danielcroft

All tunnels currently being planned to be built are 14' as far as I've heard. FlightShop in AZ is 14' ISG, Buzz's tunnel(s) in SD are 14' using some other design that someone told me but I've since forgotten (sorry). iFly seems to have moved up plans for SD because of Buzz's tunnel.

The issue for me is learning and using emergency response techniques. Flat turns, flare turns etc (http://www.dropzone.com/safety/Canopy_Control/Downsizing_Checklist_47.html - says downsizing checklist but these are canopy survival skills) on an elliptical wing is going to be less forgiving. They'll likely be fine (like people are saying) until the shit hits the fan - do they really know how to fly their wing safely? You could argue that, with so few jumps, they probably wouldn't know on any wing but the mistakes made are exacerbated by a higher performance wing.

Xaos has super nice openings, very low drama. Not as high performance as other cross braced canopies but a very stable platform which also makes it great for freestyle swooping. As far as flight characteristics go, the VE and VC are both more fun than the Xaos-27 to fly (IMO) and also have a longer recovery arc. I have only flown VE-90, VC-84, Xaos27-91, Xaos27-84 and a Neos-94 (if that even counts) so I'm no expert it comes to cross braced canopies. You may want to check out the JFX as well if you're concerned about opening performance. As far as the 5 cell cross braced canopy goes, there is the Matrix from Icarus but it's a competition CRW canopy so maybe not what you're looking for.

https://vimeo.com/110278199 https://vimeo.com/110289106 Also, don't forget the: Texas State Record - 3 AND 4 point, 33-Way VFS Head Down Large Formation Sequential, General. USPA Open National Record - 3 AND 4 point, 33-Way VFS Head Down Large Formation Sequential, General. World Record - 3 AND 4 point, 33-Way VFS Head Down Large Formation Sequential, General. https://vimeo.com/110304678 WE ARE A TEAMWORK!

I like the distinction about switching a student to match the DZ policy, I would guess that you'd talk to the student/packer as well? I check both reserve and main pins before I put my rig on for every jump. I've also started having someone pin check my main on every jump before exit. I do checks of 3 but don't really want people messing with my reserve flap on the plane.

I don't really think it's safe to be doing larger turns on a wing that recovers as quickly as a safire 2 (or nitro, or stiletto, etc), mostly because the recovery arc makes it so that you either have to initiate your swoop really low (i.e. not much chance of correction if you're getting it wrong) or you need to be the recovery arc of the wing (i.e. you sloooowly release the fronts as you're completing your turn) which is clearly prone to inconsistency. My own personal experience has been that, even with a Crossfire 2 109 loaded at about 1.6, I'd be managing the recovery in order to deal with the very positive recovery cycle of the wing. I'm not really looking to do a 90º from 150 ft and you're also penalized on a wing like that for generating more power (i.e. more lift - more positive recovery). If you really want to get into swooping, you should be picking your canopies to match your desired use. The Safire 2 isn't a good choice due to the really short recovery. You're better off working with a Sabre 2, it's not a long recovery by any means but plenty of people have learnt 270ºs safely on them and the recovery is longer than a Safire 2. /opinionfromnonexpert

I've seen some people change the orientation of someone else's main pin when gear checking (from horizontal to vertical or smile to frown for example) which seems not cool to me. When I'm asked to pin check, the only thing I'm going to do is make sure their pins are fully seated in the jumper's chosen orientation. Thoughts? Yes, I check both my pins before every jump.

Honestly, I don't find most of my openings to be painful. They're quick, sure but I don't mind fast openings. I was jumping at Skydive Dallas this weekend and hit my head on the door on the way out (I'm has the awesome... ), net effect was that my camera was pointing up, the opening looked like all the other velo openings I've seen people look at (I don't as you can tell). A little searchy but on heading for the most part. Having said that, I do have a non-factory removable slider on my VE90 that I could try out, it's bigger so may slow down the openings a bit.

I was too scared.

