ernokaikkonen

See This thread for some mods to prevent premature unzipping.

358. jinx jinx. If I was of the superstitious type, I'd be expecting a shitload of DZcommer reserve rides in the next few days....

I'm wondering what the riggers' opinions on (self adhesive)ripstop tape are. I've heard that tape shouldn't be used for canopy repairs because of the glue residue, and because of the possible adverse effects of the glue on the canopy fabric. I can quite well understand that using duct tape or gaffers tape or something like that isn't a good idea since you can't know what's in the glue. However, using a product that's meant for this purpose(like the one sold on Paragear?) should be ok, right? In addition to the poll question: If you do use ripstop tape, how big a hole would you be comfortable patching with the tape?

I'll second that. If a separate tandem-forum is created, next thing the AFF instructors will want one too, and then the SL instructors....

I played Stair Dismount a few months ago... That can be quite hilarious too.

You stole my comment! And several months ago too! I'm sure Felix is the most famous skydiver/hang-glider at the moment... And there's no distinction between famous and infamous either, remember: "All publicity is good publicity".

The site map is more or less "hidden" under the "About" section. I wouldn't have looked there if I didn't know it was there. How about adding a link there on the "search" page? Or adding a "Sitemap" link next to the "Search" link on the upper right hand corner? And somebody needs to write a "Skydiving Disciplines" section about wingsuit flying. And camerawork. edit to add: And the FS section needs updating... current world record from 246-way to 300-way, and 4-way record from 36 pts to 42 pts. I'm sure there are more pressing matters to attend to, but I just happened to notice these.

770 jumps over 5 years... an average of 154. But then again you only get to jump half the year in Finland...

I've gone almost two months now without smoking. I rock.

*bump* Someone must have some first hand experiences about these by now... Pics? And where to order one? And how much for one?

I just saw the video.... Wow. dragging a toe through the snow?

Ah yes, I got it now. However, while trying to figure out the right way of doing it, I only managed to do it incorrectly in several different ways... like these for example...

Yeah, what do you do with the free end?

After spending a while trying to find a comprehensive checklist to use while packing reserves, and finding very little, I decided to translate, update and improve my old checklist. So here it is. All the riggers out there, notice anything I missed? Any other ideas for improvement?

Do you leave enough of the lines unstowed? If you don't, the bag can snag on the reserve container during deployment, causing line twists. You should leave about 50cm(20inches) unstowed(depending on the container, of course).

>Hmmmm....how high do you think a human body would go off that >thing if you modified it to launch as vertically as possible? Not too far I'm afraid. I made the (probably outrageously inaccurate) calculations a while back and: If you have a vertical catapult, 400m(~1200ft) high(so you have 400m of "runway" for acceleration), and launch a person off it at an acceleration that wont render you unconscious, and with a "muzzle velocity" that would be about the speed of a relatively good speed skydiver.... You'd have 0 vertical speed at an altitude of 800m(~2400) AGL.

Thank you Wendy! Indeed, since most people that frequent "my"(my home DZ's actually) chat are from Europe and Africa, with the odd Australian thrown in every now and then, it's most likely that you find people there during European office hours.

Would this be the bit that is on "Crosswind"? There's a section there where Loic flies his wingsuit next to a mountain.

I would mention the fact to the jumper. I'm sure a lot of people are overloading their reserves without actually even knowing it. I still would pack the reserve and let the jumper decide for him/herself what to do.

Because they make life so much easier? Responsible use of positive leverage devices is a better option than making the closing loop too long, making the packjob a premature reserve deployment waiting to happen. We had a couple of incidents in Finland a while ago where the too long closing loop played a part in causing reserve deployments at the door/on the strut. I personally use one when packing a reserve, but only to pull the closing loop out, not to force the flap grommets into alignment. I like to make my packjobs nice and tight, and while I believe I'd be able to close the containers without a tool, I prefer not to sweat while doing it since I don't have to.

Here is a post I made a while ago about accident statistics in Finland in 2002.

>The licenses are Federation Aeronautique Internationale licences >so they are international I believe. Well yes, sort of. The FAI license is the same everywhere, but almost every country has different requirements for the national licences. Australia has licences all the way up to F, most other places(and FAI) stop at D. The requirements for the licences vary a lot around the world... Does anyone know if there are countries that have the same national licence requirements as FAI?

Every time I pack my reserve or swap canopies in my rig. I guess I should start doing it more often.

...for giving a sorry-ass skybum a ride from Stansted all the way to Gatwick! Next time beers will definitely be on me!

You don't have to go that far... Dan replied to this thread.