pjc

So these iFly twin tunnels in Dubai are 3 meters across right? That's pretty small compared to most tunnels going up today and not really suitable for experienced skydivers/team training. The other 'private' tunnel in Dubai is bigger (12ft), but does anyone know if it is accessible to skydivers/teams etc?

SV650 for sure!! Look out for oil leaks as well as the usual stuff when you look at it...

Also worth noting: A good few of these collisions were in relatively empty skies. There doesn't seem to be such an issue after larger group jumps when people are expecting and looking out for traffic.

Absolutely :-) Troll 265 = BJ 280

In BASE canopies Atair are generally 1 size bigger than the PIA equivalent... i.e. Atair Troll 285 = Blackjack 265.

That is a good question. How many people have inspected their reserve pin between jumps and found a potential problem (pin nearly out, pin inverted (or dangerously incorrectly orientated), cable frayed damaged etc)

I own Matter, deepseed & vertical suits. The matter and deepseed are very basic and good suits if your not looking for high-tech materials, construction and flight charcteristics (these are 3-5 years old so their technology may have moved on). The Vertical suit flies great but the taslan material they use on the outer layer is very sensitive to mechanical abraision and for the cost of the suit, mine has suffered significant damage in a very short space of time after normal use. After a good look at tonfly, and boogieman suits, I have just ordered a comp suit from Sonic - they look awesome, have all the attributes of a suit that will fly well and be comfortable and they have cordura (harder wearing than taslin) as the outer layer. Ordering from the shop was easy and Gregor was very helpful in getting the specs right. I should be collecting it in about 3 weeks so I'll let you know how it flies...

They will come off with a bit of rough & tumble! Believe me I've been there.. Now got the Tonfly 'Line Hook' zkulls Go-Pro mount - at least there's a cutaway on the helmet!

Strange - I went from XF to Velo. Never jumped a Katana, JVX or Xaos... Must've got bad advice :-)

Velo 103 Tailwind brakes light/nil wind rears headwind full glide

Sounds like it's Vertigo BASE's (now part of APEX) version of the slidergate. As previously mentioned, you stowed the brakelines in it to stage the deployment and help prevent lineovers. This has now been replaced by direct control, indirect control and tapegate/tailgate for slider up jumps... Alternatively, it could be to stow the slider :-)

I have a 120 with low jump no's to sell if you're interested...

Out of interest, what type of HMA was it and how many jumps on it?? Paul

I now have 120 jumps on the 111. Most of the last 50 or so have been 270's from 650-700'. I haven't chopped it yet, but have had 5 spinning line twist openings that very nearly went!!! The cause tends to be in the latter part of the opening, the canopy will occasionally surge (usually left) then suddenly stop on a heading as the slider comes down and the canopy inflates. The problem kicks in if I am unable to stop my body turning as the canopy stops and I spin up under the canopy, see 3:05 www.pauljcooper.co.uk/videos/SibJumps_17April2010.wmv There is a more 'normal' opening at 06:05 & there are a few 270 landings (not the best) at the end too... I have put the smaller slider on and that has definately helped the openings - it is still slow to come down though. I have tried a few different tips on opening, but what I find works best is to focus on looking at the horizon, keeping symmetrical in the harness and either leaving the risers alone or pulling all 4 apart slightly. As the slider comes down, I get on the rears and go with it. Most of the openings are interesting, but not too bad - it really is a lottery!! Overall, it's a fantastic canopy - flies and lands great but the openings.... I'm still learning! Any suggestions or comments welcomed :-) Cheers Paul.

I agree - You'd have to pull the whole bridle & PC through too!!

I do pretty much the same as you but start the turn from 700' on a Velo 111 loaded 1.95. Seems to work OK, but I only have 75ish jumps on the canopy so still finding my way...

I would say the direct stow sequences the opening rather than slows it down. You wouldn't want the lines being pulled out of the pocket from the canopy end before the riser end is at linestretch...

Done it a couple of times (with tailpocket) without any issues. Make sure theres no exposed canopy though or it could get ugly... Are you using a tailpocket or freestowing the lines?

