ph8068

I'm flying into Orlando on the evening of Thursday 13th March and I was planning on staying at Z-Hills until either Monday 17th or Tuesday 18th. If there's anyone who would like to share the cost of a hire car for this time, give me a shout! Cheers, Paul.

29. Paul Housley (ph8068)

Don't suppose a date's been set for this yet?

Well I finally got to put the first three jumps on my Ghost this weekend, both solos and flocking. Fantastic! Flying for max glide, the suit feels wonderfully stable. And digging the wings in, you can a huge amount of instantaneous lift to maneouvre within a flock. Maybe vertical numbers mean nothing, but going for distance, I blitzed my personal best on my old GTi according to my Protrack - shows how the technology has moved on if nothing else. If you get a chance, try one

Me? Yeah I can only afford one rig I've never had any problems with my GTi and a Crossfire2. I'll let you know if I do with the Ghost

It made my day when this arrived in the office post. I was up for the obligatory office pics but the looks I got when I pulled it out of the envelope were already too strange! As you can see from the colour of the sky at the DZ, the suit remains in its unflown pristine condition. Fingers crossed for next weekend! Things I like: - The angle of the wing tip grippers which feel really comfortable - The inflation mechanism of the torso - The great fit - The v v bright orange!!!!!! Incidentally, my old GTi's now for sale in the classifieds (shameless plug!)

Noticed on the Aerograd website that the DZ is now open all year round. Anyone been there around April? What's the weather like at this time? Also, can't really find a proper website for Stupino other than for the Malevsky Cup - anyone got a link? Thanks for your help, Paul.

There's more than one slider size available for the Spectre. Sounds like you have a large slider at present, ideal for cameraman. PD should be able to supply you with a smaller slider to speed up your openings. Then you still have a free choice of microline or dacron, whichever suits you best. I have a smaller slider and my openings are about 600ft every time.

No, just about every canopy is trimmed more steeply than the "max glide" setting. At max glide, the airspeed of the canopy is quite low which would mean a very weak flare so that landings would be horrible. To achieve max glide, in zero winds, requires a certain rear riser input, which "flattens" the canopy relative to the horizon. This is very different from applying brakes. A small amount of brake will probably increase your glide ratio in zero winds(depending on the canopy design) but not as much as rear risers. In zero winds, deep brakes will never increase your glide ratio. Watch a first time student come in to land who flares at 50ft. Once their airspeed has been bled off during the flare, their descent is then way more vertical than when they were on full drive.

On your canopy, you are never going to be far wrong by making that assumption. For steeply-trimmed canopies, however, it may be a little more complicated.

I've heard loads of good stories about AXA in the past. Maybe your case was an exception - at least they paid out For those taking an annual policy with AXA, you must do this online a good 10 days in advance of leaving on your first trip. If you wait until the last minute, you need to phone them up and they charge you a higher non-online rate.

Couldn't say for definite we were all docked at that instant, though I'm pretty sure we had the 4-way dock at some point through the jump. But hey, it looks like a dock on camera - that's all that counts

Loads of pretty pics on this forum always from the US and mainland Europe. So, thought I'd just show that flocking in the UK is alive and well! This was taken at Netheravon at sunset a few weekends ago: http://www.netheravon.com/gallery.asp?mode=showimage&IMAGEID=1617

Anyone got a photo? Or could draw it?

To complicate the argument even further, if you are swooping in a strong downwind then you want to transition to toggles much earlier. This is because you want your canopy to have more lift at the expense of more drag - you want to "float" on the wind down the course to get more distance. Just like using deep brakes to get back in a strong downwind from a long spot, this is the same situation.

On a wingsuit, if you had a momentary loss of pressurization, its not safety issue as your arms and legs are supporting the wing structure. On a canopy, a loss in pressurization is an enormous concern as it may collapse due to the lack of rigid structure. Dropping the inlets below the leading edge will make the canopy more susceptible to disturbances in the air which may lead to loss of pressurization. The RAGE is clever design because it incorporates an airlock system, which lessens the chance of a collapse. Without this system, there may be a lack of test jumpers willing to give the canopy a go! So its possible, but not straightforward to move the inlets.

