voilsb

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Posts posted by voilsb


  1. I'm landing at LAX Fri the 30th at 5:25pm, and flying out Sunday the 2nd at 7:15pm. There's a small chance I can bump my arrival to Thursday, or earlier on Friday. Since I'm mooching, I don't mind waiting at the airport after my arrival or before my departure.
    Anyone traveling between LA and the airport similar times?
    Brian

  2. Quote


    You know, instead of chicken-wiring it to make it work (and close to landing isnt the time to mess around with taking wraps of line around your hands IMO), you could have installed longer risers to your rig to effectively lengthen your flare stroke.

    I could have, but then if I was hanging in deep brakes, I'm teetering at the stall point. And I already had difficulty reaching the slider with that set up.

    Of course, now I jump a nicer set up which doesn't have those issues.

    As for the wrap, it was a simple 1/2 second action before I enter the pattern to stick out my first two fingers and turn them in a circle to take the wrap.
    Brian

  3. Look Ma, Scott Roberts, UPT, Para Concepts ... I'm sure there are a few others, too. When you order it, specify the canopy model and size. May also help to have the measurements from the PD line trim chart (20x31 for a KA120).
    Brian

  4. Up high, do some practice flares normally, and then take a small wrap and do some practice flares.

    I had a Triathlon, and it wouldn't flare well at all normally. But with a small wrap, it flared beautifully. However, with the wrap, it would stall after a couple of seconds at the bottom end, so I had to be aware of it to avoid stalling it close to the ground.
    With the wrap, the brake lines were too short, so I flew it without the wrap until close to landing time.
    Brian

  5. Quote

    Now if you could come up with a tunnel for canopy training, then you'd bring a big smile to this fat little kid's face!B|

    Just tilt it 45 degrees. What could go wrong?
    Brian

  6. Quote

    550 views and 12 "Yes" votes... Still right at 2%... Seems like that value is staying remarkably stable.

    Every time you load this thread, you increment the "views" counter. Same here. I've viewed this thread three times, but only have one "no" vote. How many times have you loaded this thread? It doesn't show unique views.

    That being said, overall I believe night helicopter jumps are exceedingly rare in skydiving. There was a place near here that did them once or twice a month for a few years, and I have a lot of friends who have done them. I never did because helicopter jumps tend to cost way too much for what I get out of them, day or night.

    I do love night jumps though, and just did my 8th and 9th last night.
    Brian

  7. There've been a couple of times where I've landed with a half hitch in my bridle. I can't remember if it was closer to the bag or the pilot chute, but it wasn't super close to either.
    Brian

  8. That would depend on a lot of things, mainly: which wing, your canopy piloting motivations and preferences, currency, skill, weather, and patience.

    Assuming you're a fairly average jumper on an appropriate planform, you'll probably want to downsize again after 150-300 jumps on that canopy.
    Brian

  9. Quote

    I was waiting for someone to post it... but!

    Summerfest 2011! whos going?

    Its my first time to this boogie! (I know, BEEEEERRRR!!!!)

    Looking forward to it! All the way from the island of PR to Chicago!

    I'm thinking about going, but I need to figure it out with work and would prefer to stay with someone local and split gas to save some money.
    Brian

  10. Quote

    Hi I was wondering what is better on openings, if anyone has jumped both.

    Please define "better on openings" for us.

    It could mean smoother, softer, faster or slower (time), longer or shorter (altitude), heading behavior, inflation/end cell issues, sensitivity to body position, or maybe something else to different jumpers.

    For me, in example, I prefer a canopy that opens 90% or better on heading, forgiving of body position, in less than 750 ft (or even 500 ft) without slamming me too hard, without the slider getting stuck.

    So far, I have not found this canopy.
    Brian

  11. I did my :D night skydive on jump 58. Flew a poor pattern and landed a good 300 yards away from the lit landing area. Flared too late and banged up my knee. Walked in, packed, and did a 2-way RW jump for my 2nd one on jump 59. Then I drank, and jumped normally the following weekend.

    I still have a scar on that knee. Nice little reminder. Didn't do another planned night jump till 642, 643, and 644. Took so long because of circumstance; I was willing to do another night jump just a couple weeks after my "injury" when I got better at landing that canopy.

    I'd have to go through my logbook for a while to count how many unplanned night jumps I might have made. I wanna do more, and I'm the guy at almost every boogie talking about night jumps, or any weekend when tandems are given rain checks because sunset showed up.

    Brian

  12. My "rule of thumb" is 50 jumps, but it's much more interview-based. What's her canopy experience? How heads-up does she seem about messed up exits or landing off?

    I've jumped with passengers having less than 30 jumps, and turned down passengers with a couple hundred jumps.

    And although I joke about it, I don't think I'd ever take someone who doesn't at least have an A-license.
    Brian

  13. And to explain for everybody who reads this and doesn't already know what they mean:

    They're mnemonics for cloud clearance requirements in the United States

    F111-
    Five Miles visibility
    One thousand feet above
    One thousand feet below
    One mile horizontal

    C152-
    C sounds like 3
    Three Miles visibility
    One thousand feet above
    Five hundred feet below
    Two thousand feet horizontal
    Brian

  14. Quote

    Now if I could just delete this thread.

    I wish people would stop posting this.

    Instead, why not post their suggested solutions, so that other newbies can learn from it. If it gets deleted, then the same thread will pop up again in a few months and we rehash everything all over again.
    Brian

  15. I did 10 minutes of backfly in the tunnel when I had about 50 jumps. Then I did about an hour of freefly attempt in the tunnel when I had about 200 jumps. In that time, I did maybe 10 actual free-try jumps, and the rest belly with a handful of hop and pops or altitude clear and pulls thrown in. Then I did mostly belly for the next 100 jumps. At 300 jumps I started wingsuiting, and have done about 1:50:80 ratio of hop and pops to belly to wingsuiting for the last 400 or so jumps. Currently I have about 10 freefly jumps, 50 hop and pops, 300 wingsuit jumps, and 400 belly jumps (all a rough estimate).

    I stopped trying to freefly as I learned that RW/FS can be quite fun when you give it an honest shot and find people to jump with, and wingsuiting is like nylon crack.
    Brian

  16. I took one of Brian's courses recently, and the "psychobabble" was mixed in throughout the course in a very intelligent way. It's more of a psychological-physicological explanation of what happens in different applicable scenarios, how to recognize it, and how to prevent it, to make your canopy flight safer.

    For example, when talking about malfunctions, he'll also talk about how and why adrenaline is released, what it does to your decision making process, how to prepare for and handle it, and what you can do afterwards to calm yourself down for the resulting unfamiliar canopy ride.

    I'd say it's about 5-10% of the course, with the remaining 90-95% of the course being a very thorough scientific, technical, and layman-practical canopy course. MUCH easier to absorb and apply than reading his book and trying his exercises on your own.

    Overall, I think the course is very much worth taking, but if I had to choose between a local canopy course or traveling to take Brian's, I'd take the local one. If I had the choice between Brian's or another, locally or nearby (within a couple hours' drive), I'd take Brian's.
    But I also hate commercial flight. I'd rather drive 12 hours than fly 3 hours if I have the option to.
    Brian