Cacophony

Did I do one of your ground Evals haha!? Love the flow of this post. I've worked with DJ Marvin for almost 10 years and Jay Stokes for the same. I gained my AFF rating from Jay and have working with DJ for 10, however he continued to go the distance and gather all the required experience to become the next best I/E: Course Director. You will not be overlooked by money or other junk if you come to Spaceland. We have lots of SUPER Otters and 2 new Skyvans plus 2 Caravans! Come on out and lets get things moving already! Its quick, easy, and flexible a schedule to get you started!

The .5 will be easier to match up with SLR lenses later down the road. Plus, since you are new a .5 will let you fly farther away and still get a good shot giving you a better margin for error and especially for safety! Also, you can find good cheap .5s (or .45 which I prefer) on ebay that will suit your needs just fine for now. With the better .3s and such that are single pieces of glass it can become an issue with focusing and moisture if you jump in a humid DZ. So many variables. Go cheap at first and see what you like. Upgrade from there.

I have 2 identical ones and they are both awesome. Not much to complain about. Great for those 25+ jump days! I'm sure I could nit-pic and think of some general wear thing that has happened to every rig at one point or another. But as was previously mentioned, a company that knows how to treat a customer with respect, promptness, and real world answers will always come out ahead. I feel the same way about PD. Superior products and friendly service.

Sounds like you are getting paid pretty good for keeping a dying part of the sport alive. I have 7 static line jumps, and 60 AFF instructor jumps. AFF is where its at. If you can keep your pay up there and your DZO can keep tha flow going, more power to you!

Well since everyone answered every question you didn't ask, let me just keep that going.......... PD is not known for the best opening canopies, but while your other canopies are in for recalls, fell free to call PD and chit chat about how kick ass their stuff is. Period.

With my Velo 96 I start 270s at around 650 to 700 feet. Same for a 90, but I don't have as much experience on those. For 450s I take it up to around 850 to 900. Its completely based on experience and is totally subjective.

Awsome canopy!! I have jumped many diff canopies. Spent a year on a FX 108 and I gotta tell ya, this is the best opening flying canopy I have ever owned. I decided that for the 10% greater surf that you get from a crossbraced canopy, it just wasn't worth the extra hastle (high pack vol, poor openings and high front riser press). I do video and my neck says thankyou on every jump. Doug I have close to 2000 camera jumps and over 1000 jumps on Xbraced canopies and the only time my neck has hurt was from my Sabre 170.

For years they have been doing this on their Velocities. I believe they do it to stop people from incorrectly adjusting the lines on their high performance canopies. Its a safety factor. Unfortunately it doesn't fit with everyone's respected sizes and adjustments are sometimes required. However, PD is exempt from incorrect adjustments at that point because they already adjusted their high performance parachute and an incorrect adjustment in the field does not link them to addicents or cause them (in theory).

It almost makes professional swoopers look MORE dangerous. A hard helmet is nice. It takes the edge off, but come on!! Just because you have the money to spend doesn't mean you should make your team out to look like RoboCop or anything! Now, the general public or corporate sponsors think that its a necessary aid in survival. Once they look at the USPA numbers they put two and two together..... No more sponsorship... Maybe its a little far fetched, but still possible.

PD is awesome with customer service as every company should be. Unfortunately they all can't hold up their end of the bargain and PD picks up the slack from the other companies by being extra awesome!

Always thought this was a sweet picture of my Stiletto 120. Taken in Labelle, FL in 2005.

Velocity 96 (factory) Nothing else special. Taken during a CPC meet. And yes that is a monkey in my weight belt!

I could do that. Just give me the name and date.

They only give you one rejump so you better have strong enough lines to last a comp

Zuiliani and Dellibac, as well as lots of other people at the 06 CPC championships made some monster distance runs (above 500') without ever popping up higher than the course markers (10').