I just drop a user defined waypoint from the tools menu, stick the correct elevation in and mark it as an airport (not sure if this does anything other than marking the waypoint with an airport logo). Seems to work okay for me...

I learnt to swoop on a pilot. Here's a tip for when/if you do get to turning approaches. Start the turn a little higher than you would for the natural recovery arc. Try and keep the canopy in a slow turn using both risers rather than whipping it around on one riser. When you come out of the turn, keep a fraction of double fronts on (assuming you need it) and that will keep the canopy in a descent like a steeper trimmed canopy. Get coaching & don't get your fingers jammed in the dive loops!

If you are freeflying, it makes sense to have 2 audibles for deployment. As an L&B fan, I use a Protrack for deployment and jump logging & an Optima as a back up for deployment and for canopy set up. This has worked really well for me... Of course this is not a replacement for alti checking and awareness blah blah...

**Update** Have now put 24 Jumps on the Velo - A line twist or 2 on a couple of the openings but nothing too dramatic. I have stuck with 90's for now and have rear risered a few of them. Major difference to the Xfire here as the Velo needed much more input, not really higher pressure but just a lot more input... Loving the canopy, no regrets at all! Thanks for feedback and input :-) Paul.

Transitioning to the Velo, I found some threads on here very useful so thought I would post this to help anyone else going down this path... From - Crossfire 2 129 ~1.7 To - Velo 111 (500HMA) ~1.95 I also have a couple of jumps on a RAGE 107. The 1st Velo jump was from altitude and I was in the saddle by 7K. I followed the same sequence as on the Crossfire i.e. don't look up. don't fight it and go with the flow. The snivel was longer than the crossfire and canopy hunted L & R but opened pretty much on heading, the slider came down slowly and stuck halfway but cleared with a couple of pumps on the rears. Canopy handling was divey & fast as expected. Recovery from dives was very efficient and effective, but the dives are so aggresive that it still eats a lot of altitude, you definately dont want to be in the corner on this!! 1st landing was straight in with no wind at all (1500' elev) no additional induced speed and was no drama's with plenty of flare to bleed the speed off. The other 5 jumps all had similar openings, the slider came down mostly unassisted but slowly.. Two of the openings had 180's (half line twists) but these were no issue to deal with. I was told a technique of grabbing both sets of risers and pulling them apart and this seemed to work pretty well. The other landings were all 90's from brakes initiated from 470'. Riser pressure built quite quickly and harness input was effective. Oversteer was very noticable compared to the xfire (which had none). Recovery always needed some input - not due to turning low, but I suspect that I was not producing enough speed from the 90 for the canopy to plane out to level under its own steam... it was definately moving though!! Overall - a fantastic canopy - I have a totally renewed love of flight!! I am looking forward to exploring what it can do as the jump numbers build. The openings were twitchy and 'exciting' but I had been well prepped for that so I actually found them less eventful than I had been expecting - so far. The openings were however very long and snivelly, even compared with the XF - I do feel that a smaller slider might be beneficial but at the moment, I don't feel the need to go down that route. Oh - and I know I'm at the bottom end of the wingloading but I'll be happy enough on this for the next season or so before considering taking it up a notch. Hope this helps if you are thinking of going down the X-braced path! Paul.

I put ~500 jumps on a XF2 139 with a PDR143 in a G4 M1 - fit was perfect. I have subsequently put ~300 on a XF2 129 in the same rig which was fine. I have just stuck a Velo 111 in there (not jumped it yet) which looks OK but a little on the soft side. I wouldn't go smaller than that in it...

How do you put your rig on?? Make sure you do your chest strap up first and crank it tight, this pulls the lats forward and holds the bottom of the container tight on your back... Then crank the legstraps. (Definately do not have you chest strap loose AFF / FS stylee) I am on my 3rd G4 and I have never had a problem with this. As a side note, I know a couple of accomplished FF coaches that deliberately do the inverse of this to let the rig lift off their back to catch air and give them more range head up...