dragon2

Not (never) our square students, but our SL round jumpers do jump without an alti. Tandem students don't get an alti either if you're after that. ciel bleu, Saskia

Heh heh yeah, I know my first canopy costs me a lot of beer to get in the bag. Totally cured me of my liking of packing I can tell you. For real. Heck no. Only go to a wl that high once you're very comfy jumping that size main canopy in any and all situations, and even then it's not a very good idea - I know I do it, but I have 2200+ jumps and 15 to 20 rides on reserves at that WL and 200-ish jumps on bad-flaring 7 cell canopies and still I really would have liked my reserve to be a bit bigger my reserve ride last year. Much safer and smarter to stay at a 1.0 WL for you first couple hundred jumps at least, not above 1:1. And if you're smarter than most jumpers, KEEP that reserve WL of 1:1 for the rest of your jumping career. ciel bleu, Saskia

There's a whole bunch of threads in here about first rigs, but here's a start: First, talk to your own instructors. They have seen you fly and know what might work for you. 2nd, what have you been flying upto now. If you can downsize using rental gear, you can buy a smaller canopy then if you do not have that option. You don't want to make big downsizing steps. Without knowing you so this is very general advice: you could set a path down to a 170 sqft canopy you might probably be ok to fly at say 50-75 jumps. NOT right now though. For your first reserve, again talking about you having 50 or more jumps by then, you want a reserve canopy not any smaller than the smallest main you are comfortable with in all situations, and really not any smaller than a 165sqft at your weight. So all in all, you might be better off waiting until 50-100 jumps before buying a rig, provided you can rent something other than pure student gear in the meantime. If not, you'll have to buy bigger canopies, not a bad idea perse but waiting longer give you more options (you may still choose to jump a bigger size by then though). As far as canopy types go, you can't really go wrong with any modern reserve, and for main canopies, a pilot, safire 2, sabre 2, fusion, spectre, silhouette, pulse etc would all be fine, it comes down to taste and to availability (2nd hand price) with these canopies but they're all great. If you're set on a specific container + main + reserve and don't have a big budget you might be looking a long time before finding a rig that fits you and these canopies. If I were you I'd broaden my horizons a bit, but that's just me - and yes I have an icon, have jumped a pilot 124 for 2 seasons and have a ride on my smart 120 but I've also had plenty of good rides on spectre/sabre2/fusion/safire, in other rigs and have jumped other reserves with good results too. with 11 jumps, you can't know what you like in a canopy, yet. Try to rent or borrow a couple of different canopies before buying anuything and see which one you like best before investing in it. Last, TALK to your OWN instructors ciel bleu, Saskia

The CX160 is not a good camera for skydiving. Read this: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4126580; ciel bleu, Saskia

That would be this one ciel bleu, Saskia

Which kindle do you have? Google says kindle 2 and up should support pdf. ciel bleu, Saskia

Another vote for PD Sabre II, Aerodyne Pilot, and Icarus Safire 2. Personally I didn't like the storm that much, you might though. A spectre is an awesome canopy but can take forever to open, sound not like what you're after. Then again, instead of the above options, you might want to look at a 2nd hand sabre 1 190 if you can find one in good shape and are not set on buying new. A sabre 1 will be a faster opening canopy than any of the later designs. But still fly, steer and flare a whole lot better than ragged-out F111. I would not get a stiletto if I were you. Slow openings, very very sensitive to body position on opening and on flaring, and I think the canopy with the most roll, intended or not. That would be about the opposite canopy from what you're used to. If you want to jump a stiletto, I would advise a good number of jumps on a sabre 2 class canopy first. But I bet you'll fall in love with a sabre 2 class canopy anyway ciel bleu, Saskia

Ditto. In fact, if anyone has a 20yr old PD-R they want to get rid of, feel free to send it my way ciel bleu, Saskia

Let's see if I can actually post here this WITHOUT getting the same error: A fatal error has occurred: Unable to index post: Lock obtain timed out: Lock@/tmp/lucene-b2e41b922170d5c855cd97703116081a-write.lock Please enable debugging in setup for more details. edit: good, seems to be fixed now ciel bleu, Saskia

Now THAT is an awesome video!

Why? ciel bleu, Saskia

First off, try to prevent such a situation by getting everyone to land in the same direction and by keeping your head on a swivel. If you're really surprised though, and have to turn at the last second, you will not have the time or the muscle memory to grab a rear riser. But janking on a toggle would dive you into the ground as you surmised, so you don't want to do that. What you should do in a situation like this, is flat turn, and yes, to the right - always turn right to prevent a collision UNLESS turning right would make it worse. At 100 jumps, you should know about flat turns by now yes? They are a life-saving skill that will allow you to turn away from an obstacle with minimal altitude loss. If you have no idea how to flat turn, there is a gap in your skydiving education and you should find an instructor to teach you ASAP. You could need to do a flat turn at any one jump so you want to make sure this is an ingrained response (instead of a hard toggle turn), so practice practice practice, and preferably get feedback from a (canopy control) instructor. ciel bleu, Saskia

