damion75

I have a question (just out of curiosity). From what I can gather the NRG is lightly eliptical. So are you really jumping a test-bed (non production) eliptical canopy loaded at nearly 1.3 with 68 jumps? And doing casual CReW with it too? Who thought that this was a good idea? That may be more than one question - sorry! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

One of the benefits of UK skydiving is the requirement to have a nominated JM on every load so that you have someone to ask about this, and that individual will then set the rules - even if there are more experienced people on the load (ideally the JM will be the most experienced person though). If anyone then breaks those rules (landing the wrong way etc) the JM can request the CCI to ground them. If the JM is the one who is ignoring you or telling you to shut up, think about how you are asking the question. If there is nothing wrong with the way you are asking the question, perhaps reconsider your choice of DZ - there are plenty of others in the UK who want your business...

If this is what you want, get someone else to wear the camera - it looks so much better that way and then you will be the star... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

No idea about the answer to your question, but as regards the Stilletto's place on the path to swooping... I think most would agree it is not on that path. The Sabre2 would probably be a better choice.

I make no judgements ever, but wow. 500 jumps. I had 900 jumps when I started jumping a Katana 120. At 110 jumps I had a Spectre 170 and it gave me goose bumps. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

I don't know, sometimes they really do open very very fast. I had a one second opening on a 150 which I seriously thought for a few seconds had broken my neck. Happily it was just sore for a week or so... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Interesting question. I have seen several on student canopies (none of which caused any problems at all on a 230-290sqft monster) but I have never seen one on a smaller canopy. Is this chance? A difference between ripcord and throw-out? or is there something more sinister at work? Anyone? Bueller? Germain?

Or you could combine some of these ideas... I have a paper asshole on the goggles AND a laser on the helmet. When you mount the camera, you can use the laser to make sure that your camcorder (and stills) are lined up with the laser centrally placed. When you put the helmet on in the plane, you can use the laser again (carefully, not to blind people) to ensure that your paper sight is directing you to look at the right laser spot. And as DSE mentioned in passing, the most important thing I think is to look with your head and not just your eyes... Have fun! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

There are eight controls you can use to steer your canopy... I'll let you work out what they are for yourself.

I would have to call bull on this one. Not sure what your reference is for assuming this, but AFAIK this is one thing that the BPA have not regulated yet! From the Apr 08 Ops Manual: 4. INSTRUMENTS 4.1. Altimeters must be worn by all Student Parachutists (other than Tandem Student Parachutists), jumping Piggyback equipment. Also altimeters must be worn by parachutists carrying out planned delayed openings of 15 seconds or more, (other than Student Parachutists jumping Traditional equipment, on their first successful 15 second delay). 4.2. The minimum instrument is a serviceable non-sensitive visual read out altimeter, securely mounted in a suitable position. 4.3. Instruments should be positioned so as not to interfere with the use of other parts of the equipment. You only need to have a serviceable non-sensitive visual read out altimeter. Some centres are actually starting to use digital altis for RAPS. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Good choice! One of my favourite places... How long is a piece of string? You should be ok with the weather so yes, you may well be able to get FS1 in a week but it depends how easily you pick it up. Some tunnel time in advance would definitely help, but I can see that if you are in Scotlandia that could be tricky... You could work on the two together but getting signed off for CH1 in Spain could be tricky, and it would also mean going out there as a student rather than a licenced skydiver, which complicates matters - get the CH1 done before you go, its not hard. Always a good call to learn more canopy control... Most of all, keep it going - its too easy to get out of the DZ habit now and you will regret it later...

The lesson that I would recommend you take away from this is not to play downwind of the DZ. Play upwind and then at your planned start altitude, move into a prepared landing pattern, during which you will at some stage (winds permitting) end up slightly downwind of your planned landing point. The planning of the canopy flight often takes second place to the planning of the freefall skydive and it really shouldn't. Most canopy control courses deal with the planning of an effective landing pattern and it is a great place to start.

