sebinoslo

Hi, I bought a new used rig but it came with a pillow reserve handle. I want to change it to a D-ring and saw in the user manual that there is only one D-ring item for Icon rig, no matter the size of the container. Question is: Can any D-ring be fitted in my rig or do i need to order one from Aerodyne?

I had the case during a competition earlier this summer where we were 2 teams on the first load. the pilot took a quick flight around and announce the cloud cover was at 5000". There are moutains reaching 2000" around the DZ so pull altitude is 3500". Some clouds seemed low and we asked him if it was 5000" which he confirmed once again. On the ride up clouds were as low as 3000" and all the way to 10000". We decided that no one would jump and were not charged for it. Had the pilot said that he wasn't sure about the clouds and that we could see for ourselves, would we have paid our slot. But since we based our climb on his words... There was a weather holding for the next 2 hours after our failed load too...

Thanks for quick answers :-) My favorite drill has to be the Alphabet: all randoms in order. just good fun Sidenote: bit sad the RW forum is so "dead"...

Hi, just for fun I'd like to go through 3 (or 4 or 5) randoms the fastest possible. I'd like to do this for 2 reasons: breaking the 30 point mark and working on focus to avoid brain locks. any suggestions? I'd think M-J-E or M-F-P could turn really fast. Perris Fury did 66pts on J-M-E-D-L at World Challenge. It could turn out to be a friendly competition with the teams doing the same jump few times in a day. thanks

I was thinking the same. Depending how the fabric around the kill line is spread out, you may or may not see the color in the window. If you have a good routine, color or not you know if it is cocked or not. Easy check: before rolling the PC, hold it upside down. if the kill line is stretched (it holds the weight of the handle), it is not cocked fully.

What i got from his answer was that changing one line and having it close (+/- margin of precision) to the manufacture size would not affect flight a lot. whereas a whole line set all within the same small margin of error incurring when trying to replicate manufacture standard would have much larger effects. Obviously I am not a rigger so I have no clue the type of margin we are talking about here... I received PMs concerning contact info for French dealers who have some in stock apparently - 250€ the set. Seems like a problem solved :-)

Hi john, I actually asked that very question to a rigger this winter and he said this was not a viable solution. Replacing one broken line is fine but the whole line set was too "tricky" (for a lack of a better word). Hopefully Floflo can get me in touch with a fellow frenchie who has a set on a shelf somewhere :-)

I bought my first rig last year once off A-level and the canopy is an Electra 170. It now has close to 400 jumps. From what I heard from few dealers/riggers, it is (nearly) impossible to get a new line set from PdF and once you do, it costs a ridiculous amount (even heard of £300 / $500). A DZO of a major DZ in Spain told me they have been waiting over 6 months and still no news. And they have some purchasing power... My question is simple but potentially sad: Should I, when the time comes to change the lines, buy a new canopy, which has proper support from its manufacturer? If yes, then what can I do with a canopy that is not fit to jump and which can basically not be fixed (i.e. no resale value). Or should I order a lineset now and wait even a full year until relining becomes necessary - but at what cost? All while knowing that the same issue will happen again in few hundreds jumps...(I plan on doing around 200 jumps a year going forward). PS: I really like that canopy, my plan is to move to wingsuiting at some point so I don't plan on downsizing a lot (probably settle for a 150 - which should moer or less compare to a 170 from PdF)

Hi, The only requirement that was given out (so far) is that the participant should be comfortable docking to a 8-,10-way. There will be a long weekend at the end of May to narrow the selection down - so this is obviously my first deadline

Hi all and happy new year, in order to start the season ideally I am looking into flying to AZ in march for 2 weeks and just make as many jumps as i possibly can. It seems Gary (Beyer) has some coaching availability towards the end of the month so that is a period i could be aiming for. Alternatively, Airspeed has a 5-day camp at the beginning of the month. What would be the best option in your mind? I have 6 hours in the tunnel and 80 jumps the past 8 months (all FS) and my goal for 2010 is to be selected to be part of the Norwegian bigway record (120-way) by end August. I do not plan on competing in 4-way. Also, if anyone can give me a heads up regarding the different alternatives concerning accomodation/transportation that would be great. booking a team room and a car for 2 weeks on my own would be way too expensive (i reckon around $1,000) Finally, how hard would it be to be part of loads at that DZ? are there some load organizers there? Thanks for any info you can provide and hopefully I'll be able to hand out some cold ones after my first day in AZ to some of you. Sebastien PS: it seems i should have posted it here in the first place and not in "Events" - sorry about that

