Mattias

Depends on your weight, however I would talk to an instructor at your DZ. Someone who knows how you fly and what would suit you better. However if I was you I would go for something forgiving and big in a second hand rigg that fits!!! Buy new gear when you feel like you are ready to move to the next canopy step. //Matt _______________________________________ What goes up, must come down...

Yups, I know I need to convert but i need someone to take me in a student rigger.. And 2 pin teardrops are dead easy by the way... Thanks for trying anyway. //Matt _______________________________________ What goes up, must come down...

Cheers Grant, Pardon me for getting my hopes up. It is not easy to be a whacko from out of town...country even. //Matt _______________________________________ What goes up, must come down...

This is a strange one but bear with me. I have moved country but would like to keep my rigger skills up to date. I was wondering if a rigger in the Southwest of England (not too far from Bristol) would be willing to take me under a wing as a (reserve)packslave. I have been Swedish Senior Rigger since 2000 and can pack most riggs, not Tandem or one pin teardrop however I could learn. I do know how to make minor repairs to canopies and minor repairs and modifications to riggs. Also I am not expecting to take it up as a full time job as a am currently employed otherwise and can only pack on saturdays and sundays. If you are a rigger looking for some help or know of a rigger looking for a hand please send a PM or post a reply here. Best Regards: Mattias Devlin Swedish Parachuting Association; K-148 www.sff.se

Aah, thanks now I see what you mean. I would guess that last lever would make little difference but I have no empirical data to support this. Still Mr. Booth (may we all hail his wisdom in this case) don't like them so I think I'll stay away from them anyway. I actully like my three rings to glimmer in the sun, that way I know the weather is good enough to jump in... _______________________________________ What goes up, must come down...

I can't see why reversed risers would give you trouble pulling the handle, however I can see problems with the reversed three rings releasing in some situations. Tandem systems are not allowed to have reversed risers anymore, reason enough for me to stay away from them. -If god allmighty Bill and his words wouldn't be enough that is... The only advantage with reversed risers that I can think of is that some poeple think they look good. _______________________________________ What goes up, must come down...

Eat more, Pizza, beer, crisps...? If you want something that fits well I was going to suggest sleeveless chainmail, not very adjustable in weight (or price) but it is comfy and it might get the ladies swooning _______________________________________ What goes up, must come down...

I find your advice a bit strange, a Springo is an elliptical canopy similar to a Stiletto but twitchier, for which you need 500 jumps in The Netherlands. Would that be approved a first canopy?? And you'd be underloading it so what's the point of jumping one that big anyway. As for all square, not many canopies are anymore. I'd go with a 170 or 190 intermediate canopy, like Spectre, Triathlon, Sabre (2), Pilot, Safire (2), Electra, ... Sorry, you are absolutely right, my mistake. I will edit my post. And I meant merit (I am sure I did anyway...) _______________________________________ What goes up, must come down...

Winter? What's that? Oh yeah, it's when the jumping finishes at 4:30pm instead of 7... *Snipp* Ya bastard! GrumblegrumblegrumbleGrumblegrumblegrumble GrumblegrumblegrumbleGrumblegrumblegrumble GrumblegrumblegrumbleGrumblegrumblegrumble GrumblegrumblegrumbleGrumblegrumblegrumble Grumblegrumblegrumble... If you go as low as 170 make sure it is square and not eliptical at all, if you go 190 I might have considered a slight eliptical (Springo type, but stay away from the french stuff...) and depending on how you fly currently, otherwise there have been better advice around here. _______________________________________ What goes up, must come down...

Hi! Nice to see you here! I will be moving to England shortly, do you know were I can get info about drop zones, prices and so on? -Oh, google is a good tool, found BPA homepage...all I neede really. _______________________________________ What goes up, must come down...

Not below take off level, below preset landing zone. Which would be higher than take off level. The fact that you have to shut off the unit in a controlled descent is a bit silly when you don't have to worry about this with the cypres (I haven't checked with the student cypres). Student mode is fine to shut off in descent, I still feel you could write software that could handle these situations... Just proves to me that they have cut corners when they designed the software. _______________________________________ What goes up, must come down...

I said no to this. We have a relative dust free environment were I jump so I wouldn't think this is something for me to worry about. However I clean and lube all cables during the repack cycles that I do. If any of my friends have been to the US, in some dusty drop zone ala Arizona I would recomend them to clean (well, dust it anyway) their entire rig... I'm just worried that quite a lot of skydivers around here do not know how to cut the main in order to do this kind of stuff them selves, wiggling three rings and cleaning cutaway cables that is, well they can but putting stuff back together again... _______________________________________ What goes up, must come down...

"Units that have been corrected for higher landing altitude [than take off] fired when you passed that altitude going down in the plane, even if you where only exceeding 20 m/s" -From an email sent to AAD by the SPA. The unit tested was manufactured prior to october 2004, it was tested in a preasure chamber at various descent speeds and preset landing altitudes. The unit fired when descending below the pre set landing altitude. And it did this repeatedly. (This is from memory of what was said at the Swedish PIA symposium this winter.) When pointed out to AAD that there were some flaws in the software, AAD claimed that the problem didn't exist. They were probably in the process of correcting this I would imagine, hence the culture clash comment. _______________________________________ What goes up, must come down...

Yup, that is one of the reasons. The other problem was a model tested by the Swedish PA which repeatedly misfired in a situation were it shouldn't. (simulation of descent below a preset landing zone in an aircraft) This was due to poorly written software, do not know if it has been rectified. I am sure AAD have fixed this but they kept telling the Swedish PA that the problem didn't even exist. This could be some sort of culture clash but it makes me wonder. _______________________________________ What goes up, must come down...

Seems I have been out of the loop a bit. Just read an email stating that the Vigil is certified in Sweden, however some sort of 4 year check, al la cypres, will be mandatory. I do not know when this happened however but it couldn't have been to long ago... The 4 year service check seems to be a good idea. _______________________________________ What goes up, must come down...