sebinoslo

To fully avoid this problem I got a 2" extra long chest strap (4 ft maybe) that is always routed. Just pass the chest strap over your head when putting the rig on and as long as you remember to tighten it (easy to remember when it is that long, flapping around...) you are good to go.

"Funny" how I tried to write a safety post on exactly this issue 2 months ago and was totally dismissed because I suggested a form for "certification" regarding those jumps. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4517590

In the past couple years, more and more people have been doing tracking jumps. This has resulted in the technical level to reach new heights while at the same time attracting a lot of new people to the discipline. This creates some safety issues that are rarely addressed. The safety issues relate to the high level of 3D movements at high speeds that are achieved by larger and larger groups today. It becomes easy for someone joining a group (way) beyond their abilities to dive through/into, wipe over/under, lack separation/awareness and be dangerous on that jump. These issues could be avoided if organizers and participants would know their abilities. Unfortunately this is near impossible for tracking. Let me digress quickly: - if you want to do an 8-way with points but miss one guy; some basic questions regarding 4-way randoms/blocks, most points turned in 4-way, biggest formation done, number of jumps and time in tunnel would give you a decent idea if the new guy can join and complete the jump in a decent way. - if you want to do an 8-way headdown, the same set of questions will also give you a decent idea. However for tracking, this becomes much trickier: 1. tunnel time is not really relevant (except if the guy has dozen of hours of dynamic flying at high speeds then it should be OK) 2. number of jumps is not relevant only numbers of tracking jumps - and even then, the level flown during those jumps is hard to demonstrate 3. biggest tracking group is also not relevant ("I jumped out of an airplane with 10 others guys and we tracked" does not tell you if the guy was in control, in the group, within few feet of the leader or just burbling around and bombing through the group) 4. but the biggest issue is that EVERYONE who starts tracking think they go really fast, really steep when in reality they have a decent separation track. The feeling ins tracking is quite special and impressive which is why so many people love it. This makes it hard to assess their true abilities. (Compare it to the statement "I have done 4-ways headdown jumps with multiple grips" which is a lot more objective and demonstrative of the abilities of the jumper) So when an organizer put together groups, most participants (especially less experienced people) would provide the feedback that they go fast and steep and can join the group without issues - which may not be the case at all. Even having done jumps with a coach can give them a false idea of the abilities "I jump with world-class coach X and could follow him so I'm awesone"; not realizing that it was the coach that followed them and not the other way around. To solve this, I have been thinking about grading tracking jumpers to ensure safer and easier organizing. Level 0: belly-tracking - need someone to lead to ensure correct flying pattern - flat/slow/little control Level 1: belly-tracking - need someone to lead to ensure correct flying pattern - good separation track Level 2: belly-tracking - can lead and respect the flying pattern - decent angle/speed/control - can jump with up to 3 other level 2+ jumpers Level 3: learning back-traking - can plan flying pattern (based on jumprun, winds, other groups in the plane etc..) and respect it - can jump with up to 5 other level 3+ jumpers Level 4: can fly on level and heading on straight steep/fast jumps Level 5: can fly on level and heading on moving steep/fast jumps Level 6: organizer and/or recognized as an authority. Can grade jumpers Obviously there is still quite some subjectivity involved but this will prevent level 2 jumpers joining jumps designed for level 5 - making it safer for both or ensure that a group of 10-tracking-jump wonders don't start tracking up the jumprun or land out in the woods. It will also make the job of organizing tracking jumps much easier, ensuring everyone is getting the most out of the jumps. What do you guys think? PS: this is not meant to be an official certification like a B-license, but just a stamp in the log book.

This is where i ended up: going for a pilot 124. I'm closing on 200 jumps in 4 months so far this year so I'll be current enough to downsize a bit more than usual (HI agrees). Unfortunately new rig and canopy won't arrive before early november/december so I'll keep my current rig as well to refresh everything after the winter break and get used to the 124 when wind is fine. I was thinking of putting 50 jumps on the 124 in good/decent wind conditions before selling the safe/gustproof 140

it may look that way but the slider is up high the whole time and never comes down causing a spin, causing a cutaway. if you compare the lines from the left back riser (all nice and straight) with the ones from the right back riser (quite some slack in them), you can see that the canopy is not fully open. you can also spot the kill line going from the right side of the slider onto the cascade lines. as a final note: you can see the normal left tab hanging out about 1/2" so it didn't take much to create a snag hazard

100% correct. If a line can make a half loop around the tab, the tension on opening will close that loop tight around the tab, collapsing the slider and worse yet: hold on tight to the kill line tab with no chance for the slider to come down.

