brianfry713

There is no such thing as a "20 year rule" or any set lifetime for sport gear. A few pilot rigs have around a 20 year lifetime so this is a common myth. However a rigger is able to refuse to pack any rig of any age that they either are not comfortable with or don't feel is airworthy. PD has a rule that after 25 rides or 40 repacks a reserve has to be sent to the factory for inspection.

I have packed a number of reserves around that age, I haven't yet been asked to pack anything more than about 30 years old.

If you want you could take it to SkyDance in Davis or the Parachute Center in Lodi. They have master riggers there that have been jumping a long time. You could just post an honest ad describing the gear and see if anyone wants it. For the right price there might be someone.

So long Terry, thanks for teaching me how to skydive.

I was there last weekend and saw a few loads land on the beach. I didn't do any skydiving though.

First get the required experience and go through the courses to get the ratings.

At the dropzone's I've worked at, mostly part-time, I'm an independent contractor. First talk to the management about doing tandems there, and if they feel like it, they'll let you jump with some of their customers and pay you by the jump.

Usually when the dropzone gets busy they give me a call and I'll let them know if I can make it that day. The dropzone typically owns, leases, or rents the airplane and tandem rigs. Some instructors have their own tandem rigs but most do not.

Yes it's possible to show up at a dropzone and rent a tandem rig to take one of your friends on a jump if the dropzone will allow you to. The normal way it works is the customers call the dropzone, schedule a jump time, and the dropzone schedules tandem instructors to work that day.

Giants/Dodgers

Beat L.A.!

Charley had a Cypres, but it turned into a paperweight once it was 12 years and 3 months old and his awesome rigger removed it. Buy another one and I'll pack it in there for you if you want.

I don't know where Matt got his data from, but I think he told me at the boogie that he estimated 90 mph descent rate in the flat spin. He probably didn't have much forward speed so that might have made it hard to stay up with him.

If people are worried about their AAD not firing while wingsuiting then jump a student AAD. Just make sure you pull high enough, jump big boring canopies, fly them very timidly, don't swoop, and don't ride the plane down with it switched on.

It's nice to follow down a fellow jumper who has a reserve ride if you can. It's also nice to follow his main or expensive freebag if you don't mind landing out. I don't normally jump with a cellphone unless there's a good chance I'm landing out, but there's been a few times that I wish I had one.

I just made it public, try again.

See if this works, I can't watch video at work. Here's Charley's video of Matt's flatspin at the M.O.A.B. last weekend:
http://vimeo.com/6834669

Good job staying alive Matt.

I know everyone is waiting to see the video. I've got Charley's camera and could post it, but it's not my footage, and I'm not the subject. Charley, let me know when/where you want to pick it up.

Charley, your camera is at my house with the video on it. A few copies of Matt's flatspin were made at the boogie. Matt's eyes looked a lot like Jeffs in the picture linked above. Virgil was convinced Matt's brain was also scrambled. Also his toes were a little black and blue. Good times. I'll look at it tonight to see if there's also video of Charley's running cliff TARD-over I heard rumors of.

Look at the bottom of this page.

http://www.rigginginnovations.com/price_list/price_list.htm

My answers attached.

I can't remember if I was even asked for my logbook at my tandem course, I took it from someone who has seen me jumping a lot. I waited until I had a full real 3 years in the sport (I had done 1 AFF jump years ago), and by that time I was well past 500 jumps.

Logbooks can be faked, it's not usually hard to get someone to sign jumps for you. Put down what you can remember or what you think your jump totals are and move on. A lot in this sport is based on the honor system.

I'll be there probably Friday night through Sunday. Last year I did a bunch of tandems and a few fun jumps.

Congrats Phil!

I had a great time jumping out of the Otter at Skydive Sacramento in Lincoln on Saturday. It wasn't nearly as cold as it was there about a month ago. The completely separate high performance landing area is great, and I don't think non-swoopers had to walk much further to get to the packing area.

I had a fun wingsuit jump with monkycndo, 4 good freefly jumps, and got to fly alongside as Nick climbed aboard monkycndo on the birdeo track.

I saw a balloon once under canopy and steered towards it, not sure what it was. As I got closer I could see it was a balloon and flew right into it, hitting it with my left hand which was in the toggle. Catching it would be difficult, but it was fun manuvering to hit it.

Well, unless I accomplish more than just getting drunk tomorrow here's how I did.

