bofh

Halving the pressure on the closing loop at each point of contact doesn't seem to make sense to me, either, especially for such an obviously critical component of the process. ::shrug:: On the other hand it sheers the loop off (which usualy takes much less force). Ie compare the force of pressing a knife against an object compared to cutting it with scissors.

Do you often stall your canopy?

You do know that this increases the risk of lines getting wrapped around flaps? The theory is that the flaps move back to the center when the bag has passed. With short unstowed lines the flaps hit the risers, with longer they hit lines that are moving around. If one is unlucky a knot can form around the flap and you get a canopy in tow. Of course most containers have had their flaps designed to make this even more unlikely. I had some problems with line twists as well, but I only increased the unstowed line length slightly (to around 30cm) and it went away.

In Sweden we enjoy a 8 month season, but many people pack earlier, travel to Spain or USA before the season starts and get ten months out of the packing. We do have an visual inspection (mostly to see that the loop is still long enough) after 6 months though.

The FAI rules prohibit visors on a full face helmet.

What would happen without a full face helmet in those cases? Would the face/jaw bones absorb the force and spare the neck, thus reducing the overall injury, or would it lead to a worse injury?

Brake lines too short? No, I don't think so, the tail was not affected while pulling at the fronts. Just a slightly shorter stroke than the VX. On the other hand, it was just a single jump and hmmm my friend's friend didn't want to provoke it, so it might have a stall point slightly further down. There were no problems going from rears to toggles anyway and the swoop felt "right", no unexpected drop in lift while coming to a stop (unlike my FX-94 which I often stalled just as I came to a stop). Now if only the manual could be done so I can get it approved...

Did they catch that problem the first time or was it unknown until problems started coming up and Precision started a recall? Nope... When I started jumping the Mojo was not allowed, being a BASE canopy. Today they've allowed most BASE canopies (all people have bothered to ask about). So things have at least become better.

maybe this would deserve a new thread, but ??? WTF do they need to "legalize" mains ? Scirocco is not a crimea

I don't have any pictures of it, more than some bad unpacking pictures: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150284974049012.403718.532314011&l=9db35498f9 I currently jump a [email protected] with Xaos lines (X-mod) and I've only done a few jumps with a Velo-96 so I can't really compare them. The Scirocco is a 77. It is not legal to jump yet, but a friend's friend did test it once... The opening was a bit odd. It streamed with the slider up, straight and didn't search around at all. The slider didn't go down until the jumper pulled the rear risers gently (after waiting for about 5 seconds) and then it opened softly and on heading with no tendency to turn at all. I think I like that, but it would be bad if one pulled low and/or didn't know about it... Before the breaks were released it was much more stable than the VX, it didn't want to turn much while being slightly unbalanced in the harness while stowing the slider and opening the chest strap. With the VX I look a bit like a drunk driver while doing that. The rear risers were not tested to turn while the canopy was braked. Once the breaks were released, it responded a lot to harness turns and wanted to dive a lot more than the VX. There was not much pressure building up in the front risers and even after 720 degrees, it was not too hard to pull at the front risers. The stall point seemed to be at chest level, it started to rock quite a bit at that point. My friend's friend didn't want to provoke it while it was not legal to jump it... The steering lines was long enough to not break while pulling at the front risers, so the range was much shorter than on the VX. The back risers seems to behave quite like the VX's. It had a rather long range before the stall point came close. It had a steeper trim than the VX, but with breaks it seemed to float quite well. Will have to do some flocking to see how it compares. Once it was diving, it kept diving. At final my friend's friend did a slow 90 degree harness turn that was supposed to end up high, but the canopy was diving really steep and the rear risers had to be pulled to get it to plane out in time. According to the FlySight, the vertical speed peaked at 75km/h and the ground speed peaked at 68km/h (into a strongish wind) and it became a 50 meter swoop without really trying. Up high while playing/testing the different controls, the top ground speed was 137km/h. My friend's friend's freefall speed was 165km/h during that jump. All in all, my friend's friend liked it a lot. I can't wait until it has been approved (might need to wait for Skylark to write a manual, which is Swedish requirement, on the other hand the Xaos canopies have been approved and they don't have manuals, do they?).

I got my Scirocco-77 last week. The colours were much better than how they looked at the design program Skylark have on their website.

I only know of one case, someone training for AFF-I and pulled the reserv when low. Turned out to be correct, because the CYPRES2 had fired after pulling (probably because of change in body position, the reserv ride wasn't that short).

PD-210 PD-190 Sabre-170 Safire2-139 Crossfire2-129 Crossfire2-119 FX-94 VX-80 (Safire2-119 for WS, demos and groups larger than four).

That velcro is (as others already have said) only to show how much slack there should be, so there is no need to replace it once it wears out, just make sure you still put the bridle at the same spot to get the same amount of slack. Without wear being an issue, what's the problem with it? A simple line sewed/painted to the bridle and the rig would work just as well, but people that don't read manuals would not get it, but they do seem to mate the velcro.

Our PAC750XL has had infinitly more wing strikes from head down exists (at least three that I know of) than tail strikes (zero this far, but we had a close call once from an untrained newbie). Its a choice to open the wings early or not, it is not something that just happens by accident or lack of skill (only lack of knowledge). When jumping out of a plane, there is an enormous risk of dying if one doesn't use the parachute and there's a huge risk of getting hurt if one doesn't use the parachute correctly. We use training to mitigate that risk, making skydiving in general a sport that can be practiced rather safely. It is the same thing with wingsuits. No doubt, it has all the risks you mentioned, but all of them can easily be prevented with a little knowledge (and a sensible choice of main), unlike for example FF where you also need a lot of skill to pull off a transition close to someone without kicking them. Personally I've traded my V3 for a VX and stopped flying WS because I rather focus on canopy piloting right now and I think the risk of a tiny main and restricted movement in a WS was a too huge risk for me.

People didn't know that until now. Given a history of failed cutters I think it was a reasonable assumption that it was the cutter's fault again when the loop wasn't cut.

How do you know the email was received if they did not respond? Spam filters drop legitimate email quite often.

That's happened to me a few times. I exit last, pull much higher than the students and a few times the students are about to land as I reach the swoop area.

I think all cutters are EXPECTED to do their job... No, not in the presence of the the different errors that were mentioned in the post I was replying to.

Unless the original poster lives in a air-sealed house, or used heavy fans during one of the readings, that does not matter for the air pressure.

The CYPRES cutter is expected to do its job even if all the errors you mentioned are made, ie it will cut the loop. But the whole system may not work as expected. Perhaps some standard test procedures should be developed first?

I borrowed a Wings rig and the leg straps slipped before I entered the plane. The owner saw it and told me to push on the hardware, then it was set and didn't slip. The little bar is U-shaped and if pushed, it traps the webbing. It had slipped for him at times, perhaps forgetting to push on the hardware after adjusting it? My own Wings without stainless has never slipped and there's nothing that needs to be pushed. But perhaps Wings has another design now, that rig was probably six years old.

And if the wind is changing when half the left has landed? Many people will focus on their pattern and not look at the arrow as it moves, causing only some to land according to the new direction...

Nothing would be wrong as long as there is no traffic nearby. Lots of accidents have proven that people think there is no traffic nearby when there actually is and therefore its safer to assume that there is and act accordingly. Personally I find it better that one decides on a landing direction with an arrow on the ground instead of the "first person" rule. Then it is easier for people to plan their flight pattern earlier instead of having someone spiral down, set up for a 180 degree turn and confuse half the lift.

He had a new (to me) theory about crabbing too. The wind will pass over the canopy sideways and make it less efficient...