980

if you look up Rob's other posts you will find plenty on the subject of overloaded old microravens what some people seem to be negelecting here is that there is a huge difference in how a 135 and 120 flies, factor in the differences between the required flare technique for an old reserve design that was never intended to be loaded that high and a ZP 9 cell that is far more tolerant of a wide variety of flaring techniques and I think it might make a little more sense why you pounded in while some people are fine landing that reserve at that loading as wingloading goes up, your control 'window' gets smaller and the canopy gets less forgiving of sub-optimal control inputs on a more modern reserve design, you will have a much easier time getting a soft landing at the same wingloading people overloading reserves by a factor of almost 2 and not considering it unsafe are not being very smart don't waste your time trying to get to the bottom of why some skydivers routinely do stupid things, rather go out there and demo a few different reserves in a few different sizes and find out for yourself which one you want on your back that's how people should decide on their last chance, by trying it out in controlled conditions first

I did forget. Thanks for reminding me, I added them now.

if smoother and smaller surface area was always better, golf balls wouldn't have dimples and shark skin wouldn't be as rough as sandpaper...

well, you can hit up the AGM and the subsequent AGM dinner at Niagara Falls this weekend: click here to read more or you can look at the member info here and call the local clubs/DZs to see if any of their jumpers get together over winter or you can search around on facebook. CSPA, Skydive Burnaby, PST, STI, SWOOP and NSC are all on there as groups

we get some really nice clouds and sky in fall

That's what I did this year, my first season shooting stills. 20D, 18-55 lens, ISO 100, Av mode, f-stop of 8 to 11 for a shutter speed between 1/500 and 1/1200 on sunny days, using manual focus and the lens on 18mm. I looked at a lot of the pics I took and the exif data and tweaked my settings accordingly. If you set your f-stop so that your camera chooses a shutter speed of 1/800 or faster on a sunny day while on the ground, you would need to lose a lot of light to get significant blurring due to slower shutter speeds. At least that has been my experience with my setup, my flying position and my head unsteadiness/steadiness. YMMV

more important clicky

You know, that makes me realize I'm not even sure if is more than one version of the CX7? I know on previous searches I've done for Sony PAL camcorders in the states, you almost never get as good a deal as you would on NTSC, I guess due to volumes. I'm not sure about the present situation, but SA had ridiculously high import tariffs to protect the local industries and such before they signed the GATT. I'm not arguing with you here, I'm just pointing out where I think the OP is coming from, as I had the same frustrations before moving to America North.

a quick click on Brendon's profile shows he is in South Africa google got me this: CX7 in SA for R8356 = $1255 so traditionally folks from South Africa have been getting better deals on electronics in Singapore than at home, as consumer electronics are way more expensive in SA than the USA plus he would be looking for a PAL camera as that is the standard in SA

maybe have him read this thread first...

Hey I have 2KC FF2 Carbon and I have a total of about 1000 skydives on it using the following cameras: PC105: about 890 skydives on this one, got it new for $800, 30mm thread, reasonably compact and light, good battery life, reasonable low light peformance, still have it, but stopped using it skydiving after it got wet a 3rd time and now the touchscreen doesn't work. PC9: about 150 jumps on this. borrowed it from my girlfriend. 30mm thread. heavier and bigger than PC105, picture about the same, low light performance reasonable, reasonable battery life. I liked the old style stereo-jack A/V cable on this, much more user friendly and robust than that damned 10-pin D-plug sony is forcing on us now. PC330: about 75 jumps on this. bought it on EBay with a lens for $450. it's big. it's heavy. 37mm thread. good low light performance. great picture (noticeably better than 9, 105 and only a little less sharp than PC1000 in good light, better than PC1000 in low light) reasonable battery life. PC1000: just got one now that the season is over and I haven't even jumped it yet. 30mm thread. Great daytime picture quality. Low light performance not good. Battery life shorter than 9, 105, 330 with standard batteries. Fairly light, narrow, but tall. 4 of the vidiots at our DZ uses these, me and one other guy uses 330s. Comments based on my comparisons with their videos. The PC330 is physically the biggest and heaviest of these, but it fits in my FF2 and they seem to be a bit of a performance bargain. I will switch to the PC1000, as it is lighter and having a 20D on my helmet too, I am looking to lighten up wherever I can until I replace the 20D. Good thing I jump soft opening canopies! The PC1000 seems hard to find and are overpriced. If you can live with the size and weight, the PC330 is a good choice. The PC9 and PC105 also, but the picture is not in the same class as the PC330 and PC1000. hope that helps. If I'm bored later maybe I will line up a PC9, PC105, PC330 and PC1000 and take a group shot if anyone would be interested in size comparisons.

