bofh

Strange. I've now tracked down one of the previous owners and he said it was done by Precision. Could it be some kind of prototype that I've got?

Nice! Is it Windows only, or is there a version for OS X too?

Actually no .. the drift values for freefall & canopy are the amounts of horizontal drift (in meters) experienced per one thousand feet of vertical travel. These values are multiplied by the speed of the wind at that altitude to produce the total drift experienced. This drift distance along with the wind heading determines the direction of horizontal travel. Let me try again... D = C/V where D is your drift value, V is the vertical speed, C is some constant. Solve for C: C = D*V You think 3 is a good value for a belly flyer. V is perhaps 50 m/s for them so C becomes 150. Now lets assume we want to find the D value for someone free flying at 65 m/s. Then D becomes 150/65 which as about 2.3. Then we want to find the D value for someone that is flying a fast canopy. V is 10m/s, D becomes 15. See how easy it is when you start out with something that is easy to understand like vertical speed instead of some semi-magic constant?

I think we all understand that. I'm just saying that it is easier for a user of the program to enter the vertical speed instead of some constant that isn't explained. I think I know exactly how the program works, and if I am right, the "drift value" is some constant divided by the vertical speed.

Well, are they not UFOs until they have been identified?

Its made for swedish dropzones, it downloads the forecasts from some swedish site that only covers Sweden. It assumes the winds are measured at specific altitudes (which might be the same in all countries), the altitude settings are in meter. I guess that wouldn't be a problem, but the programmer lost the sources to it in a harddisk crash too. But you can always ask him, PM me if you want his email.

Yes, I understood that later when I read the other linked powerpoint. Would it not be easier for the users to understand if they enter the freefall and canopy vertical speeds instead? Those are easy to know, measure and understand. I assume the drift value is some constant * altitude/vertical speed.

I don't get your spotting calculator. The Freefall setting: "The base amount of horizontal drift experienced by jumpers" - what's that? The drift depends on the wind and the freefall speed, no? If I change the Heading to something else, how do I get a new spot? Pressing the "redraw from saved..." link at the bottom only resets the values. But since this old thread was talking about spotting calculators and their value... I jump at a dropzone with a single PAC750. It is not rare to have eight groups in one jump run and therefor the jump run can be quite long. We don't normally allow two jump runs. We used to have the most experienced people predict the spot, then the same people sat in the door and spotted. It was also not rare that the first group got back with plenty of altitude and the last group/person would have to pull higher or land out. Then our S&TO made a spotting calculator, its called SpotIt and is a program for windows. The result from it is a printed map with the jump run as an arrow on the map with the first and last point of the jump run, instructions to the pilot, the time between groups, the wind speeds and directions. There are also two large circles showing where one can jump out and where one is expected to be hanging in canopy. An example can be seen here: http://fkcg.2me.se/public/attach?page=ForklaringSpotITKarta/SpotkartaHelp.jpg We changed our operations to turn on the yellow light 30 seconds before the green light (yellow also means that the pilot is making his final turn and should shortly have the right heading) and the green light was turned on 10 seconds before one was supposed to jump to give the first group time to line up after visually verifying the spot. After these changes our spots have improved a lot. Its rare for the last group to have to pull higher and there are fewer people landing out. But it took a while to get some of the old, experienced people to accept this... The input to our program is the winds (can be downloaded with the push of a button), the kind of airplane (thus getting the speed, default forward throw and exit and deployment height), the dropzone (to get the right map). One can also change how fast people are falling in freefall, how fast they descend under canopy. One can change the jump run to specific headings (and the program will complain if that becomes a bad spot) and if the jump run must pass over the landing place or not (it usually does since most of the pilots don't like/know how to move the coordinates in the GPS).

I'm no expert on the middle east, but what does the laws of Saudi Arabia have to do with Dubai which is a part of the United Arab Emirates?

I've mailed them two times, but not got any reply. The lines are made of some thin black HMA.

I've got a VX that has been modified with new sides and continuous lines so it looks like a Xaos-27. I don't know who has done the work, but it is a bit badly done so I don't think it is Precision. Should a modified VX have the same line trim as an equal size Xaos-27? How much force should the lines be stretched with before measuring and from where on the line is it measured?

Thanks for the answer, but I still don't think I understand you. By student pattern, do you mean one should fly the first leg 180 degrees relative to the landing direction, then 90 degrees relative to the landing direction or do you mean one should fly downwind, then crosswind relative to the actual wind direction?

I usually fly my setup first with the landing direction, then turn 90 degrees and fly towards the initiation point, crab if needed. If the winds are high enough, I instead fly to the initiation point, break until I'm hovering above it and wait for the correct altitude. However I'm not consistent with my setup... The higher the wind, the more I have to turn near the initiation point and that in turn makes me slightly stressed, which in turn makes me turn too quickly in the beginning. if I instead fly upwind, then crosswind having the correct heading for my final turn (so I drift sideways as I approach the initiation point), I become more consistent in my turn, but I find it harder to hit the initiation point. So... How do you fly your setup for a 270 or 450 turn when the landing direction is downwind, upwind and crosswind?

Yes, they are sewn in half. When landing with the rears I mostly push them out, I don't pull them much down so I don't think slipping would be a problem for me. But I guess I can cut them open if I end up not liking them.

I am not the perfect swooper and perhaps my performance will not improve at all. But so what? I'm still going to buy a new pair of risers, so what are the drawbacks of these risers compared to regular UPT risers?

I made a wingsuit jump with the GoPro on the mudflap once. I just used the bicycle helmet mount that was delivered with the helmet kit. During opening I managed to hit the camera with the wing, so it didn't film the whole opening in the proper orientation, but otherwise it worked fine.

What's the drawback of those?

Cordura is a trade name that has been used for many different materials. I believe the skydiving cordura is the "cordura classic" fiber which is made of nylon: http://www.cordura.com/en/fabric/classic-fabric.html

I didn't like the front handles, so I put them on my WS gear and put a pair of Vector risers with Tru-Lock on my Wings...

I've got a Wings. I wish they would have refused to make a yellow/black one for me. That was after aborting a swoop and landing in some mud... I wish it was easier to check the reserve wire on it and I don't like its risers, but other than that I like it. I want my breaks to stay in place until I release them (only seems to work on Atom risers if one doesn't use velcro). I like the front handles to stay open, like Javelin and Vector risers. Wings risers' front handles feel so fragile that I'm affraid I'll break them... The "Russian Toggle Mod" by Chutingstar seems great and I'll get my next set of risers from them, if I only could decide which riser they should modify... It would be nice if the soft links would stay in place without having to sew them (only on Atoms? - but I don't like their solution of punching an extra hole in the riser). It would be nice if it was easy to switch between an RDS and normal slider.

So you consider nylon to be what?

That happened to my first cypress, but it wasn't so bad that I could not read the display. After the next service they had replaced it at no extra cost though.

If you feel worried, you can replace your cutter before the next use. For people not worried (having the cutter in the bottom perhaps), it can be nice to be able to replace it at a more convenient time.

I'm no rigger, but how does that happen? I don't know, but one idea I had was that there was some misunderstanding about why it was packed; the rigger could have thought it should look used when it was going through customs if the new owner forgot to pay customs and VAT...

I once got my rigg back after a repack with one of the yellow-cables attached to the loop outside of the window. At least the pack job had been really fast. Three years ago someone in Sweden had bought new gear, picked it up already packed from the factory and jumped with it in the USA. Due to some stupid Swedish rules, he had to repack it before he could use it in Sweden and as they opened up the container they noticed that the reserve was not hooked up to the risers...