jonathan.newman

Congratulations on getting cleared solo! You have proven that you can safely make a solo jump on your own. If you want to jump with others, you are limited to jumping with Instructors, Coaches, and D-lic holders. The point being, you're ready to learn group freefall skills. Those are in the SIM under categories F, G, and H. You can also work on canopy skills from sec 6.10 and 6.11. These will save your life and brighten up your day. If you have a cloudy day and a coach available, work on canopy jumps. If you have a clear day and a coach available, work on freefall jumps. And, figure out your goal. If you want a license, you need to visit USPA.org and read up on what's expected for the A lic. If you are content to make solo jumps, hey, you're already there. I know a guy with 100 jumps who is technically still a student. Doesn't want to pay for coach jumps or a license. Most people are scared to jump with him. Don't be him.

A quick glance through the SIM, and I don't see any recommended altitudes under aircraft emergencies. We teach that under 1000 ft you must ride the plane down 1000' - minimum container opening alt i.e. 3000 for students, you exit on reserve. Above 3k, exit on main. I teach it that way and I'd probably use my reserve up to 1400 to 1800, depending on my main. Yeah, it scares me too to think about bailing at 1000, but in a catastrophic failure, I'm out the door. FYI the FAA requires seatbelts for taxi, takeoff, and landing. Some DZs set a 1000 or 1500 limit because anything less than that and you're probably safer riding the plane down. Another FYI, to get certified under TSO C23D, the reserve has to be fully open within 3 seconds of pin-pull. (4 seconds with 3 full line twists.) If I recall, these drops are done from 500 feet, but there is nothing about that in SAE 8015b.

C'mon Phree, give the girl credit. At least she leveled out her canopy before sailing into the trees. I shudder at the thought of the vigil giving this girl an extra canopy to worry about at 1000 feet. What would happen with two out when one of them has a toggle fire? And if she can't remember what to do with a good canopy that is turning, or what to do if you don't have a controllable canopy at 2500, I don't have a lick of confidence that she would do anything with two out except ride a spinning downplane into the trees. I'm glad her reserve stayed where it was. Sure makes a good bonfire story, though.

Try this, Mr. pchapman, and from a Canuck website, with pictures, and animation, no less http://avia.tion.ca/documentation/polar/ Once you understand the polar curve, come back and keep reading. Our canopies actually have two different polar curves. One comes from using only riser input, and the other comes from using only toggle input. Full flight seems to be somewhere on the right side of the curve. If I pull front risers, I can increase my airspeed and increase my rate of descent -- thus moving to the right and down on the curve. If I pull rear risers or toggles, I will both slow my airspeed and my descent rate -- moving left on the curve. (this works up to the point where the wing begins to mush and then stalls) So, if you can trust what the glider pilots believe, then if you are trying to make it back to the DZ with a tailwind, then use rear risers or brakes to increase your glide angle. And if you have a headwind, then picking up speed with front risers will get you farther. That's great in theory, but since we have neither GPS nor variometers, and our airspeed is judged by our ears, we need some way to gauge how much toggle or riser input to provide. That is where the "accuracy trick" comes into play. Now, before anyone jumps on me to say that they took a canopy course and learned sumthin' different, let me say that I took a Flight1 course and was taught brakes with a tailwind, rears with a headwind. In theory, I disagree with that, and will try to play around with it while I'm jumping this week.

My first rig had a split D-bag that someone had sewn shut, so obviously it wasn't all that desired. Velcro near suspension lines is a bad idea because of the wear it adds over time. Yes, practice makes perfect, but even better is to learn and practice a good technique. Look around for "Psycho pack" and "precision pack". Both involve folding the canopy into a cocoon rather than stuffingshovingcrunching. It's neater, packs tighter, and wants to reinflate less. Once you s-fold, it's less likely to puff up and get away from you. Forget the split bag. Learn how to pack better or learn a better way to pack.

First, get the right needles. For container repair, 20 is minimum, 21 works better. If you're patching canopies, or maybe light jumpsuit repairs, an 18 will work. Second, you will develop a thorough understanding of how tension works, top and bottom. I found that bobbin tension was more critical than upper when it came to getting good stitches. Some other tips from my verrry frustration 20U learning experience -- first troubleshooting step should always be changing a needle. presser foot tension can really help with feed issues. A couple threads wrapped up in the bobbin race can ruin your day. Oil everything, including the bobbin race. A seemingly normal bobbin case may not feed with even tension. have fun with it.

