jurgencamps

Stiletto and Pulse fly more flat than the rest. Katana and the Velocity are groundhungry.

See my post just above this one. Also mention the possiblity that the cloudbase can get lower.

But remember that a cloud base can get lower in the time you need to get at full altitude. If you expect that the cloud base is still at 5000 ft and it has descended till 2000 ft, you get a nasty surprise. It has happened before and it will happen again. It is a tool, but not as reliable as you may think.

I never said that the landing direction has to be the same for the whole day. The set landingdirection is still according the general winddirection. It can change from load to load, but once the canopies are open, we do not change the direction till everybody has landed. And I am very sorry if someone cannot land in those conditions (very light winds) downwind. In that case they have made a wrong canopy choice. BTW our landingdirection indicator is an orange arrow, very visible and "updated" before each drop.

It is called "Chasing the windsock". Specialy in light windconditions the winddirection can change quite a lot (at our DZ). So you see people landing in all directions and everybody was landing against the wind, because they follow the windsock. It is much more important to land in the same direction than to land against the wind. To follow a predictable landingpattern, the landingdirection also has to be predictable. Hanging at 1000 ft ready to land in a certain direction and some @&à*$ ... chooses to land in an other direction, is not good for the predictable landing pattern. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3274519;search_string=landing%20priority;#3274519

A landingindicator on the ground is very visible to everybody in the air. It also prevents discussions when the wind changes 180° after take off.

It's simple. It is an electronic device. It CAN fail. An example would be my Neptune II shutting off in freefall (which is becoming a pretty frequent occurance these days). That is very true, but there are more factors than only the AAD that makes that the reserve opens to late. For example a big reserve in a tight container, reserve loop to long, incorrect installation ... The AAD is only a part of a complete system and the whole system has to function correctly.

It happened to me to. A week later I mail them again and I got an immediate response. You know, spam, spam filters...

I believe it was 80 or 100 € but I have to ask him. I would not overstuff the mpod. In that case I would buy a bigger mpod. Look at http://www.pgasus.be/start.php?pg=text&item=mPOD and the order form at http://www.pgasus.be/mPOD_order.pdf

I vote for predictable pattern, but you have missed one option. The landingdirection is indicated on the ground with a T, an arrow, ... The ground crew sets the landingpattern.

BTW: main Velocity 90, reserve Tempo 150

But never forget that you may have to land a canopy you are not familiar with in a very small, less than ideal landingspot.

I have one and I am very happy with it, like everybody I know who uses one. Good openings, easy packing ... I have not seen the video yet mentioned somewhere in this thread, but it is very hard to believe that a mpod lead to an out of sequence opening of the bag if it was closed correctly. Know your gear and use it correctly.

I understand that Airtec (or SSK in the USA) will charge you for both the 4 year AND 8 year, just out of principle. They won't want to offer anyone a reason to skip the 4 year. _Am In an other thread, that was also my answer. But then somebody else replied that a few years ago, Airtech (or SSK) has changed this. Now it seems that they only charge for the 8 y inspection.

Where are you insured? For example if you are an Belgian skydiver with a Belgian skydiver insurance, the Belgian rules apply if you jump in Belgium. The USPA has some extra rules if you jump in the USA, as somebody else has already posted. Till very recently, when you were a Dutch skydiver, your reserve had to be (re)packed by a Dutch rigger. So if the chief masterrigger of (for example) UPT installed you rig and packed the reserve, a Dutch rigger had to repack it before you could jump it. FAA = USA. If your not an American resident jumping with an USPA insurance, see what your local federation has to say about this. More than probably "packed by a certified rigger, in accordance with the manual of the manufacturer".

The Tempo is actualy smaller than the pd143r. The tempo 150 = is 144 square feet, the PD143R = 150 square feet. http://www.pia.com/piapubs/TSDocuments/TS-104CanopyVolume.pdf

When you pull the left toggle or left riser down, 2 things happens. The left side lifts up and slows down. The lifting up at the lefthandside would generate a righthand turn. But the slowing down makes your body swing to the right, pulls the left side down (against the generated lift) and makes your canopy turn to the left. There is/was an article about this effect. Don't know anymore where I have read it. Gr Jurgen

http://www.pgasus.be/start.php?pg=koopjes There are 3 used AAD's on sale. Cypres I € 100,00 Unit geldig tot (valid till) 10/2010 Cypres I € 500,00 Unit geldig tot 07/2014 (DOM 2002-04-01 Cypres I € 500,00 Unit geldig tot 08/2014, DOM 2002-05-01

1. Why do you want to buy european stuff in the States? (I know a few reasons, but expect to pay more shipping) 2. Use a creditcard (or paypal) if you buy online. 3. Try to find a shop in Europe if you are from Greece, for ex: http://www.skyrats.com/ or http://my-skyworld.de/catalog/index.php 4. I think it will be very difficult to find a european dealer who accept western union. Please do not continue this discussion because you will loose all your credibility.

No. I've never had a cutaway, and I know people with a LOT more jumps than me that have never had a cutaway. Only a few people with more than 5000 jumps never had a malfunction. They exist, but ... It is safer to bet your money on the fact that in the next 1000 jumps you will have a malfunction. And do everything to prevent this waiting malfunction (packingtechnique, maintenance ...) Nevertheless, treat every canopy-opening as a possible malfunction. BTW, with 319 jumps you only have only 50 % of the usual malfunctionrate (1/600 à 1/700 jumps).

Who says that Argus is to blame? I do know that there is a thread in incidents about this accident. But all the facts made public do not neccesarily point to ARGUS. Maybe there is a problem with the ARGUS in this accident, but it is also very well possible that there was a rigging mistake or a user mistake or ... Any AAD only cuts the loop. If the loop is not correctly installed or if the reserve is not packed correctly or .... can cause a reserve not to open in time. I have an ARGUS and after reading all the postings made about that accident, I still not have any problem jumping with this AAD.

A smaller canopy is more responsive. You can have more fun with it, but if you make a mistake, ...

For as long as you can still hear, before your hearing is damaged. I already have hearingproblems and I do not want it to become worse. .

Wrong, it is a problem. 85 db is for 8 hours in a period of 24 hours. 88 db is twice as loud as 85 db. 115 db is "okay" for less than 30 sec in a period of 24 hours. You can safely make only one jump every day from 8300 ft. If you make more jumps a day, you will damage your hearing. Also do not forget the noise you have in the plane. For ex: you make 5 jumps from 13000 ft ==> 5 x 15 min in the airplane (95 db) ==> 5 x 1 min freefall (115 db) = 1 hour at 95 db and 5 min at 115 db Right, but in a periode of 24 hours. You have to add the different times. For ex. you are exposed during 4 hr at 85 db and 30 min at 94 db, you have already "used" 100 % of your daily quota. More exposure is expected to lead to hearing damage. So if you make your 5 jumps a day, (1 hr at 95 db and 5 min at 115 db) you will have hearing damage, because you are already over the max eposure time. The same goes for 1 x 30 sec at 95 db per 24 hrs. At work (in Europe, don't know USA regulation), you have to use hearingprotection if you are exposed at 85 db and your boss has to provide hearingprotection when you are exposed at 80 db. CU Jurgen http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32003L0010:en:HTML

A horse shoe with your PC/some lines around your feet, hand, camera, ringsight ...