Telek

BTW everyone: http://www.parachuteschool.com/ecc.html

Has anyone heard anything pertaining to this at all?

I apologize if this has been covered elsewhere (searched but didn't find anything) but I have heard some rumours lately about changes to Part 91 that are effectively removing skydiving operations from aerial activities which is effectively turning skydivers into passengers. However there is another change which excludes skydiving from these changes - but that only applies to owned aircraft. Leased turbine skydiving aircraft would now fall under commercial rules which means such things as a 3600 hour limit on engines, reduction in the number of passengers before a flight attendant is required, etc? I'm sorry to be so vague, and this could be totally wrong but is there any truth to these rumours at all?

Ok there was this awesome tandem video flyer who would sitfly all his videos and stick his foot out and have the passenger twist him around... it was on youtube but I can't seem to find it anymore. I could have sworn that it was called "extreme tandem sitflyer" or something like that but I can't seem to find it anymore. Does anyone know this one? Thanks!

The lights that I'm looking for are specifically for the end of the runway - we have retro reflectors that work great for the runway itself. Aside from that it's a private airport and the only pilots that fly at night already use the reflectors and are aware that we want to put strobes at the ends of the runway.

It's a grass runway. I'm liking these last few ideas but unfortunately they want a strobe. I wondering what I can use that is ideally battery powered and inexpensive. Any more ideas would be great! Thanks guys!

Hello, does anyone have any good links or information on what type of lighting is recommended for Runway End Identification Lights? I'm curious about what is safe and usable but also inexpensive. Our pilot doesn't seem to care much, as long as he can see them, so I'm wondering what other people have used in the past. Thanks!

Ok, so I have heard several different opinions on this one. The question is this: "Is doing a jump run angled to the wind line a good idea?" The idea being that a 30 degree angle to wind-line jump run provides 15% more distance while maintaining the same wind-line distance to the spot. Since moving perpendicular to the wind line isn't much of an issue. Thoughts?

I'll +6 that. I've been an AFS member for years and Jenn has been awesome with help and listening to complaints and my rambling. Alti-2 never gave me any guff about replacing my screen when it cracked or the 8 neptunes I've sent back for replacement because they were rebooting. Free kit provided to me to change battery covers and rings and the like. Awesome service!

Let's add a few more to that list who haven't posted who disagree with his choices: Sean Marika Jeff K Adam M (The DZO!) Alex T Mikhail Cyn Vic Doug R Shelley R Fez ... and the list goes on. and I bet that I know the 3 that he is speaking of (who said it's ok to jump that canopy), and I honestly wouldn't take their opinions with much weight as they are all crater bait and reckless and there are several people with far more experience who are recommending against it. At our dropzone there have been at least a dozen people that I have personally spoken with who disagree with his choices vs the few who do. His thought process really sounds like someone who has made the decision to do something, then comes up with as many logical points for the decision and then doesn't put the same effort into coming up with points against. Thus once the process is complete you're left with more in the "for" column than the "against" one and obviously you've made a rational decision. This is in stark contrast to taking an objective look at the whole situation and applying logic from there to MAKE the decision. Part of what really frustrates me with this one is that at least two very experienced and reasonable people have separately taken him aside and told him not to jump that canopy. I'm sorry, but if I was in his position and I had those people come up to me then I would have reconsidered my position, and I am not the most cautious jumper known to man. So instead of trying to persuade him with logic, how about trying to understand the mentality behind these decisions? The biggest issue I think that is really here is that he is bored with the canopies that he should be jumping. For someone who is looking for excitement, as many jumpers are, it's hard to get them to see things from a more rational perspective. Honestly I think that most people can understand this, albeit not agree. So perhaps we could be looking at it (constructively!) from that point of view - how can he safely get more excitement out of a larger canopy?

Here's what I'm not understanding, and I did search and didn't find anything that really explained it. Most people say tight stows to avoid line/bag dump openings, however that should only really relate to the locking stows and not all of the stows. Also since reserves and base rigs don't use them (thus the lines are just routed in the tray to keep them neat) isn't that more in support of not needing tight stows than needing tight stows? If tight stows are very important than how can reserve and base rigs do without them? Additionally since there are designs out there that don't even have stows (except for locking ones) again isn that in support that the non-locking stows are only used to keep the lines neat?

