muz

.... and it'd be nice to learn how to do it.
Tried searching the tubes without luck...

I'm in Italy at the moment.
I think the closest place to Siena is skydive tortuga in Arezzo:
http://www.skydivetortuga.com/
or you can come to Molinella and jump from the PAC750:
http://www.flygang.com/ !

Yes you can jump with your USPA license and equipment, as long as you have an AAD fitted to your rig.
After 6 months in the country you'll have to get an Italian license, but that's just a matter of paperwork and a fee. Not your case anyway.
No special rules...

Give a shout when you're over here!
Muz

is there an RSS feed for Skytu.be?

They meant a smaller/bigger person (in size) with same weight maybe. In that case it'd be true, due to reduced air resistance of the small person.
But bigger people unfortunately, as billvon correctly put it, are quite a bit heavier :)

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miss-reading the title of this thread leads me to believe that I don't need coaching or practice to learn how to track away from a formation, just need to spend money on a new electronic gadget!

Jeling, any luck down at Tooradin?

Every country has different rules, but in general, if your equipment is approved in the country you got your license in, you should be able to jump it.
As far as Italy is concerned, the above applies, and AADs are not compulsory (though some DZs require you have one - any of the major brands).


Give'em a call :-)

Hey James,
I'm sure everyone down there will be happy to help.
Ask Brian, Jeremy, Swanee they're usually down there and happy to try things out.
Beware of Eric and his stories from 'the old times'

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Thinking of Commando out at Tooradin.

James, that's my home DZ. Shame I'm overseas at the moment!
I tried a few times with a cheap GPS logger in my pocket (i-Blue) down at commando, but I got very noisy tracks. I wonder if it was due maybe to the gps moving around in my pocket (-> changing orientation). I should try sticking it to my helmet.

Are you on skysurfer?

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I am going to chat with a drop zone in Victoria next weekend, but hoping to get a decent number of people to play with it and a range of phones as well, and also look at the best ways of getting it to work.

Which DZ?

Does any manufacturers offer that as an option?
The choice is usually given for the RESERVE handle...

I agree if she had been able to free both toggles she should probably have tried to land with risers (though cutting one brake line might not come to mind to the inexperienced jumper - like me).
I think she did the right thing in HER situation. 2 weeks ago I was under canopy, and just before I released the toggles I thought...mmmh I don't think I've ever flown this thing in rears with the brakes set. When I tried to flare I noticed 2 things: 1) I didn't get much lift during flare and 2) the canopy stalled with very little riser input...
So I think landing in rears with brakes set is quite a bit trickier than in full glide. Just my 2c.
I jump a Triathlon 160 @ 1.1 and realise things may be very different on 9 cells / higher WLs.

Relax your limbs and feel how the airflow supports them :) Try!

For me it clicked last week! Awesome sensation :)

It happened to me once (nearly twice) on a borrowed Sabre1 210 (loaded at ~0.8).
I think when you turn, as soon as you start swinging out the lines on the turn side get more tension than the external ones. If your weight is shifted to that side as well (e.g. a low shoulder on the turn side), you pivot around the tense lines and you get twists.
So lightly loaded wings should be more susceptible having lower tension on the outside to start with. High-aspect-ratio canopies should be more prone to it as well.

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the Vigil reached its trigger speed of 35 m/s at 450 feet, and then fired at 354 feet - which at 35 m/s would be 1 second later. That would seem to contradict their stated firing time of 2 milliseconds.

The unit won't fire straight away when the measured speed reaches the threshold.
It wait until the 'filtered' speed gets too high. This is to prevent a glitch in measurement from triggering a firing (you can see the red line in the graph published above is pretty noisy).

How can it be easy to pack and not let air through (therefore harming lift performance)?

Some tests on glide ratio compared to identical ZP canopies are needed.

It would be quite easy to fix the issue with a firmware update.
Instead of turning off if 14 hours have elapsed AND i'm back to ground zero,

it should be

turn off if 14 hours have elapsed AND (i'm back to ground zero OR I see no height change since my last check [or 2 or 3 checks]).

This way, when you get home, it'll turn off after an hour or two.

What kind of size are the mesh elements?
Anyone has pointers to some technical material about this?

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So the #1 job of the cutaway handle is to NOT come out at the wrong time - the #1 job of the reserve handle is to come out when you need it to. I don't think you can use the same criteria for both.

Excellent argument!

I reckon THE issue with soft pads is that it can simply take longer to find them, especially if the harness is a bit loose and has moved around. Say you're wearing full-face helmet and gloves, what are your chances of grabbing the harness instead of a soft pad? What about a metal ring?
A pad MAY make you waste precious time.
I understand FF issues, and the 'need' for pillows. Just give yourselves 500ft extra height :)

My penny worth :p

'bout 12.