980

Now it makes sense. BASEjumpers these days use the term freepacked to indicate not using a POD/Sleeve/Dbag. Tailpockets have been standard on BASE canopies now for well over a decade, so I got the impression the other poster meant a BASE canopy with a tailpocket but without a Dbag. Is it in your opinion still such a bad idea given the use of a tailpocket? PS - standard BASE wingloading is 0.75 lbs/sq.ft.

That is exactly my point, you do not know the knowledge of the base jumper mentioned earlier. As for me, I have 633 base jumps with freepacked canopies, so I'm going to chalk that up as a win for me as far as who has more experience with jumping freepacked canopies. By your definition of modern gear, there are is no modern skydiving gear either. Sure, BASE gear started out as standard skydiving gear that was used and packed differently, but it evolved and refined the things taken from the skydiving gear. The tailgate for example was a BASE specific evolution. As for the meticulous flat pack, if you do really mean a flat pack like back in the day, almost no-one packs like that for BASE anymore. The majority of base jumpers use the modern reserve PRO pack method, with a few small differences. My 'sad' was directed at your 'sad', not a stab at your knowledge, which it is apparent you have a lot of. That is why I would actually like to know what you think makes deploying a freepacked BASE canopy below 1000ft such a bad idea? So let's put our egos aside here and discuss the point that has been raised please. I have not personally jumped much of the gear from 25+ years ago, but I know of it and I have seen some, so I feel I can confidently say that 25+ years ago there were no parachutes as reliable, well performing or durable as modern day BASE canopies. If you doubt this, I will gladly show my modern BASE gear and let you skydive it for yourself if we are ever in the same vicinity. I will even buy you a beer if would get you to elaborate on your earlier statement. cya sam

Why exactly? Please be specific. Are you saying that freepacked BASE canopies are not designed to be deployed at terminal velocity below 1000ft? I think if anything, your statement shows how little you know about modern BASE gear. Sad. cya sam

thanks for the info Are there really that many UCC systems out there now? Also about the UCC chest mount, is it built to take a ram-air reserve or only rounds? I guess since there are no chest or seat DPREs anywhere near me, I should first find a chest or seat rated Senior Rigger in my gereal area, so I can tick off the 20 observed packjobs before embarking on a longer trip to get my test..

this is tight but will work as I have fitted my FF2, 20D and PC330 in it some of these are bigger and possibly better for your purposes

The subject pretty much says it all. I am looking for the closest DPRE to the Buffalo/Niagara Falls NY area in order to get my chest or seat rating. I currently have a back rating. thanks Sam

not to take anything from Bill for noticing its application in skydiving, but he was 9 years behind Gerald J.S. Wilde's book

I don't think so. you can see the left riser cutaway housing end, white loop, yellow cable for a long time, which shows the helmet is still pointing in a relatively normal direction

have a look at this thread in the photography forum if you are the OP, please share some info with us

I wish the OP would comment. It seems to me a lot of people are overlooking the fact that he was in a wingsuit. I would guess a fairly inexperienced wingsuit pilot by his exit and losing his flock that quick. I think it is likely he still had his armwings zipped up during the entire episode, as you never see him unzipping or see his hands come up and try to clear the entanglement, or straighten out the canopy or try and hookknife the offending brakeline. This would explain why he felt unable to rip a few piddly nylon screws off. This also raises the question of why have a ringsight on your helmet for wingsuit? Kinda makes sense if you are shooting stills, but not really for WS documenting. I would be interested in knowing the experience level of this jumper in regards of total experience, wingsuit experience and camera related experience. Not too mention leaving that much brakeline unstowed is asking for just what he got. I would also love to see some pics of his ringsight setup. I see tons of jumpers not trim the posts and mount their sight miles away from their head. It seems quite logical that this would only make this kind of entanglement more likely. That said, this video makes me think I should get a hookknife again, as this particular incident looks like it would've been easily remedied with one. I'm posting a pointer in the WS forum, hopefully OP will then find his way here.

I too have a Wings with the Cordura BOC and I am very happy with it. You may want to pay extra attention to how you pack your PC and put it in the pouch. Try to get as much of the bulk of the PC away from the mouth of the BOC. Make very sure there is no PC fabric under the elasticated part of the BOC mouth. Have your hackey as close to the mouth as possible, the tape connecting the hackey to the PC should be the only thing under the elasticated mouth of the BOC and the rest of the PC bulk as deep into the pouch as you can get it. Also, try and fold the PC to be short and fat, not long and thin. If you are not already packing your PC like this (and doesn't sound like you are), give this a try on the ground and compare the results of some tests on the ground. Hope you find that helpful. cya sam

Hi I had the same issue on a 30mm thread Liquid 2 when used with a PC1000. Contact Cookie Composites or your Cookie dealer if you bought through one. Cookie got back to me right away and fixed my problem. I received great customer service from Cookie and recommend you contact them about this. cya sam

So this means you have flown at Niagara? Otherwise you are by your own logic not entitled to an opinion about it.... I have flown at Niagara and stand by my statement. Also, just like the rest of Niagara Falls, it's a really expensive amusement ride..

