Remk0

As long it's not rootbeer! Go here and take the test: http://www.chilliman.com/beer_labels_frame.htm Beergreetings, Remko -- Skydive long and properous!

How many of us x-post to and/or brouwse www.cyberskydive.com? I was just recently pointed here and to cyberskydive as an alternative to the rec.skydiving with it's unbareble static and noise. I find both of these sites extremely more valuable than the rec.skydiving but can't see any point in having two. Is there any communication between the two? Maybe work together? It must be quite an effort to manage and maintain. Just thinking out load here... Remko -- Skydive long and properous!

AGREE AGREE AGREE!!! (talking too loud again...) I was typing the above at work and got cought so I had to cut it short. I'm glad to see that more experienced people are monitoring this forum but sad so see they are not hardly posting... Let me write a bit about my background so you will be able to judge my experience. I am an F-16 pilot and did about 1500 hours of FReW (F-16 Relative Work) which in my opinion is about the same as CReW except the toys are faster, more expensive and it's called air combat :-) The airforce puts a lot of effort in keeping things safe so we are all given the same middle name: safety (wrong forum again...) I was going to give you the exact same advice and URL Mike gave you and some more since not all dropzones have experienced CReW dogs around to talk to and you posting here meens there aren't any at yours (I am not one jet). People often ask me how much I fly and how long. The answer is about 4 times a week an average of 1 hour 15. The next question is what I use the other 8 hours for and when I say planning, briefing and debriefing the mission their mouths fall open. Planning is the most important aspect and involves just what we are doing here, discussing the problem, getting other peoples opinions and thinking them over, locating possible ceveats (spelling? sorry a'm not native english/american), assessing unsertainties and risks. Always be very critical even with what you hear from experienced guys. They might not be as experienced as you think and if they are, they make mistakes too or have different assumptions and things may not be apliccable to you. Don't just listen but think for yourself (although I have a feeling that stubborn people live a shorter life). I quote Cheryl Michaels: Remember, whatever you hear, it's important to ask what canopies are being flown and what wing loading and if the team is doing anything special to their canopies. And remember, if you think of a different way to do it and someone says it's not possible, ask why. Over the years we've seen things flown that hadn't been possible, but some changes and some precautions made it possible. But if someone knows why it's not possible, listen. You'll have to figure out what you can do to avoid the problems if you want to try it that way. Next is briefing. At work it takes 30 mins to 1 hour max. (after 50 mins most people fall asleep). For jumpng taking at least 15 mins seems to pay off. On concequetive jumps you can skip the already mentioned. It consists of exteriour factors (wheather, jumpship, landing zone), objectives you want to reach and how you think you are going to do that, emphasising the bottlenecks and have a back-up plan. Finish it of with discussing safety points, who does what, when, why and how high (be interactive). Don't be formal about it but try not to wonder off, be to the point. Then you can go outside and walk it out on the platform (kinda like the bellyfliers do with their creepers). Next go skydive! At work it is a rule written in blood not to fly stuff you haven't briefed. This is especially true for new stuff. When I jump and get all excited I tend to sometimes feeling the urge to violate that rule but the little voice in the back of my head has kept me from doing it so far. Realise you haven't thought things through and will confuse the others on the jump. This is potentially very dangerous. After you land it's time for some personbonding. All is allowed, hi-5's, hugging, yells, backflips. This is to releave some excitement so you will be able to talk normally again and other people can see they are missing something. Wait with the beer till after the last dive though :o) Now debrief. This can be the hardest thing if you don't have a camera person. General rule is that he who shouts the loudest is definately right :-). If you want to continue jumping with the same person it pays of to be constructive and honest. In the airforce there was a huge change when the videocamera was introduced in fighter airplanes. It enabled the young wingman to prove that the old shouting experienced forcelead weaponinstructor was talking bullsh.t. The effect was that the shouting made room for thorrow video analisis. This had a rocketing effect on overall performance. If fast progression is important to you find a camera person. It's about time for lunch so I'll sign off with some more guidelines I use (I won't say the S-word again). Tell people what you are up to, the DZ owner/chief instructor, the pilot and the others (on the load). Don't dock or transition below 2,500'. If you have a stable formation you are confident in flying you can keep it till 1,500'. Be gentil, you are not allone. Then you decide to break or land it (definately not with an other puppy). Check that dragging pilot chute! Better yet, get rid of it. Retractable is the way to go but there is an other sollution. I bet you and your friend can't wait to go out there this weekend and try that shit from my last post. Ask the chief-instructor if you can static-line two student chutes to do CReW (Disconnect the RSL. Turn off FXC once the chute is open). These are better fit to do your first CReW than your average bladerunner or what have you. Learn to walk before running. I'm getting all exiced, let's prey for Blues this weekend. Remko. This post is copylefted. Skydive long and properous!