2008 goals (skydiving, BASE, flying, other)
Live - I think I managed this one
Don't get injured again - I'm all healed
Fully recover from my last injury, do all the old fun things I was doing before - I'm back to running, skiing, swooping, BASE jumping and everything else I can think of
Get better at head down - maybe a bit?
Lose some weight so I fall slower and don't crash as hard - nope, I think I got fatter
Get better at RW and big ways - I didn't do too much RW this year
Encourage newbies - I tried to encourage a few people and lots of tandem students
Jump the Perris Jet - not yet
Get a real skydiving non-camera helmet - not yet
Do a night wingsuit jump - I did a couple, it was scary
Do a chamber ride / hypoxia training - soon
Do a 24k jump, and maybe a 30k jump - this year maybe?
Fly a few times at iFly SF Bay - Yes
Get one of those tunnel FF ratings or join a league - Yes, I'm a belly and freefly level 2 now, no leagues yet, but I just bought a few hours in bulk
Do some video editing on my stacks of tapes - nope
A wingsuit rodeo jump with my girlfriend - nope, she's still recovering
Get Dad on a tandem or in the tunnel, and Mom at least out to the DZ - No parents skydiving yet, but my Mom came to the DZ on my birthday and a friend of hers did a tandem while she did an observer ride
Skysurf - not yet
Compete on the CPC - I think the CPC died, so no
Swoop a pond - I swooped the ocean a few times
PRO rating - hopefully soon
1000 skydives - I've got more than that now

Jump a B and some other objects and get my BASE number - #1224
Go on some BASE trips or to special events (Go Fast Games, KL, Moab, Twin Falls, Switzerland, Norway?) - I made it to the games and TF.
Legal BASE in a National Park besides the New River Gorge - hopefully in my lifetime
Get a PF tracking suit, skydive and BASE it - not yet
Unpacked BASE - I've done a number of unpacked jumps now.

Instrument airplane rating - got it
Aerobatic & spin training - not yet
FAA advanced/instrument ground instructor - got it
Take my sister up in my plane - done
Drop a jumper - no comment
Fly to a boogie and a BASE trip - I've flown to skydive for the day and to Twin for the weekend a few times

Senior rigger ticket - got it
Fly a paraglider - not yet
SCUBA certification - maybe soon?
Get a Ph.D. - long term

I also did lots of tandems this year, got laid off and got a new job working for Sandisk, got another BASE rig (or was it two?), I'm currently on a break from illegal BASE jumping, got a Velocity 120, I saved myself on a wingsuit chop, I chopped a tandem, and did lots of other fun stuff.

Here's a thread that was started last year.
http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3074902;

I believe Kansas has a Cessna boogie every year.

3 tandems and 2 freefly jumps in Davis on Saturday.

1 tandem, 1 RW, and 1 FF in Hollister today out of a PAC.

1 Wingsuit and 1 coach jump in Hollister on Friday out of the Cessna 206. I hadn't been there in a long time, the new hangar is nice. Mako is now the DZO and I think they're working on getting a PAC soon, and they had a Beech 99 there yesterday.

3 tandems and 1 freefly jump at Skydive Tahoe in Minden, NV on Saturday. Great weather for jumping, not so good for skiing yet. Awesome views of Lake Tahoe and the mountains.

1 RW, 1 freefly jump, 1 track at Skydive Sacramento yesterday. [Beer] for my first time there. Lots of friends were there and Pat is a very cool DZO! I also got to go on a nice long walk with 4 others after an out landing.

2 tandems and 4 freefly jumps in Davis on Sunday.

9 tandems in Davis on Saturday. I went to a ski expo and then flew my 182 up along the coast to Santa Rosa for lunch today.

I haven't read anything about the Cypres 2 deactivating itself under canopy. Maybe you're getting it confused with the Argus Swoop mode.
http://www.argus-aad.com/images/PDF/microsoft%20word%20-%2002.12.07argususermanual300607rev.pdf

About activating a Cypres under canopy, Airtec doesn't seem to give away all their secrets about the algoritm inside the Cypres.
http://cypres.cc/Sites/englisch/Skydiving_Small_Canopies.htm
"Even when reaching 78 mph for a moment, the Expert CYPRES would not activate. The reason is that CYPRES does much more than trigger based on measured descent rate and altitude, as it analyses the situation the skydiver is in"

Yes there are other things that complicate it like the burble effect while belly to earth versus any other orientation, but that could just make your Cypres fire a little bit higher, as high as 1050 feet or so. Also it doesn't arm until the airplane climbs to 1,500 feet.

No I don't think the OP is likely to fire his Cypres doing a 270 at a 1.85 wing loading.
http://www.cypres2.com/20050923update.pdf

http://www.cypres2.com/cypres2faq.htm
I want to get my Expert CYPRES 2 updated to the Speed version - how much is the cost and how long does it take?
- CYPRES 2 model conversion is done at no-charge, and takes about 2 weeks.

Read the manual
http://www.cypres2.com/userguide/CYPRES_2_users_guide_english.pdf

2.1 Expert CYPRES
The Expert CYPRES can be recognized by the red
button on the control unit.
It activates the release unit when it detects a rate
of descent higher than 78 mph (35 m/sec) at an
altitude of approx. 750 feet (approx. 225 meters)
above ground level (AGL). In the event of a
cutaway below this height CYPRES will operate
down to approx. 130 feet AGL, however activation
will not occur unless sufficient speed is obtained.
Below approx. 130 feet (approx. 40 meters) AGL
opening is no longer useful. For this reason,
CYPRES ceases operation below approximately
130 feet AGL.