pinkfairy

Good stuff, it'll work as long as the other guy can keep up speed. Oh, the dishonor of going low in this 17 year old little floaty guy. There should be an 18 years age limit for that reason only! wmw999: Aaaah, No key exits, fun, fun fun! Looks like I have some plans, then

MANY dropzones have a right hand pattern if the wind blows one way, and a left hand if the wind blows another, this is to keep the pattern off the runways or over safe areas. I don't know if this was the case at the DZ you went to, but it's quite common. This should be made clear in the DZ brief. Do NOT track up the jumprun, which is often along the runway. The direction of the jumprun should be made clear in the DZ brief. Know what the exit separation is. 4k is a high pull in most countries and on most DZs. And one very important tip that can save your life some day and make your canopy flying a LOT less stressful: Why were you in that pattern with all those people going in opposite directions at all? Wouldn't you rather see it all from above, and watching the first person down fly the pattern and go "Oh, wow, I think I missed something in the brief, silly me, this is a RIGHT hand pattern! well, I guess I'll fly a right hand pattern, then." This is how to make that happen: If you're open at 3, and you have a big, floaty beginner canopy, you should be able to float on half brakes until you're sure about what happens below you and if there's space in the pattern for you. Try it at home: Open like normal, while looking out for traffic, collapse your slider if you do that at all, then grab your toggles and pull them to the sweet spot (where you begin to feel that the brakes take effect), and you'll notice that you hardly sink through. You can easily turn while flying like this by letting one toggle slightly up, this is called a flat turn, and can come in handy in other situations too. Other people will start entering the pattern long before you, and when it looks like there's room for you, just fly into the pattern like normal. Talk to your favourite instructor about this, I can tell you, but I can't show you. With my Pilot 111, I can be first down or last, no problem, and with your canopy and opening altitude, I think waiting out on half brakes would be a very good strategy. It sounds like you didn't get everything in the DZ brief, or that the DZ brief wasn't good, and as a result you had a jump with a couple of unsafe situations. I think your normal opening altitude is a bit high, and you should inform other jumpers in the plane about this so they know about it and can avoid you. When you get more experienced and better at flying your canopy, you'll be less likely to suddenly find yourself going against traffic. When you've heard some DZ briefs, you'll know what the basics usually are, and it will be easier to understand even a bad one, and you'll be more likely to ask the relevant questions to get the information you need. That way you'll be safer at any DZ. Stuff like this happens in skydiving, and I wouldn't worry so much about who was right or wrong, more about what you can do to make yourself and people around you safer. You and your own gear are the only factors in skydiving that you have any control over. I hope this was any help, and that you learn from this experience. Take care and Blue Skies!

I'm a 100-way addict, and I'm having some serious abstinences here in Norway, no tracking teams, no getting to watch other people open, no formation loads. But I do get to the DZ when the weather isn't horrible, and for some reason people have started asking ME to help plan their jumps. There is a norwegian record coming up in August, if everything goes as planned (let's all hope for Peace on Earth, we'll be using military aircraft). What's your favourite drill jump for bigways that you can invite anyone on, and that lets you practice what you need to work on? I like practicing exits, doing non gripped exits and practice timing on the key, spacing out the exit a lot, so I leave on "set" if I'm floating and leaving late if I'm diving. And even if the person I'm jumping with isn't so experienced, I can still instruct him to give a good exit count or keep speed and heading as a simulated base. There is one drill dive that I like a lot, this is a 2-way: I fly to a sidebody, fly vertically over my partner, and into a new sidebody on the other side, he does the same, and we do that till breakoff. It's good, because it is practice at handling levels, and doing a true no momentum dock. If the person I'm jumping with is a fresh A-licence holder, I can do the vertical transitions, but he'll do 360s instead, that way we'll both get to practice. The good old hook/cat dive is another favourite. What about tracking teams? Could I maybe incorporate those, as in turning and tracking away from the jump run at, say, 5500, and then fanning out? This would probably be a better idea with experienced jumpers, but it should be good practice too, and fun. Any good ones with 3 or more? Obviously, with 10 or more we're getting closer to the real deal, we can build something that looks more like the center of a 20-way, or we can build a base with one whacker, but I doubt I'll organize anything that big this year. Relax, you can die if you mess up, but it will probably not be by bullet. I'm a BIG, TOUGH BIGWAY FORMATION SKYDIVER! What are you?