Hey Rob, With the weather being what it is, I finally got the chance to take up a student. We did a seated exit, just a little differently. I crouched on my feet so that I could spring outside, and the student put his left foot on the step. We have a wind deflector that doesn't allow grips, so with two hands, the student did a "superman" out to the wing strut. I guess I can say that no amount of tandems can prepare a student for freefall totally, but the jump went OK. Interestingly, an instructor showed up from Columbia with a student and showed me a different exit. Student crouched in the door, with two hands on the inside to keep from falling out, and the instructor in almost a normal outside AFF position. The only thing that worries me is the flap being right there. So far so good.

I didn't hear anyone mention beer, yet, so I'll say it. Walk on to the DZ with a case of beer and share it. Say that you have $40 for someone to teach you how to pack. The professional packers will be too tired to bother. The riggers will be too busy with reserves that need to get repacked. There might be a coach or part-timer or a couple fun jumpers who will help you out. Pretty soon you will have someone teaching you. It may take you 4 - 10 packjobs to get the hang of it. Then maybe you can pack some sport rigs for the experienced jumpers, then move on to student gear and then maybe tandems. I worked at one DZ that said they wanted 50 packjobs before you could touch student gear and 200 before you learned tandems. Another option might be to go take a course and get your rigger's certificate. You'll still have to learn to pack first, but by the time you come back, you'll be certified to pack almost anything you'll see at the dropzone. The courses are a little pricey, about $1500 to $3000 and take 2 to 3 weeks, but you could earn it back almost as quickly at a big DZ. Good luck and be ready to work hard. You can get there.

C'mon, post some pics of the rig!

Congrats on sticking through it. The whole world is still ahead of you. I've seen that Gold Coast "smack upside the head" thing once. Got the student right back into the game. And gave me a new tool for my AFF toolbag.

First thought, a pilot chute through the gap would suck. Second, I wonder what his connection and cutaway system look like. Third, wouldn't it be better to attach it across the width of the leg wing?

I took my AFF instructor course at Seville. I give the whole place a thumbs up. Also, doing freefall from 15000 ft gives you an extra edge in your training, although it does suck more for your instructors. Tip them well, and buy beer, and you;ll do fine. Another thought is to hook up with your locall DZ in the UK and see if they are planning any winter AFF camps. You;ll want a local DZ, you know, in case the weather ever clears up. This is a mostly US message board. You can try to UK skydiver board. Or come to the US. Follow the sun to Arizona, Florida or California.

OK, so two students have completed 3 (or 4) tandems each. The last tandem was a diving exit (more on that later) with the students' arms out. COA, three practice touches, response to hand signals, altitude awareness, and solo pull. And then, of course canopy work all the way down. Now what? There is an IAD instructor here. We talked about doing Cat C in three jumps, 3500 IAD, 4000 5 sec delay, and 4500 10 sec delay. There are only two of us, so while he is putting the students out, I guess I'll be doing radio. How does this sound to you? So, back to the plane. We have a U206 with cargo door. When the plane came from the US, it had skydiving steps and outside handles and grab bars. I guess Panama doesn't like the FAA 337 and made us take them off. Any thoughts on how to rock this exit? About all I can think of is a rear diving exit.

I believe RiggerRob is saying just that here: The closing loop on a reflex runs over (half) the fiberglass poptop and then through a grommet and down into the rig. Rob's point is that if you hit this part of the loop enough times with even a blunt piece of metal, it will wear on the closing loop.

I came here to post the same suggestion. Can we maybe get a forum where we can post completed sales? Maybe just a sticky thread in the gear and rigging forum. Another thing I've seen on car forums is people including sales and purchases in their signatures. Any time they post, that info goes out in a searchable form.

He might be trying to avoid import duties. I had a jumpsuit made that was finished AFTER I moved to Panama. I had it sent to Miami, where a friend picked it up and brought it back. I just installed a CYPRES for a guy who paid 25% duty on a $1400 CYPRES. For $350 he probably could have gotten a flight to Deland to pick it up himself. If I were buying a parachute for $$$ and then had to spend another 25%, I'd surely ask a bro to pick it up for me on his next trip to the states. Sounds like the guy is legit. C'mon, you're facebook friends! (how many friends in common do you have?) Another thought, many rigging lofts will provide escrow service for just the cost of shipping and an inspection. Sometimes even for free.

Alright, Pops Jumper, I'll bite. When you pack a Raven in a d-bag, with the tail rolled around, how hard does it open?

I just got a save two days ago from a brake line issue on a Wings. He reached through the excess when he released his brakes and knotted one steering line. He was about 100 feet away from me when he chopped. Wish I still had my camera rolling when he did it. So what I do to prevent this (and reduce the severity of a toggle-fire): 1. Set the brake and stow the upper keeper. 2. Stick the metal part of a packing powertool through the keeper on the back of the riser, and wrap the excess around the groove to make it easy to pull through. 3. Take this tail back around the front, and catch it under the lower keeper. 4. pull the excess tight against the bottom keeper by tugging above the backside keeper.

