mkael

I agree with this. I don't skydive. I did for a very short time it was fun and all. Search further for different shoe options. Look what kind of shoes experienced speedflyers use. That might have more in common with skydiving use. I would look for options in sports like parkour which I have no experience with. Might check out those extra ankle support things and get shoes one size bigger Paragliders might launch and land on slopes. Sometimes hiking is required and very often the landing areas do not look anything like golf courses. Generally bigger wings with much better flare authority. I even think most skydiving landings look like downwind no flare stuff . Different requirements there. There are alternatives to the heavy duty boots. Not mountaineering with a backpack required. So look for light weight hiking shoes or trail running type shoes. Some even look very similar to the usual running shoes but offer more support. Seem to be popular among pg pilots too. Pick ones without hooks or look for a shoemaker to fix of them. Not all of them are really grippy either.

This situation is unfortunate. Keep fighting. Unfortunately I can not offer you anything but moral support. Are they doing that? What is the definition of Sport Parachuting. That might mean different things for different people. There should be a clear way on how to pursue this path too. The reasons for not letting you jump your stuff sound very random. It is a failure of the sport regulators if there is not a clear path for you to do so either. Have they not thought about the motivation of some people to build and design their own stuff. Currently the bpa is like the many smaller regulators of similar sports which mostly demands requirements defined elsewhere on stuff largely designed and built elsewhere too. One of those regulating bodies which is mostly a consumer of ideas. Homebuilt planes have a very long tradition. So does the manufacture of the kind of machines flying for easyjet or BA. Different strokes for different people. Stifling innovation is the last thing a small sport like skydiving needs. I haven't jumped out of a plane nearly in a decade. My career in skydiving was very short too. Many people literally jump the same stuff they did back then. Ok I agree with standards for commercial manufacturers and their products. You have built your own canopy. You are not pushing out helpless students out of the door with this setup either. There always should be a way to become a "recognized manufacturer" too. Ask for the definition too.

Very good , very impressed Are you planning to make another one now?

Looks nice this is going forward. Anyway post pictures. Regarding the earlier issues about inlets and stuff There is an entire paper linked written about this issue http://www.flyozone.com/paragliders/en/learn/ozone-sharknose-technology/ Then of course the earlier debates about rod rigidification or not. In hindsight all the issues were manageable and those fishing rod nightmares wings were flown by very few people. I sort of agree the position of the a-lines has an effect on how the wing feels in turbulence. http://www.dhv.de/web/en/safety/articles-statistics/plastic-rods-yes-or-no Bottom surface shape? people with paramotors like to use reflex profile wings

Interesting project. Cheers mate. My respect. I noticed on your older towing pictures you looked like the brakes were out of your hands? I find that a very bad approach. Think directional control to counter lock out situations . Also imagine the towing line breaks the canopy might shoot forward. Looks like too much tension that low. You can of course use the rear risers to get some degree of control. Also the towing car line could be a lot longer and most importantly a tension gauge should be on board. Idk if you plan to do any towing anymore but I would recommend you check out some towing manuals of the pg community and get some help. You can do towing much much safer and stress free that way imho. Also you seem to do some ground launching off that hill. It looks like a demanding place to launch . I would recommend you use a pg harness with a back protector. If you fall out of the sky nothing is good enough but they do work most of the time. That can save you tons of grief and issues from bad starts or crappy landings one is most likely to encounter. You could get a lower hanging point to the carabiners and get a whole new feel for the wing and tons more weight shift. (there is stuff online about old carabiners breaking after heavy use or misuse. I would get new carabiners , they are relatively affordable) . Or just wear your skydiving harness underneath Maybe you do know these sites already. http://www.laboratoridenvol.com/index.html A good page about hobby pg wings and stuff Check out paraglidingforum.com too , Very good stuff there too You can learn tons and tons groundhanding , but the summary of pg en a certification testing is also a nice read. http://www.hgfa.asn.au/HGFA/En926-2%20CEN%20PG%20Test.pdf Much stuff to think about. I do understand pg is not something you would be primarily interested about and the wings are not parachutes. But stuff like this is very much part of it. A good place to learn tons about flying , wings, lines and the sky . Would recommend that sport

