gzimmermann

By all accounts of what's going on right now, extremists (Muslim or otherwise) aren't going to be in control. I think the bigger question is what happens if this turns out to be a completely peaceful transfer of power and turns into a true democracy for Egypt? Not so much for Egypt, but for the rest of the middle-eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia. Yes! It is not so much about oil and transport now. It is about unhappy people. Next might be other countries in North Africa, maybe South American countries and then the Chinese people. What a lighthouse Egypt has just given to the world, after Tunisia. The US might follow in 3 years after Obama has not been re-elected, just thinking. And yes: being Swiss you can always bash me with the proverb "it is easy to stink with full diapers..:"

As I read and understand the SB, it is just that, a "Service Bulletin". Its not listed as an emergency service bulletin either, and its not an Airworthiness Directive. Though I agree its a good idea to have the work performed, what is illegal about it? Thanks for the feedback. I shipped my rig today to have the modification done by the local Swiss rigger authorized by Aerodyne to do it. I am still a bit curious and wonder, if the question is answered yet...? What would have happened if I had appeared at Skydive Elsinore or a Swiss DZ in 3 weeks with my rig just the way it is now and like I have bought it 14 months ago. Would they have rejected me and with what legal basis? Is there a difference between a manufacturer's issued SB and an "emergency service bulletin"? And who would issue a recall of a rig when it is not considered airworthy anymore?

There's one question left that I want to ask in this forum: I have jumped this rig for almost 200 jumps now. I have never had any issues with the riser covers and I always was aware to place my main risers on top of the reserve riser cover (as indicated). My rig is of course worn a bit now and the riser covers tend to open sometimes by themselves eg while sitting tightly in the plane next to other jumpers. So why am I forced to ship my rig for this modification now to get the riser covers even more loose in the end? Product liability so that I cannot sue Aerodyne? Would they no longer let me jump my rig if I decided not to have the modification done? Who would and with what rights?

No problem to do in public. I wanted to have an idea about who else is affected by the bulletin. It seems like nobody but me bought the Icon with Skyhook to me :-) so far at least. I got the info from a cool Swiss rigger who made my first repack in June. I sent him an SMS after my first cutaway in November (Wingsuit, line twists, see my other posts) to say "thank you" for the job. He got the news from Aerodyne and pointed me to the service bulletin. That's the story. I did some search on DZ.com but did not find anyone else mentioning the required modification. Except I remembered having read something in the incident forum about riser flaps not releasing the risers properly in some cases. So hopefully I avoided getting refused on my next jumps from the DZO but have not put anyone else in trouble now... It seems like a minor fix to the rig BUT Aerodyne says it is mandatory and needs to be done. EDIT: Found this one finally, so it is being discussed already: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4041583;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread I jumped in Hollister, Elsinore CA, Clewiston FL, CSC and STF and some in Grenchen and Kappelen CH.

I got a call from my rigger that there is a service bulletin out for my rig, an Aerodyne Icon with Skyhook, manufactured end of 2009. http://www.flyaerodyne.com/download/SB140111.pdf It is mandatory and has to be done before the next jump, so basically we are grounded. I bought my rig in the US where I mainly jump but right now it is in Switzerland with me. Not a good situation when you are planning to jump in California in less than 3 weeks... I contacted Aerodyne and got a very quick feedback with a solution plan. I can send my rig to Paracentro Locarno (2 days for the shipping) and they will fix it. What they besically do: They open the riser cover's top fabric, remove the plastic part in the closing flap, modify the shape a little (make it smaller) and close it again. No big deal and with Aerodyne's help a quick fix to make us all even safer. Thanks Aerodyne and Paracentro Locarno!

Not specifically to your 2 questions but: I jump a Pilot 168 for 180 jumps now, 21 with wingsuit. Loaded at 1.25. I had on-heading openings 9 out of 10 before. Wingsuiting brought me down to about 50%. I had my first cutaway with a spinning mal on ws jump 20. Without blaming the packer but maybe (a little) relevant: I took the luxury to not pack on my own for my ws jumps. Bottom line for me: the Pilot is probably very docile but my current ws skills still challenge it even with the same wingloading.