I knew before I started jumping that I wanted to go for it 200%. So I did a staticline course, not a tandem for my first jump. I started looking for my first rig after 50 jumps, jumped it @ jump 75. I had by then downsized from a 280 to a 175 and my own rig was a 150 (I was a lightweight back then... ahem). ciel bleu, Saskia

I've owned + jumped: 252 foil (*) 150 spectre 143 lightning 135 spectre/safire/vengeance (*) 126 lightning 124 pilot 120 triathlon/diablo/fusion (*) 119 safire First canopy was a spectre 150 @ 75 jumps and a WL of 1.0. Smallest jumped are 104/107 sqft canopies. I settled for ~120 sqft as that is fun to fly but gets me back from long spots too. (*) I still own ciel bleu, Saskia

Not sure where you got that idea. I'm not putting winguits out before AFF/tandems, that's a bad idea all round. Rather I might put wingsuiters out before or after CRW, so both these groups are the last 2 groups out, in whatever order they prefer. Edit: Our standard exit order: 1) FS big to small 2) FF big to small 3) solo jumpers (meaning student-type canopies) 4) AFF 5) tandem 6) wingsuit CRW is not listed as they could go as number 0.5, number 5.5 or number 7 We found that if we listed them as number 7, people got upset when they wanted to exit somewhere else in the lineup. So we let them figure it out themselves now

CRW usually exits either first or last, this depends on the wind at the time. So, roughly, CRW goes before RW groups in very light winds, and last out in higher winds. Usually wingsuits will go 2nd last if there's CRW on the load, but as long as the spot is OK, CRW could go before wingsuit as well without any safety issues - aside from exiting wingsuiters diving at the CRW formation ciel bleu, Saskia

Go shoot some pictures of the fog? Other ideas, as seen at my DZ: Learn to pack. Go bug an instructor with any and all questions you can think of. Get a briefing on stuff you need to do like another exit, spotting, ... Go watch old skydiving movies at the bar. Study for your next license exam. Go to the nearest wind tunnel. Play cards/poker/catan/risk/... Grab your favorite tablet/laptop/ereader/book and go sit in a corner with it. Do homework. Go skating/rollerblading/skateboarding/running/monocycling/karting/... Go fly a remote airplane/helicopter. Go hang out with a rigger if he/she will let you and watch a reserve canopy being packed. Drink beer and hang out at the bar. Hang out on dropzone.com ciel bleu, Saskia

I tend to do that too. One time I asked the TM if the belly strap was done-up alright, because I couldn't see it and assumed it was undone. Turned out it was done up fine, just the passenger had this belly that folded over it making the whole belly strap go invisible The TM did thank me for paying attention, but I was worried the passenger noticed Caught lack of goggles twice, inverted 3rings twice, and a turned-off cypres once on the tandem sitting in front of me (that TM no longer works as a TM...). ciel bleu, Saskia

Diablo, Impuls ciel bleu, Saskia

The main and the reserve are worth a couple hundred bucks each. They do not make a good combo though. Do you really want your last chance canopy to be the smallest canopy you have ever flown by 1 1/2 size? When you are low, having to land into someones backyard, with adrenaline coming out of your ears, with a reserve that won't fly and flare like the main canopies you're used to? Aside from that, you do not want your first reserve canopy loaded over 1:1 so in your case, you should be looking for at least a 175sqft reserve for your first couple hundred jumps. If you're smart. ciel bleu, Saskia

Well yes: ciel bleu, Saskia

It's very hard (read, impossible) to teach someone to land over the 'net. Some tips though: keep your legs TOGETHER. You can do this while you're still up high, say just after you turn to final, you put your knees and feet together and you KEEP them that way untill after you've landed. Make sure you keep your feet underneath you, never ever put your feet up front. This way you'll land feet first, regardless of when you THINK you will hit the ground, which is the first step of your PLF. Ie, you do not start your PLF at the moment that you land, rather you prepare for it a couple meters up already. Just landing on both feet at the same time will save you 75% of hurt. The last 25% is finishing the PLF roll, and after that learning to flare at the right time and at the right speed, for which as mentioned the video is a very valuable tool. Until you have flaring down pat, keep your feet together and PLF like you mean it. ciel bleu, Saskia

Don't load a PD over 1:1, so don't jump it if you're over 148lbs/67kg bodyweight. Prepare for much brisker openings than a spectre, and less flare especially if the canopy has more jumps. Other than that, if it's free and you're not too heavy and are not jumping camera, why not. Should be very easy to pack ciel bleu, Saskia

I think it's because of all the old people. Who would have known so many old farts knew how to use a computer? And... You blew it again. Luckily for you, I'm not hiring ATM ciel bleu, Saskia

Well there must be a reason we get planeloads of British, Belgian and French jumpers every year for round SL courses here in the Netherlands... ciel bleu, Saskia