Do you have any kind of glide ratio measurements? Slow fallrate is cool, but glide ratio is what interests a certain part of the WS world.

I'm looking for a manual or packing instructions for a Paraflite Orion. Any other relevant info on this reserve would be appreciated too. thanks Sam

there's a very easy way to make the Xaos27 openings more like the Xaos21: deepen your brake setting by 1-2 inches worked for me when I switched to a 27 from a 21

interesting choice my first reaction would be to say get something that opens a bit nicer for wingsuiting, like a Xaos21 ! but since you seem to want to make the Samurai work for your wingsuiting and a longer snivel might help you from the sound of it... try making the brake setting shallower, this should slow your opening down and might even make it less twitchy also this is of course based on my limited experience with a 105 Samurai loaded at 1.8, so I am not sure if the bigger Samurais have such a deep brake setting too don't forget to contact Brian Germain and ask him what he recommends before trying something some random person on the internet suggested cya sam

I agree with you that other than practice jumps, there is no good reason to use the BASE pouch on wingsuits when skydiving. I disagree that the BASE pouch is a non-secure place for your PC while skydiving as a general statement. I cannot speak for any suit other than the V2, but on my V2, with a 9' kill-line bridle and custom 28" Asylum AV series PC (it has large mesh and is quite bulky) with the shrivel sleeve, the PC is very secure in the BASE pouch. This is largely due to how I pack the PC. No bulk under the elastic at the pouch mouth, just the plastic pipe handle sticking out. Most people I have seen skydiving (and BASEjumping for that matter) the pouch, get some PC bulk under the elastic at the mouth of the pouch and I think this is how the risk of a premature deployment is increased.

Making us in Canada proud! Is Brento the highest placed competitor so far with no factory support at all?

makes sense now Did you get a good look at the UCC BaseR container and reserve? I wonder how much that front mount reserve will slow your WS flight down? the way they score the accuracy is a little strange Nice framegrab, what camera/lens/helmet are you using?

my current wallpaper this was my view under canopy

[chrisgray] I'm curious. Why? [phoenixlpr] this is more dependent on your experience flying your wingsuit, your experience/skill dealing with deployments and your gear set-up than your canopy choice [phoenixlpr ] -because a crossbraced canopy is what I normally fly -because a crossbraced canopy flies so much better than the alternatives -because my crossbraced canopy opens better and more consistently than any other canopy I have tried [mccordia] Why? That's a bit narrow-minded, don't you think? Even AFF students get seperate freefall and canopy tasks in their progression. [mccordia] I prefer wingsuit AND swoop. [mccordia] If you are doing that, then you are either a crappy wingsuit pilot, a crappy canopy pilot or a combination of the two. I get out last (sometimes with 1st flight students), I pull last and mostly I land after all the funjumpers and students, but before the tandems. Sometimes I will land after all the tandems too. It's all about keeping track of the other canopies in the sky with you and planning your freefall and canopy flight to fit in with them. [Waldschrat] solo: I pull high enough to make it back to the DZ and give me a few seconds to work on my canopy if I have a ton of linetwists before saying byebye to it. This also depends on how current I am in my wingsuit. When I was pretty current, I would pull at 2200-2500ft when I tried to do a minute from 5500ft or go 2.5 minutes+ from 13500ft. Usually I will pull at 3000 - 4000 ft. [jdatc] That's what your reserve is! I don't see the need to get a custom BASE canopy at a high cost to do something a few skydiving canopies do much better but at a higher price and with shorter lifespan? I'm curious how many skydives you have and how many of those are in a wingsuit? I would say it is a more cost effective idea to stick with your Sabre2, or get a Pilot and spend the money a custom Flik would've cost you on more jumps. You would be more current and become a better pilot of your canopy and better skilled/experienced to deal with sub-optimal openings. I am also of the opinion that there is a major crossover in skills between: -skydiving a highly loaded canopy (and swooping it) into large grassy DZ LZs and -BASEjumping a lightly loaded BASE canopy and putting it down in a small LZ The entire thought process transfers directly, your awareness gets developed better by higher loaded canopies and you have to be more stable/symmetrical during deployment and unzippipng your wings. [dmkellett] This may say more about your ability to deal with the openings than the canopy's suitability for wingsuiting. I will say this though, The Jedeis and Samurais I have jumped have been the twitchiest canopies in brakes I have tried. The reason for this is their very deep brake setting. That is what makes them a bad choice for wingsuiting, not the fact that they are ellliptical. All the other crossbraced canopies and ellipticals I have jumped, except for the Diablo, are way more stable during deployment and with the brakes set. [mbondvegas] Compared to how many other canopies that you have jumped with your WS? For how many jumps? RkyMtnHigh: how is the WS treating you? Still got the Prodigy that you flew on my PFI checkout jump? Please let us know what demo/s you got and what you thouht of them after the boogie! cya sam