I have a specific question about packing: Do the stows need to be really tight? Is double wrapping a good or bad thing? The argument comes down to this: stows that are too tight can cause bag delay or (worst case) bag lock with subterminal deployment. I have been told that line dump is so incredibly rare that as long as the stows are organized and at least loosely held by the elastics then there is no problem. Tight stows also cause more rocking of the bag which can lead to twisting and line twists on deployment. This is of course excluding the locking stows which should be tight but never double stowed. The pressure due to keeping the canopy in the bag should be more than sufficient to keep the locking stows tight. What do you guys think?

That guide is awesome, thanks! We will certainly mention it in our packing course (with a link to your CD of course ;))

Heh... Reviving this thread 5 years later... Is the free web-based guide still available online? I can't find it on your site anymore. Thanks!

What are the dangers in jumping an old lineset? I know that certain lines can break during deployment, and if some lines have stretched more than others then it can put some extra stresses on the canopy, is there anything else? This one that I'm looking at I've flown a few times and it flies nice and straight and opens on heading, so I'm not too concerned about the lines just yet, but I'll have our rigger take a look over the canopy anyway and tell me what he thinks. Thanks for all your help!

Ok thanks for the info, So what I'm getting from this is that a Sabre 150 in decent condition that is around 15 years old with > 1000 jumps with old lines that still have 100 or so jumps left on them is worth somewhere around $300? Does this sound accurate?

Do you know how many jumps on the canopy in total?

What are the vitals on the one that you're selling?

Ok, it is a Sabre-1 150 it has around 1200 jumps on it, 500 put on by the current owner (friend of mine). I know that the last 500 were done mainly in Toronto, Ontario, Canada only during the summer months (may-october). The line sets have probably 150-200 jumps left on them. I don't know where the first 700 jumps were done. I looked around and haven't found many old Sabre-150's with this many jumps. There is one on the classifieds here with 1300 jumps for $250 with 300 jumps left on the line set. $250 sounds rather low, doesn't it? There's another one with 900 jumps and 250 left on current lineset for $650 (which sounds awefully high), and The others that I found are between $500-$700 with 300-600 jumps on them. This is to be just a transitional canopy for my right now (my first). I'm 130lbs soaking wet so it should be a pretty decent first canopy (I already have a reserve and container). So I only plan on using it for a year or two, probably about 100 jumps, before I'll downsize. So although I know that there are a lot better canopies out there I just want something cheap for now. I've flown it a few times and packed it, I didn't notice any holes or patches however I can't say that I was looking for them. I'll have to check into that.

I'm looking at a few different mains and I'm wondering if there are any guides or sites out there which outline how much canopies are worth. Specifically I'm looking at a Sabre 150 which has about 1200 jumps on it. Any idea how much it's worth? Thanks for all your help!

Except it was 980 that posted this information and contacted the manufacturer, and he said nothing about body position, he explicity said that the Airtec confirmed that it arms at 1100ft and fires at 750ft. This is true, however didn't Airtec have similar problems when they first came out? Thanks for the discussion everyone!

OK, this is exactly what I mean. Here we have someone who firsthand has experienced a firing even though they were already under a canopy by 840ft. Even though 840ft is pretty close to 750ft, but they also contacted the manufacturer to verify this information. It could be that the device needs to charge a capacitor or something to fire the solenoid to cut the closing loop, and perhaps this takes a couple of seconds to charge? This would make perfect sense, but doesn't really explain why it would still fire at 750ft if you are already under canopy (but weren't at 1100ft). So does the Vigil do the same thing? Perhaps I'll make some calls to the manuf's and see what they say. Not that I ever plan on deploying low, but it's still a consideration. Also the Vigil seems to be cheaper and have a lot more information available from the display unit in terms of data from your jumps, whereas the Cypres doesn't really give you anything does it? So since the Vigil gives more features for less, why go with a Cypres?

http://www.vigil.aero/how-irdownloadbox.php The IR download box plugs into the display unit, not the main unit. However after looking at what data the Neptune can give out it's clear that you can get the same info out of there, and you can buy 3 Neptunes for the same price as the I/R comms unit for the Vigil!

The cypres manual says: But a lot of people have said that it makes it's decision around 1200ft AGL, and opens at 750ft AGL. Is this incorrect? The vigil manual says: I however see from the manual why there has been problems with the student cypres', thanks.

Actually I just remembered something -- the Vigil apparently is nearly instant from the point where it decides to fire and it fires. The Cypres apparently decides by 1200ft and opens nearly 500ft later, which can be a huge problem if you have a low opening. Additionally I've heard reports of the (student) Cypres firing under conditions where people are doing spiral turns under 1200ft. Any comments on these points?