we have statistics on this from my home DZ, and we have 1 cutaway for every 1000 jump last season. And that includes that jumper who came and tossed his PD Velocity all over the place TWICE. The gear is good, and with proper packing, it opens well nearly all of the time. Good job getting rid of that lineover, OP! Actually, I saw a video of someone cutting away a lineover. It was rigged and filmed for educational purposes, but they had some problems getting it right, because try as they might, they couldn't pack a lineover on that old PD 9-cell. In the end they sowed the line on top of it (it was an old worn out canopy that they didn't intend to land anyway). The parachutes want to open. Relax, you can die if you mess up, but it will probably not be by bullet. I'm a BIG, TOUGH BIGWAY FORMATION SKYDIVER! What are you?

I have a really good, flat track. I'm built for tracking, and go far and fast. Does that make me safe on every jump? No, not at all, I've had a person in my canopy, even, and I've had to go low on several occasions in order to clear my airspace before I pull. There are many ways in which poor planning can be a problem, I quit doing tracking jumps (you know what the freeflyers do, the entire dive is a deep, steep track) because they weren't safe. People would decide that "ooops, I'm far out, and I have no idea where the rest of the group is, I'll just dump at 4k". This is an extremely bad idea on any kind of jump, not even on a freefly jump. Another example is when people aren't clear about what "turn 180 degrees and track!" means. This is turn 180 from the center of the formation, not from the angle you are in in your slot. I've seen some interesting situations with two facing 8-way lines breaking off and everyone turned 180 degrees. Huge, big chunks of free space that no one were using, and people feeling that they were uncomfortably close when deploying. On the bigger stuff, the break off is very well planned, it has to be, otherwise we couldn't be doing it twice, but we get problems when people don't follow the plan. Having a track team leader who turns and leaves his track team behind before they have time to turn is just as bad as having one who can't track properly at all, IMHO. That way we get people all over the sky, some high, some low, and it's incredibly hard to see if you're right on top of someone if there's a lot of vertical distance. If everyone is on level, it's easy to find a free sector and just wedge yourself in, it's impossible if there's a thousand feet difference, and trust me, 1k quickly turns into nothing when the canopies open. There seems to be something that happens in people's heads when the dytter goes off, people go "I gotta getaway NOW!" People should also be aware of what they should do if things aren't going excactly as planned: "What do I do if there's someone below me and I'm still in my track when my second dytter warning goes off?" "What if I don't even make it to the formation and can't be part of the original breakoff plan? What if I go low?" "Am I OK with pulling a little bit lower in order to get clean air?", "Do I know how to steer my canopy before it's fully open?" These are as important questions on smaller jumps as on bigger. There should be a breakoff plan B. The bad trackers? I've been on a decent tracking team with someone who wasn't really a hot tracker, but we kept it together, and that was what made it work. And on smaller jumps, I just leave them behind. The problems listed above are more serious than not having a perfectly flat track, IMHO. Those are what made the real problems on jumps that I've been on. I hope this clarifies what I mean. And yes, you're right, there is a problem, I've seen a lot of hairy separation. What I also find when it comes to who are good trackers is: experienced and/or current skydivers make better trackers. Many europeans, including norwegians and brits don't jump in winter. So maybe the question that the OP asked isn't so bad after all: this is the time of the year when many uncurrent european skydivers start jumping again.

Just don't land downwind close to other people who are landing into the wind. Follow the pattern. I can't really say I like downwinders. I come in and know that "Damn, I don't run this fast!" The good thing about them is that you're more likely to have them when the winds are LIGHT and variable. So there won't be much of a tailwind. Relax, you can die if you mess up, but it will probably not be by bullet. I'm a BIG, TOUGH BIGWAY FORMATION SKYDIVER! What are you?

