damion75

Not sure I understand your point here? Tunnel time is a pretty new thing for most UK junior jumpers - most of us managed FS1 without! I hope that you were careful about selecting those friends to jump with as there are some fairly defined rules about who can jump with non-FS1 qualified skydivers. The CCI must be consulted if they don't have their coach rating. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

FS1 is instruction in fall rate control, forward and backward movement, side slides, turns, tracking and diving to pin. And safety. And safety. Did I mention safety? What's not basic about that? These are core skills and anyone unable to complete them doesn't deserve to be in the sky with other people. Period. I can't imagine any self respecting freeflyer would jump with someone without those basic skills either. As for having trouble finding people of sufficient FS quality to fly their own slots on an FS1 dive who is happy to help a jnr guy/girl progress? That says more about the DZ than the progression requirements to me. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Bugger - you beat me to it! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Actually it isn't. From the BPA Ops Manual (Sect 2): 2.1. FAI ‘A’ CERTIFICATE: Category 8 and at least ‘CH-Grade 1’. There is not mention of jump numbers. But it is impossible to pass AFF (incl consols) in less than 18 jumps AFAIK. Ah right, must have something mixed up then as this BPA FAI application form mentions 25 freefall jumps for FAI A. http://www.bpa.org.uk/forms/docs/Form%20226%20-%20FAI%20International%20Cert%20Application.doc Chris Afraid you're right - you do have something mixed up. There are two different FAI standards in force here. From slightly earlier in Sect 2 of the Ops Manual: 1.2. Parachutists are also Classified in several ways: 1.2.1. Fédération Aéronautique International (FAI) (British Standard) Certificate (Issued by the BPA on behalf of the Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdom), (see para.3 below). 1.2.2. Fédération Aéronautique International (FAI) International Parachutist Certificate of Proficiency. (see para 4 below). I am talking about the first FAI British Standard (red) licence, which is the one in use at BPA licenced organisations. You are referencing the international certificate which, though valid, is of less interest to the CCI of whatever BPA dropzone you turn up at. As BPA skydivers we are licenced under the first system. There are a lot of differences between the two licences, including the requirement for only 500 jumps for a 'D' Licence in the international system. Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss this further.

FS1 is about safety and basic RW skills. It is very much the beginning of learning about FS rather than the end! If your FS coach is prepared to sign you off (and I would trust Vicki's judgement!) Then what she is saying is that you are able to use your judgement to keep yourself and the other people you jump with as safe as possible during an FS dive, and you have the basic skills to belly fly with others. Nothing more. Given those parameters, if you can fulfill that requirement then it will not be 'too soon' to get your FS1. Good luck with it if you go for it next weekend. And yes, it will mean more . *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Actually, what you are far more likely to get is a lot of people recommending that you rethink your plan to jump with a camera attached to your head while you have so little experience. Let alone at the world's largest boogie in conditions which you will be experiencing for the first time... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Actually it isn't. From the BPA Ops Manual (Sect 2): 2.1. FAI ‘A’ CERTIFICATE: Category 8 and at least ‘CH-Grade 1’. There is not mention of jump numbers. But it is impossible to pass AFF (incl consols) in less than 18 jumps AFAIK. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Not sure that you got much of an answer on the actual question there! Funny enough I was looking at this the other day (when I was supposed to be working!) There are two types of drag primarily acting on a parachutist and their equipment: Parasitic Drag and (lift) Induced Drag. Parasitic Drag is simply caused by the effects of an object moving through a fluid (in this case air) and being resisted by it. This can only be reduced (as far as I know) by changing the object size or surface type (more shiny = more speed!) Induced drag is caused at the wing tips of your canopy by the forces which give it aerodynamic lift. Essentially the 'faster' air moving underneath your wing spills around the end and creates a vortex which 'sucks' your canopy back a little = drag. That's how I understand it anyway. Elliptical wings suffer less from this and it is also the reason for airliners to have winglets at the end of their wings, which disrupts the creation of the vortex. Perhaps this is why the Nitron has those little winglets too? HTH Frank. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

I am trying to work out if there is a way to (roughly) convert the speed that a team works in the tunnel to the speed that they will be able to achieve in freefall. Obviously I mean point scoring speed, not vertical speed! It would have to take into account a lack of exit / slow scoring due to the hill. But that wouldn't be too hard to figure. I am thinking more about the effect of the differences between the tunnel and the sky: The extra references in the tunnel have to help speed Keeping tight because of the tunnel walls also probably helps Extra space in the sky would probably help speed on some blocks (1,2,4 etc) Air quality always seems smoother in the sky = easier levels and verts = more points. Maybe! Thoughts? *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Hey Sarah! Congrats on completing the training! Don't think that doing it on a sunday means you get away with the beer fines!

