tfelber

I second/third what Dave mentions... Don't stop flying your canopy until it stops flying. Hold that flare. If you have to let off the flare, say you flared too high and realize it. Be gentle... And then flare the rest of the way and hold it.

Cheers you fat bastard!!! I really miss the drunk dial conversations...

The first one was a skyboarding accident. First jump with the board, opened low, entanglement, and he died. It was very easy for me to rationalize this one away. I won't do that...I'd pull higher...whatever.\ The second, however, was an instructor that I respected a great deal. He lost contact with his student on a military night training jump and ended up colliding with him in freefall. If I remember right both jumpers died. For some reason that one was not as easy to rationalize away. It was in my head for quite some time. I kept jumping, but kept thinking about it. Eventually it stopped being on my mind. Now, it's just part of the puzzle. I consider the situation, I try to imagine how I would react (more for future reference than anything else), and then I try not to make that mistake myself. One thing to keep in mind is most people don't intend on getting hurt or killed while jumping. Somethings (plural usually) happened and they either didn't react properly or quick enough or the situation just evolved into something unmanageable. Don't take things for granted, constantly try to evaluate the what-ifs and how you would deal with them, and know when to say when.

I'm sure this will be a great time as usual... Jeff/Jay don't forget to bring a WS for us larger folks.

On a solo jump, jump out and then rollover on your back. Stay there a while and then roll forward into a sit... That flapping on the side of your head/helmet will be the risers... Next, flip over into head down. That yanking you feel, which will probably make it hard to walk for a while, is your bridle/pilotchute deploying and the main is hot on it's heels. Now, while you are on the ground wondering what went wrong dealing with whatever injuries you have, imagine two or three friends in the air with you that you easily could have taken out... Is that straight forward enough for you?

Something new to try. (Static Line) Felt fine until the JM said climb out, then I was really wondering if this was what I should be doing. (Static Line) Not much FF, but it was overwhelming, mind-numbing. When the JM got to the ground she asked me if I saw the plane, when I said 'no', she said I was looking straight at it til my canopy opened. Let's do it again!!! One of the most amazing things I have ever experienced and I have quite a few experiences to draw on...I think everyone should try it at least once!

That's the one...

A moderator moved my post off the paragliding fatality thread. Several people were commenting on the dangers of ground launching and as was asking if the concerns should be similar for what Im working on...

Given this incident and all the DANGER...DANGER warnings I've seen in this thread I have a little bit of a sidebar question. I ran across an old paraglider, 1991 breezair 185, if my memory is correct. I have rigged it for launching as a parasail behind a boat. I created a 4 link cutaway system which is held in your teeth so that I can release myself from the boat in the event of a lockout or if once I get to altitude I want to fly on my own. I have talked to several people about this and really didn't get a sense of danger in regards to this idea. I rigged it up about 2-3 years ago, but have not tried to fly it yet. So now for the question, do you and others on here. given the increased knowledge about this type of flying, see anything I may have disregarded due to my lack of knowledge? BTW, I have never flown a paraglider. This wing is a non-elipticle, rectangular wing. What should I consider in regards to this? Thanks and very sorry about your friends incident. Just trying not to make a similar mistake... Tony

I had a friend who wanted to start jumping and was about 6' 260lbs. He got the same conversation as you. I found him a large canpied rig and he completed his AFF, no problem. If you are really interested in skydiving and not just interested in doing a couple of jumps, the rig will be usable by you for some time (like 100+ jumps).

Administrative Contact, Technical Contact: Sayre, Tim [email protected] Adventure Center Skydiving, Inc. 55 MERCURY DR HOLLISTER, CA 95023-2520 US (831)636-0117 fax: (831)636-0120

I was not suggesting that it should do any damage I was just reflecting that it didn't. A couple of others had commented on HnP slider down with a Sabre2 190 and the damage it might cause... I don't think a sabre2 190 HnP will open any faster than a vented BASE canopy and I don't think the opening shock at 80knts will be anything greater than taking a vented canopy with a mesh slider terminal. I do think the consistency of opening and heading performance of the Sabre2 will be much worse. I would also think the forward speed of the Sabre2 would be much greater. The high aspect ratio of a BASE specific canopy creates a much larger frontal area which increases resistance to forward movement along with the difference in trim and control line configuration. I think these things would influence the thought of whether to BASE jump the Sabre2 much more than the opening shock of a ZP canopy without a slider. A hard opening on-heading is much more survivable than an 180, with line twist, a lot of forward speed, and an object staring you in the face.

A vented canopy is designed to open quickly at sub-terminal speeds. While a slider will slow it down as wil a D-Bag and rolling the nose/tail, a vented canopy still opens very quickly. When BASE jumping terminal with the same canopy I use rubberbands on the slider to further slow the openings. However I wanted to know if there wer limitations I should be aware of; either in opening characteristics or performance, so I packed with mild rolling of the tail/nose and no other mechanisms for slowing the opening. As I mentioned previously it was a spanker, you can here me cussing on the video, but no damage to myself or the equipment. I had more confidence in my gear than I ever did previously even though I had already done a number of BASE jumps before I ever received my new rig. Also, who knows would you rather the thing came apart at 3000' with a reserve or off a 300' cliff with nothing but rocks to break your fall. It was a good test!