Low altitude canopy collisions have nothing to do with tracking skills. Deployment collisions can have something to do with bad tracking skills, but more often with poor planning of the break off. Skydiving is a small sport with a relatively small number of participants and few incidents. Small statistical material can sometimes make odd statistics. Remember the canopy collisions just after new year 2007? So, yes, coincidence. Relax, you can die if you mess up, but it will probably not be by bullet. I'm a BIG, TOUGH BIGWAY FORMATION SKYDIVER! What are you?

I'm just saying that if you want people to call you things like "Big, tough bigway skydiver" or "Super hot canopy pilot", you'll have to work for it. And spend ALL of your money! Relax, you can die if you mess up, but it will probably not be by bullet. I'm a BIG, TOUGH BIGWAY FORMATION SKYDIVER! What are you?

You need to jump more. Relax, you can die if you mess up, but it will probably not be by bullet. I'm a BIG, TOUGH BIGWAY FORMATION SKYDIVER! What are you?

No, not really. We have Ironport. Relax, you can die if you mess up, but it will probably not be by bullet. I'm a BIG, TOUGH BIGWAY FORMATION SKYDIVER! What are you?

You can get this if you are tense. If you loosen up ad relax more, you will fly more balanced, and it's all about balance and flying from your central point of gravity, your hip. It's not a bad idea getting coaching on proper slowfall and fastfall techniques right away, this is easier to do if you have a reference point (=a coach) or if you do it i the tunnel. It's hard to learn it properly on your own. Now you know that you can easily correct instability, even when you feel a little stressed out because of altitude, isn't that great? Talk to your favourite local istructor about this, that's what most people here on the forum will recommend you to do. Relax, you can die if you mess up, but it will probably not be by bullet. I'm a BIG, TOUGH BIGWAY FORMATION SKYDIVER! What are you?

This place is big, professionally run and very efficient, but do not be fooled: This is where the fantasies of crazy people come true: "Hey, let's SHARK paint our Super Otters!" "I think we'll offer free load organizing for both RW and freefly", "Let's host world records, haha, we'll just fill our planes with people take them up high on supplementary O2!" "Let's build a wind tunnel right here!" They think like me. And they act on it. Some people complain about the landing area here, but it's really nice, the grass area is plenty big if it's used properly, and the surrounding dirt areas are fine too. The local jumpers are friendly, and there is no problem finding someone to jump with wether you like flying on your belly or other parts of your body. Even if it's big and has a lot of students, it's still a great place for fun jumpers. I love the swimming pool, the restaurant has better food than any other DZ I've been to, the gear store is really nice and most of the packers are really good. The wind tunnel isn't big, but it's fine for individual coaching. They take safety seriously, the brief is very comprehensive and the landing rules are clear. There is real seats and seat belts in the planes and the pilots are very good. I've been to Perris for Bigway training but also done some freefly there. I've been to DZs all over Norway and to Skydive Spain and Deland, and this is by far my favourite place. The only negative thing I can say is that you will get dust and dirt all over your gear and in your nose and mouth. It's dusty. Bring your shiny new gear and it will look like it has several hundred jumps after just 50.

They're just envious: See, us belly flyers can do 100 ways when we only have 400 skydives in total and limited tunnel time, catch any freeflyers being able to do a head down 100 way with that kind of jump numbers and tunnel time. And we get to dock like straight away too. We can just get out and pick up grips in 4-way on the hill. Seriously, though, I think that kind of division in a small sport like ours is silly. We are all skydivers, and freefly and belly have a lot more in common than some of the freeflyers think. The same principles apply. I like doing both, but I do this to have fun, not show off, although showing off also has it's advantages. Relax, you can die if you mess up, but it will probably not be by bullet. I'm a BIG, TOUGH BIGWAY FORMATION SKYDIVER! What are you?