Now there's some good advice! xlh883, Whatever freefall discipline you are trying out, you will always have the canopy ride (hopefully! ) - don't do what too many people do and just use it to get you on the ground without breaking anything. Get some coaching and use those canopy rides to practice: Awareness of those around you Good disciplined landing drills A safe and consistent landing pattern A planned flight path (helps accuracy) Use of risers and brakes to extend or decrease range And lots of other good things too. You can still play with FS or FF at the same time - the canopy ride is a freebie so use it too! Canopy coaching is not only a life saver, it can be a lot of fun too! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

*************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Just out of curiosity, and not 'having a go', but the original poster does not appear (according to profile) to jump a Stilletto - sticking to a much more conservative Spectre choice. Why is that? Could those reasons be similar to some of the reasons not to put a student with no knowledge of canopy handling or deployment body position on a Stilletto? *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Forgive my ignorance, what do you mean - 'wrong reserve handle'? Do you mean that it was a non-Wings reserve handle (in which case it would have nothing to do with the company, just the jumper) I don't know how else it could be a 'wrong' handle. As for the handle that was completely out of shape, surely the amount of force that would be needed to mis-shape a steel reserve handle would be enough to damage other parts of the rig too? Just want to understand what you are saying here.

I'm not even going to try and convince my IC of that truism! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Whilst I don't disagree with Mike (Brabz), I think that £1500 is much more realistic. You shouldn't need to pay more than that for a decent rig in student sizes. As a guide I just sold a good freefly friendly rig, ready to jump with AAD and a 170 sized canopy (the most popular size) for £1400. You may have to hunt for a while but the 190s and 200s are not in quite such demand as the 170s and 150s so happy hunting!

Surely that is something which is brought up in the first jump course??!!! The UK and US can't be that different... The first question a UK student is taught to ask themselves when they look up at the canopy is: "Is it big and is it rectangular?" I'm thinking that if half the cells are collapsed then the answer to that is going to be 'no'. At which point they are not going to start messing around releasing the brakes, just get off it! They are students, they are not stupid! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Hey Kate! Some good thoughts above, but there is a specific answer, which is that at RAPs Cat 5, you can transfer across to AFF Level 3 if you want to. How easy it would be to do this if you moved from the UK RAPS system to do AFF in the US with USPA instructors I don't know, but those are the rules here. That said, I agree with the previous poster, once you get to RAPS Cat 5 you are in many ways much closer to qualifying than if you transferred across to AFF, so with the weather we are having at the moment I would be tempted to stick with it! Frank. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

The only track which reminds me of skydiving every time I hear it is Faithless, Insomnia, because that was the soundtrack to the Espace Boogie 2004 and got played at full volume every morning when we were dragging ourselves out of tents etc! Last weekend though on every climb to altitude I couldn't get Jack Johnson's 'Upside Down' out of my head - funny enough neither could my tail flier! Cool track though. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

I'm not an engineer, so whether or not it could be done is not something I am qualified to look at, but I do question the value of it... because I am an Anti Aircraft missile instructor. The point of the HAHO insertion is that it is very difficult (not impossible) to pick up canopies on radar, hence the stealth insertion. Picking up these solid wings, no matter how much RAM they build onto them, is not nearly so difficult, so you lose the benefits of a stealthy insertion. So why do it? *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Honestly? it sounds nice and all that but I am always sceptical about the 'only 4 weeks old, never been jumped' line... I would have a rigger look at it because if they didn't want to jump it, why did they buy it? As for figures, anyone who really spends £3700 on a new rig is a mug - my completely new Wings setup cost about a grand less! I wouldn't pay more than £2500 for ANY 2nd hand rig, and that would be a lot. Seriously, this is a size of canopy / container that you are probably not going to be holding on to for that long, and there are plenty of decent systems out there for much less - I just sold my Wings, PDR160 and Cypres with a Triathlon 175 in it for £1500. This guys price is WAY to high IMHO. Sorry! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Agreed - and you also have to WANT to learn - not just from the mistakes of others, but even one's own mistakes. The closest I have come to the hospital club was on a demo - my 3rd (last summer) when I got caught out by the winds on my base leg and decided I had to turn 180 hard so as not to violate the crowd line... at oh, about 100ft! I walked away from it because I was on a Triathlon 160, I dug out like my legs depended on it (they did) and I was lucky. That's all. But the real lesson for me was not 'Don't turn 180s at 100ft' - I know that already! It was more about thinking far enough ahead not to put myself in the position of having to make snap judgements about whether to risk hurting myself, or hurting a spectator. But thinking that lesson through to learn it took a little more time and effort and I am not convinced that every jumper out there would take that time to think about what just happened. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

That's what he told us last year - my team sit at around the 115-117 mph mark. 140? That would require a lot more burgers! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

It keeps moving... I'm afraid I just gave up waiting and bought a Neptune. Sorry L&B but I can't buy it if it isn't on the shelf! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Hey David, welcome to the crowd! There are several great articles which will answer a lot of your gear questions if you click on the 'safety' tab at the top of the page - including one specifically about choosing your first gear. For more background info on the 'science' behind it, have a look at the manufacturers website [/url]http://www.performancedesigns.com[url] where there is even MORE info! Have fun! Frank. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.