Quick question for you Remster: are you sure? I'm not challenging your facts, just wondering how you arrived at that conclusion. - David I'm sure he's sure. Think about the canopy and outside (stab) lines as a triangle with a curved top. The bottom (if you pull down the slider) is effectively the chest strap. Loosening off the chest strap allows the bottom (and therefore the top) of that triangle to become a little wider (perhaps a trapezoid now?!). The wider the top is, the flatter the canopy can be. Why does that help? Well the canopy provides lift not upwards, but perpendicular to its top skin surface. The more you can get that skin flattened and pointed towards the sky, the more real lift (and 'performance') you will get. Same basic principle as I see it for cross-braced design and performance increase. Flat is good. Perhaps the misunderstanding is that we are talking laterally flat here across the canopy, not changing the trim? *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Pop over to jolly old england and I'll show you some. You'll have to time it right though - we only have clouds like that for about 250 days a year... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

I'm not seeing a lot of variation in interpretation from the Ops Manual... From the BPA Ops Manual, Section 8: This clearly states main canopy opening. Not p/c throw, release or opening, and not container opening or linestretch. Just the altitude at which the main canopy must be opening. Incidentally, I would be interested to know ballpark how much altitude a main canopy takes to 'open' from the moment it leaves the D Bag (obviously not therefore to include the altitude lost during pc toss and DBag deployment). Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?

This may be a question of semantics. Certainly for the BPA it is not deployment altitude (moment of pull) which is regulated, but the opening altitude (when the canopy itself is opening) which is a wholly different thing... From the BPA Ops Manual, Section 8: So the canopy must be opening (often actually translated as the canopy must be open) by 2000ft for a licenced skydiver. The altitude recorded on the L&B altimeters as deployment altitude is (AFAIK) roughly equivalent to line stretch. If this recorded altitude was lower than 2000ft then in theory that jumper would have violated regulations... The sensible thing to do is not get in that position in the first place - if you are getting a bollocking for being low, it is for your own safety and not to make the staff feel more important. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Congrats on the A - time to start having some fun and I am glad that you are enjoying starting to do RW/FS! As regards your issue, without video it is difficult to say as it could be several things. The weight issue is unlikely to be the cause. The best way to try to resolve this is to pick a heading, release the grips and try to fly relative to each other (face on would be fine) without turning, this way it will be very obvious who needs to work on their body position! The thing to watch out for is if one jumper is rotating or satelliting (going round in a big circle) for the other jumper to compensate for that. You must have the discipline to maintain your own position and heading, and wait for the other jumper to correct themselves and come to you (or vice versa! ) It's not a perfect solution (a better one would be for the two of you to jump with a coach or experienced jumper who can provide a point of reference) but it may be worth a try.

If you are willing to pay that then it is worth it. For me? The parts are worth about: Container - £150 (E200) Cypres1 with 3 years left - £150 (E200) Tempo 150 - £200 (E260) Total - £500 (E660) (maybe more if it is in really good condition... But I know someone who is giving away a newer teardrop classic than that because they are so difficult to sell... personally I would seriously re-negotiate that price. I'm not saying that the teardrop is a bad rig (although I'm not so keen) but it's value is low. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

The USPA might not be there but in the UK we have now had the Canopy Handling (CH) Coach and Canopy Piloting (CP) coach qualifications for a while now (at least 2-3 years). Can't tell you what the criteria are since I am not either and am too lazy to find the ops manual online right now, but to get your AFFI rating, you have to be a CH coach. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Then I recommend spending more time on your skydiving at this point... spend that money on jump tickets when your new rig arrives and by the time you are ready, who knows what new cameras may be out to suit your needs (except DSE who may well know... ) *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Perhaps I have misunderstood but I thought that the Faqtor was a fully elliptical equivalent to the stilletto - it certainly looked that way when I tried one. The RAGE is more aimed at the Katana market and is only AFAIK made up as big as 107sqft. I know nothing about the NRG but I put a few jumps on a Quadra three or so years ago (while on about 280 jumps) and found it a bit tame but very reliable. HTH. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

etravelinsure. which I found on the BPA website. They are very specific about what they cover and after a recent test case involving a friend, they do pay out. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Depends why you log your jumps really. If you are after a rating then being on the front of a tandem is not a jump in which you have done much work... but that could describe a lot of jumps really! I see the log book as a personal record and, to be frank, all sorts of things get recorded in there. So I say bung it in so that you have a record of having done it.

As Aggiedave, I have tried all but the Blade. My order of preference in how the performance (and fun factor) felt to me was somewhat different! 1. Mamba 2. Katana 3. XF2 (by a reasonable margin) I ended up with a Katana mind you, but that was impatience - the Katana was available 2nd hand immediately, the mamba would have had to be new and was a 12 week wait. I think the biggest thing to take away from this is that they all 'feel' remarkably different so there is absolutely no substitute for trying them out with demos. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

You either heard wrong, or you just read the post wrong. He didn't say fastest, he said fastest turning. Big difference... and he is right too. Funny that! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.