This dropzone has two operational areas. The Chame airport DZ is about 25 mins from the Nitro City DZ. Most of the tandems and the student training happens at Chame from the 206. The VIP tandems and beach jumps happen at Nitro City. Facilities at Chame are adequate. Covered packing, A/C, bathroom. Facilities at Nitro City are incredible! Land on the beach, pack indoors, drive to the airport, and do it again. Then get a massage, a beer, food, go ride a jet ski, or wakeboard, kitesurf, swim... Crash in Pastrana's room, and do it again tomorrow! The views are incredible. You can see both oceans on a clear day, lush greens, deep blues, lots of beach.

I assume you are talking about the PD optimum demo setup that comes with a pilot chute and deployment bag and a set of main risers. Have no fear taking it to terminal. I demo'ed an OP143 loaded at 1.5 and I perceived that it opened more gently than a Katana 120 at 1.8. I'd be a lot more hesitant to take it terminal if it were packed like a reserve with the nose opened up and the tail not wrapped around. As for flying it, great advice already given. Pretend you're in a tight spot, fly a braked pattern, braked turns, and braked approach. See how much you can sink it without stalling (I don't think I was able to stall it with toggles). Practice the flare a lot. I don't have a whole lot of jumps on F111 canopies, but the flare seems to be a bit deeper. Practice. Have fun with it, too. See if you can scare people with your solid orange canopy.

Welcome back to the sport! I wish I could share wone of your beers for celebrating a first ram-air jump. You're on the right path by seeking advice, so here are a few areas to consider. Ram-air parachutes can create enough forces during normal operation to serious hurt or kill you. The same forces can also lead to tip-toe landings. Learn how to fly them. Gear has changed. Many fatalities have sprung from a jumper reaching in the wrong place for the wrong thing. Old habits die hard. New habits take time. Our understanding of body flight has changed. I jumped with an old-time belly flyer and coached him on how to use his whole body to make side-slides and center-point turns. Get coaching on that. The tunnel is great for that lesson.

Thanks, Riggerrob. I just moved to Panama, so wind tunnel is not really an option, unless we fly to Florida. I agree that no method is "best." I am now in the position to build a training program how I see fit. There is an IAD instructor here, so that's possible. However, other than my own S/L training 15 years ago, I don't know anything about IAD as it relates to a student program. So, how would you do it? And what do you think of this? I took most of this from the SIM. 1. Tandem. Fun, no pressure 2. Tandem Cat A 3. Tandem Cat B 4. Tandem Cat B Ground school 5. IAD Cat C w/dummy pull OR AFF C-1 w/1 instructor 6. 10 sec delay Cat C w/real pull OR AFF Cat c-2 7. 10 sec delay Cat C OR AFF Cat D-1 8. D-1 or D-2 ... I hear what you're saying about higher pre-load equals lower workload. I like it. For the students, money is not a concern, as the instructional jumps will be sold as a package only (that's a cultural thing in Panama, I guess). The plane is a 206-U, so I'd love to hear thoughts on a stable AFF exit from a small door, with no bar, step, strut, or wheel (dive? :o) I think we could start with 3 or 4 tandems. Then, anyone who I think will be a rodeo, I'll pass to the IAD instructor to do 3 jumps in Cat C (heh heh) and the others I will do AFF Cat C. Economics also plays a part. If I do AFF, I can radio the students down. If the other instructor does a load of IAD, I still have to radio those students down. The choice of method might be driven by the number of students who show up on a given day. Theonlyski: Don't hijack my thread! But boy, does that bring up questions. I can see where Cat D skills might be taught by a TI (hey, let's do turns on your second Cat B tandem. Here's how we do turns.) But #16 on TI card seems like it calls for an in-air eval as well as ground skills. At the moment, my 2010 IRM is in a box in a storage warehouse in Canada, and I can't get to it. And ground launching???? !!! PLEASE tell me how you would use this in a student program? (I'm watching a Brian Germain video on Youtube, and I like how it starts with students busting their asses on the sand dune). I'm intrigued.

So I find myself in the position of being the only AFF instructor at a new (3 week old) DZ. I'd like to get your input and wisdom on doing a one-instructor progression. How were the jumps set up? What were the advancement criteria from tandem to freefall? If I understand the ISP correctly, Cat A, and B can be done on a tandem system. But how do you get into Cat C with just one instructor? I'd also welcome any general comments on building a student program. What are your thoughts on doing all 25 jumps with an instructor or coach as part of a structured curriculum? Thanks, Jonathan

Metzuyan!!!