sfzombie13

my opinion, and what i would do if it were me that couldn't flare all the way every time, for whatever reason, would be to go to a 190 or maybe a 210 since i still have a 210. if i found that i could not flare while on final, the extra material would likely mean the difference between walking away and being carried away. but you do you. good luck.

well, one person read it and got that, then i did the same thing, but you didn't. i'd say you are the outlier here, without any other opinions on it. it seems to imply that downsizing by large folks is different than for small folks, and that is very true. it also seems to me that the whole small canopies being high performance could change significantly by lengthening the lines, since that is what most say makes the difference. i have mentioned that before and was told there is no market for it, yet we are still talking about how dangerous it is for smaller folks to downsize due to the canopy size, when that is only half the equation if line length makes that much difference. i am sure there would be a market for it if we still have students who are smaller start jumping, then need to downsize canopies without sacrificing safety. granted it isn't a huge market, but neither is skydiving in general. sometimes we have to do things for safety, and not just profits, but i guess the canopy manufacturers have yet to reach that conclusion.

the whole article, i just read it. i had never heard it either.

i did static line in '97 and my first clear and pull that did happen to me, minus the dying part. went to my back, waited a second or two, pulled and had a wad of shit over my head, back to earth and lines everywhere wrapping me up. i looked at my altimeter and a line came off and in another second i had a good canopy and a sore neck. scared the hell out of my jumpmaster and me, but i was too new to be really scared. jumped again and had a great jump. to the op: i wouldn't worry about it too much, the canopy wants to open, even if you fuck up pretty bad. you can't progress if you don't, so how bad do you want it?

this is interesting. i hadn't thought about it before reading the last line in that comment, but i have been jumping for 25 years. due to various detours, i just got my a in 2019 and now have about 140 jumps and have yet to have my cutaway. the thing is, i was taught one hand on each handle, and have practiced that for those same 25 years. i have wondered about the horseshoe and whether to cutaway first, but only a few times. i sincerely hope that i am right and that if i ever have a bag lock, pilot chute in tow, horseshoe, or any other high speed mal that i would not hesitate my ep's so that i could process if i have to change them. i think that i would just look and grab both handles and pull them in sequence. i hope i have the forethought to tuck them inside my shirt, but that is secondary and not that significant. the only possible scenario i can see that would be better off not disconnecting the main first would be a broken reserve of some sort where you need the main's extra drag to slow you down. are there any others? what is the advantage to be gained over having the main still there? i would think that with a hook knife you could clear an entanglement, at least enough to save your life, but maybe not, i am too new relatively to have much of an opinion.

i have found recently that smart folks are the worst for propaganda, or maybe better. they fall for it quicker and it's almost impossible to convince them they are being duped. this one is a prime example; seems smart (i don't make those judgements often), but damned if he can't see how badly he is wrong due to several things, confirmation bias being one of the worst.

ya know, had we been getting the afghan allies out starting last year in feb, when the agreement was signed, they would have all been gone by now. had we started getting americans out maybe in june of this year, they would also have been out already. what happened to stop that? go on, tell me since you obviously know more than anyone else about what is going on. from what i saw, it worked pretty well using the kabul airport, but i wasn't on the ground there, so it may not have been, but over 80k folks evacuated in one week is pretty damned good for me. now, had they been acting like they cared rather than acting like republicans, we could have done it a little better. as it is, we are still pretty terrible at keeping our promises to our allies, and i would not partner with the us if i were another nation except as a very last resort. as for destroying OUR equipment before we left, well, i was under the impression we gave/sold it to the afghanis, but haven't been keeping track since i left that place almost 20 years ago now. you did get me thinking about what happened to all of the shit we left in the desert after desert storm, now i gotta go on a search to see if i can figure it out.

so to answer op, yes, it is written in the operations manual in the uk, i just read it. it's also in the uspa manual, the sim. it says that after a student is on solo status, they can't jump with anyone who isn't a coach, instructor, or d license holder.

if it talks like a duck, and walks like a duck, then it must be a racist bastard, because ducks don't talk.

sounds like you're trying to make skydiving fit your preconceived notion of fun, or whatever it is you're adjusting to. 43 seconds of freefall can equal to a day playing golf, or shooting hoops. it is the act of immersing yourself in the present with no room for error that is zen for me. i call it church. being at one with the universe. perceptions can differ greatly.

wrong imaginary deity in charge...

maybe the j&j vaccine, and i say maybe because i recall hearing it was in the works years ago, but the mrna ones were being worked on for sars for decades. it was a minor change they made to make it work for sars2. the only thing rushed were the trials. that makes it an illegitimate question, or at least now you have an answer for it.

maybe talk to the people in the house instead of just cuffing them? it is fairly obvious, at least in this area, that homeless people don't usually look like realtors or even drive cars..

it doesn't, at least for me, like the laughing face posted at my comment above. not sure where you've been hiding, but it is a thing, and a thing we should have done years ago. they're actually getting better at it as well, a new technique came out in 2019 that wasn't available back when i was building stacks, although not in production yet i assume, maybe it is. 24% less energy costs and no absorbance lost after 10 cycles. you should check it out and actually read the whole thing, or better yet, have someone read it to you.

this part i have relevant knowledge on. i worked on the fgd (flue gas desulphurization) project and we built two new stacks in a coal plant. they installed scrubbers to take out the sulfur. it was paid for almost a decade before through grants and subsidies. since they held the money for almost 10 years, when they started the project, it was behind budget. they passed along the increase to the customers in the form of a rate hike. and the worst part was that at the same time, for some stupid low number they could have installed co2 scrubbers also, but they chose not to. hell, since they essentially made us pay for it, they may as well have went the extra few bucks and made it as good as they could, but no. they did make it better, just damn, why stop just short of the goal line?