Richard, you loser, I TOLD YOU THAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!! for the thread: I use to fly a Nitro 120 at 1.7 and that was awesome. Now I fly a Xaos21-100 at 1.9 and that is even better. Yes, even in a dragsuit it still is better than some unresponsive, mushy, slow and lack of lift non-crossbraced canopy and with the Xaos the openings are better too.

well, if your profile is correct, your wingloading is kinda low for most HMA lined canopies (as they tend to put HMA on higher performance canopies and they only really make sense to have if you load them), so the effect will be less pronounced as for wear, it's really hard to spot on HMA, they keep looking pretty good until the moment that they snap but don't take my word for it, ask a manufacturer

now that you jump a canopy with HMA lines you want to collapse and pull the slider down ASAP after deployment the reason for this is that the slider grommets will beat the hell out of the HMA lines where they attach to your links (whether they are soft or hard links) the higher your wingloading, the faster your forward speed, the more violently the slider vibrtaes and the quicker the grommets will wear through your lines there are many other advantages to pulling the slider down, but on canopies with HMA lines, the life of your lineset is certainly one of the main ones you also might want to look into what the 'screen safe area' is, most camcorders used in skydiving captures some video outside of the 'screen safe area', but this is not displayed on your viewfinder or LCD it does show up on a computer though, and you can see some of your helmet/box/lens vignetting/ whatever, which you may not have seen on your viewfinder/LCD/TV, so maybe zoom your lens in just a touch if you can and that will get rid of it

When retrieving a fellow jumper's main from a 60ft tree, I found the freebag still attached by the skyhook and this 'welcome side effect' made us both very happy. However, later this season another friend had a cutaway, only he did not have a skyhook. His canopy and his freebag ended up in an adjacent forest of 60ft trees. We could not find them for a day and a half and finally we got really lucky, as flying over the forest in a C182, we spotted the freebag in the trees. Knowing where he cut away and now having a second point on the wind-drift line (the freebag), we looked further down that wind-drift line and on the second pass spotted his (mostly royal blue) canopy in the trees. There is no way we would have found the canopy if we didn't know where to look and finding the freebag led directly to finding the canopy. It gets even better though, as my friend dropped his soft reserve handle. He walked back up the wind drfit line, starting from the main, went past the freebag and just across the road on that line he found his soft reserve handle. Maybe if he had a skyhook and the canopy ended up where it did, we would've spotted the white freebag anyway, maybe we would not have. My point is that you only really need to find one object from the cutaway and know the point of the cutaway to establish the wind drift line, which will help you find the other items lost in the cutaway. With the skyhook you have one less item to find, so that might mean in some cases some very unlucky person will lose their main (and it's dbag, bridle, PC and risers), and their skyhook freebag (and PC) because they could not find that one location. In that case Mr Booth might make up some of his skyhook induced losses by selling a set of risers, a main Dbag+bridle+PC and a skyhook reserve freebag+PC ...

No Comment...... This makes me wonder how many interesting stories there are connected to the RWS/UPT skyhook demo rig? I remember laughing my ass off at JPs video of Jamie's intentional cutaway on the skyhook demo rig, showing pretty much exactly what you would expect to see, until JP flies into the cut-away main, it entangles with his main and then he has to chop also! That was Eloy Holiday Boogie 2004. please do share these entertaining stories!