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').

On my work skydives which are 95% of them I would say 290 to 350 feet. That minus HMA and RDS of course.

So then what is the simple math to figure out the difference from other line types and sizes? For example what is the difference in drag from 750 Vectran to 500 HMA?

Sorry. You are right. I watched it with the sound down the first time Currency can sometimes equal complacency.

Neither instructor had very good control at pull time. That wasn't even THAT bad of a student. What sucks is that stupid chest mounted ripcord. That does nothing for promoting good body position. Either way, the instructors failed to maintain stability and control the student and they both allowed themselves to get into very bad spots.

Save the full RDS for competition and practice. But get yourself a removable slider. You won't look back. I can take my slider off faster than I could stow it and it's so nice not to have it hanging around your head. Plus it only takes an extra one minute (maybe two) to put it back on. I'll definately look into it. I agree, even when its stowed its annoying! The only problem still is that I don't always pack for myself because I don't have time and i know I would just be asking for trouble having someone else do it. Thanks for the response. 350 range answers the question.

I just got my Velo 96 back from the factory and I had 500 HMA put on. I probalby won't get to jump it for a while, but out of curiosity: What do you all jump for competition? I have about 1000 jumps on Velocities, but none with HMA. Next step is an RDS but that will be a bit since I make my living with my Velocity.

Every canopy builds up front riser pressure in a turn just as canuck said. With lighter wing loadings (WL) its much more obvious. Whats cool is that you are testing out whats out there and learning. Tri-s suck for swooping, but you can learn how to swoop on anything and you SHOULD learn how to swoop on a non swoop canopy to get the basics. What you are feeling is normal and of no concern at the moment. You know its there which is perfect. Work on your accuracy and flare and slowly progress into more aggressive landing patterns. The best course of action is to talk to a canopy coach and not listen to us morons who always look towards what we feel like whining about, and talk to the people who are speaking to you, that have actually seen you fly and can help you individually with your progression. Asking advice about such subjective things online is stupid, simply becuase everyone has a different method that is as equally as good. Find your coach and stick with them. Maybe you are the perfect example foe being different...... A canopy coach can and will help you a with those questions!

If all you want is something to remember your jumps and maybe give out to friends even the base MiniDV Sony models would work just fine. Either you can look for used older cameras on ebay, or you can just get something like an HC36 for $300 or so brand new. Only thing is it does not have a lanc port for a cam eye. Something that Sony is only putting on their high model cameras now. But that is of little relevance if you are just shooting fun jumps. In a month or so they will be coming out with the new models, but you pretty much cannot go wrong with a MiniDV camera from Sony.

PD is getting ready to release their low bulk reserves which are another option for container sizes.

Stabilizers extend below the parachute. Winglets extend above wings to help disturb the air and keep Bernoli working (I probably butchered the spelling). What hangs below the wing only adds to drag and does not aid in lift.