Hi, Mox was the first I asked about it and he is fine with the 139 from this season onward

Correct. In other words: the slider would never have come down. The tabs are actually tricky to really tuck in and prevent them from sliding even slightly out. you can see the left one is out by half an inch or so. But you cannot tuck them 100% in because then you cannot collapse your slide if there is nothing to pull the kill lines. After this, i noticed that i have to really pull the slider forward when packing to make sure no lines get in contact with the tabs, especially when lifting the tail. Almost so much forward that the slider was no longer symmetric enough for my taste. To be sure to prevent this mal from happening again, i will change the tabs and get a straight kill line coming about 0.5 / 1 inch out of the slider (as seen on many sliders from other brands than aerodyne). This modification should really put the entanglement risk down to almost zero. Maybe someone has a trick up their sleeves to prevent this from ever happening even with tabs on?

Clue #1: Canopy is a Pilot 140. Clue #2: No one I talked to in Eloy (even the Aerodyne rep) had encountered / heard of it before. I'll post the cause and how to prevent it from happening in 1 or 2 days

Hi and thanks for taking the time to look at my query! Profile is not really updated. I would load the 139 at 1.3 and the 129 at 1.4. Mostly based on the feedback i got regarding openings, glide (coming back from long spots) and flare. The Crossfire was also presented as a good entry to the full elliptical canopy world and an overall great canopy. Due to norwegian regulations i am not allowed to jump a 129 until i have 600 jumps. I should have been clearer in my request: moving to a full elliptical 139 during this season (keeping size but changing type) or wait 200 jumps to downsize to a 129. The subsequent question would be, is it "smart" to go from a 140 pilot to a 129 XF2 at 600 jumps or should i get (for example) a saphire2 129 first (at 600 jumps) and later a XF2 129 (say 700-800 jumps)? Obviously "keep your pilot 140 and forget the XF2" is also a welcome answer (based on WL, experience, lack of swooping...)

Hi, i have 400 jumps, 250 on the Pilot 140 and i'm looking to get a crossfire 2 (only heard great things about it, be it openings, glide, flare). To be clear; I don't "swoop": i only use double-front risers on occasions if my final leg is too long. I have had one "bad" landing in the last 150 jumps (end of a hot day in Eloy, overshooting the grass and not running fast enough to avoid tumbling in the dirt) With that in mind, I wonder if I should buy a 139 (changing only canopy type) or if going directly down to a 129 is a good alternative. I have heard roughly 50/50 from the people I have asked directly so I'm asking here now to get a more complete picture. thanks!

nice project! i think it would be really useful to people starting in the tunnel if you could put milestones: after 1h after 5h after 10h etc. since there are some huge blanks: there is a split second of HD on the net and then you are flying stable HD. that way we can see how long was the belly training, the back training etc

this actually happened to me not so long ago. i have flown quite a bit of tunnel and fly very stable on my back. it was supposed to be a 2 way tracking with a 10000+ jump coach. he spotted the lose handle right after exit at 13000ft with that in mind i was comfortable holding on to the handle, rolling on my back (no more wind on the handle) and putting it back into the velcro, double checking it was as it should and move back on my belly waiting for pullout time. i was then still well over 8000ft. many factors made this in my mind the best solution to this problem this time around

this DZ is an hour drive off Oslo: https://www.tonsberg-fallskjermklubb.com this one is 3 hour drive: www.fallskjerm.no this one is in sweden but 1.5 hour drive away (two different DZ under one website): http://www.hoppafallskarm.nu/ national FF team has a website too with basic skill camps and tunnel camps: www.42freefly.com one of the best DZ in Europe/world, 5-6 hour drive: http://www.skydivevoss.no/ a wind tunnel opens next may too: http://vossvind.no/ that should about cover it ;-)