I took my vented Flik293 with a mesh slider out of the Otter at Perris the first few jumps just to get some time under it. While it was not a comfortable opening it didn't damage anything. The second jump the pilot forgot they had a HnP and let me out at 6500'... Well not wanting to be the the air under a 293 with a load coming out in the near fututre I took it down to about 3000' feet before I deployed and it smacked me, but again no damage. Regarding BASE jumping a Sabre2 190... There was a girl who wanted to go off an 2000' A with me one time using one and as cute as she was I wasn't interested in spending the night with her unwrapping her from an antenna. When you come out of a plane with a Sabre2 190 and end up with a couple of line twists, you check your heading and kick out with plenty of altitude to spare. From a fixed object, if you have line twists under a Sabre2 190 and your not on heading you are in big trouble, moving pretty fast, with very little time to deal with the mess above you or the object in front of you...

yea, somtimes when I'm really drunk I'll call to see if he answers...

Congrats guys good work...

And then there was truckerbase, I think JohnnyUtah is still banned maybe not. What about MilesD? Oh wait this is a skydiving only site now right? Are all BASE jumpers banned except me or what?

What about NickNitro??? I've heard lots of stories but the most realistic was because he impersonated another jumper/rigger... Not that I give a shit. I knew all of his alter egos anyway. And Maggot has been perma-banned a couple of times but let back in or broke back in...

The lines I was clearing were the reserve lines and they had about 4-5 wraps around my main risers and lines. So if it would have inflated it would have probably shut my main down and not been able to fully inflate either. I got extremely lucky in that the main beat the reserve out. When I pulled silver I was still in a high speed mal. It's hard to even conjure up how it worked out, but it did... The main should not be able to beat the reserve out and the reserve is designed and packed to inflate quickly with little air speed. If I had popped my brakes prior to noticing my reserve out I probably would have had enough air speed to clear the reserve from the free bag.

I've the same situation with opposite results. PCIT, think nothing out go silver, needed a repack anyway. Canopy opens, look up it's the main. Lots of loose lines wrapped around everything, canopy flying straight so I start sorting through the mess. As I get the toggles free I fel something hit me in the side. I look down to see the reserve still in the freebag. I don't want that coming out so I stuff it down the front of my shirt. Land uneventfully in the peas to the yelling of people on the ground, "What happened?", "Are you all right?" When I look back a little puzzled they tell me I have a reserve PCIT. Oh that! Well... If the reserve would have cleared the bag and inflated I would not be here to type this now. When I asked one of my friends who I trusted as an instructor, he said he would have cut it away first. That is what I have also decided. CUT IT AWAY THEN GO TO RESERVE. My thoughts are give your reserve the chance to perform. The main is closed with multiple rubberbands and should remain closed if it leaves the container as a result of the deploying reserve. If the main is just popping the last closing band as you cutaway, it should leave before your reserve has a chance to entangle. If your main is inflating as you cutaway it will definitely be gone by the time your reserve comes out. The only downside I see is if your main is deploying slightly behind your reserve causing them to inflate at or near the same time. I don't know what the odds are of this occurrence but I'm sure it is miniscule in comparison to the other possibilities.

Two of my policies are with Farmer's; $100K term and $100K whole life $69/month. I've had the policies about 11 years. I took them out thinking I was going to get back into racing but started skydiving instead. Reviewed the policies with the agent and both cover me getting killed in any way shape or form including skydiving or suicide. I discussed this with other agencies and was told most policies from major carriers cover suicide and most other deaths after two years continous coverage. I have a couple of other policies however that I need to review in light of this discussion. The reason I have these other policies is when I asked my Farmer's agent to increase my policies he said he would not be able to increase it without excluding skydiving.

It's good for most of us because we end up with alternative fuel modes of transportation that are better for the environment with a fuel source that is replenishable. For me, I'm sure there is enough oil to last my lifetime and I don't think any of the man made earth enders will happen while I'm alive, however I do have two kids that would appreciate the discoveries that this will bring about. It may even reduce the cost of transportation in my lifetime which I wouldn't mind too much, which means the cost of a jump or getting to a dropzone would potentially decrease... What was your question again?

In trying to keep my post as short as possible I did not fully expand on my thoughts. The oil companies blocked/controlling the new technologies first to protect themselves and now with the increased revenues they will be the industry leader in these technologies. It doesn't appear to me the original blocking/controlling strategy was to further their control of new energy but with the global push for alternatives and the increased revenues they were in a good position to exploit their previous actions.

I originally opened this thread because I wanted to see if others were having the same thoughts as me. I did not intend to post but your post while outlining some very interesting facts tends to leave the reader with the idea that the oil companies are controlling the alternative fuel technology to further their fossil fuel markets. I have a completely different theory on these actions and the reason the fuel prices continue to stay high. I believe what we will soon see is a diversification of oil companies primary market. They are controlling the progress of the technology until they feel they can control the market as they have with oil. They no longer will be oil companies, but energy companies. They will be who the alternative fuel technology will be bought through. In line with this thinking, higher revenues give them the ability to invest in the technologies of the future that will transport things, whether this be electricity, fuel cells, bio-alternatives, or a combination of these and others. The increased R&D by the companies in this direction falls inline with many of the environmental goals of the government and special interest group. The government itself is not the most efficient entity to address many of these issues so why not let the “free market” approach solve the problem. In the end everyone gets what they want and without increasing cost somewhere the money would never be available to overcome the situation. There are many people who are lining their pockets without thought of the bigger picture, but that is inevitable in a free market economy.

Eloy Elsinore Perris The Farm