Should come with disclaimer, though: These guys are very experienced and current skydivers with several thousand jumps, at least one is ex national team freefly. And even for them it's completely crazy and unsafe. And funny how it happens: it's on the traditional tracking-away-from-the-object-and-deploy jump the premature deployment happens. Lovely video, Mr. Flaat is pretty good at putting together video. He's also a very good freefly coach, and great fun to jump with. Grab a hold of him if you get a chance. Relax, you can die if you mess up, but it will probably not be by bullet. I'm a BIG, TOUGH BIGWAY FORMATION SKYDIVER! What are you?

I got mine second hand but unused. It fits me like a glove, but the fabric is a little slow for me. It's really easy to fly, though, it's a Matter Pro Concept. I paid around 2500 for it. I don't remember excactly.

If I wanted a date, I'd want the person, not the skydiver. I already skydive and have found the disciplines that I like. I'm not impressed by a small canopy, bacause I've already got one. As long as you're not a danger to yourself or others to an unacceptable degree, then your skydiving skills don't matter to me.

You lil' SHOWOFF! Nah, it's well deserved. It's a nice video.

Easy: 0:0:0 Now, WHERE is the crying smiley? Relax, you can die if you mess up, but it will probably not be by bullet. I'm a BIG, TOUGH BIGWAY FORMATION SKYDIVER! What are you?

I know you americans don't get much news coverage from Europe, but this is pretty big. Here's a visual for ya: http://met.no/ash/animasjon_1704.gif Thats a map, you can see Iceland and Greenland outlined, western europe is covered in the ash. This is a bigger crisis for commercial aviation than nine eleven, the airlines are losing billions every day. The thing is that there is NO ONE is allowed to fly, not even paragliders. who wouldn't be affected by the ash anyway or ambulance helicopters, that probably would be fine too, and could save lives. No one is stopping the BASE jumpers, though, because everyone knows that's a losing battle anyway. If I get to fly to the states next sunday, I promise I'll be a better person. Donate to charity or something. Yes. Relax, you can die if you mess up, but it will probably not be by bullet. I'm a BIG, TOUGH BIGWAY FORMATION SKYDIVER! What are you?

We have plenty of moose in Norway if you want to come. Beautiful scenery with big mountains you can climb, expensive beer, and people who'll speak your language. Relax, you can die if you mess up, but it will probably not be by bullet. I'm a BIG, TOUGH BIGWAY FORMATION SKYDIVER! What are you?

I think it's against human nature to truly understand that we will be gone some day. However hard I try, I cannot wrap my mind around that. I've never seen or known anyone go in in this sport or anywhere else, but I've seen some scary stuff, and been on some scary jumps. I still walk around thinking that I'm invincible. I don't know if I could deal with thinking about the worst case scenario, I don't even know if it would help. And I'm not even that young. Thanks, anyway. Relax, you can die if you mess up, but it will probably not be by bullet. I'm a BIG, TOUGH BIGWAY FORMATION SKYDIVER! What are you?

All parachutes, even big and lightly wingloaded ones, are unsafe and should be treated with respect. Didn't you learn that when you learned how to skydive? Anyway, you want a Pilot, not a Sabre2. Go out and demo one now Relax, you can die if you mess up, but it will probably not be by bullet. I'm a BIG, TOUGH BIGWAY FORMATION SKYDIVER! What are you?

Me too! I love my Pilot 111. Fun to fly in that size and has actually got some dive, but still has the same great on heading openings as the bigger sizes, and I can still float above everyone on brakes with it.

I've only been to Perris in California, but it's a great place. Very efficient planes, you can get all the jumps you want done early in the day, and then you can just relax by the pool. Great people and great vibe too. I'm going back there in a couple of weeks, and I'm already smiling.

Lady! You're welcome! Relax, you can die if you mess up, but it will probably not be by bullet. I'm a BIG, TOUGH BIGWAY FORMATION SKYDIVER! What are you?