thanks for writing that post...the latter is indeed what people should be made aware of instead of focusing on the pissing contest of "look at how cool i am for pulling super low" we did a ballon jump at easter time and one older guy with a middle age crisis bragged about how low he pulled, if we saw him and that he actually pulled at 3k but held the PC in hand until 1800. No one thought it was cool, because it wasnt. PS: same goes about how many jumps in day. we have all seen teams exiting early at 10k, landing, dropping the rig on the packer's mat, picking up their second rig and getting on a new plane all day long. Is it cool to do 20 jumps in a day if by the 10th you're too tired to focus on flying properly both your body and then your canopy? what does it prove? How fast can I pack my canopy is yet another such topic. what will be next? How much alcohol I had in my system/how hangover I was when doing the first jump of day? Edit to add: considering the OP has 40 jumps, jumpers with more experience should refrain from giving newbies those type of data that can only motivate someone, someday to show that he/she can do it too.

that clarifies it :-) some further thoughts: - even in a perfectly streamlined body position, the rig is generating a large amount of drag. can rigs be made out of vinyl-like fabrics to further reduce drag? and do smaller rigs help go faster too? - are shoe covers allowed? i guess shoe laces are not welcomed :-)

Hi, good post so far! i am just wondering how the body weight of the skydivers affect his/her speed? if it does, are there weight classes? (i don't seem to see that it is the case) I would imagine that a weight vest would keep the center of gravity more towards the ground than a belt and could do the trick. PS: I am just having a huge amount of fun going fully vertical

well, he is doing this more or less full time so the 3-4 year which could mean 200 for one jumper can mean 2000 for another. not the same game ;-) and from the start he was spotted as really gifted as well.

another aspect to consider is 3rd party liability: if you injure someone else when skydiving. your normal insurance will not cover that (since related to dangerous activities) and the french social security has nothing to do with it. probably not a huge issue in france but definitely one when going to the USA where lawsuits can be extremely expensive. just get the european medical card and you will only have to pay what you would have paid in Spain if you hurt yourself. http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=559&langId=es

I believe this to be a widely held MYTH. I believe interference drag is the main reason formations slow down as they build. Not only is this consistent with the laws of physics, it is also born out when comparing fall rates of tightly packed formations with those of loose, open formations. I couldnt agree more. if a base was slowing down simply because people were complacent and relaxed too much you wouldnt see people with 1000s of jumps having to wear 15+kg of lead when being base for (very) large formation.

Hi, jumping with people who are light and with low jump numbers they will probably be so happy to just dock that they will tend to dearch, relax and when a 5-way relax they will fall way too slow for anyone to come back up. solution (for the others): fly to the formation, stop, take grip, fly the formation with low jump numbers yourself my bet is you looked up at the formation as soon as you went low and then you have no chance of going back up. solution: slide to the side of the formation, look with the corner of your eyes on the side so you dont lose too much lift. doing 6-way at your level of experience is fun once in a while but you definitely won't learn much for the simple reason that i doubt you will form the 6-way all the time and nothing is more boring than jumping formation where 1 or 2 people never make it and fly all over/under. you just end up hanging there for 8000 feet and break off. do 3-ways with free exits - no grips - and try to get together. once you nail those add one more person and so on.

Guys on a RW 10-way can be in the 100+ jump range while i doubt people doing FF 10-way have such low jump numbers hence the potential overall higher WL in the FF group

Statistics always have different ways to look at it. I could use the same figures and say that from 2008 to 2009 the overall fatality rate went down 46.7% (from 30 to 16) and the fatality rate for jumpers under a good canopy went down 36.4% (from 11 to 7). All else being equal (i.e. roughly the same amount of jumps performed in 2008 and 2009) this is a good trend. (the exact opposite conclusion can be said using 2009-2010 figures: 31.3% increase in overall fatalities and 46.2% increase for jumpers under a good canopy whereas looking at 2008 vs. 2010 would show a positive overall trend) if in 2012, 5 out 5 fatalities come from jumpers under a good canopy will this be a good or a bad trend?

I second what dave said. it all depends on your level in the company. if you are a to be a critical part in a project/management you may have to refrain from jumping. highly paid athletes have contracts where they can't even ride a motorcycle, let alone skydive.

I saw a videoman using a fairly large one in Perris last week. could be for protecting the jaw in case of hard openings? but if it is for protection under the jump itself i'd go for a full face