BINGO!! you are the winner with the correct answer..

Is the container sized for the canopy? If the container is the correct size for the canopy, you will be able to do it. It might not be easy and will probably require you to keep the canopy under tight control all the time, but it will be possible. Since I have not seen you pack, I cannot tell you how to make it easier for yourself. I can tell you this, however: I see you listed Burnaby as your DZ, so just bring the rig to safety day and someone there will be able to help you. Otherwise hit up the CSPA chatlist if you do not have contact info for other experienced skydivers in your area (packers are the best for this), because 5 minutes in person with someone that has learned how to do this is better than endless hours of reading posts online. cya sam

aw dude, I shoulda read the whole thing first! I voted the first option only, but after doing that I noticed many others apply to me... So here it is: for B.A.S.E. jumping I jump a topmount and a Cookie Box. Why? Because it's super clean, sometimes we land in sub-optimal places, sometimes you bump your head on the antenna structure while climbing etc. It offers protection from that and also enables me to quickly whip the camera out after landing to do better ground video of the next person jumping. For skydiving I currently jump a sidemount with protection (2KC FF2 Carbon - most probably the best sidemount helmet made yet), altough my 20D sits on top and only sometimes wears a neoprene cover for when there's moisture in the air. I will change to a top mount however, to allow a wider selection of cameras. (at that point I will be selling one PC330 and one PC1000, so pm me now to get on the waiting list for the PC1000) I won't buy another Cookie box for a camera I'll only skydive with, but since I have an HC5 in a Cookie Box on a flatlock for B.A.S.E., when I move to non-linear editing for tandem videos (then I will sell my other PC1000, so pm me now to get on the waiting list for that one), I will put a flatlock on a topmount so I can use the HC5 for tandem video. Since I already have the box and the HC5's off-centre thread makes nice mounting directly on a flatlock a real pain-in-the-ass, I will use the Cookie Box because it makes my life easier. The DZ I jump at flies a Twin Otter and C182, with 23 and 4 jumper carrying capacity respectively. Most of our B.A.S.E. exits only have a 2-6 jumper carrying capacity. Now I'm hijacking this thread to say how awesome Cookie's products are and how great their customer support is.... I had a recent experience with their customer support and they went out of their way to accomodate me. I will buy more of their products with no hesitation whatsoever! cya sam

please expand on that

I totally agree with you about the distortion and I find the softening around the edges on most single element wides almost equally objectionable (and that's based on SD videos with PC9, PC330 and PC1000). I find one of the best bits of a tandem video is the person's expression when they leave the plane. How do you shoot tandem video with no wide and get their expression as well as enough body/TM/plane in the shot to show the action?

Doesn't the HC9 have a 37mm thread? That's what the Sony site and their manual says. Royal makes all their lenses in 25mm, 30mm and 37mm according to their website. Am I missing something here?

What is your definition of natively wide? The sensor on the PC1000 is 4:3, which in most people's book makes it natively 4:3. page 19 of the PC1000 manual states that: still image size will be fixed to 1920 x 1080 pixels in 16:9 mode, whereas in 4:3 mode you can select still image size up to 1920 x 1440 pixels.

I would guess so. I have a PC9 and a PC1000 at the moment and after a little testing I say the PC1000 has a slightly wider angle of view on the widest setting than the PC9 has on the widest setting. Sony agrees with me: DCR-PC9 manual, look at page 181 DCR-PC1000 manual, look at page 116

actually you are the person with a one-dimensional argument here Whereas skill is important in this 'sport' and certainly the minimum requirements of X jump numbers before you progress to some activities, does not mean that everyone with those numbers will be ready! It is commonplace for people with those numbers but without the requisite skills to be told what they need to improve before being allowed to take on additional risks. What will keep you uninjured and alive longer in this 'sport' is not skills, but mainly judgement, which is largely derived from experience. You can be very naturally talented as far as skills go and honing skills faster, but good judgement is much rarer and more difficult and slow to develop. This is why minimum jump number requirements make sense. They are not there mainly for the skills, they are there mainly for the judgement. It's funny how the people who argue MadSkillz are a good substitute for experience (and therefore implied judgement) are all so similar. I hope you fix this way of thinking before you act on your stated interest in basejumping....

I have a canopy that: lands better opens better yup - because it's got 1500 jumps on it yours for $500 - because it's got 1500 jumps on it I only have one, but it is for sale! it's a Xaos-21 (100 sq.ft.)

just make it easy on yourself and get Jumptrack and the docking station for your Protrack I have attached an Excel file with all the columns that are available for export from Jumptrack. Paralog seems useful, but if you know your way around Excel at all, some basic formulas will enable you to make a fully functional logbook that tracks all your totals etc.

I don't understand. A simple search of this forum with 'microraven' as the search term gets me enough info that I wouldn't choose to overload one. Given that reserves are relatively cheap compared to other skydiving gear and you can get a variety of other reserves that would fit your container and be within the manufacturers placarded limits, why would you choose the one that you are outside of the manufacturer's limits? Why would you consider this approach conservative? I stand by my view that no skydiver should buy a parachute they haven't demo'd yet. It's even more important on your reserve than your main.