Grumpy

Get onto facebook and search "Brisbane skydivers". I think they've got our 850hp Beaver this weekend. If you're still having trouble, call hte head office on 02 9791 9155 and ask them for a contact number for the Brisbane DZ. Cheers, Dave

Hi ya. Picton is the only real option around Sydney. It's about an hour South of the city. They do a few loads on weekdays but Sat and Sun are when the majority of the fun jumpers are there and the plane (XL (PAC), skyvan and/or beaver) flys from dawn to dusk. There's rigging, food and drink, a shop, showers, a bunkhouse and a bar. They run a shuttle bus from the city but I don't know when or how often. Give them a call on 02 9791 9155 or check their web site www.sydneyskydivers.com.au AU$42/jump. AU$360 for 10 jumps. AU$3300 for 100 jumps. Let me know if you want any more info. When are you arriving? Hopefully see you there. Dave

Have you seen this? http://www.dropzone.com/content/Detailed/680.html

The guy who owns Parachutes Australia (which builds Talons under licence down under), will not build you a rig with a soft reserve handle. He's had a mal where the only way he could get his reserve out was by hooking a thumb through his D-handle. It's not that he doesn't want kids to be cool, he just knows he'd be dead if he didn't have a D handle so he doesn't want to put anyone else in that situation. (He does offer the low profile D-handle though) It's nice to see a guy put his concern for his customers safety ahead of his desire to make his customers happy.

I've got "slocks" on my risers (do a search for pictures and details) which keep the slider down so I can use rear risers and they're super easy to use but having the slider behind my head restricts my head movement a bit. Does the same happen with the skytie? Does that skytie flap around in freefall? Is it easy to use? The plastic balls look very fiddly, particularly if you're wearing gloves.

My Barigo was older ('97) but I think it's still the same design. Remove the wrist mount webbing (of course), remove the two tiny screws, hold the alti facing you, with your fingers under the parts that the wrist mount goes through and push the face with your thumbs. The whole unit just pops out the back. (Do this over a table ) That's all I did. I also rotated it 90 degrees when I put it back so the "0" is straight up, not pointing towards 3 o clock.

Have you considered Item: L1370 REMOVABLE ARTICULATING RING SIGHT BRACKET ? If you want to go for a fun jump you can quickly remove the sight. After the jump, when you replace it, it's still aligned and ready to go. I remove it every day at the end of jumping to make sure it doesn't get bumped in my gear bag. Well worth the extra couple of $$ in my humble opinion.

Hi. This just might be your problem. Ring sights come with either a 6mm shaft or a ¼” shaft (which is 6.35mm). Which size is yours? If you have a swivel clamp designed for a ¼” (6.35mm) shaft but you have a 6mm ring sight shaft, it won’t be able to tighten down on it. GetHypoxic have both clamp sizes available here. http://www.gethypoxic.com/ringsight.php#swivel Alternatively, if it looks like the shaft is too thin for the swivel clamp you could try cutting an 18.5mm x 4mm strip of aluminium from a Coke can and wrap it around the sight shaft where it is clamped to pack it up and let the clamp get a bite on it.

Leaving aside the fact that you are better off to go straight to your reserve (as explained) you shouldn't have your pilot cute in your hand when you approach the door. If it escapes before you exit or you throw it as you exit, you may get it over the tail or entangled in another part of the aircraft which will not go well for you, anyone who can't get out of the plane or anyone on the ground where the plane impacts if the tail gets ripped off. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbEyBLs9fdc

Dopey, my pack jobs were a bit unruly when I got my new ZP canopy until I started to psyco pack it. Details here (it's called a precision pack here). http://www.precision.aero/information.htm It made my openings a bit softer too.

Glad to see it's not just me. Though the browser lock-ups were my punishment for being such a bad speller.

I've got an all black canopy. It is hard to see from above. I've seen footage from someone elses camera as they almost collided with me and it just blends in with the ground behind it pretty well. I don't think it's harder to find after a chop than any other non fluro colour (except for the sunset load chop I had!!) It's a bit tricky to pack when you get it first. It just seems a bit harder to find your way around it somehow. It does fade a bit to a brownish grey. It does look good but my next one won't be all black.