Let's talk safety first (yeah boring, wrong forum...). The most dangerous thing that can happen doing CReW with `non CReW' canopies is pilotchute entanglement without you noticing it. Then when you (try to) break up low (below 2500') it will scare you shitless and it might be the last time you are scared. So get into the habbit of checking those dragging pilot chutes before you break up and do it high. 150 feet in a downplane is not the time to find out that your pilotchutes are trying to make love... Now that I blew all the fun let me try and make up. There are basically two ways to dock. The easy way and the hard way. The latter being more fun and challenging of course. Use two canopies that don't match. Position the small one in front and above (half brakes) and the big one (dog) behind and below. Now the dog will slowly rise since it has more float. As explaned above you have to fly the leading edge CENTER (sorry for takling loud) cell of the dog towards the container of the upper jumper, so all you see are legs and back. If you fall behind use frontriser, if you are to far behind the top (pilot) can start a slow turn and the bottom (pin) should not follow but predict flightpaht and cut the corner. If you move to far foreward but can still see at least feet use more toggle. If you loose sight make a frontriser turn away and set it up again or else be ready to deal with a wrap. When you're about a feet away shout `incomming' and when the fabric touches the pilot he should let go of the toggles and `grab what you can and hold on'. If you time it right you'll be able to grab before you swing to far foreward due to letting go of the toggles. Since nobody wants to be a sitting duck let's now take two similar canopies (I prefer two Lightnings loaded 1.5 :-). Fly side by side touching endcells (this should be hard enough so practice and play a bit) Now the docking requires both the pilot (later on top) and the pin (later on bottom) to manouvre (spelling?). One of you can shout `attention -- GO!' (yeah, I'm in the millitairy) Then both of you turn about 30 deg. in the same direction, pilot using toggle en pin using frontriser (be smooth) What happens now is that pilot will float up and back and pin will drop low and foreward. Pin has to transition to toggles so he won't overshoot and drop too low. pilot times and grabs. If you managed to do a bunch of nice docks try catching the pin with your legs in stead of grabbing with your hands. This requires pin to `flare' at the right time so that he swings foreward when his canopy touches pilot who will then be able to `just stick his legs back and hook in' (arch). I have to go now, to be continued... (if I don't get flamed too much) Blues and Diamonds, Remko Skydive long and properous!

I am trying to figure the CF 4-way sequential event block sequences - 2000 (http://www.dqnt.com/rules.htm). Can somebody comment? (I'm looking at them from the front). By the way, I didn't want to write `it' so where I write `he' It could also mean `she'. 1. Inverted Tee -> Diamond : Top rotates down, left toggle up then left frontriser. 2. Vichy -> Gaff : Can row 2 grip-shift row 3 or must he release the grip? If so, should he plane before the grip is released? Row 1 left wing moves right and down with right frontriser. 3. Stack -> Boomerang : Again, can rows 1 & 3 grip-shift? If not, row 4 planes before grips are released. 4. Step-Stack -> 2 Step : Row 3 moves to the left with toggle to make room. Row 2 right wing moves left & down with left frontriser. Row 4 moves back in. 5. Stack -> Stack : How does this work, can the pilot of the upper 2-stack rotate as if he were single? 6. Diamond -> Vichy : Top rotates down, I guess over the top is the only option. 7. Diamond -> Diamond : This looks tricky. The pilot of white toggle turns away and both float. The pilot of black follows with left fronriser. 8. Sawasdee -> Hook : Top rotates down, sashay to the left. 9. Boomerang -> Sawasdee : Again tricky. Pilot of black turns right with left toggle up. then the pin of black turns back on frontriser. Pilot frontrisers when pin enters turbulence of white. White floats. 10. Step-Stack -> Stairstep : Can the left wing of row 2 grip-shift row 3 and hand him over to the right wing? Or should row 3 plane up so he can move over to the right? Then the left wing moves right and down with right and then both frontrisers. 11. Gaff -> Boomerang : Black turns away so white can frontriser behind and drop down and black floats up. 12. Stairstep -> Diamond : Again the two stairsteps problem. White turns away so black can frontriser in behind. 13. Stack -> Inverted Tee : If row 1 goes up & over row 2 can sashay and dock first. 14.Gatton -> Diamond : Top sashay down. If I were to sort them in order of difficulty I would say 8-6-14-1, 13-3-4-10-2, 5, 7-9-11-12. We (two dogs and two puppies) want to get into sequential. So far we have completed a bunch of diamonds and are looking for guidence to go from there. So any help is apreaciated, as detailed as possible. It looks like sometimes the formation should turn to ease the inter. How is this heading problem solved during contest? My feeling is that the two stairstep inter is the most difficult to handle and should be emphasised. What are the traps to be aware of? Then I noticed there aren't any side by sides or planes, why? Thanx, Blues & Diamonds Remko Skydive long and properous!