Yes, we did practice pulls quite extensively before and while my first jump. The video is a cut of jumps 1 and 4. After 4 we repeated the deployment with body position and pull sequence again.

No, I never felt being fooled with the stick/pill and indeed it was a spontaneous action from Spot just before we exited the plane on my 3rd jump. I still have that picture in mind: Him sitting on the right side of the pilot handing me over the "medicine". On your other remark: As I said - and in full awareness of my own behavior and capabilities hopefully - I am not the young, gifted, relaxed guy who does this just like anything. But: I do not believe that I present a danger to others or myself by not just performing "relaxed and easy going". I would not do skydiving and certainly wingsuit jumps if I did not feel comfortable over all, very personally. Up to others to judge too and I am open to feedback on ANY jump I do with others ANYTIME. Once again: Spot has done a great job in teaching me, adopting to my tension, non-breathing, non-relaxing, you name it... He really deserves credit for it and for INVENTING THE BREATHING PILL/STRIP.

I am stiff by nature , especially when it comes to serious activities. To answer your question: No, I do not think I was holding my breath completely for 90 seconds and yes, I am a smoker (shame on me...) and enjoy the 18K jumps in Hollister very much where you sometimes really want to breathe properly before the exit while seated at the door in the PAC and the oxygen is not so easily available there. I survived them and more even enjoyed them all so far. More important, and my assumption of WHY Spot even started this thread: Technical skills are one important aspect of instructing, psychological, empathy aspects might be another important one too...

I am the one, again.... Yes, please take this one serious too. I have a friend who recently got the AFFI rating. He gave up continuing on WS BECAUSE of deployment, opening issues. As you know I had my first reserve ride only a few jumps after this one. I believe I had applied some of the relaxation input and got more proficient with my pull sequence and body position. Maybe a bad pack job, who knows. -> My point here: after 21 WS jumps among 180 jumps with one and the same rig (wingsuit modification included), canopy: Deployment might be an IMPORTANT issue amongst other things to consider with WS that have to be addressed. I want to improve and get to the same level of nice, on-heading openings that I had until now!

I am not an instructor but the "subject", student here. I have followed this thread just passively but would like to add my comments now: - As you can see in the video (see above or just go to youtube, "gerhard wingsuit"), I am not the relaxed, naturally gifted skydiver to make life easy to instructors. I am 46, have an M Sc degree in business, father of two almost adult daughters and got into that sport in June 2009 with the goal to get into WS once allowed and capable to do so. I mention this to point out that I am and was serious about it, both in getting there and being safe with it for me and others. - I learnt in my professional track that "psychological means" can sometimes help a lot. I learnt about visualizing, NLP and "psychological anchors" (German term maybe) - I had two great instructors, whose advise I was seeking while doing extreme sports like kiteboarding and skydiving who really helped me. One was a 50+ year old guy who knew a lot about biological processes. He helped me understand more about "muscle memory" while trying to get into kiteboarding back in 2005. Kiteboarding does not work if you cannot go switch as some of you may know, meaning either foot in front of the driving direction, which is sometimes hard to learn with your "wrong" foot in front. The other one was Spot, DSE. He sensed quickly that more relaxing and breathing was definitely an obstacle against my progress and acted. Both in applying simple psychological means like making me relax on the ground in defined body positions and also with the "breathing pill, strip". We both knew it was a trick and we both liked the effect. -> My point is: I can only recommend to any instructor working with empathy and apply creative means when working with students like me. "Do a barrel roll" may not provide the same result with me compared to: "breathe...take your left arm in, then your right arm, left arm back out, right to follow. Just like a sequence in dancing. And let us practice this now on the ground." Spot, thanks! And as you mentioned: The breathing pill, strip is a running gag between some of us now....