If the AAD thought it was at 750 ft/78mph but hadn’t seen a normal flight pattern leading up to that point (time on ground, slow ascent (within predefined limits), fast descent (within predefined limits)) then it shouldn’t have fired. This appears to be what happened in Thailand. Cypres realised that situation was not something it had been programmed to deal with so rather than just punting a reserve into an unknown situation it left the skydivers to deal with it. Vigil didn’t know what was going on (or perhaps it thought it knew what was going on in which case, it quite clearly thought wrong) and punched out a reserve. Any back up device should only interfere in the face of compelling evidence that it’s intervention is required. If it’s not sure, by default, it should do nothing. Just my 2c

In the case of the Crossfire 1 recall & re-trim, I understand the b-lines were shortened to flatten it's glide angle and make it more resistant to collapse in turbulence.

I had the same problem - cypres 1. A few years ago. When it would switch off, it was not just the display. I know this because when I would press the button 4 times, it would begin it's countdown sequence and switch on. (This is as Sundevil said) If the Cypres was on and just a blank display then pressing the button 4 times would result in it switching off. My rigger sent it back, they returned it without explaining what the problem had been and it never happened again

Have you been playing in the swoop pond again?

This might help

Can't help with the line lengths but you should be aware that there are 4 or 5 different versions as the trim was tweaked during the life of the canopy. The last one had short b-lines to flatten the nose and make the canopy more stable in turbulence but it killed the performance of mine so I exchanged it for the previous version. Hope that's of some use.

First the good - When it came time to retire my previous camera helmet, I checked out everything on the market and this design stood out in terms of safety and functionality. The camera box is internally latched and flush with the side of the helmet so the chance of snagging is virtually eliminated. I can review footage,and access firewire and charging sockets on my PC 104 without removing the camera from the helmet and I can easily alter the angle of the camera for freefly, tandems or FS. It has twin internal audible ports which are located over my ear (unlike a lot of other helmets I considered which have them half way up your head) so I can hear both easily. I've done 200 jumps on the helmet and it's extremely comfortable and secure. Finish is tip top and all the fittings are high quality. Style is very personal but for what it's worth I think it's the business. The icing on the cake is that it cost substantially less than any comparable helmets! And the bad news? They may just be too good. They've become very popular at my DZ so when there's a line of identical helmets hanging on the rack and I'm rushing for a load it can be difficult to identify mine from the rest! Highly recommended

Most of us in Australia are jumping locally made Talons which are equipped with Airforce reserves and I've never heard a bad word about them. I've used my AF120 three times (two terminal openings) and it's always performed faultlessly Highly recommended.

I vaguely remember the advertisement. Time Out claimed that if you passed through the opening or hard-deck height the alarm would sound until such time as your speed decreased below the activation threshold. L&B products would sound for a fixed length of time and then stop. There may also have been something about TO's sounding if you passed through the alarm height at slow speed and subsequently increased your speed (maybe cut away) above the threshold whereas L&B stuff didn't. I don't know if this is still the case. The claim is therefore correct but open to mis-interpretation. I have an L&B product on both ears and I love 'em both

The closing method on the "hard-deck" isn't visible because it's all internal. There's a captive quarter-turn fastener which you access from inside the left hand side of the helmet. Unlock and you swing the box open (hinge is on the top of the box). Close the box, turn the fastener and it's locked back into position. Neat eh ? This means that the camera stays fixed on the mounting bracket (captive tripod screw) when the box is open so it's possible to review footage on the LCD screen. firewire footage or change batteries without removing the camera or lense. It looks like a really well designed and well made helmet. (I've just ordered one myself based on what the people at my DZ who already own them have said about them)

Waycool industries do a 25mm stepdown ring as far as I know. Have a look at http://www.waycool.com.au

Squeak, I've just bought a PC104 in Sydney on special for $1100. Only difference I can see is regarding the stills capability and the lack of pop up flash. The PC103 doesn't have a DV (Firewire) in capability but the 104 & 105 do. I think the optics are the same. The handbook covers 103/104/105 and the specs are the same for all of them. Haven't got it mounted yet so can't comment on the picture.

Are you sure about that? If you put on your rig, lie on your back, pull your legs up into the sit position (90 degrees to your torso, pointing at the ceiling) and see if you can move the straps towards your knees. If you can, you need a bungee. If you can't, please educate me