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.
  22. Hi ryoder Here is a nice explanation of what is going on here. Thanks But since nobody is perfect (including myself) you have forgotten a parenthesis at the very end of your formula. You have 5 parentheses instead of 6. This to make sure the SQRT applies to the whole expression. Note : are you sure that you have to multiply (m*a) by 2 ??? (m*a) = the force of gravity or weight...anyway, that doesn't change the logic following Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.
  23. I noticed this error. By doubing the area of the face of a cube you multiply the edge of the cube by (SQRT 2) therefore the new volume becomes the old volume x (SQRT 2) ^3) = 2.828 x the old volume as you mention it. But don't worry about Peter Maths. Just a distraction. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.
  24. I agree comletely. Panasonic is probably one of the the most serious brands. Nothing looks more than good batteries than cheap ones. The answer to check them is having a multimeter including batteries voltage measurement mode. Avoid doing it with just DC voltage mode. But the reading is a bit tricky. For instance, if the battery voltage reads less than 1 volt for a 1.5 volt one, it's time to change it. Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.
  25. No quite. Look at mine. It's an Altimaster II special edition ( transparent red) from Steve Snyders Enterprise circa 1976. I have lost the lens and dial in freefall. A clockmaker gave me a clock dial with Roman digits and I adjusted it to my altimeter. Alti 2 has calibrated it and made correction once. Works fine for the last 40 years. They gave me their trick to check the lens. If well screwed, tapping with nail gives a low pitched sound, otherwise this is a high pitch. Roman digits : Freeflyers love it ! Learn from others mistakes, you will never live long enough to make them all.