theplummeter

Skydive Arizona in Eloy. www.skydiveaz.com

Eloy. Nik and Brianne at Axis can do your water training and canopy stuff in about half a day and tons of loads running to get the numbers up.

I was in Golden on Sunday, there were longboarders all over Lookout Mountain Road hauling ass. You could almost high five them near the "M" from a paraglider.

It looks like I may have the days off to go to this boogie. If I do go, I'd be driving from western South Dakota, and would be happy to pick up folks along the way (Wyoming, Nebraska, or Colorado). Anything you could chip in for gas would be appreciated. In the event that I end up there alone, I would also love some folks to jump with. I am learning freefly stuff but open to just about anything. I'll also have a wingsuit, but haven't done much with it this season so I am useless except as a base to fly to.

I'll third the Safire2 vote. The same size Sabre2 was very similar when I demoed it, but it wasn't worth the openings for it's tiny level of higher performance in a dive, and I ended up with a Safire2. As you work into smaller sizes and higher loadings the Sabre2 seems to widen the gap on recovery arc and flare after a high performance turn, but by then many people are on a different class of canopy anyway. Both are excellent canopies and well supported by manufacturers.

While that's true in the US, the thread started seems to be in the UK. Edited to add: Nevermind, I just read two posts up.

The chance of you being caught servicing a same-sex stranger for drugs in an airport bathroom is exponentially proportional to your use of the terms family values and traditional marriage.

Funny you should mention it, on my last trip to Eloy I had trash psycho packed my Crossfire into my container which I took to RI to have them look over. I rolled it a little narrower (and thicker) than intended, and Sandy told me to either pro pack or leave a wider roll so that I wasn't making a Curv look pregnant.

If you want some video of you jumping your Crossfire2, let me know. I have a state-of-the-art Beta video setup that is kick ass. I appreciate that, but recently converted all of my stuff from Laserdisk to HDDVD and gave up my Beta Max setup in the process. There's no way this whole BluRay thing will pan out is there!?!

I finally got my Spectre 170 hooked up and started jumping it today. Openings are nice, on heading, and uneventful. I thought it might be a boring canopy, but full flight is faster than I expected, and it's fairly fun to fly for a beat up old 7 cell. Flare is different but very easy, overall I'm very satisfied that this will be a good wingsuit canopy. I've heard a lot of people talk about long sniveling openings, but compared to my Crossfire I thought it opened fairly quickly. It didn't seem to make much difference if I was on a hop and pop (from a slow Cessna), falling at terminal, or tracking it was always a soft but positive on-heading inflation.

I have a Nano 160, they all have a red stab.

It's about friggin time some helmet folks built that. Very long overdue. Any bets on how long until someone sticks one of the GoPro VHB mounts on top of the encased one, you know, for stills?

I like the design and it's gotten good reviews. I have a Curv VC3, G3 helmet with GoPro mount, one freefly suit, one belly suit, and a Phantom3 wingsuit. Do you think it would all fit confortably?

Practically all of today's companies seem to have their eye focused on return-on-investment, the bottom line. Any wage, any benefit, any pension that can be cut will be to improve that. I appreciate they are trying to maximize returns for the stockholders in a competitive world, but maybe that's where unions come in. Look at the history of coal mining and union activism as an extreme illustration of what's going on, in reverse, today. Southwest Airline's business model was slash pilot pay, promise no pensions, allow no unions, and fill those seats quick and cheap. That business model has swept thru the domestic carriers like a firestorm. The majors reorganized under Chapter 11, slashed all the pay, stole all the pension money, and are doing quite well now. The pilots? Not like they used too. That role has almost reversed itself since deregulation. Southwest now probably does more for its pilot group than any airline, and the pilots do the same for the airline. They are also represented by a union, and with profit sharing are usually the highest paid pilots in the industry for the aircraft they operate.

If we all stop talking about that empty hairpiece will he go away?

Just like the Isle of Tyre, or in a more generic fortune cookie/nonspecific kind of way?