Try Hollister? I love it and will be there end of October next time. Great people, huge landing area. Only downside is the bus ride from LZ to airport. But a good occasion to relax and make new friends in the famous short bus. Plus you will be pretty "exclusive" being a WStr and leave the Pac as the last one. Check them out here and on Vimeo, skydive hollister, I am still in love with the spring boogie vid. And I was there too :-) [url] http://vimeo.com/10493777

I was at your point about a year ago. I went to Florida in November-December. Zephyrhills, unfortunately the weather was bad. I went to Clewiston which is not so big, very nice people and easy going. Wind can be an issue there just like in Elsinore (gusty sometimes). You have got to get used to it and learn to set and respect YOUR limits, especially in the bigger dropzones. Anyway, I can recommend Florida as well as SoCal. SoCal has the advantage that Elsinore and Perris are close, Perris has a tunnel and the likelyhood that you can jump there on weekdays - wind and weather permitting - is almost 100%. I recommend going to one of these, being honest about your level and show interest in joining other people and start with 2-ways. It was always easy for me to make new friends and learn from and with them in Clewiston and Elsinore. I loved the Excel camp in Elsinore, great way to get some coaching and meet new folks! Elsinore has a huge landing zone. Just use it to avoid traffic in final approach and stressful situations when the wind picks up a little and don't be ashamed to have to walk back a little longer.

I have a combo in Margarita, Chrome and Ocean Blue. I would say the attached picture is fairly accurate for these colors. Chrome is not so strong when canopy is open in the sky, appearance is almost towards light grey. I like the combo though. Packing is still challenging, even after 60+ jobs. ZPX is very slippery.

Quote: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Do NOT do this!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, I always tell my kids to ONLY listen to their teachers. I don't know why they are still alive as they are talking to friends, reading magazines and watching TV but even worse: They use the internet.

[reply Your sphere of awareness will widen as you progress.

Hi Saskia, I did. And I talked with my (various) coaches throughout my journey so far. I see the risks and would like to bring in a different aspect here: Let us face it, in the "new age" cameras are present all the time. They are much more compact and easier to handle than only a few months ago these days. I am a skier and mountain biker and I also do radio controlled flying with helicopters and airplanes. Did I fall from the bike because I had the camera on my goggles or crash my plane? Probably not. Is it safer to be experienced to take a camera on your jump and consider the risks before like entanglements, distraction while skydiving? For sure YES. Does it need straight 200+ jumps to do it given the new, small and simple to handle devices? Could it help me in making progress and document MY activities and their impact? And lots of questions like this which are worth while debating according to me. Let me take it to the extreme: In 12 months a simple sports goggle will cost 35 bucks without and 40 bucks with camera....

my sincere apologies! I was not recommending to do camera jumps to the thread starter and neither would I claim the ability to do this for me given my experience level. However the camera technology has developed a lot and basically you could have one with you that needs no active operating and neither adds weight or changes your aerodynamics or helmet shape and weight. Can you imagine people wearing these goggles say after they are A licensed or not? Is there a law against it or just a general rule according to the sticky that IS relevant but might not take into consideration the recent and next technology developments (and peoples abilities to handle cameras, youtube etc)?

Nice gadget! And probably great for every day use and use by people with less experience (like me) and lower number of jumps. However the resolution of 720-480 is not so good despite a 5MP element. And I also doubt that the optics are close to eg the Contour HD. But for every day use and to document your openings and landings might be the way to go.

Alton, I am not the youngest too anymore, 45. I recently bought my first rig with an Icon, Pilot 168 ZPX. I have 10 jumps on it on a higher loading than you are aiming for, all landings were very smooth, 2 even in no-wind conditions. I have had the Sabre2 in 190 before and a Pilot188 as my main rentals from jumps 20-34. I preferred the Pilot. It flares easily and opens smoothly, maybe a little slow but that's ok. I am pulling on 3000 usually. My point: I like the Pilot, the color coded lines make packing easier and given my small experience it was the canopy that had the best handling for me. Forgiving to some extent but agile and quick if you want it. No experience with the Silhouette though.

I see I need to work on my packing skills then :-)

I recently got the Icon I5 and a Pilot 168 ZPX. Trust me, it is a thight fit in the I5 size container already, especially when the ZPX fabric is still very new. I don't think you could pack a 190 in there.

I came into skydiving because of YOU and started in June. I admire what you did, how you did it and how you were an ambassador of this sport. We have never met but I feel very sad now and wish you blue skies, always!