hudsonderek

is this a Law? or just courtesy? if everyone keeps there own then we don't have to give them away ;) plus those things aren't cheap (as that comment says, I'm very poor)

my canopy opens really softly, so I was able to take them off no problem with just my fingers. thanks for the info

I've got a set of slinks that I've put on and taken off risers twice, are these good to use again? they probably have 30 or so jumps on them, I know they set. am I running into issues by taking them off and putting them on again? I just can't bring myself to pay $25 + shipping to buy new ones if these ones are still fine.

I don't base jump, but this seems like an attempted to grab attention more than anything else. I can imagine it would be hard to make jumps once your dead. This senseless and destructive use of dirt bikes seems pretty wasteful.

I work as a flight instructor (ASEL) for a living. someone mentioned that I used to fly jumpers out of a 182 and the student I was with at the time started telling me how he skydived when "paracomanders where only for experienced jumpers" and twin beeches were the aircraft of choice. he said he made 20 something jumps, then had a mal and broke both his legs and some ribs, he hasn't jumped since. I told him about how nowadays, the equipment rarely is the cause of accidents. it's pretty amazing to think about how far skydiving has come in even the last 30 years. I wonder how many people started jumping back then, hurt themselves, and never returned to the sport because of it? I wonder if you could get those people to make some jumps now, the guy I talked with was blown away when I told him about swoop records and some of the stuff you can do with ram air canopies.

yeah, I just came back from California a few weeks ago, did some jumping in Perris, Lodi, and Madera, but still want to get some jumping in around here (maryland). going to crosskeys this weekend if the weather holds out for their freeze fest boogie, anyone else going?

I second airtwardo, jap cars and trucks are the way to go. I've gotten over 300K out my last two Japenese made cars, and the most expensive part I had to buy for one of them was around $150 CV joint, (I do my own work, I'm cheap). they get great gas mileage as well, my friends toyota Tacoma gets close to 30mpg highway.

Man, I want to jump, I should move to the south for the winter. Anyone out there from the northern parts wishing spring would come faster?

N/A

merry Christmas skydivers! and if you don't celebrate Christmas, happy holidays, and if you don't celebrate anything, happy Tuesday, December 25th!

well ATC isn't in the plane with you, so if you collide with someone, they might lose their job, but at least they are still alive, where as you aren't for not looking out the window. Pilots are responsible for collision avoidance.

Lodi is great place to jump, and yeah $13 a jump if you buy 50, I went up there one day during the week and they still managed to put six loads up (on a Wednesday I believe it was) , the plane shuts down in between loads when it's slow, so you might be able to get on every load with just one rig. their website isn't really geared towards fun jumpers, but the DZ most certainly welcomes them. make the trip and check it out. it's definitely worth it.

Looking for a place to ground launch near San Fransisco, where you can get some real altitude. also looking for people to go with.

physics don't lie, Force = mass X acceleration. acceleration is starting velocity, minus ending velocity, all over time. if you slow something in a shorter amount of time the acceleration increases and since mass is a constant, the force is increased. Basically meaning, longer openings equals softer openings. if you want a fast opening, try not rolling the tail. in my student days I did a shitty pack job on a Sabre 1, tail came unrolled putting it in the bag and when I pulled I was under a full canopy in about 200 feet with numb legs for the whole canopy ride down. better yet, why not jump reserves if you want fast openings, what's an extra 5 seconds in free fall really going to give you anyways? if people are that desperate go to a wind tunnel and fly for an hour. I wonder why a lot of people die in this sport, altitude is our friend.

well, being a poor ass, free? I think I'll just see if I can get the one out of the otter at the DZ I want to fly for and read it at night and not partake in the festivities that usually occur Friday and Saturday nights at DZ's

thanks for all the replies. no one has one out there they'd loan for a few weeks?

Hey everyone.
I'm looking for a DHC-6 100 or 300 series operators manual. Anyone out there have a copy I could copy or borrow for a few weeks? or does anyone know where I can get a copy reasonably priced?

hey guys,
my bitterness has gone away (I've found a well paying CFI job) so by the time I get around to flying jumpers in some twin turbine I should have more towards 1,300 hours and several hundred of that multi time. there is no easy way out when it comes to getting flying jobs (unless your parents own a plane or run an FBO and let you do everything for free). why fly jumpers? because it's an interesting job with tons of fun people around, it won't make you rich, but you'll have a great time doing it. or at least that's my opinion.

thanks for the info, but still that's like two jump tickets every jump! I've been looking for a main for almost three weeks, but the ones I want are hard to come by. I posted this on the classifieds, but if any jumpers out there are looking to sell their crossfire 2 149, Katana 150, or Cobalt 150 I'd be very interested.

anyone from the Lodi area have an extra canopy that they might want to loan? I made the stupid mistake of selling my canopy without having another one to jump and now am up shits creek without a paddle. I want to jump this weekend and don't want to pay $33 extra a jump to rent gear, when all I need is a main. looking for something 170 or 150 (a 170 is tight in my container) elliptical or square, doesn't really matter. let me know what you've got and we might be able to work something out for letting me use it.

hey, I just moved to Atwater, CA for a job and am looking for a place to jump. I know there's Lodi, do they jump year round? and madera. anyone go to either of these places. I'd be interested in carpooling I can drive, or you.

Blue skies

Derek Hudson
[email protected]

not a troll, more of a nome. this questions was aimed at getting people to talk about what they like for canopies. If there was one almighty canopy that everyone liked it would put all the other guys out of business. just say what your favorite canopy is and why......... or people can write smart ass irrelevant comments, whatever floats your boat.

I know this is a very ambiguous question, but I was wondering what the best High performance non cross braced elliptical 9 cell canopy is. consider things like openings, toggle response, riser pressure, making long spots, swooping ability, landing flare and anything else that makes a good canopy.

when buying a used ZP canopy how many jumps is too many? I've heard line sets should be replaced after about 500 jumps and there are a lot of great deals for ZP canopies that have more than a 1000 jumps, why the sudden devaluing after 1000 jumps? if the line sets are recently new do these canopies not perform near what they did new? are they beginning to be unsafe at this point?

what would cause the collapse? this thing stays more pressurized than sabres and sillouhettes i've flown. appreciate the advice, but I spent real money on this thing and plan on getting my moneys worth out of it, especially considering that everything else I've read on this canopy doesn't suggest that a "collapse" is an issue. they had fluttering issues when doing front riser turns, but those were on a specific set of serial numbers and my serial number doesn't coincide with those Icarus recalled. Basically I want to know if the plan form for the 1 and 2 are the same, or if the 2 actually modified the canopy itself. I'd like to get lighter front riser pressure out of my xfire and x-fire 2 like performance, but if the plan form is different and the differences aren't just line trim, then I'll just jump this thing till I'm ready to downsize then demo a smaller x'fire 2.