autoset

I would like to hear your thoughts on this, i like the idea and it looks safer to me, no more worries about finding the perfect pressure point in the closing loop when you use a curved pin. It also "appears" impossible to get a "nothing out" mal because it looks like the cable would just slide out of the loop even with the little pull-force of a not-fully-inflated PC (PC in tow). Also you would have to change the closing loop every now and then because it wears out fast from the friction with the cable. Anyway these are just assumptions from a beginner so i may be wrong. Example Picture attached.

I have searched for ages looking for a link that provides an exact explanation. I have tried "How stuff work" with no avail. I want to know exactly how the hell this little device we carry in our wrist is able to transform air pressure into mechanical movement to make the marking needle(sp?) move to indicate us different altitudes.

There's a video of a malfunction with line twists on skydiving movies, the guy gave his rig to a friend to pack the parachute for him, then both make a jump and when they deploy and the guy is able to get out of the twists he shouts to his friend in the air "You packed me a step-through!!" what does it mean?

Only thing i know is they promote nose first inflation, and reduce the incidence of line over malfunctions. (i only know that because i read it in an article) I have never seen one, How exactly do they work? anybody has a picture of one? why should amateur BASE jumpers jump with one in their rig?

...and you executed the hook turn in order to gain speed too close to the ground(uh..oh...) and you realized right after the speed turn that you were going to impact with the ground if you continued with the plan... Question: Would pulling the toggles all the way down(without stalling the canopy) help slow you down enough to ease the impact? I'm a student myself and personally don't like doing agressive stuff while under canopy, but watching really cool videos of you people swooping like crazy it brings that question to my mind. Would pulling the toggles help even when attempting a hook turn your canopy is practically perpendicular to the ground?

I have like 6 months in the sport tops and always thought everybody took their reserve packjobs very seriously and followed the rules to the extreme when messing with reserves but now i might discover this doesn't apply to a small percentage of people. Maybe these jumpers have had a tough life and only trust themselves exclusively, maybe it's because they don't want to pay for repacks or because they can't afford it, or they prefer taking all the credit when saving their own life after a malfunction, whatever dude who knows. Anyway is this whole thing true or what? Forgive my n00bness.

I remember i was really worried before my first tandem because i didn't know how it would feel, i thought it would feel like a roller coaster in my stomach (hate that feeling) but i got surprised because it felt like floating more than falling. Then i started looking around for a reason of why this happens and found the whole "horizontal speed vs vertical speed, acceleration, etc" thing which seems pretty logical to me. Anyway when you jump BASE you DO feel that roller coaster feeling in your stomach right? because you are accelerating starting from 0, unlike skydiving where you jump out of a plane with certain horizontal speed already.

..was able to miraculously take the canopy out of the bag by pulling down the risers real hard once or twice before cutting away and deploying reserve?

Packing a large canopy in a small container will make it stay too tight inside and it will require a stronger pull force by the PC to take the pin out, there's an obvious risk of having a total malfunction. What could happen if we did the opposite? Small canopy in large container? Apart from a possible premature deployment?

Thanks, just wanted to know if anyone here does it. When you have seen too many insane stunts you automatically asume there's gotta be someone crazy enough out there doing it, even when it represents a risk for yourself and others.

What's your opinion on this? the loud wind noise can get boring sometimes specially if you're wingsuit flying. It might get you too distracted and make you lose altitude awareness, or prevent you from hearing your audible altimeter if you have one.

Hi, english is not my first language so I don't know exactly what these mean: -"potato chipping" -pilot chute "kill line" -"uncocked / cocked" pilot chute -"full flare / full glide" any help with this please?

Ok I'm prepared to be bashed one more time because of my dumb questions but here I go! I've read one of the modifications you should do if you want to convert a Skydiving rig into a BASE rig is remove the D-bag, I'm guessing it's because this modification leads to faster openings.(?) Then why is it exactly that we do use a D-bag for Skydiving?(apart from keeping the all lines in place) What if you skydived without one? Does being in terminal velocity have something critical to do? Really hard openings? Faster canopy/lines damage? I'm just guessing a few reasons out of my head but don't know if these are correct, that's why I ask.

Do they get paid monthly? the quantity of money they earn depends directly on how many people go skydive in their DZ? or the DZ owner has to pay them the same quantity of money regardless of the number of clients? Do they get a commission percentage too? Regarding cameramen, i think the ones who get the big money are the famous ones contacted by Hollywood for their movie shots. Am I right?

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I've heard a few times that chest mounted altimeters are dangerous because they give fake readings, and that you should wear it in your wrist. Is there any truth behind this statement? Sounds like bullshit but I ain't no expert in aerodinamics.

You know what I meant with "underground", there are still people out there that think skydivers are loco in the head.

Thanks for the replies people I got it right now. For the haters, I'm willing to repeat the AFF if you pay for it lmao

Is there a way to know these numbers? At least an estimate of how many skydivers/parachuters are there in the world? (not including military units?) Another thing, In your opinion do you prefer the sport to grow as much as possible or want it to stay "underground"? IMO the sport should stay as small, not too small that the parachute industries won't invest in new projects concerning their products, inventions, etc... and not too big that the goverment will start to regulate everything just because the sport has become a money-making machine. Whatever country you're from, if the goverment puts its hands on something, you know nothing good can happen. EDIT: Isn't the USA making BASE jumping a felony already or something like that?

Ok so wignload is the size of the canopy divided by the weight of the jumper if I understood right? I keep reading different numbers like 1.1, 0.8, 1.3, etc. Is there a number we should aim for? Like a standard wingload number? Another thing, the higher the wingload....it means the canopy is too small for the person? or is it the other way around(the smaller the wingload)?

Wow those are good stories hehe, but still I hope Bill to see this thread and tell us what got him interested in skydiving, he was in the air force or something? etc., anyway this guy is the MAN! 30something years in the sport and counting.

Hey don't know if this is the right place to ask this but I've read a few posts from Bill Booth concerning the PIA lately, personally I didn't know he visited this site that much but I see I'm wrong. So the question is: How you got involved in skydiving?, after reading a lot about the sport and the great progression it has made, in big part thanks to some of your inventions (3-ring system, throw out PC, etc) I feel this question is a must, Did someone take you to try out a jump and you fell in love with the sport...or how did it happen?

Thanks man, btw I have read a few of your articles, very good sportsman and awesome contributor to the sport, thumbs up buddy.

What are the main modifications do you guys make on a skydiving rig to convert it into a BASE rig? I keep reading about it but can't imagine what modifications are those.

I keep reading this everywhere, Why is this? Why do you prefer Pin closed rigs over Velcro ones?