Not super experienced in this discussion but I have put about 50 jumps on a VE90 @ 1.9 (there's a story there) and have a bit over 100 on my VC84 @ 2.0. I use the factory removable slider but not the full RDS. I have a Thrill-inc Chupacabra removable slider (again, not full RDS) on the VE90. I've put a couple of hundred jumps on a Xaos-27 91 @ 1.9 as well. I use the snaps on my VC84 on the factory removable. I've found the openings on the VC84 to be generally excellent and on heading. Here's a video from jumps that I made this past weekend including the redemption for my VE90. There were at Skydive Perris and Skydive Elsinore, both of which are 1300/1400ft MSL: https://vimeo.com/108865464 Warning, this is an aside, tangentially related to the topic at hand So, the VE90 was bought second hand from someone I won't mention since this may have been an honest mistake. I had it sitting in my closet for some months with a Chupacabra slider on. I had been jumping the Xaos-27 91 for a while and it's getting to end of life and I don't want to blow it up. I pulled the VE90 out and here's what my openings were like: https://vimeo.com/102269970 https://vimeo.com/102292030 It turns out that the control lines were 2" too short which was causing my feisty openings. Tried a lot of ideas (including packing and buying a new dbag and smaller PC, per PD's recommended PC sizing suggestions) none of it worked. Ended up sending it back to PD where the control line issue was identified and, since having it back, the jump I did on it was beautiful.

I've flown in the following tunnels: iFly: Nashua Denver Utah Montreal Seattle Dallas Naperville Eloy XP ISG: VossVind I'd say that my favorite tunnel is Seattle/Montreal (they're basically the same). They're airlocked so the tunnel doesn't have to be shut down, they're big enough that you can run lines properly and they're round. They're also very powerful. iFly Dallas is beautiful and very clean but the way the power drops off at the net and increases towards the top of the glass is not good for skydivers. It's good for first time flyers which makes the tunnel their money and that's great but being able to walk in and out doesn't help us, certainly not at the cost of consistent airflow. XP is awesome and, if I had LOADS more money, it'd be my favorite but it's not practical in terms of travel or cost, at least for me. I'd say that the ISG tunnel combines the benefits of the "old" style 14' tunnels like Seattle/Montreal with the smoothness of the "new" style (Austin/Dallas/Rosemont/Naperville/etc). If ISG came up with a completely round flight chamber, they'd probably be my favorite. Having said that, I haven't flown in an ISG tunnel for a while so I may be misremembering. For people not working on dynamic movement, iFly Utah is beyond a doubt the best deal in the country. Deals aside, 12' non-circular tunnels are plenty for people not doing dynamic. Some will argue that you can run lines in 12' tunnels and that may be true but you can see the difference in form between people who work in 12' tunnels (especially non-circular) and 14' tunnels.

Yep.

Corner 230 is actually pretty good. BASH is good, so is Thai Cafe and there's the Mexican place in town as well. :-) Nice to see you there, NWFlyer.

Swooping never was the problem, it's a force multiplier for mistakes is all. For the OP - I think that a waiver and sign off procedure for swoopers to be OKed to do 270+º turns is probably reasonable but it kinda depends on your landing area. Perris has that. Is the plan to ban 270+º turns even on a low pass?

I've seen it done 2 ways, one is to hook your feet on the door like people are saying, the other is to put your head on the top of the door. I don't think either are going to really teach you how to track. It's amusing to play with (I've done the door hook method a few times) but the best way to learn how to track is by tracking. That's why it's part of the student progression in the US, that's why we tell people to do smaller jumps. That's why we have coach jumps where your tracking is evaluated. The tunnel is a wonderful tool for learning (and a sport unto itself IMO) but some things, that are absolutely critical to skydiving and skydiving safely cannot be learnt there. Tracking is worth your time to learn in the sky, it's a life saving skill.

This is really good news, the ISG design is really, really smooth. I've flown VossVind and it's pretty awesome. The VossVind tunnel uses an airlock to allow people in and out without having dead air above the net. Looking forward to flying here to support an alternative to the iFly tunnels but I'll still fly at iFly tunnels as well. This is great news for the consumer. :-)

The ISG design makes for extremely smooth airflow. The town of Voss is very nice, beautiful and picturesque. There are reasonable restaurants and places to stay, although I camped. The dropzone is nearby and while this isn't a review of the dropzone, let me just say that the people are incredible and the dropzone is great. My favorite boogie ever was the Voss Freefly Festival. That included tunnel time and coaching at VossVind. Depending on where you're coming from, Norway can be very expensive so there's that to consider but do yourself a favor and visit one of the best dropzones and tunnel combinations in the world. Incredible instructors make it the full experience. Despite getting marked down a little on accessibility and facilities, this tunnel would be rated a 11 out of 5 for me.

Also done.

