superflie

If your profile is up to date, you have 22 jumps. If the winds are so high that you are moving backwards when facing into the wind, you might want to consider staying on the ground. At this point the answer is not wing-loading, but decision making. When I was a relatively new jumper, my buddy and I manifested for a load on a windy day. The experienced jumpers pulled up some lawn chairs next to the landing area to, "watch the show." They said if jumpers with 1,000's of jumps were staying on the ground we should reconsider our choices. We did and got ourselves off the load. At this point, don't add another risk variable by jumping in marginal weather conditions.

First, glad that you are alive and well. Second, thanks for posting the story. It is something for all of us to reflect upon and hopefully learn. Finally, but most importantly, what about the other guy? So far all the responses have been positive and friendly to all. However, I hope that someone (e.g. the S&TA) has had a serious sit down with the guy who crashed into you. From my read of your story, it appears that the other jumper caused the incident. You survived only because you thought and acted fast - accompanied by some good fortune (although as an aside, I always say that luck is when preparation meets opportunity - so kudos to you). You could, and perhaps should, be dead. I witnessed two people die from a similar incident. The bottom line is that the other jumper made a serious error and almost killed both of you. The next time everyone might have a different outcome. This jumper needs to understand what he did wrong as well as the gravity of what he did wrong - and never repeat it. Just my 2 cents. Am I off the mark here or do others agree with me?

There is extraordinarlily well-document research on this topic. Psychologists have studied this topic for years. A few hours at the local university library in the psychology periodicals would yield all the information you need.

I have no problems with having my cypress on during commercial flights. The cabiins are pressurized and the decent rate is not so fast.

I often say, "hey, remember to hook this one up."

I have never had to show my cypress card - in 20+ times of carrying on my rig. I don't even know where it is any longer.

I would not worry about this too much. I have not only taken my rig as carry on, by itself not in a gear bag, but have done so with the hook knife attached to the leg strap. I did not hear so much as a peep from the security guards. I did this in San Fran, Chicago, and New York. Both before and after 9/11. The fact that I have carried on a hook knife multiple times is, in fact, a little disconcerting. Oh well.

OK, I can't stand it any longer. This is conditional probability - the math works out like this: First the assumptions: 1) Odds of a main malfunction 1:1000 2) Odds of a reserve malfunction 1:1000 3) Each is an independent event Therefore, odds of having both occur on the same jump is 1:1000000. This statistical result roughly corresponds with the data that we see on the skydiving fatalities query page. If we have 3,000,000 skydives in a year, you would expect to see 3 double malfunctions in that year. We see an average 1.7 since 1996 (but with only partial data from 02). The odds for the main malfunction are, I think, generally accepted to be around 1:1000. To be conservative, I set the same odds for the reserve. However, there are two additional points to be made. First, the odds of having a malfunction if you only deployed your reserve would be 1:1000. Second, this sport should be about understanding and controlling risk. Know the risks and make decisions based on your comfort-level with them and your ability to mitigate them. Personally, I have done an intentional cutaway on my normal rig. It was fun.

Here's a question for you: Why do you not have an RSL on your rig? At 30 jumps and on a 210, I see no reason not to have one. And I don't want to hear any nonsense about this. I do not have one, but I jump a fairly highly loaded eliptical. Also, every once in a while, you should untwist your brake lines to prevent these things.

Alright, I would wager that few people at SDC would really "tell it like it is." Largely because that would mean saying hey we often jump through thick layers of clouds with low bases and send tandems after sunset. I have been on loads at SDC where the entire load of solos and tandems jumped through low clouds. I even deployed in the clouds and did not come out until under three grand (thank you GPS). The tandems had to deploy above and fly through the clouds under canopy. I have also witnessed tandem loads take off at or just after sunset (when even I would not go). You might think that I have a grudge against SDC - I don't, I love the place - but if you want to tell it like it is... Also, you don't have to take my word for it - I know that there are videos of these tandems and it would not be too hard to track them down if anyone really wanted to.

OK, the issue is not whether stilettos are susceptible to line twists - they are. The issue is whether stilettos are MORE prone to line twists then other elliptical canopies.

Are Stilettos more prone to line twists at deployment than other elliptical canopies, everything else being equal?