surfbum5412

That's weird, I didn't know people still skydived at Elsinore. I thought they just had weekly theme parties where they dressed up as STD's and spread the love. Haha.

The Vision I jumped was brand new, and was manufactured in April 2009. At first I thought my canopy skills needed work. Then I thought about other new canopies I have flown; IMO, on a new canopy the flare should not only set you down softly, but also will ascend a little if you give it too much flare. I tried everything with flaring the Vision and no luck. It reminded me of a BASE canopies landing characteristics. I will say though, in hopes to look like I'm not bashing Aerodyne. They are currently inspecting the canopy and sent me out a complimentary canopy in the meantime. Also, the Pilot is one of the greatest semi-elliptical canopy I have flown. And I heard the Mamba is a kick ass elliptical canopy from many people.

IMO. it's the worst canopy I have ever flown. Openings are brisk and forceful, flight characteristics are fine, and the landings are AWFUL. As other people have said, if you come in on a straight-in approach, the canopy has no shutdown flare and literally drops-out-of-the-sky. Out of the 20 jumps I put on the canopy, I had one normal landing where it didn't drop out and the rest were just painful. IMO, if you're going that route, get a Crossfire2.

I don't disagree with your statement, but I'd like to see fed.gov fix Medicare/Medicaid FIRST, before (in basis) expanding it to the rest of us. Thank you thank you thank you!!

Already happening. How many people that go into the ER actually have insurance? Very very few. So then that person applies for Medi-cal (medicaid), which is basically telling the hospital, "I would like health care please, but you are not going to be getting paid for it." Try going into a car dealership and telling them you would like a free car. Haha.

I work in the medical industry, and this subject is laughable. The first thing you have to look at is: currently we do have government funded health care programs. They are Federal Medicare and State Medicaid. From personal everyday experience, I can tell you that NO doctors will take Medicaid. One doctor explained it to me perfectly, 'if I do get stuck with a Medi-cal patient, my office won't bill for it because it costs more to bill if they even pay us...which they won't.' State Medicaid programs are an absolute joke. And many doctors stay away from Medicare patients as well because the hoops you have to jump through to get paid. Maybe they should focus on how to make these programs better before expanding the huge cluster fuck to everyone else in America.

Oh definitely, good point. Also, I don't know if the OP does RW or freefly either; RW are taught not to track on back. I don't fully agree with with the statement that a few really good freeflyers can back-track. On the west coast, this is becoming a standard for break-off. But you are right, in that not everyone can do it. If the OP is going to be freeflying... My progression started with when I was doing freefly coach jumps, he would have me back-track on break-off. Then I started back-tracking at breakoff on 2-way jumps with friends, and then on normal track jumps I would play on my back. Now I back track out of all jumps.

Yes. You're missing something. You should be leaving enough separation between exits so that each group has enough room for their break off. For larger groups, you should be waiting longer exiting after them. If you're doing a 2-way, it may be prudent to try to break off so you're both perpendicular to the jump run. If you're in a 4 way or larger, the people you are most likely to have a collision with during or after opening is the people in your group, so your first priority is to get adequate separation from them. Turn 180 from centre, track an appropriate distance to get clear and then look, wave, throw. If you do this and find yourself too close to the next group, then either you're tracking too far on break off, or there was insufficient separation between exits for the upper winds and group size. If you're unsure about this, talk to the instructors at your home DZ. Great point. First and foremost, I start my track on my back to get a good frame of reference of which direction everyone on the jump is tracking off to. After a few seconds, I switch to my belly-track and actively look for any possible canopies open below or around me, while keeping my track as perpendicular to the line of flight as possible.

The Skyhook RSL is still an RSL. If the left side riser was snagged, it's still highly likely that the right side riser would release far enough to pull the reserve ripcord. Yeah, that makes sense.

I agree that for a well designed camera helmet with a small camera on it, the snag potential may be small. It's personal choice and up to you to decide whether you think the chances of a snag are higher or lower than the chances of a low reserve pull. You wouldn't, but who said that your malfunction on your main had anything to do with the camera helmet? I spoke about a snag occurring during the cutaway. You could have a malfunction totally unrelated to the camera helmet but have the risers snag your camera during the cutaway. Think what could happen if you had the left side front riser passing in front of the camera box and the rear riser passing to the rear of it. Now what? Again, this might be a low probability occurrence, but this is the type of thing that people worry about when disconnecting their RSL for camera jumps and a smaller side-mount camera probably increases the riskof this kind of snag unless the camera box is carefully designed. In any case, I was answering a question. Personally, I leave my Skyhook RSL hooked up for several reasons. First, I think the chance of a riser snagging my camera during cutaway is small given the size of the camera box and the typical spread between the front and rear risers under load. Secondly, I don't jump camera all the time and I think that it's more important to keep my rig set up in a consistent manner for all jumps, rather than risk doing something silly connecting and disconnecting an RSL all the time. Thirdly, I'm not yet jumping anything crazy. As my needs and/or equipment change, I might revisit these decisions. Man I love that Skyhook. Heard Mirage ha had their version ready to be released for a long time. From what I gathered about a skyhook, if you cutaway and the canopy won't release from you, the main doesn't act at the super-big-pilot-chute. And in that case, you have to deploy reserve manually. Maybe that would be relevant in the case of a helmet snag?