I would be interested it was an option for me to go to the local dz and take a ride to altitude and do a hop and hop from there. The pilot could maybe make an small extra leg . I would be willing to pay extra for the inconvenience. I would float heavy in the brakes downwind faraway and land somewhere. If the tech is even halfway decent one would have a lot of options to look for lift further away. I know this has been thought of tried many times before. But even I like this concept and thought about it after my first jump already. Typical paragliders might be 260 to 300 feet in skydive lingo. And there is the option to go smaller. Only slightly larger by numbers than what you put students under. But parachutes are built stronger to withstand the opening forces. Doubt the size is a real problem. Anyway there is the option to go smaller. Then there are those recent single skin paragliders. Ozone xxlite and Adrenaline batlite (I want to know how these behave in turbulence btw). Those are similar to some old age parachute from the 70s afaik? So that would be one option to explore? Paragliders get better all the time. Newer models have a lot less lines than older ones. This is nice one gets less drag. Especially the max speed benefits from that. I have very limited skydiving experience , but I looked at a fairly recent PD canopy Pulse. I use that just as an example, I have never jumped one. It also might have less lines than some earlier parachutes. If one put up a more elliptical planform and increased the aspect ratio a little. Only considering that , going a little in that direction would make that look more like a paraglider. it is not like there are literally worlds apart from a fairly typical beginner to intermediate pg good enough for xc It would interest me how that would fly. Old age paragliders used to look very much like parachutes of their time. Now it seems parachutes are slightly beginning to look like paragliders a little more. At least visually the tiny swooping machines look more like pg wings than the rectangular canopies. The most striking difference seems to be the leading edges and the rolled cigar looks. At least the leading edge tunnels with the Pulse are slightly more pg looking than what was typical before but overall has a strong rolled cigar look. Elliptical is a word often used in the skydiving world. People in skydiving are more vary of anything elliptical. Altough even student beginner pg wings look to be more rounded and elliptical than anything in the skydiving world. It has caused some spiral issues with some more hot wings very recently. I don't know how that affects parachute openings and deployment. Maybe somekind of tailgate? could be an option here? Food used speed systems are extremely common on pg wings. (uses the feet to shorten the a-lines to adjust aoa). The trim is flatter for pg wings out of the box afaik. Somekind of trimmer system could work here. I don't have any idea how that makes a difference with parachute openings. How do those reflex type wings open btw? I know newer speed flying wings are like that?

I am not a skydiver and there are probably more experienced pg people here as well. But hey Towing paragliders is the standard way going up in flat areas. It works really well. Specific training is required. Trying out some random ancient paraglider/parachute found in someones garage on a random field is a very bad and very unhealthy. There is much specific information about this. I think there could be demand for these hybrid things. But a lot is working against it too. Many compromises would have to be made. Maybe it would be just for gliding away , but I would hope for some mild xc too. Acro people have their own stuff too. Skydiving kit is very complicated stuff with 3-ring releases and complicated high speed reserve systems.I would rather fly my pg somewhere else than above an active dz. Land far out somewhere else. So doubt the majority of current pg pilots will be interested. Hanging in skydiving harnesses for a while can get damn uncomfortable real fast. They are really bad for weight shifting with the attachment points above the shoulders. A comfortable seat with adequate back protection would be really nice. One would have jump that out of a typical skydiving plane too. The hanging position typical for skydiving harnesses is tiresome and causes lots and lots of drag. The glide ratio is very important , but not the only factor. One has to maneuver the wing easily too. Eg circle slowly in a column of rising air. Ability to weight shift and low brake force is good. And if one gets clues trough the wing from the air to sense where to find these. That more or less might mean a wing which people would call finicky. So the handling aspects of the wing are really important.