Hi all and happy new year, in order to start the season ideally I am looking into flying to AZ in march for 2 weeks and just make as many jumps as i possibly can. It seems Gary (Beyer) has some coaching availability towards the end of the month so that is a period i could be aiming for. Alternatively, Airspeed has a 5-day camp at the beginning of the month. What would be the best option in your mind? I have 6 hours in the tunnel and 80 jumps the past 8 months (all FS) and my goal for 2010 is to be selected to be part of the Norwegian bigway record (120-way) by end August. I do not plan on competing in 4-way. Also, if anyone can give me a heads up regarding the different alternatives concerning accomodation/transportation that would be great. booking a team room and a car for 2 weeks on my own would be way too expensive (i reckon around $1,000) Finally, how hard would it be to be part of loads at that DZ? are there some load organizers there? Thanks for any info you can provide and hopefully I'll be able to hand out some cold ones after my first day in AZ to some of you. Sebastien

I second that Mike...Everytime I use the verb "jump" whuffos ask "What?!?". There is no equivalent to skydive(r) in French or in Norwegian: it translate solely by parachut-ism/-ist but the verb is "jump" (a parachut). My guess regarding the distinction is because English-speaking people don't like long words with latin roots.

and you forgot to mention that - as in any poll regarding intellingence, salary, sexual partners, (dare i say # of jumps? ) etc etc - people either say a higher number than the reality or only the people with the highest numbers do report them - skewing the stats...

Well, as of today I have to receive a reply from any of the DZ I contacted last week...so this may not even happen in the end But the insurance is a good call - i guess i could leave my rig at the hotel's safe ;-) I think the trust would depend on the country and the quality of the DZ. But since I have no clue at all about neither in this case I guess I'll have to carry that thing with me - if those guys ever reply that they are indeed open.... thanks all for you replies!

This is one of the things I have to consider. I try to get in touch with the people there to check their gear. It is a newly opened DZ so the gear should not be too sketchy...well at least not old & sketchy

I will be going for work to Chile for 2 weeks and will have a weekend in between when I may be able to sneak out and go jump. I guess I can pull 10-15 jumps over the weekend but I wonder if I should go through the hassle of taking my rig with me. I don't want to check it in obviously. I am really considering taking it but I do already have a lot of luggage and a handful connections to go through (and that many security checks). Is it worth it?

I had that one few times: "Oh you skydive [with a somewhat detached tone] - How high is it when you exit?" - About 12000 ft - Wow [with a somewhat amazed tone] I guess I should lie and decrease the altitude until the detached tone stays the same.

I take the same approach as you for a slightly different topic. I'm a frenchman who moved to norway 4 years. So Every. Single. Person. i meet ask me "Why Norway?". I could tell them to fuck off or use my well prepared answer to answer nicely and move the conversation forward. The "Why skydive" and similar questions also require a basic preformatted answer. And then move on. It is obviously the first time ever that person met someone who skydives and has the right to ask IMO. First timers questions are always fine by my book. The repeaters / harrassers on the other hand...

The main point of the OP was that move from intermediate to advanced. FF is what 95% of the students wanna do at my DZ...so definitely not dead...but: I remember reading that sitfly was easy to learn, hard to master while HD was the opposite (hard to learn, easy to master). Put that in parallel with the MTV generation (mine - growing up in the 80s - 90s) that wants instant gratification and you have your problem. Getting off AFF or A-level, people get into FF, start obviously with sitfly, stick to it until they get a good decent numbers of jumps where they can sitfly the entire time and have "control" and then the frustration starts. It took me 4-5 jumps to sit most of the duration of one jump. I have done a handful of other sit attempts and it aint that bad...but i don't go around saying: I can sit! I'm a wonderkid. I do realize it will take me the next 100-200 jumps to be able to do some points with a friend or two and after that i should spend few hundred more jumps just to get HD. Whereas with FS, after a 100 jumps or so you shouldnt have too much problems making few points with 3 friends and having a blast at it. And on the long run, can anyone be a good FFer if jumping say 50 times a year (over 10-20 years)? whereas with 50 jumps a year in FS you can still jumps with a bunch of people and have more fun. My guess is FF is alive until people get to 100 FF jumps and start hitting that wall. Then they see people that focused on FS for 100 jumps and how they have fun jumping with large numbers of people and they decided to tag along. My 2c.

booties really change your tracking angle. just make it really really hard for someone with booties to track with someone without. one good basic explantion regarding tracking: your upper body determines your falling/tracking angle while your lower body determines your speed (straight leg = max speed, bending knees forward = slower speed) we had a tracking weekend with an insanely good rabbit and he talked about few extra things: - how he would indicate a turn was going to happen (pointing few times with the corresponding arm and engaging the turn rigth after) - how he would indicated separation (winking both arms like a wingsuit) - separation altitude for those far from the core was higher to provide more separation. - the group would usually follow the line of flight for few seconds before making the first 90 degree turn, allowing everyone to be grouped. Another tip: if you want to join the base, you cannot aim straight at the base but much further ahead of it (to come at a flat angle). he recommended to aim at about 10 times the actual distance between yourself and the base.