Yeah, you'll notice the difference, especially if you go in the summer when its hot, making the air even less dense. You'll come in to land faster, but equally you get more flare. A good landing is still easily possible, it just makes it slightly more difficult as everything happens a bit more quickly. If you can, best make your first couple of jumps out there with at least a moderate headwind, and don't progress to zero-winds until your feeling confident. If its permanently zero wind and Kevin does suggest you jump a larger canopy for the first couple of jumps, it is guaranteed he only has your own safety at mind, he's a top instructor and doesn't ask you to do these things just to make lift difficult. Have fun in Gap, you'll love the DZ. And make sure you go to Pizza le Chateau in Tallard village - essential eating!

How fast are the openings? The standard Spectre snivel or faster than this?

So you could leave a reserve packed for 5 years and still expect it to work fine. True if the new material provides less friction to the air.

For such a small canopy, that is a very high wingloading for an intermediate skydiver. Wingloading itself is not the "be all and end all" of canopy choice. Smaller canopies are considerably more responsive than larger canopies under the same wingloading. This article will really help you out: http://www.performancedesigns.com/docs/wingload.pdf You'll need to read the whole article but the following section is the one which is seriously important to you: 4B. Lighter student graduates face considerably different challenges when they start downsizing.

Yeh, it makes sense, it's just not that accurate. For example, the old lines have shrunk and you don't know how much of the shrinkage has occured above the cascade and how much below the cascade. I can see by this method you'd end up with a couple of inches error here and there. While not much, this kind of defeats the point of putting a new line set on in the first place. Yes, you are right, I will contact the manufacturer. I was just concerned I was missing something obvious, which is why I didn't do this before. Thanks, Paul.

A slightly longer bridle and a slightly larger pilot chute is recommended, but many wingsuit fliers use their standard equipment without any problem at all. Certainly, if you are just starting out, there's no point spending money on modifications until you know you like it. You will though! Hackeys are not ideal, but again, fine for starting out. Just make sure you forcefully throw it out on deployment and you will be fine. Your canopy is great, and as it is quite docile, no need to make cut-ins (dynamic corners) on your container. Only slight issue is that you don't have that many jumps. Do you know a wingsuit instructor or even an experienced wingsuit flyer who can give you some coaching and advice before you make your first jump?

The example set of line lengths you give is certainly the system used by PD. I have one question though. How do you know the point at which the lines should cascade? For example, see my attached drawing. Both configurations would give the correct line lengths, with cascades at different points. Seems to me that the lengths given are sufficient to check whether your current lineset is still in trim, but not to manufacture a new lineset. Or am I missing something? Doesn't matter what canopy you have, it you reduce the drag from the lines, your lift/drag ratio will be higher, giving you a shallower glide angle and a more efficient flare. The smaller the canopy, the bigger the performance benefits you will see.

Just to dispel the HMA myths completely (or not as the case may be), has anyone actually had a HMA line snap on them? If so, was it during deployment? So is there anything to stop me relining my Spectre with HMA? Now fair enough, the performance advantages are not going to be that huge, but my Spectra lineset is almost past it after 500 jumps anyway, which is the regarded life for HMA. Is an HMA reline likely to be much more expensive than Spectra? Would any rigger be able to sort this out for me, or is an HMA reline a specialised skill? Thanks for all your help.

Measured my Spectra lines on my Spectre 135 over Christmas - its got about 500 jumps. Couldn't believe that some of them had shrunk by 5 inches. Anyway, it got me thinking about the lines currently available for skydiving canopies and how unsatisfactory they were: Spectra - Lasts about 800 jumps, quite durable but ruins your trim as it shrinks over time. Dacron - Lasts a very long time, super-durable but so much drag that useless for any high performing canopy. Vectran - No performance disadvantages but only lasts 400 jumps and prone to damage HMA - Low drag but lasts only 200 jumps In this world of high technology, I can't believe no one has developed a material which is strong (and so thin), doesn't shrink and doesn't break. Or is there something out there I don't know about!