bofh

I always jump with gloves and it has just the right size to allow me to remove the glove and altitrack without having to open the velcro.

I'm perhaps missing something here, but if the cheststrap is tight, the line-groups are more V shaped and the slider should have an easier time coming down, should it not?

That's not been a problem on the Canon 350D. Did you perhaps mean, "a nikon" instead of a dslr ?

I've not tried it, but according to L&B's homepage, it should be compatible with the paralog program on the Mac.

A guy (Björn Alving) at my dropzone (FKCG, Sweden) has developed his own hardware for this. He has built a tiny box containing a GPS receiver, antenna, LCD display, batteries, some buttons and a serial port for connecting it to a computer. One can get some basic readings from it in the display and more extensive readings by connecting it to the computer. He has the box connected to the side of his helmet. His main problem with it is how it should be mounted so more people can use it. It needs to be easy to hold it up next to the window on the plane, for the GPS to get a fix before exit.

Do you really rely that much upon the altimeter that 100 feet matters to you? During the ride to altitude, the weather may change so much that the altimeter is 100 feet off. When the batteries are bad on the neptune, it can be that much off too. Checking that the altimeter is zerod is of course an important thing to do when one has entered the plane, but 100 feet off should IMO be expected and planned for while under canopy.

I simply use two pro-dytters and an altitrack for the logbook functionality (as well as an easy-to-read altimeter). I like to be able to keep the helmet on and still have easy access to the logbook during takeoff. But I guess this didn't answer your question...

I find the Gear section rather difficult to navigate and I suggest that it should be reorganised. Try to find all wingsuits now for example... The current main categories could remain as they are, then the next level should be more specific, ie "Helmets, Headgear & Goggles" -> "Camera helmets" -> "FF2 (2k Composites)". There should also be a new category, "Manufacturers". Under it one finds all manufacturers and under each menufacturer all of their products. Ie Manufacturers -> 2K Composites -> FF1, FFX, FF2 etc. So under "helmets etc", there could be "camera helmets", "fullface helmets", "open helmets", "goggles" and "others". Under "Jumpsuits and clothing", there can be "wingsuits", "freefly suits", "FS suits", "others". Canopies could have: "reserves", "student mains", "intermediate mains", "high performance mains", "crossbraced", "tandem main & reserve" and "others". etc. If the "other" category is large, invent a new category and put the relevant products under it.

In Sweden we have rules against hook turns unless you have 500 jumps + have passed a canopy handling course. Simple both fronts approaches are still allowed.

I would imaging that learning the skill to quickly collapse and stow the slider would take as long if one have 50 jumps or 500. If one wants to learn it, one has got to practice and better to learn it on a large, slow canopy than under a small, fast one since one will not cover so much distance flying "blindly" with the large canopy. After opening: Look around for other canopies, steer away with rears if needed. Look down and see where you are. Don't fly in the line of flight, so steer out 45 degrees from it with rears (unless you are 100% sure no more people will open up in front of you) and once more look around for other canopies, steer away with rears if needed. Look up and grab the slider's collapse line(s). Look around for other canopies while pulling the lines, be prepared to stop what you are doing and steer away with the rears. Look up and grab around the back grommets on the slider. Look around for other canopies while pulling them back and down. Always both sides at the same time. If you accidently unbreak a steering line, quit what you are doing and unbreak the other line quickly and forget about the slider for this jump. Look up and grab around the front grommets on the slider. Look around for other canopies while pulling it down, be prepared to abort and steer away with the rears if you need. Unbreak the lines and fly to the LZ while looking out for other canopies... The important part is to look out for other canopies all the time and don't look at the slider more than 1 second at a time (its easy to focus too much on it and too little at the other people that try to kill you). Even though the forward speed isn't so high with the breaks in place, the other canopies might come towards you at full speed.

I guess one can build an electronic quick release connected to a bite switch. It would be a bit unsportly though, with the new rules.

These are not club rules, they are for the whole of Sweden and you are wrong. At least the Navigator is an approved canopy and if the other two are approved (someone has to request that they are to be approved), I'm quite sure they are not considered to be HP canopies. But then again, never consider something as a misstake when you can not rule out that it was done on purpose...

... The other canopies you mentioned are not classified as HP canopies in Sweden. Perhaps there has been some mistake in the classification of the Hornet? I've never seen one jumped in Sweden, so perhaps nobody has noticed the error?

That's not really correct. Up to 500 jumps, the max wing loading is limited by a chart, the "Jesper curve": http://www.ofkdz.nu/jesp.htm. It lists canopy sizes allowed for your number of jumps and your weight. It isn't all linear, so for example a 1 jump, 40kg girl is still not allowed to jump a 120 canopy, even if the WL was low enough... After 500 jumps you can use whatever WL you want. Unless you have 300 jumps + a canopy course (new for this year), you are not allowed to jump a High Performance canopy. All canopies are required to be approved and in the list of approved canopies it says weather it is a HP canopy or not (and the Hornet is listed as a HP canopy). We also have a second canopy course which, after completion, allows you to make hook turns. You are only allowed to go to that course if you already have 500 jumps.

People have jumped out of ours (Cirrus in Sweden) with max camera-wings and not been close to hit it, but with a WS, don't open the wings until you are behind the plane. A new WS flyer was just an inch from the tail after opening the wings too soon. We've had a lot of FFers hit the front wing though. Its a matter of how you fly it too. In the beginning our pilots didn't use so much flaps and had the tail lower (I believe that was because some error could cause the flaps to lock at height).

The speed cypres does not work like that according to the paper I've read. They just increased the activation speed.

That happened a lot to me too in the beginning (still does now and then). I just make the canopy a bit wider, by not folding the "ears" in as much and then I am more careful while folding/rolling it in by having one hand on the unrolled part and rolling with the other.

The design and code for a HyPeye like device is available on the net, so one doesn't have to spend time on that. I checked out what the parts would cost me and it was a 1/4 of what the CamEye II would cost me. So it is not that expensive and I might have made one if I had access to a PIC-burner, but it wouldn't have been as pretty as a CamEye nor HyPeye and the small saving would not have been worth it for me. I also stumbled over a new in box CamEye II for a good price...

The "button" contains a few ICs and what not and is essential for the function. Then again, if the actual button fails, it will still work if one doesn't try to cut the wires... Personaly I find it hard for someone to make such a niche product that cheap, no matter what it is made of. In this case there is an IC in there somewhere for it to work and someone has written a program for the IC. Search the net and you can find the protocol that is used in the LANC port and even someone's PIC processor based design of a "hypeye" device. Just the parts cost 1/4 of the Cam Eye II when I looked.

Psycho packing is described at the #2 answer from google: http://www.skydivesf.com/skydiving/psycho_pack.htm The number one answer for "flat packing canopy" gives this nice answer: http://www.pcprg.com/packing.htm

What happens if it somehow gets out with the helmet on your head?

My Safire2 didn't come with a manual. Not even a note about the URL to the manual. It didn't matter to me, since I had both read and print it before the canopy was received, but still a surprise since it wasn't the cheapest canopy on the market.

Let's hope you're right, because it looks like a really nice replacement for the old PC...

On my Safire2 [email protected], I notice a large difference between opening the chest-strap and not. Without opening it, I hardly get any response. With it open, I can't get the canopy to really dive, but it responds well enough to fly with just harness input.

Seems like it will not work so well for skydiving after all. Canon's optical image stabilisers have had problems before in freefall. Min zoom of 43mm (in 35mm terms) is most often too little and a converter would cover the focus sensor below the lens.