You lose 1k in 5sec while in freefall. Since your canopy inflates after you pulled, you decelerate (that the whole point of the canopy). It is fairly easy to check how much you are losing: look at your alti when pulling and once more under canopy.

They would be fun if this was a skydive / skiing forum Season starts May 1st and ends October 31st - and that is some serious stretch... Luckily Spain is the Florida of Northern Europe so we get around

Point 3 had more to do with newbies wanted to try some FS-4+ cos it's cooler than FS-2. I now have enough jump to be able to deal with larger groups of people but yeah, I did some FS-4 jumps that were a complete waste of time since no one was good enough to grab onto anyone.... That is what I meant by know your limits: get a good grip on some FS-2 (learn to work with one reference point, keeping level while stable, then keeping level while doing 90 degrees, then 180 and 360, and then with people of different weights) then start adding 1 or 2 more people when comfortable. See you in Sevilla maybe yeah - good canopy flight course from 22-24 dec.

thanks, but I hope that's not the only thing you noted from my post ;-) I did my AFF in one DZ and the other jumps in another one, so I actually got twice the amount of instructors available. But a lot as to come from the student, one cannot expect instructors to talk them through every little details.

This is now the end of the summer season for me and I now have almost 3 months to reflect on that first year in the sport before going to Spain and get to the 100 magic number. I took the AFF at Easter time this year and thought I could share some lessons I learned during those past few months. (Lessons are in no special order) 1. Skydiving is just plain, ridiculous fun. 2. It really is... 3. Know your limits - Jumping with few jumpers before being comfortable with 1 other is a complete waste of time: you will not learn a lot with people all around you in a 100m radius. I would trade any "big load" for a clean 2-way with 15 or 20 points. - Remember that during AFF even though you were doing 2-ways with your instructor, the AFFI was the sole reason you could take grabs and hold level: he was doing 95% of the work - it is a whole different story when trying the same with another newbie. - Never be afraid to sit one out because the winds are too strong or turbulent. Ask the manifest how strong the wind is to get an idea of what strength you are comfortable with. - If you doubt you can make it to the landing zone - your doubts are probably right - so bail out and find out another safe, easy to reach spot. (Concrete and asphalt really hurt...) 4. Pack properly. - If you have any doubt you may have not put the slider properly in place, kept tensions on the lines, anything really that may trouble your mind while jumping: start the pack job again. - Remember to stow the brake lines before starting to pack (it sucks to realize they are not stowed once putting the bag in the container...) - You can cock your PC at any point in time during the pack job, whatever you like best. Then keep that as your routine. But it does not work once the bag is in the closed container... 5. Pull properly. I had two bad pulls: - Waved and went to pull only to become totally unstable and tumble 2 or 3 times. So "Pull stable" does not only mean you should initiate the pull sequence when stable - but really "Pull the PC out of the BOC while stable". So do not relax too early. - Grabbed the PC handle and only pulled it out half way out: my hand was way too sloppy/relax. It took few seconds to be able to grab the PC itself that was floating behind me and properly throw it. Try to keep in mind how you grabbed that handle like your life depended on it during the first AFF jumps: you can never squeeze that handle too hard and pull it out too hard. 6. In doubt, ask. By the time you have been jumping for few months, you should know who knows best about what in your DZ. Be it tracking, FF, FS, packing, rigs, canopies, landing...Get them a beer once in a while and you should not have to come to DZ.com asking if you flare to high or sit properly..... 7. Know your gear. - Pull as high as your DZ allows it a handful of times and try using all the tools at your disposal (front/rear risers, flat turns, stall, the various flares, etc etc) - Try to know every inch of your rig, so that if anything is out of the ordinary you will spot it instantly. You have plenty of time on the ground to do that on any given day. And if in doubt, ask! To summarize, the main lesson I learned so far is that you should never, ever sit in that plane if you have any doubts in mind. Your instincts may be wrong 99% of the time but the 1% of the time you will not listen to them, you may find yourself in big troubles.