Maybe I didn't communicate that properly, they were happy to quote me almost $400 (with shipping) to send them the canopy for a reline with the new trim, but unwilling to work any kind of deal, even given the recency of purchase. I suspect the demo I tried out had the newer line trim and the "new" canopy I purchased had been produced earlier and just prior to the new spec.

My first new canopy purchase was a PD Pulse a few years back. I demoed a Pulse and a Pilot and liked the demo Pulse just a bit better and it packed much more reasonably than a Pilot. So, I ordered a 190 (wingloading of 1:1) from PD stock and when I jumped it I immediately knew something wasn't right. My S&TA jumped it and said the same thing and then I spent a couple more jumps trying everything to get a decent flare out of the canopy before contacting PD. I was told that it was my perception and not the canopy that was the problem and to work on flaring better. Less than a week later they revised the line trim so I contacted them to see if I could get the lines redone on mine, which I had purchased at full retail from stock less than a week prior and with a total of five jumps on it. I was told they wouldn't be doing it on any used canopies so I sold the thing at a loss and purchased a Safire2. I bought the Pulse, like many newer jumpers do, in an effort to save a downsize on a container. Looking back, I would have been much happier with a Sabre2, the Safire2 I ended up buying, a Fusion, or pretty much anything else in the tapered category. I also thought PD did a poor job of customer service in this instance. I felt like a really crappy skydiver after the first time I spoke with them, and a sucker after my second call. I'm aware they're known for doing a thorough job testing before marketing but I think they let their guard down on the Pulse. Maybe a newer one with the new line trim is a different story.

I was on a Safire2 for a long time and really loved it. The Crossfire reminds me of the Safire on opening and in flight, but really takes things up a notch on the bottom end. I'm sure a Safire would make a great wingsuit canopy but wanted to get a larger 7 cell into my container for the wingsuit jumps. The overwhelming majority of my jumps are freefly jumps, so staying on a smaller suit (Phantom3) with a larger canopy seems like a good idea until I have some more experience with wingsuit jumps. What I really need to do is take a trip somewhere and spend a week or two with a coach and some experienced folks willing to take me under their wing and jump the suit a ton.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I ended up buying a cheap used Spectre 170, and the money I saved vs. a new canopy will more than cover a pilot chute, d-bag, and risers.

Hey all, I recently downsized to a Crossfire2 139 for for canopy coaching and non-wingsuit jumps, but do not wish to jump it with a wingsuit. I have saved up and am planning to order a wingsuit specific canopy in the 170 size range, and can't decide what to purchase. I previously owned and disliked a Pulse and would prefer to stay with something 7 cell. After a cutaway last season I jumped a rental Storm 170 from Mile-Hi and loved the canopy. The openings were stellar and the flare was good, but I wasn't doing wingsuit jumps with the canopy. I have never jumped a Spectre or Omni, but have heard good things about both. I also haven't tried a Sabre1, but I think I'd be happier with a seven cell, and a 7 cell 170 would pack easily into my container. I'm wondering who here has been in the same situation, what you ended up doing, and how happy are you with your decision. I'll order a second set of risers and pilot chute and hook up whichever canopy applies to the jump I'm doing. I also gave some thought to just switching altogether, but find myself unwilling to give up the Crossfire. It's just too good to part with. Overall, I'm open to suggestion. Is the Epicene really worth looking at, or should I wait and see how they wear? Is there a canopy I have overlooked? Thanks

I fly airplanes for a living and have a few coworkers who know I jump that constantly ask me the perfect airplane question. I just tell them it's because a broken one won't get you to altitude and add that if they lack the intelligence to figure that out then maybe they're in the wrong field.

I'm laughing, but I do feel guilty about it.

Yeah, but I bet the pilot's seat smells like shit.

Does your bible study group discuss: Turning the other cheek like Jesus? How the first commandment means you should do nothing because killing is wrong? What to do with the Earth when your meekness causes you to inherit it?