Skyventure Montreal is another great 14' tunnel in Montreal (Putin anyone?) with some excellent instructors. The tunnel itself is close to food and accommodation although, it's a little way form the airport. I found the instructors to be very good and the facilities for reviewing footage to be also very good quality. The instructors were a little wary of random people showing up in terms of skill level but otherwise, really nice peeps. This tunnel is the same design as iFly Seattle and there'll probably be fights for years over which tunnel is faster but either way, you can't go wrong with these tunnel when you want to start working in movement in a 14' or if you're a local. Going through town for GoBig and hitting the tunnel was also really nice but from some places in the US (yeah, I know people live elsewhere in the world), it can be difficult. For peeps in the NE, this is another option with a fancy feel to SVNH and Paraclete.

Josh and Mike are, let's face it, pretty amazing flyers and being able to get coaching from them or people at their level is a luxury. Mike, Colby and Nate are also great peeps and have a lot to teach people. The big difference between this tunnel and iFly Utah and Skyventure NH is that Skyventure Colorado has blocked off one of their doors. The tunnel is relatively quick but, given the altitude it's at, closing the door off is probably required when the air density is already pretty low. It can be a bit slow (wind speed) in summer due to even lower air density. The fact is that there's a large community of skydivers in CO who make this tunnel a really good option if you're looking for people to fly with. There are restaurants nearby and it's right off the freeway so it's easy to get to but since Denver saw fit to have their airport in the middle of nowhere, it's going to take a while to get there if you're flying in.

Having spent a fair amount of my early tunnel hours at NH, I can say that I enjoyed the experience there, especially when working with Joe Winters who's a really good instructor. He's able to break down his instruction to a more detailed level than many other instructors and that can really be extremely valuable. Doing camps there with Scarecrow or others was really helpful as well since the instructors aren't allowed to fly with people. That's really the main limitation to the tunnel, it's hard to progress on your own and coaching should either come with a smile from Joe Winters or some other person who knows what they're doing. The location for someone in NYC is the best there is but that isn't great. If you're in Boston or somewhere else in the NE, it's good but shares limitations with the other 12' (and smaller) tunnels if you're trying to work on movement. It's pretty comfy there and food is close by.

Having a tunnel on your dropzone can be good, having a 14' tunnel at an amazing dropzone is even better! The non-recirculating tunnel has a lot of drawbacks - it's hot inside when it's hot outside, you get sand in your face, etc - but one of the big advantages is that the air behaves a lot more like the sky, it's not as crisp as recirculating tunnels. There's something super, super nice about landing your canopy from a sunset jump and wandering over to the tunnel and flying with a great instructor like Vince. Petter also coaches there a lot and he's an awesome instructor. The potential for combination camps at Skyventure Arizona, flying with the world class skydivers and then wandering to the tunnel for coaching cannot be minimized as a huge advantage to this tunnel. The DZ itself is awesome, that's well known. The main drawback to this tunnel is that it's in Eloy which isn't the best place for food or non-dropzone stuff. If you're staying on the DZ it's pretty great, however.

The older style 14' at iFly Seattle is very powerful and while it doesn't have the new, fancy all glass (plastic, whatevs) construction like at iFly Austin/Dallas, the joins in the walls are great for spotting your location when you're trying to be on heading. In D4W (for example) you want to know where you are in the tunnel, having points of reference is helpful. The staff there are super nice and helpful, the airport is within walking distance (if you're nuts like me) but close enough for a short cab ride. There are restaurants and places to eat right there as well as plenty of hotels.

When you're ready to move onto the next level with your D4W, this is the place to do it. The instructors are incredibly good and also great people. The staff at the tunnel are fun and encouraging. It's like the mecca of tunnel in the US for team training whether that's FS or VFS, you can actually work yourselves without pointing at the walls. Great place, great peeps.

Whether you're going for AFF, trying to get up to speed in VFS or want to learn flip twists, these guys are the greatest. Wonderful, accommodating and caring coaching from world class instructors. Always ready to help you progress in a positive and friendly manner. Devin, Dusty and Reese are not only great people but also world class, they can teach you anything you want to learn at a very, very low price. I'm learning D4W which is about the only thing that's difficult to learn in a tunnel smaller than 14' but for everything else, these guys are awesome. There's cheap accommodation nearby, lots of restaurants and the rest of the staff at iFly Utah are also great people. If you're unhappy flying at iFly Utah with these guys, you may want to check the mirror. ;-)