The general concern with a camera helmet - particularly a side-mounted camera - and an RSL is that the camera and it's associated bits and pieces are a potential snag point and that in the event of a snag happening during cutaway, you probably want the chance to clear it before you pull your reserve. Having an RSL hooked up means that it could deploy your reserve while the left side riser is still snagged on your camera. First question you have to ask is: With the new lightweight-low profile-side mounts, are the chances of a snag negligible? Second question: Why would you cutaway your main with the lines snagged on your head? Do think removing it might be a possible thing to do before cutting away?

What he's saying is that he had no idea what he was talking about in the first place and now he's trying to cover. Haha, what a douche.

Great comment. Guess what I should have said in the first place is "there is no difference when you're comparing apples-to-apples." Thanks for pointing that out. Example being safire2 versus sabre2 and a 5sq. ft. difference. Are there differences between the two's flight characteristics? Absolutely. Is the 5sq. ft. the variable that is making the two fly SIGNIFICANTLY differently? Absolutely not.

Ya actually I do. Cuz I said it. What? Maybe you dont have a clue what you're talking about. I wasn't theorizing anything. Right. Since you know me and all. Judging from your many recent posts, I'd say you aren't very intelligent either. How that affects this discussion I'm not sure. Your personal attacks are because you immaturely get defensive about the rig you have. Big fucking deal its a rig. Get over it. You are correct this time. They are fantastic rigs and I like them alot...just like any rig on the market today. They are pretty similar anymore, excluding a couple. I get your attempted logic, but there aren't only 2 rigs on the market. So change the subject of the thread or deal with some people liking rigs that you don't. Again, they are all great rigs. So are they the only good ones, especially for freeflying like this thread title is about? Better question, do you know a damn thing about gear in general? No? You've hinted at that. So are Infinitys or Voodoos bad rigs too since they aren't on your little top list? Why can I not talk about problems I've seen with rigs? Is that not the discussion here? Mirage is a fantastic rig, I agree, but the Icon is a fine rig as well. And sweetheart, I realize you have limited knowledge of gear, but spandex and the strap I'm talking about are entirely different things. Go do some research and find me one bad or unsafe thing about the new icon rigs. Just like every rig on the market today, you won't find anything. I'm sorry you feel that way, but thanks for making my delivery time shorter. As stated above, you probably could have worn an older one, as they were pretty uncomfortable yes. Truth is they have changed and mine is as comfortable as any on the market. I never once claimed one rig was better than the other. Unlike you I have the ability to control myself when someone brings up a problem with what I jump. HAhahahaahah...meltdown ;-) Day-late and a buck-short on the G4 lift problem...check previous page their "buddy" "boss" "sport" "guy" Hahahahaha

Hahahaha great response. I have met a couple cute girls that are regular skydivers. I'm from Newport Beach; if I want to see hot girls, I go surf. Hot girls in Southern CA don't do anything beyond buying shoes, purses, and People magazine. Ever been to a sausage-fest? A 6 turns into a 10 really quickly when a lot of dicks are competing for it..........

sexy woman and skydiving aren't two words that I find in the same sentence often. I can think of one or two, but like other sports, women athletes are not my type.

No there is no difference, except if you're comparing a xbraced vs. square or the canopy is small, like something at or below 100 sq. ft. **Asking a question like this is just asking to wake up the Dorkzone canopy geeks and be forced to listen to a 1 page theory. Yes there is... If one is a 7 cell such as a spectre or a triathlon, and the other a nine cell like a Silhouette. The 7 cell has a steeper glide angle and the 9 cell a less steep one but often more forward speed IME. Similar canopy sizes of course Oh yeah, missed that one... No there is no difference, except if you're comparing a xbraced vs. square, 9 cell vs. 7 cell, or the canopy is small, like something at or below 100 sq. ft. **THANK YOU CAPTAIN OBVIOUS**

I saw that after I bought my rig! Haha. But I don't think I would have ordered it anyways because I wanted the custom colors and nothing was close from the stock. Next time maybe.

Do you even know what you're saying? I know in forums sometimes people get a little theoretical, but you sound retarded my friend. that is not true at all; Mirage builds a fine rig. Best rig out there questions are like asking if you like vanilla or chocolate ice cream. Unfortunately, the ICON is not thought of by a lot of people to be one of those great flavor of ice creams. Repeatedly you will hear Mirage, Javelin, and Vector...and there's a reason for that. So don't talk about how the mirage spandex broke, and then say ICON is a fine rig because it isn't. The most uncomfortable low quality piece of shit I've worn.

I can see there are just differences in how freeflyers do it and how belly flyers do it. Neither one is wrong, but I prefer the freeflyer breakoff because I am in control of maintaining clear airspace above me as is anyone below me.

Of course he shouldn't be restricted from jumping at a USPA dropzone. On the flip side though, as a business owner, I have the RIGHT TO REFUSE SERVICE TO ANYONE FOR ANY REASON. I wouldn't let him on my DZ, nothing personal, it's just business.

Yeah, if I hadn't of ordered the G4, I would have got a Vector. Big thing was delivery time of 4 weeks for mirage G4, but the G4 lifts off the back a little too much and doesn't have the option of a skyhook.

The best sofe and snively on-heading openings I got from my Pilot were from deploying in a track. That was my experience with my pilot.

Hey Shah269, did I call it or did I call it? Haha, you woke up the DORKZONERS and they are in full effect,in your thread my friend. Take care.

No there is no difference, except if you're comparing a xbraced vs. square or the canopy is small, like something at or below 100 sq. ft. **Asking a question like this is just asking to wake up the Dorkzone canopy geeks and be forced to listen to a 1 page theory.